PREFACE
WE ABSOLUTELY MUST UTILIZE the SOUND MIND of CHRIST to UNDERSTAND and APPLY the WORKINGS of the SPIRITUAL SUPERNATURAL KINGDOM of GOD to OUR DAILY LIVES!
I cannot emphasize this enough!!! This is a MUST!!! The mind that you and I was born and educated with according to the teachings of the humanistic secular world is NOT capable of comprehending the spiritual supernatural nature of God and the Kingdom of God! Only through daily praying to God seeking the “sound mind of Christ,” can you and I be able to discern and prepare for what God is doing BOTH physically and spiritually in the world before Christ’s Second Coming.
You may think that I am a “broken” record because in all of my writings, I am continually encouraging you to be seeking this spiritually supernatural “sound mind of Christ.” Without the spiritually supernatural “sound mind of Christ,” you cannot know to the full extent God, the mysteries of God, and His truths that He wants to reveal to His Saints through his Word by His Spirit! You cannot know what God is doing in your worship and service to Him in His spiritual supernatural Kingdom here on earth NOW without the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ!” Without God blessing you with the spiritually supernatural “sound mind of Christ,” your mindset is NOT complete! There are many testimonies including my own that easily reveal the difference in our thinking BEFORE and AFTER we started to pray and seek the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ.” IF you are NOT seeking the “sound mind of Christ,” and continue to use your secularly trained mind, I can guarantee you that you are NOT receiving from God ALL that He desires to reveal to you. Let me share the personal testimony of our adopted son.
Our family lives on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. We live in an impoverished community with many disadvantaged singles and families. My wife’s sister had a son out of wedlock. His father was a drug addict. We do not know whether his mother used drugs. As an infant, she had entered him into numerous preschool child development classes. When he was 18 months old, he witnessed his mother’s murder. We adopted him on his second birthday. I was 51 years old, my wife was 43, and we had no other children living with us.
After we adopted him, we started to take him to church and other social gatherings where he would sit next to and face the wall with his hand over his eyes. He would open a space between his index and ring fingers just wide enough to see the wall and quietly just sit there. Because of his parent’s lifestyle and the trauma he had encountered, we continued to place him in special education preschool classes with other children. My wife’s mother lived with us which helped us to provide a very stable, nurturing, and loving environment for him.
When he was about to enter kindergarten, the school felt that he had progressed to the point where he was socially and mentally ready for regular education. What I am sharing with you is that he had a less than ideal start in his life which affected his mental and social development.
We enrolled him in the public school system in kindergarten where he remained through 8th grade. He did fairly well in school through the 6th grade, and then he entered 7th grade at the intermediate school where my wife was a teacher for many years. She was able to keep better “track” of how he was doing overall including his grades. He did well at the intermediate school.
We then enrolled him in a Christian school for his high school years. It was a small school where he received much individual attention, and he did pretty well grade wise until his junior year where he struggled to pass his classes, and then in his senior year, he was failing his foreign language class. I had started to talk to him about praying for the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” during his junior year to help him with his grades, but he was not really interested. When he realized his senior year that he would NOT graduate with his class unless he passed his foreign language class, he began to talk to me about receiving the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” through prayer. I give him credit – he did pray earnestly for and sought the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ.” He did pass all of his classes, and he did graduate with his class, but he was toward the bottom of his class grade wise.
He decided he wanted to go to a “Christian” college and chose one in Washington State. Only one problem. When they looked over his high school grades, the only way they would accept him was on “probation” meaning he could only take 13 credits his 1st semester rather than the normal 17 credits. Because of his reduced credits, IF he passed his 1st semester and continued in this school, he would have to go to summer school someplace along the line to graduate with his class. He did pass his 1st semester and his freshman and sophomore years, but at the end of his sophomore year his advisor told him that his grade point was too low for his major and that he must change it. Things were NOT going too well for him, BUT he had faced lots of tests in his life before. He was determined this was the school that God had chosen for him to attend.
He did change his major, but he also did something else. He remembered how his praying for the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” had helped in his senior high school year, and he started to earnestly pray for and seek it during the latter part of his sophomore year. Strange things began to happen! He had to make up the extra credits from his 1st semester during the summer break between his sophomore and junior year. No problem! He came home after taking and passing the credits he needed and worked a summer job, and then he went back for his junior year where he made the school’s “honor roll.” In his senior year, he took 21 credits {8 classes} and obtained a 3.6 average for the first semester. In his second semester, he still had the 8 classes but now had an internship that required 15 more hours per week, was involved in student activities requiring 10 additional hours per week, a side job that took 20 more hours per week, plus he was helping classmates in a study group that took about 15 more hours per week. When they issued his grades for his second semester, he had made the Dean’s List with a 3.9 grade average. He gives ALL of the credit for him accomplishing these things to God for giving him the spiritual supernatural “Sound Mind” of Christ! As he looks back upon what happened during his senior year, he still marvels at what God helped him do. With God’s help, he came along way from his beginning!
Luke 18:27 But He {Jesus} said, What is impossible with men is possible with God. [Gen 18:14; Jer 32:17.] AMP
For you as a Christian, this same principle – seeking the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” – can apply to you that helped our son in his “getting ahead” in his schooling. It not only applies to helping us with the different paths that we might have in the physical secular “kingdom(s) of the world”, BUT it also helps us to read the Bible and understand and apply what it says about the spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God to our everyday life. In order for a Christian to understand the spiritual supernatural meaning of God’s Word as found in the Bible, to understand what God is doing in His spiritual supernatural Kingdom, and your work in His Kingdom, you MUST FIRST be seeking the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ!” I ask you to pray about and let God the Holy Spirit help you to discern from His spiritual supernatural knowledge about the boundaries of the spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God and the mature spiritual supernatural wisdom/application of it into your life, the life of your family, and corporately into the life of your church family.
You and I will never be God!!! But we can know and apply the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” to our emotions, our free will, and our intellectual thinking/mind-set in our lives. I like how TLB reveals this to us below.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV
1 Corinthians 2:16 How could he {the unsaved person know or understand}? For certainly he {the unsaved person with the worldly mind-set} has never been one to know the Lord’s thoughts, or to discuss them with him, or to move the hands of God by prayer. But, strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ. TLB
2 Corinthians 5:13 For if we are beside ourselves {acting joyful in strange ways – praying in tongues, laying on of hands, exalting Jesus Christ}, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind {giving Biblical teaching or counsel to you}, it is for you. NKJV
Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him {Jesus Christ}, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. NKJV {IF the Spirit of the Lord gave to Christ all of these mental and emotional attributes and we have the SAME spiritual supernatural “sound mind as Christ,” then we have these SAME mental and emotional attributes available to us! Can YOU accept this? Do NOT knowingly allow yourself to be mentally “short changed!}
Colossians 2:3 In him {Jesus Christ} lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge. TLB {This is why you MUST pray daily for the “sound mind of Christ” to have His spiritual supernatural knowledge and wisdom unleashed in your life!!!” It will NOT come all at once, but it will come!}
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they {our weapons} have divine {spiritual supernatural} power to demolish {spiritual demonic} strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension {/untruthful blasphemous statements} that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ {and the way we live our life in His Kingdom and the “kingdom(s) of the world”}. NIV
If you are NOT seeking God’s thoughts for you through His spiritual supernatural knowledge and wisdom about His spiritual supernatural Kingdom and the physical secular “kingdom(s) of the world,” which is ALL revealed to us through His Word via the sound mind of Christ as provided by His Holy Spirit and the multitude of Godly counsel, then from whom are your “thoughts” and what “kingdom” are they about? We must remember what Jesus shared with us in John 15:4-5, “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit {wins lost sinners to Jesus Christ as their personal Savior}. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. AMP
Our Brother Paul also shared with us in Romans 8:8 “That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires {in the “kingdom(s) of the world”}, can never please God.” TLB But we Christians do have daily VICTORY over the “kingdom(s) of the world” and its god – Satan – through our faith in Jesus Christ – our Savior – and His shed blood, His Word, and through God the Holy Spirit who lives in us!
1 John 4:4 Dear young friends, you belong to God and have already won your fight with those who are against Christ because there is someone in your hearts {God the Holy Spirit} who is stronger than any evil {counterfeit} teacher {follower of Satan} in this wicked world. TLB
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 {Paul talking} God never sent those men {false teachers} at all; they are “phonies” who have fooled you into thinking they are Christ’s apostles. 14 Yet I am not surprised! Satan can change himself into an angel of light, 15 so it is no wonder his servants can do it too, and seem like godly ministers. In the end they will get every bit of punishment their wicked deeds deserve. TLB
Through our asking in prayer for and receiving the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ,” how do we utilize it for our individual benefit, the benefit of our family, and the benefit of our church family?
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new {spiritual} ideals and its new
{spiritual} attitude {2 Corinthians 5:17}], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. AMP
Ephesians 4:22-24 that you put off, concerning your former conduct {when you lived according to the lusts for the “kingdom(s) of the world”}, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness {So you can living accordingly in the spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God here on earth that is in and among Christ’s adopted children in His Bride Church.}. NKJV
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]–these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]. AMP
Ephesians 1:5 For He {God the Father} foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]– AMP
1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, {_______________ write your name}, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever! AMP
Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. KJV
Proverbs 14:7-9 Go from the presence of a foolish and self-confident man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips. 8The Wisdom [godly Wisdom, which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] of the prudent {one who uses good judgment} is to understand his way {through His Word}, but the folly of [self-confident] fools is to deceive {themselves and others}. 9Fools make a mock of sin and sin mocks the fools [who are its victims; a sin offering made by them only mocks them, bringing them disappointment and disfavor], but among the upright there is the favor of God. [Prov 10:23.] AMP
Psalms 26:2-3 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; test my heart and my mind. 3For Your loving-kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth [faithfully]. AMP {How many of us Christians can truthfully make the above statements?}
There are numerous Christian pastors and teachers who are NOT teaching sound and wholesome spiritual supernatural doctrine and instruction! Plus there are many other Christians who have made millions of dollars writing, producing, and distributing “Christian Fiction” for their Christian Brothers and Sisters consumption. Even with a Christian theme, I consider Christian fiction something that is an embellished story conceived in a human’s mind for personal and/or financial gain therefore being spiritually supernaturally untrue and can be used to deceive Christians as to what and how God is working. The ONLY true witness that we Christians have for God is our testimony of what God has done and is doing in our life through our faith in Christ as our personal Savior, Lord God, and Master, and we MUST NOT EMBELLISH that either! We will soon see this type of wisdom is called earthly, unspiritual, and its source is demonic which puts them into the same category as the Old Testament false prophets who led astray the Jewish people. The only difference – they have not been revealed as such so as to be punished by being stoned to death.
Luke 16:13 No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely {for personal and/or financial gain}). AMP
I believe those who write Christian fiction, those who produce it commercially, and those who distribute it and sell it are sinning BIG time by offering to the Christian community “spiritual half-truths at best” all for personal and/or financial gain! This is a multimillion dollar industry.
For more of my thoughts on Christian fiction, Google and click on www.mysteryworldview.com This brings up my Home Page. Go to the right side and click on “Please Select a Book.” Click on #1 “The Mystery of the Profane Worldview Revealed.” Scroll down on the right side of the page and click on APPENDIX II “The AUTHORITY for this BOOK LIES in the REVELATION of the SCRIPTURES” Open [show] in the TOC Box” and click on “CHRISTIAN FICTION.”
So be very careful as to where and from whom you are receiving your teaching! The air ways – both radio, TV, and the internet; the media – including newspapers, books, magazines; and many local churches are rampant with false Christian teachers and their false ideology, theology, and doctrines. It appears there are many Christian leaders who are willing to compromise the True Gospel Message to keep their “kingdom(s) of the world empires/churches” afloat BOTH in church membership numbers and for their own personal and/or financial gain. If you discern this happening in your church – TAKE YOUR FAMILY AND GET OUT!!!
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, 4And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions. AMP
1 Timothy 6:3-5 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. NIV
Ephesians 5:6-7 Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. 7So do not associate or be sharers with them. AMP
2 Corinthians 6:17-18 That is why the Lord has said, “Leave them; separate yourselves from them {make believers}; don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you 18 and be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.” TLB
Jeremiah 17:10 I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. AMP
You MUST continuously pray for and seek the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” so that God’s Word as revealed to you by God the Holy Spirit will lead you to set your mind on spiritual supernatural things above and NOT on the earth and the things on the earth.
Colossians 3:1-2 IF THEN you have been raised with Christ [to a new life,
thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [Ps 110:1.] 2 And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. AMP
There are TWO types of knowledge and wisdom. One is secular worldly wisdom or you might call it “common sense, rational thinking, reasoning, or logic” which the Bible calls demonic wisdom IF it is used for personal and/or financial gain. Think about this! The Bible calls the philosophy of the world’s thinking “demonic wisdom.” Why would God call worldly reasoning, common sense, logic “demonic wisdom?” It is because of “WHO” is its source, and his ability to use the “kingdom(s) of the world” which he – Satan – demonically brought into being to deceive the sinner about the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ!
2 Corinthians 4:4 Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him {the sinner who lusts after the physical secular “kingdom(s) of the world”} blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God. TLB
John 12:40 He {Satan} has blinded their {sinners who lusts after the physical secular kingdom of the world} eyes and hardened and benumbed {made stupid} their [callous, degenerated {spiritual}] hearts [He has made their minds dull], to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their hearts and minds and repenting and turning to Me to heal them. AMP
1 John 5:19 We know [positively] that we {truly “Born Again” Christians} are of God, and the whole world [around us] is under the power of the evil one {Satan}. AMP
James 3:13-14, 16, 15, 17 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of {spiritual Godly} wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
15 This {secular humanistic} wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly {material, worldly}, sensual {feelings perpetuated by the mind and flesh}, demonic {Satan as its source}.
17 But the {spiritual supernatural} wisdom {of God} that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality {bias, favoritism} and without hypocrisy {having a “double “STANDARD” – “do as I say but do not do as I do.” As we go along in this study, you will see that God has ONLY ONE “STANDARD!” }. NKJV
Your main use of the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” is in seeking the spiritual supernatural knowledge and wisdom of God and His Kingdom. Spiritual supernatural knowledge is your knowing something about the truths of the MYSTERIES BOTH in the physical and spiritual realms. Spiritual supernatural wisdom is your ability to apply these truths in your life for God’s glory and honor.
James 1:5-8 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. NKJV
Jeremiah 33:2-3 Thus says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it — the Lord is His name: 3 Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand {God will enlighten you – edify and inform you about things you thought you could NOT know!}). AMP
Let’s call to the Lord and ask for the spiritual supernatural “sound mind of Christ” as it applies to BOTH the physical secular{/not religious or spiritual in nature} “kingdom(s) of the world” and the spiritual supernatural Kingdom of God. These kingdoms are two separate and diametrically opposed/at complete and total odds with each other, but God will guide you daily through the mine field of life for you to have daily VICTORY in your life! PLEASE PRAY DAILY FOR THE “SOUND MIND OF CHRIST!”
