Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Auth User
Company: GDC

© 2005 Joe Griffin		05-08-25.CC02-490 /

System Testing: Thieme’s Christian Suffering: Testing under Unfair & Unjust Authority: Quit or Cope but Never React & Remain in Fellowship

(61)	System Testing.
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Christian Suffering.  3d ed.  (Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 2002), 119:
A system is an organization composed of people under the authority of other people, which functions according to a policy designed to fulfill a specific objective.  Human society is a web of systems.  Every individual belongs to many of these organizations, formal and informal.  All of these are characterized by: (1) personnel under authority, (2) the objectives of the organization, and (3) policy of the management.
(62)	From his chapter “Momentum Testing,” Colonel Thieme does a masterful job of defining systems and the problems they present.  In the context of the devil’s world there are good and bad systems and how the believer functions in each is a means of personal testimony to everyone in the organization.
(63)	Several insightful observations are noted in Christian Suffering under the subtitle “System Testing” and are worthy of comment and application:
1.	The personnel—in authority and under authority—may be accomplished or incompetent.  Objectives may be legitimate or dubious, lucid or ill-defined.  Policy may encourage people to excel or may oppress them.  (p. 119)
	The believer must orient to the reality that men are fallen and getting worse which is in opposition to the Progressive illusion that man is evolving and getting better.
	Solomon had a sinful nature and having allowed its passions and desires to be assuaged unrestrained he became a royal rake.  The Shulammite understood this and was thus challenged to deal with him in fellowship.
2.	With so many sin natures jostling against one another and expressing themselves day after day, no wonder system testing is an inescapable form of suffering that poses a major challenge to the Christian’s spiritual advance.  (p. 119)
	The issue before the believer is to maintain the stability of his own spiritual life while complying with the directives of superiors but to do so without compromising his integrity.
	If you discern that a superior’s directive is motivated by human viewpoint keep in mind that this policy did not originate from your own free will but that of the superior.  Your obligation is to carry out duly instituted policy.  Management of another’s motivation is God’s job.  Yours is to perform the task.
3.	Two courses of action usually are open to the believer when confronted with system testing.  He can quit or he can cope with the pressure.  Certainly there are times to separate oneself from an organization.  If a system’s objectives or policies are clearly evil, the believer should disassociate himself from it.  (p. 120)
	The Shulammite did not intend to compromise with Solomon.  Solomon’s intents are self-centered motivated by sexual lust.  His objective is evil in the sense that he intends to use his authority to manipulate an innocent woman into an intractable situation where he can satisfy his carnal cravings. 
	The Shulammite’s circumstance does not allow her to quit but neither is she willing to cope.  This requires her to utilize her inventory of doctrinal assets to bear the testing while remaining confident that the Lord will deliver her from the problem.
4.	Separation is required in extreme cases, but quitting because of pressure is often a poor decision from a position of weakness.  (p. 120)
Proverbs 24:10 -	If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!
	The Shulammite’s strength is capable of dealing with Solomon.  But at some point she will either have to submit to his advances or openly reject the authority of the king.  This requires divine intervention but confidence in such deliverance requires patience on the part of the Shulammite.
5.	Spiritual autonomy gives the Christian the power to put the problem in the Lord’s hands and continue to function without an arrogant reaction.  Bitterness, implacability, self-pity, hatred, jealousy, and revenge do not need to control the believer’s life simply because problems exist in a system to which he belongs.  (p. 121)
	Believers are not permitted to manage system testing from the source of mental attitude sins.  The unfortunate fact is that few Christians know what to do instead.  When wronged, mismanaged, asked to function under questionable policies, or forced to submit to unjust authority they react and become a sower of discord within the organization.  Others are recruited into his way of thinking and cliques are formed and sedition is afoot.
6.	By remembering the component parts of spiritual autonomy, the believer discovers the assets he needs in facing system testing.  Spiritual autonomy is (1) (unconditional) love for all mankind and (2) strengthened spiritual self-esteem derived from (3) personal love for God, which is the result of (4) Bible doctrine in the soul.  (p. 121)
	What I am about to say is not designed to embarrass or belittle anyone but simply to make an obvious point: if you ever have to ask anyone else what the Bible says about an exigency that concerns you then you are not spiritually autonomous.  Autonomy means independent and self-governing.
	Autonomy is reached by the acquisition of the tandem problem-solving devices of personal love for God and unconditional love for man.
	Personal love for God is a motivational virtue which is extremely useful within a system that is unfair and unjust, a point amplified by Paul in:
Colossians 3:22 -		Employees, submit to the authority of your employers, not with eyeservice [ Ñfqalmodoul…a, ophthalmodoulia: work performed only when in the presence of authority ], as pleasers of men [ ¢nqrwp£reskoj, anthrōpareskos: wrong motivation ], but with sincerity of heart [ ¡plÒthj kard…a, haplotēs kardia: absent ulterior motives and without deceit but rather faithful from the source of right motivation  from the stream of consciousness ], fearing [  fobšomai,  phobeomai: out of respect for ] the Lord.
v. 23 -	Whatever you do, keep doing your work heartily [ ablative of source of yuc», psuchē: from the source of the soul ], as for the Lord rather than for man;
v. 24 -	knowing that from the source of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance [ escrow blessings ].  It is the Lord Christ Whom you serve [ aoristic present active indicative of the verb douleÚw, douleuō: to willingly obey in voluntary service ].

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