Lesson for July 29, 2018

The Doctrine of Spirituality vs. Carnality

Doctrine of the Cosmic System

The cosmic system is Satan’s strategy as the ruler of this world system to control believers. It is His policy for the rulership of this world system. Satan’s cosmic system is composed of two separate power systems: 1) Cosmic One is Satan’s exploitation of believers through their own arrogance. This is his means of controlling the human race. Satan “invented” arrogance, as arrogance was his original sin. 2) Cosmic Two is Satan’s propaganda and indoctrination to promote antagonism toward anything related to God, especially the grace of God. (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2)

Cosmic One represents Satan’s attitude at the time of his prehistoric fall. Cosmic Two represents Satan’s attitude at the time of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Cosmic One emphasizes arrogance and abnormal preoccupation with self. Cosmic Two emphasizes antagonism and intolerance toward the plan, purpose, and will of God, as well as toward all Christians executing it. Cosmic One was Satan’s philosophy in the prehistoric Angelic Conflict. Cosmic Two is Satan’s philosophy in human history as the ruler of this world system. The target of Cosmic One is believers; the target of Cosmic Two is God and Bible doctrine. In Cosmic One, we destroy ourselves through arrogance. In Cosmic Two, we become antagonistic toward God and His Word, Bible doctrine.

In order for Satan to rule, he must produce two factors: 1) Self-righteous arrogance, and therefore divorced from the reality of God’s plan 2) Antagonism toward God and His plan. Only through the perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine do believers have any hope of becoming victorious. Cosmic One emphasizes self in contrast to God. Cosmic Two emphasizes the human viewpoint of psychological living in contrast to the divine viewpoint of spiritual living.

COSMIC ONE	COSMIC TWO
Emphasizes arrogance; preoccupation with self.	Emphasizes animosity, hatred, antagonism toward God & His plan.
Target: ego, self-consciousness of soul.	Target: truth or doctrine.
Result: preoccupation & obsession with self to the exclusion of God and man.	Result: antagonism toward Christ as the Living Word and doctrine as the written Word
Emphasizes self in contrast to God and objective reality	Stresses human viewpoint over divine viewpoint
Represents Satan’s attitude at the time of his prehistoric fall	Represents Satan’s attitude at time of man’s historical fall.
Represents Satan’s philosophy in the prehistoric Angelic Conflict when he was obsessed with self in maximum arrogance	Represents Satan’s philosophy as ruler of world after the fall of man. Now he is obsessed with destroying the plan of God as the #1 enemy of the plan of God.
Believer in Cosmic One assumes the arrogance of Satan before human history began	Believer in Cosmic Two becomes saturated with the attitude of Satan during human history.
Believer is slave to self and the details of life	Believer is slave to Satan and his world system

The Influence of the Cosmic System on the Unbeliever:

There are three ways in which the cosmic system can influence the unbeliever: 1) Demon possession of unbelievers. Demon possession is defined as demon invasion into the body of an unbeliever by one or more demons. This cannot occur without the unbeliever’s consent. Demon possession is generally related to religion, cults, and the emotional revolt of the soul. Demons themselves possess so much energy that when they indwell a human being, all sorts of neurotic and psychotic behavior is manifest. This doesn’t mean the demons themselves are erratic, but their influence on the body can be erratic. 2) Demon influence of unbelievers. Demon influence is defined as the demon invasion of the soul through the doctrine of demons, i.e., cosmic thinking. 3) Psychological living of unbelievers. Psychological living is defined as life without God, the lifestyle of a person in spiritual death. Distinction must be made between the academic subject of psychology and psychological living. Psychology is the science which relates to the mind of a person, a systematic knowledge and investigation of the phenomena of consciousness and behavior.

In psychological living, the only thing you have going for you is your soul. If your soul is involved in Satan’s cosmic system, you exclude God in your thinking. Psychological living is not only the lifestyle of a person in spiritual death, but it is the function of the thinking, motivation, decisions, and actions of those directly involved in Satan’s cosmic system. All unbelievers live in the sphere of spiritual death and are influenced, to some degree, by the cosmic system. This varies greatly among unbelievers, however, since unbelievers have free will as a protection against Satan’s system. This protection starts with how he uses his free will in relation to the only system of truth which an unbeliever can understand, i.e., the Laws of Divine Establishment. One of the easiest ways for the unbeliever to live in Satan’s cosmic system is to reject legitimate authority in life found in the Laws of Divine Establishment. Arrogance is the inevitable result of rejection of authority.

The Influence of the Cosmic System on the Believer in Jesus Christ:

Because of the indwelling of all three members of the Godhead, the believer cannot be demon possessed. However, the believer can come under demon influence. Demon influence is the invasion of the soul with satanic propaganda, the doctrine of demons. When the believer prolongs his residence in the cosmic system, demon influence is the invasion of his soul with those demon doctrines mentioned in I Timothy 4:1, all of which relate to the cosmic system. Demon invasion of thought affects self-consciousness, volition, and mental attitude. This explains why so many believers become psychotic.

A believer can also be influenced by psychological living, which is life without God. Christians can actually live without having a relationship with God and without being in the plan of God. Only believers have the potential of having a relationship with God and being in the plan of God. Whether they take advantage of their potential depends upon their volition. One of the great issues in the Christian Way of Life is spiritual living versus psychological living. Spiritual living occurs inside the Divine Dynasphere; psychological living occurs inside the cosmic system. It is possible for the believer to become so involved in the viewpoint of psychology that he is influenced by psychological living.

The Bible warns believers against the demonization of their soul in I John 2:15-16, “Stop loving the world [cosmic one] or anything related to it. If anyone keeps loving the world [cosmic one], the love of the Father is not in Him. Because all that is in the world [cosmic one] – the lust of the flesh [sin nature controlling soul], and the lust of the eyes [motivational arrogance], and the arrogant pattern of life [functional arrogance] – is not from the Father but from the world.”

In Cosmic One, Satan has provided a counterfeit communion table designed to lure the believer away from living inside the Divine Dynasphere, and to distract him from the execution of the Protocol Plan of God. I Corinthians 10:21, “You [believers] cannot drink the cup of the Lord [Communion] and the cup of demons [cosmic system]. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord [Communion as a part of spiritual living in Divine Dynasphere] and the table of demons [demon influence and psychological living in cosmic system].” The Protocol Plan of God and Satan’s cosmic system are mutually exclusive. (Matthew 6:24)

Spirituality and carnality are absolutes in the Christian life. At any given moment, a believer is either totally filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit and living in the Divine Dynasphere, or he is living in the cosmic system and carnal. However, spiritual growth is relative (maybe you will and maybe you won’t). The believer is commanded to avoid the cosmic system in I Timothy 4:1-2. “But the Spirit explicitly teaches that, in latter periods of time, some [believers] will withdraw from doctrine, giving attention to [concentrating on] deceitful spirits [demon recruiting for the cosmic system] and doctrine from demons [demon influence resulting in psychological living] by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience with a branding iron.”

Believers in every generation reject Bible doctrine and become involved in Satan’s cosmic system, being ruled by psychological living, and being influenced in their souls by demons. Demon influence is the demonization of the soul through the thought content of the cosmic system. The thinking and emotions of the soul of a believer who has rejected God and His plan are controlled by life in Satan’s cosmic system. Both believer and unbeliever are vulnerable to the invasion of demon doctrine into their souls through cosmic involvement.

Once in Satan’s cosmic system, through sin, human good, or evil, the believer can recover only through one function of his priesthood: The Rebound Technique. Involvement in the cosmic system is equal to the lifestyle of spiritual death. Ephesians 2:2, “in which sphere [real spiritual death] you formerly walked [as an unbeliever] according to the lifestyle of this world [cosmic system], according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit [Satan] who is now operational [working] in the sons of disobedience.” “Sons of disobedience” refers to believers who are out of fellowship residing in Satan’s cosmic system. Only believers are “sons.” A believer has two categories of protection: the Laws of Divine Establishment, which is limited protection; and residence, function, and momentum inside the Divine Dynasphere, which is unlimited protection.

Ephesians 4:27 commands believers to stay out of the cosmic system. “Do not give the devil an opportunity.” The believer who gets into the cosmic system through sin remains there to produce human good and evil until he rebounds. He gives the devil an opportunity to bring him to the point of being a loser. The issue of spiritual living versus cosmic living is given in James 4:6-8. “But He [God the Father] gives to us greater grace [unique assets of Church Age]; therefore it [Old Testament] says [Proverbs 3:34], `God makes war against the arrogant, but He gives grace to the humble.’ Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your minds, you double-minded.”

We live in a very unique time in history, the Church Age. Never before in history has 100% of divine power been made available to every believer. Only in this dispensation does every believer receive the baptism of the Spirit, making him a new spiritual species and a member of the Royal Family of God.

Also unique is the universal priesthood of the believer, the Portfolio of Invisible Assets, the Divine Dynasphere. Never before has God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit indwelt the body of believers. Never before has the believer been commanded to be filled with the Spirit, and to grow in grace. The Protocol Plan for the Church is unique and far different from the ritual plan for Israel.

All this means that you have greater Problem-Solving Devices than have ever existed in all of human history, and they will never exist again after the Rapture of the Church. Virtue-love as a problem-solving device is unique to the Divine Dynasphere. Possessing the happiness of God in spiritual adulthood, actually sharing divine happiness, is the highest and greatest use of power ever to exist in all of human history as a problem-solving device. The highest problem-solving device for believers in the Old Testament was the Faith-Rest Drill. All this adds up to greater grace and more grace for believers who execute the Protocol Plan of God.

God in grace also blesses the loser daily through logistical grace, sustaining him daily. But on the other hand, God makes war daily against loser believers who are arrogant because of their involvement in the cosmic system. The humble believer is objective and teachable, having enforced and genuine humility from the Divine Dynasphere. Therefore, he continues his momentum inside the Divine Dynasphere under the reception, retention, and recall of Bible doctrine.

Reception is concentration on the teaching of Bible doctrine under the filling of the Spirit. Retention is the metabolization of doctrine, converting academic knowledge (gnosis) into spiritual knowledge (epignosis).

Recall is the consistent application of metabolized doctrine in your life. The humble believer, through his Portfolio of Invisible Assets, utilizes divine power to advance to spiritual adulthood.

Any time you are involved in sin, human good, or evil, you are in the cosmic system and are no longer in a state of submission to God and His plan. Submission is your daily walk with the Lord, moment-by-moment inside the Divine Dynasphere. You are not in a state of submission unless you are living in the Divine Dynasphere. Submission is not a one-shot dedication to God; submission is a lifestyle inside the Divine Dynasphere, under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit and momentum from metabolized doctrine. So, to submit to God is to execute the Protocol Plan of God daily. Submitting to God means you are resisting the devil by resisting temptation by remaining inside the Divine Dynasphere and persisting in learning and applying Bible doctrine.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Drawing near to God refers to the momentum inside the Divine Dynasphere which comes from utilizing the omnipotence (power) of all three members of the Trinity, constantly functioning under reception, retention, and recall of Bible doctrine. The result of this momentum from drawing near to God is attaining the three stages of spiritual adulthood: spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity.