Title: 13
Author: JOEG
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© 2001 Joe Griffin	                                   ▼                        01-10-11.JSH-554 /

The Inscrutable Question: Summary of the Sophisticated Spiritual Life: End Result of the Biblical Renovation of Thought, Rom 12:2; Disloyalty to Truth
		17)	The major biblical illustration for evidence testing regarding life and circumstances is found in the first two chapters of Job, which we have recently noted.
		18)	The believer who advances to spiritual maturity, learns enough doctrine to become spiritually invincible, and consistently deploys the problem-solving device of occupation with Christ, will become a key witness for the Prosecution in the appeal trial of Satan. 
		19)	God the Father permits Lucifer to cross-examine this believer who by application of the Word of God will glorify God, His Word, and His Son to the maximum.
		20)	Being placed before the divine courtroom as a witness for the Prosecution enables this believer to provide evidence that the Word of God in the soul of any believer willing to utilize his spiritual assets in a double-column advance all the way to pl»rwma status will overcome any circumstance, challenge, or temptation offered by Lucifer, his fallen world, or the sinful nature.
		21)	This results in maximum glorification of God and results in escrow blessing in time which will be parlayed into escrow blessings in eternity.
		22)	The full meaning of “maximum glorification of God” will be developed over the course of our study on the subject of glory.
 III.	Summary of the Sophisticated Spiritual Life:
1-	The English word “sophisticated” has the perfect definition for the level of spiritual growth attained and executed by the adult believer:
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, s.v. “sophisticated”:
Not in an original state.  Deprived of original simplicity.  Highly complicated or developed.  Implies refinement and cultivation.  Sophistication: the process or result of becoming more complex, developed, or subtle.
2-	The English word is taken from the Greek noun sof…a /Sophia / which has several antithetical definitions.  The ones just mentioned are the ones applicable to our study of the sophisticated spiritual life.
3-	Sophia is a noun derived from an adjective and always denotes a quality rather than an activity.  Thus the definition we utilize emphasizes the successful acquisition of unusual knowledge rather than ability.
4-	Originally the word group emphasized expertise in the magical arts, skill or ability involving a craft or trade, cleverness and cunning; and finally, academic knowledge.
5-	One’s knowledge of the Word of God provides understanding of the system which God has ordained for the successful execution of His plan.
6-	The man who understands God’s plan is at harmony with God’s system and therefore uniquely equipped to execute that plan.  His inventory of divine thought enables him to apply biblical principles to life regardless of his circumstances.
7-	Therefore, we conclude that what one knows is an absolute quality.  What one does with that knowledge is relative.  For example, an adult believer may know the proper doctrine to use under a given set of circumstances and then apply it.  This produces divine good.
8-	However, when an adult believer knows the proper doctrine to use and fails to apply it and instead opts for some “energy of the flesh” solution, he produces human good.
9-	Consequently, what he knows is an absolute while what he does is relative.
10-	From the Greek word sophia came the derivative:
sofist»j / sophistes / -	The master of one’s craft, adept, expert, wise, prudent, a sage.
This adjective describes the person who has been changed by knowledge.  
11-	Therefore, the sophisticated believer is a person whose behavior patters, character traits, and lifestyle have been changed by the cognition of biblical truth.
12-	These personality changes are the result of thought, not activity; of divine power not human energy, of wheel-tracks of righteousness not wheel-tracks of wickedness.
13-	Thus the sophisticated spiritual life describes the altered life of a believer who has renovated his soul by means of the mentorship of the Holy Spirit and the consistent inculcation of the Word of God.
14-	The key to this advance is the habitual use of the three spiritual skills.  As an adult believer he has become a master of his craft which is an advanced student under the teachings of the Holy Spirit.
15-	This advance to the sophisticated spiritual life is the result of fulfilling the mandate found in:
Romans 12:2 -	Stop being molded to this age but be transformed by the renovation of your thought, that you may prove what the will of God is, namely, the good [ the plan of God ], the well-pleasing [ the sophisticated spiritual life ], and the complete [ resurrection body ].
16-	The sophisticated believer remains calm under pressure and always allows thought to precede action and doctrine to motivate service.  The result is divine good which cannot be produced efficiently or consistently until one realizes his personal sense of destiny.
17-	The sophistication of the adult spiritual life allows the believer to go on the offensive in the Invisible War.  Going on the offensive is the ability to think doctrine under pressure rather than react to circumstances and become involved in human viewpoint, human good, and energy of the flesh activities.
18-	Going on the offensive requires the verbalization of truth under certain circumstances.  Wisdom advises the time and the place.  Once expressed, doctrine provides the courage to take a stand behind the principles expressed.
	19-	In the wake of our recent ambush a couple of well-known theologians proffered a biblical explanation for its root cause.  Their analysis was substantially accurate but under pressure they recanted.  This is a clear example of disloyalty to truth under pressure and its impact is described by the Latin proverb: corruptio optimi pessima: corruption of the best is the worst of all.
	20-	These two pastors have positioned themselves as spokesmen for Protestant theology in America.  Having taken on the weight of that obligation their duty is to reflect the glory of its teachings without compromise.
	21-	To do so in the agreeable environment of their own studios was easy.  But when the poohbahs of the secular left got wind that these pastors had indicted the behavior of their anointed groups as the root cause for divine judgment upon America, they demanded an apology.
	22-	The disgraceful, disloyal, and dishonorable result is that these two men did so.  Consequently, those who diligently teach the Word of God and its doctrine of divine judgment upon degenerate client nations are discredited by association.
	23-	Pastors, whose duty before God is to teach truth and teach it without compromise at this critical moment in our nation’s history, are thus identified with those whom they did not choose as their spokesmen and consequently their message is muzzled by the heathen’s designated moniker of the “radical religious right.”
	24-	Nevertheless, we are obligated to convey the truth to any who provides the opportunity for us to verbalize an explanation.

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