It is a well known fact that the church is often referred to as the "Body of Christ." But with the word "church" being seen as a building where people go to worship God, how do we define the "Body of Christ?" If He has a body on earth, how has it come into being? And how do we identify it? What is unique about it? If it is actually the body of the living and all-powerful Christ, how does it function in the earth? Is there a false body of Christ? What is the difference between the true and the false? As we often say, the Bible has the answer.

There are many passages quoted throughout this article. Please read them all. It is so easy to skip over some we recognize as having read many times, and we think we know what they say. But to hear what the Lord is saying to us today, let us take time to read every word.

What Christ's body is not

How many are there who consider themselves a part of the Body of Christ? How many of the countless denominations and sects believe they are the called and chosen, seeing themselves as the Lord's elite because they have the truth? The Lord's body is not fractured, as we will discover here. It is not made up of throngs of people who go chasing after the signs and wonders or emotionally charged ministers who appeal to their itching ears. Of such ministers, Peter said, "For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error; promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage." (2 Peter 2:18-19 RV) And of those who have followed these false teachers, Peter then said, "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first."

Would the Lord have had Peter and others speak so clearly about false teachers and their followers if He considered them to be true members of His Body? Do we think it doesn't grieve Him to see what is happening more so today than at any other time? If they choose to follow others and to follow their own fleshly desires in the name of Christianity, they are choosing not to be a part of His Body–while at the same time, they believe they are.

Most of those who believe they are born again Christians own and read a Bible. This would include the false teachers and false prophets, expounding with great eloquence their manipulative but deceiving messages from God's Word.

By "Bible" we don't mean any one particular version; they have all been influenced by the bias of the translators who try to make 'good English' composition out of old language words. Add to that the interpretation of the mind of flesh, and a Bible can mean almost anything one desires.

The true Bible is the God-breathed words that were heard by the scribes of old, and now, thousands of years later, only the Spirit of God can reveal the truth of the written word. Without Him, our minds of flesh will too easily see the Bible as a book of rules by which to live.

For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is removed in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:14b-16 EMTV

The same can be said for reading the New Testament–if one believes he is born again but remains flesh because of a false conversion at the hands of those proclaiming a false gospel. Or maybe he/she has become hardened to the voice of the Spirit, having once known His presence, and now sees the Bible only through eyes of flesh. That kind of thing will cause us to become judgmental and dogmatic–anything but Christ-likeness.

This is but a sampling of what Christ's body is not. So, let's look at . . .

How the Body of Christ came into being

All true believers in Christ Jesus, who have been born again [anew], become a part of the Body of Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'" (John 3:3b; 6-7) Paul spoke of the same when he said, "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We must include Paul's words to those at Rome. "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." (Romans 8:9)

Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about seeing the kingdom of God, that it cannot be, until and unless a man is born anew. With the new birth, an amazing thing transpires! "And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God would come, he [Jesus] answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God comes not with observation [Greek: 'ocular evidence']: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you'." (Luke 17:20-21)

Jesus Christ comes by His Spirit to dwell in us! He is the Head and we are His Body. It is His kingdom, and He reigns! He cares for and nourishes us, as we see in Paul's words to the Ephesians.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the ekklesia: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the ekklesia. ~ Ephesians 5:28-32 (paraphrased with Greek meanings)

To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; whom we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect [Greek: 'complete'] in Christ Jesus; ~ Colossians 1:27-28 EMTV

The Greek word for "mystery" is defined, by Thayer, as "a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding." In every verse in the New Testament where mystery occurs, we see it has the same meaning. Two such verses are these, which refer to the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity.

2. "For the mystery of lawlessness [Greek: 'wickedness'] is already at work; only He who now restrains will continue until one comes out of the midst." (2 Thessalonians 2:7 EMTV)

The phrase "received up in glory" is more accurately translated in the ASV. The KJV used the word "into", which is incorrect, and suggests that glory is a place. This has led to songs being written and beliefs being held that glory is another name for heaven. The Greek definition for in is "a fixed position/a relation of rest."

So when Jesus prayed for His own, He said, "And the glory [Greek: 'glory, as very apparent'] which You have given to Me, I have given to them, so that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; so that they may be perfected in unity, and so that the world may know that You have sent Me, and You loved them just as You loved Me." (John 17:22-23 EMTV)

In a day when so many are feverishly trying to please God through efforts of self, which really only impress others, this is what the Lord desires of us:

Therefore, brothers, I exhort you through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable [Greek: 'logical'] service. And do not fashion yourselves after this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and well pleasing and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself too highly, beyond what you should think, but to think soberly, as God has imparted to each one a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ~ Romans 12:1-5 EMTV

After presenting our bodies a living sacrifice and allowing the Holy Spirit to have His way in us, Paul's advice in this passage is fitting.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. ~ Colossians 3:1-3 EMTV

We must look closely at the very next verse. " When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested [Greek: 'be rendered apparent'] in glory. (Colossians 3:4 RV) "In glory" does not mean in heaven. The same word meanings for "manifest" (appear) and "in" glory, as we covered earlier, apply here as well. Now let's look at Paul's words spoken immediately following the previously quoted passage where he tells of the veil being lifted.

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 EMTV

Those words in bold print tell us what the true Body of Christ should look like.

It is only by the Spirit of the Lord that the real Body of Christ is visible. And the fruit of that same Spirit will be evidence of His presence–not just one attribute (if we could call it that), but ALL. All fruit of the Holy Spirit is seen in a true member of Christ's body. What do we see in that mirror? Are we being transformed into His image from glory to glory? What fruit is evident to those around us?

The living body

The Body of Christ is a living organism. As Head of the body, Jesus Christ is the Life source. His Spirit is the Power by which the Body functions. There are no divisions–only unity in the faith. "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all." (Ephesians 4:4-6 EMTV)

There is no need for elaboration on many of the passages quoted. Even with our English language and its deficiencies in translating from the old languages, the message is very clear. This one, for example, needs no comment.

For just as the body is one and has many parts, but all the parts of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and we were all given to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one part but many. ~ 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

And the passage goes on to speak of the functions of the various parts of the human body, then continues on with. . .

But now God has set the parts, each one of them, in the body just as He desired. And if all parts were one part, where would be the body? But now indeed there are many parts, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." But to a greater degree the parts of the body which seem weaker are necessary. And the parts of the body which we consider to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater propriety. But our presentable parts have no need. But God united the body, giving greater honor to the part being inferior, lest there be divisions in the body, but the parts care the same for one another. And if one part suffers, all the parts suffer together; or if one part is honored, all the parts rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. ~ 1 Corinthians 12:18-27 EMTV

This passage describes the function of some parts of Christ's Body:

And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, which is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. ~ Ephesians 4:11-16 RV

A few more thoughts

Is life then a bed of roses where we experience nothing but wonderful things? Do we walk in prosperity and health as described by the word of faith crowd? Was Jesus loved by everyone? Was He respected by those in authority? No, we know He wasn't; He was persecuted and viciously beaten before He died on the Cross. Do we have a right to expect anything better? "Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12 RV) "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Romans 8:18-19)

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, so that the extraordinary character of the power may be of God and not of us; in everything being oppressed, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that also the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are living are always handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

The true Body of Christ practices daily the giving over of self to the crucifying power of the resurrected and living Christ. Their whole desire is for Him to be manifested in them, so that they are being changed from glory to glory.

The false body of Christ is taken up with the things of this life, being watchful to always follow the rules of the Bible, which they are comfortable with. It may be that the ones they are not comfortable with, they will apply to others with whom they don't agree. This admonition to the true Body may well be describing them and their actions.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or of a new moon or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no one rule against you, desiring to do so in false humility and in worship of the angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, in vain being puffed up by his carnal mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, supported and joined together by joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God. If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you submit to regulations–"Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch," things are all for corruption with the using, according to the commands and teaching of men? These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and severity on the body, but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh. ~ Colossians 2:16-23 EMTV

The false body of Christ are those who seek to follow signs and wonders, as though Christ is here or there. This is where so much deception has crept in. Too many "signs and wonders" are the lying ones of which Paul spoke in 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Jesus said that signs will follow those who have fully put their trust in Him. Why is that? Because He dwells in them, and it is His work!

We must aspire to walk in perfect oneness with Christ, emptied of self and humbly submitted to the Holy Spirit. What a glorious sight Christ's Body is, as He is manifested in her! When she is looked upon by those in the world, all that will be seen is Jesus. There will be no question as to her identity.

©2004-2010 ekklesia4him.net. Permission is granted for not-for-profit reproduction or distribution (without any changes) provided this notice appears and this link is included: http://www.ekklesia4him.net/the_body_of_christ_its_identity.html

“…As a part of my truth quest I began doing a lot of reading on the different “holiness” strains of Christendom to get a better handle on why so many read the same bible so differently.”

Why? This is a really good question, that the “organized Church” cannot answer. Of course, they each try by stating that the others are wrong and that they alone hold the correct answer. Is there an answer? Yes, I believe there is, but at the same time I believe that it is not a general answer, but an answer that only a few will discover, and it has to do with faith, and it the same answer to why so many in that day will say, “Lord, Lord,…” and the Lord says, “be gone from me I never knew you.” Faith is the answer, and many have a misguided view of what it is.

Identifying the Problem

Over the past five or six years, this thing called the “Church” has been of particular interest to me. In the past I assumed that the familiar thing that I have seen on nearly every corner in America was the “Church,” as presented in the Bible. I have assumed that this was true even though the only Church that it remotely resembles is the latter day Church mentioned in the Book of Revelation, “the Church of the Laodicean’s.” Should this resemblance be alarming?  Yes, absolutely, if we are at all interested in truth. This fact came as a startling revelation to me, and has become the prominent compelling force behind my re-examination of all things pertaining to the Church and truth.

Jesus makes a couple of statements, actually a statement and a question, that became sticking point for me on this new road of discovery. There have been many revelations since then, but initially my eyes were opened to the seemingly vast numbers of Christians in America, and the world, and that it conflicts with the Bible declaration of smallness. Any person truly concerned about salvation will want to think and pray earnestly about the ramifications of the following statements: Jesus said,

1.    Matt 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many (Christians) who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
2.    Luke 18:8 “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

This does not in any way point to, or allude to, an end day Church that is busting out at the seams, or walking in truth. Wouldn’t you agree something is amiss here? This should cause us to ask some very straight questions of ourselves, and those appointed to lead us, the, supposedly, enlightened ones.

Setting the Stage

First, let’s set the stage. There are a few things we should give heed to concerning this place we call our home.

▸    Remember, we live in a fallen world. Look at, and listen to, your surroundings; this is obviously true: cursing, foulness, rape, murder,  pillage, greed, envy, pride and deceit are all the currency of this kingdom.
▸    The ruler of this world is not Jesus, His Father, or the Holy Spirit, it is Satan. Satan is the prince and power of the air, and has been given this world as his kingdom. All that you see and hear is the product of his rule. Satan makes the rules, sets the policies and guidelines by which man is regulated, and men everywhere obey them, and, oh, by the way, he is a liar. 1John 2:16-17.
▸    Human beings are a deceived race of people. If the Bible makes one thing perfectly clear it is that ALL of mankind are born blind, and without the gift of sight, and stumble around in the dark. Men are in the dark and would not know the truth if it stood right in front of them. We have been tricked and we are deceived, and we prefer it that way: John 3:19, Jer. 5:31, Gen 6:5, Pr. 6:12-14, Isa. 59:1-16.
▸    God’s ways are not man’s ways. That is a simple enough statement, but why then, in every aspect of the organized church, do we see building and organization that have the fingerprints of men all over them? It doesn’t look supernatural, it looks very natural, very common, and very human. Isa. 55:8-9, 58:1-3; Prov. 21:8; Ex. 20:20; Ezek.. 18:24-30; Ps. 81:11-14.
▸    Man is a religious creature. Man, inherently, desires truth, happiness, and peace, but virtually ignores what the Bible says concerning achieving it. Man seeks these things through selfish motives and wrong doing, through compliance to the world’s rules, or the corruption of goodness, through self-worship, and idol worship, but man’s motivation is always evil, a product of: weakness, pride, selfishness, and lust.

This is the stage on which this whole thing we call “doing church” or “church growth” is played out. The Bible declares, that to men living on this planet, under these circumstances, there is a way that appears to be right to his limit capacity to reason and see clearly, but that “way” is a lie and the way of death, Pr. 14:12. All of the institutional religions of men, including the organized church of Christianity, are based, to some degree, on the wholesale deception of mankind, man trying to please his god through form, ritual, and acts of the will. If the ritualistic religions of the world, including Christianity, are the true earmarks of an omnipotent god then he is no more powerful or creative than any industrious man. What mankind has done, through these acts, is to declare that he no longer needs the God of the Bible, that he is able to finish in the flesh what was began in the Spirit, Gal 3:3. Mankind has effectively declared that he is as powerful as God. He has declared that he is God, by proxy, persons authorized to act in God’s behalf, because he hangs a cross around his neck, is called by a designated title, or sings a certain kind of song, or does good deeds, or prays, or studies the Bible, or a thousand other things, including church planting and building. He assumes he is saved, but he assumes too much. He says he has faith without ever understanding or obeying the dictates of the real God, or understanding the characters acting out their roles on the stage of life in this world. Christianity, and all its sects, have become just another religion searching for a purpose and a meaning to life, not really caring about truth, but anything that offers personal peace and happiness, and the real God says that they love it that way, Jer. 5:31, Isa. 56:10-12, Isa. 30:10, Rom. 1:24-25. Think about it, if God’s ways are not man’s ways, why does all of Christendom look like a production of man? Could it be that God was wrong, and God’s ways do look like man’s ways after all? Or, could it be that man is deceived and simply does things the way man does things, like men, and that the building of the “church” has been taken out of the hands of God so that men can make sense of the operation of the Church, Gen.11:2-4? The same thing has happened over and over through history and God has rejected man’s way to build, and He has cursed it. The Jews never learned from the many times God showed mercy, and always returned to something they themselves could build and manage. This is the play that is continually re-played, and that men never learn from, and the stage is now strewn with all the failed gimmicks, and useless programs of men pursuing God. Doesn’t the Bible say matter-of-factly that “unless the Lord builds the house it is built in vain” Ps. 127:1, and that it is the Lord Himself that adds to the Church those who are being saved, Acts 2:46-47?  But, today we have lords many, all building their own way, just like the Jews. This is the never ending story of mans failure to please God. The church today is built on business plans, accounting principles, and marketing devices, by men each doing whatever is right in his own eyes, and the measure of their success is the visible representation of an organization and a building, Isa. 5:21, Jdg. 17:6, Jdg. 21:25, Gen 11:2-4.

This has not answered the question of why there are so many “belief” systems that are all called “Christian” and claim to follow Christ. I will answer that question in the next post. There is an answer; if there isn’t then even Christ would be a deceiver, and that is not possible. But, the answer may be very different than what you imagine, so stay with me.

In an effort to keep things tidy I’m going to stop till the next installment, besides I have the flu and I’m getting tired.

Steve Blackwell

With this last issue of the paper for this year (and it will not reach many of you until very near the end of the year) I feel a strong desire and urge to look back and on with you. For myself, it has been a very full year. So far as movements are concerned, the fullest year of my life. I have travelled by air alone twenty-six thousand miles, and quite a bit in other ways. This has involved many conferences, meetings, etc. so that there has been a very great deal given out. To this must be added all the ministries and labours of my colleagues and fellow-workers. This is not mentioned just as news or information, although it will show that “a great and effectual door” is opened to us. But I mention this because it will indicate that we are not spending our time up in some corner, imagining things, and ministering to hypothetical situations. We are in immediate and direct touch with the spiritual and actual situation as represented by a very large area. We have no hesitation, though much sorrow, in saying that the situation spiritually is very, very sad and deplorable. It is our well-considered and deeply-rooted conviction that some great and drastic judgment from heaven of Christendom is absolutely imperative. We are equally convinced that it has commenced and is moving obdurately and inflexibly across the world. Just as the Assyrians were the instrument under the sovereignty of God to sift Israel in the last dispensation, so it is most likely that the power moving over the earth today – a combination of Satanic forces with human instruments – is going to test the whole of Christendom as to its real spiritual measure. This may very well be the counterpart of what took place is the year 70 A.D. when Judaism was shaken to its foundations and fell. The Scriptures quite definitely foretell a tribulation coming upon “the whole world to try them that are upon the earth”. This is something much more than Jewry.

The words quoted from the prophet seem yet to be capable of a fuller-ranged fulfilment than even the above-mentioned ‘shaking’. “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens “. (Hebrews 12:26,27).

There is no doubt that the Letter to the Hebrews was a supreme effort to get Christian believers detached from an earthly form of Christianity, and attached to Christ in heaven. That effort had as one of its strong reasons the fact that a great shaking was foretold, foreseen, and imminent. That shaking was to be in two parts, an earlier and a latter; an entirely earthly, and later an earthly and heavenly combined. The effect of the shaking, and, indeed, the purpose of it, would be to test everything as to abiding values. The former and earthly shaking was Jewish, but it had all the elements in principle and type of the latter.

In the destruction of Jerusalem – toward which the Letter pointed – the whole earth was shaken so far as Jewry was concerned. The Temple, as the focal point of that whole world, crashed even with the ground. The priesthood, as gathered up in the high-priestly order, passed away. The temple service ended, and the nation ceased to be an integrate and unified people.

These were things capable of being removed. And yet how long they had stood! What forces they had withstood! What confidence there was that they could never cease to be! How assured they were that God was so bound up with it all that it could never be destroyed and cease to be! How they fought and clung to it to the last terrible extremity! But it was of no avail. God was no longer wanting the framework and earthly system, which had taken so much room, and energy, and expenditure, before the really spiritual was reached. The percentage of spiritual value was so small after all, and spiritual interests lay so far along the labyrinthine ways of religious machinery and tradition, that it was not worth while. The means to the end was not immediate, that is, there was far too big a distance between the means and the end. There was no immediate touch with the real Divine requirement, and there was far too much that was intermediate. And so it had to go, and, rather than preserve it, God Himself shook it.

What remained after the shaking was just that, and that only, which was Christ in a spiritual and heavenly way: Christ in heaven, and here by His Spirit, the gathering point, or occasion of assembling; Christ in heaven the High Priest and Sacrifice; the order of God’s house here a purely spiritual and heavenly one – not formal, arranged, imposed, imitated, or material. Order grows out of life, and if that life is Divine, and unchecked, Divine order will be spontaneous.

The amazing thing is how blind and unbelieving Christian people are, and therefore how unwilling to seek to know the way of the ‘unshakable’. In a very small part of our lifetime the phrase ‘world evangelization’ (from one part to another) has been rendered unusable, and all that mighty machine is having to be revised. Countries which were until quite recently the greatest spheres of ‘missionary’ activity are now closed as such. There is a feverish race to try to move ahead of the flood in other countries which are already encircled and undermined. In those overrun countries nothing but a true and living knowledge of the Lord is stemming the tide. The framework and organized structure of Christianity is gone. Deeply, stealthily, and irresistibly this sinister work is paving the way for swift and paralysing movements in all the rest of the world, as much in the West as in the East. The result will be the same everywhere, little as it may seem possible because of long traditions and strong establishments. It seems a terrible thing, even to think, but as we have touched so very much of what is called ‘Christianity’ we are bound to believe that, because vast numbers who call themselves Christian are in an utterly false position, and the system itself has become so largely an earthly, traditional, formal, and unspiritual thing, this world-wide shaking is quite necessary and will be eventually justified. If we were writing a treatise, we could show that what is called ‘Christianity’ is really the greatest enemy of Christ.

It will be seen that it is not a matter of substituting another and better system for an old and poor or bad one. Some people seem to think that it is all or largely a matter of the order, technique, and form, and if we returned to the ‘New Testament’ form or order of churches all would be well. The fact is that, while certain things characterized the New Testament churches, the New Testament does not give us a complete pattern according to which churches are to be set up or formed! There is no blue-print for churches in the New Testament, and to try to form New Testament churches is only to create another system which may be as legal, sectarian and dead as others. Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of life, which life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers. Unless believers are crucified people, there can be no true expression of the Church.

This brings us to our particular point. What is the pressing imperative in view of this oncoming flood of testing, which has already carried away very many of those who were called Christian, and even evangelical Christians?

Surely there is only one answer:- On the one hand, a ministry which has as its substance and object the “rooting and grounding”, the establishing, the building up, of believers, the real increase of “the measure of Christ”. This must get behind evangelism, so that the work is deep, not superficial; enduring, not transient; intrinsic, not general! On the other hand, believers must really take stock of their Christianity. Is it just a tradition, an assumption, an external system, the thing which is common acceptance – more or less? Or is it really “by revelation of Jesus Christ” in the heart? A real walk with God, and a growing knowledge of Christ, a life in the Spirit? God has said it: the things which can be shaken will be. What have we got that, being unshakable, will remain?

So, with our review and outlook, we gird up the loins of our minds, and feel that the small bit of this ‘building’ ministry committed to us must be pursued with greater devotion. How we wish that it were possible to gather the people of God together in every country and minister Christ to them, and more than we have done!

Dear friends, let us away with suspicions, prejudices, misunderstandings, and fears; these things which are such successful means and methods of Satan to defeat God’s purpose in many lives – His purpose of the fulness of Christ; and let us pray much – as Paul besought the saints to pray – that “a door may be opened to speak the mystery”; that a mighty new movement of the Spirit of God will take effect in the direction of spiritual purity, strength, and reality. Oh, that such a movement might begin before this year closes, and the critical year – 1953 – be marked by a deep movement of the Lord’s people toward Himself!

Make this a matter of prayer as to yourself, and then for all His own.

Pray also for us that we may be very truly and faithfully led as to what the Lord wants of us, and where. Calls and needs are so many; our burden is so great! We do want to do that which will have the greatest measure of intrinsic spiritual value. You know that it is not a ‘teaching’, a ‘movement’, or any ‘thing’ that we are interested in or concerned with. It is truly “the measure of Christ” in His members and Body.

The Lord continue to make this ministry effective to His end.

First published as an Editorial in “A Witness and A Testimony” magazine, Nov-Dec 1952, Vol 30-6

It’s Easter weekend and we’re in the middle of a blizzard!

What do I see when I look out my window?  This male turkey scratching in the snow and leaves.  His beard indicates he’s mature.  In a few weeks he’ll breed as many hens as possible and we’ll end up with little turkey poults running all over the place.

If you have mature birds you’ll soon have immature birds; that’s the way it works.

Three days ago Rick Warren proffered this question for me to mull over. “What is the mature church?”

I knew immediately how I would respond.

When someone makes a statement like the above you need to listen very carefully, because Mr. Quickdraw is just as likely to shoot his self in the foot as he is to give the correct answer.

“The ‘mature church’ is the church filled with immaturity.”

Anywhere in the world, whether plant or animal, the clear delineation of “maturity” is the ability to reproduce.  Immature animals can’t reproduce.  Immature plants can’t replicate themselves.  The definition of maturity is “being fully ripe, fully aged” so the connotation of maturity is obvious.  Where you see maturity you’ll observe new life, babies and immaturity all over the place.

This is just the kind of stuff we have come to expect from the Church of the World. This is not a description of a mature Church, this is a description of how to justify all the worldly, immature masses that fill the buildings of men called Churches.  If the subject matter was “turkeys” then this argument would be valid, but we’re talking about men. Nature has a way of dealing with its defects, those turkeys who never mature, they die, but the church is not at all like turkeys (that point may be somewhat arguable on a different level). Retarded Christians fill the pews and continue to reproduce more retarded Christians. The level of immaturity in Christianity is repulsive and unacceptable. These preachers who promote immaturity are false teachers. They consistently teach their congregations how to live in the world with all their financial advisers, psychologist, business managers, philosophers, and program directors.

Maturity desires reproduction.

Maturity tolerates juvenile behavior (from juveniles) while training its progeny for success in life.

Maturity means “little poults running all over the place.”

The Churches across this land and world are more like turkey farms, bred and raised in total isolation, headed for destruction. These turkeys have never seen the light, and neither have most so called Christians. They are kept in containment by those who make merchandise of their souls; they are nothing but meat for the Devils table. Where in God’s Holy word does this man justify tolerating immaturity. 1 Cor 3:1-3 “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly — mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk , not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.”

Heb 5:11-14 “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk , not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk , being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

In these verses Paul spells out plainly the problem with immature Christians; it is carnality, worldliness, slowness, retardedness, and never having grown because they were never given the proper nourishment by those caring for the flock.

If you attend a mature church, be prepared for immaturity.

Where you find mature Christians you’ll find little “babes in Christ” running all over the place.  In fact, if you have been looking for a church where “everyone tithes” or “everyone serves” you’re not looking for a mature church, you are looking for a dying church – aged, impotent and bereft of spiritual newborns because “everyone” is mature.

What about the Church where two or three are gathered together, all very mature, is it a dying Church, weak, impotent and bereft because everyone is mature? What is spiritual maturity any way? Isn’t it the grasping of the elementary fact of faith in God? Jesus instructs us that basic child like faith, (maturity) was a prerequisite of mature adulthood Christianity? These little “babes in Christ” he talks about are not the babes of the living God, who know what faith is, and display maturity far and above what we see in all the “christian” poultry farms they call Churches.

Few things are more disturbing than a flock of adult believers standing around complaining that “no one has come to Christ” while refusing to do something that might result in new life.

So when you bump into someone who acts “immature” at one of our Easter services, don’t complain, and don’t be surprised.  Instead, thank God the “mature in the Christ” are busy delivering newborn babies to the family of God.

This is what is being passed along to the sleeping sheep. This is what thy are being fed. Their buildings are full, I’ll grant them that, convinced that they are breeding machines.

Steve Blackwell

Today we are witnesses to the unleashing of spiritual manifestations which till now were only suited to the world of the New Age Movement and to authors of fiction such as James Redfield’s “The Celestine Prophecy.” Now it is all around us, from Rick Warren’s embrace of those who use spirit guides, to Oprah Winfred’s promotion of “A Course In Miracles.” Wittingly or unwittingly the Christian Church has become associated very closely with EVIL! Matt 6:23
“If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Steve Blackwell

_________________________________________

PASSIVITY AND ITS DANGERS

[The Spiritual Man, Volume III, Part 9, Chapter2]

By
Watchman Nee
________________________________________

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4-6) is certainly applicable to our day. Christians nowadays generally are lacking in two kinds of knowledge: (I) a knowledge of the conditions by which evil spirits work; and (2) a knowledge of the principle of spiritual life. Ignorance here is furnishing Satan and his evil spirits an incredible advantage and is inflicting enormous harm on the church of God. What grieves our hearts is that, even as folly is prevailing, Christians continue to boast of their familiarity with the Bible and of the abundance of their experience. They do not realise that their much so-called knowledge is mere human reasoning, quite devoid of usefulness. Humility before the Lord and eagerness in seeking the revelation of God’s truths are almost unknown. While boasting in the richness of their knowledge, they themselves sink into the very quicksand from which they can neither extricate themselves nor rescue others. It is indeed a most dreadful scene.

THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

For each and every thing God has created there is a law. All actions are governed by laws. Hence evil spirits also operate according to definite laws, one of which is that certain causes will produce certain effects. Now should anyone fulfill the conditions for the working of evil spirits (whether he fulfills them willingly, such as the witch, the medium, or the sorcerer-or unwittingly, such as the Christian), then he has definitely given ground to them to work on him. Notice that the law of cause and effect is involved here. Fire scorches, water drowns: these are laws: none escapes scorching if he falls into fire, nor can any escape drowning if he jumps into water. Likewise everyone who meets the requirements for the operation of evil spirits will be harmed by them. Hence the same law of cause and effect is operative here. It pays no heed to whether one is a Christian or not; once the conditions are met, the evil spirits do not fail to act. just as a Christian cannot avoid being scorched or drowned if he falls into fire or water, so he cannot escape the danger of being hurt if he ignorantly supplies the prerequisites for the working of evil spirits. The fire scorches everything put into it; the water drowns all who are immersed in it; and evil spirits attack all who give them ground. One will not escape simply because he is a child of God. If he provides the enemy the opportunity, he will not hesitate to assault him. What, then, are the conditions for the working of the enemy? What facilitates this malevolent working? This is the crucial question. The Bible characterizes such conditions as “Place” (Eph. 4.27 ASV) or “opportunity” (RSV). It can additionally be denoted as “ground.” It means any portion of empty space marked off in man for the evil spirits. This place or ground constitutes their foothold. The degree of invasion is determined by the degree of the foothold. The evil spirits will commence to penetrate into any man, be he “heathen” or Christian as soon as he has obtained a footing in him. Whatever affords the evil spirits an opportunity or a foothold by which to attack or invade may be termed as “ground.” If ground is given, invasion is unavoidable. The particular cause brings in the particular effect. A Christian who yields ground to evil spirits and yet envisages himself to be beyond attack has been gravely deceived already by the enemy.

Now to put it simply, the ground or territory which the believer furnishes to the evil spirits is sin. Sin includes all the possible grounds. In retaining sin he retains as well the evil spirits that hide behind it. All sin yields territory to them. But there are two kinds of sin, one is positive and the other negative. Positive sins are those which a person commits: his hands perform bad acts, his eyes see evil scenes, his ears hear wicked voices, and his mouth speaks unclean words. These render opportunity to evil spirits in varying degree to take hold of the hands, eyes, ears and mouth of the saint. Whichever part of him sins, that is what invites the enemy to come and occupy it. If occupation stems from sinning, the child of God needs to forsake unrelentingly so as to recover the lost territory. Else the evil spirits will increase their hold gradually until the entire person is occupied. One reason why some who hitherto have accepted the fact of the co-death of the cross find it difficult to lay aside the sin which clings so closely is because aside from the problem of the “flesh” they also have the problem of having been assaulted by supernatural evil powers.

This kind of positive sin which presents a working opportunity to the evil spirits is by and large understood by most Christians and consequently we shall not enlarge upon it. Let our attention now be focused on the second type, on negative sin. This is largely misunderstood. Since it is within the scope of the will, we shall discuss it in detail. The popular notion is that only the positive kind are sins; negative ones are not counted as such. The Bible nonetheless holds that not only all manner of unrighteousness which a man actively commits is sin but that “whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” as well (James 4.17). The Word of God treats what man commits and what man omits both equally as sin. Sin gives footing or ground to the work of evil spirits. And besides the positive sin, the negative kind-that of omission-likewise provides ground for their work. The particular sin of omission which gives ground to the evil spirits is the believer’s passivity. Disuse as well as misuse of any part of one’s being is a sin in the sight of God. The Lord endows us with all sorts of abilities none of which are to be misused or go unused. For a person to cease engaging any part of his talent but to allow it to sink into inertia is to provide occasion for the devil and his army to exercise it for him. This is the ground for their sinister operations.

All Christians are aware of sin as a condition for the enemy’s assault, but an innumerable number of them are unaware that passivity is also a sin and a condition for his assault. Once place is given, penetration becomes inevitable and sufferings naturally follow.

PASSIVITY

What primarily precipitates the enemy’s invasion among the “heathen” and among carnal Christians is willful sin; but “the primary cause of deception … in surrendered believers may be condensed into one word, passivity; that is, a cessation of the active exercise of the will in control over spirit, soul and body, or either, as may be the case.” The organ of volition ceases to choose and decide matters referred to it. “The word passivity simply describes the opposite condition to activity; and in the experience of the believer it means, briefly, (1) loss of self-control in the sense of the person himself controlling each, or all, of the departments of his personal being; and (2) loss of freewill in the sense of the person himself exercising his will as the guiding principle of personal control, in harmony with the will of God.” The passivity of a saint arises out of the non-use of his various talents. He has a mouth but refuses to talk because he hopes the Holy Spirit will speak through it. He has bands but will not engage them since he expects God to do it. He does not exercise any part of his person but waits for God to move him. He considers himself fully surrendered to God; so he no longer will use any element of his being. Thus he falls into an inertia which opens the way for deception and invasion.

Upon accepting the teaching of their union with God’s will, Christians often develop a wrong concept of what this union signifies. They misconstrue it to mean to obey God passively. They think their will must be canceled out and that they must become puppets. They maintain that they must not employ their own volition any more nor that their will should exercise control over any other segment of their body. They no longer choose, decide, or activate with their will. At first it appears to be a great victory, for amazingly “the ‘strong-willed’ person suddenly becomes passively yielding.” (Penn-Lewis, WOTS, 73) He is as weak as water. He holds no opinion on any affair but obeys orders absolutely. He exercises neither mind, nor will, nor even conscience to distinguish between good and evil, for be is a person of perfect obedience. Only when be is moved does he move; a perfect condition (and an invitation too) for the enemy to come in.

By falling into this state of inaction the Christian now ceases from every activity. Indeed, he waits quietly all the time for some external force to activate him. And unless this force compels him to move he shall remain decidedly inert. If such a situation is permitted to continue this one will discover that sometimes when he knows he should act he cannot because the external force has not come upon him. Moreover, even when he wants to act he finds he is unable to do so. Without that outside power he cannot move a step. His will is suppressed and he is bound; he can move only after that alien force has come to move him.

THE BELIEVERS FOLLY

The evil spirits take advantage of one’s inactive state to accomplish their wiles, while be himself persists in esteeming such inertia as real obedience to God and perfect union with His will. He does not realize that God never demands passivity; it is the powers of darkness which have propelled him into this state. Furthermore, God wants His own to exercise their wills actively to co-operate with Him. This is what is implied in such Scriptures verses as: “if any man’s will is to do his will, he shall know. . .” (John 7.17) and “ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15.7). God never disregards our volition.

We human beings enjoy a free will. God never encroaches on that will. While He does expect us to obey Him, He nevertheless respects our personality (note: the word “personality” as employed in this book has always had in view the person of man, not his character). He wishes us to desire what He desires. He will not usurp our desiring and reduce our volition to deathly inactivity. He needs our most positive co-operation. His pleasure is in the created one reaching his summit, that is, perfect freedom of will. In creation God ordains man to an unfettered will; in redemption He recovers that will. Since He did not create man to obey mechanically, how could He expect redeemed man to be a robot -acting under His remote control direction? The greatness of God is certainly manifested in His not requiring us to turn into wood and stone that we might be obedient. His way is to make us obey Him willingly through the working of His Spirit in our spirit. He refuses to will in place of us.

In a word, the law that governs the working of God and the working of Satan in man is exactly the same. God delights in seeing man have free will, so He creates him with such a capacity. It means that humanity has the power to choose and decide all matters concerned. Though God is the Lord of the entire universe, yet is He willing to be restricted by a non-encroachment on man’s free will. He never forces man to be loyal to Him. And Satan likewise is unable to usurp any part of man without the latter’s consent granted either knowingly or unknowingly. Both God and the devil require man to be persuaded before operating in him. When man “desires” good, God will accomplish it; but when he “desires” evil, the wicked spirit will fulfill it. This is what we see in the Garden of Eden.

Before regeneration man’s volition was enslaved to Satan and therefore not free. But in a regenerated and overcoming Christian the volition is free and therefore able to choose what is of God. Naturally Satan will not let go, so be devises sundry ways to recapture him. He is fully cognizant that he shall never secure permission openly; hence lie uses wiles to obtain the necessary consent. Now mark this well: Satan must gain the believer’s permission but the latter will never yield it to Satan; the devil is therefore compelled to resort to deception in order to extract this consent from him. The evil spirits cannot enter without the acquiescence of man’s will and they can penetrate only as far as his will approves.

If the believer knows the principle of spiritual life as well as the conditions for the working of evil spirits he will not fall into such danger. It is because he is unconscious both of the advantage the adversary secures through inertia and of the necessity (in spiritual life) of an active will co-operating with God that he allows his volition to be passive. What we must remember always is that God never substitutes His will for man’s. Man himself must be responsible for what he does. God does not decide for him.

If the evil spirits do not operate in some passive persons, then most likely the passivity of these individuals in fact amounts to nothing more than laziness or inactivity. Usually those who are inactive in this way (that is, without the working of the evil spirit) can become active at any time. However, if they plunge into such a passivity as to be occupied, then they will be unable to be active even if their will should desire it. Here then is the antithesis between the working of God and the working of Satan. Though God wants man to be yielded completely to Him, He also wants him to use every talent he possesses in co-operation with the Holy Spirit. Satan, on the other band, demands total cessation of man’s will and actions that his evil spirits may operate in his stead. The contrast is truly sobering: God calls man to choose actively, consciously and willingly to do His will so that his spirit, soul, and body may be free; Satan coerces him to be his passive slave and captive: God appoints man to be autonomous, free to be his own master; Satan forces man to be his puppet, a marionette altogether manipulated by him: God never requires man to cease his activities before He can work; Satan bids man to be utterly passive and inactive: God asks man to work together with Him consciously; Satan charges man to obey him passively. It is true that God does require man to cease from his every sinful activity without which he cannot co-operate with the Holy Spirit; but Satan compels him to cease all his activities, including the functioning of his soul, so that his minions can act in place of man. Man is thus reduced to a mere piece of machinery without any conscious responsibility.

It is a terrible circumstance that Christians do not know the fact of God’s living in them and the principle of His working in them. They think He wants them to be like pawns on a chessboard that He may maneuver them around as He pleases. They feel they must be absolutely passive, possessing no power to choose or decide, but just to be managed insensibly by God. They forget that when God first created man He made him with a free will. God obviously is not pleased if man wills things other than Himself, but neither is He pleased if man were to obey Him mechanically and unconsciously. He is satisfied when a person wills what He wills, and never wants him to become a will-less person. Many matters must be executed by believers themselves; God will not do these for them. It is taught that we must hand everything over to God and let Him do it instead of us-that we must riot lift our hands nor move our feet that we must be so surrendered to the indwelling Holy Spirit that He can arrange everything in lieu of ourselves-that we Must let God move us. We grant there is some truth in such teaching but the error therein mixed is perhaps more potent than is the truth. (We shall speak more on this point in the next chapter.)

THE DANGERS

A Christian in his ignorance may be deceived by the powers of darkness, may unwittingly tumble into the trap of Satan, and fulfill the conditions for his working. Let us observe the order of this process, for it is highly important: (1) ignorance, (2) deception, (3) passivity, and (4) entrenchment. Ignorance is the primary cause of this process. Satan can deceive because the saint is unfamiliar both with the demand of the Holy Spirit and the principle of satanic working. Were Christians to apprise themselves of how to co-operate with God and what His procedure of working is, they would never accept Satan’s deception. But once deceived, they surmise that for God to live and work through them means for them to remain passive; and so they accept as being from God many supernatural manifestations from evil spirits. The deception grows deeper, finally resulting in an entrenchment of alarming proportions.

It is a vicious cycle: each time ground is given, the evil spirits are encouraged to come in; upon entering, they manifest themselves through sundry activities; and if the believer misinterprets these activities, not knowing that they originate with the devil, he will cede even more place to the evil spirits since he has believed already in their lies. This cycle goes round and round, daily augmenting the degree of penetration. Once he descends into passivity by furnishing a foothold to evil spirits, the dangers can easily multiply.

After one has slipped into inertia and ceases to choose for himself, he will passively succumb to whatever circumstance comes to him. He assumes that it is God Who now is deciding everything for him; all that is therefore required of him is but to passively submit. Whatever happens to him is given and arranged by God; it is His will, hence he must silently accept all things. Shortly afterwards the believer loses all power of choice in his daily life; he can neither decide nor initiate anything which falls within his duty. In addition, he is afraid to express his opinions and is even more unwilling to divulge his preference. And so others must choose and determine for him. Such a victim of the enemy is like seaweed adrift in the ocean waves. He very much hopes that others will decide for him or that his environment will be such that only one alternative is open for him to follow, thus relieving him from the responsibility of having to make a decision. He seems to be happy when forced to do anything, for this keeps him from anxiety which would arise from indecision. He would rather be driven by circumstance than be free to choose his circumstance since making a choice is so trying for him.

In such a condition of inertia’ to decide a small matter becomes a tremendous chore! The victim looks for help every where. He feels quite embarrassed because be does not know how to cope with his daily affairs. He seems hardly to understand what people say to him. Painful is it for him to recall anything; agonizing is it to make a decision; terrifying, to consider any task. His inert will is impotent to bear such a heavy responsibility. Because of its gross weakness he is compelled to wait for assistance through environment or through men. If he is helped by any particular person he rejoices in receiving such help, yet resents beholding the capture of his will. Who can tally up the hours consumed in waiting for outside aid? Are we suggesting that such a passive believer does not like to work? Not at all; for when compelled by an external force he is able to work; but just have the compulsion terminate and he will halt right in the middle of his labor, feeling himself insufficient in strength to carry on. Innumerable unfinished jobs form the sad testimonials of a passive will.

How inconvenient must this state of inaction be! A believer has to rely on multiplied notes to help him remember; he has to talk aloud to concentrate; he has to devise hundreds of “crutches” to assist him along in life. His senses gradually grow dull until finally he unconsciously develops many idiosyncrasies and queer habits such as not looking straight while talking, bending while walking, exercising little or no mind in any undertaking, either attending too much to physical needs or excessively suppressing bodily requirements, and so forth.

In his foolishness the Christian does not perceive that all these symptoms flow from passivity and invasion but instead believes that they are merely his natural weaknesses. He comforts himself with the thought that these are not too surprising since he is not as gifted or well-endowed as others. He fails to discern the lies of the evil spirits and allows himself to be further deceived. He dare not undertake any task nor do any work because he is so afraid, so nervous, so inarticulate, so dull in mind, or so weak in body. He has never examined why other believers fare so differently. People less talented than he can do far more. And even he himself was much better before. How then can he attribute these symptoms to heredity, natural temperament, and so forth? Know that these are caused by the evil spirits whether one perceives it or not.

Being well acquainted with the believer’s current condition, the powers of darkness will foment many troubles in his environment to disturb him. Because his will is passive already and powerless to work, the evil spirits usually win maneuver him into a situation where the exercise of volition is necessary so as to embarrass him and subject him to derision. During such a time, the victim is being harassed by the evil spirits as they please, just like a caged bird that is teased at will by naughty boys. They instigate many difficulties that these may wear out the saint. How distressing that he has not the strength to protest and resist. His circumstances wax worse. He has the authority to deal with the evil spirits, yet he cannot utter a word. The powers of darkness halve’ gained the upper hand, all because their victim has fallen from ignorance to deception, from deception to passivity, and from passivity to the sufferings of deep entrenchment. Nevertheless, he has not yet discerned that such a situation has not been given by God; and so he continues on in his passive acceptance.

When the Christian has sunk into such a state be unconsciously may even rely upon the help of the evil spirits. He cannot will anything by himself, hence looks for outside forces to help him. He is troubled often by the evil spirits, yet he innocently expects these same spirits to come to his aid. This is the reason why they desire to make him passive. Holding in their hands the various talents that a believer possesses, they are able to express themselves whenever these talents are exercised. They like to do the willing in place of the person. And the evil spirits certainly are not going to hesitate to exert themselves wherever they are so welcomed. They delight in enticing a person to follow outside revelation blindly without using either thought or will; they therefore often impart a host of strange and supernatural phenomena to men.

The Christian, unaware of the principle of God’s working, assumes he is being obedient to God when actually he is a prey to deception. Let us be advised of this verse in Romans 6: “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey … ?” (v.16) If we offer ourselves in name to God but in actual practice are yielding to the evil spirits we cannot escape being the latter’s slave. True, we are deceived; even so, we have yielded openly to the false one and are consequently responsible. The Christian should realise that if be does not commune with God in accordance with the proper conditions for divine fellowship but instead fulfils the requirements for the working of the evil spirits, he will then be enslaved by them. We ought to review one final time this process culminating in entrenchment. As a person is coveting the physical sensations of God’s presence and other similar experiences (as earlier described in Parts Three and Seven) he may be deceived by evil spirits and accorded many counterfeit workings. He naively accepts these as from God and accordingly gets himself into a state of passivity. He concludes that he must not make any move, for is it not God Who will move him? He terminates all actions, believing God will act in place of him. But God never does so because He wants man to co-operate actively with Him. However, the believer unwittingly has fulfilled the conditions for the operations of the evil spirits and they do not hesitate to step in and act. Man himself does not act, neither does God act, so the evil spirits act for him. Let the Christian mark this well that once he has perceived- the will of God in his spirit’s intuition his whole being needs to be employed actively in executing God’s will. He should not be passive.