Part V, The Lord vs. Satan: SupCtHeaven;

The term "latter days", (en eschatais hemerais) gets a lot of pious mouthing. Bible doesn't treat the term that way at all. Instead, from Genesis 3 onward, Bible enters a pleading with respect to the progressive DEVOLUTION in mankind. The term "latter days" is a dual-segmented part of that pleading, explaining the result of man's negative volition, with respect to the Trial. For, when Adam sinned, the proliferation of decay began, as chapters like Romans 1-2, 8 explain. The OT, with its deft Hebrew wordplay, is rather more detailled in its descriptions of the devolution, but in translation you barely notice more than the fact that while Adam lived 930 years, Abraham lived only 175. Post-Cross, the NT writers all expected to die any day; many believers expected the Rapture to occur by 70AD: man was ripe for the Millennium, with the intermission of the Tribulation.

As you saw in the massive Part IVa with its many subpages, the Millennium was originally scheduled to begin in the 4200th year from Adam. GeneYrs.xls showed this in spreadsheet format, in Excel Menu's "Views" then "Custom views" of "Civilization 4000"; "Daniel Timeline of Messiah", aka Mirroring.htm, explained God's Accounting System for Time, TenWaysThisTimelineDiffers.doc comprehensively summarized His Accounting System and demonstrated its impact on history, and GodsOriginalDeadlines.htm was a blissfully short webpage summarizing His Original Schedule for History, pre-Cross. PassPlot.htm's "Modest Proposal" link showed how Israel was taught this system as a promise to fulfill its own annual calendar, which of course was fulfilled by the Lord dying right on time (as that webpage demonstrates), on the 1470th anniversary of the original Exodus and the 1900th anniversary of Jacob's entry into Egypt, to the very day.

To the NT writers, the knowledge of this devolution was frequent cause for grief; so when they must write about it, they palpably stiffen; they brace themselves against grief, and then sternly admonish (i.e., 2Tim2:26-3:7, Phili3:15ff, Rom9:1-22, 2nd half 2Pet, Jude (whole book), Heb4 (whole chapter), Heb5:11-6:13, 10:18ff, 12:5ff). For there is no joy in Mudville.. the caseys have struck out. To a stiff-necked people, a stiff tone must be used. Honeyed words won't get the message across. Yet running sotto voce, beneath the harsh words, an anguish sooo like the Lord's in the OT prophecies and Gospels He gave to the sons of men: Oh, respond to YHWH, Jehovah Yehoshua, He-Who-Always-was-Becoming-the-Salvation, the Word Who Came and Left and Tachú! Comes Back! So, when He didn't, well -- there was a languishing, as dramatised in Part IVa's "Israel became Vashti" section. So, by 96AD, the final devolution of man, what he's like in his last period of history, was given to the last apostle, John. So now we have a complete Biblical story, to scarf up or spit up or ponder. Sad thing is, we'll only scarf it up if the words are honeyed. For we couldn't care less about the truth. We want our egoes petted. Thus it was in 96AD, and it's only devolved, since.

This devolution, kinda like a body writ large, thus has a certain end point, because mankind is essentially DYING. Death first expands, then disintegrates. A corpse will swell up with various gases, if left alone. After quite some time, it dries up, and then becomes powderlike, mixing within the soil. That's why, for example, maybe the universe expanding; if so, it's hastening toward an 'end'. The phenomenon baffles those in astrophysics, etc. Well, now you know why it's happening. What we 'moderns' term the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that of the universe tending to entropy, is more completely explained in the Greek of Romans 5:12, and in the earlier Hebrew and Greek of Genesis 2:17 (both verses are always mistranslated). Sin 'created' death, and death always expands until its 'fluids' completely dry up (due to death, fluid converts to gas, thus causes the expansion). Then, the mass disintegrates or implodes. In short, the Bible has never taught an infinite nor static universe, but rather a dynamic one, which can only be stable because God authored it and runs it. It of itself, cannot create nor perpetuate nor even 'improve' itself. God is Infinite, but not static: always-existing, but never frozen. Life therefore, is not static, either. Therefore everything is always moving. Here, toward disintegration. [Science is so screwed up on its theory of light that I'm not sure you can say the universe is expanding. See the text about Light and Time in Evolshort.htm; there are really serious gaffes in scientific theories about light and time: I'm shocked science is not aware of them. I'm not yet sure whether Bible says the universe is expanding. The inspired text in Genesis seems to merely say that there are fixed yet dynamic relationships God designed among all the "heavenly bodies" in order to keep the universe an integrated whole for the sake of Earth. Other passages in Bible go to great lengths to explain these relationships, because they all represent spiritual principles. But I've not spent much time on the question, so can't much speak about it.]

The term "biological determinism" first became widespread around the 1960's, as a result of two scientists' research. This, to account for the relative importance of environment on man's choices: do we love because we choose to, or is it just in the genes? The findings were startling: maybe 80% of our choices are more a product of genetics, than volition. Well, you can imagine the uproar which ensued, and today it is not politic to be in favor of biological determinism. Of course, those who like to be racist to ease their puny egos, seized on the findings as proving 'blacks' were inferior, and similar insane claims. Evolutionists liked the idea also, as it buttressed the contention man came from an ape or even an amoeba, never mind that a no set can contain itself; so this genetics-determines-man, not soul, fit right in with their agenda. In short, biological determinism became a political football; then everyone basically got tired of playing; so now, its field is emptied of the crowd, and grows weeds.

God explains biological determinism from Gen1:2-Revelation, and if you understand its secular meaning, the Divine Story will be much easier to understand. For, what everyone missed in the 1960's, was the BIBLE: it displays the truth as somewhat in the middle, precisely because volition alone is determinative.

Here's why. In Part II's beginning, there's a rainbow-bordered table early in the page which explains the underlying setup God authored for having a relationship with ALL of His souled creation (angels or mankind): "Covenants of Association". So, since the body IS associated with the soul (body is a "tent" for the soul, as David puts it), association is the method whereby the soul teaches the body, how to respond to what the soul wants. That is why Adam's sin was sooo devastating, as Part II explained: A new programming was put into the body to REACT against God. Free will was not harmed, since free will is a property of the God-created soul, not the body. But the body's no longer compatible with the perfect soul God created. Look at Gen3, notice how Adam becomes completely clueless about God, on the same day as his first sin. You'd think he never met the Lord before, and his vituperative responses when the Lord queries him, are like that of the stingy servant of Matt25:24-28; like what will happen to most believers, at the Bema! It's too much to bear!

So this sin-nature tainted body, given by Adam a new Prime Directive at his Fall, keeps on repeating in his children, mindlessly and helplessly reflecting Adam's motives IN Gen3: disbelieve, blame, fear, fantasize, hate, grab, control, and blindly -- the Energizer Bunny, so to speak. Just keeps on going and going and going.

Yet, the associative command structure between soul and body, remains intact as well. SO: if you practice a certain movement with your body, the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. This, because your body is 'associating' that it needs the muscles involved for that repetition, because of the repetition. So, it responds by changing itself, to become stronger where needed, so the next repetition will be more efficient. So it will divert more of what you eat to that area, since the repetition means that area has a higher importance than it used to have. This, in essence, is why exercise works, and why it must be sustained over a long period of time over every area of the body. That is, unless you like being sick.

The soul-programs-body structure isn't limited to physical activities, because the body is also supposed to enhance any soul attitudes you have. Emotion is in the body, not the soul, which is why you can feel. This fact, we also saw in Part II. Thus, the decisions you make, are associated with good or bad assessments, feelings, etc. You tell your body what is good and bad just as much as exercise tells it what to do. So, it 'responds' by 'remembering' all these associations in the DNA. So, that is why smarts pass on; why dumbness passes on; why fat tends to still accumulate, etc. All those genes in you, were once in all those before you. So each person passed on his 'share' of volitional votes to the genes you now have. So, if it was a good idea to be fat (and it was, for most of man's history), then a proclivity to fatness was 'programmed' into the genes, as a survival mechanism. Same, for all other physical characteristics. Mutations and One-generation skips are common, of course.

So if we corrected "evolution" to its proper sphere, it would indeed be correct to say that man has evolved from the man he was. Trouble is, "evolve" isn't necessarily positive -- only the geologic-time idea in the term can be said with certainty. And not starting with some lower creature -- again, no set can contain itself -- but, originating with the original first human(s).

Christians, Jews, and Moslems know who those first humans were. Everyone else disputes the "who". Fine: But the origin is human; and specifically, human volition. Until we understand that, we will forever be asking the wrong scientific questions, and thus prescribing the wrong solutions, to man's problems. We don't have to believe in God to be scientific; but we do have to be objective. So long as we insist that man does not evolve from himself, so long as we insist man's Free Will is not the cause of change, we waste our time and everyone else's, money. Really, every time you exercise, you prove the real origin. Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

So this latter storage of soul viewpoints on the DNA, is what the biological determinists had actually found: tastes, ideas, attractions, occupation choices, music and art preferences, partner preferences, and a large array of mental choices were similar across a broad span of people linked genetically, even if they didn't know each other.

Of course, every grandmother already knew that, telling her grandson how he is just like Uncle Vanya from the old country, who no one else in the family, had ever met. Of course, every séance artist already knew that, to milk customers out of their moolah. Of course, almost everyone already knew that, which is why bloodlines were so important in royal families, kinship so important in tribal loyalties, and all manner of alikenesses by which man congregates. If your father was a a good ruler, you might be one also, unless somehow you got 'skipped': a problem which caused no end of consternation among royalty for millennia, and even brought down the Houses of Romanov, Hohenzollern and Hapsburg, by the end of WWI. Europe thus had quite enough of its royalty, and wanted to try something else, for a change -- again, believing that if you got rid of the bloodlines, you got rid of the problem associated with those bloodlines. Which, of course, they did not.

Biological predilection does not mean you are forced to become a murderer if your father was one, of course. In fact, quite the opposite: VOLITION IS KING. Remember the verse about how no one gets punished except for his own sins, and the many verses on how the children get punished for their 'fathers' sins' because the sons repeated them? Still, even though volition is king: some of the body's wants will be harder to resist, than others. No shame in that, great advantage in fighting it. Since the body is programmed with those predilections, it will have a lot more force of insistence, but so also, the gain in soul strength if the insistence is overcome. A Hamburger Hill is worth infinitely more than a hiking trail. Notice how the overcoming, flips the body's proclivities: so the 'offspring' will be stronger, bodywise. Then, the cycle repeats, with new decisions made in response to the biology 'beepings'. Over the long term, however, most people become remarkably like their relatives even if they are not near them, because it's easy to give into the proclivities. So, over the geologic span of man's history, man progressively DEVOLVES, as he gives in more and more to these negative trends.

The only counter to this denouement has been the believer. Like the unbeliever, he too battles with his own proclivities, and more often, gives into them. But unlike the unbeliever, the believer's body gets the new programmings of associated FAITH IN GOD. Since God is Infinite, one 'dot' of infinity, has a powerful impact on the body. However, since the body is 100% dead, the impact only serves like a cattle prod, irritating the body. But, with each 'charge' of positive volition to God, that charge gets programmed into the body as well; the cumulative residual effect, is mammoth: remember the verse about how Moses' eyes "did not dim"? So, when the believer's genes are passed on in procreation, those proclivities toward God which are residually retained in the body, pass on within the DNA, as well.

So, for mankind in general, what slows down the devolution, is the mixing of believer genes and unbeliever genes in each succeeding generation. So at the biological level, health improves in the next generation (or in the current one) if there have been a large number of believers, and it's a direct correlation: the stronger the sustained faith over a larger number of people, the stronger the improvement in health, living conditions, etc. The world at large might credit inventions for such improvements, but the ability to conceive and produce those inventions come from souls who have more control over their bodies: for all progress requires self-control. For the progressive devolution trend in mankind, increases instead, addiction to instant gratification, giving into the now-ancient proclivities of one's forebears (viz., all the violence in the Gen6 period, which you can read about in its morphed version contained in ancient Greek and other countries' tribal myths).

Since volition historically prefers the proclivities rather than to fight against them, the devolution keeps on going; but in some generations, the pace is slowed down considerably, and may, if positive volition is strong and sustained over three generations, even begin to reverse: at least, within segments of that population. Conversely, the reaction against God may be so strong in a generation (and we've seen many of these, viz., in the Dark Ages), that the formerly-positive programmings FLIP into a negative of equivalent force; in which case, only an abnormally large number of deaths in that generation, will spare man's progeny from a darker fate. Fortunately, when the negativity reaches such strength, wars and/or disease break out and may even run rampant, dramatically shortening man's life expectancy for that period: in the Dark Ages, for example, you were an old man if you lived beyond age 30. So the scope of the contagion we saw in Part IVc, is somewhat quarantined and destroyed, even when the four-generation protection 'curse' isn't yet (eligible to be) operating.

Still, at some point in the future, like the universe, man's biological nature will no longer be able to accomodate a soul, because the body is becoming, en masse, progressively animalistic: this, because man's progressive negativity to God will so permeate his soul, the biology he passes on -- since soul affects biology -- is too scarred. The "Spiritual Pathology" link at page top goes into some detail on the micro and macro patterns of degeneration, so to illustrate the real cause is spiritual, Gen2:17: "dying [spiritually], you will die [physically]."

"Too scarred" means the interface (brain) which is to connect to the soul, is so dysfunctional, it would be unfair to impute a soul to that body, once it exits the womb. This already happens individually, which is why some foetuses don't come to term (aka "stillborn" or "spontaneous abortion"). So, it's not hard to understand how it could happen en masse over some very long span of time. Chief difference is that while by the time man ends, he is healthy, alright; but the urges after all those eons of past programmings, are too powerful; so free will would be compromised. So, no more humans should be made at birth (neshemmah, Gen2:7b, God breathes the soul into the nostrils at birth).

So you'll notice how the en masse pattern is much like the individual's. Individually, some babies are born with so many genetic defects, they die soon after birth; or, live horrible and short lives. So too, mankind, gradually dying, expanding now, is gradually going to reach the drying-up stage; at which point, it's like having too many defects to justify "breathing lives" into the biological material (Hebrew is plural, lives, not singular, in Gen2:7). This, like the four-generation-curse, the many diseases, bad weather and other disasters, is Grace. Protection. God never puts the world on auto-pilot. Now maybe you know better why. For each of us is an individual. The fact that there are large numbers of us doesn't diminish the worth of any of us in God's 'Eyes'. Because His Precious Son, is our Creator; because His Precious Son, PAID for every soul ever born -- on the Cross. Infinity is not a mindless attribute, but an attribute of a Person. Three Persons, actually. So the empathy is Infinite, too. So we are not less important to God, because of what we are, or how many we are. Infinite Love is infinitely empathetic, and cannot be changed by quantities (i.e., the sparrow, hairs-on-heads, lillies-of-the-field verses in Gospels).

Sigh, sigh, sigh: ennui, c'est la vie, pas de probleme, il n'y a pas des choses qu'on peut faire. Idea that one life is meaningless, or what's outside the near periphery is too remote, too unimportant, unfixable. So, c'est la vie. Or, at the opposite end, since you can't do anything about anything, just look out for self. Ok: but then intimacy becomes progressively impossible, and hypocrisy takes its place. So it was, in Rome. So it was, in every civilization before and after her, especially on the road of decline. A rise in sentimentality is the bellweather of descent into apathy. The sentimentality substitutes for genuine love, so the i-love-you's and rah-rah-rah's are vociferous; but if you really need something from the person, well -- better not ask. Note how hypocritical Adam is in Gen3:10, just after the Lord had prodded him (caps are from the Hebrew, not English), "WHY are you where you are?"

This degeneration was remarkably tracked by an author who meant to show man's progress, an evolutionist named Julian Jaynes. I believe the full title of his book on this topic is, The Origin of Self-Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It was truly a watershed day for me 15 years ago when someone gifted me that book. Back then, for the first time, while reading how the brilliant and erudite author advanced his arguments, I suddenly realized what the Bible had been saying -- man is devolving. Jaynes' arguments contending advancement show instead a progressive hardening and selfishness which strips out the meaning of life, truncating it to, "me". Thus was what would become Part II of this webseries, born. Same, for the Spiritual Pathology link. Took me all those years of thinking for that book's ideas to gel, back in 2000 when I first began writing out this webseries.

If you've no time to read his book, here's the tracking I saw in it: 'changed my entire life, to see this. Man starts out believing in God, as a result of which the man doesn't think much of himself. As man ages in his own abilities and strengths, his focus progressively switches TO himself, and he begins to get uncomfortable with his former attitude of obeying God. Finally, he has to choose between the two, so he thinks, and God is always the 'loser' in that struggle. Thereafter, man becomes his own god, magnifying everything he is and does. Of course, from that point forward, no one else is allowed to compete in importance, since man merely replaced the identity of 'god', before he matured in relationship with the Real God; and hence, man never did learn how to integrate both the vertical (toward-God) and the horizontal/lateral (toward other souled creation, self and things). So, having replaced, all other relationships in his life must be bent to serve the new 'god', so there is no love, only competition. It's a sad story the Bible tells constantly and in every rhetorical format -- but here, a confirmed evolutionist, unwittingly corroborates the Biblical plotline. Again, this book changed my life.

Any parent sees his growing adolescent fight the same battles, and many is the time when the adolescent chucks the parent altogether, becoming his own god. It doesn't matter at all if the parent has mistreated or otherwise deserved the enmity of his child. If the child doesn't grow out of the right/ wrong iconizing/ iconoclastic mode of thinking, he will be a miserable person inside for the rest of his life. Whether the adolescent eventually matures OUT of that stuckness, is the stuff of history. The axiom that all politics is local, is even more truly stated, thus: all struggle is adolescence. Satan's fall is exactly of this character. He loves and hates the Son all at the same time, can't resolve the two, so keeps on choosing hatred to get RELIEF. Thus his many contradictatory behaviors and arguments, his burlesqueing of literally everyone, including himself (himself especially, in the Third Temptation of Matt4). Satan must be quite mad, by now.

So animalism results when man arrests in his immaturity. Since man is still a living being, still has volition, so still programs his body with his decisions, he can't stay in one place, but must either progress or regress. So, he regresses. So, he will veer back-and-forth between the extremes of self-gratification, and apathy, with a progressive mindlessness, puppeted-by-his-urges, characterizing either extreme. Writ large, a whole society will display this trend: it's patent in America, as I type (2004).

So APATHY results when this arrested immaturity, has fought too many battles. You see it in animals, and you see it in people. In people, the person's psychological defense mechanisms are too overloaded, so the only recourse, is withdrawal. That too, is a defense mechanism, but it's generally not used until the person perceives (rightly or wrongly), futility. To protect the self, the sin-nature-controlled soul will resort to fantasy within, kinda like a Walter Mitty; or, will just stop thinking altogether: to keep awareness, DOWN. So drifts through the day, nothing really arousing him. By the end of his life, all former interests have long since died. The person is but a walking corpse.

So when APATHY is widespread, it is mistaken for 'normalcy'. Because, the progressively-robotic standards of apathy, become the norms of that society. Thus it was in Rome; thus it is in the US. Even "9/11" only aroused our sentimentalism and greed. We're too deeply-involved, in our withdrawal. Like animals who one minute ignore each other and the next, fight viciously over a scrap of food, we apathetic humans can only be roused by base instincts. And that, only for a little while. Stimulated corpses, you see, don't twitch for very long.

Notice, if you will, how the above indented paragraphs characterize the struggle of mankind as well. In the beginning of man's long history, he tended to go overboard and value too much the authority he had. When he perceived that authority failed, and when enough of his members likewise perceived it, they revolt. But all that happened, was that the authority 'god', was replaced. No maturing. Over the millennia, a progressive aging of man's technological capabilities and consequent prosperity, fostered an i-am-god mentality, again replacing the authority-is-god mentality, STILL not maturing. That's where we are now, macro-historically: more than anything else, the historical aftermath of WWI and WWII display man's revolt against authority; what passes for 'democracy' is nothing more than man's demand to be his own authority, having become iconoclastic toward the long-traditional 'worship' idea, which -- sadly -- was right, but didn't mature into love. The sterile definitions promulgated in public society amply illustrate this immaturity and rejection. We're like those pimpled teenagers in Richard Armour's very funny book, Through Darkest Adolescence!

So now, here in the 21st century, we've been iconoclastic for nearly four generations. So the apathy level dominates even the immaturity. Immature people are excitable. Dead people, are not. The prolonged addiction to revolt has so deadened us, it takes ever more and more to get even a 1% rise in interest. When I was a child and went to the grocery store, the potato chip packages were very plain, and the brand names, readable. Go into a grocery store today, and you can't see the words for all the screaming color. Takes four times longer to find what you want, not only because you now have a thousand types of chips to choose from -- but you can't tell which one you bought, the last time: they've changed the packaging again, so to claim it's "new". This banal example of addiction to the new and more colorful, so to keep the "high" going, can be applied to anything you like: cars, TV programs, computers (especially, computers). And the quality of products today, is far worse than it was even 10 years ago (i.e., DOS is so superior to Windows, it's not funny).

The Americans of today, if placed on the plains-of-grain 200 years ago, would never have developed the land: we'd all still be in COMMITTEE, and then going home at night to sit on the couch. Many a writer has observed this phenomenon: much of sci-fi literature is a satire on man's regression (i.e., the Dune series and Asimov's writings). Then you have allegorical writings like those of Huxley and the later Orwell; much of the meaning in any old Greek classical play or Shakespeare was oriented to this observation. So to see it play in America, with everyone wringing their hands, is not new.

Every generation, our advances in technology fool us into thinking ourselves, advanced. For example, that fabulous documentary, "The Day the Universe Changed" by James Burke, is based on the foolish premise that by inventing the plow, writing, etc., we are somehow superior than our ancestors. It's foolish, because our lives are made easier by those inventions: improvement in ease does not mean improvement in nature. But we want it to mean we are better, so we lie to ourselves and say so: we use the power of the inventions, to fantasize it's our power, increasing. Never mind, that we could never build pyramids or an Ark, like those ancients did. [It cracks me up that we don't even understand how the Ark could be built, today; nor how those pyramids could have been so typically built.] Repeated in millions of mouths, we all buy the lie: it makes us feel good, to imagine ourselves powerful. Because, we are not.

But empirical evidence overwhelmingly contradicts our insane fantasy of self-improvement. We can't run as well, withstand disease as well (absent medicine), eat as well, reproduce as well, as we did 200 years ago. When Europeans first started settling this country, they routinely had 10 kids per family, chopped the wood, hunted their meals, grew/made everything from scratch, defended against marauders, and had time for Bible, to boot! Well: what if medical technology was as good then, as now? We'd be a teeming nation, not one worried about whether Social Security can remain funded. [Technically, Social Security isn't funded. It's full of IOUs from a raiding Congress, and is actuarially unsound. That's why since about 1955, there has been a concerted effort to outsource Social Security back to the private sector, which is why pension laws have been political footballs, since then. The system cannot hold. Don't trust it.]

More telling signs of decline exist in the culture and language. An American of 200 years ago was likely multi-lingual, and one of the languages he'd learned, was Greek or Hebrew; because Bible teaching was important, back then. Back then, we'd just gotten our hands on new finds of old original-language Bible manuscripts; and Reformed folk of many divergent stripes, poured over those Words. So too the unbelievers had skill with the so-called "classical languages" -- Latin, Greek, French, even Hebrew -- for, one couldn't be a doctor, lawyer, or other 'man of the world', without it. Alexander Hamilton, for example, was a publisher of Latin texts, and an avid proponent of the interlinear method for learning the language (me, too): I have one of his books, on Cicero's speeches. Culturally, we didn't look for laws to defend us, we defended ourselves. Because, WE WERE ABLE. Now, of course, we sue gun manufacturers when someone's volition pulls a trigger. Because, WE ARE NOT ABLE. So, our cultural values decline also, but we rationalize ourselves, "advanced". Because we can turn on a computer, or flick a lightswitch. Yeah, IT is strong, and we are weak: but we hide that fact, by claiming ourselves, genius.

No one can easily read Shakespeare or Cicero today, and there is no interest, either: incredibly, Loyola University has had to close some of its Latin departments due to lack of students. When my pastor first enrolled in seminary in the 1930's (?), Dallas Theological Seminary, then the topmost, was constrained to remove its longstanding requirement that student essay exams be written in Latin. Of course, within maybe a decade or less, the requirement to get Lots of Greek and Hebrew for graduation, was chopped down. Now, JUST TRY to find a seminary which requires more than 1-2 years. Two years? Could you speak even basic Spanish after two years' classes, especially the normal kind with two-times-per-week-one-hour? No wonder Scripture teaching is sooo incompetent, today. As my best friend quips -- who is a Phi Beta Kappa, no less -- "I had six years of French and all I can say is 'ou est la biblioteque?' and 'passer á la droite'!"

So in today's apathetic society, you'll hear many pooh-pooh the reading of literature as a waste of time, for it doesn't produce anything. Oh yeah? HOW ABOUT PRODUCING THE ABILITY TO THINK? It matters, for language forms thought, and the maturity of the thought is wholly dependent on the maturity of the language. So note that it was popular to read Gibbon, Shakespeare, Bible, 200 years ago. 'Lighter' fare would be a Bronte, a Rabalais, a Hawthorne, a Hugo. But now, it's People Magazine. So what thought is the reader learning to replicate in his soul? What connections of ideas, and what ideas themselves, bombard his body, thus programming his body to keep and nurture them? Well, just turn on the TV -- well, on second thought, don't bother.

So it should be no surprise that what passes for "intelligent" today, is incredibly and blindly stupid. Because, we lost the ability to think. That's why we can put the whole city of New York on red alert near Wall Street, based on a two-year-old piece of intelligence. Then, when that ridiculous reason was disclosed, the red alert could remain. C'est la vie. Because, we write more novels and how-to books and reference manuals than ever before, and on incredibly-shallow levels: compare, if you will, the 2004 Encarta Encyclopedia on Windows XP Home Edition, to anything from even 20 years prior. My childhood Golden Encyclopedia was deeper, than Encarta. C'est la vie. Who needs to know anything deeper, for crying out loud?

Of course, "Education" used to mean, you learned something in school. In history, you learned history. In economics, you learned economics. In chemistry, you learned chemistry. Now, you learn -- pictures. Show-and-tell, but with lots of little-political-programmings about diversity, be nice, etc. Why, on 3/11/05, you know what education day that is? Oh, "Family VR Day" -- whatever "VR" means -- on which, mind you, grammar school kids are to be bombarded with literature explaining why it's not nice to judge people. When I told my best friend this news tidbit, which woke me via alarm clock on 1/24/05, she laughed: "oh, and that's going to override all the programming these kids are getting from their parents?!" Exactly. But then, this phenomenon began in the 1960's, with "the new math". I was in the last group who learned the "old" math. My brother, three years younger than I, was among the first to get the "new" version. To this day, he can't do math. So much for our 'progress'!

And let's not even, begin to talk of incredible ineptness which now characterises the sciences and scholarship. Ever since the 20th century began, man's descent into scholastical and scientific insanity has been pronounced; because there have also been some brilliant discoveries, it's not easy to see how the insane ones are completely dotty. On the Home Page in "Testing" section, you'll find material on two of the more insane ideas, evolution and "spacetime".

You can see the soul cancer everywhere in academia and science. We think that because we've discovered 'laws', that somehow God is bound by them. That's a wish for God to BE bound by them, morphing via the defense mechanism of rationalization. Because an Unbounded God, is frightening to puny man. Man can only think of God in terms of power, like Satan does. So man naturally goes down the rabbit hole, to protect his fragile ego. And look how insane: if you write a letter, don't you choose how to compose it? Can't you change, at whim, whatever you compose? But once you have composed it, well it looks like 'laws' of composition, since now the thing is made. So if we aren't bounded by the letters we write (however much people will try to bind us to those letters, rightly or wrongly), then surely God is not bound by what He creates. He can unmake anything, change anything, anyone at any time. And that is why we are frightened. He can wipe us out in a nanosecond. But that is why we know He LOVES us: because, He doesn't wipe us out.

Hence the documentaries today playing on cable are so blatantly inaccurate (at least, on the topics with which I'm familiar), you wonder how those people who were graduated from the "status" universities, would be allowed to even talk on camera. Moreover, the billions of dollars of research and salaries spent on "education", publishing (which every professor must do, to keep his job), etc. should produce a better result than reversals of prior research. For, that's a lot of what's going on today. Now the origin and nature of dinosaurs is in hot dispute; now, we've decided that coffee and salt and eggs are quite good for you, in moderate amounts (I'm waiting for them to realize that's true for cigarrettes, too, something even pagan Indians have long known). In short, we've been going in circles the last generation or so, scholarship and science-wise. Well, at least we're learning that the old knowledge isn't always lower.

But even if we go back to older and better ideas, we have today's atrophied brains: we can't think our way out of a paper bag. We cannot discern. Because, we don't train in thinking. Education itself is not rote learning or political correctness, but incisiveness and Connecting-the-Dots. Precious little of that goes on. Worse, we compound our lack of thinking by catering to base instincts -- witness, how on prime-time television nearly every program is about some physical brutality, sexuality, or magic (i.e., supernaturality programs). Hard to find anything else. Pulpits serve up sugar; 'wisdom' is in a soundbyte; and no one questions anything. Apathy is like that. Just move along in the herd.

It wasn't like that 200 years ago; it wasn't like that so much, even 50 years ago. But with the iconclastic attitude toward authority, itself a conclusive sign of arrested immaturity, has come the jettisoning of all the former 'emblems' of that authority: forethought, foregoing, education, taking responsibility for one's decisions, thoughtfulness of others, etc. We're now a nation of adolescents. Trouble is, the entire world mimics the US, and the rest of the world hasn't matured enough to understand the rough-and-tumble nature of 'democracy', whereas we are really the oldest large like-democracy polity on earth. So we hamper them, too. [Really, the oldest such polity. England didn't become more like a democracy, until after American independence. Same for France and the other European countries. We aren't really a democracy, but a republic, and of course free speech and representative government originated in Europe; but our example did more to shape history in the last 200 years than has any single nation. We should be more careful how we use our impact. But, we can't. Only Bible, which was important 200 years ago but not now, can help US.]

So what have the 200 years done to 'progress' us? Well, we've progressed in laziness, in animalism, in blamesmanship. If you want to call that, 'progress'. And why? Because we progressed in prosperity, because with that we progressed in animalism (it's the animalistic progression which wrecks any benefit to prosperity). For animalism, doesn't think. So prosperity, which can only be handled BY thinking, makes animalism worse. An animal only begins to think, when he's in trouble, hurting for survival. So, we'll get in trouble. We're already in trouble. Big-time.

So too, over the longer span of time and across whole cultures within that time, if you compare ancient literature or cultural ideas, you find out that honor and courage were really valued, compared to 'now'. Side-by-side with the largely-violent nature of the times, was a genuine preference for honor, courage, noble reasons, appreciation of the fine. Herodotus, for example, spent most of his life, seems like, writing his History. In it he constantly shows a real reverence for honor and virtue. To speak against the king was really NOT desired by people in his day, and he tries to avoid aspersions.

The Roman chroniclers like Suetonius and Tacitus were at times sharp in their criticism, but only to honor the larger Roman virtue-set, which some Caesar had failed by his 'loose living' or 'overindulgent purse'. Remember, those were the days when if Caesar ordered you to slit your veins, you voluntarily, did. Gibbon's tome was pretty critical of the Roman Empire, and of Christianity, coming out in 1776. It caused an uproar, because it wasn't respectful. A whole body of commentary was developed to debunk it or defend it -- everyone admitting Gibbon was a little too strong in his bluntness.

So, even back 200 years ago, people really did like honoring those above them. On every occasion, a nation would decline when it lost that enjoyment; but as a whole the world's civilizations largely stayed intact, until WWI seemed to unravel us all, forever. Now, we are just so many mobs, needing fawning attention. So today, of course, we're supposed to debunk authority, and are suspected of being partial, if we do not! Quite a decline!

Notice how quickly the devolution can occur. Notice how quickly, if you are willing, the devolution has occurred within the last 30 years, alone: WitnUS.htm (link in PartIVd), sketches it out, if you're interested.

That's one big reason why the covenants have upgraded each time apostacy set in against them: a higher spiritual life is needed to offset the greater negativity, plus a higher growth value is needed to justify the continuance of mankind despite the greater negativity. So, here's the shocking conclusion: it was more expensive for Christ to buy you and me on the Cross, than it was to buy Pharaoh Amenotep II (Pharaoh of the Exodus). Think it over.

Meanwhile, if four generations in a family, region, or even country persist in being negative, for the same reason it is necessary to wipe them out: as we saw in Part II and Part IV, Bible's infamous "four generation curse" is a protection for those contiguous segments of the human race who are not (as yet) too contaminated. You can see it play in famous families in history, in nations (viz., Assyria), with the principle being stated in Gen6. There, the contamination was soo bad, all but Noah and his family, were destroyed. So it shouldn't be too hard to grasp the idea that on a macro historical level, man's days in aggregate, are necessarily numbered. Body just can't take the progressive effects of many sins' programmings. It wasn't designed to do so. It would have been wrong to design it to do so. Principle: death, disease, bad stuff are all protections against the true disease, rejection of God.

So if, as so often happens, we find ourselves moaning that the current generation isn't anywhere near as 'good' as those prior, well there's some truth to that. Breakouts do occur, where a populus suddenly improve versus their forebears. But, usually it lasts a generation or at most, two. Then, the downtrend resumes. Often, way worse than the ones prior. The Dark Ages tend to follow those of higher-than-average 'enlightment'. In particular, there is a marked and astonishing historical trend of prosperity following a breakout of interest in getting BIBLES, no matter where in the world that interest, popped up.

I stumbled onto that fact while reading Christopher DeHamel's The Book, which is a highly-readable chronicle of how we got our Bible and what we did with it, post-Cross. He didn't himself draw the italicized conclusion I just typed, but I bet if you read his book, you will. It's hard not to notice. It's also hard not to notice the decline in a society when they reverted back to chained Bibles, illustrated Bibles, portions of Bibles, hard-to-read Bibles. Truly astonishing. No longer do I believe China's newfound prosperity is her doing: there has been a marked rise in desire to know BIBLE among the people during the last 20 years or so. Of course, God told us all this was how prosperity rises or falls, way back in Lev26, if we ever read it.

Nations remaining which value authority, stay intact longer. Even though places like China and North Korea are regarded as authoritarian, even tyrannical regimes, the truth is that the people agree with that style of authority. You can't maintain a populace like China via true tyranny. You have to cultivate agreement. That doesn't strike our Western eyes favorably, but agreement needn't be restricted to Western forms. Eastern cultures have one thing over the West: they still respect authority, more. That respect has been seriously eroded in the past 50 years, but it remains enough -- compared to our own erosions -- that now Asia is beginning to surpass the West. That is the reason for the large positive response to Bible which has also characterized the last 50 years of Asia's history.

Same can be said of Africa, at least within the past 10 years (maybe longer, I haven't looked farther back). When you watch those people in Niger line up for school and sing their prayers (lots of positive volition to God there, new) -- or, for the food despite the (7/2005) famine, look how well-behaved they are. Tears your heart out, to see them behaving despite such poverty, and you want to reward their patience. LOL, we'd be rioting in the streets! So, see? They don't have prosperity. We do. They are climbing out of animalism. We are descending into it. All for the lack of the Word, Hosea4:6ff.

So, instead of man recognizing that his proclivities are but body urges he should resist, he mistakes them for his own true wants and desires. It's truly embarrassing. Here we all are, we moderns soooo proud of our achievements, and yet we are marionetted by corpuscles which themselves, are puppets of long-dead ancestral programmings! We mistake those old programmings even more insanely for past lives, dejá vu; for self-worth or self-worthlessness; we treat our looks and our feelings as if valid(!) of some cosmic truth, and spend all manner of time and money on them. Yeah, we're just animals. Biology says we are. Yet animals don't do the stupid things we humans do.

So because man mistakes his body for his soul, he becomes ever more addicted to body definitions of soul-oriented concepts like love, life, honor, integrity, virtue. So deems body stuff, spirituality. So deems God, someone to bargain with. So deems NO god, so he himself can become one. It's the same old story, every generation. But as time has passed, each new generation is DEgenerating. So, at some point, all this fantasy-body life, needs a wake-up call from the One Person Who can rescue it: God.

Salvation is a MEDICAL thing, since all rescue, is intended to SAVE LIFE; so "salvation" is not a cultural, religious, or national-identity thing. Our condition in Adam is a biological problem, and hence is a medical problem. Technically, we are spiritually DEAD to God from birth onward, unless we believe in Christ before our body, dies. This was not the initial design, as we saw in Part II: man was designed to be integrated with God by means of a human spirit. But, the human spirit requires sinlessness for its survival. Body health is thus keyed to the spiritual health, and if the soul sins, the connection is severed; human spirit in Adam, died. So the Cross is first and foremost a Rescue Operation For Mankind, such that if man BELIEVES in Christ, an indestructible human spirit, can be had. So the body one has at the spiritual birth (John 3:16) runs its course, and a new body is inherited at death (1Cor15). This structure is justifiable because of the Cross, and of course God is Omnipotent, so He can do it. But, He never coerces.

The soul never dies, and since by nature it is self-programming due to volition, whatever it 'programmed' by the body's date of death -- remains the structure of that soul. So via many repetitions of negative volition, it becomes so "hardened" (Bible keyword), that while always retaining free will, the person will never change his mind, no matter what proof he has of God (viz., the guy in Luke 16:20ff). Psychology and biology folk have long known there is an extremely important link between attitude and mental/physical health. Well, the link, is spiritual. That, they can't address, so they deal with the middle data, like observations, laboratory results, etc. But God deals with what man cannot test: the nature of the soul. And here, the connection between soul and body is such that the body will degenerate too much over the eons of man's history, for man to be perpetuated. Thus, history will end. Thus, it ends in a Tribulation, Millennium, etc. Thus, each of us faces the intolerable choice of our own deaths, and where we shall live, afterwards. Intolerable, because we can't handle 'the hereafter'. So, we make up little ideas, or believe partial truths, or -- whatever. Which beliefs, determine what our life will be, 'hereafter'.

When "9/11" occurred, it was natural for us all to react with disbelief. That's why we kept on having to watch those horrible videos of the event, over and over and over again. Brain's biology sends up 'disbelief' due to Adam's sin of disbelief, as Part II explained in detail; the brain 'thinks' it thus 'protects' the conscious mind from shock. So you have to override the instinct and FORCE yourself to accept the shock. That's normal, too. Absent sufficient volitional force to the contrary, the brain then dumps what's too shocking to accept into the subconscious mind. It's not entirely a volitional function. So if you, like me, find yourself shaking your head in disbelief at the shock which follows on this webpage, then you are normal.

Another common kind of disbelief due to shock manifests in something psychologists call "rationalization". We all do this frequently. Pressure of circumstance, discomfort over some topic, even some physical malady as routine as a cold can all lead to this autonomic function of the body as well. Volition, however, by Divine Design, is what 'gives' any thought hitting the soul, power. You 'rule' on everything, from whether you go to the bathroom, or -- accept a false idea about God. Doesn't matter if you don't realize it's happening (which is also normal). Rationalization 'cooks' the discomforting 'truth' into a palatable 'dish' your volition will accept. Note that 'truth' is in single quotes, meaning it might not BE true, but (at least subconsciously) you think it's true.

Rationalization is used when you can't justify ALL of the 'truth' as needing a chef, so you really do accept some. But you must 'cook' the part you can't tolerate eating. So, for example, at one extreme a thief will justify his theft because of some wrong done to him. Or, at home and tired from work, an employee will justify sitting for a longer period due to that, when in fact he doesn't need the rest, but just doesn't want to move. Notice how in each case the same cooking occurs: you want to do something, you know something is wrong about what you want to do, so you rationalize what you want as being okay.

So you can read a person's own nature and proclivities, by what that person believes about God. And whatever he believes about God, he believes about everything and anything else. It is an entirely separate issue whether the beliefs are correct. Because -- again -- volition must RULE ON what the soul accepts. So in all events, whether a thing (here, about God) is true or not, you say "yes" to it, because you want it to be true as well. Doesn't matter what the ignorance or disinformation or misinformation -- you must believe a thing for it to become a belief you have.

So, if Bible's sexual words are discomfitting, you can easily rationalize translating them in a truncated manner to mask the words' import, on the grounds (your belief) that you thus honor God. Never mind, that you thus malign Him in translation, and rape His Word. So, if Bible's many recountings of how God brutally destroys Israel's enemies discomfit you, you can reject the entire book on the grounds God is unfair, or the Bible is the invention of man. Never mind, that you thus make yourself god over God, taking upon yourself the right, just as the hypothetical translator, to tell God what He can and cannot say or do.

Notice how your belief GOVERNS what you do with the information. Any reinforcement (approval) by those around you will thus strengthen your skill in using such rationalizations; so you back yourself into a corner, and over time must progressively defend against more and more threats to this rationalization. Which threats, of course, vastly increase, since if one thing is rationalized, then something else, must be also.

Trouble is, whatever is in the subconscious, can't stay down there without a huge amount of effort; and over time, like an overtaxed heart, even a huge amount of effort, ceases to be effective. So the surpressed information 'leaks' more and more, into the conscious mind; with the result that, as a person ages, he becomes much more prickly -- but he won't be aware of it, and even if he was -- he won't really know why. Because, the 'cooking' has been going on so long, the original material surpressed is unrecognizable. It's a goal of psychotherapy to find that original material. [I don't much believe in psychotherapy, for that reason. If someone outside the self has to find the material, then the self won't be able to handle the discovery. Tinkering with another person's soul works no better than all the body-tinkering we do. The best psychological Rx is to just get into God's System, and stay there.]

Notice how it doesn't matter whether what was surpressed, was even true. The real truth about it, isn't what's relevant: but rather, how the person's volition reacted to it. So now you can see why people who become disillusioned with their religion, automatically blame God, too -- never mind, that the "God" definition sold by the religion, might have been wrong. So men react to women, children to parents, nations to nations -- all based on COOKED PERCEPTIONS, driving themselves (and others), crazy. And react they must, because the subconscious cannot hold the information, and instead comes to blow up with it. So, to get relief yet still preserve the surpression -- those outside the self, are blamed. [Well, there's a whole multi-faceted category of self-blaming mental illnesses too; but even there, the original material surpressed was usually surpressed because someone ELSE did something upsetting; so in order to avoid blaming that person, the self blames itself. That happened in Adam originally, and before him -- Satan. God, see, is upsetting because He is Infinite, we are not, and we know we can't reciprocate. So, we get Grace. If we can't accept His Grace, we flat go crazy. Angel, or human.]

Clearly, then, this nuttiness can be so 'advanced', outside intervention of a traumatic nature, is vital. Like cancer which is metastasizing, the proliferation of lies needs an Outside Surgeon, if the person is to survive. Unless, of course, it is too late.

Think of how surgery is needed to excise a tumor. Well, volition creates its own psychological tumors with respect to any area you can imagine: you know, a kid is traumatized when young and thus doesn't 'remember' the event. The phenomenon has a wide variety of names in psychology to quicken diagnosis and treatment which usually don't work, since the cause is volitional. Brain is the hardware for the soul. So if the soul is traumatized, brain will 'respond' with protection subroutines -- but the soul accepts them. So, a person's soul wiring, as it were, becomes tangled, the more shock-dumps he has. A psychiatrist can only help the person find these mangled connections and help the patient motivate himself to reconnect 'the dots' -- it ain't easy. Years ago there was a great book titled Daybreak (L'enfer des ombres, in French) which took the reader through the tortured life of a psychiatrist and a patient with whom he fell in love.

God's treatment is surgery, Heb4:12, the Machaira ("knife") of the Word. We saw in Part III how it works: God delicately and gradually replaces ideas you had with the new and true ideas you learn in His Word, at each successive, discrete, consent. It's ALL volitional, though only God's Power, can do this highly delicate task. Another popular Bible sword word is Romphaia, which was a long broadsword (you had to raise it high to kill someone). Bible tends to use romphaia for disciplinary surgery, since you didn't want to go under the "knife" with respect to 'whatever' prompted the romphaia in the first place. So we all are getting God's Surgery, with one or the other of these two 'swords', however positive or negative we are; but the folks in the Tribulation are in so dire a need, even many undeniably-GOD-produced actions (aka 'miracles') don't help. Or, only barely help. The disbelief at that point, is impossible to dislodge. This is the only reason why Hell exists, as you will see, if you finish reading this webpage.

It's not hard to prove how badly we need this Surgery or Striking. Dunno about you, but sometimes I am sooo hard-headed, I need to be bopped upside the head with a bad experience, to wake up and smell the coffee. God has spanked me many times; I always have known it was HIM doing it, and without those spankings, I'd be barnacled to death with my own mental tumors. That someone else might have more than I do or did, who knows, and who cares. Point is, It's wonderful to be freed of the dang thangs.

One person's beliefs jar another, and thus a sort of battle ensues between them, if the differential is bothersome enough. So a lot of Christians, for example, get kinda PROUD that they aren't like those nasty Tribulation people. Hmmm. projection is a psychological defense mechanism which is based on denial about some truth recognized in the self, which when mirrored in someone else, provokes a kind of perverse happiness: ah, see, I I I I am not like that! Because, you ARE EXACTLY like that. Projection is also used to assign to someone else, one's own flaws: as if one's flaws then disappear, as a result. Notice how in both cases, the truth that we are battling against our fellow human beings, making our 'happiness' from their unhappiness, goes unnoticed. It's rampant, in America today: poor Martha Stewart didn't even lie, but goes to prison because she almost did -- there was no crime, committed. So who's the one being nasty, the black pot -- or the black kettle? Who's the real patient in need of dire surgery, to be freed of those dang things?

Mark 3:5, semi-corrected translation (NAU where not capped): "THEN looking around at them IN THEIR ANGER, FEELING SORRY FOR THEIR OBTUSENESS in their hearts [about the meaning of the Sabbath, in context], He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand'.." Wow. Notice the difference here in the capitalized words compared to any translation you have. Talk about callused: all the translations make the Lord appear to be angry. Oh well. We humans really need all the help we can get!

So on the one hand, we create our own volitional cancers. On the other hand, the damage is sooo horrible, one can't help but have compassion on those so afflicted. And no one has more compassion -- than God.

Sarcasm like this is a wonderful device for freeing the soul from angst: you just can't help enjoying the wordplay, the humanness of expression. Bible uses so much humor and sarcasm, even in the most devastating and gruesome passages -- like, the bloodbath of Isa63, which ties to the "horse's bridle" verse in Revelation -- in order to free the soul temporarily from its own self-preoccupations, and see the larger truth. Translations can't convey all the sarcasm, though the later translations are getting better with respect to the Lord's constant use of sarcasm in the Gospels (NASB 1995 and NIV are often fabulous, here). All Bible writers use it, and often.

Isaiah frequently makes similar sarcastic wordplay out of man's blaming God. Besides Isa45:7, there's in Isa63:17 (parallel passage is Rom9:19-20). See, if someone hates you, anything you do will 'make' them hate you further. So, you're to blame! That's the idea, here: Hebrew word hazaq is often used for the process, and its root idea is a strengthening against. So too, with ischu-based Greek verbs ("ischu" has the root idea of strengthening, too).

Notice how the person hardening is actually weakening himself by his hatred, and thus imagining himself more and more 'strong', more and more justified. It gets to the point where the kindest thing you can do, is go away. So, that's what God 'does'. He changes the way His Grace 'expresses', to mirror the hatred of the one hating Him -- since that is the only language, the hater 'hears' anymore. Which, in turn, the hater uses -- as he will indeed use any Divine Response -- to hate God more. Again, see how Satan acts, see how people act, see the venom of the guy in Luke 16:20ff who can SEE Abraham and Lazarus in "Paradise". ["Paradise" is a compartment below the earth which was contiguous with "Torments". The former is empty now, since the Ascension, Eph4:8; so when the Koran talks glowingly of going to paradise after death, it's a sarcasm against anyone who believes in "Allah". Very bitter wit. "In paradise there will be shade". Yeah, "shade" means a dead person in Hell, a shadow of his former self! God's not the only one who likes bitter wit.]

Two of the verbs Bible translations render as "harden", became medical terms in English: skotizo, and sklerow. Former means to DARKEN (and it's always the SELF who does it); latter means to SCAR (again, self-inflicted). A scar is dead tissue: the wound is too deep, or didn't heal properly, so no rejoining of blood vessels occurred. So the body THICKENS the area to join what's still alive. So too, with the soul. So surgery to excise the scars, enlightens the soul. Bible's word for thinking function is metaphorically depicted as BLOOD (real meaning of life is thinking, thus animal blood was used to depict Christ's Thinking on the Cross); thus the "heart", is the soul itself (pumping thought). So if your heart is HARDENED (sklerow), you've got scar tissue, and can't think properly. That's why you see people 'narrow' in their thinking as they age. It's not normal, but is typical. God didn't design us to get crotchety.

But, He won't coerce volition. God thus will do all but coerce, to rescue people so trapped in their barnacled negativity to Him; so, He has to resort to some often grisly, options. Remember, this is the God Who Had His Son's Humanity Pay for our sins -- so we're NOT talking a sadist, here. He won't put a soul in a womb because then the person would be trapped, dependent, tortured for the gestation period, and He won't put His Son on the Cross if the Son didn't yearn for it (see Luke 22, Heb12:2), so He won't put mankind to even a sliver of pain, unless He must, to RESCUE us. For, that's what both the Hebrew and Greek words often translated "save", really first mean: rescue.

The top o' page "sidetrips" elaborate, but here's the gist of the Surgery going on during the Tribulation:

• The seven Seals are the criteria. Briefly, they are trends of conquering, war, famine, and death; followed by RESCUE of the foreknown NUMBER (Fifth Seal, Five being the Bible metaphorical number of Profit, Fruit), and Judgement (Sixth Seal, number of unsaved man). All designed to wake a person out of his drunken stupor (intoxication with Satan's system, 2Tim2:26, Greek). So these criteria run throughout both Church and Israel's Tribulation; so these criteria underlie both Ages as trends, not specifics.

  Note that each of these trends is a product of soul cancer, for each of them is volitional. That's how you know our NOW and the Tribulation then are characterised by people too far gone; indeed, had Israel accepted Christ at the First Advent, the originally-scheduled end of time was 1144AD, as Mirroring.htm ("Timeline" inset for Part IVa) explained (see also GeneYrs.xls for that year). When David died back in 963BC, that set the ending of the world. 1000 years later, Messiah would die; followed by, 57 years to finish Trib and the gathering of the Gentiles, which was depicted in Israel's calendar as the sum of Passover (future Passion) Week, plus Pentecost (aka Jubilee, the last year of it); followed by, the Millennium; followed by, another 50-year voting period, which was Rev20:7's revolution. Then, eternity. Again, all of this is in Mirroring.htm. God had a calendar.

  When any population of organisms has become too corrupt, these same four trends parade, whether you are talking bacteria, an overly-successful species of animal, or insects. One might argue that "famine" is God-induced, as indeed Revelation and Lev26 affirm; but those same passages say why God orders the famine: people reject Him. So the Four Horsemen of Zechariah 1 must ride (see also Chapters 2&3). But they only ride in response to human negative volition.

• Seventh Seal opens the Trumpets, which are exclusively Tribulational. Church is to learn paradigmally, since what happens during Trumpets also happens during Church -- but at a paradigmal, setup level, as part of the same underlying 'Seal' Criteria. Church is not in the Tribulation, but since the only historical map remaining for Earth IS Tribulational (as was explained in Part IVa), these "trumpets" play in syncopated, prototype format during Church. Another reason they play in that paradigmal fashion: as explained at the beginning of Part IVc (its "Mistrial" link), Satan is trying to cause the Rapture on his own timing; he doesn't know when God will make it occur, and is guessing. So, since the events during the Real Trib are partly designed to keep the playing field level between Satan and God (giving Satan the advantage); so, since Satan needs to make a FAKE Church and FAKE Temple to best advantage his bid before (as he estimates) the Rapture will actually occur; even so, the events in the Official Tribulation also need to play paradigmally during Church.

  First Four Trumpet Judgements basically mimic the Exodus plagues (so everyone knows which God is the Real One), and span the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation. Beginning with the First Trumpet, the Two Witnesses arrive at the already-rebuilt Temple, to keep everyone away from the Holy of Holies. They daily explain and demonstrate all kinds of supernatural power, so they are publically known. They last throughout those first 3.5 years, and are rejected by the world. So, in come the Fifth and Six Trumpet Judgements, which are demon not human armies, and they are incredibly bad; only because people had remained negative after the Fourth Trumpet, are the demon prisoners below the earth released in two phases (one per Trumpet); culminating, in the death and resuscitation and ascension of the Two Witnesses. It's hard to imagine people being so negative, after that.

• Seventh Trumpet opens the Bowl/Vial Judgements, which constitute the Surgical Prescription for the second 3.5 years. These are much-intensified repeats of the Exodus plagues, and culminate in both world war, the near destruction of Jerusalem by earthquake, and a nuclear holocaust which destroys Rome.

  These are very nasty events, but no where near as nasty as the demons inflict; yet, people prefer the demons. If we didn't have Auschwitz and Nanking in our own man-made history, I'd find Revelation too hard to believe. If we didn't have the Christian right crusading on topics which are as Anti-Bible as they can be, I'd find a Rev17 Fake Church, inconceivable.

• Satan's strategy during the Tribulation is specified in all of Revelation 12-13, Rev17, so these span time from Pentecost to the end. Specific Tribulational Strategies he uses (besides the foregoing generically), are Third Trumpet (where he clamors for the key -- but doesn't get it until the people vote him in, end Fourth Trumpet), Fifth Trumpet, and sixth vial, arranging the human armies for Armaggedon.

Note the dramatic 7-syllable and three subject structure:

Although the above verse is for Church, it still shows the substance (Hupostasis, play on Christ's Nature, see also Heb1:3 in Greek). So, as Trial Substance, and God being Judge, He must rule on whatever is brought up. Satan is always angling for punishment where he thinks it suits his goal for a MISTRIAL Verdict (see Part IVa,c). So Satan&Co. angle to administer the judgement, which of course we know they have always done, viz. the arguments in Job. It's extremely painful to be under their 'tutelage', which they ardently use to discredit and torment everyone. They promote selected targets in order to discredit them later, or sell false ideas. As you read what follows, you'll wish to disbelieve it all. At least, I always shake my head with disbelief when I read it.

We saw in Part II, that the temptation to the woman was a RELIGIOUS temptation, being like Elohim. We saw that the man also succumbed, out of a messianic motive -- to save (or at least honor) the woman. Satan's been using religion the same way, ever since. In Part IVa and IVc, we learned that he keeps on using a FAKE version of both Judaism and Christianity, to drown out the real one. For the real Christianity is but a continuance and update of the real Judaism, due to Messiah coming. Part III and especially Part IVa, explained the changes and continuities. One of the changes, is that there is no one denomination, but rather, many many local churches. All of which will differ in their teachings, compared to each other, as the pastors and their congregations, grow. So, a "Jews for Jesus" group, is nonetheless "Christian", because all "Christian" means, is belief in Messiah (=Christ, in Greek).

So clearly, Satan has to REVERSE what real Judaism was, pre-Cross, lest too many believers catch on, and thus believe in Christ -- especially, since the Daniel Timeline predicts His Birth year, exactly, as well as other significant dates. See "Daniel Timeline of Messiah" link at pagetop for details. For how Satan managed to get Jews to reverse their Biblically Trinitarian understanding into an unworkable monotheism, load Part IVa and then click on its "Mystery Math Class" link near its pagetop. We're all in this together, all of us cannonfodder apart from Bible to protect us!

Ergo, Satan must also REVERSE what real Christianity is. So the POPULAR form of either faith, is always the satanic counterfeit. Leading millions to their unhappy deaths. All the more in the Tribulation, will the counterfeit be promulgated for purposes of slaughter; for Satan has no time left then, to maneuver.

It's incredibly easy, if painstaking and time-consuming, to prove the foregoing true. Hopefully you will find ample data and evidence you yourself can test from these webpages; you have to see it yourself to justify believing it. I wouldn't have believed the foregoing paragraphs, if I didn't come to see it. Sometimes you are supposed to demand proof before believing; especially, before believing what seems like a massive accusation against a whole lot of peoples' faith. Well, this is one such time. Obviously this writer isn't making an accusation, but a diagnosis. So, then: if a diagnosis, it can be proven independently. Your Bible is your greatest resource, so use 1Jn1:9 and ask Father in Son's name to guide you to what verses you personally need for your own due diligence.

So, we humans historically aggregate into our camps of lascivious or ascetic bent; then, we fight and preen. Those in the ascetic category are particularly barnacled with the negative idea that one must suffer to be holy. And, of course, everyone else should suffer, too. Those of lascivious bent will tend to adhere to religious tenets which offer emotional feel-goods, but even suffering has its own feel-good: martyrdom. In short, people who are bollixed over God will barnacle their ideas with all manner of tumors: subconsciously, they try to excise these by whatever religious practices make them feel relief. It's not a conscious thing: it is volitional, but again -- the brain really 'assists' in adding those barnacle-tumors to the soul.

Consequently, when some spectacular or supernatural event is believed to occur or really does occur, people by the millions are preoccupied by it. First, the shock -- then, the desire to be near the titillating event in order to compensate for the guilt (or whatever) which accompanied the shock, is quite common. For example, we all stop to look at a traffic accident as we drive by: can't help it. People flock to Ground Zero near Battery Park in New York City, for the same reason. Something big happened here. Particularly, if buildings are involved (Ground Zero being a place where the Twin Towers used to be). For we love our relics. Something from the past we can touch.

So it shouldn't be too hard to understand how religious mankind will react, if the Dome of the Rock is replaced by a Jewish Temple. The attraction will be overwhelming. So, as the above "sidetrips" so painfully illustrate, by the time the Rapture occurs, Satan will have succeeded in luring millions upon millions of unbelieving Jews and apostate Christians, plus pseudo-Christians (unbelievers who call themselves 'Christians') -- into areas contiguous to Jerusalem, by rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. Satan does this, to slaughter them all at his convenience. The real Christians, who may be quite few, will of course be Raptured up. But oh! The sitting targets who remain! The thought is too much to bear!

So Satan Has To PROTECT The Holy Of Holies at all costs. Since 685 (or 688) AD, he's used Islam to protect it. Man's big on relics, see. So man gets all emotional about relics, see. So since God isn't interested in relics, but SONS, Satan knows God won't protect that Rock, which initially was the sacrifice 'altar' on which Abraham prepared to slay his only son, Isaac. Satan knows God only protects the Holy of Holies during the Tribulation, Because then it will be necessary to explain that the Temple is a FAKE. God's already made that clear: hence, the Two Witnesses, in Rev11, Christ's explanation in Matt24, Daniel 9:26, Jer 3:16, Ezekiel Chaps39ff, and book of Hebrews.

Note carefully why Satan must protect the Holy of Holies. Except for that short spot of the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation, God has NOT protected the Holy of Holies since 70AD. For not until the 2nd Advent, will God will remake the Temple: see Ezekiel Chaps39-end of book. God's SON is the Holy of Holies, now (see Heb5-10, last half of 1Cor13, Jer3-31:31-34). So, if the Rock which is the pedestal on which the Ark sat were destroyed, Satan can't use a Temple Rebuilding to trap Jews, apostate Christians, and pseudo-Christians to his slaughtering 'banquet.' Because, they all know what that Rock, is. They all regard that hunk of rock as Holy, because they reject the very Messiah Who the Rock, depicts. So God 'rejects' them. So Satan can kill them.

You can set your watch: anyone who makes a big stink out of relics, hates God. The relic is a substitute. In God's Name, but not Him. Kinda like loving your diamond engagement ring more than the guy who gave it to you, the apostate always cling to things. So all those expeditions to Arrarat; all those pilgrimages to Mecca or Jerusalem -- all these signify hatred of God. Rationalized hatred, to be sure, but hatred just the same. And since the entire Trial is about voting for whether you want God or not, well -- these people will vote by the millions, for Satan. So he gets them. So he needs that hunk of Rock, to lure them to what they already prefer, to God. Again, as shown throughout Part IVa, if you look at the history of the Temple since 70AD, you'll see Satan has sought assiduously to control that hunk of ground. Now, you know why.

So Satan ironically has to protect the Rock on which Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac; the Rock which is PETRA, the most famous name for Christ in the OT; the Rock which Christ said is Himself, in Greek of Matt16:18. Must be pretty ironic and annoying to Satan, that he has to protect the very symbol of Christ which no one in the Judeo-Christian-Moslem world, disputes. But aha! I can make them all FIGHT OVER IT, Satan tells himself. Continually. [No one disputes this is the Rock on which Abraham almost sacrificed. What's disputed, is who was almost sacrificed, who is depicted by that Rock. Moslems contend it was Ishmael, a total insanity if as Koran says the Bible is also Allah's word; Jews correctly contend it was Isaac, but refuse the fact it was Christ foretold by the Ark and the Rock name itself; Christians largely recognize the Rock is the name of Christ, even as the Ark is -- NT is too plain about it, especially Gospels and Book of Hebrews. So everyone has a claim on the Rock; everyone has a claim on Jerusalem. Zech12:2, proven true every time you turn on your TV. The one-page IshmaelnotIsaac.doc is a Word doc of verses pasted directly from the Koran on this topic, verbatim. There is a huge ignorance on what the Koran says about this Rock, hence the need to document it directly from the Koran and its own devout commentators without alteration.]

So Satan uses that Rock to snare millions by any ploy to SHUB (=return to the Land, big emotional word in Judaism); and, by the Promise of Rebuilding the Temple. God did and will allow Satan this latitude -- because the thousands of verses in Bible are all plain that only God will regather the Jews. So Jews shouldn't behave like they did in Deut1:40, first refusing the Will of God that they GO into Ha Eretz, but then when God Says NO, they say yes. So if God says no, God beats them up, as that passage goes on to explain. Then, as illustrated in hundreds of other verses, God then beats up those who beat up the Jews. If He says it once, He says it a million times. So technically, the movement back to The Land brought about by the Balfour Declaration, was a satan-conspired thing. We humans, of course, don't know that, and we will always be pawns, until and unless we Get The Word In Our Heads.

So, as we've seen since 70AD, Satan tries to foment an interest in rebuilding (viz., using Islam to excite the Christians to go on Crusades). Satan tries to time the rebuilding to his best advantage, and can do it tomorrow, or a thousand years from now. Because, he doesn't know when the Rapture will occur, either. So Rebuilding the Temple doesn't mean, necessarily, that the Rapture is in the offing. What it does mean, is that Satan thinks the conditions are right for SLAUGHTER.

Remember the Trial basis shift due to Israel's rejection of Messiah by 30AD. There are Undelivered Promises to OT believers, unfinished prophecies. God's Promise is that via Church, He Will Rescue Israel, as we saw in Part IVa. So once the Tribulation hits, the only recourse Satan has left, is to try to slaughter as many believers as possible; and, as many Jews. So that the population wanting Messiah remaining on earth will be too small to justify the Second Advent. Even as it was too small, to complete the Bridal Contract with Israel, the first time (30AD).

Only a dingdong would conclude from this fact that we Americans should not be in the Middle East. On the contrary: we need to physically be present there, and for as long as we can justify it in the national interest. Which we can, because so many folks in that area hate the Jews, so hate the US, so attack us. Logistically, it took well over six months for us to deploy military supply depots during the first Iraqi War in the 90's. Think over what's been going on in the Middle East since 1948. The Arabs have been terrorizing the world with their hijackings, their oil, their every wish to kill Jews. It's the First Article in the PLO Charter, for crying out loud!

So we have to stay there; whether in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or wherever the people of that land are willing to have us 'camp' for their sakes. The problem of anti-semitism, particularly among the Arabs, will never go away, until the 2nd Advent: look what the Lord does to Edom, in Isa34. That's one of the key principles to get out of Matt24 and Dan9:26, This war is unending, until the Lord ends it; and He lets it go on, because all historical trends are based on Israel, and Israel needs to Return To The LORD. Which, she's NOT doing, no matter how she fools herself, because the Lord DIDN'T Order the Temple to be rebuilt. So, Satan will fake its rebuilding, to TRAP Jews who don't read their Tanach. Just like Ta'anach, that they don't: Scripture is sandy soil for them, they don't grow in it, so Deborah will not be singing a song of victory. The Word is just so much drunken speech to them, tsaw latsaw, tsaw latsaw, rote on rote. So they are not actually learning but bobbing, line upon line, Isa28:10-12. Tsav, latsav, then, to Satan's piping tune.

So the US has a bona fide national interest to remain in the Middle East, which has zippo to do with commercial needs (like oil, a need we could get rid of overnight by switching to nuclear power). [France has been functioning very nicely on nuclear power for decades, thank you very much. It takes 10 years to build a nuclear plant in the US only due to the insane fears of people. We have petroleum reserves in this country to last the ten years, so don't need to import oil. The only reason we do, is that there isn't sufficient political will to build the nuclear plants.] God, of course, uses our preference for oil, to protect Israel. Which is great, since we are too stupid to live and not catch onto the fact we also need to be there, because that's where the enemy is. Duh: if you have an enemy, you fight him on his home turf, thus better protecting, your own. Just like you fight cockroaches. Bush Administration foreign policy here is brilliant, best this nation has had. Now if only they could stop the Christian right satanism.

Moreover, people in that area need freedom, Israel needs our support, God says He will bless anyone who blesses the Jews, and if we think for one second He's even abandoned Israel one iota -- Zech14:12.

Meanwhile, God gruesomely warns any who would be Israel's enemies what He will do. OT prophecy on this is quite graphic, and -- well, look at Zech12:2-3 (general principle of history), Isa63, 34, Eze36-38, skim through Zechariah; endless suffering. Zech14:12, for example, is something I've actually seen happen to people who hate the Jews. One body part at a time fails painfully, weirdly. Takes many years, and -- well, that's all the description I care to list.

Zech 12:2 is quite revealing, in the Hebrew or Greek inspired texts. Revelation 11:1 makes much use of it. All the translated Bibles I have partly mistranslate it. There is no "make" in the verse. In the Hebrew, it's "set, place, appoint", and is really a Temple word for the PLACE where appointments with God are to be held. The Hebrew verb is sim, a soundplay on THE NAME, haShem; it's a qal participle, the tense of reality, the participle of ETERNALITY. In the Greek text, the verb used is tithemi, present active, meaning also a CONTINUING, which action has the root sense of STAND, but being PUT THERE, first -- volition. You know, like a building or -- a soldier you can't defeat (see Eph6:13). God is not kidding around, here!

See, Israel was supposed to be the Light of the Nations, but the Stone of Stumbling was rejected by its master builders, who had the Temple. They basically stumbled over their own inheritance. Hebrew word for this is (as always) multiple-entendre, "saph". It means a lot of things, from a goblet (hence the goblet judgements in Rev 16), to a threshold under a door. The latter was a slightly-raised block, designed to keep the dust and heat out after you closed the door. It's easy to stumble over it. Greek word is prothuron, and is strictly a building word, including the front porch on which the door is located (again, to avoid dust and contaminants on entry, houses would be built slightly higher than the road).

So of course, v.3: the world hates this message Israel is given, and Israel is smack dab in the center of the world, so that those who love its message, can be there and live the message. But given v.2, the whole world can easily invade Israel, too. So Israel is a threshold, alright -- the Word it got, is water/wine/food -- so from which goblet do you drink? Thus you can see why it's SO obvious from history that Israel has always been a stumbling block for mankind. Over which, it itself has stumbled many times. This will never change. Because, Zech12:2, God doesn't want it to change. Not until He's harvested all who believe in the message He deposited initially via Abraham. Like it or not. It's not as though we have no history proving Zech12:2-3 true. It's not as if there is no Dome over the Holy of Holies to prove it true. It's not as though the proof were arcane. Voluminous proof, not arcane!

The true nature of Infinity is that it is all-encompassing, and therefore: 1) each 'dot' of it is connected in a kind of homeostasis to every other 'dot', based on the TRUTH of what should be the relationships between/among the 'dots', kinda like math formulas, but sovereignly ruled; 2) the nature of things is full-spectrum, max negative at one end, max positive at another. Thus, the very same God Who would Choose to take on Humanity and bear our sins, is the Very One Who has no compunction about slaughtering millions. It's not as though He didn't Himself pay for them: twice. Once to create them at birth (over 300 verses on this fact, and translations mask the fact); once to re-create them at the spiritual birth (John 3:16), via the Holy Spirit.

So God's severity and mercy are two 'sides' to His Infinite Integrity, as Heb10:18ff soooo strongly warns. That entire book was written with the knowledge that the Temple would soon be destroyed. Well, now it is. That book was written to explain why the contract with National Israel was to abrogated, Christ having fulfilled the Law. Well, then: Don't Want The Shub Until The Lord Shubs You, Heb10:36-39, Rom11. Run! Flee Jerusalem! That's a message in the Masoretic text of Habakkuk 2:2, the context quoted in Heb10:37. For no one knows the day or hour, but there surely is one: l'moed, b'ittah, ashishennah, fuah. Shema, yadid Yisroel, Zeph1:14's Hebrew quickening wordplay is now the Rapture, tachú!

But we don't want to hear the Word. We want to see relics, instead. Which relics, we want to bob in front of or visit and say we've "been there where Jesus walked". HE walked, and in the Word -- but we do not. So of course Satan wants to help us limp to our deaths. Which, we will: imagining ourselves holy martyrs "Lord, Lord", Matt7:21!

How, then, do the real believers of the Trib live spiritually, especially under such horrific conditions? Most of them probably got lured into the areas (or countries) near the Temple, and it will be almost impossible to get out. Or, maybe God protects them in some way (i.e., they can't get the money to go, they get sick so can't leave, etc). In any event, here's how they will live: on God's OT Script. As we saw from Part II, God's Script back in the OT, was to use faith as a type of rest -- and the Law. They didn't get lots of information about Christ, because He'd not yet come in the flesh.

The Tribulation believers have a similar Script -- but with all that information about Christ (the New Testament). It will be extremely meaningful to them, then. They will live a kind of hybrid OT-style life, akin to how Daniel lived: pondering Scripture, resting on the promises, with or without the dietary laws (today's version having almost nothing to do with the original ones God penned); no sacrifices, of course since there is NO TEMPLE and NO PRIESTHOOD then. [I can't find any Bible evidence that the dietary laws go back into effect during the Tribulation, but it seems to be assumed, in what's told Daniel? Daniel observed them, and you'd think that if they weren't to be observed, that Gabriel would have said something. Observation of the dietary laws will mark a believer as a Jew then, just as it has always done; so it's a real risk, to observe them. Believers will convert to BIBLE's version of Judaism, rather than the official brand then extant, so maybe that will be a protection? Gotta do more research, here.]

Blessing-to-Trib-people KEY → See why Church is so important? What blessing-by-association people get always must come from a priesthood, as Book of Hebrews explains. We are the last priesthood before the Millennium. So the Trib people don't have any. So we must grow up more, so that the post-mortem blessing from us, 'covers' them. For they are not believers until the Rapture, and maybe not until long after the Rapture. See how important we are NOW? See what a travesty it is to think 'works' is the Christian way of life?

See God's Mercy, His Genius? The official Tribulation only lasts 7 years. They can't get our spiritual life, because our spiritual life takes too long to mature. Your first big hint that our Church-in-Christ "system" is light-years higher than everyone else's, is that it took Him 30 years to ready for the Cross. Not 7 years. So, to say that the goal for us is to the measure/standard of HIS Stature (Eph4:13), is a huge and literal goal having zippo to do with human-human relations, as Ephesians and Hebrews and Romans, painstakingly explain. Thus it's far bigger than what other believers under other covenants, get. It has to be: we are to be His Body. Part III and Part IV explained these royally larger parameters. ["unity of faith" in Eph4:5 and 4:13 is misleading. It's HIS THINKING that is the unity, if anyone would bother to study the original languages. Sorry, but when a Bible verse is misused to justify some man-centered denomination when only CHRIST is Head, it gets hard to stay calm. Same misuse is routine, today in all sects of Christianity, all of them claiming to be "the" unity. LOL, did any of them go to the Cross?]

See: a one-liter bottle is not a 1000 liter bottle. So what fills up the smaller bottle, 'matures' it. Bible keyword in Greek is plerow, which you should know, if you've been reading this webseries since Part I. So, we are made bigger 'bottles' (and even within Church, the bottles are of all sizes, principle of uniqueness). But during the Trib, they are smaller 'bottles'. So, can get filled up, faster. "He who is faithful in little, is faithful in much." So it's not unfair that they are smaller bottles. It's relative to size, what constitutes maturity. So if you are a 12-liter bottle and you don't get filled up, you'll regret it. You weren't made, smaller. If you are a 2-liter bottle, and do get filled up, you'll be grateful. Doesn't matter, if someone else is a bigger 'bottle', than you.

GOD CHOSE YOU. So: what the bleep difference does it make how you compare to someone else? You're important to Him, or He'd not have made you. So it matters not that some people are taller, does it? LOL, if they are taller, they need more because taller. You don't have that problem, right? LOL! Why we humans care so much to compare ourselves to each other, rather than to just Enjoy Our Savior, I'll never understand! It's one of the tumors in our souls, to be so obsessed how we 'compare' to each other, forgetting entirely that we are each chosen and unique.

So idou, Alert! We are made huge bottles, us Church; because -- duh -- CHRIST IS HUGE. And we need a lot more filling up, to become mature. So if we do not get filled up in God's System, we will be empty -- forever. Smaller, poorer-coventanted people than you will be better than you -- forever. You got your own bottle, and God help you if you don't choose to be filled up with His Thinking!

Tribulational believers have almost no time in which to grow. So, they need a simpler life -- a mini version of the Mosaic Law: they are to live as Daniel did, as EXILES. Which means, they will get visions, etc. to speed their spiritual life. Plus, best of all -- they have full Canon. Preferably, they will not be in Israel, as that's a trap for them. But, the only reason they are alive after the Rapture, is likely because they were positive to the idea of God, but until they got the shock of the Two Witnesses (and/or Rapture, if it's spectacular) -- they too did not believe. So they are likely trapped, now. Near the Temple.

But these Tribulation believers have the whole Canon -- just as Jeremiah promised, in Jer31:31-34. So they have a sort of downpayment on the "new covenant" -- the Law can be written in their hearts (Heb8:8-12 ties in here). So, they can grow faster: they have more information and a simpler spiritual life in which to grow. Add to these two advantages the constant visible signs which hallmark the official Tribulation, and you can see how they can grow quickly.

Which, of course, they need to do. Those 144,000 all-over-the-world Jewish evangelists will obviously grow the fastest, and become the training cadre for other folks who become believers. Clearly, the big spiritual bang of either the Rapture or the Two Witnesses (or both), will alert everyone, and many will thus immediately believe in Him. But where will they get their information? Satan will be scouring every nook and cranny to destroy Bibles, much like he did during the post-Cross aftermath and Dark Ages.

That's one reason why I suspect a counterfeit 'true bible' will be 'discovered'. Satan's already been playing that game since the Crucifixion, most notably with the Koran and Book of Mormon. So: such a 'discovery' would help him collect the (real but deemed) 'fake' Bibles -- and help him collect the people who had them, oh boy. So, real Bible study will become surreptitious, again, just as it was in Nero's day. So, people who do study will intensely value the Word. So, they will intensely grow. So, the necessary few (i.e., the "aluph": generals, in Zech 12:5) will reach Jeshurun-class, like Caleb did -- but, in a year or two. And thus they bless their periphery.

For Satan, as always, will demand that there be some folks on earth who grow; will contend that the blessing-by-association from the victorious dead shouldn't continue, if no one on the earth wants God. As always, God provides -- yet without forcing a thing. So, Satan is answered, and history can justifiably continue. (See how our Now blesses those future folks? See how important God has made us Now, in Christ?)

So now you know another reason for Fake Temple and Fake Church: Satan wants to motivate regathering when people should flee (Matt24, on fleeing being the right interpretation); Satan wants to motivate fleeing when fighting is the right interpretation, Zech12. Notice how the ostensible impetus is the OPPOSITE of the Truth. So if you are not IN the Truth, you will follow the impetus. That's Satan's hallmark strategy of "Reversal/Substition", the "S" in His D-I-O-S plan (see Appendix, "Satan's Grand Strategy" link). Satan always plays this way, and is always playing that strategy. So is playing it now. So we learn again from prophecy something we need to know, Now. So we learn from Bible we learn nothing from Bible, since the Two Stone Witnesses of Wailing Wall and Dome of the Rock blatantly depict Matt24. But, we regathered, instead. Satan wins again. Satan wins in the Tribulation. We, of course, lose big-time; and only, because We Won't Learn The Book. So for all his strategies and wiles, Satan is not to blame: We are.

It's very traumatic to have the evidence of God in your face. Visions and prophecy and flying angels at noon will make a lot of folks think they've gone mad. That they can grow this fast despite the visible spiritual life, is awesome.

We saw from Part IV that the Rapture begins the Bema, so There Is No Church On Earth during the Tribulation, except Satan's Fake Church, Rev17. The Bema ends by the time the who-is-worthy ceremony begins, so it doesn't take long for the Bema to complete. Revelation 4 is a tableau, and the way time works there isn't the same as down here (beings are much bigger, so it takes far less time to do a thing; the very use of tableaus helps alert the reader to some kind of time differential); so in Earth Time the Bema may take a few seconds. For, there is nothing about its procession, only about its results: we are a Sea Of Glass before the Throne, and He begins to open the scroll. [He wouldn't be opening the Scroll as Lamb unless the Bema results were already announced, for the scroll is the Title Deed to the Earth. So either Bema is going on co-terminous, or is already ended, by the time the Lamb ceremony begins. My guess is (so far), the latter. All in the twinkling of an Earth eye, so to speak. Conventional theology assigns the Bema to the entire seven-year period, and my pastor taught it that way as well, back in the 1980's. But he may have upgraded that, later. It makes no sense to say the Bema lasts that long, given the meaning of the Lamb ceremony in Rev4?]

So in Part IVc we saw that the Rapture is thus a type of Judgment, both to us and to those left on the earth, at that time. ["Sea" is a common Biblical metaphor signifying masses of people: sea-of-people, that many. "Glass" as reflecting Him is a favorite Biblical metaphor, too (i.e., used by Paul in Cor and James.)]

APPLICATION NOW : the quality of your life today impacts them. Why? If you make it to Pleroma ("fullness of Christ"), blessing-by-association due to you -- survives you. Remember from Part IV, your life determines when the Rapture begins; your life determines the quality of life for those around you. If you make it to Pleroma, the blessing-by-association with you goes on forever. What if folks you know today will be in the Tribulation? They might be, since the Rapture might begin tomorrow. So, if you care about the hardship those people will then face: learn Christ. Or, end up embarrassed that they will use their impoverished Tribulational spiritual life better than you did your rich one.

For you will be embarrassed, at that time, if you don't make it. Here's why. First, understand that the 7 years is used by God the Father to 'prepare' the Bride. Prepare means mostly, prepare FOR her. Remember, the Rapture kicks off the Bema, even as it kicks off the Tribulation, and until the last person is completed, there's no way to 'prepare' the Earth. For, the resulting composition of Church is 'up in the air', until that last moment. For, we are finite, and need stuff. And the stuff we need, is likewise finite, so takes time to prepare. So, the Earth has to be made ready for the Bride to take Her Position.

Think of what Princess Diana went through before she officially married: she moved into Buckingham Palace. There, she had to learn oodles of protocol, among many other royal functions, before she could be 'properly' married. It was not simple. Royal life is unbelievably complicated by protocol which makes no immediate sense. (The idea is to codify gracious behavior, hence the many rules.) Conversely, Britain needed time to adjust to the marriage, as well. Lots of stuff had to be prepared for Britain, like -- for the wedding. It's not simple. Kinda like preparing for hosting the Olympics, it can take years for everything to be readied (hotels, roadways, stores, other buildings, staff, policing, communication, food, you-name-it). Like preparing for a military offensive, logistically.

'Prepare the bride' had a similar meaning, at the time the NT was written: especially, in noble/Royal Houses. Then, everything was pretty much done by hand. Folks couldn't just call up the Bridal Section of Neiman-Marcus and order everything in time for the wedding, two months off. Oh no. It took a long time for a bride to get her clothing, domestic implements, her "dowry" -- made. See, "nobility" always has the standard of doing things "right". Quality. That requires time. So, the bride-to-be also spent months perfuming herself, softening her skin, maybe dieting, trying different cosmetics -- so to beautify herself for her groom. In the Book of Esther, it took 12-18 months before the candidates were readied for the king. One must learn customs, language, behavior, how to walk, talk, eat, dress -- until it becomes second nature. "Preparation", then, meant a lot of folks doing a lot of stuff for and to the bride.

So also, for "the" Bride, it takes a long time to get ready. We're not talking some 'normal' king's wedding here. God Himself has been planning this wedding since before He created angels! "We" are the "last"! We weren't the first; "we" are only "Bride" because others refused! So obviously, "Preparation" is Majestically-Big! Should CHRIST have less? After having 'waited' so very long? See, it's about HIM, not about "us". That is why we don't immediately go to Heaven, upon faith in Christ. We Are Here To Prepare.

Also, there are (hopefully!) many of us, and we've all got to meet with the Lord publicly, 'for the things done in the body', as Paul would put it. Our Groom, as the Trustee of the Father's Dowry, will personally stare each of us in the eyes. He will announce to all of us Church (and maybe to the OT folks, too?) what "we" each get. You'll be on stage. I'll be on stage. We'll then need to coordinate with each other, once we know the results. For in those days, we'll all know who the "Pleroma" are. People on earth will be the beneficiaries of our preparation; just as they are alive, thanks to those of "us" who have reached Pleroma during our time down here.

So the "Bema", aka the Judgment (really Evaluation) Seat of Christ, takes place during the official Trib's 7 years. God always marries marriage and war, do you notice? The Garden marriage would never have occurred, were it not for the 'war' of Satan's rebellion. The Church couples are special targets in that war. For we are Battlefield Royalty, even as our King is Battlefield Royalty: King Over Kings, the Bright Morning Star. So, the calling out of the Church, which is a bridal preparation -- is also a war. Following war, is celebration. Marriage supper. And the "Bema" is the preparation for that celebration.

Back in Roman times, the "Bema" was what followed a battle or campaign. The head military commander stood or sat on a raised dais, so the troops could see him well, and handed out both awards -- and punishments. It was public. So, if Joe Blow was the first to breach the enemy's wall, he received a special award for it, since that took more than average bravery.

These awards were real, not merely medals or ribbons. Unfathomable amounts of money and privileges accompanied them. So too, with ours. For example, the "pebble" in Rev2:17, is no mere rock picked up from the ground. In the ancient world, special "pebbles" were selected, and used for a variety of purposes, especially with respect to legal matters (voting, inheritances) -- because they were permanent. Here, the "pebble" is inscribed with the citation of one's achievement, and is used as an exclusive entry pass into the "new" Jerusalem. That doesn't sound like much, but with that pebble goes a knighthood title (ibid: onoma, often mistranslated name, means many other things also: here, it means "title" Cf Heb1:4, which also uses "name" in English, but even the English can't obscure that "title" is the meaning there). With the title, of course, comes fantastic wealth. (There are many more awards, but this website is too long already. Ask your pastor about the "crowns" doctrine.)

Check out the roster of judgments in Revelation 2 and 3, and ask yourself, "Am I doing any of those things the Lord dislikes?" For what causes will He withhold awards? What will cause one's title to be blotted out? Well, let's look:

• The Ephesians had become legalistic. Their "Love" was waning. Christianity for them was declining into a culture, and "God" was becoming a designer label. So, they had "left their first Love", the 1st Commandment. From what I understand, this warning made them turn around, resulting in the 'golden age' of Rome which historians like Mommsen praise so much (with good reason).

• The Smyrnans had need of perseverance. They were living the spiritual life, despite suffering terribly, and were still holding on, but -- were in danger of quitting. Satan was on their heels. Would they hang on? If not, they'd spin out, dying carnal, with no rewards. Even that late in the game.

• Those of Pergamum were a mixed crowd. Some were very faithful, despite persecution. Some, though, had opted for touchy-feely religion. Woe to them, the Son warned. Not good to be too legalistic, but ALSO not good to 'get high' on magic or ritual.

• The Thyatirans were largely faithful, but the same touchy-feely religious ecstactics were tolerated, even by the faithful -- so, such 'phallicism' was even more strongly present. In short, harlotry (see Rev 17). ["Nicolaitan" religion was a form of gnosticism. If you read up on the versions of gnosticm, and their 'gospels', you can get a good idea how the 'Nicolaitan' version worked. It was clever combination of pious reaching-the-light-philosophy coupled with get-high-with-the-god sexualistics. Note how the highminded reaching-the-light, to make one feel oh so superior, is coupled with strong FEELING rituals. A lot of the same thing is demonstrably happening today. People just love feeling-close-to-god in some ritual, and they love intoning-holy-words to be in the Light! As if "relationship" meant interpersonal externals, rather than knowing-the-Person!] The Thyatiran "Jezebel" faction pressed in on the faithful to 'join'; for various reasons (fear of persecution, misuse of loving-the-brethren), the otherwise-faithful associated with these folks. That stained them. Others, though, didn't. So the Lord bids those who didn't to hang on, adding "no other burden" to them. Still, the Lord closes with the common NT refrain, "Hold fast to what [doctrine, spiritual growth] you have". (Same kind of warning as "endure to the end"-type verses. By the way, in Rev 2:25, krateis ho eXeis really means, "Master what you have" -- one of my favorite verses. Really interesting how He describes the problem here. Means that the Thyatiran problem was the worst one. Interesting how he calls religiousity a woman's name: look up what "Jezebel" meant in the OT! Check out Ezekiel 16 and Jer7!) Kinda sounds like the West's history, doesn't it? With all the push by organized religion to persecute those not of its brand?

• The Sardinians, whoa -- legalistic to the core. Considered themselves to be in the Light. So, in danger of capital punishment. Only a few of them were in the spiritual life, honoring the First Commandment. 'Very much like today.

• The Philadelphians, like the Smyrnans, were under Jewish persecution. They, too, didn't fall for either the legalistic works-preoccupation substitute for the spiritual life, nor fall for the 'magic' version. So they were strong believers. But hey -- as we saw in Parts III and IV, the REAL spiritual life is tough! A real drain on the psyche! to 'anchor' us so we don't get arrogant about knowing Him, the most wonderful inner life, beyond one's imagination! Still, that high-low spread of the life must be kept up "to the end". So, the Philadelphians, faithful as they are 'now', will also lose their rewards if they don't master what they have (Rev3:11). See, there's no such thing as resting on one's spiritual laurels. Keep on going up Hamburger Hill!

• Then there's good ol' Laodicea. Land of the Emetics: respectable, good ol' boys. Well-mannered, hospitable, prosperous -- you know -- typical Christians. The kind who'd pat you on the back, ask about 'the kids'. Great town: situated in the Lychus river valley between the famous medicinal Hot Springs of Hierapolis and the fabulous Mt.Cadmus-supplied cold water of Colossae, good ol' Laodicea was a famous banking, industrial -- and food orgy town. They had only one problem: often, by the time the hot springs flowed from Hierapolis through those 5-miles-of-genius-design pipes down to their town, it COOLED down; so, was "lukewarm". So, the Hierapolis water was only good as an emetic. (In those days, to enable prolonged food orgy, upper-class Romans would vomit their food using either a feather, or by drinking Laodicean water. So, the town was a favorite spot for eating, etc.)

  Yeah, the water. Water of the Word. So, how well did these nice people 'do' with the Word? Well, just like their water, these Laodiceans produced "vomitable" works. Why? They had been hot, like the hot springs, for learning Him. 1Jn's Script became their life. In their case, they grew so well, that adversity tests wouldn't do the job of growing them further; so, had to get prosperity. THAT felled them. Finally, they cooled off from their First Love even more than the Ephesians had. About-to-die, these Laodiceans, from their comfortable, glad-handing, nod-to-God attitude about the spiritual life. So, the Lord punningly warns them He's about to vomit them out. Their 'respectability' counts for nothing, with Him. (Rev3:15-17.) [Note to self: based on L1507(+next 20 or so) of 92SD, it looks like the Lord brings up His "Faithful and True Witness" and "Ruler of Creation of God" Titles to remind the Laodiceans of their Trial Witness role, which they'd forgotten, in favor of Brother-Foot Churchinanity. By the way, in that Lesson Thieme says "ergon" should really be trans'd as "modus vivendi", given the "hot" and "cold" context; further, he still says that "cold" means unbeliever; interp has nothing to do with the fact that Colossae was a church, also. This section still needs revision to reference the danger of prosperity becoming more attractive than Bible Doctrine, to distinguish these believers from the average lukewarm (apathetic) believer's idea of the spiritual relationship (i.e., laundry-chore church attendance and contributions).]

Kinda scary, huh? Plus, we'll live and die miserably, while still down here. Down here, moral or immoral replacement of the 1st Commandment leads to misery (i.e., empty, jaded, depressed, bitter or neurotic), despite all prosperity from Satan's world. Miserable despite all our 'sacrifice' and hardship, which ONLY "eaten" Doctrine makes enjoyable. Most miserable, because we replaced God with our overblown idea of works: hyping the value of "earning" rather than "learning"; of doing with the body, to feed our ego, but fasting away from learning God! (Cf Zech 7, Jer7, Amos4:1ff.)

What we also learn from the Rev2-3 roster of o.e.r.'s is how believers tend to divide and break down over what they perceive as the benefits and costs of the CHURCH life. Of course, you could extend the parallel back to the OT, also, because the division tends to be the same:

• Most believers have an affinity for DO's, more than KNOW's. So it's relatively easy for them to want to obey DO's of a spiritual life, but way difficult for them to want to LEARN the KNOW's which alone POWER the do's. So, they enter the starting gate of the spiritual life at salvation, and progress on the DO's side, knowing (rightly so) that DO's are the COMPLETION of the life. But, they are 'hollow' inside, devoid of the requisite spiritual knowledge. So, their do's are like strengthening the airplane's cockpit door, leaving the latch easily vulnerable. So, all their do's are worthless, kakos, adikia.

• Conversely, a few believers have a greater affinity for KNOWs. First-things-first, knows-precede-do's-competence, this they readily identify. So, they learn learn learn learn. But as time passes, the do's are supposed to complete the know's. But -- as time passes, they develop a greater resistance to do's, since they had to resist the do's-majority for so long during the learn learn learn. So, for these few, the big sticking point becomes the DO's, even when they are finally built up enough in the learn to BE competent. So, they sit. So, all their know's are worthless, kakos, adikia.

• There's a third hybrid group which recognizes the value of the knows, but converts the knowings into religious do's. People who go to Bible class regularly, nodding and taking notes even -- yet never really learn, but rather parrot. This is a very common category of folks in the 20th and 21st centuries. It's as if they consider it wrong to turn over what their pastor/priest teaches, asking WHY, trying to see how everything fits together, synthesizing; instead, these folks treat the doctrines they learn like a catechism. So, they ape the vocabulary and consider themselves loyal, holy, smart, deserving-of-God's-Blessing. So, if someone among them advances on the teaching, that someone is ipse heretical -- because the same words and old limitations, aren't aped. They religify even good Bible teaching (you know, Bible-and-notebook-under-arm-where-everyone-can-see-it). This knotty group is the bane of the 20th century, and continues even now. No one still learns Him, because no one thinks it right to ask why. So after some years, they won't even know the doctrines, anymore. Man never matures without asking why and independently testing what he thinks he knows. Man never matures if he never outgrows the natural child's need to ape his teachers. God teaches, doesn't spoonfeed, doesn't bid us ape -- anything. That we all nonetheless ossify even when we get the right information, is the sad story of the 19th-21st centuries.

  Notice how the glitches between the do's-first crowd, and the smaller, know's-first crowd parallels the division even in secular life: few folks are willing to study 14 years to become a doctor, for example. Notice also how there is a full-spectrum range: some folks are somewhat more know's-oriented, even though basically a doer. Others, somewhat more do's-oriented, even though basically a knower. In both cases, however, one has to become full spectrum, like the Lord's Humanity. Not only learning, not only doing competently, but -- pouring oneself out. Like the Olympian, who, now competent, never wants to stop. Very long downtime. Very long training period. Very big glitches, wherever the self is, along this spectrum. No wonder 99% of us drop out of the spiritual life, for until the fat lady sings (one reaches Pleroma and dies), the success threshold isn't crossed!

The apostle Paul seems the most fond of Olympian analogies, though all the NT writers use them. In Paul's day, when you trained for 'the Games', you didn't solely train in 'your' event. You had to undergo a rigorous separation from family, and you trained in all the events; even tiny infractions of the rules during the very long training sequestration, could get you disqualified from entering the Games. So you had to train full-spectrum; not only, in the part (do's or knows) that you were 'best' at. High-Low, because God is infinite. So you might be high on do's -- so you need extra training on knows, and need to eschew the do's. Evidence Testing is thus in the weaker of the two categories, for you. And it switches back and forth, rounding you out. For if you don't compete in all, you don't complete AT all. And end up discharged from the gymnasium, a gumnos (naked, Greek word).

Success is pass/fail, as Part IV explained. Will you stay the course? Pass your personal Evidence Tests? Thus, glorify God in your body? Your choice. Mine, too. 'Dangerous time to be alive, huh?

Those who win awards also co-rule with Him in the Millennium. They will also co-rule with Him (some over whole solar systems!) in the new-universe eternity. So, when the Bride returns with Christ at the 2nd Advent, it's to rule -- or, for the loser portion of the Bride -- to merely watch, naked, forever.

Here's something to ponder, to remind self of this extreme future, and make the proper choice:

Do I want to be the person who owns the mink coat, or do I want to be the person who merely enjoys watching someone else wear the mink coat? It's not having mink, but having ownership -- do I want to own the wealth, or merely watch someone else own it? See, the latter group gets pleasure from watching -- they are too small-souled to get the right kind of pleasure from owning. To the truly-poor, 'owning' means ease; but to the truly-rich, 'owning' means RESPONSIBILITY. HONOR.

Here's the sad thing about poverty. The poor person doesn't know how to handle wealth. It gets squandered. He doesn't mean to do that. But his thinking is poor, so his body is poor. Who will help this poor person? Only a rich person can do that, because the rich person knows how to handle wealth. He can use his wealth to provide jobs, and does. He can use his wealth to execute noble standards, and does. In this way, the poor watch, and thus learn. Why? They want to emulate that person. They have no clue what is the real way to live wealthily -- but they can begin to learn, by watching the rich.

And if you do watch the rich, you should notice that for all their wealth, they have no time to enjoy it. The rich guy on his yacht, is busy making telephone calls, giving orders, reading reports -- because he has so much to watch over. Sure, every once in awhile, he can gaze out at the sea, smile at its beauty; but then, he goes back to tending business. Your Wealth Owns You. That's the irony. So J. Paul Getty amassed an amazing art collection, but how much time do you think that busy man had to enjoy what he purchased? Almost none. So he created a museum instead: that's a sense of responsibility, wanting to give these treasures so others could see them. He, of course, never had time for his wives, either (according to his autobiography), so they divorced him. See? The 'poor' fantasize that being wealthy means you don't have to work anymore: quite the opposite is true. The wealthier you are, the more your life is governed BY that wealth, so you work more, not less. So it is, for our Church spiritual life. So, we are Rich in order to become Responsible, and that does not mean spending money on the poor, but giving them something to LOOK UP TO: what my pastor calls "the Royal Family Honor Code" -- living on Scripture, 24/7.

It is arrogant and blasphemous to condemn wealth; to be coy about wanting wealth. 'Arrogant, since God is the One who bestows any kind of wealth on a person. (God is the Ultimate Source.) Even if Satan is the agent, God desired that person get the wealth, or he wouldn't have it. That includes YOU. That includes me. 'Blasphemous, because Christ is TOTAL WEALTH. Remember He told the parable about the stingy servant, who laid away the "talent" FORTUNE in a 'napkin'? And gave that "talent" to the guy who already had 10? (A "talent" was a huge sum of money.)

So it is arrogant and blasphemous to condemn wealth -- i.e., by feeling guilty about it. Seeing 'the wealthy' is the only way 'the poor' can get better. Not by giving it away. But by exploiting it, as the Lord does, in the parable (giving to him who has the most). The verse "we through His Poverty, might become Rich" is yet more proof. Wealth invests. That's the whole point of the verse: Christ invested in Doctrine, so we "poor" could be purchased. What, aren't we motivated to imitate Christ, because of His HIGH Life? That's wealth-motivation. Let us not be hypocritical, as well as arrogant and blasphemous, against Our Own Rich Lord.

The rich person should thus be visible, and enjoy his wealth. So, he has visible accoutrements, like mink. Visible wealth is a 'teaching aid': its presence helps the poor to identify wealth as something worth working for, acquiring. So, it motivates them to learn how to get and use money. Thus the poor are more helped by seeing the mink coat, than by all the legislation on earth. So, if you really 'love the poor', Get wealthy. In GOD'S Script: Bible Doctrine.

With owning, comes the responsibility of caring for, loving, sacrificing. The 'poor' don't understand that, yet. All they understand is that they are uncomfortable, unattractive, and they want to change that status. 'Status' is all they know. By contrast, one who has learned how to handle wealth respects wealth, but is not awed by it. Wealth confers privilege, but the responsibility is well-understood. So, one sacrifices to exploit it. Most of the wealth is invested, not spent on self. So, a sacrifice. Which, due to Love (here, respect), is not considered any sacrifice at all. That sacrifice, that 'poverty' of investment, provides the means for the 'poor' to have jobs, and thus to become Rich. That is why our blessing-by-association from rich past believers has enriched us. That is why if we grow up, other future and current poor will be enriched by a Pleased Father.

Ever notice how a noble poor person doesn't seek aid? Why? Because he's aware that no one is to blame for his poverty. He's learned something about true wealth. Like the widow with the two coppers in Mark 12, the noble poor person doesn't want to take from someone else, but wants to give. Giving is the first lesson in learning wealth. That's what it's FOR. So count on it -- a noble poor person will become enriched, God will see to it! -- Because he's not trying to steal his comfort (making someone poorer), he's not disobeying the Royal Law (Lev19:18,Jas2:8). So -- decide for yourself where all this 'we must help the poor' propaganda comes from -- isn't it coming from those who are resentful, unloving -- who want to take, not give? It's not coming from such a widow, that's for sure. No wonder the Lord said, "the poor you shall have with you always."

So, if some mink sacrificed his life so I could be warm, I'd rather own the mink coat to honor it, than merely watch someone else. I'd rather own the mink coat so that those less fortunate could have the free pleasure of seeing it -- plus, hopefully, the free pleasure of learning.

Put more aptly: the one thing I cannot risk is distance from Him. Rulership bothers me a lot, but He's HoPantoKrator, so if I don't grow up to Ruler status, I can't be close to Him. Further, all that matters to me is that people get to know Him. Can't stand the wealth of all this Doctrine, if others are poor in it. Hence these webpages, frankly. First, to learn Him better myself -- and only if I turn the material over by writing, does it stick in my head. And second, to spare someone else time (and agony) in exposure. Teaching, is done by a pastor; but turning over what you learn, requires exposure and desire to analyze. Which, I dearly hope these webpages help, for someone (probably only a few, but in God's plan quality, not quantity, matters). So here, I must own the mink coat, or life really does become hell.

So it will be in the Millennium, and in eternity. The many poor will benefit from watching. They didn't use their spiritual assets. They thus can only get more benefit than their lower levels permit -- by enjoying YOUR having the wealth. That free enjoyment is considerable. What, don't we all enjoy watching the Royals? What, don't we all enjoy watching rich people? What, don't we all enjoy watching those movie stars? Of course we do: the tabloids depend on it!

Which would you rather do? Own, or watch? Your choice. In which group would you rather be: the ruler-group, who benefit the many, or in the naked group, who 'benefit' others the way peasants benefit others? Would you rather be a footman forever? That's Satan's plan for your life, but not God's. Which way do you want to go? Whose Script? Does the NOW seem rather more valuable, than the Tribulation? Do you see how important your spiritual life is to all the poor of the future, forever? So, will you begin to own the "mink coat" which is our spiritual life, for which Christ and His past "winners" died -- thus warming YOU -- or will you just sit on the sidelines? Your choice. If you sit on the sidelines in the name of some pious identification with the poor, you harm the poor. Make no mistake, God gave you Wealth. If you squander it, you will be Royally Punished. Don't lay it away in a napkin.

The Millennium is the culmination of human history. Moreover, the Millennium is a hybrid of all covenantal periods/dispensations. As such, it does very many 'jobs' with respect to Satan's arguments in the Trial; with respect to creation; and, most of all -- with respect to revealing the Son.

'Physically', the Millennium functions like a postscript commentary on the Garden. Time began with perfect environment, and ends with perfect environment. Time began with a limited group of people (two), limited spiritual life -- despite FULL knowledge of God, angels -- limited way to sin, and NO knowledge of good and evil. Time ends with many people, a maximally-visible spiritual life, high ability to sin (but lower than our current Age), and full knowledge of good and evil, but no demonic influence.

Therefore, according to Col2:14-15, following the 2nd Advent there is a triumphal procession, culminating in the lockup of Satan&Co. The procession is pretty important, so some explanation follows.

In ancient Rome, whenever they conquered an enemy, there was a big celebration back at home. Part of this celebration involved a major parade (after the Bema). At the head, usually, was the conquering general, who would receive screams of approval and gifts from the throngs who lined the parade route. This general had a slave standing in his chariot who kept on muttering, "sic transit gloria mundi" -- so the glory of the world passes -- so the general would remember to be humble.

Behind the general, usually followed the "spoil" -- plunder from the conquered territory, and tribute from it, as well (if applicable). At the back end of the parade came the troops, followed by the prisoners from the conquered territory. The route ended with the execution of these prisoners (the route ending usually at the Mamertine Dungeon), and was conducted, as often in times past in other cultures as well (e.g., Assyria, the Hittites), with a one-on-one style to the execution. Meaning: one Roman troop would kill one prisoner.

Col 2:15's (Greek) verbs are talking about this kind of procession spectacle. So the locking up of Satan&Co. is a public procession, Roman-style, and it obviously takes awhile (grace!). Each believer (or Pleroma believer, I'm not yet sure) will be personally dealing with one demon. (Etymology is real important here, and unfortunately most lexicons don't give etymology.)

Therefore, with respect to Satan's Trial arguments, the Millennium nonetheless answers issues Satan himself couldn't prove. In short, at the Rapture God's answer was completed, but Satan never could manage to make his 'answer' work.

All the long millennia before, Satan tried to bring about perfect environment via morality. See, Satan hadn't grow up enough spiritually, by the time he rebelled. He had learned enough about morality to value it, but not enough about Love, to equally value it.

Morality, by itself, too easily degenerates into 'I'm-right, but you're wrong', or vice versa. Morality, to be helpful, needs to be mediated by Love. Since Love is dependent on knowing God, and likewise dependent on not rejecting that knowledge of Him -- absent this Love, Morality is the greatest of evils, the greatest of tyrannies. That is how Satan thinks: morality, but no love.

Righteousness and Justice both mediate, and are mediated by, Love, so all are balanced -- neither to the right, nor to the left -- ensuring Integrity, a holding together, so one remains always stable, and happy. It doesn't matter how pleasant externals (things, people) are, nor how unpleasant. The inner person, having this inviolable Integrity, is always benefitted, always secure. True love then exists, for the love-objects never need to earn love. Full rapport flourishes, just as in the Godhead. Everyone is free, and no one is hurt: "for against Love, there is no law" and "..the greater of these, is Love." (<-corrected translation.) So, Morality no longer has to point the finger. Morality is thus -- at last! free to be enjoyable, as God intended it be.

The entire reason why God didn't just bing! us to have perfect Integrity, is that Love is a choosing -- if creatures can't choose, their so-called 'integrity' is a sham. Thus, we were created the way we were. So too, with Satan.

Satan hadn't grown up in Love enough, so his integrity was stunted. All he could see, was Morality, which thus degenerated into pride. Why? When love is insufficient, the will still tries to love -- and, like a child, it can only idolize, since one is yet too 'young', as it were, in Integrity. So, Satan fell in 'love' with himself, having somehow become iconoclastic about God. So, for Satan, rights and wrongs were 'everything'. Morality was his idea of perfection. So, when Adam and the woman were created, Satan needed to get them to be his tools, so he could present his side of the argument -- that perfect environment, via (his idea of) morality, was superior to God's system of blessing.

To do that, he had needed the woman to eat from that tree, for morality requires the knowledge of good and evil. Having so many false starts after the Fall, what with the Tower of Babel, the genetic infiltration of humans (culminating in the Flood), the fostering of large polities, he never fully succeeded in his goal: 'of proving morality's superiority to Grace. In the Tribulation, he finally! succeeds: he uses the 'peace' for 3.5 years to set up the 'war', Gotterdamerung, so to destroy all Jews before the Lord returns. This, so their covenants can't be granted, and he may yet! prove God a liar.

He fails here, too: for morality can never be superior to Grace. For "the greater of these, is Love". Love is "greater" than Faith, for Faith is the child-foundation of spirituality. Love is greater than Hope, too (Greek word "elpis" really means "confident expectation", not merely "hope"). Love is greater than Hope, because Hope is mere spiritual adulthood. Love is the "fullness", once fully developed, the maturity of Integrity. So, Love expresses itself by Grace, because the recipient does not need to be worthy, to be loved. So, no works, no earning, no merit. Love, due to Integrity, Freely Loves. THAT is Integrity.

In all of this, his claim was, such 'protections' would make men happy, but -- apart from the Most High. (Or, if they still weren't happy, Satan was in the best position to bring about Gotterdamerung. If he couldn't win, his seductive tyranny-system could dang well take mankind with him to the Lake. His bitter desire for revenge knows no bounds.)

So the Lord, ever solicitous for Satan, uses the Millennium to bring about all of the structures Satan wanted. Why? Well, of course He inaugurates the OT covenants, but He also proves (to all of us) that, had Satan succeeded, man's lot would not be improved. Thus He answers also why He refused the third temptation, in Matt4. Rescuing the world from its ills doesn't make man happy. Only rapport with God makes man happy. Then, as now, as ever -- environment, including morality -- is not happiness. So, sin still occurs.

In fact, apostacy will be at an all-time-high, then. As usual, God's answers always seem to play into Satan's hands. In the Garden, it was a slam-dunk for Satan to get the woman to sin; it was a slam-dunk to get fallen mankind to seek his own betterment; it was a slam-dunk to nearly wipe out mankind due to sexual lust, culminating in the Flood (only 8 pure humans were left); it was a slam-dunk to persecute the sons of Abraham via other sons of Abraham; it was a slam-dunk to nearly wipe out the Davidic line.

It was a slam-dunk, so Satan thought, therefore, to make Christ sin, in Matt4. He was flummoxed that the first two temptations didn't work, as evidenced by the reversed wording in his third temptation. (It was so sad -- he also uses the 2nd class condition in the Greek, showing he knew he was defeated.) Still, he regrouped, and managed to get Israel to reject their true Messiah. That genius maneuver bought him time.

Getting the Church to reject its Seated King has been easier, still. Satan had lost, when Christ Ascended. Had God not handed Satan this new group, the Church, history would have ended. After all, could not Christ have returned immediately? Why should God accept the lame arguments that the Jewish "numbers" were insufficient; that fallen humans couldn't execute Christ's spiritual life?

But the Son prayed for the Church, which justified the acceptance of Satan's arguments: so, here we are. So here we are, victims of his ever-bitter satire. Just as he managed to get Christ crucified for being King of the Jews, which He truly WAS! -- so also we are crucified. He spins the caricature satire of God as Sugar Daddy/Petty Judge, hooks us, so "crucifies" us in the eyes of the world. He "crucifies" us before God by then turning around and accusing us for being so stupid to buy such an apostate view, which God at last must answer by our 1Jn5:16 corporal execution.

He especially "crucifies" the few faithful, who instead fulfill 1Jn's Script. We are satirized as "odd" to our fellow humans: abnormal. We are too-enthusiastic, see. We study the Bible diligently, see. As if it actually meant something, see. We aren't hustling, see. So we're not-of-this-world, see. So, he laughs bitterly at his own truth-in-plain-sight cleverness. And, at us. 'Just as he has always done, at past believers. Since demons can't possess us, make fun of us by throwing us into fires, make us stab ourselves -- they satirize us in other ways. 'Give us visions (maybe 'send' truth, ha!), give us healings, psychic junk -- whatever tickles their fancy. Why not? What else are we good for? And so it goes. And so we go along, ever-foolish, ever "dull", ever the cause of weeping (Heb5:11-6:6, Eph4:30, Rom 8:26 (NAS), Phil3:18-19, Acts 20:29-31). Of course, the demons are weeping with laughter.

The Trib is easy, especially with the Christians removed. Satan can 'spin' all God's signs and wonders as being due to 'Satan being kicked out', for people then won't care to know enough about prophecy to realize he's satirizing it. As always, he can use the counterfeit wonders he displays, i.e., with the two anti-christs, to fake 'Christ has Returned!' Or, 'It's nearly the Millennium! So we gotta get the world ready for Christ's return!' ('Sound familiar?) Or, he can claim a 'Footstool' is in progress. So, via any of these spins, or others, he can get millions of the 'faithful' to do a good deed! 'Capture the evil ones!' -- Jews, of course -- i.e., from Petra. Won't surprise me if he uses Trib. Christians for that pogrom, just as he has always done, since Christ rose.

So, as the Lord perfectly knows, it's easier still for men to reject Him in the Millennium, since they have the very lifestyle Satan had long tried to achieve: for the highest prosperity results in the highest apostacy. Moreover, the sheer number of supernatural beings -- angels, Resurrected humans -- will dull man even more than all the OT supernaturality had done. Supernaturality will be so commonplace, man can easily come to devalue it, even as he had done, for example, just before the Flood (when angels were commonly-viewed).

When a thing is repeated often, or high in quantity, the depraved mind deadens to its value. Doesn't matter how nice it is, how spectacular it is. Think about it. Do you think the folks in Hawaii are as thrilled with its perfect environment as is a visitor from frigid New York in winter? Of course not. Why? Because they see it every day. Or, just try slipping up with your friend, to whom you've been good for so many years -- and watch him turn on you. Why? Because he's used to your being nice, and instead of appreciating it, has come to EXPECT it. So much for the 'love' you thought your friend had for you.

Man thinks he doesn't need God, if he's not hurting. In the Millennium, due to the accumulated blessing-by-associations from the Church, Israel, all via the Son -- no one will be hurting, unless self-inflicted. 'Just as in the Garden. So, Satan will have his best opportunity, by the time 1000 years of this unrelenting prosperity softens mankind. This time, the rebellion WILL work, Satan will think upon his release. He will be utterly convinced that Love is God's weakness. "Look how man hates Him! How stupid was He, to give man all that prosperity! Surely God is as stupid as I imagined! Aha, eternity cannot begin, for the Millennial world will reject its Savior! I, Satan, WILL at Last! save everyone! My Time for Vengeance has COME!" And so it goes.

Therefore, with respect to creation, the Millennium has some pretty important spiritual jobs to do.

What sort of spiritual life exists, then, to counter the ease-of-rejection prosperity always engenders? After all, look at the prosperity then: no demons sending thoughts or 'helping' man; all the rulers are in Resurrection Bodies, so there is no governmental corruption; laws are few, so the populace is not choked with them; the physical environment is perfect -- no animal dangers, and even the "desert will blossom like the crocus". The blessing-by-association with a PHYSICALLY RULING Christ is full. To believer, however apostate or growing, and unbeliever -- alike.

What kind of spiritual life goes with this outer life? Well, it's a composite from past covenants, to stress the Victory of Christ. Here's a sketch of its structure:

1. The angels' spiritual life was "face-to-face" with Him, in that He was present with them. But not as Humanity. So, the Millennium adds a dimension to that quality of their spiritual life -- and they get to be on earth, too. Face-to-Face: Intimacy. [Sidenote: Greek word "pros" really means "face-to-face with", hence "with", "to", "toward". One is forced to chop out this face-to-face meaning, in order to get good Greek grades, under the insane seminary rule that one Greek word is allotted no more than one English word, in translation. So, where it should be translated literally, like in the "absent from the body" verse -- since "body" is used, so obviously "face-to-face with" is meant -- English readers don't realize we will always have some kind of body. Never bodiless. So Luke16:20's tie-in bodily depiction of "see" is likewise missed.]
2. The Garden couple's spiritual life was also face-to-face, but they weren't fallen. Knowledge of God will be full, again, in the Millennium. That's unique, since such Knowledge is in fallen man for the first time.
3. By contrast, the Church Age's spiritual life is too much. "Full" for us is an internal spiritual intimacy unique to our Royal Status (the John 17 prayer). So, the spiritual legacy from the Church, as it were, is only the Filling of the Spirit: except their "Filling", unlike ours, includes ecstatics. The Garden didn't have Filling. The OT had a far lesser form, "enduement". (The Church's "Filling" is invisible, so no emotion.)
4. The Mosaic Law has been fulfilled, so its return in the Trib onward is upgraded; thus, differently lived. Yes, it will be 'on', again -- but in addition to full knowledge and Filling. Sacrifices then will be in celebration of Christ, no longer to obtain any atonement. So, one expects all the observances will likewise be a celebration. Of course, in the OT most observances were designed to teach and to enjoy having. Yet here, we see a long victory-celebration 'layer' of meaning, since Christ is in the Flesh, Ruling.
5. The Jews will be the all-time favorites: the 10-people-will-grab-the-coat-of-a-Jew verse. Finally, the Jews get their rightful recognition from other nations.

Why this structure? Well, a visible supernaturality seems to need a visible-spiritual-lifestyle to go with it. Something in the nature of (at least) man's physicality seems to demand such a balance. It's a physical association process, versus our NOW's principle-association. The balance makes sense, given the high affective quality of having so much Millennial prosperity. One needs a like-method to identify it with Doctrine. If you'll recall from Part II, the having of a physical body intensifies all finite-soul experiences, which -- at foundation -- are to maximize the enjoyment of God. So: to keep the inner-outer balance, some of the spiritual life must be physically-expressed. 'Married, not divorced. All inner, or all outer, would divorce the fantastic prosperity then from the spiritual life.

Moreover, because Christ is in the Flesh, and Ruling on earth, to completely enjoy Him now requires TWO dimensions: physical, and spiritual. His Physical presence in the OT wasn't humanly-displayed; His Physical presence at the 1st Advent wasn't glorified; His Absence in the Church Age means the physical must be eliminated. In the official Tribulation, He's still Absent, physically, but the signs are very physical, to balance to Satan's physical manifestations. However, in the Millennium, the Fullness of Him present requires a full physical set of spiritual expressions. Further, Christ's Physical full Presence is emphasized -- through Him, and through the Church. So the Physical manifestations of the spiritual life are then to be stressed.

Such emphasis balances the physical prosperity, too, so free will in fallen humans isn't seduced. The preponderance of supernaturality can overtax the unresurrected soul: Paul's "thorn in the flesh", for example, had that side benefit, balancing his supernatural experience of being in the third heaven. That's why visibility has always been a problem, historically. That's also why the OT rituals, besides being designed for a mankind yet too 'young', also helped balance the shock of what folks supernaturally saw. See, if you have to focus on some 'small' thing, the 'big' thing bothering you goes toward the back of your mind. So you get time to live with it, and adjust. For example, a newly-bereaved widow really needs routine, so her grief can settle, as it were. So also, one needs some kind of 'normal' or 'mundane' activity to balance to the shock of BIG knowledge: here, the knowledge of spectacular physical Presence.

Thus balanced, one's volition can still freely operate. One can choose to associate the spiritual meaning (just as we are NOW to do) with what's external, or one can choose to merely revel in the solo-externals. Our NOW, an invisible covenant, needs to be physically-invisible because the inner knowledge is so very high. The differential between inner and outer acts as a trebuchet (medieval catapult), so that one can demolish the 'invisible' (Eph6) castles we uniquely face. In short, balance is accomplished either by nearly-equal weights at either 'end' (visible, invisible; physical, spiritual) -- or, by extreme differentials. Volition is thus protected, for it can opt to only look at one 'end', or the other. In the Millennium, there is a nearly-equal 'weight' between physical and spiritual, because Christ (and us, plus the angels) will be on earth.

So, with respect to RESURRECTED Creation, the Millennium has its own 'jobs' -- as do we.

At the Second Advent, the Lord acquires a Third Royal Political Title for His Humanity: King over Kings. Those of us who reached Pleroma status during our "NOW" are the "Kings" over whom He is. So we who are those "Kings" will each have kingdoms (polities) of our own, to politically rule. On earth. So it's an imperium, and He's the Emperor. We, by contrast, are part of the federation of kingdoms over which He rules. On earth.

The central purpose of our Role then, vis á vis fallen humans then extant, is to be the adjunct to the perfect environment the Lord provides. Perfect environment is hardly perfect, if the rulers are not. So, all the rulers, of both Jewish and Gentile polities, are resurrected people. We have our own covenant; we received our citations (i.e., the Rev2 and Rev3 awards) during the Bema, during the Trib, so now are back on earth to begin ruling.

What about our Priesthood? Is it "ruling", too? Hebrews (5-7) screams that the Lord's Priesthood is not Levitical, so our ruling priesthoods under Him will not be related to the Mosaic Law. [Dingbats who ignore these chapters, and say Church replaces Israel, gets Israel's covenants, are satanic.]

Guessing, now. I'll have to better write these brown-font paragraphs later. Ok, here goes: since Rev1:6 says that, being as the Lord's Humanity is King-Priest, His (and therefore our) Priesthood is toward the Father, we will have some kind of priesthood offices under Him, before the Father, as well. How much of this priesthood life will then be visible to those in the Millennium, I don't yet know. Surely it continues, for at the Session Christ vested as the High-Priest, and we all officially function in our eternal role as priests to the Father, from the moment we are first saved (i.e., even before death). In any event, our priesthood-life is unlikely to be related at all to those on earth; since Israel's Levitical priesthood is fully on earth, fully recognized -- to commemorate Adonai Elohenu-Adonai-Christ. In short, we are definitely NOT replacing them in any way.

The Bible seems to make a clear distinction between the priestly-kingdom and the political one. I'm not sure how to state the distinction, at this time. This much I can say: the KOK title of the Lord is not the same one as the kata-Melchizedek (e.g., Ps110:1) title. They are TWO kingdom titles. Pleroma believers under Him each share both titles. So each Pleroma believer is at once a dual-kingdomed king (under Him). The priesthood kingdom (e.g., Ps110:1 and 1Pet2:5,9) is non-political, in the sense that such a kingdom itself is solely comprised of priests, and is wholly dedicated to God the Father. The KOK federation, by contrast, is only political. Secular, in other words. God made those same distinctions in the OT: Judah was to be the political ruler (via David's Dynasty), versus the Levites, sons-of-Aaron, who were supposed to be separate from politics, entirely -- despite the later Pharisaical distortion.

So too, in the Millennium. There, we see Israel, headed by David's Greater Son, as the Head of the World, so Israel has primacy; so too, its separate revived Levitical priesthood, still apart from politics. So too, the adjunctive Gentile nations, headed by the kings over whom the KOK rules -- and then these "kings" are also priests -- apart from political rule, and apart from the Levitical ones. Wearing two hats, as it were -- but still there is a marked separation of church-and-state.

Put simply, one gets the impression of dual citizenship for Church. That Church is 1) an aggregation of kingdoms with its own internal political structure and separate, internal priesthood -- but 2) laterally, has a political-only rule over Gentiles who are still in their depraved bodies, under the rubric of some imperial federation which spans all humans on earth. So 1) seems kinda like a state-within-a-state: today's parallels would be the military (whose internal laws often replace civil Federal laws of the same type), incorporated polities like Andorra, and/or the Vatican (international sense). 2) seems analogous to a person being king, as an office, so likewise a citizen subject to the polity's laws.

Also, it seems to be true that only those in Church who co-rule with Christ will have those to-Father priesthood offices? Does this make sense? Apparently only the rulers have a continuing spiritual life of their own. It appears that only those who reached "fullness" (Pleroma) status down here have an ongoing spiritual life. Why? I'm guessing this is the answer: 'Gotta be a priest, to have a spiritual life that keeps growing. That's what the glory of being a priest is all about, I think. How can one be a priest under Him and not have a spiritual life? It's not like the Levitical Priesthood, which didn't even require one be a believer: their priesthood depended on physical lineage and certain 'blemishlessness', to put it euphemistically. Then again, maybe those of Church who did not reach Pleroma status will be nominally priests in a quasi-Levitical sense: physically serving under the king-priests, but having no spiritual life of their own? Given the tenor of Rev1:6, 1(or 2?) Pet2:5,9, it looks more like all Church is a priesthood, but of course the Pleroma kingdoms have Pleroma heads. So the others in Church, as priests as well as subjects, are under their respective Pleroma heads.

For, in Rev5:10 "King-Priest" is the designation: implying that if not "King", then not "Priest". [Greek "Granville Sharpe Rule" means the "kai" is replaced with a hyphen, to render it best in English. Thus one knows the two nouns are "married", inseparable. Interesting that Basileia, not Basileus is used. Because "priests" is individual, not corporate, and there are no articles, Basileia should be translated "Kings" despite its feminine gender (aha, Bride), not "kingdom".] That has to mean Pleroma folks. But since 'priests' is also used severally (in Peter and Rev1:6, as compared with Rev5:10), those who didn't reach Pleroma still have the offices, but are underlings to those of us who rule. Certainly that is true in eternity, for the Church is a separate kingdom of its own. (One wonders if the Bema award simultaneously confers dual rulership, so the "winner" rules not only some landmass down here, but also some landmass off-earth. My guess is, the latter is delayed until the new universe begins. That makes sense, given Satan's last chance, at the end of the Millennium -- so he can still stop some promise from being completed, and win the Trial.)

SECOND HAT: being each Kings, each Pleroma believer has his own 'crown', meaning his own private property kingdom. His 'estate' is a whole polity, which he both owns and runs. The population of that polity is entirely Royal Family, comprised of those who didn't make it to Pleroma; for, as we saw in Corollary 3B, all Royal Family must be taken care of, so those who didn't 'inherit the kingdom' are IN the kingdom, rather than owning it. This kingdom is on-planet, during Mill, but likely off-planet, in Eternal State (because the non-Pleroma are more distant from Him, because that's what they chose, down here). Whether it is a composite-population kingdom during the Mill (i.e., composed of both sin nature humans and Resurrected non-Pleroma Royal Family), I'm not sure. Maybe there are TWO private-property kingdoms the Pleroma owns during the Mill, but ONE after that. What is certain, is that the non-Pleroma are on-planet during the Mill.

So, THIRD HAT: off-planet during Mill, and on-planet in Eternal State, there's a collegium of priesthoods under the King-Priest; each member of the collegium is a Pleroma believer. Probably from his own estate, he pays for, runs and organizes his part of an allied/collegiate priestly function to God the Father. There are lots of parallels for this structure in history, and maybe that's why those historical structures exist: to depict the Eternal one. For, after Mill, this function will be on-planet, since the Levitical priesthood will have completed its role, and the LORD plus Church are the Priests. However, those who didn't make it to Pleroma will be farther away, assisting in a back-office sort of way, as members of their particular Pleroma believer's estate/kingdom.

Since the foregoing three-hats scenario is roughly analogous to the angelic "HATS" now, it makes a lot of sense, and accounts for the Bible verses we know on Mill and Eternal State. Well, it is the best accounting I know thus far: a better one, when found, will replace it. The Pleroma's future sure is a very mentally-intense lifestyle, and probably a peripatetic one, as well! No wonder it takes a lifetime to train for that role, down here: first you gotta learn to love the High more than the low; then, relearn to love the low, due to the High! Ultimate Stretch! Can't love that stretch, until loving the exercise of the Royal Standard more than one's own life; so much so, you never want to stop pouring, stretching yourself out! Just like Your Lord.

Believers of any covenantal period who are the spiritual losers are still useful, count on that -- but have no authority to speak of. Those who are spiritual losers will be happy, count on that -- but will not have the greater rewards, which only go to those believers who actually "finished the course" as Paul puts it (analogous to Heb12:1, same footrace metaphor). For us Church, our life down here was an endurance race, culminating in the Trial: were we thrown out of the witness stand? Did we end up testifying on behalf of the Defense? Or, like Job, were we pointed out by God to Satan, did we end up passing the Evidence Test? (So far, I get the impression the Evidence Test for us is not a short thing, but a succession of tests in that last and greatest stage of the spiritual life.) Most of us got thrown out of the witness box, and died in shame. We won't live in shame in heaven, nor in the Millennium, nor in eternity, so far as one can tell from Scripture -- but for most of us, we'll just be childishly happy, not ruling anything.

Most importantly, though, the main 'job' of the Millennium, is to fully Reveal that Paradox of Paradoxes, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The difference between "paradox" and "contradiction", is Integrity. Integrity holds two opposites together, based on Righteousness. Righteousness says, "These two opposites should co-exist." Integrity says, "Ok. Will do." So, the paradox exists, stably. Why? Because the unity of two opposites is a FULL SPECTRUM. Infinity is nothing, if not full-spectrum.

As you've no doubt guessed by now, God's Very Nature is paradoxical. So also, His Script. We can't work for it, yet in learning Him, it takes all we've got. He can't get paid by us, yet He wants us, and is satisfied. Christ didn't owe anything, yet chose to pay. In paying, He did the greatest work of all time, yet did not work at all, but rather rested in the Doctrine in the Power of the Holy Spirit (covered in more detail in the "Paradox" table, below). We need to be good, but we can't be good. We try to be 'good', but 'good' is nothing more than "evil" under a nice name, since even 'good' originates from that Tree which felled the woman and Adam. God calls our 'good' very ugly names (like "menstrual rags", in Isa 64:6, which the prudish translators covered up by labelling it "filthy"). The Gospel itself sounds like a nasty remark, "believe or burn". Yet, what is believing? No work at all. Full-spectrum, that. The easiest and best all the way down to the worst.

Then again, how do you wrap a gift worth a bizillion dollars? No wrapping paper will be pretty enough to do justice to the gift inside. So what do you do? Wrap it in the ugliest wrapping paper possible. Like how Christ wrapped the massive gift of Doctrine in His condemnation of the "evil generation seeks a sign..no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." (God used Jonah to gift Assyria with doctrine from 754BC until 612BC, which saved that nation's life. His tomb is in Ninevah.) So, He uses a very ugly tone -- and Gives The Greatest Gift wrapped up in it. Jer31:31-34!

So, Opposites, everywhere. Paradoxes. No wonder Satan thought God must be 'flawed'. All Satan (and we) can see is the ugliness of the wrapping paper!

So, in the Millennium, ALL paradoxes are fully on parade. It's the last period of human history for the current universe. All history has been leading up to this, the full earthly Revelation of Christ's Glorified Humanity. Christ is the Ultimate Paradox. Fully Righteous, fully God-Man; yet fully Worm, Fully Lamb. Yet, Fully Judge, fully Groom. Yet, Fully King. Fully Savior. Paradoxes, all. The Ultimate High Person, and the Ultimate Low Person. All in One Person, uniquely (shemaah, Yisroel). So, the Millennium reflects all of His Attributes. So also, do we.

The Millennium is the time when all those covenants to Israel are fulfilled. Here, Israel is the highest-ranked nation on the planet, extending from a good bit of northeastern Africa, through maybe most of Anatolia -- and all that land in between. The nexus of the world. What was once some of the most desolate land on earth is now its paradise. What was once the most persecuted people in history is now the most honored. What was once a war-filled planet is now completely at peace. What was once a corruptly-governed Earth is now blessedly-ruled. With panache. Involuntary Hunger goes, ferocity goes, crime essentially goes, involuntary poverty goes. No one even dies, unless he commits a capital crime. (I get the impression folks are killed immediately, after being proved guilty in a fast-yet-accurate trial. There don't seem to be any jails.) All of man's millennia of unremitting discomfort -- gone. All of these display His Glorified Humanity. We are an extension of Him, to the Gentiles.

Paradoxically, the Millennium is also God's War: the time to defeat all enemies. Thus, the Lord subdues the earth at this time, and thus acquires, on the first day (2nd Advent itself) the title "King over Kings", by means of His Strong and Shocking Judgement of the Earth. See, the 2nd Advent, as well as the deliverance of Israel, is a kind of Judgement, too. People on earth at that time are largely apostate, and are the most apostate in history, for all the signs and wonders didn't awaken them to faith in Christ. Further, all the problems of mankind need to be judged and put to rest. The preceding paragraph is thus also a listing of defeated "enemies". Notice how even Judgement, blesses: a paradox.

So, this wonderful time also begins paradoxically, for it begins with the greatest bloodshed in history: done by the Lord ALONE. (He doesn't want anyone else to be blamed for the record-setting executions.) It will look like Gotterdamerung. For example, it takes seven months to bury the Land's dead -- well, once the bridle-high blood has finally drained enough for the Land to be walkable. The Land will stink with rotting corpses, on which birds feast, while folks bury whatever bodies aren't consumed. Who knows how many other nations will be in a similar state. The Baptism of Fire also occurs during this time. (e.g., Luke 17:30-37.) It apparently takes a year to complete: the removal of living unbelievers, directly to Hades ("hell", a compartment under the Earth) -- 'like an anti-Rapture. The two anti-christs, who had been preserved alive, along with Satan&Co., are all imprisoned, as part of this Baptism of Fire Judgment. When the Baptism of Fire completes, all the unbelievers of the Tribulation will have been removed. Only believers are left.

Surely a lot of other judgment activity goes on, as well. The fact that it takes so long to execute these Judgments, and the gory way in which they are personally done by the Lord, is obviously deliberate: people who lived through the Tribulation were a pretty scarred bunch, and need to realize that God is REAL. The process reminds me of the judgments against Pharaoh, and also the way folks in the Land were forewarned of Israel's coming to execute them. So I expect that, as was true back in Moses' day, the reason for the long and gory Judgments is to give some unbelievers a very-last-minute chance to change their hardened hearts and believe. Apparently they need these last, drawn-out methods because they are not too far gone to respond (versus the others, who were killed or sent to Hades earlier in the year). Principle? God always Exploits Grace, the Expression of His Love.

It's a kindness, really. Those folks will need to see a lot of judgment slowly executed, so to wake up out of the deep me-be-good fantasy. After all, if they lasted through the entire Tribulation and still did not believe in Him, they must be even more demented than Pharaoh was. So, for the first year or so, the King will make clear He can Judge. It will not be pretty. (We who are alive now should take deep warning from this future, for we are just as fantasy-prone, NOW.)

Even so, despite all that gore, all the (probably terrifying) splendor of so many Resurrected folks now in charge and running (flying?) around, people alive at the Tribulation's end will acclimatize. Those newly-born in the population explosion will of course not have seen the Trib, or the gore. It will, like the Holocaust, seem like a story, maybe. After all, things are great! If the King is God, how was He Right to have let war go on for so long? Why didn't He eradicate hunger earlier? Why did He let all those people pounce on Israel so terribly, and for so long, yet claim He loves them? Such will be just a few of their not-so-innocent questions.

For, as we saw earlier, this great environment, plus our sheer numbers, will 'cause' a good many folks born during that time to take all this perfection for granted -- and even, find it boring. Unfair. Devilish. Evil. Want to overthrow Him. Or, us. God's Script will seem contradictory, as it always has, to humans, even absent any demonic 'help'. His Plan always seems to call for 'sacrifice', we think. To see such a 'call' in such idyllic surroundings will seem even sillier. Who needs a God who wants sacrifice? Thus, many in this heaven-on-earth period will be very, very unhappy. 'Love' will seem like 'hate', to them. And us? We'll be suspected as 'aliens', of course.

As we saw from Part I and II, one's capacity for happiness depends upon the level of Love one has for Righteousness. This is the fundamental reason why God is Inviolable. His Righteousness is Infinite, and His Love for it is Infinite. It's a characteristic of HIS, so is a characteristic of anything He makes. Satan's contention has always been that such a characteristic is a flaw, even a lie; for, if it were true, creation would have been made differently. The Millennium is the summary answer to Satan's contention, even though he's locked up. Paradoxical? No "preparation". So that the folks born in the Millennium don't fall for his game, when he's let out. Let's see what this summary will say, since we can NOW use the answers in our own lives, and ourselves prepare.

So, then: remember also, in Part IVd's "Combat" green table, how the Cross opened His Soul so It could be utterly Filled? Thus, it should be easy to analogously understand that as a result of the successful completion of the Cross, Christ in effect HOLDS AND RECEIVES everything. Personally. As Creator, He paid and holds and receives everything because nothing can exist, nor continue, apart from Him doing so. That means, all horror and evil and sin, as well. Moreover, to His Humanity, all this was likewise imputed and judged, because all horror and evil is due to sin. For, all sins were imputed to Him and judged. Including, God the Father's Judgement of those sins. So, DOUBLY, Christ holds all horror, all pain, all suffering. And, all Joy. He really is the ENTIRE SUMMATION of all experience. Of all of us. See the Paradox, the Integrity, the union-of-opposites? Totally? Therefore, the Totality Of Glory that He is? ALL of Him? And, He didn't want to prosecute us, either, even though we're the ones who pierced Him through with our billions upon billions of sins! Instead, He wanted to protect us. And continues to do so -- even if we reject Him, Who is the Father's Indescribable Gift.

Those born in the Millennium, as well as those surviving the Tribulation, will learn these paradoxes, and their Glories. One of the layers of teaching will be seeing us. Seeing the Resurrected ones. For, together we form a mosaic, as it were, of Him. Displaying Him, Reflecting Him. Gloriously. So, the Millennial population will have our parallel "cross" experiences to learn from. As well as their own. Double blessing, to reflect the 'Double' Lord: Deity, and Humanity. Doubly-represented, through Israel and through His Bride. Gloriously. Opposites, because full spectrum.

It will be obvious to them that most Resurrected believers (and all unbelievers) before the 2nd Advent opted for Satan's plan. Such Resurrected believers will be but "watchers", as noted in the previous section. Such believers were saved, but after salvation they did not learn Integrity by means of 1Jn's Script, so did not come to have Pleroma Love for Righteousness. Thus, their love level limited the size of their free enjoyment, forever. So, "perfect" for them is thus limited in scope: their capacity for having is small. However, that capacity is synergistically "grown", by means of them also being able to "watch" others have "more". After all, they spent their love on earth mostly "watching" the world, rather than "watching" God (learning Him). So, for eternity, they can watch the Millennial "world" and the new universe, which is in line with the "watching" love (capacity) they had developed before death. They will get much pleasure from watching others 'own the mink coat', just as they got much pleasure from sitting on the sidelines of the spiritual life before death. It fits, and it's perfect.

Conversely, the upper-class believers --Pleroma (Church), and Jeshurun (non-Church) -- found "watching" the world less valuable than "watching" God. They also found "having" things of the world less important than "having" God. Whether the "having" was pleasant or unpleasant, short or long, high or low, it came not to matter; instead, all such wants docked under Love-for-God. Thus, they acquired, through those Bible Doctrine deposits, an INDEPENDENCE from wants. Wants-for, or wants-against -- all subordinated to that Integrity from Bible Doctrine. Hence such persons became truly Free. So, they can have OR forego anything and everything, yet still are Inviolable. So, they can have "the all things", all the rich mink-coat accoutrements, as it were. So, they can also have the burden and joy of Rule.

For, to rule means that those you rule are 'lower', hence you are foregoing your own standards' fulfillment. Due to Integrity, such foregoing is a joy to you, for you LOVE pouring yourself out for them -- irrespective of any 'meritorious exchange' from them. Further, any 'meritorious exchange' you receive from them is "extra", so thoroughly enjoyable. You don't NEED it. So, you ENJOY it. That is the heart of why Love for Righteousness makes for Inviolable Happiness. So, the Pleroma believers are the highest class. So, the Christ is the Highest of All, the Pleroma of Pleromas. So, everyone is maximally happy within his own love-capacity.

In sum, folks alive during the Millennium who haven't yet died will thus also "watch", or "have", the Millennial spiritual life. They will learn from the resurrected "watchers" what that lifestyle is like. They will learn from the resurrected "rulers" what that lifestyle is like. Their decisions about how much of God's Script they want to have will thus be informed votes -- #2 Trial issue, how much they want of Him based on what they know. Thus they will come to choose their own eternal futures, as well.

Above all, they will have the opportunity to learn that it's Integrity, not externals, which makes for happiness. 'Meritorious exchange' is an external; pleasure or pain, is an external; getting what one wants or foregoing what one wants -- 'another external. In short, they have the opportunity to learn that Love for Righteousness frees self from needing anything else. For them, the Christ's 1st-Advent offer will be dramatically updated: "Seek ye first the Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." So, having anything else, whether desirable or even repugnant -- is just an added joy. So it is for God, so it is for Christ, so it can be for anyone He has made. Free. Free, because God, through Christ, pours Himself into those who want Him, to the extent they want Him, "just because" He is Free to do so. 'Irrespective of any 'meritorious exchange'. For, Love -- LOVES. FREELY. Due to inviolable Love-for-Righteousness, which makes God, God. 'Which makes man able to truly become "like the Most High", the compatibility standard God wanted met all along. 'Which, He forever chooses to forego, to the extent the recipient doesn't want to receive the "deposits".

Thus, many of those alive during the Millennium will come to consider His Rule unfair. For, like Satan, they only consider 'perfect', the external satisfaction of their wants, none of which include Him. Self-tyrannized by their non-God wants, they will be discontented. By the millions, maybe even the billions. Many of them will be believers, of course. So, of course, they prove Satan's contention wrong, but God's "paradoxes" and "Glory" right. Even in their rebellion.

HAPPINESS KEY→ So, we NOW learn from this that we'd not be happy with a 'better environment', either. Only with Christ, is there happiness. Only via God's Script. For US. NOW. That's why God had Revelation written, to let us know, NOW -- what we DON'T need.

'God's War' ends with almost as big a horror as it began. All during the Millennium, new "enemies" were born, and many haven't committed crimes, because they are moral. So they are still alive, as the Millennium ends. Then, Satan&Co. are released, to make one last bid -- now that the environment is what they'd long tried to achieve. See how the Lord loves Satan&Co.? They STILL have an opportunity to learn that externals don't make for happiness. They STILL (it seems to me) have the opportunity to believe IN Him. Yet, they do not do so. Rather, they opt for the numbers end-game. Satan&Co. use the Gog and Megog revolution to seduce, and millions or billions gladly follow. (This final revolution seems to me to parallel that first revolution, back when there were only the angels.)

The revolution's objective is to win over enough unresurrected believers and unbelievers, so that Christ can be proved unable to deliver on the remaining "eternity" promise. However, not enough unresurrected believers go for Satan's anti-plan. So, Satan&Co. fail. Finally, their eternal sentence comes due.

Then, it's time for Death, the last enemy, to become the footstool of His Feet. The so-called "Second Resurrection" occurs. Unbelievers are rounded up before the Son, whether from under the earth, or still on earth then -- a sort of anti-rapture (distinguished from the Baptism of Fire, which occurred @2nd Advent) -- and the Great White Throne Judgment occurs. Note carefully: the unbelievers are condemned for their "works" from the Books of Works. Why? Because all the works in the world don't add up to God's Righteousness. Merit-based claims put one in the deepest Arrogance Hole. These people were blotted out (Heb: machah, Grk: exzeleiphw) of the Book of Life, so are "not found" in it. That was the only way they could get into Heaven, and it would have been permanent: "concerning sin, because they have not believed in Me" -- John 16:9 ("have not" means NEVER, in the Greek idiom, due to ouk.) Only Christ is Good enough. Never a blasted thing man does.

Then, all of them -- all unbelievers, the anti-christs, Satan&Co., are apparently spun off in another "big bang". Peter's description in 2Peter might be fusion or fission, not sure which, but Planet Earth is ground zero, the trigger mechanism for the fireball which will result -- possibly -- in the Lake of Fire. Seems like another big bang, producing another universe -- away from God, as it were. All of the works are burnt up in there. Death and Hades are 'sent' there, as it were. Now, all enemies are finally defeated.

Everyone survives it, of course; but Satan&Co., with the unbelievers, go to their universe (the Lake of Fire), and we get a new one of our own. The divorce they wanted, is granted; the marriage we wanted, is also granted. Forever.

1. The New Universe is the culmination of God's Plan, all along: The Completion of Kingdoms, Families, "Bride" to co-Rule with the King of the Universe.

Remember how, back at the end of Part II, The Christ's Victory at the Cross ensured for the Godhead a "universe of sons"? Remember how, at the beginning of Part III, we saw the Godhead had initially 'decided' to celebrate their Relationship by creating such a universe? So that, á la Matt22's wedding parable, we were all invited? Invited, NOT coerced?!? [Hopefully the reader will realize which statements below are dramatic-style (e.g., long-quotes') explanations, versus quotes which are really in the Bible. Even the drama-depictions, though, are summations of many Bible passages. You can use 1Jn1:9, and the HS will help you see what's meant -- and better still, confirming Bible passages for the drama-depictions below.]

All along, God the Son (and all the Godhead) had wanted a co-Ruler "Bride", and "sons". Family. And He (and They) literally Poured Himself out to the uttermost to GET them! The Father and the Spirit poured Themselves out, too. The Father poured Himself out at the Cross, judging the One He loved! The Spirit poured Himself out at the Cross, sustaining the One the Father Loved! The Father then poured Himself out onto the Church, kitting it out with the largest, most lavish spiritual/temporal/eternal assets, to make a fit Bride-with-dowry, for His Beloved Son. The Spirit poured Himself out for the Church, to remake them INTERNALLY! -- so they could become worthy for such a Son, and thus themselves have the consummation of the marriage: by making love to Him for all eternity, throwing down their crowns before Him, spending all they had joyously! on Him. [Romans 5 is on this very topic, but starts with our ideal response: let's-thus-pour-ourselves-out! It and other passages, plus the manifold mechanics & results of the Lord's Paying on the Cross, lead me to conclude that He deliberately used the Cross to make an unending series of even bigger 'crosses': FOREVER. Because, He NEVER wants to stop being ON the Cross. Someday I'll have to explain this point in a lot of detail, for its import is fabulous beyond description. When that day comes, this "new universe" section will have the explanation.]

So, "from the beginning", as John loves to stress, God's Plan was a LOVE invitation -- for a Bride and Family -- extended to finite rational creation, in succession. In each offer to each group, the SIGN was clearly-written, in HUGE RED LETTERS: No robots wanted; no automatons wanted. No pets wanted. No do-goodies wanted. Who can have full fellowship with such menials? For, those He could have binged! with ZERO effort. After all, that's why non-rational creation is so varied: the 'menials' work-slot was filled -- by them.

So, God the Son yells out, "I'VE MADE THE MENIALS ALREADY, FOLKS. NO MORE MENIALS WANTED. THANK YOU, ANGELS, MANKIND -- BUT I DON'T WANT YOUR WORKS. I WANT YOU. DO YOU WANT ME, APART FROM YOUR WORKS? 'For the Lord loves a CHEERFUL -- repeat, CHEERFUL! -- giver' -- GET IT???? I don't do anything I don't enjoy, so I don't want YOU to do anything I don't enjoy, either!!! GET it???"

Works from rational creation, even in a state of perfection, obviously didn't impress Him. Rather, as Heb 10:5 states, God had a different goal: "Sacrifices and Offering You did not Desire, but a BODY You Have Prepared for Me." He gave us BODIES, to join us UNTO HIMSELF. Not our works, for crying out loud, but US! We now know why. For, from His Explanation to Satan in Part I, and from the "Paradox.." table here, above, we see the Glorious, Shocking Truth: 'works' from us wouldn't accomplish His Goal! He wanted "sons", who would share His Essence. Even His Own creating them/us perfect was NOT enough: the only way to become "enough" was to CHOOSE to receive Divine Transfusion, so to speak: growth in Love, by means of Growth IN Him -- God's Script! Those perfect little "deposits", each one married to a "yes" freely-made by the recipient! It was never about works, or merit -- it was always about LOVE, SHARING. The only way He could get "sons" was to pour Himself INTO those who would accept the Divine Invitation, because Love depends on free will! We don't 'invite' Him -- HE invited us!

This being the Plan, then, from the angels onward, the 'invitations' went out early, as it were: first, to all angels. They could have been wholly Bride; man would have been an ADDITIONAL kingdom they could have ruled, in addition to their inter-angel rulership awards. Some angels accepted, and grew in LOVE; some accepted, but did not grow fully in LOVE. In aggregate, not enough angels accepted and grew in LOVE enough, for there to be a corporate co-ruler "Bride". So, those who accepted received individual rulership awards they could spend on Him (viz., Rev4:8), but the separate, corporate "Bride" role remained 'empty'. No Queen for a King. So, these accepting angels became the "sons of God", one "kingdom", one Family, as it were, for Deity. But no "Bride" overall, for He Who was to be the King of the Universe, over ALL creation.

Of course, some other angels had accepted the Divine Invitation, but only on the basis of their substitute 'good', as their 'attire'. Like fruit&vegetables, to mix metaphors. They slaved hard to produce that 'produce', that 'good'. So they claimed it should be accepted instead of the Divine Standard: their fruity, vegetabl-y 'fig leaves'. So, of course, they'd be shamefully dressed. So God the Son, but now in Hypostatic Union forever, says: "What, didn't they read the sign? NO WORKS WANTED, THANK YOU. Merit doesn't clothe one properly for the Living Festival the I've made." So, Satan&Co. were thrown out for not following the Divine Dress Code. They rejected the full knowledge of God they had, so weren't attired in LOVE. "Sorry, guys, you had enough time to get the proper clothing from Me."

It's not enough to have the knowledge. It's not enough to have works, which are but a by-product of the person's nature, anyhow, so whoopee. It's not enough to have ANYTHING but a Love for Righteousness. Which, had they 'married' Love to the binged! knowledge they had had, would have 'attired' them properly.

So God the Son says: "As the old Starkist Tuna commercial used to say -- 'Sorry, Charlie': you aren't good enough. You got the chance to play with the knowledge and parlay it into Love-Understanding, and then Love-expression, irrespective of any merit issues. Did you do that? Oh, no. What did you do? You made an issue of YOURSELVES, NOT My Righteousness. Your own Righteousnesses are like menstrual rags to Me. Even though I made you Myself. If 'merit' was truly important to you, as you claim, why did you not grow in LOVE? What, is My Merit just so much chopped liver? Why did you not use the Knowledge I GAVE YOU FREELY -- to freely play with it, and learn enjoyment? So, you rejected the ONLY TRUE MERIT. So, what merit do you really have? Sorry, Charlie. No tickee, no washee. For eons and eons You continually spurn My Gift, you spurn Me, and I'm just supposed to say, 'Okay, I'm wrong, You're Right?' And THAT is what our Relationship is about? You do for me, I do for you? Is that LOVE? Sorry, Charlie. Out you go. You hate My Bed. You hate Me. Fine. Here's a universe of your own you can play your hate-games in. Away from Me." Then the Son grieves quietly, inwardly, as He always has -- for He did not want to lose them. But He is Judge, and cannot let this affront to Righteousness go unrequited. (Ex34:6-7)

So, of course, the human unbelievers who said "Lord, Lord" would be thrown out, too, as 'improperly dressed'. They also wanted to substitute their own merit for God's Love. For, as we saw from the "Paradox" table, one cannot use 'merit' as a basis for any interpersonal relationships, and likewise be loving. Ahhh, but a wedding is about LOVE! So, out, merit -- you're improperly accoutered.

"God has Plans! He's got a whole new universe to populate! There must be a Bride! There must be replenishment of the guests! So, the invitation shall be extended! Let Us go out to the highways and byways, pick up anyone who'll accept the invitation, and attire them!" So, out went the Word to the World. Adam and the woman accepted, but can't be in "Bride", for Adam lost his rulership. The great and small believers of the OT accepted, but again, the "Bride" offer to Israel didn't get the requisite number of acceptees. So, like the angels, each of the "great" acceptees received individual (inter-human) awards. But no corporate Bride -- yet. Corporately, the OT folks became "Family of God", a kingdom for "Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad." The highest rank among them, "Friend of God" was awarded to Moses, Abraham, David. And, the search for the "Bride", continued.

"But lo! The Christ accepted! He became Seed, and completed His Love Covenants! So, He is appointed, Seated, King of the Universe, even in His Humanity! The Word becomes the Word of the Cross! The Word of God! The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Bright Morning Star! Replacing Satan! So now, a King is Complete! So now, Let Us complete the Bride!" So, the great and small believers of "Church" accepted, and the Bride was FINALLY completed. Barely. Just enough. Perfect. Just in Time.

Ergo the Bema, during the Trib, to kit out the Bride (and maybe the Guests, here, too? Or was their 'bema' earlier?) with Her eternal LOVE-GIFT 'rewards'. The King has a few surprises up His sleeve, for His Bride: after all, most of the Bride don't even know of the Bride doctrine! "Heh, you just thought you were invited, to attend someone else's wedding? Heh, guess what? I'm marrying YOU!" This is what He'll be saying to a very surprised "Church" at the Bema. We will reply, "But Lord, what did we do for You?" [Luke 17:10 and another passage somewhere in Paul. Its gist: we would have 'obeyed' anyway, for sheer joy. We excuse our obedience on the grounds that it was His 'due'. (It's not the Gospel "naked and you clothed Me" verse.)] Then, He will explain: how surprised we will all be, with our rewards! [It makes more sense to say that Church=Bride. He's marrying the whole Church, given Eph1:15-23. Those who don't reach Pleroma rank will be under those of Pleroma rank, so that the Pleroma folks will be properly-kitted out to serve the King. This makes even more sense when looking at all the Church passages. I think I understand my pastor's teaching, now. "Bride" still stresses the Pleroma people, but who will complete them? If Christ had to be completed by a "Body", what are the necessary characteristics of that "Body"? Wouldn't those who are Pleroma be only sub-"heads"? Is a person merely a head? Oh no, says Paul in 1Cor12, Eph 4, 1Tim2, etc. So, yes, the interpretation by some other pastors that "Bride" is not equal to Church, makes partial sense. However, Pleroma believers are the sub-heads of the "Bride", so need a "body" of their own, as it were -- in order to serve Him. Ergo, the Pleroma believers will have the most direct contact with Him. Those who didn't make it into that upper-class will see Him less often, akin to how often the English populace see their Queen. Not good, then, to miss Pleroma!]

So, it only remained to fill out the guest roster. The great and small believers of the Trib and Millennium accepted. Thus, by the end of the Millennium, the guest roster is finally replenished. Each guest is properly accoutered in LOVE, with his individual awards to spend on the Groom, forever. Happily.

The OT people and Trib martyrs will be the "Friends of the Groom"; and they also will vary in rank (they have their own 'rewards'). The Trib folks come under the same rubric as the OT people. So, they have their own reward set. In short, every individual will have lots and lots to happily spend 'on' Him.

So, during the Millennium (aka Lord's Marriage Feast, given Rev 19:7-9), the "Friends of the Groom" and the "Bride" will be celebrating in Resurrection Bodies. The positive Millennial saints (including those Trib saints still alive when the 2nd Advent began) will be celebrating too, but in their still-fallen bodies. The Feast thus ends with the ending of historical time: a thousand years of celebration. Then the Millennial saints will be resurrected, whether they had died, or are still alive at the end: for their OWN 'bema'. The Millennial folks come under the same rubric as the OT people, "Friends of the Groom". So, just before the new universe is created, they also are kitted out with their own 'rewards'.

2. The New Universe is Rich in every way -- and Unequal in every way.

So, the new universe is binged! into existence. And Look! Down from the new Heaven comes the "Bride". A very real, very huge city, made up of every jewel and precious metal, right down to its streets! No Temple, for the desert God who never wanted a manmade anything, Who only let Solomon build an earthly Temple to depict the Heavenly one for a little while -- and even then only allowed it if each worker received special 'craftsmanship' enduements -- this same Desert God is now Alpha and Omega, Cornerstone of the Real Temple: of believers. Because, it was never about works, it was about the person. One 'wall' is Church; the other, OT, Trib, and Mill believers. (Or maybe two walls, each? He's the Cornerstone of all four corners. Ooops! I didn't pay enough attention in Bible class back in 1983! The Holy Spirit only recalls what one has already learned under Him! ouch.) In short, the "Bride", like everything else in Scripture, has a multilayer meaning. A place. A city. A people. Us. Rich beyond comprehension. For, if this fabulous description of a mere city is given, how much more, the rest of the universe, especially since ALL of it is designed by the Father to glorify and celebrate the King?

What good is wealth, anyway, if there is no one to 'spend it on'? Ahhh, but there will be Someone to spend it on. And, this time -- finally and truly -- "in His Name" we will ADORE spending whatever we have on everyone else, too. No more stupid false-righteousness "cups" of (really no) water, which we hold out to Him, expecting Him to fill it with His Gratitude. We will be purged of all that false nonsense, then.

INTERPRETATION KEY→ In short, the new universe's essential structure, physically, parallels today's structure: Free will. So, variety. So, Inequality. For, 'not good, that everyone should be equal'. Not even the Godhead regard themselves Equally, even though THEY ARE EQUAL: One is Father, One is Son, One is Spirit. FAMILY. So, unequal-in-rank. So, unequal-in-function. So to BEST EXPRESS LOVE. So, the old chestnut that we'd be sitting on clouds strumming harps is pure satanic, communist, 'Brother-Foot'-type nonsense.

No one will need to sleep or rest. There is no night. So, no loss of time for enjoying Him completely. Whatever one wants to learn will be learnable, for there will be huge structure containing the correct history of the world -- so also, presumably, all it 'knew'. So, if you wondered just how Alexander did manage to conquer so much, you can find out. So, also, if you want to know just how King So-and-So among the Bride rose to that rank, it will be recorded: in STONE. To depict "Living Stones". (Pillars were used in the ancient world to record history, esp. of deeds done by kings.)

You can visit your own "escrow", too, if you didn't grow up in Love enough to receive it at the Bema. It will say what you could have gotten, what you could have done to get it, how you would have been, as a person, had you grown up. But, even though this eternal memorial to your lost opportunity remains forever in public view -- you won't be embarrassed. You will then understand. And, approve.

For, in our new universe, the differences among believers which first became evident at the Bema continue forever. Spiritual Growth is capped, for those who did not reach Pleroma, upon Resurrection. [Apparently spiritual growth continues until End-Mill., even in Resurrection Body for Pleroma (and maybe 'Jeshurun' class?) believers, which to me is the biggest reason to want to reach that level, for it determines how 'close' one is to Him. Apart from Him, or even somewhat distant from Him, what the heck is "heaven" worth?] So, most believers will forever be of childish love-level (not 'childish' by our current standards, but by standards then). Still, they will be completely happy: no one will own 'more' than he can fully enjoy, and no one will own 'less' than he can fully enjoy. Balance. Capacity for love is balanced to the accoutrements of Love. As always, "cheerful giver" rule obtains. So, only a few believers will be rulers.

The Angelic Kingdom has its own ranks and structure, even as today. The Lord heads it, even in His Humanity, per Heb1:4 and other passages, as the "Lord of Lords". Each of the head angels under Him is a "Lord". How much their kingdom will change in structure due to the new universe, I don't know. Presumably the "College of Heralds", my pastor's term for the civic "arm", will continue. Continuing also, though, should be the "Order of Battle", his term for the military arm -- as commemoration of the Lord's Victory, and of the angels' prehistoric victory in that first Rebellion by Satan&Co. They have been in their Resurrection Bodies since before man was created, so I'm not sure how much change there will be, in the new universe, with respect to them. (One interesting point to ponder: since the Pleroma believers will still have a spiritual life in the Millennium, which means that even in Resurrection Bodies they will still be growing in love -- wouldn't that imply the 'head' elect angels, who for so long have been in their Resurrection Bodies, also grew in LOVE? At least, until the Eternal State begins? Gotta work that issue out, someday.)

The Davidic Kingdom, which seems to comprise all the OT believers, the Tribulation Saints, and the Millennial Saints, will likewise be very differentiated. Some will be ruling others within that kingdom, I'm guessing, even though its covenants are silent respecting rule? If we are adjunctive-rulers in the Mill., wouldn't we always be adjunctive? In any case, all will, of course, be under David's Greater Son, the Christ. Scripture doesn't say if the Mosaic Law is celebrated, then, by them. No more mention of a Levitical priesthood, after the Mill ends. Of course, there is no more Temple, then, so no more celebratory sacrifices. That argues for the Church co-ruling with Christ -- even over the Davidic Kingdom. Then again, heh -- many Jews are "Church". So I bet the Pleroma among them get any Davidic sub-head 'spots', since even in the eternal state we are all divided up into 'nations'.

The Church, as Bride, co-rules with Him, though. Apparently, over all the human kingdoms. The entire structure is beginning to sound like a federation. Maybe, we're co-Federal Heads under Him -- under that 'hat' of His? As Federal Ruler over everyone? In any event, the Church has its own kingdom, too, and is very differentiated as to rank and accoutrements. In addition, only the Bride is a priesthood, under the King-Priest kata Melchizedek, so maybe that's why there is no Mosaic Law in the eternal state. It really looks as though the role of priesthood is eternally -- toward the Father, since Christ Himself is a King-Priest. To Whom else would He be King-Priest? Certainly not to Himself. So, to the Father. Forever. What a glory that is, to actually serve the Father forever! Better than all the riches of the universe.

• God is undivided in His Attributes and Triune, Each Member of the Godhead Unique, Deut 6:4, 2Cor13:14, all of John 17.
• Head Attribute is Love, by Sovereignty's Unending Choice (i.e., Ps89:14).
• Love does not like suffering, 2Pet3:9.
• Love is not benefitted by suffering, Ps115:17, Song of Solomon 8:7 (different context, but same idea), Isa42:3.
• Cross paid for all sin, Isa52:13-54:1 (stated well over 20 times in each BHS or LXX texts, English is fuzzy), 1Jn2:2, all of Romans 6.
• Hell lasts forever (most NT "fire" verses, i.e., how the Lord applies Isa66 to Gehenna analogy for eternal fire in Matt18, Mark 9).
• People in Hell keep on sinning, illustrations of Luke 16:19ff and Rev20:11, compare to what "sin" means, unbelief, in John 16:9 and Hebrews 3.
• So Hell is an ongoing cost to God, one of the many reasons why the Payment must Live forever. The Live-forever nature of the Payment (Him) is stressed in Romans 6 and Hebrews 5-10. Since the Payment lives forever, the Sacrifice lives forever, so there is no more sacrifice for sin.
• John 3:36 therefore, as all of John 3, is in the (often gnomic) present or aorist tense. For those who never believe, it's always present tense -- they have never believed until yet. Even, in Hell (really, Lake of Fire, in the eternal state). So John 3 is a good summary statement of God's Will and Policy, esp. 3:3, 7, 15, 16-18, 36 (Chapter threads).
• So if Hell is an ongoing cost to God, paid forever simultaneously, then just as we believers live in heaven with Him solely because we believed which He sovereignly chose as the 'condition' for salvation per John 3 (and other verses, precedence of Gen3:15 and 15:6), so too can anyone in hell believe.
• However, they won't believe in Him, so remain there. The rest of this section of Part V explores, inter alia, how it's possible for a human being to prefer suffering to heaven. Part I's "Anti-Integrity Properties" link section and Part II's Opportunity Cost Table should be reviewed, to see the underlying soul nature developed by continuing unbelief and the cost to God for allowing Hell to go on forever.

When Satan&Co. rebelled, God didn't just zap them into the Lake of Fire. So, He gave them grace (even until now) to change their minds. Analogous to Pharaoh. Same, for Adam and the woman. There was, in short, a "contingency" plan in case of creature failure. Now, how many such plans are there? Parts I-V have essentially reviewed what constitutes a rolling series of contingency plans for every contingency. The many "covenants", each of which ended due to creature failure, were replaced by others. Or, they didn't end at all. Note these two characteristics: either the covenant upgrades, or it is unconditional. So, if a covenant "ends", it is because it is replaced by a better one. If unconditional, the covenant keeps on going. Forever. So, then: wouldn't Hell be the most extreme of them? Keeping on going, absent the "contingency" of repentance (faith in Christ)? Upon which contingency, the Hell "covenant" is replaced by salvation -- so their bodies are changed, and they go to "our" Universe?

For we notice that each Fall was a horrific thing, shattering the creatures who sinned (angels, the Eden couple). So, it was a bona fide warning to give: dying, you shall die. Scripture doesn't record whether the salvation plan was communicated to them prior to the Fall, but even if it had been -- the horror of the Fall was itself extreme. Imagine, being plagued with an unquenchable need to be good, which is the very epitome of hell! But of course they did fall, but look: a whole series of replacement covenants is offered throughout history. 'Beginning with, Salvation (which is always the same). And, look: salvation is, due to the Father's Genius, not only a recovery, but way beyond that -- to the status of "sons". For the sake of the FirstBorn, Who paid for it all, both as Creator (Deity), and as the Lamb.

So, then: those who never believe certainly damage themselves even more during this life, for they not only are shattered, but they develop a mature anti-integrity, based on pride. So, then: wouldn't it be consistent to assume that Hell has a contingency plan, too? If perfection had one, if imperfection had many, how much more would Hell be likely to have one? So, just as now, they CAN believe to be saved? Whether they will ever say "yes", even there, seems unlikely (more on this, below) -- but from the standpoint of God's Design, especially since the Christ Paid For Everyone -- Hell must have a contingency plan, and salvation must still be yes-able, especially since they still have souls, and thus free will. [While perhaps the ancient Christian belief in praying for the dead has its roots in an understanding that folks in Hell CAN get out, the Bible very clearly teaches that one can't pray for the dead, and the dead can't pray for the living: principle is in 1Jn5:15-16. The person has to change his own mind, and no one else can pray for that. God never coerces volition.]

Let's examine these premises for supporting data. God's Love is Eternal, just as are all of His Attributes. So, it's not as though the Love of God could fail (play on Romans 9:6, plus "love never fails" in 1Cor13). Those in the Lake rejected HIM. He never did, and never will, reject them. After all, if we find the Lake of Fire abhorrent, how much more, Does GOD? For all eternity past, all eternity now, all eternity future -- was there ever a moment when God hid this awful knowledge from Himself? How can He stand it? LOVE found a way. As we saw from the "Judgment Paradox", above, Love for Righteousness enables Him to 'stand' punishing them for as long as it takes to motivate them to change their minds ('repent', in English Bibles). That punishment is their only protection, their only link to sanity, their only "help" to counterbalance the hardened hatred -- and give them "a way of escape", as Paul puts it. (1Cor10:13 is on believer testing. Its underlying principle, though, is: God always gives a "way of escape". In fact, there's a whole set of systems for "escape", revealed from Gen1:1-end Rev. Gal5:1 is the justification -- even for unbelievers.)

See the Love of God? All these folks have to do is admit they are wrong, just as the Eden couple finally did in Part II. Why? Because it's TRUE, and an admittance of Truth is a positive expression TO truth. That is their sanity link, which keeps on being provided, via the pain. Just as belief in Christ is ALWAYS preceded by a change-of-mind about one's innocence, so also these folks can "turn and be healed." GOD NEVER REJECTS THEM. HE KEEPS PLEADING, as it were, in the only language they will understand: pain. Apparently, although they remain free forever, they will never choose to change their minds and admit guilt, despite the never-ending 'escape route' God provides via such burning punishment.

PRINCIPLE: PAIN TEACHES RESPECT. The only language arrogance understands, is pain. This, because "arrogance" is unrealistic thinking, a 'germ' of insanity, which we saw from Part II is the heart of "the original sin" (unrealistic desire for a "better good"). So, arrogance is at the core of the consequent "total depravity" effected on the brain. So, then: in the child, ignorance leads to arrogance; so the parent spanks him, teaching him that pain goes with the thing he did. So, the 'germ' gets contained, quarantined. Respect replaces it. One 'dot' at a time.

To say God keeps pleading, as it were (á la 2Cor5:20), is NOT to imply that somehow God is maudlin, sentimental, sighing, etc. There is nothing wimpy about Total Love for Total Righteousness. Infinite, in fact. Completely impregnable 'walls'. So there is not even an iota of regret. Justice is served.

Justice is served, but, as we remember from Part I, Justice is only SOLVED by Love. Love loves R and J, as we saw in Part I. But Justice is not SOLVED unless the ones damaged (even though self-inflicted) can be restored. The price of their restoration was Righteousness; Christ paid that price (as we saw in Part II and the "Paradox" table here), so all that remains is for the creature to say "yes". Which, apparently, those in Hell will never 'stoop' to do. Okay, then. As we saw in Part III, God "measures back" to them the vision of 'god' they wanted to relate to -- a vengeful God. So that is the God they get: Matt7:2. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God! (Heb10:31)

God does get satisfaction from punishment, for God gets satisfaction from the execution of Justice, which (as we saw in Part I) is the function-side of Righteousness. It is inherently satisfying to do this. However, in God's Standard, that satisfaction depends on the punishment being PRODUCTIVE. That's why the Cross was structured as it was: both imputation AND judgement of all sins INTO Christ's Body. (The punishment in hell is for not believing in Christ; it is NOT due to sins. Rev 20 makes that clear. Works, not sins, are judged. The works are judged because the good deeds are the unbeliever's reason for not choosing Christ. See how horrible morality's dark side is?)

Christ Himself was born as a child. Christ Himself was perfect. Yet He Himself testifies in Hebrews 5:8-9, that even He learned respect through pain (Greek is a paronomasia, a funny way to state this fact). So to say pain is ipse unfair, is incorrect. Furthermore, it seems Christ Himself in part WANTED to bear sins so He Himself could have satisfaction in seeing them judged: Heb10:5, 5:8-9, 2:9-10,15 are but a few of the verses indicating His Attitude. So, then: God's satisfaction in executing Justice is SO Great that He does not want to look away from the punishment, but rather straight at it. Being Omniscient, He would know that pain infinitely more than all creation's feeling of that pain -- put together.

You'll see this principle of God's Satisfaction in executing Justice expressed in a lot of places in the Bible: like Ps32, 66, practically every chapter in Isaiah, Matt 6 and 7, Heb12, to name a few. The imprecatory prayers and verses were illustrative of believer-recognition of such satisfaction. In other words, punishment is not a sadistic experience, but it is also not one in which the parent cringes, either. One must HONOR THE VICTIM. The punishment must fit the crime. The criminal must hurt the way he hurt the victim. It's RIGHT to punish evil. There is a satisfaction in doing so.

The Father's 'terms of negotiation' have always been the same: believe IN MY SON. No substitutions are acceptable. By now, we've seen why. So, then: forcing them to heaven is neither fair to them, nor to us. Supposing He had forced them, wouldn't their irretrievable hatred make Heaven just as hellish for them, if not worse? Is it fair, to those who did NOT irretrievably reject Him, to live with those who do? Isn't what makes life hellish, to be with those who hate? Does it honor the Beloved, to force to Heaven those who rejected Him?

See, to just punish without regard to whether the punishment is productive for the recipient is not satisfying, for the SOLUTION to the problem which gave rise to the punishment isn't provided BY the punishment. Yet to not punish is also wrong, for someone was victimized. What, then, to do? Well, parents punish their children (ideally) so to TEACH them. The punishment needs to 'match' the wrong, so the child associates the pain the child caused a victim with the pain he himself feels; thus a new bonding of meaning occurs, so that the child can learn not to repeat that action again. Or, in the case of those in hell, so that they can learn to stop the one action which caused them to go to hell in the first place: continual disbelief in Christ.

Thus, this requirement of productivity, that punishment should produce some salutary result in the recipient or in the society, is satisfying but is NOT sadistic. Would that those who want us to negotiate with terrorists would understand this fact: "execute them" is ALONE the right answer. Like the Lord did to Sennacharib's 185,000 troops outside Libnah, back in Hezekiah's day (cf Isa36-37). Annihilate evil, don't negotiate with it. That's not sadism, that's JUSTICE. And yes, it does satisfy. While we are in this world, it is also productive, for those who would repeat the evil are restrained. Why? they only 'understand the language' of punishment; that is why they are evil. They LOVE punishing others. To them, that's power, and that's all they RESPECT. So for them to get a mealy-mouthed reply of "let's talk" is, to them, weakness. Love expressed as mercy is NOT something they respect. But they do respect what they themselves inflict on others. So, they fear punishment; so if they see their fellow-evil-people executed, they will not repeat the actions of their fellows. It's that simple.

Imagine, then, how criminal the minds must be in hell. How is it possible to be so antagonistic to a Righteous, Absolute God that one never ever believes in Christ? Takes an extreme amount of arrogance to never even once say "yes". So, then: hell is the only productive way to communicate to such folks. And the only productive quarantine for those of us in Heaven (who at least did not go that far down in our own negativity). So, Justice is both served and solved by LOVE loving Justice so much it would punish -- even forever -- those who continue to hate the Lamb of God. We should not pity them. Justice is served. And is productive, too: for the pain maximizes their opportunity to change their minds and believe. Even in hell.

For surely, anyone in the Lake hates God. 1Jn reveals that he who does not love God, does not love people, either. Rather, such a person fantasizes that he is in the light, that he is in the truth, that he loves God, that he loves people -- a warning John repeats a dozen times in that epistle. Mental illness is a strange thing: it makes you think you are in the light. Lies seduce one into that false idea, and the foundation of all mental illness, is the lie one tells self. The lie is promiscuous: it multiplies, like a virus. So mental illness 'completes' these people, as evidenced by their unremitting hatred. For if, as Paul said (literally) in 1Cor13:13, "but the greater of these, is Love", how much more true is it, that the greatest of these illnesses, is hatred?

Hatred is cold, smart, calculating, when it reaches its own version of 'fullness'. One 'matures' in hatred gradually -- this is the anti-spiritual life. Hatred has its own genius, its own self-compensation, its own worship. This type of hatred is writ large, for example, in the Hitlerian era, Constantine's era, and 20th-century American segregation culture (until 1970). But, as noted in Part IVc's "MEGA" table, the strongest hatred is evidenced by a lukewarmness, epitomized routinely by the nod-to-God attitude of Sunday church attendance, or the all-religion-is-okay attitude just as prevalent today as during Augustus' reign. Each of these evil thought patterns is, at foundation, insane: that one's happiness is built on rejecting someone/something ELSE. So, Hatred offers its own me-be-god reward, built on denigrating another. Hitler denigrated the Jews, and everyone went along; Constantine's contemporaries (on both sides!) denigrated 'unbelievers', and everyone went along (power, baby); American whites denigrated non-whites, and everyone went along. Worst of all, nod-to-Godders denigrate God, and everyone goes along: after all, God is only worth a nod on Sunday, and lukewarm works-by-ego. In short, hatred, expressed dismissively: THAT's what's 'proper, respectable'.

In Part I, we saw that once Satan rejected God's Love, he never once waivered in that rejection. He, and all who go to hell with him, could have gotten out of the sentence, simply by faith, just as we can. Think about how extremely difficult this is to do: how can one be 100% negative, for a whole lifetime? So, what's left, after so long a recalcitrance? Moreover, what becomes the nature of a person, who so self-programs his very own soul, to forever reject the Love of God?

Well, hatred produces its own version of 'love' -- insanity. Constant torment. Any burning on the inside far outweighs any burning they might have on the outside. It is a kindness, a balance, that burning on the outside. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Morality without love drives folks crazy. How much more, for angels who are easily as big as the 'gods' men imagined them to be, who have maybe been alive for as long as the universe itself?

Do you ever examine their behaviour in the Bible? How they delighted in tormenting people in the Gospels, for example. Did that make sense? Weren't they acting crazy, to ask the Lord to send them out of the naked guy, into the pigs? Granted, that was a smart tactical move, too -- the economy of the place was black market, non-kosher -- but crazy, nonetheless. 'Crazy' doesn't mean no-intelligence. Rather, 'crazy' means the intelligence goes in a crazy direction.

A crazy person has no sense of reality at all. His fantasy life so dominates him, that, as psychiatrists observe sadly, he can stab himself over and over again, yet feel no pain. 'Just like that naked guy, "among the tombs" (who first retreated from reality, before being 'possessed'). Many is the person locked in a strait-jacket, oblivious to his surroundings, so much does his fantasy of life control his every nerve. Some are catatonic; some, talk to themselves; some, chase imaginary insects; some -- well, you get the idea.

Insanity comes in many flavors. However, even the discipline of psychiatry broadly-classifies these flavors into just two: a) will-induced/will-perpetuated, and b) organically-induced/perpetuated. Were it organically-induced, God could justify healing them, and there would be no punishment. However, it's the first category which is in view here. Further, one still HAS free will: free will is inviolable, because it's an attribute of the interminable soul (as we saw from Parts I and II: "T" of "TULIPS?" explains even more on the topic). Therefore, when a person so hardens himself, his hostility to kindness is so great, that any further kindness, or any further punishment, just hardens him further. In such an event, the outsider "hardens" such a person by doing anything -- anything at all. Best to just leave the person alone. Such a person has programmed himself beyond the point of return to truth, to sanity. Lies and insanity are bedfellows. The person has made his own bed (or dug his own grave-pit, in Proverbs), and now LOVES lying down in it.

Pharaoh wasn't really hardened by God -- Pharaoh only accused God, just like the straw man does, in Romans 9:20, the main point of Romans 9. Paul drew the parallel between Pharaoh and the Exodus Generation, between his hardness and theirs, between his hardness and the Jews who rejected Christ -- to show that we do it to ourselves. But, like the straw man, we blame God. So, Paul writes from the accuser's perspective. Just as God did, when saying He "hardened" Pharaoh's heart. (Ex9:35 compared to Ex10:1)

Do you see the insanity, here? Paul makes quite an issue of it, in Romans 9. Witness the accuser, alleging that God has forced him to be the way he is -- ok, following that line of 'logic', shouldn't one make peace with God? If God is arbitrary (and the accuser, like Satan, thinks He is), then why argue? "Who are you, oh man, who talks back to God?"

Never mind that, had the accuser really been stripped of his free will, he'd surely not be able to back-talk God. Oh no, that logic is ignored. Never mind that, had the accuser been rational, he'd conclude "wow, I better make peace with the Big Guy" -- even IF God were arbitrary. Oh no, that logic is ignored, too. Never mind, that it's in the accuser's best interest, to MAKE peace -- for his own comfort. Oh no, that logic is ignored, too.

Why are all of these common-sense thoughts, ignored? Because the accuser doesn't have any sense left -- at all. He's gone mad. So, how do you reason with such a fellow? You can't. All you can do is point out the obvious, that he's becoming a "vessel of destruction". Paul chokes up with grief, by the end of v. 22. ('Demonstrated by a syntactical structure called an "aposiopesis". In the English, "aposiopesis" works like".. ?!" but Greek had no such punctuation, so indicates the grief syntactically. It is designed to show the silliness/horror of the conclusion/statement, just as in English.)

Paul's grief, of course, introduces Romans 9. So, God, too, is saying through Paul's hand, that HE is in perpetual grief, as it were, over every self-programmed crazy, accusing soul. God forever loves them -- He keeps punishing them forever, to motivate them to wake up. After all, they still retain free will. Inviolably. Even though they will never use it to "return".

Pity the English so drily translates it, so the reader isn't alert to this maybe-not-a-parable meaning. "Lazarus" means "God help him!", by the way, so maybe it was a sarcastic nickname for his condition, rather than his real name. Lazarus' "sores" were really the same kind of skin cancers as afflicted Job. Lazarus couldn't move. Lazarus was tossed, as a joke! (not merely "laid") by the housegate which was for the rich man's garbage -- mixed with the garbage. He constantly "desired" food scraps from the rich man's table. Even the dogs licked at his sores. So, we know only the dogs had any love for him (dog saliva has antibiotic properties). Clearly, if this is not a parable, anyone in the neighborhood would know of Lazarus. Gossip flies.

Let's now look at this rich guy. According to the colorful description in the Greek, he was the consummate bon-vivant. Every day he lived it up with his five brothers, clothing himself in winter wool ("purple") and fine (really, costly Egyptian) linen. So we know he was the glad-handing kind of guy who always 'fit in' with his group; loyal to his class, fabulously-wealthy, he lived-for-the-moment, using as his excuse that he should enjoy his father's wealth (v.27's 'my father's house' reveals his excuse-mindset). There Lazarus was, daily, a reminder to pity. But the guy and his family had none. In their defense, one can understand, given the historically-evil prejudice the poor always have against the rich, how that family might have come to reciprocate by hating the poor. (The "rich young ruler" story ties in here to show that mindset.) So, given the guy's pattern-of-thinking in this passage, it seems likely he had come to resent the constant pleading by others to strip his family from their success. So, was unfeeling, with respect to Lazarus. (Nothing is quite so bitter as to see people wheedle you for money; they use tearjerking, guilt-motivating stories -- but really, they just want to use you. Imagine how God would feel, were He not God, given all the wheedling prayers He constantly receives.)

Here he is now, though, a Jewish unbeliever, in the temporary-hell of Hades. Like Abraham, he has his own interim body (between death and resurrection), and so both he and Abraham could see each other (the Hades compartment called "paradise" was emptied at the Ascension, per Eph4:8-10 and its kindred passages). He's now burning-hot, in "constant torment" (not merely "torment", per the English). He can actually SEE Abraham (etc) afar off. There's no doubt about the truth, okay? He's fully aware of the truth, okay? He's burning-hot, okay? So, in this no-illusions-possible-condition, what is the guy thinking about? Is he thinking of God? Does he regret not believing? Does he change his mind ("repent") and believe?

Oh no. Kinda like Esau's teary self-justifying unbelief, the formerly-rich guy tries to negotiate a deal: to get scrap-heap Lazarus to merely dip his finger in some water and cool the guy's tongue. Even in Hades, this guy is thinking just as he did "topside", while living on earth: like King Ahaz in Isa7, this rich guy is too proud to repent. Instead, he prides himself on asking 'only' for that cooling finger of dear ol' Lazarus. After all, if Lazarus could come down there with his finger, won't Lazarus get hot? Won't that so-called 'drop of water' evaporate? See, he doesn't care about the drop of water, he wants VENGEANCE. See how bitterly self-righteous, how vindictive, this guy is? EVEN IN HELL, EVEN WHEN HE CAN STILL THINK -- and repent? Yeah, make Lazarus suffer -- after all, if God is so loving, He won't send even a finger's drop of water? See how he's accusing God, even now?

Ok, but how do we know his 'request' is a mere pretense, a veiled, venomous accusation? Well, if his request were sincere, why isn't he making the request TO GOD? Do you see him even bother to pray? Why not? Or, why not at least ask Abraham to ask God, if the guy is so sincere? Do you see the guy say that? Oh no. God's not mentioned AT ALL. Even though it's God, as he well knows, who 'put' him there. It's God, as he well knows, who caused the "great gulf fixed" between Paradise and Gehenna. Abraham can't do anything about it.

So why doesn't he ask GOD for help? Instead, probably mimicking the constant wheedling he got from the poor topside, he himself now wants to make Abraham and Lazarus feel bad, too. That's more important to him than 'repentance'. Just like a lot of folks in this life up here, who manipulate others via guilt, who ply their own suffering to get others to 'do' for them (or at least feel as miserable), the guy in Gehenna WANTS TO SPREAD HIS MISERY. That is 'happiness' to him. Just as he enjoyed Lazarus' torment topside, so also down here. Only now he wants Abraham to suffer, too. (See how thought-contagions are so vile? This guy got sick, in part, due to reaction -- reaction against all that wheedling from those who would rob his family's wealth. See why learning God, as explained in Part IVc, is so vital to the well-being of others, rather than giving those cups of water which have no ability to help the soul?)

Check it out, see for yourself. Look at what he says: "Father Abraham.." (you owe me, buddy, I'm one of your sons). Notice how the request is about Lazarus, but he doesn't deign to talk to Lazarus directly. OH no. Instead, notice how he asks Abraham to order Lazarus to do something painful. As if either Abraham or Lazarus owed the guy something. As if it were right for Abraham to order Lazarus to do a painful thing. (This is the selfsame argument the so-called helpers-of-the-poor make, to justify tax-the-rich legislation, or to justify guilt-pitches to the rich for 'charity', as if it can only be the 'fault' of the rich, that there are poor.)

Worse, 'as if Abraham, were God! (See how the guy thinks of God as a tyrant, projecting that role onto Abraham? But who is the tyrant, hmmm?) He shows again he STILL wants Lazarus to suffer. Underneath the honeyed, teary request, he's seething with hatred: what, you rich Paradise people, you won't have pity on me enough to give me a drop of water? See the venom, masked in the self-righteous sneer of such a 'small' request? He's baiting them. With tears.

Abraham knows this right away. For look at how Abraham replies: "Child.." followed by what is a rather matter-of-fact, almost cold, reply that Abraham can do nothing. Which, obviously, the guy already knows, since he's constantly seen Abraham et alia since he arrived in Gehenna. So, we know the guy's using the request to bait Abraham and accuse God, since he himself already knows that Abraham can do nothing. So, we know he would rather be smug about his martyrdom (his fantasy) than admit maybe he was wrong to reject, for his entire lifetime, Adonai Elohenu. So, we know the guy's 'request' of dear ol' Father Abraham -- who he never took the time to emulate, topside -- is maliciously intended.

Worse: look at what the guy next says. He switches tactics, having failed to excite guilt in Abraham. He again shows venom, but in a new way. Well, then, Abraham, YOU send (again, Abraham is cast in the role of a tyrannical God) Lazarus topside, to warn my brothers. Yeah, such love. No wonder Abraham's reply had little official pity in it. Abraham's no fool: they've (lit., keep on having) the Law and the Prophets, Abraham reminded him -- that's enough.

Why is Abraham's reply so cold? Well, look: the guy's disputing Abraham, whom he just called "Father"! So, how deep was his supposed respect of Abraham? ZERO. And, how does the guy dispute his acclaimed "Father"? Well, wasn't it Abraham, who believed God (Gen15:6)? If this guy loved his family as much as he claims in verse 27, then why didn't he respect the FATHER OF FATHERS, Abraham, and likewise believe? 'Though he himself had full access to that very "Law and the Prophets"? Why didn't he or his family (the brothers) even bother to once feed poor ol' Lazarus, which Abraham would have done? Yeah, he loves, alright. Poor Lazarus, naked, in the household garbage, "constantly desired" (Greek; English "desired" is inaccurate) scraps of food from the table. So, if he was so cruel to Lazarus, and his family with him, then how much do you think he really cares about ol' Lazarus now? How much would they, if Lazarus returned?

Look deeper: when the guy says that if Lazarus came back from the dead and went to the guy's five brothers, they would be spared the torment, he's really saying that his own idea is better than God's! Again, self-righteousness exudes from every word the guy says: even in hell. He's so absorbed with his own high opinion of himself, he can't think of anything else. See how he maligns the Word? Even in hell? Oh, no -- Moses and the Prophets aren't enough! Need to see some guy come back from the dead! That's better? It is, to this self-righteous, insane guy. See -- God is meaningless to him -- even in hell. Even in hell he clings to his own self-righteousness, in PREFERENCE to God's.

No wonder Abraham replied as he did. No wonder 'hell' is a quarantine. No wonder the Lord tells this story, too -- for He is still on earth. Lazarus doesn't have to return, and the guy's five brothers are warned, after all: by the Lord Himself. [Don't you think word of this story would spread to them, if it's NOT a parable? Isn't God's Love for the rich man, despite his hypocrisy, shown? For He honors the man's superficial request to Abraham.]

Note how, even in hell, the guy STILL accuses God. Note how he still wants Lazarus to suffer -- either by travelling to hell, or being forced back to the 'hell' of life on this earth. Vengeance and self-righteousness are mated, in his thoughts. So, for him to have such thoughts -- how much is he really sensing the burning? Not as much as he senses his own pride, God help us all!

Having made himself nuts, the accuser's only useful value, to himself or anyone else, is as an "FTX" for those who are not so far gone. In the military, an "FTX" is a "field training exercise". Often, some of the troops will divide up into opposing 'forces' -- viz., in the movie, "The Dirty Dozen". There, they 'fight' each other, so to gain training experience for real combat, in a real war.

The real war, is against our limitations, and against our irrational, totally-depraved urge to make fig leaves -- to "be good", rather than to be with God. The 'enemy', like the accuser, is used to train us, even inoculate us (like allergy shots do) against becoming like him. So, the accuser gets more time, like Pharaoh did, like Satan does -- to change his mind. He won't, but technically he can. Meanwhile, whether he does or not, we can still learn by 'training on' such a person. It's Grace, LOVE -- all the way, for all parties affected.

We've seen from Parts I-IV, and especially the "Fall" section of Part II, that this be-good brain-impulse is the congenital result of sin. So there is absolutely NOTHING good about it. Satan acquired it by sinning originally; so did Adam, the woman -- we are born with it. But in all events, the effect is the same. What once was a natural desire to be with God, is replaced: the desire mutates, due to the sin cancer, and becomes an overwhelming desire to be 'good'. "God" gets 'improved on', with an added 'o', for 'opposition'; such an insane mutation undergirds our every corpuscle.

Morality, then, for such a trapped person, is like the hamster's wheel. Like the hamster, we who've sinned go round, and round, and round, and round -- insanely thinking we're actually going somewhere. We think that by feeding the world, they will be happy, and God will reward us for so doing. We Christians proselytize Satan's do-goodism constantly, forgetting that the soul, not the body, is what really needs saving; forgetting that absent truth IN the soul, the body will always BE hungry (cf. Matt4:3-4). Only God can get us out of our irrational urge to substitute the body for the soul, to substitute human morality for Divine Truth.

Satan does know he's trapped. However, instead of waking up, and believing IN Him, which requires NO work (however handicapped one is, for God insures free will) -- Satan insists on blaming God for what Satan himself -- DID to himself. He likes the hamster wheel. He likes the grave-pit. He likes the bed he's made for himself, and would like it even more if everyone joined him. In fact, he's crazy about it. Morality without love is like that: me-be-god, me-be-good! Over and Over and Over. Just like the rich guy in Gehenna.

Immorality is thus no different from morality, absent Love. That's the paradox: the greatest immorality is to reject love. What immoral person loves? Is it love, to murder? Is it love, to rape? Is it love, to tyrannize? Of course not. Neither is it moral. So, morality, when divorced from love -- and NO one can love until he learns God, says 1Jn, repeatedly -- morality divorced from love is immoral. Why? Because it rejects Love, which is immoral. All the rightness in the world becomes hate. [Ergo 'Christian' morality today, with its insane hatefulness, in the name of 'good' -- is repulsive. So, unbelievers remain unbelievers. So, they 'reciprocate' the hatred, and thus reject Christ. Granted, we are used as an excuse for their rejection, for they hate Christ anyway: in preference to their OWN morality, their own 'good'. So, hatred multiplies.]

So, inexorably, the moral person shrivels up, driving himself crazy all the while. In the beginning, he obeys and obeys and obeys. Sooner or later, he wants to get paid for all that obedience -- especially, from God. Pay, not love. See? Not being paid what he thinks he should be paid for his self-determined 'services', he becomes bitter. He becomes jaded. He becomes depressed. He becomes vindictive. He becomes, in a word: immoral. He won't see it -- but everyone else will.

For mental illness is blind to itself. It thinks it is in the light, 1John 1:6-10. That's how the the idiots who murdered other Christians thought, in Constantine's day, throughout most of the European 'reign' of the Roman Catholic Church; how most prolifers think, in their cruel crusades and condoning of violence and legal tyranny, in the name of 'good'. Which is no good, since God would be a sadist if ever a soul were in a womb. So if we Christians can become so hardened all our lives, dying the sin unto death 1Jn5:16 -- how much more will the unbeliever choose to remain hardened, since he never even believed in Christ, to start with? Volition programs the soul. That is why eventually the human race must come to an end, too much anti-God programming eventually overwhelms the biology of successive generations. How much more, will that programming permanize negativity in the unbeliever? See, it's a lot worse to disbelieve God, to not learn Him, than we Christians relate. We get our rocks off fantasizing that people we don't like will be punished (showing our own anti-God hatred, projected on to God). But the truth is far worse. God is not compensated by hell. Those in hell CONSIDER THEMSELVES compensated by it. Fearful thing, to be negative to God!

So, those who end up in the Lake, continue to be willfully crazy. They Can Get Out! But likely never will believe in Him, and thus escape. But the Love of God doesn't reject them -- rather, they keep on rejecting Him, and that's 'heaven' to them, in preference to the real heaven. To them, their hatred of Him is heavenly. To them, they are the victims, the martyrs, the winners unfairly spurned. So, God is Infinitely Loving, Kind, even here -- for they are so consumed by their hatred of God, they live in fantasy, morally running the same me-be-god tapes, over and over and over. Absent this punishment, this condemnation, they would have no escape from their self-programming. For it's never about anything but LOVE, and "Love never fails", 1Cor13:4ff -- so, even God's 'condemnation' is forever a blessing, just as it was when God kicked the Eden couple out of the Garden, blocking the way to the Tree of Life. God's Love is consistent, never 'constrained' by His Other Attributes, but by Sovereign Choice, wholly free from influence. He will never change His Mind, neither at the original fall of angels and man, nor in eternity future, when the Lake of Fire remains -- by Sovereign Will over all His Own Attributes, He remains faithful, 1Tim2:13.

What do we do, with all of this information? Shall we discount it entirely, buy it blindly, shudder with fear, run away, drown ourselves in the same ol' life we've lived until now?

Perhaps 'the biggest lesson is: don't divorce God from your life. Don't pretend you are in the Light. Test the self: how well do you really know God -- personally? We start out as spiritual babies. We don't know love. We first have to learn right/wrong, to develop that frame of reference to appreciate God.

It's the right/wrong learning which is so dangerous, since Satan wants to hijack us. If we drift off-course (James 1:6), obsessing over right/wrong, rather than awakening to an appreciation of GRACE, we will never learn Love. We will be too busy hustling, too busy fearing, too busy judging others. 'Just like the ignorant workaholics to whom James wrote. To them, works was a substitute for Doctrine: James 2:18 ("faith" in the Bible usually means what-is-believed; so, means "doctrine"). Of course, today's childish workaholics always ignore that context, when piously quoting "faith without works is dead." For, they are in the Light, baby. God forbid that anyone should tell them otherwise. God forbid that anyone should suggest that it's kinda hard to do good works if you don't first, over a long time! know God as well as Abraham did. Oh well. James DID try to explain it.

We can't afford to go Satan's route, playing in our fantasy-works sandboxes forever, can we? The cost -- distance from Christ in eternity -- is too high. Imagine, hustling down here, thinking "salvation" ONLY meant avoiding Hell -- but to regretfully discover, "I could have had so much more!!" Better to be in Hell, forever, than to know the awesome grief-stricken horror, that avoidable! so-small salvation. God is kind, though: you will only suffer maximally during (some or all of) the Bema. Then, like Charly, you will become your limited, hustling, self. Truly Happy, but -- oh well. Is that what you want out of Heaven? More importantly, is that how you want to honor Him? Naked? In grief? An Epsilon, when you could have been an Alpha? I bet 'not'! It's surely not how the Father wants you to Honor Him. Ephesians 1 says it all: "every spiritual blessing". Not fake-humility, eyes-half-mast, Uriah-Heep-type garbage. Your choice.

Morality, which childishly imitates God's Integrity, Cannot Develop Into Good, if unmarried to Love. Morality is a sort of tricycle on which even the unbeliever can 'ride' through life with rudimentary happiness. Morality is not spirituality. It's for CHILDREN. That's why morality is more dangerous than 'gross' sin. The latter, at least, provokes a remorse, which provokes looking for Grace, which provokes appreciation of Grace. Love has a better chance to flourish, among those not tied up in moral crusading.

Moral crusaders are the most vulnerable, because morality is a type of prosperity (by nature). So, they are lulled to sleep by what they 'can' do. They fail the prosperity test the Lord passed in Matt4. The only antidote is really learning Bible Doctrine. For, as one learns, he comes to see that works count for squat. Morality is utter trash, compared to His Righteousness. But, happily -- it doesn't matter, for we are "accepted in the Beloved". Grace then is appreciated, and Love begins.

Paul, when he was Saul, almost missed that turning point. He was such a moral crusader, the Lord had to blind him on the Damascus Road -- so Saul could finally 'see'. Thus he became Paul ("small", in Greek); just as he had been the worst sinner who ever lived, owing to his moral degeneracy, so also he became (maybe) the greatest believer who ever lived, owing to the Grace turnaround -- into LOVE.

Morality divorced from love leads more quickly to mental illness than any other cause. We Christians, we don't escape the mental illness that the unbeliever will eventually suffer. Oh no -- we can go crazy sooner. Granted, we don't end up in the Lake, and whatever self-imposed insanity we produce, is burned out of us at the moment-of-death, but -- who wants to live down here like that? Like the writer of Hebrews warned, in Heb 2:1, who of us can afford to neglect our so-great salvation? Yet, that is what we WILL do, if we don't learn love, and instead keep on mistaking morality for the spiritual life, divorcing it from the 1st Commandment. Leviticus 26 and Deut28:28 are still within the "law of Christ".