Lesson for July 22, 2018
The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality
Doctrine of Invisible Heroes (cont’d)
Visible Heroes of the Old Testament Dispensations
Abraham was a visible hero, Romans 4:20-21, “Yet he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able also to perform.”Moses was a great visible hero. However, it was not his genius that made him great, but the fact that he told the people when leading them out of Egypt in Exodus 14:13-14, “Fear not. Stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today . . . The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Joshua succeeded Moses. He became a great visible hero once he understood that the Lord Jesus Christ (Jehovah) was in command. At the end of his days as he saw the trends toward apostasy, he said in Joshua 24:15, “Choose you for yourselves today whom you will serve. . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” David was a visible hero when he stood before Goliath in I Samuel 17:47 saying, “The battle is the Lord’s.” Elijah was a visible hero when he said before the people, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow Him.” Daniel was a visible hero in Daniel 2 when he said, `…the name of God be blessed forever and ever. For wisdom and power belong to Him. Furthermore, it is He who changes the times and the dispensations. He removes the kings; He establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise men and knowledge to the knowers of doctrine.’”
We live in the Church Age. The purpose of the Church Age is to manufacture, through metabolized Bible doctrine, invisible heroes from the Royal Family of God for the resolution of the Angelic Conflict. No one can see your spiritual life; it is an invisible relationship with God. It is within the framework of this invisible relationship that a believer has the potential of reaching spiritual maturity and becoming an invisible hero and glorifying Jesus Christ to the maximum.
Believers Who Fail to Become Invisible Heroes
A believer who fails to become an invisible hero is defined as a loser because of his negative volition toward God and Bible doctrine, failure to execute the Protocol Plan of God for the Church Age and failure to achieve invisible hero status. A loser is the believer in Jesus Christ who has wrong priorities and spends his life operating in Satan’s world system with human viewpoint thinking.
Though a loser believer may have a pastor, because of cosmic involvement he never attends Bible class, or he visits Bible class only occasionally or he completely rejects his pastor and his teaching. Rejection of one’s right pastor is tantamount to rejection of God. A loser has equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute the Protocol Plan of God but rejects it because of negative volition. Instead of becoming an invisible hero, a loser is preoccupied with self, arrogant, frustrated, distracted, and unstable.
Pattern for Invisible Heroes in the Church Age: The Apostle Paul
The pattern for invisible heroes of the Church Age is the apostle Paul. Paul received both momentum testing and evidence testing while in prison. While incarcerated, he was able to advance to spiritual autonomy and to spiritual maturity. Paul advanced to each stage of spiritual adulthood: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity. At each stage he was tested by suffering for blessing. This suffering for blessing is part of reaching spiritual maturity and becoming an invisible hero. And, you have equal privilege and equal opportunity to become an invisible hero.Instead of being discouraged by Paul’s suffering for blessing, the recipients of his letters from prison were benefitted by his teaching and the perception and metabolization of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
The benefit of metabolization and application of doctrine is stated by Paul in Ephesians 3:13, “which will be for your glory.” There are two stages of this glory or of glorifying God. The first is the advance to spiritual maturity through momentum testing and receiving the distribution of your escrow blessings on earth. The second is spiritual maturity plus evidence testing which equals the glorification of God to the maximum. This is the reason invisible heroes are kept alive. Paul’s communication of these mechanics by which a believer learns how to glorify God through the attainment of spiritual maturity and passing evidence testing is found in Ephesians 3. This is how invisible heroes are manufactured and this will be to your glory and the glory of God because it is part of the resolution of the Angelic Conflict.
The Source of Invisible Heroes
We have the opportunity after believing in Jesus Christ to become invisible heroes. This plan is not man-made but was designed in eternity past. The source of this plan is God. The sovereignty of God is infinitely and eternally superior to the free will of man. Man from his own volition comes up with many plans. But the plan from the sovereignty of God is the only plan that God approves in this Church Age.
In eternity past, the sovereignty of God made policy decisions with regard to mankind. He decided to permit the free will of man to coexist with His sovereignty in human history. Therefore, people make two kinds of decisions: good decisions from the position of strength or bad decisions from the position of weakness. Good decisions from a position of spiritual strength are non-meritorious and compatible with God’s grace policy. Bad decisions from a position of spiritual weakness are related to human viewpoint thinking, human merit and human ability, and are incompatible with God’s grace policy.
Since during the course of human history, the sovereignty of God permits the coexistence of our human volition with His sovereignty, He has provided a protection so that we can choose for something far greater than anything man can contrive: absolute truth. Absolute truth, which is accurate Bible doctrine, is the design of God so that believers can make good decisions from a position of spiritual strength in contrast to bad decisions from a position of spiritual weakness. Part of this absolute truth is the Gospel, which gives us our first opportunity to make a good decision rather than a bad one. Our good decision: personal faith in Jesus Christ. The bad decision: to reject Jesus Christ as Savior. (John 3:36)
Invisible Heroes as a Testimony to Angels
The Angelic Conflict is divided into two categories: visible and invisible warfare. In the Old Testament dispensations, the Angelic Conflict was a combination of both visible and invisible warfare, both in Heaven and on earth. Sometimes the warfare was in Heaven and therefore invisible. Sometimes it was on earth and therefore visible, as noted in Genesis 6. The only exception to this is that during the Church Age, it is strictly invisible warfare. Therefore, the objective for the Church Age believer under the Protocol Plan of God is to become an invisible hero. Whatever your function in life, as a believer in Jesus Christ you should have one objective which should be placed above everything else, and that is to become an invisible hero.
Invisible heroes are manufactured by the execution of the Protocol Plan of God. Remember that during the Church Age, there are no visible angels, elect or fallen, yet angels are watching your every move. You are, as it were, in an arena being watched by angels, since the Church Age is the center of the invisible Angelic Conflict. Not only that, but the Church Age is the focal point of the invisible Angelic Conflict.(I Corinthians 4:9; Ephesians 3:10; I Timothy 5:21; I Peter 1:12)
The life of every Church Age believer is related to a higher and greater invisible conflict. We have a tendency to be people-oriented because we see people every day. But what is most important is our testimony to angels. That is a part of our invisible conflict, and a part of your execution of the Protocol Plan of God. When you execute the Protocol Plan of God, you have a much higher testimony, and the reflection of that testimony is that God blesses your client nation. But when Christians fail to execute the Protocol Plan of God in this dispensation, then cursing comes upon their client nation. Those who execute the Protocol Plan of God are winners and invisible heroes. Those who fail to execute the Protocol Plan of God are losers, described in Ephesians 4:17-32.
The invisible Angelic Conflict, which begins and ends with human history, necessitates a different plan of God for every dispensation. One reason why God’s plan changes for every dispensation is that during some dispensations, angels are visible; during others, angels are invisible. In most dispensations, there’s a mixture of the two, e.g., in the dispensations of the Old Testament and during the Tribulation. The only exception is the Church Age when the entire conflict is invisible. Therefore, the plan designed for our circumstances is the Protocol Plan of God.
Winners execute the Protocol Plan of God, while losers are casualties to carnality and their own arrogance. Ephesians 6:10-17 teaches this invisible warfare in detail. Therefore, the armor mentioned in that passage is all related to the fact that we fight an invisible enemy.
Summary
The winner or mature believer receives distribution of his escrow blessings on earth. Ephesians 1 teaches that in eternity past, God the Father, as the grantor, deposited greater blessings into escrow for every believer, i.e., greater blessings for both the time on earth and the eternal state. Jesus Christ as the escrow officer makes distribution of escrow blessings in time and also in eternity at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Therefore, the winner has phenomenal impact and blessing in time as well as fantastic rewards in eternity.
The invisible hero is a mature believer who has a dynamic impact in many categories. The greatest historical impact is not recorded in man’s history books. Instead, historical impact is directly related to mature believers. Mature believers have a tremendous influence on every facet of life. They have an influence on the establishment principle of freedom through military victory. They have an influence on law enforcement, from the judge on the bench to the police officer on patrol. They have an influence on the economy. They have an influence on the general life and culture of our nation. They have an influence in evangelism, Bible teaching, and missionary activity.But when the pivot of mature believers shrinks, the cycles of discipline begin. Then the only solution is found in an enlarged pivot of believers who attain spiritual maturity and execute the Protocol Plan of God. Invisible heroes are related to the pivot of mature believers. Invisible God plus invisible assets plus invisible power equals invisible heroes.