23.2 God Is One
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5a).
Our warfare is to remove all that prevents the knowledge of God as He is. That removal has two parts, a positive and a negative. The negative is to shatter the image of the serpent as what God looks like and the positive is to establish ourselves inside of a fully successful Christian church walking this earth as what God looks like. And in so doing, something else happens: the curse vanishes from the human experience.
Spiritual Armor
Paul, of course, laid out a list of our “spiritual armor.” We will look at these things in the next lesson, but let’s put it in front of us now that we might see God’s connections.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And having taken up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:13-18).
Our First Weapon
The truth is, no teaching on these things that I have heard ever did anything for me, for two reasons. First, the view of “putting on this armor” was simply childish. And second, we had no knowledge of our union with Christ. Every one of these things is found entirely and only inside of Put on the Lord Jesus Christ as I have taught you to do.
Instead, I want to approach our weapons in an entirely different way. As we do that, I am convinced that we will see Paul’s list inside of this different approach. Our first weapon is God and our covenant with Him. There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him – For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things (1 Corinthians 8:6 & Romans 11:36).
Pass Me the Steak
This mightiest of all weapons is found in our eyes.
Consider the setting in 1 Corinthians 8. Pagans butchered their meat at the altar of their gods. As they did that, they spoke incantations, etc., sprinkling the blood on demon altars, etc., and all the nasty stuff that attends satanic worship. Then they fried their steaks or barbecued their pork – or sold the meat cuts to their Christian neighbors next door.
James said, “NO! It is ungodly to eat meat offered to idols.” Paul said, “Pass me another steak, and the salt as well.”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. What does this mean?
Defining “IS”
There is only God. Everything that IS exists only inside of Him. But we must define “IS,” or, as Paul said, “All things.” You see, our task as sons of God is to call what IS out into appearance, and to cause what AIN’T to vanish away.
A demon IS an angel sustained by the good speaking of Christ; a demon’s words AIN’T nothing but nonsense, sounds without meaning.
There are no other gods. Fallen angels are not nearly as meaningful as their non-words suggest. It is the human mind that believes, human faith, that turns what ain’t into a false “is.” Satan is not a god, nor Buddha, nor Krishna, nor Allah (as something other than the Arab form of “El,” their word for “God.”)
Individual Humans ARE
So, if there is no separate “god” called “Allah,” that means there can be no Muslims. If Satan is not a god, there can be no Satanists. If the United States of America is not a god, there can be no Americans.
Do you know what is? Humans are, individual humans, and each one belongs only to Jesus, the One who sustains that one every moment by His intentional good speaking into that one. A man or a woman and God. A man or a woman of Him and through Him and to Him.
There is no contest between God and Satan “vying” over human souls. How ridiculously absurd. Yes, Satan is a danger – but only to those who believe his muttering nonsense.
Sin AIN’T
Does sin exist as something that IS? No, it does not. Therefore, no sin can be of Him or to Him or through Him.
What is a sin? A sin is a momentary action. Before the action, the sin is not. After the action, the sin, again, is not. Yes, in the moment of its action, the sin is vile beyond comprehension – BUT – One sacrifice for sins forever – for He is the propitiation not only for our sins, but for the sins of the entire cosmos. And yes, that is a terrible transaction; however, we are not looking at the absolute of propitiation, but at the vanished sin. It does not exist. Sin and its actions AIN’T.
Only One Appearance
Sin ain’t. The words of demons ain’t. The claims of “other gods” ain’t.
In Symmorphy I: Purpose, we saw that there are four kinds of appearance. Appearance (1) as God intends, (2) as marred by sin and rebellion, (3) as reduced and muddled by the limitation of human seeing, and (4) that is only imagination. Only one of these appearances is real – and that is, this one individual person in front of you – of God and to God and through God. And the interconnection of these two – that is, the present work of God in this one person’s heart. And it is just one – there are no groups.
Defining Injustice
You see, the removal of all that AIN’T happens, not outwardly, for how can what does not exist disappear? Rather, it happens in the sight of the eyes.
Let me define injustice. Injustice is the wrongful action of one person against one other person. There are no groups. The term “racism” is a distortion of meaning; racism does not exist. One person is hurting one other person for self-gain, whatever the justification. Governments and nations do not exist either; those “things” are simply false constructs imaged in the mind of each individual person. They are “things” without any actual reality. In every case, one person is relating with one other person.
One Against One
When you are imprisoned for the sake of Christ, that person putting those chains on your wrists is NOT “the government.” He or she is simply one person willing to do evil against one other person by the persuasion of meaningless words regarding the claims of one other person who happens to sign their paycheck, one other person also caught in a web of delusion everyone calls “the government.” And when that person tortures you, he is not torturing you because the “government” told him to extract information from you as a terrorist, but rather because he has personally chosen to commit actions of injustice against you. All the justification and rationale for committing such actions is false. It is a willful sin of one against the other.
The Work of God
Every soldier will meet every person he has murdered face to face and will bear, in that moment, his own sin as his alone. “Obeying orders” has no meaning.
So here is a man wearing government issued clothing and deluding himself that he represents “the government,” something that has no actual existence. This man is torturing you as a Christian because he wills to do it of himself. There are three things that ARE in that room, you, this man, and God. And there is one thing only that has meaning, the work of God in the heart of this man. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained (John 20:23).
In Father’s Heart
I have attempted to present this picture as a means to graphically illustrate this most important of weapons we possess – the power to turn the actions of sin against us into what AIN’T. Yet this human point of view is only our initial reference, for we live only in Father’s Heart, and Father’s Heart now comes through us.
We will look more at the power to forgive in the next lesson, as the riches of Christ replace all consciousness of sins. There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live (1 Corinthians 8:6).
We FOR Father
It is this line “We for Father,” that is our mightiest weapon. And we understand this line entirely inside of symmorphy.
We for Father means Father and us together. We are for Father’s determination. We are Father’s hands and heart; His Body. By us, Father passes from being unknown into known. We for Father is that which has appeared NOT, becoming the only thing that IS.
I presented the scene of being tortured in prison for the sake of God revealing Himself through us on this earth once again. But that scene can be restrictive by its horror. Let’s broaden that to include all instances of offense by any and each individual against us or against any other.
Symmorphy
Our symmorphy with Father expressed as the Kingdom of God upon this earth means that we walk with no consciousness of sins towards each individual person in their offense against us and against others. In other words, we KNOW only what Father knows and we do NOT know what Father does not know.
Now – when we say that God does not “know” sin, we are speaking of God in His being. God is certainly aware of sinful actions and the harm and grief they bring into the lives of those who commit the injustice and those who suffer under the injustice. No consciousness of sins does NOT mean covering up sin.
Overcome Evil with God
The goodness of God leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). The action of compassion coming out from no consciousness of sins, that is God, is the greatest weapon that exists against the continuance of sin. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head (Romans 12:20).
The problem with the Christian practice of these things has been that Christian “pacifism” was not an action of symmorphy; God through them was not in their minds. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). The same weapon – overcome evil with God.
We Do Good
And thus, as we dwell utterly inside our Covenant Bond with Father by which He and us walk and live as one Pperson together, our only concern is what Father is doing inside the heart of this one individual. This singularity of heart and vision is our weapon of power.
We do good, that is, we do God, in response to each person. And God and us together have one concern – the heart of this one, how we can serve the winning of this heart to Christ.
This is why it is so important for us to practice no consciousness of sins, but only compassion, towards ourselves first and each other second, that is, to practice God. And this same One God the Father will be known by all.
Defeating ALL Evil
I must insert this suggestion. Please watch the movie, The Railway Man with Colin Firth. This is an incredible story that will leave you in tears with a deepened sense of what I am teaching in this lesson. You will see how all sin is only one against one. You will see how terrible is the action of forgiveness and how deeply rich is its fruit. This is, in fact, a true story.
Our action of no consciousness of sins is rooted in Gethsemane and the cross; it is no light thing. Yet by that power, Father and us together defeat all evil, that is all sinful actions.
Overcome evil with good.