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)
CATEGORIES OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING AND STAGES OF SPIRITUAL
GROWTH
THE BIBLE EXPLAINS SUFFERING and reveals powerful Divine assets
for coping with adversity. No believer in Jesus Christ should remain ignorant
of the causes and solutions to any difficulty in his life. Suffering is not
inexplicable. Every instance of suffering has a reason, an explanation, and a
solution!
Christian suffering can be most clearly understood in relation to the
individual believer’s Spiritual growth. From this perspective, adversities may
be classified into five categories. Two categories are typical of Spiritual
childhood; three characterize Spiritual adulthood. The two categories of
suffering in Spiritual childhood are punitive. The three in Spiritual adulthood
are designed by God for blessing. This study will examine the problems
and Divine solutions connected with self-induced misery, Divine discipline,
providential preventive suffering, momentum testing, and evidence testing.
These are five categories, which will be defined in due course, and account
for all suffering in the Christian life.
The connection between punitive suffering and Spiritual childhood and
suffering for a blessing with Spiritual adulthood is not a rigid distinction.
Some suffering for blessing occurs in Spiritual childhood; and punitive
suffering can hit the Spiritually adult believer when he sins or makes bad
decisions. The general pattern, however, gives us a basis for understanding
the pressures in our lives.
FIVE CATEGORIES OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING
Adversity plays a dominant role in the lives of adult human beings.
Suffering is like a parent. What responsible parents do for their children,
suffering does for adults. The discipline and restraints of childhood imposed
by parents are replaced by the discipline and restraints of adult life enforced
by suffering. As a parent, a guardian, a referee ready to blow the whistle as
an authority provided by God; suffering challenges us as believers to utilize
the assets God has given us. Suffering depletes our human resources and
confronts us with our total dependence on the grace of God. Suffering
impresses upon us our need to conform to His plan!
Parents do more than discipline their children. Likewise, suffering is not
merely a warning and a restraint but a teacher and motivator as well.
Misfortune does not always come to injure, says a Latin maxim. Pain not
only discourages us from going in the wrong direction, but it can also help
to propel us in the right direction. The proper application of Truth under
pressure produces Spiritual growth. We see Truth working. We experience
the Reality that God is “a very present help in trouble.” (Psa 46:1-2; Psa 46:
10) As a result of using His Word, our love for Him grows stronger, and we
accelerate our Spiritual advance. Whether as a guardian or as a stimulus of
Spiritual growth, all suffering in the Christian life must be understood in
relation to the plan of God. Suffering, (Old sin nature, Thought, people,
organization and disaster testing) is designed for our good and for His
glorification. He is glorified by sustaining and blessing us in any situation,
whether prosperity or adversity. It is for His Own glory, therefore, within the
hardships and disasters of life God Promises, “I will never desert you, nor
will I ever forsake you.” (Jos 1:5; Heb 13:5-6) He will “never let the
righteous [Spiritual believer] be shaken.” [Or totter or fall] (Psa 55:22)
Rather than eliminating suffering from our lives, He gives us far greater
benefits by walking with us “through the valley of the shadow of death.”
(Psa 23:4)
TWO FUNCTIONS OF SUFFERING IN GOD’S PLAN
Many Principles in our study of suffering will apply to unbelievers (To
motivate faith in Christ; Rev 11:13) as well as to believers, (To grow to
Spiritual maturity; Heb 11:37-40) but we will concentrate on Christian
suffering. We are studying the assets that God has graciously given to
anyone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are also identifying
difficulties that arise when believers fail to utilize what God has given them.
Union with the King of Kings
Spiritual childhood begins at Salvation. At the moment anyone first
believes in Christ, God the Holy Spirit simultaneously accomplishes eight
ministries in behalf of the new believer. One of these ministries is the
baptism of the Spirit, in which the Holy Spirit instantaneously places the
believer into permanent union with Jesus Christ.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you
who were baptized into Christ [The baptism of the Holy Spirit at Salvation]
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, [No
racial distinctions] there is neither slave nor free man, [No social classes]
there is neither male nor female; [No sexual bias] for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. [In union with Christ] (Gal 3:26-28)
The Lord Jesus Christ is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
(Rev 19:16) He holds the most exalted of all royal titles. He is head of a
new royal dynasty, the Church, to which we belong. The present era of
history is the Church Age, in which every individual who believes in Christ as
his Savior is adopted as an adult son and heir into the royal family of God.
(Rom 8:15; Gal 4:1-5; Eph 1:4-5) Our adoption occurs at the first moment
of faith in Christ, when we are placed in union with Christ. (Gal 3:26) We
are royalty now and will be royalty forever. This is our eternal position; in
our current experience, however, we must learn to Think as royalty. We
must learn to conduct ourselves as royalty. In order to Think and live as
Spiritual royalty, we need royal Thoughts. Simultaneously with the baptism
of the Spirit, therefore, God the Holy Spirit also places each new member
of the royal family into a magnificent, invisible environment, a system of
living that can be compared to a royal palace. Because the believer’s very
own invisible palace is a sphere of Spiritual power. In the function of the
Spiritual life God has made available to each believer the exercise of Divine
omnipotence. The believer’s utilization of Divine omnipotence will be
explained as our study proceeds. The palace, or the Spiritual life, is a
teaching aid that clearly explains the tremendous assets and privileges that
God has given to each New Covenant Church Age believer.
Illustration cf. Illustration
Living as royalty in the palace, (The Bottom Circle) is a synonym for
living the Christian way of life. Only in the palace can we use our Spiritual
assets, develop capacity for life, and live with Spiritual wisdom, happiness,
and graciousness as the Spiritual aristocrats we are. Furthermore, the
palace is the only sphere in which Christian growth can occur.
The Protocol Plan of God
Royalty lives by protocol. The Christian way of life can be called the
protocol plan of God because the system — the Spiritual life — for utilizing
God’s power, is a system of protocol. God designed the Christian life; we
must THINK His way! Protocol is a rigid, long-established code; prescribing
complete obedience to superior rank and strict adherence to due order of
precedence and precisely correct procedure. Each element in Webster’s
definition describes the plan of God for the believer’s life.
1. LONG-ESTABLISHED CODE: In eternity past God created for each
Church Age believer a rich portfolio of blessings, which glorifies God, who it
also designed the Spiritual life as our means of taking distribution of those
blessings. (Eph 1:3-4)
2. OBEDIENCE TO SUPERIOR RANK: Sovereign and omnipotent God
holds infinitely superior rank to which we must give complete obedience.
3. DUE ORDER OF PRECEDENCE: The highest priority in our scale of
values must be learning the Word of God, Divine Thinking — Truth, which
teaches us what assets we possess and explains how to utilize them.
4. PRECISELY CORRECT PROCEDURE: Only by adhering to God’s
precise Thoughts for the royal family do we fulfill the conditions for receiving
our blessings created in eternity past that glorify God.
Divine grace has created a royal way of life which Divine authority
Commands the royal believer to execute. We are responsible for fulfilling
the protocol plan of God, but God never issues an Order for which He has
not already provided the means of execution. To obey God’s Commands is
to tap His resources.
The Gates of the Palace
The Commands of God are like gates that open upon Divine assets.
(Isa 62:10) The believer passes through these gates and uses his God-
given assets by consistently learning and Thinking with God’s Thoughts and
by following Divine protocol. Obedience to Divine authority puts the power
of God into effect in the believer’s life. Although hundreds of Divine
Commands for the royal family are found in the New Testament, all of these
Commands can be classified into ten categories. The Spiritual life
consolidates God’s Commands into ONE consistent, comprehensive
system. The Spiritual life will be developed later in detail, but here a brief
description of the ten gates will suffice, along with examples of Divine
Commands pertinent to each gate. This section of the book outlines the
Spiritual life; the next will fill in the outline, revealing the dynamics of the
believer’s palace when he faces suffering.
Illustration
cf.
Illustration
cf.
Illustration
GATE 1, THE POWER GATE, is the silent, invisible, enabling ministry of
God the Holy Spirit. Omnipotent God the Holy Spirit sustains the believer,
supplying the supernatural means of executing the supernatural Spiritual
way of life.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [In
Fellowship] and Truth. [With the Spiritual Thinking of The Word of God]
(John 4:24)
Be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5:18)
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh. (Gal 5:16)
GATE 2, THE GATE OF BASIC CHRISTIAN MODUS OPERANDI, is the
source of the believer’s objectivity. In Gate 2, the most elementary systems
of problem solving are available to the immature believer, which include the
following:
The Rebound Technique is the grace means of restoring the believer to
temporal fellowship with God after sin has broken that fellowship. The
believer initially enters Gate 1 at Salvation, but he exits when he sins. He
can reenter only through Gate 1. When the believer follows the simple,
grace mechanics of reentry, the Holy Spirit automatically resumes control of
the believer’s soul, (In place of the sin nature’s control) restoring him to
fellowship with God.
If we acknowledge our sins, [to God the Father] He is faithful and just so
that He forgives us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:
9)
Through the Faith-Rest Drill the believer mixes the Promises of God with
faith and Thinks rationally to reach Doctrinal conclusions. (Heb 4:1-2)
In fact, we know that to those who love God, He works all things
together for the good . . . To what conclusion are we forced, face to face
with these things? God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:28; Rom 8:
31)
Hope is the believer’s anticipation of Promised blessings and his initial basis
for motivation.
Illustration
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction,
so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we
might have hope. (Rom 15:4)
GATE 3, THE GATE OF ENFORCED AND GENUINE HUMILITY, makes
the believer teachable.
...Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is
opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the
proper time.
(1Pe 5:5-6)
GATE 4, THE MOMENTUM GATE, is designed for intake, metabolism, and
application of Divine Thoughts, which cause Spiritual growth and Personal
love for God.
Man shall not live on bread alone, [Human needs] but on every Word
[Spiritual Thought] that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matt 4:4)
GATE 5. THE GATE OF SPIRITUAL SELF-ESTEEM, is the entrance into
Spiritual adulthood. Spiritual self-esteem is the strength of soul that comes
from Personal love for God. Love for God is the Spiritually adult Christian’s
motivation in life. Spiritual self-esteem is also the beginning of sharing the
Happiness of God.
For me, living is Christ, and dying is a promotion. (Php 1:21)
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do
not see Him now but believe in Him [From Truth in the soul] you rejoice with
an inexpressible and glorious happiness. (1Pe 1:8)
GATE 6, THE GATE OF SPIRITUAL AUTONOMY, is the stability of
Spiritual adulthood, characterized by Impersonal love for other people.
Impersonal love is the functional Virtue of the Spiritually adult believer
toward all mankind. Deriving its strength from the Virtue of the believer
himself rather than being limited by questions of attractiveness or
repulsiveness, compatibility or rejection from others, Impersonal love is the
foundation for the correct mental attitude toward people and self.
The second is this, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF. There is no other Commandment greater than these.
(Mark 12:31)
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you. (Matt 5:44)
But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them; for they do not know what
they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among
themselves. (Luk 23:34)
GATE 7, THE GATE OF MOMENTUM TESTING, involves suffering which
accelerates the believer’s advance from Spiritual autonomy to Spiritual
maturity. Gate 7 is one of the categories of suffering for blessing.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of that upward call from God in
Christ Jesus, therefore, as many as are Spiritual adults, let us keep on
Thinking this. [God’s Thoughts on every subject] and if in anything you have
a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. However, let us keep
living by that same standard [Of Divine Thinking] to which we have attained.
(Php 3:14-15)
GATE 8, THE WINNER’S GATE, is the gate of Spiritual maturity. This is the
beginning of the most advanced level of Spiritual adulthood, in which God is
glorified and the believer is blessed to the maximum under ALL
circumstances, whether prosperity or adversity. The adult believer’s inner
happiness is stabilized and established in Spiritual maturity.
If you keep My Commandments, you will reside in the sphere of My
love, just as I [The humanity of Christ] have fulfilled the Commandments of
My Father [Who created the Spiritual life] and I reside in the sphere of His
love. [During His first advent Christ lived in the prototype] I have taught you
these things [Divine Thoughts] that My happiness [Sharing the Happiness of
God] might be in you and that your happiness might be completed. [At
Spiritual maturity] (John 15:10-11)
When the Holy Spirit placed us in the palace, God the Father intended
for us to live there, not to get out of fellowship with Him; through sin and
move into the dungeon of Satan’s counterfeit systems. We are Spiritual
royalty; but we must reside in our palace to solve the problems of suffering
and to grow Spiritually. God’s plan calls for us to handle suffering from
inside the palace. Only in the palace is His omnipotence at our disposal for
handling the problems of life.
CATALOG OF THE BELIEVER’S
PROBLEM-SOLVING DEVICES
Problem Solving in Spiritual Childhood
Each gate of the palace contains Divine assets that may be used to
solve particular problems that cause or accompany suffering. What
difficulties do these eight gates solve? To help the believer recall and utilize
the grace of God in the midst of overwhelming pain, the Divine provisions for
problem solving are best described in highly objective language. The power
and grace of God, therefore, will be presented in terms of “problem-solving
devices.” This terminology may sound harsh and mechanical, but there is a
reason for it. Under pressure the believer needs Truth. If he is coddled, he
may be in danger of intensifying his problem by slipping into self-pity. No
one with integrity wants to feel sorry for himself. Furthermore, under stress
the believer needs straight answers. He does not need a lot of beautiful
language. His emotions are already highly charged, and emotionalism offers
no hope of stabilizing him. Certainly the grace of God can be described in
beautiful poetic terms, but emotional stimulation will not solve the problem
and might only complicate the Christian’s suffering which already is difficult
enough. The purpose for this terminology is, to make it absolutely clear to
the suffering believer that God has provided real assets, that both
transcend his current sin nature, thought, people, organization and or
disaster testing; and offer him effective help in time of need. (Prov 28:25-
26) The purpose is not to commiserate or to comfort him. This human
dimension of the problem is not to be ignored, but that is not the focus of
this book. This book is intended to teach and to present a system of
orthodox Doctrine with tremendous practical application. Simple problem-
solving devices are available for Spiritual childhood in the first four gates of
the Spiritual life. More powerful problem-solving devices become effective
in Spiritual adulthood in the final four gates. The Christian way of life is a
supernatural way of life that demands a supernatural means of execution!
The only power equivalent to the demand is the omnipotence of God.
Therefore, Gate 1 is the invisible, behind the-scenes ministry of God the
Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The Holy Spirit manages Gate 1 entirely by
Himself from His Divine omnipotence. We contribute nothing. We merely
ensure that we give Him empowerment of our lives by using the rebound
technique. (Prov 1:23) Rebound is the believer’s first responsibility in Gate
2. Rebound, faith-rest, and hope are basic problem-solving devices found in
Gate 2. Rebound allows the believer to reside consistently in his palace. It
switches on the power of Gate 1. Because the Spiritual child (Indeed, every
believer) is prone to leaving his palace, (1Jn 1:8-10) he must quickly learn
how to reenter. He exits by committing sin; (Matt 15:19) he reenters by
acknowledgement that he is out, (Just wanting to be in fellowship with God
is the standard) and naming that sin to God if you know it? And we are
forgiven for all known, unknown, and forgotten sins. (1Jn 1:9) This Divine
provision is called the rebound technique because it causes the believer to
bounce back after failure, restoring his fellowship with God, avoiding the
trap of a guilt complex. The next problem-solving device in the Christian way
of life is faith-rest, which enables the believer to control his own mental
attitude. Emotion is a blessing, but it can also be a terrible cursing when it
sweeps away reason and Truth. If emotion dominates thought in a crisis,
the result can be disastrous. The Spiritual child needs to know how to
remain lucid when his emotions rise and how to Think clearly under
pressure. The accurate application of Truth appropriate to the crisis,
demands a stabilized mentality. How does the distraught believer regain and
maintain his self-control? The solution is the faith-rest drill. A confusing,
complicated situation must first be reduced to utter simplicity by claiming the
stated Promises of God. (Heb 4:1-3)
MEMORIZE THIS!
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am
your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold
you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all those who are angered at you
will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as
nothing and will perish. You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not
find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. For I
am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, Do
not fear, I will help you. (Isa 41:10-13)
GOD’S WORD WORKS EVERY-TIME IF WE THINK WITH IT!
Stabilized by Divine Promises, he can recall Principles he has learned
and eventually reach Doctrinal conclusions. From the Divine Viewpoint he
can then deal with the complexities of the situation. Another basic problem-
solving device in Gate 2 is called “hope.” Hope answers the question
“Where am I going in life?” The believer learns pertinent Doctrine about his
own future blessings; his eager anticipation, or hope, of receiving those
blessings motivates him to keep advancing in the protocol plan of God.
(Rom 5:3-5) Hope begins as a basic problem-solving device in Gate 2 but
increases in strength as the believer grows Spiritually. (Rom 8:24-25) As a
result, hope also becomes one of the key problem-solving devices of
Spiritual adulthood. Arrogance is the believer’s worst enemy. (Jer 18:12)
What is the immediate and long-term solution to the insidious, multifaceted
problem of arrogance? In Gate 3, enforced humility is an immediate
problem-solving device as the believer submits to the authority of God’s
Thoughts and plan. (Isa 57:10) Obedience to Divine protocol means using
perfect Divine Thoughts rather than trusting inferior human thoughts and
ability. (Mark 8:33) As the believer learns more Truth, he understands the
reasons behind God’s Commands and sees how His Commands reveal His
matchless character. With a growing knowledge of Truth, enforced humility
becomes genuine humility, the foundation for Personal love for God. The
most critical issue in the believer’s life is how does he solve the problem of
ignorance? At Salvation he knows nothing of God and His protocol plan. The
solution in Gate 4 includes tremendous Divine power for learning,
metabolizing, and applying the Mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16) The Bible draws
an analogy between eating food and learning Truth, which is the believer’s
Spiritual food. (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4) Just as food must be metabolized to
sustain the body, so Truth must be metabolized before it is usable in
Spiritual growth, application or problem solving. And then the waste (False
thoughts) are eliminated just as in the human body. Someone may order a
meal at a restaurant, and the food, if well presented, may be attractive to
the eye. But the food nourishes him only when he eats it. Likewise, the
believer learns Truth, but this benefits him only when he believes what he
has learned! (Jer 15:16) He must integrate the new Doctrine he hears with
the rest of the Doctrine he knows for that new Truth to contribute to his
Spiritual growth. To dispel his ignorance, the believer must establish a firm
policy of learning God’s Thoughts every day. He must always organize his
day to accomplish his first priority, the assimilation of God’s Word! (Eccles
11:6; (2Co 4:16; Heb 3:13)
Problem Solving in Spiritual Adulthood
Spiritual childhood continues from Salvation until the believer
reaches Gate 5, which is Personal love for God. Spiritual adulthood extends
from Gate 5 all the way to Gate 8, the winner’s gate. As the Christian
moves into Spiritual adulthood he finds solutions too many problems. How
can he love God whom he cannot see? How can he have an objective yet
positive attitude toward self, even though he knows his own flaws and
weaknesses? How can he tolerate obnoxious, antagonistic people? How
can he avoid being distracted by the people he loves? These are problems
in relationships, and the solutions lie in Virtue-love. Virtue-love is the
combination of Gates 5 and 6 of the Spiritual life, which include Personal
love for God, Spiritual self-esteem, Spiritual autonomy, and Impersonal love
for all mankind. These Biblical Concepts are in contemporary terminology to
communicate the progression and the mechanics of Spiritual adulthood.
Gates 5 and 6 solve problems in relationships with God and with other
people. Toward God, Virtue-love derives its strength from God Himself, the
object of the believer’s Personal love. Personal love for God naturally
generates Spiritual self-esteem and Spiritual autonomy within the believer’s
own soul. The believer gains confidence concerning his eternal Spiritual
royalty and that inner composure becomes the self-assured basis for
kindness, thoughtfulness, and graciousness toward other people. Toward
others, therefore, Virtue-love is Impersonal love for the entire human race.
Impersonal love draws its strength not from the object of love but from the
Virtue of the believer himself, even when the object of love is totally
incompatible or antagonistic toward him. When the believer begins to
acquire Virtue-love, how does he coordinate his newly developed Spiritual
muscles? How do the first awkward expressions of Virtue-love become the
genuine poise of Spiritual strength? The answer is suffering for a blessing.
Between Gates 5 and 6, and again after Virtue-love is consolidated in Gate
6, God applies pressure to test the believer and to accelerate his advance.
Gate 7 is a series of tests designed to propel him into Spiritual maturity.
The mature believer is a winner in life. He has developed the capacity to
receive the conveyance of “every Spiritual blessing in heavenly places in
Christ” (Eph 1:3) all of which were tailor-made for him “before the
foundation of the world.” (Eph 1:4) These fabulous blessings, now on
deposit for each believer, are called “greater grace.” (Jas 4:6) Conveyance
of the believer’s greater blessings glorifies God to the maximum.
Now that the believer has reached Spiritual maturity, he becomes aware of
yet another problem. Having learned the Doctrine of the angelic conflict,
which explains the existence of the human race and the objective of human
history, he knows that God’s purpose is always to demonstrate His
Thoughts. How is God glorified to the maximum? How does He express His
glory in the life of a believer who already receives the magnificent blessings
of Spiritual maturity? The answer is evidence testing. Evidence testing is
Satan’s cross-examination of a mature believer whom God has called to the
stand as a witness to show the Thoughts and Virtue of the new nature
created in us, (2Pe 1:4) a demonstration of Christ, His Thoughts and Nature
alive in us. God receives the glory we are privileged and blessed. (Luk 17:
10) Satan attempts to discredit each witness, but Spiritual maturity gives
the believer the strength to face the worst Satan can throw at him. (Rev 2:9-
10) When the believer uses Divine Thoughts under extreme duress, not only
is God’s perfection demonstrated to the elect angels, Satan and the
demons, but the marvel of God’s grace and power is also made
dramatically clear to the mature believer himself! His Occupation with the
Person of Christ sustains his inner happiness and is the greatest of all
problem-solving devices. (Heb 12:2;
(1Pe 1:6-8) Whether enjoying prosperity or coping with adversity, the
mature believer has access to all the problem-solving devices of the
Spiritual life. As he grows, he still uses all the problem-solving devices of
Spiritual childhood, but now they are reinforced with the strength of
adulthood. (Rom 4:20-21; Heb 11:2) Using the tremendous assets of his
palace, he sustains his Spiritual momentum throughout his life and handles
suffering with such confidence that he becomes a maximum demonstration
of God’s perfect grace and integrity. (Num 11:23)
MENTAL ATTITUDE IN SUFFERING: THE PRINCIPLE OF THE
OFFENSIVE
Besides the Doctrines of the royal family and the palace, yet another
Spiritual Concept must be understood in connection with suffering. The
protocol plan of God is an aggressive plan. Its objective sharply focuses the
believer’s attention. The Christian’s purpose in life is to know God, as He
has revealed Himself in His Word! This goal is achieved by learning,
metabolizing, and applying Truth, which not only will cause the believer to
Personally love God but also create true motivation in all realms of Spiritual
and temporal life. Positive volition is more than a passive interest in God
and His plan! The believer must take the offensive and employ Divine assets
to attain the goal that God has set for every believer.
No one stands still in the Christian life: If a believer does not advance, he
retrogresses. This Truth is intensified under pressure. Suffering never
leaves the Christian the same as he was before; suffering makes him either
better or worse. The believer who reacts to pain and pressure with
arrogance — has bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, guilt and self-pity,
this mental attitude sets him back and stops the Christian life. (Luk 15:28-
32; Php 3:18-19) To advance, he must follow the example of Paul who
repeatedly expresses the attitude of offensive action: “I press on reaching
forward . . . I press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.” (Php 3:12-14) The offensive has always been an important Principle
in life. It is a military axiom that offensive action is the only means by which
a victory is gained. Offensive action brings victory, while defensive action
only delays defeat. Just as the offensive increases the effectiveness of the
force adopting it, likewise taking the offensive in the Spiritual life increases
the believer’s ability to handle any suffering he encounters. The offensive
also raises morale, permits concentration of effort, and allows freedom of
action. Defensive action can be used to assist offensive action elsewhere,
to gain time, to utilize terrain, or to compensate for weakness, but offensive
action must be used where there is any reasonable chance for success. In
the Christian life there is always a “reasonable chance of success.” Taking
our cue from the many Biblical analogies drawn from military life, (Eph 6:10-
18; Heb 4:12) let us use the parallels between the Christian life and a
military operation as a means of anticipating where our study of suffering
will carry us. The believer has an objective in life, which is to know and love
God! This personal objective implies that the believer must attain Spiritual
maturity, in which status his life glorifies God to the maximum. How does he
reach his assigned objective? He goes on the offensive by metabolizing
Truth, while consistently living in the Spiritual life. Truth gives him Spiritual
momentum. From Truth he develops capacity to love God; he attains
Spiritual self-esteem. Spiritual self-esteem is a remarkable achievement,
which we will study in detail. It is the giant step into Spiritual adulthood, the
first major intermediate objective along the route of advance to full maturity.
Because Spiritual self-esteem can easily become arrogance, God strength
ens the believer’s Spiritual self-esteem with providential preventive suffering.
(2Co 12:7) This is the first category of Christian suffering designed for
blessing. When strengthened, Spiritual self-esteem becomes Spiritual
autonomy, (Matt 22:37) which is a base of further operations. The believer
continues his advance to Spiritual maturity through the valley of momentum
testing, which is yet another category of Christian suffering for blessing.
Upon reaching Spiritual maturity, the believer is in a position to face the
challenge of evidence testing and to glorify God to the maximum. Suffering
plays a major role in the believer’s advance. His personal determination to
achieve Spiritual maturity by obeying God’s Commands makes him equal to
any suffering in life. Mental alertness and a readiness to use the assets
God has provided are the attitudes of the Spiritual winner.
THE LAW OF VOLITIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
SELF-INDUCED MISERY
BY FAR THE MOST PREVALENT CATEGORY of human suffering is
self-induced misery. People in general and believers in particular cause
themselves tremendous anguish, both within their own souls and in the overt
circumstances they create. The law of volitional responsibility recognizes
that a believer’s decisions have natural and logical consequences. When he
makes bad decisions, suffering will naturally result. In nearly every instance
of Christian suffering, therefore, part or all of the problem can be traced
back logically to the choices of the one who suffers. Before God created
the human race, He decreed that man would have free will. By Divine
decree; our decisions (Or indecisions) have real repercussions for which we
are responsible. Just as there are scientific Laws in which science observes
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ who “upholds all things by the word of His
power” (Heb 1:3; cf. Col 1:16) so also there are laws of human
consequence in which each individual’s thoughts, decisions, and actions
establish the trends in his life. Every human being has free will. We make
decisions constantly. Some of those decisions are good, others bad. You
probably discovered in early youth that when you chose to take certain
actions you were punished, but when you chose to take other actions you
avoided punishment and perhaps enjoyed some measure of blessing. This
Principle also holds true in the Spiritual life. When we follow Divine protocol
we are blessed; when we violate protocol we are disciplined. The obvious
conclusion is that we must learn God’s system and Think with it! The
implication of the law of volitional responsibility is that every human being
must take the responsibility for his own decisions and actions. A mature
person understands that he never blames others for his unhappiness. He
acknowledges any mistakes or wrong decisions he has made regarding
relationships, activities, motives, and functions in life and fulfills the ob
ligations he has incurred. If he suffers from causes beyond his control, he
does not allow the pain to tyrannize his soul. Rather than poison himself with
bitterness and self-pity, he makes the most of his present options and
opportunities through good decisions compatible with the protocol plan of
God. The Law of volitional responsibility is clearly taught in Scripture.
Be not deceived; God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, this he
will also reap. (Gal 6:7)
Sowing and reaping can be beneficial or detrimental. In Galatians 6:7
they illustrate the law of volitional responsibility, warning the believer not to
ignore or violate the protocol plan of God. The seeds a farmer plants will in
variably produce their own species of plant and fruit. Likewise, the sins a
person commits sprout and follow a natural pattern of growth. Tracing the
results of a particular sin is not the point of this verse. Just as no two seeds
are exactly alike and just as they are affected by nearly infinite combinations
of soil and weather, a believer’s sins produce suffering in keeping with all
the variables of his life. The harvest of suffering will differ from one person
to another even if they seem to commit the same sins. But anyone who
thinks he will escape the consequences of his own decisions deceives
himself. He assumes that God has not sovereignly decreed man to have
free will. If man’s decisions had no effect, he would not have free will. How
ever, man does have free will and his bad decisions have bad effects.
Arrogance is self-deception. An inflated opinion of self is the believer’s
great enemy, an illusion which will relentlessly undermine his life and
happiness. Most suffering in life is caused by ignorance and arrogance. In
contrast to humility and Truth, which orients the believer to God’s Reality,
arrogance is divorcement from God’s Reality. The Divine decrees guarantee
that the consequences of man’s decisions occur in Reality, and because the
arrogant believer’s perception and thought are divorced from Reality, his
suffering will seem to come out of nowhere. The natural results of his
decisions often will take him by surprise. Situations for which he himself is
responsible will shock and disappoint him, will confound his expectations,
and will dash his misplaced hopes. In arrogance and ignorance the believer
will falsely blame his misfortunes on other people, environment, childhood
trauma, bad luck, the devil; or even God. Because he is out of touch with
Divine Reality, he is ultimately illogical in his thinking. Blaming others is
rationalization; everyone is responsible for his own decisions!
(Gal 6:8)
VOLITION AS THE SOURCE OF SIN, OLD SIN NATURE GOOD, AND
EVIL
Volition, which is a component of the human soul, is the source of
personal sins and sin nature good and is also a source of evil, PERSONAL
SIN is an act of volition contrary to the will and Standards of God. Personal
sin is distinguished from Adam’s original sin, which caused the fall of the
entire human race, and distinct also from the old sin nature, which is the
genetic legacy of Adam’s sin in the body of each of his descendants.
(Psa 51:5) Personal sin is one manifestation of man’s fallen state. The old
sin nature is a source of temptation, but volition is the source of every
personal sin. Personal sin results from volition saying yes to temptation;
whether or not the individual knows he is transgressing God’s will. The
presence of the old sin nature is no excuse for committing personal sins, nor
is ignorance. God has given us assets with the power to overcome these
handicaps. Personal sins are classified as (1) mental attitude sins, like
arrogance, greed, lust and jealousy, (Matt 15:19) (2) verbal sins, such as
gossip, maligning, and lying, (3) and overt sins, like murder, theft, and
fornication. OLD SIN NATURE GOOD is man’s relative righteousness,
which can never meet the Standards of God’s absolute righteousness.
When compared to God, “...All our righteous deeds are like a filthy
garment...” (Isa 64:6) Religion vainly seeks to earn the approbation of God
through the “dead works” of the human old sin nature, (Heb 6:1; Heb 9:14)
whereas Christianity, which is not a religion, is a personal relationship with
God based not on human merit but on the possession of perfect Divine
righteousness. At the moment of Salvation, God imputes His own
righteousness to every believer (Gen 15:6; Rom 3:22; Rom 4:3; Rom 8:10)
and declares each believer justified, vindicated, acceptable to the absolute
Standards of God. (Rom 3:19-30) EVIL is a self-destructive way of thinking
that is hostile to the will of God. As ruler of the world Satan’s thinking is his
multifaceted policy of evil, a policy of guaranteed misery which we are born
with, and think with. (Jer 17:9; John 8:44; Rom 12:2) Until we Spiritually
mature. (1Co 14:20; Heb 5:14)
SINS OF IGNORANCE AND ERRORS IN JUDGMENT
Sin, old sin nature production, and evil are absolutely excluded from the
plan of God for the believer’s life. But since believers still have their old sin
natures after Salvation, (Rom 7:24-25) and since many believers fail to
learn what constitutes sin, old sin nature production, and evil or how to deal
with them, Christians will inevitably commit these violations of Divine
protocol. Suffering under the law of volitional responsibility will afflict the
believer who does not know he is involved in sin, old sin nature production,
or evil. Because volition operates in ignorance as well as in cognizance,
whether or not a believer knew a particular thought or act was wrong, he
nonetheless chose to commit it. He did it because he wanted to do it.
Consequently, he must take responsibility for that decision and for any
resultant suffering. He is foolish if he remains oblivious to the connection
between his decisions and his misery. No one has an excuse for practicing
sin, old sin nature production, or evil. Free will is always the cause. Even in
psychosis people use their volition. Indeed, psychosis is primarily volitional.
In fact, many psychotic individuals have exceedingly strong wills. Very few
people are born psychotic; most of mental illnesses are acquired through
arrogance, self-centeredness, selfishness, self-righteousness; and the
practice of making thousands of subjective wrong decisions over an
extended period of time. (1Sa 16:14-15) In deliberate rebelliousness, in
ignorance, or in psychosis; suffering piles on top of suffering — for which
the individual bears responsibility.
Not all suffering under the law of volitional responsibility arises from sin,
human good, or evil. Occasionally, our suffering originates from nothing
more than poor judgment. The very fact that we are imperfect means that
our judgment will be flawed from time to time. No matter how smart we are,
someone can always deceive us. Despite wisdom and objectivity, we all
have areas of subjectivity and sentimentality that can distort our thinking.
Intelligence is no protection. Experience affords little help. Advice from
friends or warnings from experts will never keep us from doing the foolish
things we set our minds on doing. A great deal of suffering arises from
errors in human judgment.
Violations of the laws of Divine establishment, (Life, property, protection,
privacy and freedom) guarantee suffering to both believer and unbeliever
under the Principle of volitional responsibility. The Scriptures describe in
detail operational laws for the entire human race within the framework of
national entities. The sanctity of life and property of privacy and freedom,
must be respected or suffering will result. If a believer commits murder, for
example, he has not only committed a sin against God but he has violated
the laws of establishment concerning the sanctity a human life. He should,
therefore, suffer capital punishment because he made the criminal decision
to commit murder. (Rom 13:1-4) The Christian way of life is more
demanding than the establishment life of the unbeliever. The believer’s life
has a Divine purpose; the unbeliever’s life does not — except to become a
believer. Hence, the Christian suffers from violations of establishment
Principles, as would any unbeliever, but he also suffers when he ignores the
Commands of God’s protocol plan. He is Commanded to reside and function
in the palace, the Spiritual life under the enabling power of God the Holy
Spirit, but if he “quenches” or “grieves” the Holy Spirit through sin, (Eph 4:
30; (1Th 5:19) he cuts himself off from God’s purpose for his life and enters
the dungeon of Satan’s system. (2Ti 2:25-26) All suffering from the cosmic
system is classified under the law of volitional responsibility, but the believer
in the cosmic system suffers more severely than does the unbeliever in the
cosmic system.
COLLECTIVE SUFFERING
The law of volitional responsibility not only explains individual suffering
but also accounts for the collective suffering that man brings upon himself. A
corporation may go bankrupt through the bad decisions of a few company
officers and government officials. Suffering from their decisions touched
many other people. With so many individuals operating in the world, each
with free will, a certain amount of suffering inevitably overflows into one’s
life from the decisions of others. Volition is still the cause. If not created by
one’s own volition, suffering results from someone else’s volition. The
innocent suffer with the guilty, but innocent or guilty, each believer must
apply the solutions available in the Spiritual life. If he personally fails to use
Divine assets and problem-solving devices, the blame for misery can fall
only upon the believer himself. Ultimately there are no innocent parties; man
by nature is a flawed imperfect creature. Since the fall of Adam, no one is
naturally great; nobility of soul is a rare achievement. Evidence of this
Biblical Principle is found in the tremendous amount of suffering in the world
today, suffering that has been rampant through thousands of years of
human history. In every generation, there is always a plethora of suffering.
Each individual, (Excluding the humanity of Christ; Isa 9:6; Heb 7:26; (1Pe 1:
19) is identified with Adam in his fall; each is genetically related to fallen
Adam. Because of Adam’s deliberate decision to sin in the Garden, (Rom 5:
12) we are born with genetic and environmental handicaps to which add our
own volitional flaws from personal sin and poor judgment, creating our own
suffering under the law of volitional responsibility. Human weakness,
ignorance, and arrogance weave a tapestry of inevitable suffering for many
people. However, we are not doomed by our handicaps to lives of misery
and despair. A Principle of grace is far more powerful than is the
unavoidable law of volitional responsibility: While man manufactures his own
problems and resultant suffering, God manufactures solutions and blessings
in the midst of suffering. (Sin nature, thought, people, organization and
disaster testing)
FORGIVENESS AND RESPONSIBILITY
All personal sins were judged at the Cross. (Rom 8:3; (1Pe 2:24;
2Co 5:21) The Gospel of Salvation is the supreme illustration that Divine
sovereignty and human free will coexist by Divine decree. In grace God the
Father, who is the author of the Divine plan, took direct action and solved
the sin problem. He imputed all the sins of mankind to Christ on the cross
and judged Him as our substitute. (1Jn 2:2) Jesus Christ died for the sins of
every member of the human race, paying in full, once and for all, the penalty
demanded by the absolute righteousness of God. (1Pe 3:18) That is why
the Scripture says “...Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” (John 3:
15) One non-meritorious act of positive volition to believe in Christ
appropriates the work of eternal, omnipotent, sovereign God. This is grace.
(Eph 2:8-9) Through Christ’s perfectly meritorious work and man’s non-
meritorious faith, God totally removes the barrier between fallen man and
Himself, reconciling the believer to Himself. Even though sins were judged
on the Cross, and we have eternal Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ,
our daily living on earth involves the natural repercussions of our sins. Sin
has temporal consequences toward God, toward self, and toward other
people. In relation to God, the sin caused by negative volition removes the
believer from temporal fellowship with Him in the palace of the Spiritual life.
When we rebound, the sin is always forgiven and we are restored to
fellowship with God. Admitting being out of fellowship privately to God the
Father is our responsibility (1Jn 1:9) and is our first obligation after
committing a sin. What is our responsibility toward self? In relation to self,
the danger lies in allowing the sin that God has already forgiven to kindle a
mental attitude reaction. Like a chain smoker who lights his next cigarette
on the butt of the last one, the chain sinner ignites a mental attitude sin on a
sin that rebound has taken away. For example, when a believer guilty of
hatred confesses his sin to God. He forgives him and forgets the sin. If the
believer then fails to forget the sin God Himself has forgotten, the old hatred
can lead to further sins of bitterness and revenge. Likewise, fornication is a
sin that, even though totally forgiven by God, may cause the devastating sin
of guilt. Or, in erroneous zeal to make up for a sin for which Christ was
already judged on the Cross, a believer may enter into self-righteous
crusader arrogance, which once again ejects him out of the Spiritual life,
and fellowship with God. An essential part of rebound, therefore, is the
isolation of sin. We never allow one sin to become the cause of another and
another; in a subjective chain reaction. After perfect God has forgiven us, a
guilt complex or self-pity or a “root of bitterness springing up” must be
classified as a devastating mental attitude sin, a prime cause of self-induced
misery. (Heb 12:15) By understanding and applying the powerful Doctrines
that underlie the simplicity of the rebound technique, we are able to prevent
the forgiven sin from igniting another sin.
We are responsible to rebound and move on in our Christian lives, rather
than be enslaved to past sins by bitterness or a guilt complex. Any suffering
that our sinning brings about is converted by rebound, from cursing to
blessing. Although we may be the cause of our own pain, our situation has
now become an opportunity to utilize Divine assets, to see God’s provisions
in action, and to grow in grace. Since we are responsible for all of our
decisions, what is our obligation to people who have been hurt by our
sinning? What is our responsibility to those harmed by our bad judgment?
Although our sins are forgiven and we are restored to fellowship with God,
we have avoided chain sinning and have proceeded to apply Truth in our
own lives, our sins may continue to have injurious effects on other people.
Rebound and the isolation of sin are marvelous problem-solving devices
supplied by the grace of God, but they give us no excuse for irresponsibility
toward others. Rebound is a license for Spiritual growth, never a license for
sin. Nor does God’s grace in rebound ever justify a believer’s flip attitude
toward the freedom, privacy, property and or feelings of others. Here we
sail into dangerous waters where we must “...Rightly divide Word of Truth.”
(2Ti 2:15) To be right with man does not mean that we a right with God.
Unbelievers can have relationships with other people, proving that human
relationships are not at the heart of the Christian way of life. What the
unbeliever can do is not the Christian life! In the protocol plan of God,
relationship with God comes first and has a positive impact on relationships
with people. A right relationship with God leads to a right relationship with
man. The believer’s most important function after committing a sin is to
restore his fellowship with God, where he is filled with the Spirit and thereby
perpetuates his Spiritual growth. Much less important, but still part of the
believer’s volitional responsibility, is the fulfillment of his obligations in
relation to other people. Every situation is different; each believer must
apply Truth for himself. There is no pat solution by which the Christian
resolves his human relationships, but certain Biblical Principles must guide
his Spiritual Thinking and application. Responsibility to people we have
harmed lies between two extremes that we must avoid. We must not be
insensitive, nor should we allow ourselves to be enslaved by anyone’s
implacability. In other words, we are not to ignore the just cause of anyone
who suffers because of our decisions, but neither should we be motivated
by fear or a guilt complex. Between these two extremes lies our
responsibility. If the suffering we cause can be alleviated, we should go to
the extent that justice, sensitivity, and common sense dictate in easing the
situation. Often the problem is complex. Usually both parties in any dispute
are guilty to some degree. Some “solutions” would only aggravate the
problem. We should be thoughtful and generous and should walk the extra
mile, (Matt 5:41; Rom 12:18) but when nothing more can be done, we must
leave the situation in the Lord’s hands for the solution as we press on in our
Christian lives.(2Sa 12:13; Psa 51:4) No matter whose volition originally
causes the suffering, each person is ultimately responsible for applying
Truth in his own life! Above all else, the believer must live his life as unto the
Lord, not as unto people! This is not to be construed as ignoring the human
dimension of the problem, but application of the Law of volitional
responsibility does not mortgage the believer’s future to pay for his past
failures! Instead, the protocol plan of God demands the Virtues of humility,
Personal love for God and Impersonal love toward other people. (Matt 22:
37-40) Bad decisions make suffering inevitable, and when a believer
commits a sin, he must take responsibility for its consequences toward
God, self and others.
THE LIMITED EXAMPLE OF ESTABLISHMENT COURAGE
In the devil’s world a certain amount of suffering is unavoidable, but self-
induced misery can always be avoided. The key is found in the application
of Truth resident in the soul. All Truth is ultimately based on the absolute
Person of God, and all human integrity is loyalty to some category of Truth.
Truth exists in three categories:
1. LAWS OF DIVINE ESTABLISHMENT for believers and unbelievers alike,
2. THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION for unbelievers,
3. THE WORD OF TRUTH for believers only.
When inculcated with Truth, the human soul can triumph over adversity.
This point is dramatically illustrated by the establishment-oriented
unbeliever. Although he has limited resources of Truth, he displays
admirable stability and courage under stress. If the unbeliever can handle
suffering with the restricted power of establishment Truth, then far greater
are the believer’s dynamics as he utilizes Truth and the Divine omnipotence
available in the Spiritual life to meet the challenges of life.
The effectiveness of Divine establishment as a limited source of strength
dramatically reveals the superior power of Divine Thinking. American
prisoners of war in North Vietnam provide a notable example of unbelievers
and believers whose inner strength was derived from establishment
Principles. These men were sustained by a code of establishment Concepts
through years of bestial, crippling torture. Rear Admiral James B.
Stockdale, (Ret.), the senior American prisoner of war, was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his “valiant leadership and extraordinary courage” as
the leader of prisoner resistance. He confirms that even under extreme
suffering, the law of volitional responsibility remains operational, and he
describes the prisoners’ ability to avoid self-destructive mental attitude sins.
There are a lot of things a torturer can’t do with torture. Aristotle said that
compulsion and free will can coexist, and he was right. . . . A man about to
undergo torture must have burned into his mind the fact that he can be
hemmed in only within a very narrow window and that he need not volunteer
information. . . . To keep your integrity, your dignity, your soul, you have to
retain responsibility for your actions, to deal with guilt. (“Yes, I lost the
bubble, I might have done better, but I didn’t.”) You need to look squarely at
what you did and measure its limited gravity in the light of the overall Truth
of the total situation, then use the guilt, such as it is, as a cleansing fire to
purge the fault, as a goad for future resolve, and above all do not be
consumed by it. But you have to do all this yourself. To say that guilt doesn’t
exist or that it was the work of “evil spirits” or “brainwashers” is self-
delusion. . . . What is indispensable to avoiding the web of fear and guilt is
the ability to stand isolated, without friends and surrounded by enemies, and
quite uncharitably say “no,” without the crutch of anger, without
embarrassment, with finality and with commitment to the consequences. . .
. Young Americans in Hanoi learned fast. They made no deals. They
learned that “meeting them half way” was the road to degradation. My
hypothetical young prison mate soon learned that impulses, working against
the grain, are very important in political prisons, that one learns to enjoy
fighting city hall, to enjoy giving the enemy upside-down logic problems, that
one soon finds himself taking his lumps with pride and not merely liking but
loving that tapping guy next door, the man he never sees, the man he bares
his soul to after each torture session, until he realizes he is thereby
expiating all residual guilt. Then he realizes he can’t be hurt and can’t be had
as long as he tells the Truth and clings to that forgiving band of brothers
who are becoming his country, his family. American prisoners of war applied
establishment Truths concerning personal freedom and responsibility as
well as humility, honesty, and mutual respect. They avoided torturing
themselves with mental attitude sins. Moreover, free from self-induced
misery, they learned to actually enjoy the challenges of their unspeakable
situation. Their success did not stem from mere stubbornness, which can be
a counterfeit of integrity. Anger, fear, guilt, vengeance, implacability, or
insecurity may motivate unyielding tenacity. This pseudo-strength may
appear admirable and may even achieve a degree of success, but the inner
result of such false motivation is only wear and tear on the soul. In
particular, fear is a tremendous drain of mental and physical energy. God is
the source of establishment Truth, but the protocol plan of God both
includes and exceeds Divine establishment. If the application of
establishment Truth creates genuine strength of soul, the application of
Spirit & Truth has far greater dynamics. (John 4:24) The whole is greater
than the part. The advancing believer understands that “the overall Truth of
the total situation” includes the magnificent grace of God, His Divine
omnipotence, and the problem-solving devices of His protocol plan. Freewill
(Volition) causes suffering under the law of volitional responsibility, but the
existence of freewill also strips away every excuse for self-induced misery.
The believer’s own negative volition is his only hindrance to advancement in
the protocol plan of God. There is no excuse for failing to perceive,
metabolize, and apply Truth in the power of the Spiritual life. Far surpassing
establishment Truth, fabulous equal privileges and equal opportunities are
granted by God to every believer for the fulfillment of His plan, purpose and
design.
MAKING GOOD DECISIONS, FOLLOWING DIVINE PROTOCOL
The believer is responsible for most of his own suffering, but what is the
solution? He must reverse the trend. Rather than make bad decisions, the
believer must begin to make good decisions, which also have logical
repercussions — good results. The believer who obeys the Commands of
God, frees the omnipotence of God to advance and bless him. This means
that he must learn Truth filled with God the Holy Spirit. Only the believer
who understands and properly uses the problem-solving devices available to
him in the palace of the Spiritual life fulfills his destiny in the plan of God.
Illustration
Divine protocol is precise. “God is not a God of confusion” or
disorganization. (1Co 14:33) The believer is free to express his individual
volition within the Boundaries (Thoughts) established by the plan of God.
God’s plan must be accurately understood and applied. The believer who
distorts God’s plan by overemphasizing isolated elements rather than living
by the entire system of protocol is not solving his problems; he is
compounding them. The rebound prayer, for example, is the means of
reentering the Spiritual life and restoring the ministry of God the Holy Spirit
in the believer’s life. (John 4:24) But even a precisely accurate rebound
prayer generally does not cause pain to instantly, magically cease. In
reaction to pain, prayer is often taken out of its protocol context and falsely
applied to suffering. Prayer is a weapon for the strong, not a crutch for the
weak. Prayer has many wonderful applications within the rules God has laid
down, but no amount of prayer will reverse the natural results of bad
decisions. When a believer prays for himself or asks others to pray for him
because he is hurting from bad decisions, he may be hoping prayer will
achieve what it was never designed to accomplish. If he merely wishes his
suffering to end, he wants God to suspend the Law of volitional
responsibility, change His entire plan for the human race, and somehow
miraculously make the pain go away. The source of the suffering is the
wrong decisions the believer himself has made regarding business, or
personal relationships, or when facing temptation or sin. There are Divine
solutions to suffering, which we are studying, but imploring God for relief is
not one of them. (2Co 12:8-9) In fact, the removal of suffering might deny
the believer a special blessing available to him only through the suffering.
The protocol plan of God establishes the correct procedure to Think and
use; the believer must learn and obey the system God has established. The
ignorance and confusion of believers who have never learned the protocol of
the Christian life can only intensify their suffering.
DIVINE DISCIPLINE
AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S GRACE
WE HAVE SEEN THAT MOST CHRISTIAN SUFFERING arises from the
believer’s own thoughts, decisions, and actions. One bad decision follows
another until his life is unbearable. He makes a shamble of his present
experience and destroys his future options. No one can devastate a person’
s life, as he can himself. At some point in this self-destructive process, God
intervenes with Divine discipline. God will not stand by while members of the
royal family sink into degeneracy; He takes stern measures to alert them to
their dire situation and to encourage them to rebound and reenter the
palace. In His perfect wisdom God knows when and how to warn each
believer. Our heavenly Father knows the most effective way to confront us
with the fact that we are totally dependent on His grace. (1Co 11:30-31) All
Divine discipline is administered in grace. The Christian under discipline may
doubt that God is treating him in grace, but he could not imagine how much
more he would hurt if God were not acting in grace. God severely punishes
believers but not because He likes to see us squirm. He is perfect. He is
just. We are His children, the royal family of God, and He punishes us for
our benefit. By definition, Divine discipline is the sum total of punitive action
taken by the justice of God in grace to correct, to punish, to encourage, to
train, to motivate the believer’s free will toward the protocol plan of God.
Divine discipline is for believers only (Heb 12:8) and occurs only in this life,
not in heaven. (Rev 21:4)
Divine discipline is a warning that the believer is outside the boundaries
of God’s plan. Just as a football game is played inside the boundaries of the
playing field, so the plan of God must be executed within the bounds of
Divine protocol. (2Jn 1:9) Just as the referee blows a whistle when the ball
carrier steps out of bounds, so God blows a whistle on us and administers
Divine discipline when we live out of fellowship. (Rev 3:20)
DISCIPLINE AS PARENTAL TRAINING IN HEBREWS 12
When a believer cuts off his fellowship with God through sin and remains
in the cosmic system, God in His grace must deal with him as a child. Truth
has been ignored; God must get the believer’s attention through pain.
And so you yourselves have forgotten a Principle of Doctrine which
teaches you as sons: My son, [God addresses believers as His children] do
not make light of corrective discipline from the Lord nor be fainting when you
are reprimanded by Him. (Heb 12:5)
Hebrews 12:5 encourages us by explaining that Divine discipline is
tailored to each believer. God treats us as individuals. Discipline is neither
too lenient (“Do not make light”) nor too severe (“Nor be fainting”) but is
administered for maximum effectiveness in every believer’s life.
For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He punishes every son
whom He welcomes home. (Heb 12:6)
Divine discipline from the Lord is part of parental training in the royal
family of God. The premise in comparing Divine discipline with child rearing
in the home, that is; except for the humanity of Jesus Christ, there is no
such thing as a perfect child. Some children are unquestionably better
behaved and more responsive to instruction than others, but every child
needs training so that eventually he will be able to function in adult society.
Parents try to instill authority orientation in their children. Anyone who leaves
home without authority orientation makes himself a monster who will
manufacture misery for himself and others under the law of volitional
responsibility. On the Spiritual side of the analogy, there is no such thing as
sinless perfection in this life, again with the exception of Christ’s impeccable
humanity. As long as any believer lives in his mortal body, in which the old
sin nature resides, he will continue to sin. (1Ki 8:46; Psa 143:2; Eccles 7:
20) As he matures Spiritually, he will sin less frequently and perhaps will
commit different categories of sin, but periodically he will succumb to
temptation and enter the cosmic system. (Rom 7:18-25) If the believer
remains in the cosmic system, his thinking loses touch with the Reality of
God’s protocol plan. Under prolonged cosmic influence, his arrogance
becomes antagonism toward God; he multiplies his own unhappiness and
incurs Divine discipline. Like parental training, Divine discipline is designed to
inculcate humility, which is orientation to God’s Reality and authority. Only
the humble believer is teachable;
(Psa 25:8-9) he desires to understand how he fits in the overall scheme of
God’s grace. Only with humility can anyone be objective and responsive to
the authority of God’s Thoughts. Although self-evaluation when
accompanied by arrogance rapidly slips into subjectivity; (False reality) we
have the responsibility to analyze our lives objectively in the light of the
Word of God. We should be first to recognize our own weaknesses. If we
do not, Divine discipline enforces humility on us, teaching us to see
ourselves as we really are in relation to God and His marvelous plan. The
very fact that we receive discipline from God tells us we are divorced from
Reality and that God is bringing us back to grace-oriented objectivity. From
that solid footing we can rebound and resume our Spiritual growth.
HEBREWS 12 CONTINUES WITH AN EXPLANATION OF DIVINE
DISCIPLINE IN TERMS OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN.
And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as
sons, MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE
LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE
WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES
EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. It is for discipline that you endure;
God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father
does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have
become partakers, then you are illegitimate children (Unbelievers) and not
sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we
respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits,
and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them,
but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. (2Pe
1:4) All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet
to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness. (Spiritual Maturity) Therefore, strengthen the hands that
are weak and the knees that are feeble, (Rebound) and make straight paths
for your feet, (Stay in Fellowship) so that the limb which is lame may not be
put out of joint, (Sin unto death) but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all
men, and the sanctification (Spiritual Maturity) without which no one will see
the Lord.
(Isa 54:12-13; Matt 5:8; (1Jn 3:3) (Heb 12:5-14)
CATEGORIES OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE
God is never arbitrary in administering discipline: His punishment is
always appropriate to the individual in question. From His perfect Divine
justice, all discipline not only fits the violation but also matches the believer’s
receptivity. Hence, there are three categories of Divine discipline:
1. WARNING DISCIPLINE,
2. INTENSIVE DISCIPLINE,
3. DYING DISCIPLINE.
When the believer does not use rebound, these three categories of
discipline are progressive. Mild discipline gives way to more and more
severe discipline if the believer fails to respond. The believer who refuses to
live in fellowship receives warning discipline, added to the misery he has
already created for himself under the law of volitional responsibility. He has
isolated himself from fellowship with God; he has shut Christ out of his
thoughts.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and
opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
(Rev 3:20)
That knock at the door is warning discipline. As a general rule, warning
discipline is in itself less severe than the believer’s self-induced misery.
However, the combination of warning discipline and self-induced misery
adds up to a significant shock. Because he has not yet declined into the
later stages of negative volition, this believer is still sensitive to the Truth. He
can still profit from this degree of discipline so that God does not have to
proceed to the next stage of punitive suffering. He can still hear the
knocking on the door. God can catch his attention with relatively mild
suffering. If the believer ignores or rejects Divine warnings, he eventually
requires intensive discipline. By habitual abstinence he has dulled his
sensitivity to Truth; warning discipline is no longer sufficient. God still has a
marvelous plan for blessing this cosmic believer, but God’s plan can be
executed only in the power of the Spiritual life. God continues to support him
with logistical grace, keeping him alive so that he might return to his palace.
Where there is life there is hope, and God fans the feeble flame of hope by
continuing to discipline the believer
(Isa 42:3) even after he has insulted and blasphemed God by choosing to
remain in Satan’s cosmic system. Stiffer Divine discipline is required to jolt
the habitually rebellious believer into objectivity. Intensive discipline alone is
worse than self-induced misery: When these two categories of suffering are
combined, the total pain from God and from self is extremely severe. This
adds up to unbearable suffering for the believer who persists in the cosmic
system. God is exceedingly patient with His children. He extends to the
believer every possible opportunity to fulfill His protocol plan. But with each
rejection of God’s gracious appeal to return, the Christian renders himself
less capable of making a positive decision. “Hardness of heart,” or scar
tissue of the soul eventually locks his volition in negative. (Heb 4:7; Heb 6:6)
Unless he rebounds, he will arrive at the third and final stage of Divine
discipline, the sin unto death. (1Jn 5:16) Dying discipline, or the sin unto
death, is a horrible departure from time into eternity. The Christian involved
has no inner resources for meeting death. In ignorance of Truth, death
becomes a terrifying plunge into the unknown. (Jer 17:13) God’s work of
Salvation can never be canceled; even the most hardened, self-righteous
Christian is immediately “absent from the body and. . . At home face to face
with the Lord” when removed from life on earth, (2Co 5:8) until the judgment
seat. (2Co 5:10)
And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom
his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the
proper time? (1Pe 5:2-4) Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so
doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all
his possessions. (Rev 3:21) But if that slave says in his heart, My master
will be a long time in coming, and begins to beat the slaves, both men and
women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; (Php 3:18-19) the master of
that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour
he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with
the unbelievers. (Matt 8:10-12; Luk 13:28-30; Luk 14:16-27 ; (2Pe 2:13-22;
Jud 1:11-13) And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get
ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one
who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive
but few.
(1Co 3:11-15; Mark 9:49-50) From everyone who has been given much,
much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will
ask all the more. (Php 3:10) (Luk 12:42-48)
Such recalcitrant believers who enter heaven, and not outer darkness
will enjoy complete happiness in heaven, (Rev 21:4) but they receive no
eternal rewards with which to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ forever. (1Co 3:
15) These cosmic believers are losers in life; their tailor-made blessings for
time and eternity are never delivered to them, but remain permanently on
deposit in heaven as a memorial to lost opportunity and to God’s
magnificent, irrevocable grace. (Eph 1:3; 1Pe 1:4) Believers who complete
their Spiritual life (Matt 25:23) will have entrance into the New Jerusalem
(Isa 54:12-13; Rev 3:12; Rev 22:14)
BELIEVERS WHO SERVE SATAN
Not every Christian who fails to rebound and continues in locked-in
negative volition is removed immediately from this life. God may keep a
believer alive for a long time in the intensive stage of Divine discipline. With
great finesse God may employ these eternally saved “enemies of the
Cross” (Php 3:18) as agents of momentum testing in the lives of growing
believers. Specifically, Christians suffering intensive Divine discipline may
administer the people test, the thought test, the system test, or the disaster
test to Spiritually adult believers. (Lam 3:53) Representing many different
personalities, attitudes, and styles of living and taking many different human
approaches to life, cosmic Christians who periodically receive intensive
discipline serve Satan as cosmic evangelists. (Job 2:9; (1Co 3:3) Satan
uses these negative believers to distract positive believers from the protocol
plan of God. Cosmic Christians draw other believers into the pseudo-
strength and superficial attractions of the cosmic system. (Gal 5:7-10; Rev
2:2) Besides “enemies of the Cross of Christ” (Php 3:18) other Biblical
terms for cosmic believers include “anti-Christs” (1Jn 2:18-19; (2Jn 1:7-9)
“agents of the devil” (1Jn 3:8) “children of the devil” (1Jn 3:10) “haters of
God” (1Jn 4:20) “hostile toward God” (Rom 8:7) “men of the flesh” (1Co 3:
1-3)“enemies of God”
(Jas 4:4) “double-minded.” (Jas 4:8) All these phrases refer to believers,
not to unbelievers! Cosmic believers are like aggressors in army field
exercises. Often troops who have only a few weeks remaining in the service
will be issued weapons and blank ammunition in order to play the role of the
enemy against soldiers who are being trained. The aggressors and the men
in training are members of the same army, but the only troops benefiting
from the simulated combat are those being tested, not the aggressors.
Likewise, the only reason God sustains the lives of some negative believers
is to use them to train others. These “enemies of God” (Jas 4:4) are still
members of the royal family. But the only role they can play in the
glorification of Christ is to be a test for positive believers. Because of their
own failures to execute the protocol plan of God, they become merely a
means of building strength in someone else. Obviously, this is not a Christian’
s highest calling. These cosmic Christians on the verge of maximum
discipline may be sincere, sweet, and highly legalistic individuals who have
distorted Christianity into a religion of old sin nature good works. They may
be moral degenerates
(Col 2:20-23) rather than immoral degenerates. (Rom 1:29-32) The growing
believer who can see through their facade, (Matt 23:28) discerning the evil
of self-righteousness, yet avoiding condemning them himself, (Luk 6:37)
accelerates his growth in the Spiritual life! God’s genius is wonderfully
displayed as He permits a negative Christian in Satan’s system to ambush a
positive Christian. God uses Satan and the believer who is going in the
wrong direction as a stimulus to contribute to the Spiritual maturity of the
believer advancing in the right direction. (Psa 76:10; (2Co 12:7)
LEARNING THE HARD WAY
Divine discipline may help others besides the one being punished, but
primarily discipline is a teacher, a private tutor of the one in pain. Through
suffering, God confronts the believer with his ignorance of Truth. Believers
who fail to learn Truth will suffer all their lives until they are removed by the
sin unto death. (1Jn 5:16) They may be negative at different points in the
learning process, which involves rebound, reception, retention, recall of
Truth, the resisting of sin and our own will. (Jas 1:13-15) Those who refuse
to listen to Bible teaching (No reception) will live out their days in ignorance
and arrogance, self-induced misery and Divine discipline. They will be
unhappy and will never understand why.
Other believers who do listen to Truth, even those who listen
consistently, may reject true information they do not like to hear.
(Reception, but not believing and Thinking with Truth) The points of Doctrine
they resist must be learned another way, the hard way, through Divine
discipline. Divine discipline is suffering, but not for its own sake; Divine
discipline is teaching. Where the believer has reception and retention but no
recall of Truth for application, Divine discipline solves the problem by forcing
the believer to concentrate on Truth in a humanly hopeless situation. God
must teach — and all of us must learn — a certain number of lessons
through suffering. We have a choice: Learn the easy way through Bible
Teaching, or learn the hard way through suffering. These are the two
systems of learning in the Church Age. Instruction from one’s pastor is God’
s unlimited means of Communication. (Hos 8:12) In contrast, discipline from
God is a limited means of Communication. The pastor who teaches the
Word of God in fellowship, line by line, verse by verse can cover the whole
realm of Divine Truth, resulting in Spiritual momentum and maturity in his
listeners. Discipline, however, can only motivate the believer to return to the
plan of God and resume learning Truth under his pastor. Divine discipline
has a limited objective, to alert the believer that he is out of bounds and to
motivate his recovery through rebound. Concentrating in Bible class may be
difficult from time to time, but it is not nearly as painful nor as limited as
receiving discipline directly from God. Discipline reminds us that we never
get away with anything. (2Sa 12:7-14 ) God never overlooks any member
of His royal family. No believer is ever ignored by the grace of God. Sooner
or later God will provide sufficient punishment to remind the believer of
what is really important in life.
(At God’s perfect timing)
FURTHER BIBLICAL DOCUMENTATION OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE
God takes punitive action in order to teach and train us. Divine discipline
motivates us to learn, so that the renewing of our minds with Truth becomes
a way of life. (Rom 12:2) We may learn the hard way from time to time, but
we learn nonetheless!
Those whom I love, [Believers] I reprove [I tell them: They are wrong]
and discipline; therefore be zealous [Positive] and repent. [Rebound]
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; [Intensive discipline] if anyone hears
My voice and opens the door, [Rebounds] I will come in to him and will dine
with him, and he with Me. (1Jn 1:3) He who overcomes, (1Jn 2:16) I will
grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame (Luk 4:3-
13) and sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev 3:19-21)
The Church Age believer always belongs to Christ’s royal priesthood,
even when he lives in the cosmic system. He always has the right to
approach the throne of grace with rebound and be restored to his palace.
(Heb 4:16) Discipline alerts the cosmic believer to the fact that something is
wrong with his life. The Lord graciously keeps knocking, giving the believer
continuing opportunities to rebound. Failure to respond after hearing God’s
warnings results in more discipline until death. (Rom 2:8-9)
Arrogance in any of its myriad (Innumerable) forms is a “life of deceit.”
The arrogant believer denies the results of his own bad decisions and
ignores the warning discipline that God adds to his self-induced misery. If
he is a moral degenerate, he practices sin and evil behind a facade of
respectability; (2Ti 3:5) preoccupied with his own righteousness and zealous
to convert others to his brand of sin nature “good” he refuses to believe that
he causes most of his own trouble or that God is trying to get his attention
through suffering. If he is an immoral degenerate, his sins will be more
blatant. He may blame circumstances or environment for his behavior. He
may claim to be no worse than others by deceitfully comparing his few,
strengths against their weaknesses. He may look upon his sins as isolated
exceptions rather than as the consistent trend of his life. Both moral and
immoral degeneracy attempt to justify self, but both are equally abhorrent to
God. The only way God can break through the “life of deceit” is with pain
that strikes the degenerate believer in his particular area of sensitivity. God
“makes war against the arrogant.” (Prov 3:34; Jas 4:6; (1Pe 5:5) Attacking
arrogance where the discipline will hurt most and be most effective. The
believer who remains adamant in his arrogance loses all sensitivity to God’s
appeals and eventually incurs maximum discipline which removes him from
this life.
Addressed to the local church in Laodicea, (Rev 3:16) uses the
notorious Laodicean water supply to illustrate the sickness of cosmic
involvement. While neighboring Hierapolis was renowned for its hot springs
and nearby Colossae enjoyed cold springs, Laodicea had neither. Its piped
water was lukewarm by the time it arrived and had an offensive mineral
smell. The Laodicean believers perfectly understood the startling,
anthropomorphic (Showing God as having human abilities) an image of God
vomiting. Lukewarm water illustrates the cosmic believer’s lack of the
maximum intake of Truth. As a result of the law of volitional responsibility,
life begins to turn sour, growing noxious under progressive stages of Divine
discipline. If bad decisions are not remedied by good decisions — to
rebound and execute the protocol plan of God — the believer will sink into
the cosmic system until God unceremoniously expels him from this life.
He [A negative believer] dug a grave [Bad decisions resulting in cosmic
involvement] and explored it, [Perpetuating his misery] therefore he has
fallen into a ditch which he himself has constructed. [Self-induced misery]
His frustration shall return on his own head; his violent oppression of others
shall descend on the crown of his head. (Psa 7:15-16)
All three stages of Divine discipline are illustrated in Paul’s description of
certain Corinthian believers who came to the communion service drunk.
For this reason [Believers partaking of the Eucharist while out of
fellowship] many are weak [Warning discipline] and sick [Intensive discipline]
and a number of believers sleep, [Dying discipline] but if we would judge
ourselves [Rebound] we should not be judged. (1Co 11:30-31)
When the believer rebounds, his discipline may cease, diminish, or
continue at the same intensity. Whatever suffering remains after rebound is
designed for blessing rather than for cursing. Restored to his palace, the
believer is now in a position to apply the Divine Thoughts he has attained
and to benefit from using God’s resources under pressure!
Behold, happy is the man whom God reproves. [Tells you: You’re
wrong] Therefore, do not despise the discipline of El-Shaddai, [The “many-
breasted God,” a Divine title emphasizing God’s logistical grace] for He
inflicts pain [Warning discipline] and He bandages the wound. He wounds
[Intensive discipline] and His hands heal. (Job 5:17-18)
In contrast with most Christian suffering, which is self-inflicted, the
purpose of discipline is healing. God is like a physician who must cause pain
to set a fracture or to perform life-saving surgery. We hurt ourselves when
we ignore the Law of volitional responsibility and continue to live in the
dungeon of the cosmic system; God must hurt us more to bring us back to
health and strength. He gives only what contributes most to our blessing and
happiness: In discipline God gives us exactly what our cosmic status
requires.
DISCIPLINE AND ETERNAL SECURITY
The God of logistical grace disciplines His children, but never does He
abandon us. Even in the pressure of intensive discipline, the “many-breasted
God” faithfully supplies all the logistical grace we need to sustain our lives;
discipline never implies that God forsakes us. (Heb 13:5) Divine discipline
never means loss of Salvation. (John 3:18) Salvation cannot be canceled by
anything he thinks, says, or does. Salvation is the irreversible work of God.
But there is inequality in eternity for believers. (Matt 22:13; Mark 4:20;
Luk 12:46-48)
It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, (John 12:24-25)
we will also live with Him; (Rom 8:11-14) If we endure,(Gal 6:7-9) we will
also reign with Him; (Rev 3:21) If we deny Him, (Mark 8:38) He also will
deny us; (Psa 73:27; Jer 17:13) If we are faithless, He remains faithful,
(Rom 3:3-4) for He cannot deny Himself. (2Ti 2:11-13)
When God provided Salvation, He knew in His omniscience that
believers would be easily distracted. He is not shocked when a Christian
ignores his own royal birthright. We may be appalled by the unfaithfulness
of members of the royal family, but the sins that shock us have already
been judged on the Cross. God is not forced to change His plan because
man periodically demonstrates the foolishness which God always knew he
would exhibit. God’s plan is greater than human sin and failure. His grace is
immutable. He is not thrown off balance by every shadow of turning in a
believer’s life. (Jas 1:17)
THE PROTECTIVE ROLE OF DISCIPLINE
Triple Compound Divine Discipline
Two specific categories of Divine discipline will serve to illustrate how
God administers punishment. First, His treatment of individuals is
demonstrated in triple compound Divine discipline; second, His punishment
of families, groups, and nations is illustrated by the fourth-generation curse.
These two examples will show how Divine discipline not only punishes the
guilty but also protects mankind from self-destruction. If negative volition
were unrestrained, the human race could not survive. The freedom which
the believer exercises under the law of volitional responsibility is guarded by
the authority of Divine preventive discipline. Verbal sins such as gossip,
judging, and maligning warrant harsh Divine discipline because they destroy
the privacy of their victims. Privacy is an essential component of freedom.
Living his own life before the Lord would become difficult for a believer if he
were vilified and his personal business were constantly criticized. Sins of the
tongue violate the sanctity of human freedom; if a believer actually were
living in the cosmic system, maligning him would only interfere with his
recovery.(Rom 14:10-14) God has protected individual privacy through the
laws of Divine establishment and has doubled the guarantee to each Church
Age believer by adding the privacy of the priesthood. At Salvation, God
appoints each Christian to the royal priesthood of Christ. (Heb 5:6; (1Pe 2:
5; (1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6) Every member of the royal family is his own priest,
representing himself before God; each royal priest is answerable to God
alone for his Spiritual life. Because God has so thoroughly guarded the
believer’s privacy, He obviously will not permit the unrestrained practice of
sins that directly attack privacy. In fact, He administers triple compound
Divine discipline to believers habitually guilty of sins of the tongue. Triple
compound Divine discipline deals first with the believer’s decision to commit
mental attitude sins. Second there is always a motive behind verbal sins,
and that motivation may be arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, hatred,
vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity and or a guilt complex, any of which is
liable for Divine discipline. Mental attitude sins motivate the believer to exalt
self and put down someone else. In other words, after deciding to indulge in
mental attitude sins, the believer makes the additional bad decision to
convert his mental sins into verbal sins, which incur a second liability to
Divine discipline. One of the most foolish actions a believer can take is to
become involved in verbal sinning.
Do not judge so that you will not be judged. [Divine discipline] (Matt 7:1)
Judging is a general term for verbal sins directed against another
person. In judging, someone states or implies something derogatory about
someone else. Whether or not the accusation is true is of no consequence.
Even if the information was accurate, and accuracy is difficult to establish,
there is no excuse for repeating gossip. And or to merely hint at someone’s
sins. Judging violates the Principle of grace. God has granted each believer-
priest the right to conduct his own life before the Lord. In particular, all
believers, in every stage of Spiritual growth, have an equal right to hear and
read the teaching of Truth. Therefore, according to the Principle of grace,
and in light of God’s desire for each believer’s Spiritual advance, gossip
incurs a triple liability, which we will classify as triple compound Divine
discipline. The slanderer is liable for:
1. MENTAL ATTITUDE SINS that motivate him,
2. VERBAL SIN itself, and
3. SINS HE MENTIONS in the slander.
Different Christians will enjoy different activities and will represent a wide
variety of tastes in dress and behavior. Each believer-priest’s responsibility
is to grow in ONE MIND and live his own life as unto the Lord. (1Co 1:10)
...For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (Spiritual Thinking) (1Sa 16:7)
Obviously exceptions to the Principle of privacy exist. Parents have the
right and responsibility to regulate the lives of their minor children who live at
home. Because a pastor is responsible to protect members of his con
gregation from invasions of privacy, he must be alert to discourage gossip,
etc. and tell the Truth to them, in all subjects, not his opinion, but what the
Word Commands. (Jer 23:22; Gal 4:16) Likewise, a supervisor who
evaluates his subordinates is not committing a sin when, as part of his
professional responsibilities, he truthfully reports an employee’s
weaknesses and failings. If that supervisor, however, spreads his reports to
people who have no professional need to know, he too is guilty of judging.
Anyone who engages in judging is actually guilty of two sins: the verbal
sin itself and the mental sin that motivated him to gossip or malign his victim.
Each of these sins calls for Divine discipline; suffering is already com
pounded. But that is not the end of discipline for sins of the tongue. Yet
another administration of punishment is added, based on the sins that are
mentioned in gossip.
For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by what measure you
measure to others, it will be measured back to you. (Matt 7:2)
The maligner is liable for the discipline that would have gone to the one
he maligns. If the victim is actually guilty of sins, God has already been
dealing with him, either through the law of volitional responsibility or through
Divine discipline. But as soon as his sins are made a subject of gossip, all
the discipline is transferred over to the one who has maligned him. If the
victim of gossip is not guilty of sin, he is blessed while his antagonist
receives discipline appropriate to the sins he mentioned in gossip. This adds
up to triple liability and triple compound discipline. The maligner is punished
for mental attitude sins, for verbal sins, and for the sins he mentions in
judging his victim. Triple compound Divine discipline is extremely harsh. It is
a kind of poetic justice that gives believers a marvelous incentive to avoid
the sin of gossip. The ability to control one’s tongue always accompanies
Spiritual growth.
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect [Spiritually
Mature] man, able to bridle the whole body as well. (Jas 3:2)
Discipline in Historical Perspective
GOD, SATAN AND MAN
Up to this point we have concentrated on suffering caused by individual
believers. A staggering amount of human misery, however, seems to
originate beyond any believer’s personal responsibility, afflicting thousands
of people throughout wide geographical areas. How do mass historical
disasters such as wars, famines, epidemics, and economic depressions fit
into the Doctrine of suffering? The answer to this critical question will
provide the frame of reference for understanding the fourth-generation
curse, which will be our second example of how God administers discipline.
Widespread historical suffering always involves three sources: God, Satan
and man. Satan rules the world. (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11; Rev
12:9) Even in his fallen state, Satan is still the most powerful creature
(Apart from the resurrected humanity of Christ) ever to come from the hand
of God. The devil is an extraordinary genius of unparalleled executive ability.
The cosmic system is his strategy and policy for ruling his kingdom. Satan’s
ambition is to prove himself equal with God, (Isa 14:14) but no creature
stands independent of the Creator! Satan will never be God’s equal in any
sense of the term. Arrogance always causes a person to overestimate his
abilities — indeed, Satan’s lust for success and power has produced only
misery. Much of the world’s suffering is caused by the devil’s “inability to
execute all that he has designed.” Satan’s arrogance, his cosmic system,
his frustration, violence and ultimate incompetence create an environment of
misery on earth. Suffering is a fact of life in the devil’s world, and man
makes himself the willing victim of Satan through freewill decisions that
place him in the cosmic system. If Satan cannot succeed independently of
God, obviously man cannot! In fact, when man lives outside the plan of God,
he is far from independent; instead, he becomes a slave in the devil’s self-
destructive cosmic system. Angelic and human rejection of God’s plan
causes only self-induced misery and would destroy the human race if Jesus
Christ did not retain control over human history. But Jesus Christ does
control human history despite Satan’s reign over the world. (Psa 2:1-12;
John 5:22; Rev 1:5; Rev 1:18) Our Lord exercises control through direct
and indirect action. He directly intervenes by providentially controlling the
variables of history that lie beyond the scope of human volition, variables
like climate, weather, and natural disasters. He indirectly controls world
affairs through the agency of human volition, when man freely complies with
Truth and utilizes available Divine omnipotence. With perfect justice Jesus
Christ administers either blessing or cursing. He blesses believers and
unbelievers who adhere to the laws of Divine establishment. He delivers far
greater blessings to believers who execute the protocol plan of God and
achieve Spiritual maturity! Blessings to the mature believer overflow to the
friends, relatives and associates who live and work in his periphery. These
people are blessed either directly by God or indirectly through the Spiritually
mature believer.
The mature believer, therefore, has tremendous invisible impact because
individuals and organizations receive blessing by their association with him.
God is glorified by blessing mature believers. (John 15:8; John 17:4)
Consistent with God’s eternal purpose, Jesus Christ lovingly watches over
mature believers, (Psa 1:6; Psa 33:18-22; Psa 34:15-19; Psa 66:7)
directing the course of history for their advantage. (Rom 8:28) They may
not know one another, but God knows each of them. They are the hub, the
pivot on which turns the prosperity of the organizations to which they belong
— families, social and service groups, professional associations,
corporations, churches, geographical areas, towns, cities and nations. Our
Lord blesses the human race through the royal family, specifically through
Spiritually mature members of the royal family. On the other hand, Jesus
Christ disciplines believers and judges unbelievers who reject Truth and
violate His plan. (1Sa 16:14;
(1Ti 1:20) Just as there is a Principle of blessing by association, there is
also cursing by association. Self-induced misery by itself makes the cosmic
Christian a pariah, obnoxious to everyone he meets. Added to the law of
volitional responsibility, Divine discipline to this cosmic believer also affects
people in his periphery and organizations to which he belongs. (Jon 1:4-16)
Cursing by association expands to become collective Divine discipline
against the cosmic believer’s nation. In addition to satanic rebellion and
human disobedience, therefore, the third source of suffering on a historical
scale is Divine retribution.
COLLECTIVE DISCIPLINE AND THE CLIENT NATION TO GOD
Although church and state must always remain separate, all categories
of Truth —establishment, the Gospel, and Bible Doctrine — are consistent
with one another as well as coherent within themselves. Through the laws of
Divine establishment, God has divided mankind into nations, (Gen 11:9;
Acts 17:26) and along these national lines flow certain Spiritual blessings.
(Gen 22:18) Among the nations of the earth, client nations are used by
Jesus Christ as a conduit of blessing to mankind. A client nation is one
whose government protects the freedom, privacy, and property of its
citizens and, while maintaining the separation of church and state, does not
hinder the presentation of the Gospel and Truth within its borders. From
within the client nation, nongovernmental organizations such as churches or
mission boards initiate and support Biblically orthodox missionary work in
foreign countries. Evangelism, Bible teaching, and foreign missions indicate
the Spiritual vigor of the client nation. Adherence to the laws of Divine
establishment also makes the client nation a haven for Jews, a refuge from
anti-Semitic persecution in other parts of the world.
(Gen 12:3)
The Jews suffer horribly as a prime satanic target in the angelic conflict
because God created them as His special instrument for blessing mankind
(Gen 12:1-3) and because His unconditional Covenants to Israel hinge on
the historical survival of the Jews. (Psa 89:28-37) Israel was God’s original
and unique client nation; the Jews are His eternal chosen people. (2Sa 7:10-
16)
If all Jews could be destroyed, reasons Satan, then God could not keep
His Word to them. Divine integrity would thus be compromised, and Satan
would win his case in the angelic conflict. However, Christ the Messiah will
fulfill all unconditional Covenants to the Jews when He restores Israel to
client nation status at His second advent and rules forever as King of the
Jews.
(Isa 11:11-13; Zec 10:6-12)
Because Israel is under Divine discipline during the Church Age,
(Isa 28:11-13; (1Co 14:21) God currently blesses mankind through a
succession of gentile client nations during “the times of the Gentiles.”
(Luk 21:24) The Roman Empire under the Antonine Caesars (AD. 96—192)
was the first gentile client nation. Since that time, many other client nations
have risen and fallen, including the Frankish kingdom of Charlemagne in the
eighth century and Great Britain of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The United States of America is a client nation today. (A.D. 2010) In the
client nations of the Church Age, blessing by association within the believer’
s personal periphery expands to become the royal family’s invisible historical
impact. Never before the Church Age, has God granted to each individual
believer the privilege of utilizing Divine omnipotence in the completed
Spiritual life, and of having a powerful, invisible impact on history! In Israel a
few mature believers used only a fraction of the Divine assets we possess
and had a significant influence on national and world history. Certain
Principles of historical impact did exist in the Age of Israel. Even in Israel
the believers were the “salt of the earth,” the preservative and seasoning of
the land, (Matt 5:13) also called the remnant according to the election of
grace. (Rom 9:27; Rom 11:5) That Principle still applies: As go the believer,
so goes the client nation. (Psa 33:10-22) But now, each member of the
royal family is also a “new Spiritual species” (2Co 5:17) with a new system
of protocol and power that gives him far greater potential for making an
impact on history than had any believer of the Jewish Age. The mature
Church Age believer has invisible influence in at least four realms:
1. BLESSING BY ASSOCIATION in his personal periphery,
2. HISTORICAL IMPACT in his nation, and
3. INTERNATIONAL IMPACT as he supports missionary activity to non-
client nations.
4. ANGELIC IMPACT
Unheralded in the annals of human history, Christians in relatively small
numbers anonymously determine the up-trends and down-trends of
civilization. Jesus Christ prospers His client nation when its believers
advance in the Spiritual life; He disciplines the nation when believers live
habitually in the cosmic system. Usually a nation will begin to decline under
the weight of its own degeneracy. If enough believers ignore the
increasingly severe stages of individual discipline and remain in the cosmic
system, the nation’s Spiritual pivot shrinks and the nation itself must receive
collective Divine discipline. As an application of this Doctrine, your primary
duty to your country is to advance to Spiritual maturity! Divine retribution
against the client nation intensifies through five cycles of discipline, which
include social disintegration, economic collapse and political chaos. (Lev 26:
14-22) The fifth cycle destroys the nation’s sovereignty through the horrors
of military conquest, reducing the vanquished populace to poverty,
barbarism and slavery.
(Deut 28:49-67)
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. [Of Spiritual Thinking]
Because you [Believers] have rejected knowledge, I [God] also will reject
you from being My priest. [Individual and client nation impact] Since you
have forgotten the law of your God, [God’s Thoughts; Truth] I also will
forget your children [Loss of client nation privileges and blessings] (Hos 4:6)
COLLECTIVE DISCIPLINE AND INDIVIDUAL BELIEVERS
How do the five cycles of national discipline, which devastate wide areas
and whole populations, affect individual Christians? Blessing and cursing by
association differ in one key respect. Blessing by association frequently
benefits people who personally reject Christ and the protocol plan of God.
This often explains why “the wicked prosper” (Jer 12:1-2) they receive
blessing by association despite their own indifference to God as the source
of their prosperity. Cursing by association, however, does not destroy the
Spiritual advance of maturing believers who may live or work in the
periphery of cosmic believers. The law of culpability states that no one
suffers Divine discipline apart from his own negative volition. The positive
impact of growing believers offsets the negative influence of cosmic
believers. When the pivot is too small to balance the spin-off of negative
Christians, however, God must administer Divine discipline. In a magnificent
display of perfect timing and omnipotence in the control of history, the
disasters that God sends upon cosmic believers are coterminous (At the
same time) with suffering for blessing for growing believers. The sweep of
collective suffering across the face of contemporary history administers to
some believers the various categories of suffering for blessing and to other
Christians all three categories of Divine discipline. The same historical event
may bring blessing on one hand but warning discipline, intensive discipline,
or dying discipline on the other hand. No one is ever lost in the shuffle; God
never forsakes any believer. (Psa 139:1-18) God always has you personally
in mind. The mature or growing believer is never deprived of blessings by
down-trends in history. (Psa 23:4-5; Jer 39:10-18) Since Jesus Christ
controls history in this Church Age, all the negative forces of international
economics and politics cannot obstruct the timely delivery of blessings to
even one mature Christian.
(Rom 8:38-39) War, economic depression, and religious persecution never
hinder Divine omnipotence. (Job 5:19-27) While the world seems to be
collapsing around the protocol believer, he enjoys a stimulating life of
blessing and total confidence in God. Just as God built a wall of fire around
Jerusalem when she stood vulnerable in the midst of her enemies, (Zec 2:5)
the Spiritual life protects the growing believer from the destructiveness of
mass suffering. The cosmic believer is caught up in the same historical
disasters that besiege the advancing believer. This negative believer,
however, is a cause of collective Divine discipline and lacks the inner
resources of Truth needed to meet the crisis. He has no inner dynamics
because he has failed to utilize God’s power system. Instead of suffering
for blessing, his pain is Divine discipline, whether warning or intensive. Some
believers, shocked into objectivity by historical trauma, recover from the
cosmic system. Others persist in their personal degeneration. For them the
collective suffering of the nation serves as the instrument of the sin unto
death. Christians will be among the victims of nearly any historical
catastrophe. Suffering in itself does not conclusively indicate whether God is
blessing a believer, or disciplining him, or permitting him to create self-
induced misery. Therefore, each Christian must apply Truth for himself and
determine his own status before the Lord.
THE FOURTH-GENERATION CURSE AS COLLECTIVE DISCIPLINE
In contrast to triple compound discipline for gossip, which deals with
individuals, the fourth-generation curse is an illustration of Divine discipline
related to historical trends. We usually think of collective discipline as
punitive action in a particular geographical area, but the fourth-generation
curse deals with a group of people defined not only as they extend over a
geographical area but also as they extend over a period of time. God is
never arbitrary. In the administration of perfect Divine justice, God considers
every facet of every situation, including the factor of time and the manner in
which one person is influenced by others. God first declared the fourth-
generation curse in the Ten Commandments.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You
shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third
and the fourth generations of those who hate Me. (Exo 20:4-5)
How can a God of grace, justice and love, visit “the iniquity of the fathers
on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who
hate Him?” (Deut 5:9; Num 14:18) God is never unfair to anyone. A
villainous ancestry does not prejudice God against any individual. Instead,
as we shall see, the Divine policy of a fourth-generation curse punishes the
guilty while protecting the innocent and guaranteeing the freedom of each
individual to express his positive or negative volition. God treats every
individual as a person, yet He does not fail to deal with destructive collective
trends that intensify from one generation to the next. As an essential part of
giving mankind free will, God allows human volition enough free rein to be
genuinely free. Patterns of sin which are habitually repeated become
ingrained characteristics of a family, group, or nation. Children learn sins
and evils from their parents and perpetuate family trends. Rather than
instantly disciplining man, God permits negative volition to run its course.
Many possible categories and combinations of wickedness, rebellion and sin
are allowed to form and harden for three or four generations as expressions
of human freedom. (Exo 34:6) But when negative volition runs so rampant
as to threaten His plan, God “does not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Exo 34:
7) After a period of grace before judgment, extending over these three or
four generations, He administers collective discipline to the family, group or
nation. To protect the human race from self-destruction, God administers
collective discipline that grows progressively severe from one generation to
the next. In the third or fourth generation, He sends a catastrophe to
dissipate or eliminate the trend. This form of discipline allows evil patterns
to develop in the course of human history but destroys them before they can
jeopardize the plan of God. God permits no trend of present history to
hinder the positive volition of subsequent generations. Under this system of
collective discipline, each generation is disciplined for the same sins
because those sins are committed by each generation. The sons commit
the sins of the father. “Those who hate God” (Exo 20:5; Deut 5:9) are
disciplined because they themselves reside perpetually in the cosmic
system and establish patterns of evil in their lives. But no one suffers under
the fourth-generation curse except by his own volition. At any point the
curse may be broken by believers who execute the protocol plan of God,
refusing to follow the evil pattern of their progenitors. (Parents)
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to
death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. (Deut 24:16)
The sins of the father have to be repeated in the next generation for
culpability to be established and for punitive action to be administered from
God. Otherwise, a different law applies: the law of grace.
Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God,
keeping His Covenant of grace to a thousandth generation of those who
love Him [Stay in Fellowship] and keep [Think with] His Commandments.
[THOUGHTS] (Deut 7:9)
After first announcing the fourth-generation curse, God immediately
Promised that obedience to His plan will always break the curse.
But showing lovingkindness to thousands to those who love Me [Stay in
Fellowship] and keep [Think with] My Commandments. [THOUGHTS]
(Exo 20:6)
No one suffers under the fourth-generation curse apart from his own
culpability. (Blame) Despite historical trends, God’s grace is always
operative on the earth. Indeed, the curse upon a family or nation can be
broken in any generation when individuals believe in Christ and form a pivot
of mature believers by fulfilling the plan of God.
The LORD is good [Divine essence is perfect] and His love endures
forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psa 100:5)
God’s motivation in delaying historical discipline is illustrated by His
patience toward mankind prior to the Last Judgment at the end of human
history.
The Lord is not slow about His Promise, [To judge mankind] as some
count slowness, but is patient toward you, [Believer] not wishing for any to
perish but for all to come to a change of mind. [Staying in fellowship and
Thinking with His Thoughts] (2Pe 3:9)
The fourth-generation curse furnishes a Principle that helps us interpret
human history from the Divine Viewpoint. Historical disasters are often
Divine discipline sent to break up destructive trends and to give the next
generation an opportunity to fulfill the plan of God.
(Prov 30:11-14) documents four generations of increasing degeneracy,
beginning with disrespect for parental authority and culminating in “a
generation whose teeth are like swords to devour the afflicted.” God
protects the human race from the self-destructiveness of such rampant
arrogance. The Principle of the fourth-generation curse, which the Bible
presents in the context of the ancient world, sheds light on upheavals in
modern history. The French Revolution, for example, was a conflagration of
evil trends that had crystallized in the long reign of Louis XIV. The Sun King,
as he was called, destroyed the pivot of mature believers in France by
revoking the Edict of Nantes and, furthermore, reduced the French
aristocracy to sycophantic courtiers. (One who seeks favor, especially by
insincere flattery) The disappearance of a Spiritual pivot and the absence of
a vigorous aristocracy destabilized every level of society. As a result,
unrestrained middle-class jealousy incited lower-class violence. Ultimately,
French society was destroyed in the Reign of Terror, and a new order was
established under Napoleon. The Russian Revolution also vented evils that
had built up for many years before overt violence broke out. What does the
fourth-generation curse teach us? First, it warns us that rejection of God’s
plan can become the accepted, ingrained tradition of a family and nation. A
little neglect, a little compromise, a little arrogance soon becomes a way of
life. Second, this system of Divine discipline advises us that opposition to
God leads to terrible suffering personally and to disaster for the nation.
Third, the fourth-generation curse reveals God’s marvelous grace. He
patiently applies discipline to each rebellious generation but will never permit
evil trends to destroy the options of future generations. Because of God’s
grace, exhibited in collective Divine discipline, the human race cannot
destroy itself. The Doctrine of the fourth-generation curse encourages the
believer to utilize Divine assets in his own life because this category of
discipline emphasizes his invisible impact on history. Believers can either
perpetuate the fourth-generation curse or break the pattern of discipline.
The privileges and opportunities of the royal family imply tremendous
responsibility. If a Christian fails to live and grow in his palace, he
contributes to Divine discipline against his entire nation!
THE SOLUTION TO THE FOURTH-GENERATION CURSE
The fourth-generation curse never implies that guilt passes from parents
to children but that parents who oppose God’s plan will influence their
children to follow the same pattern of opposition. Children are influenced by
their parents and tend to repeat their parents’ sins. The fuse on historical
disaster burns for three or four generations as children perpetuate the sins
of their parents. Toward the end of this period, God initiates the cycles of
discipline against the nation to warn believers to return to the protocol plan
of God and break the curse.
At any time, a generation can respond with positive volition to the
Gospel and Truth, heading off national catastrophe! A Biblical example of an
eleventh hour recovery is the Assyrian Empire’s response to Jonah’s
message.
(Jon 3:10) Another example is the Spiritual recovery of the second
generation of Jews in the Exodus. Had they continued in the rebellion of the
first generation, collective Divine discipline would have intensified. In Reality,
their positive volition broke the curse that already had prevented their
fathers from entering the Promised Land. In modern history the United
States is rapidly approaching historical disaster — economically, militarily,
socially and Spiritually. The one factor that stands between our nation and
maximum Divine discipline is the positive volition of believers! Only Divine
grace can avert the horrible suffering of the fourth-generation curse, but
God will bless this nation only if there is a strong pivot of mature believers
to be the recipients of His grace benefits. The solution to the fourth-
generation curse requires instructing children in the laws of establishment
and Truth.
(Deut 6:5-7)
You will inculcate these Words of Mine [My Thoughts] in your hearts and
minds, [And Think with them] tie them as notes on your hands, and as
training aids tie them around your foreheads. Teach them to your children,
talking about them when you sit down at home, when you travel, before you
go to bed, and when you wake up. Write these on the door frames of your
houses and on your gates so that your days and the days of your children
may be many in the land that the Lord has promised to give to your
ancestors [Promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as long as the
heavens remain above the earth.] (Deut 11:18-21)
The perpetuation of the client nation to God always involves training the
next generation. Rather than be a negative influence, parents must be a
positive influence by teaching Divine establishment, the Gospel and Truth to
their children. Parents should bring blessing by association to their children
rather than lead them to disaster under the fourth-generation curse. We are
to teach them, (Deut 21:18-21) and not to eat them. (Deut 28:53-58) The
Jews did, (2Ki 6:28-30) because of disobedience. (Hos 4:6; Rom 11:22)
SUMMARY OF PUNITIVE SUFFERING AND PREVIEW OF SUFFERING
FOR BLESSING
In concluding our study of punitive suffering and in approaching the subject
of suffering for blessing, we can draw a series of contrasts.
In disciplinary suffering, which is deserved, the issue is sin and wrong
decisions from a position of weakness. In the adult believer’s undeserved
suffering, the issue is blessing and momentum because of right decisions
from a position of strength. Spiritual momentum from metabolized Spiritual
Thoughts results in still greater blessing.
The believer’s status under Divine discipline is cosmic involvement, which
is described by a variety of terms: worldliness, carnality, apostasy and or
reversionism. Under suffering for blessing, the believer’s status is always
residence in the palace of the Spiritual life. There is a tremendous
difference between living in a palace, and wasting away in a dungeon.
Under discipline the suffering is unbearable. The Promise that “no
temptation has overtaken you. . . beyond what you are able to bear” (1Co
10:13) describes testing, not Divine discipline. Testing is designed to
exercise and strengthen the believer’s Spiritual muscles, but discipline must
be severe enough to shock the believer, to get his attention. He must learn
from the suffering that human resources are inadequate; he must hurt
unbearably so that he is forced to consider the Divine solution. (Rebound;
1Jn 1:9; and maximum intake and use of Divine Thoughts) Under testing,
suffering for blessing is always bearable. The believer under testing is using
the assets of the Spiritual life which constitute “the way of escape . . . that
[He] may be able to endure it.” (1Co 10:13)
The believer’s viewpoint when he incurs Divine discipline is arrogance
and subjectivity. In suffering for blessing, his Viewpoint is humility and
objectivity. The solution to Divine discipline is the rebound technique, which
is the Christian’s most basic problem-solving device. (1Jn 1:9) The solution
to suffering for blessing involves more advanced systems of problem solving.
Illustration
The result of Divine discipline, when the believer uses rebound, is that
cursing is turned to blessing. The suffering ends, is diminished or continues
at the same intensity, but in any case the purpose now is blessing instead of
punishment. God’s solutions are always designed for blessing. The result of
suffering for blessing is that the Christian gains multiple benefits from the
acceleration of Spiritual growth: enlarged capacities and the greater
blessings of Spiritual maturity. There are five categories of Christian
suffering, but all five categories are designed for the believer’s personal
benefit. We have just covered the first two; the last three are the subject of
the remainder of this book.
FOR PUNISHMENT:
1. Self-Induced Misery
2. Divine Discipline
FOR BLESSING:
3. Providential Preventive Suffering
4. Momentum Testing
5. Evidence Testing
When the believer remains outside the Spiritual life, which is tantamount
to being out of fellowship with God, he reaps punitive suffering (Divine
discipline) from his own bad decisions. This suffering is still beneficial to him
because it can make him face the Reality of his dependence on God’s
grace, bringing him to the point of rebound and recovery. Punitive suffering
can show him that his scale of values is wrong and that he must correct his
priorities. But when the believer resides in fellowship, and suffers through no
fault of his own, the benefit is even greater! The purpose now is not to take
a negative believer and motivate recovery but to take a growing believer
and accelerate his growth. In contrast to punitive suffering, which is
beneficial on a limited scale, suffering for blessing is designed by God to
accelerate the believer’s growth through the stages of Spiritual adulthood
that lead to Spiritual maturity.
SUFFERING FOR BLESSING
SUFFERING AND GROWTH IN
SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD
THE PROTOCOL PLAN OF GOD includes two systems of Spiritual
growth Gradual growth comes through the perception, metabolism, and
application of Truth. God Commands every believer to operate consistently
under this system throughout his life on earth. (Matt 4:4; Eph 4:11-13;
(2Jn 1:2-4) The second system, accelerated growth, occurs when
metabolized Doctrine is tested under pressure. (2Co 12:9-10) After
attaining Spiritual adulthood, further growth requires periodic suffering. This
suffering for the purpose of blessing draws upon the believer’s reservoir of
Truth, exercising and increasing his inner strength. Truth is Spiritual
nourishment; suffering for blessing is Spiritual exercise! In Spiritual
childhood, most suffering is self-induced misery or Divine discipline. The only
pain that can be construed as suffering for blessing in the life of the Spiritual
child is the suffering that continues after rebound. In Spiritual childhood
suffering for blessing is like a teacher, but in Spiritual adulthood suffering
for blessing is more like a demanding college professor.
By definition, suffering for blessing is the undeserved pain, hardship,
difficulty that God periodically sends into the life of the Spiritually adult
believer for the purpose of accelerating Spiritual growth and demonstrating
the total sufficiency of His grace. Suffering for blessing by its very
connotation is not intended to hurt the believer or to make him miserable but
to advance him. For the adult believer undeserved suffering is strictly a
matter of blessing. Indeed, only God can bless with suffering; suffering
caused by self is harmful. (Col 2:23) God does not administer suffering for
blessing until the believer is qualified to handle it. That is why suffering for
blessing is reserved for Spiritual adulthood. Nor does God send suffering for
blessing until the believer has capacity to appreciate God as its source and
to be grateful for the problem-solving devices that He has provided in the
palace. Again, this explains why God can periodically give suffering for
blessing only to Spiritually adult believers. But God never gives the believer
more suffering than he can bear.
No testing has overtaken you but such as is common to mankind; but
God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tested beyond what you are
able to bear, but with the testing will also provide a solution, [A way out]
that you may be able to endure it. (1Co 10:13)
In God’s protocol plan, strength, (Spiritual Growth) precedes suffering
for blessing. God provides the means of dealing with a situation before He
applies the pressure so that suffering for blessing never overloads any
believer. Only by his own bad decisions can the believer create more
suffering for himself than he can bear. Only the believer himself can decide
to live outside his palace. Only he can refuse to learn Truth so that he has
no Spiritual resources to draw upon. When pressure crushes a believer, the
cause of defeat is always his own volition, never the sovereignty of God!
Suffering for blessing is always bearable. Unbearable suffering under the
law of volitional responsibility, with Divine discipline added on, is designed to
awaken the believer to his dependence on God’s protocol system. (Rev 3:3)
Obedience to Divine protocol prepares believers for suffering. All problems
of suffering are resolved in the mechanics of the protocol plan of God, and
all solutions stem from Truth. Consistent residence and function in
fellowship, arm the believer for the pressures of life. (1Pe 4:1)
THE PATTERN OF MOMENTUM IN SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD
The final three categories of suffering in the Christian way of life are re
served for Spiritual adults. We will devote an entire chapter to each
category.
1. PROVIDENTIAL PREVENTIVE SUFFERING keeps the believer from
distorting his newfound Spiritual self-esteem into arrogance. At the same
time providential preventive suffering converts Spiritual self-esteem, into
Spiritual autonomy.
2. MOMENTUM TESTING accelerates the believer’s Spiritual advance,
carrying him from Spiritual autonomy into Spiritual maturity.
3. EVIDENCE TESTING demonstrates the efficacy of God’s grace in the
