Spiritual Government – Pt. 1

Wayne Matthews

February 1, 2014

Welcome to the Sabbath, brethren.

In today's world, today's societies, there are many concepts of government and these concepts of government, the way people govern or are governed, are, of course, manmade concepts. They are not of God or God's way of governing. Mankind, for the last 6,000 years, has created from his own thinking, his own reasoning, what he believes to be best for others in the forms of government. What form of government they create has come from the thinking of an individual. And of course, we understand we are governed today by different governments, such as republics, for example, or from the Commonwealth government, which is under the King, that type of thing, or under the Queen, that type of government. So there are many other types, of course. There is communism, socialism. There are many forms. Well, these all have been formed from the thinking, the reasoning of all humans, and wherever a person is located, where they come from, they tend to have that tendency (because of the way they're educated) to believe that maybe that is the best form of government. And of course today's societies, we see so much division because it's almost 50/50 now where some believe that, no, that's not the correct form of government. That's not what they want to be governed by.

All these ways of governing are from human reasoning and are not based on God's word. God's way of government is based on God's spirit and that's what really separates mankind's government from the Church of God – PKG's government. God's government is from the top down, and it is based on love. Now, mankind, of course, cannot achieve this. They cannot love. Their governing, or their government, cannot govern based on love, because it's only by the power of God's holy spirit that true love, Godly love, can be generated from or in or through a person.

Now, today's sermon is titled, Spiritual Government, and this will be Part 1 of a series.

Because God's government is based on love, mankind cannot achieve it or live it, and that's what we see in all forms of government around the world today, where we see division, hostility, and wars. So in every government that man has established we will find that people disagree with government. And that is just human nature. Well, within God's Church that same potential exists. Although God has established a government, a way of governing based on the power of His holy spirit, we will always find and always see, while humans exist, rebellion or disagreement with this form of government, God's government.

To live God's way of governing requires God's holy spirit; therefore, mankind cannot live God's way to others. Any church that states it has God's way of governing, God's government in it, and does not have God's spirit, is deceived, and that's what we have seen with the scattering, and when the scattering took place – basically from the Apostasy, and most of it formed basically in 1995 where it started in the sense of the real scattering took place – and the ministry was disoriented and looked to establish forms of government. And as we understand, it basically went to a third stayed with the Worldwide Church of God and that form of government, and therefore, another third left altogether and went back into the governments of the world, the religions of the world or none at all, and another third fled to what they saw as a way to protect themselves. So they fled “to the mountains and the hills,” which were “governments,” small governments and big governments, and those scattered Churches established their names based on what they saw as the correct way to be governed. Some set up a hierarchy where one person was going to be in control and others set up a structure where they said they would never be controlled by one person ever again and formed a government or a style of government that required voting and constitutions and bylaws. And that's what they did as a form of, or believing with their own human reasoning, that that was the best thing for themselves and for others.

The purpose of today's sermon is to explore the question: What is God's government?

I want to quickly look at Truth #4, which covers the government of God.

4 (1) The government of God. When Christ comes, He will restore God’s government to the whole earth.

And of course, we look forward to that in the return of Jesus Christ on a Day of Pentecost soon, and we look for the establishment of God's government on this earth, and Jesus Christ brings it and restores God's government, His way of governing to this earth. And we understand God's way of government is from the top down. God is first, and if we understood scripture and we read scripture and we see why that is so. And I went through a sermon not long ago about why we shouldn't have anything before God, because nothing can be compared to God and God's greatness. And remember those scriptures where it says, "Well, where were you...?" "What did you do? What about ‘this’...?" in the sense of the universe and the creation. And when you boil it all down, there has been nothing spiritually created, there has been nothing physically created that can be compared to Yahweh Elohim. Nothing! And that's why we see the commandment. We shouldn't have anything as an idol before God, because anything before God is just a vanity and it is based on human reasoning or pride! It's terrible! Because God IS all mighty and we can't comprehend how great God is.

So God established His way of government, which is based on love. And we look forward to when Jesus Christ returns to this earth to establish God's government of love – outgoing concern for the welfare of the creation – on this earth.

Continuing on in Truth #4:

God’s government was restored to His Church during Philadelphia.

Now, many have lived through this period that are alive here today, in God's Church today, that have lived through this era of government, when God established in His Church His way of governing. And that is from the top down. God appoints one person to govern, to manage, His Church, and I use those words all for a reason because it all comes down to a spiritual principle of governing, and that is based on love. And God uses government within the Church to test and try humans. That's exactly what happens. Within our human nature we have this tendency to believe we are right in our own eyes, and therefore, to be under government, to be governed by God, to be governed by God's spirit, requires a choice, and therefore, when government makes a decision within the Church, God's true Church, therefore, we have to come to choose what we're going to do. And we're going to cover that in more detail through this series.

So, “God's government was restored to His Church during Philadelphia,” which was Mr. Armstrong in charge of the Church. Now, he established various groups that would be advisory or giving advice, but the final decision about what would take place within God's true Church was sitting (and did sit) with Mr. Armstrong; therefore, he had the power and authority of binding and loosening, which also we will get into in more detail. So this is about a way of governing, which is a government that is based on outgoing concern for the welfare of those under that government.

It is not a government of men where decisions are made by such practices as voting or one’s own will, but as God leads through the power of His spirit. (Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12)

...His holy spirit. Now, by personal experience I actually experienced this. I was part of a church that introduced a governing process which was based on voting. Basically, the easiest way to put it was it was based on voting and having a committee or a group of more than one. They had a president, rather than the head of the Church, an apostle. They had a president, and under the president there was a committee, and therefore, decisions would come out from that group for the benefit of the Church. So it really was a government of men, because that sounds very familiar to the world's system of government, having a president and then under them called a senate, or whatever it is that they establish under them that would advise the president, and a group decision would come out, and therefore, people would basically vote about what the decision and what would be implemented into their government that they have.

Well, I experienced this in a way, and there was a lesson for me in this, but I didn't learn it to the degree that I should have because at that point I did not have God's spirit living and dwelling in me active. I had my own human reasoning and I was making decisions based on what I thought was best. But this particular aspect of government, God had revealed to me in a way, that I did understand that voting was not something that I desired personally to get involved in, and I had an understanding of it – on a physical level, not on a spiritual level – of why it doesn't work and why it can't work. Well, we can see from society that voting for leaders does not work; it just does not work. Here in Australia we have basically two major parties; we have what's called a “liberal party,” and we have what's called a “labour party,” which is more the socialist angle of it, and the liberals would be probably considered more the “republic” side of things. But they're not a republic, but it's under the government of a queen, which is of course the Commonwealth government.

Well, based on that, here in Australia we are required to vote, but when you look at it, the voting process is so polluted and voting is just insane, because what actually happens is that people get up and they say certain things and then people cast their vote, their view of who they want. Because of human nature we tend as people, we get into the area of voting, we tend to vote for what is most important to us. So out of all the different policies and procedures that are taking place in today's society, from whether or not it is gambling all the way down to whatever topic you can choose, we all have an opinion or a view, and that's what voting is. It's expressing an opinion or a view of the way that we see it. Now, we can only see it based on our human reasoning. We can only see it based on our education or what we have been communicated to about. Often, it'll stay with parents. It'll be within a family structure. That is that if someone is “a republican,” their kids are always republican. Or if someone is like, with religion, if someone is a Catholic, normally the kids are Catholic. So it's about what we've been told as children. So we grow up with these biases and opinions, and therefore, when it comes to voting they are reflected in what we vote.

Now, one party may be “for” a particular topic, for example, the death penalty, and another party may be against the death penalty. So when people vote they generally vote on a narrow line of thinking. It can be about, "I will vote for the death penalty," or "I'll vote against the death penalty." But they don't consider all the other policies that are there. And I know there is one particular party in Australia where most people do not understand that the actual policies, that they want to reduce the legal age of a relationship, a sexual relationship between two. I'm not saying whether it's a man and a woman. It can just be between two “consenting adults” is what they use. That they say that they want to reduce it down to the age of 16 and not 18. Now, most people don't understand that. They don't realize that is one of the policies, so people will then vote for that party for a different reason. It could be about the environment, so they all race out and vote about the environment because this party is “for” protecting the environment – which is right, which is good – but people don't take the time to look at all the other policies about what they do and the perversions in those policies because people are generally narrow-minded about why they are voting.

Hence, it is impossible for anybody within God's Church to vote – not that we would – but it would be impossible on a spiritual level to vote for anything other than for God's way of life. We vote God first! That's our vote! We cannot put any of human reasoning, any man's reasoning, any man's government system before God's because everything outside of God's government, anything that sits outside of it that is not motivated by God's holy spirit, it is twisted, it is perverted in some shape or form. It may sound good on the outside, but if you dig a bit deeper it is based on human reasoning and it is about prejudice. It is all about prejudice in the end. So, we don't vote.

And this statement in Truth #4 is saying that, well, we don't do that. We do not vote like the governments of mankind because we have already voted, brethren. When we were called, when we were baptized and received God's holy spirit, our vote, our thinking is God first...and that is our vote. So whatever God says, whatever God has implemented in the way of a government, that's what we are submitting to. We're submitting our spirit to it.

I ran into this particular situation within a church, and I was asked to put forward my name – like write up a resume type thing – and submit my name to become a member of a council here in Australia. I remember it well. And I had thought about it, but deep down my wife and myself had always understood – by the power of God's spirit, I believe – that voting was not correct, that that was not God's government. We had that in our mind and we knew. But we were part of a group that actually voted, and we would often walk around saying – and I must admit we did cause a little bit of division because of our statement – we would say, "Well, why is it we just can't find one person to lead God's Church? Why can't we just do that? Why don't people vote for one person and let that person be the leader until he dies? ...or until he steps down, whatever?" Not understanding that God is the one who appoints the apostle or the prophet or ever who it is in authority. But in that way of thinking we looked for one person to lead God's Church because of our history with Mr. Armstrong, that we understood that government came from God and that God appointed the person to lead the Church. Well, we were yearning for something that we did not fully understand. We didn't grasp it.

So, anyway, I said to them, well, I didn't really want to do a resume because I found doing a resume was a vanity! It was actually promoting myself, like selling myself, and therefore, I couldn't do that. I couldn't actually write down the so-called “attributes” or the “benefits” that I would bring to the role by writing them on a bit of paper and submitting them to others who would vote on it. It was against what was within me at that time. And then they said, "Well, and if you don't do that, what about, could you just put your name forward to go onto this committee or go on to this council?" And I said, "Well, not really." Because I didn't really agree with the style of government that was taking place. And they said, "Well, why? What's the problem?" And I tried to outline it as clearly as I could –not that I necessarily did because I didn't have God's spirit dwelling in me at that time so my understanding was limited – but I understood some basic principles that were there on a physical level and I actually said, "Voting doesn't work. And the reason voting doesn't work is, let's just say, that you've got ten people, for an example, and five say, "Yes, we should do this," and five say, "No, we shouldn't." Well, what are we going to do? A house divided will fall. God says that in scripture, “A house divided will fall.” You can't have five saying this and five saying that. Well, we know in America it was called the civil war, some saying this, "Let's have slaves," and other's saying, "No, let's not have slaves." Well, here in Australia some say, "Let's have gay marriage," and others say, "No, let's not have gay marriage." Others say, "We should have gambling." Others say, "No, we shouldn't have gambling." So it can't work. And what will the end result be? A civil war. People are going to fight and disagree. People are going to demonstrate in the streets. They're going to take up arms. And in the end, hostility, anger, and hate will come out of it because a house divided falls. It will crumble. It can't! “Two can't walk together unless they agree.” And I used to quote these types of scriptures, and there was a frustration in the fact that I was saying those things, because deep down they knew there was accuracy in it – not that you can understand it on a spiritual level, but in principle these things stand in a physical level as well. “A house divided will fall.” “Two can't walk together unless they agree.” It's the same in marriage. It's the same in business. It's the same in anything! They are just spiritual principles that are true and they do take place.

And they said something that was quite interesting. They said, "Well, let's say there are eleven on the council." And I said, "Well, to me, if I have a view or an opinion and I table it, and let's just say I disagree so strongly with the other ten (just for example), say I disagree so strongly! It's within me that I just disagree and I believe that what they're doing is wrong!" What would be required of me, at that time, it would be to submit myself to the ten. And I struggled with that concept that I had to submit myself to the decision. For example, if there was a decision and six said that this was what was going to happen – let's say it wasn't sin, it was just a decision – that the five would then have to fall behind the six, because that's what would be the decision of their government, that six had voted, five had said no (for example only), and therefore, the outcome is that, yes, the six have got the “right of the decision,” therefore, this is what is going to be introduced into the group. The other five, because of unity, had to fall in line and support the decision whether they liked it or didn't. Now, I didn't understand that principle because there is a spiritual principle involved in it, but at that time I said, well, I couldn't do that because it would be going against “my spirit.” But the reality is there is something in that that actually comes out that God says is right. That that actually is right. There is a time within God's Church that when a physical decision is made that does not involve sin that we have to submit our will to that decision. And we'll possibly get into that in more detail in Part 2 of the series.

But I learned a lot from that – now, later on. But at the time I didn't learn. I realize that I was riddled with pride and I had a lot of arrogance because I wanted my opinion heard and I felt that if my opinion was outvoted that I wasn't going to change my opinion. From that point of view, I was wrong, because I'd held to what I considered “my integrity,” which was based on pride.

So, many have been through this aspect of the government of men, have been under the government of men, and we are to a degree today where we submit to the government of man in this world as long as it does not contradict God's government, God's way of thinking. So we do give into certain rules. We do submit ourselves to certain authorities on the road and all these different things. But when it comes to contravening God's law, if it in any way invites us to sin, or is sin, we just simply reject it and won't be involved in it.

For mankind to be under God's government is to have God's spirit. And this, of course, is the major division or major difference between man's government and God's government. God's government is based on God's spirit and God's spirit is empowered by God and His attitude, His thinking, His Word, which is based on love.

Now, there are two facts that help us come to understand God's way in a deeper way.

1. God is love.

That is what God is. What motivates all the decisions that God has made and is making and is going to make in the future, is from His nature, is from the way He thinks, and that is love. That's why the scripture says, “God is love.” Because that outlines everything about God as far as His character, His attributes, His virtue is He is love. That's the way He thinks. Love is the motivation that drives and empowers the spiritual keeping of God's way of life.

So this is the way that we have to be. We have to think love. Now, by human nature we can't because our human nature's love is one of selfishness. The spiritual keeping of the 10 Commandments is based on God's holy spirit, which is empowered by love. Now, we understand the 10 Commandments. The first four show us how to love God in spirit and truth and the last six commandments show us how to love our neighbor in spirit and truth.

So the most important thing about any form of government is to consider this: Is it empowered by God's holy spirit?

Now, we know that there is only one government on this earth at this time that is empowered by God's holy spirit, and that sits within the Church of God – PKG where God is. This is God's Church! Now, this is a key point to understanding the rest of the sermon series...is that it is about God's Church. It's about the government of God's Church because this is God's Church and God empowers His Church. God is in His Church.

2. Spiritual government in a person's life requires God's spirit, and therefore, a person's life will be motivated and empowered to live the truth.

Now, this is a key point, because we can have government in the Church from an apostle, prophets, down to evangelists, etc., etc., as far as a government and those “title's” that describe a role of service. We understand those things. But within an individual's life the most important thing about spiritual government is to have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in the person because now that will empower the submission, the yielding to, the “remaining under” the government that God has placed within His Church. Now, without God's spirit a person cannot submit themselves or choose to submit to yield to the government within the Church.

So there are two parts to it. There is God's government that is in God's Church – and it does exist. But then the next most important part is whether or not we, as individuals, have God's spirit, whether or not we are under the spiritual government of God within our lives individually.

To have spiritual government in our life we have to have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us. And that's a key point. Now, somebody that does not have God's spirit is not under government. It's pretty straight forward, really. Someone that does not have God's spirit is not under government because they'll be using their natural carnal mind and what does that do? It's “hostile against God and not subject to the law of God and neither indeed can be,” therefore, it cannot be subject to spiritual government within the Church. It cannot be subject to decisions that come out from the administration of God's Church. It's absolutely impossible. People might conform to it but they won't submit and yield to it in spirit and truth.

If we have God's spirit in us and we choose to submit ourselves to the truth, to God's law, we will be under government. And the most important thing here is that we must choose to submit, we must choose to yield, because God's spirit works in our life and it comes down into our thinking, but at some point, because of the power of God's holy spirit, we can see what is right and wrong. And there are many situations in our life when we can “see” a matter on a spiritual level because of the power of God's holy spirit, that we can “see” it. Now we have to choose to allow God to live in us out to the benefit of others or we can choose not to and use our natural carnal mind. Now, this is about government as well. This is how government works within our life. It has to be empowered by God's holy spirit, but we also must choose to submit to that thinking, that power of God in us.

Our part in all of this is to choose to yield to the law of God, to choose to yield to the truth, to choose to yield to God's government over us and in our life. It's a choice we have to make.

Spiritual government is when we choose to yield, choose to remain under what God allows to be placed into His Church. Decisions are often made that we may not necessarily understand. Well, within God's Church, because it is powered by God's holy spirit, therefore, we have to then choose whether or not we're going to yield to it even though we do not know why that decision was necessarily made. We may not comprehend. We may not have all the information. We may not even have the background of why that decision was made, but the one thing that I know, the one thing that I have experienced in my life, is that within God's true Church every decision that is made is made with great consideration, with great understanding of the matter as much as possible that God will allow, and it is based on relying on God, trusting in God, and when the decision is made it is made for the benefit, for the purpose of the Body of Christ.

Now, there's a lot in that statement. It's made for the benefit of the Body of Christ. Because one individual may not see it that way, but the decision was made for the Body of Christ and it was empowered by God's holy spirit. Now, we don't always see when a decision is made within the Church all the ramifications or all the understandings of why it was made. We may not comprehend that. But the point is that we have a choice, individual choice of whether we're going to yield to it. Now, if we believe this is God's true Church, and if we believe God's holy spirit dwells in the decision, in the sense of that it is God's Church and God's Church has God's holy spirit, we then should choose to yield to any decision within God's Church, even though we may not have the background of that decision.

Let's look at the beginning because that's where we need to start with this. Let's look at the beginning about government because we understand that God established government. It's a way of governing. It's a way of looking after His creation because that's what really government is. Government is designed to look after, to benefit His creation. That's why God created government.

We will start by looking at the first being to work against, to go against, to not yield, to not choose to yield to God's way of life. He was against God's government; he wasn't in unity with it. At some point he'd made that decision. Let's look at what God discussed with Job because we're going to start in that place to get a perspective with regards to the establishment of government and how a person can be in unity with the government, how spirit beings can be in unity with government and in time, change.

Let's look at Job 38:1 – Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, tempest or storm, and said: Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ...without understanding, without wisdom. Now, brethren, we can actually do this. When we look at this in Job and we understand the background of what Job did; he had a natural carnal mind. He was carnal and God had been working with him to bring him to a point of repentance, that he could actually see himself as he really was. And Job had been speaking many things based on the knowledge that he had of God, and he had said many things. Well, "Who is this," basically, "who offers all this advice and counsel by words without knowledge?" Without the knowledge of God, without the wisdom, without the mind of God? Another way to say it is, "Why do you talk without knowing what you're talking about?"

Well, brethren, we can look at Job and we can laugh at this and think, well, because we know the story, how great is God compared to a physical mind of man. Well, there is no comparison. Well, we can look at this, "Who is this within God's Church that speaks words or gives counsel or speaks against God's government without knowledge, without knowing why the decision was made?" We might have a brief understanding thinking we know why a decision was made, but do we really? Were we there? Have we been through all the discussions? Have we been through all the things that have happened? Well, we haven't! We haven't, therefore, we need to be very careful that we don't place ourselves in this position of speaking out about something we know nothing about! Nothing! We might think we know about certain things, but deep down we don't. We're using our human reasoning based on limited knowledge because that's generally our problem within human beings. We think we know things, but the reality is we don't...we don't!

Verse 3 – Now prepare yourself like a man; I, talking about God, will question you, and you shall answer Me. And the question is: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? We understand that question, brethren. Where were we? Where were we when God layed the foundations of the earth? Well, we didn't exist! We did not exist! And it's hard for the human mind to come to grasp that it didn't exist. Millions of years ago, what were we? What was our thinking? Nothing! It was nothing. There was nothing. There was nothing! And it's hard for us to grasp that we didn't exist because God has built within us the capacity to desire to live forever. That's something that's within each human. We don't want to die. We want to keep going on in a physical life. Although, those in God's Church that are much older, there does come a time when you're quite happy to exit this physical body. Enough is enough; you want out of it. You'd rather be that God took your life very quickly, painlessly, and you're out of the way.

Well, it says, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Well, we didn't exist. We weren't around. Tell Me, if you have understanding. Job, of course, couldn't answer this because he would have realized, well, he can't answer. He doesn't know where he was before he was born, before he was created from a woman. He has no idea. What was he? Where was he? Because the woman didn't exist either, so you've got to go back to Adam and Eve who didn't exist either! So where were you? Well, you were a thought within God's mind. That's what we were. A thought within God's mind.

Who determines its measures? Talking about the foundations of the earth. Who determined it? Who measured it all out? Who worked it all out? Who planned it all? Surely you know, Job?! Don't you know? Surely, brethren, we know? Well, the reality is we know that God did it, but we don't know how He went about determining its exact measurements. We have no idea how long it took or how He went about it. What came first? What was the first thing that He put...did He think about? The center? Did He think about the outside? We have no idea! We know nothing when it comes to how God created the universe or the earth! We have no idea!

Or who stretched a line upon it? The measurement, the exact measurement? Because it is an exact measurement. How much water would there be compared to land? Well, all those things, we have no idea. To what were its foundations fastened? So what was going to hold the earth? How was this gravity pull and the spinning, and at what speed, the exact speed of the spinning of the earth, and the exact angle of the tilt of the earth? How was that all going to be done? Who did it? Well, we know God did it. Well, where were we? Who laid its cornerstone?

Now verse 7 – When the morning stars, the angelic realm, sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Now, at this creation we can see that the angelic realm, which were called “morning stars,” sang together. They rejoiced greatly: “All the sons of God shouted for joy!” So here we have Lucifer and all of the angels – Michael, Gabriel, all of the angels – rejoicing, shouting for joy when they see this creation! We can see from this scripture that all the created angels were in and under the government of God at this point in time. At this point of the creation time they were choosing to yield to God's government for them.

Now, we understand that God created the angelic realm and He gave them the power of choice, just like the human mind has the power of choice, and this is important to understand when it comes to the understanding about spiritual government. So at this point in time the angels who have been created to serve were now rejoicing at what God was doing in His plan and they were in unity. And they were rejoicing because of the power of God and what they saw God do. Great rejoicing!

Then at some point in time one created being began to – he decided to – choose to no longer yield to God's government.

Now, that is quite powerful! There was one being (and we understand that it was Lucifer), who decided, who chose, not to yield any longer. Now, it started with one and it starts with a thought. It starts with the thought and it developed and it grew, and so much so that over time that he murmured, that he affected others, he infected other angelic beings' minds, and they then too came alongside and they then chose with Lucifer to no longer yield to God's government.

Well, that's exactly what can happen to us, brethren, if we're not careful. A thought can be planted in our mind, and because we have the power of choice, we then can choose what to do with it. What are we going to do with it? Are we going to reject it and allow God's spirit to flow in us, to choose to yield to God's spirit? Or are we going to choose to go down this negative thinking and to work up a thought? And once we work it up, we convince ourselves that we are right in our own eyes. We've lifted ourselves up. We're no longer yielding to God's holy spirit in our life. And what is the tendency, because of our nature? To speak to others. Because that's what Lucifer did. You spread your discord. And why is it that we would do that? Because we want others to come into agreement. We want others to be drawing alongside to us, to support us, because that's human nature. Well, Lucifer did the same. He desired to have others draw alongside him, and he was successful.

Ezekiel 28:11-19. We go over this at Atonement and other times during the year, but it's important to go over it again in the context of government because this is the pinnacle of where rebellion started, and it started with Lucifer. This rebellion against God's government, God's way of being started here, and we can learn a lot from these scriptures.

Ezekiel 28:11 – Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, (verse 12) Son of man, take up a lamentation, and that “lamentation” is “to wail, to lament.” We know when someone laments or wails, cries – you see that often in the Middle East – there is this crying out about something. So this is a crying out about, it's a wailing about. And this wailing is for, this lament is for the king of Tyre. Now, “the king of Tyre” is symbolic of Lucifer. He was in the government of God and here it says, symbolically, it's pointing to Lucifer because God is speaking here using a physical “king of Tyre,” but it's actually pointing to Lucifer on a spiritual level ...and say to him, Thus says the LORD GOD: You, talking about Lucifer, the seal of perfection... "You, the seal of perfection," in other words, "You seal up this perfection." At a created spirit being level he was created to the fullest that God had as far as being perfect as a spirit being – not in character and not with God's holy spirit, but as a created spirit being he was the total sum of what God had created as being perfect. Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. His mind was for God. He didn't have God's mind. He didn't have God's holy spirit, but he was created in a way that he was for God. And he did not have the power of God's holy spirit living and dwelling in him, but he did have this thinking that was for God and for God's purpose.

He, as well as all the other angels that were created to serve God, they were created to serve God's will and purpose. They were created in and under God's government. So here they have a structure that they submitted to and they were yielding to and they were for this structure. They had no other way. There was no other way that had been brought into existence at this time, but they did have the power of choice.

Verse 13 – You were in Eden, the garden of God, and that is, we understand, on a spiritual level, but also we understand that Lucifer was physically in the garden of God. Well, this is really referring more to the spiritual realm, that of God's government, this enclosure for the angelic realm, which was beautiful and made for him and for the angelic realm. Every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, the topaz, and diamond, beryl and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. So this, really, reflects too on a spiritual level. Symbolically, it's pointing to a spiritual wealth that he had, and that wealth was in power and authority to serve, because that's why he was created. This is about authority. So he was in a position of authority that God had appointed him to that God had created him for.

The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared, so it was established, for you (in you) on the day you were created (the day you were shaped). So God did this. God had predetermined how and when Lucifer was to be created.

So if we just stand back and just think about this a little. We have God and then He decides to create a spirit realm. He creates the spirit world as it is, the structure of it, for the spirit beings to dwell in. Then God at some point in time had to create every angelic being, every spirit being, and He created them at a particular time, and He would have done it in a particular order. God had worked it out. God is the author of order. He's not the author of confusion. So this order was that at some point in time that Lucifer was created as the pinnacle of God's creation in the spirit realm. So God here creates Lucifer, and of course, the other angels were created as well at a point in time (as we understand “time”), that this actually happened. God designed Lucifer in every aspect. There was a day, there was a time, when Lucifer was spiritually brought into existence. Isn't that amazing to understand?

Now, the world doesn't understand these things but there was a point of time where the spirit realm and the spirit beings did not exist. Now, this is all about government. If we just understand what this is really all about, this is about government. This is about whether or not these beings will continue to submit to the authority, God's ways, in their life. Because that's what government is about. Will they continue to yield to God's authority? Here, God is creating a structure of government within the spirit realm, and we understand very, very little, really, about this spiritual government in the spirit realm.

We understand that there were three spirit beings that were called Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel, and that they had authority around God's throne. Then under that there is other structures. We know there are 24 elders, for example. Now, how do they all fit into God's authority, God's government on a spirit level? We don't fully comprehend. We know aspects of things, but we do know that there is government within the angelic realm. Now, their thinking, all of them at this point in time, their thinking is for God, for God's will, and for God's purpose.

Because they were created with the power of choice they could decide for themselves whether they would yield or remain under God's government for them. Now, brethren, we understand that on a spiritual level. Well, let's just apply it to ourselves quickly.

Because we are created with the power of choice, we have to decide for ourselves whether or not we are going to continue to yield and remain under God's government. That's a choice we have to make. Now, we have this choice today. When we were called and we were converted – in the sense of baptized and received God's holy spirit and began that process of being converted (because it's a process that takes time) – we now have the choice to yield to, to remain under God's government in our life. We have the choice to allow God to live and dwell in us. It's something that we have to choose actively. It's not just something that's going to happen automatically. We're just not going to automatically submit to decisions made by God's Church; it's something we have to come to understand and we learn. And it's a beautiful process!

If we actually understand it on a spiritual level this is the key of why people stay with God's Church or people leave God's Church – because of a choice, about choosing to yield to, to remain under God's government. And God willing we're going to get into great detail of this later on in the other parts of the series.

Verse 14 – You, the anointed cherub, appointed to a role of service, who covers, and that word “covers” is “who defends, overshadows the mercy seat.” I, God, established you; "I set you so!" Isn't that incredible that it's God that did it! So Lucifer had nothing; he was not in existence, then he was brought into existence and anything that he had, his beauty and his authority, was established and given to him, provided to him by God.

Well, let's look at ourselves, brethren. Everything that we have, we didn't exist before, but we were brought into existence. God established us as humans and everything that He has given us has been given to us by God. He has done it all! God gave us our calling. He established us in the Body of Christ, because it was a gift to us, the power of God's holy spirit was given to us, and we were established in the government of God in the Church of God – PKG. God did it all! God did it all. Now we have to choose to remain under this government.

You were on the holy mountain of God… you were in the Church of God – PKG. You were in My government. You are under My government. I provided you the power, looking at it on a spiritual level, from a spirit to physical, and I was referring then to a physical being. “You were in the holy mountain of God,” you were in the government of God on earth, the Church of God.  You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones, referring to Lucifer that He was actually in the position of authority within the spirit realm where God existed at that time.

We can learn from this greatly. All roles within God's government, His Church on earth now, are appointed by God. God sets them so. So here we have, referring to Lucifer, that God did it all. God appointed all the roles of authority in the spirit realm. God appointed all the roles within His government in the spirit realm. Well, God does the same on earth. God appoints all roles within His government, within His Church on earth. It is God that sets it so. Who are we to ever argue or disagree with God? Yet we do! That's our potential! Yet we do! We do this, brethren, because of our human reasoning.

Why would we disagree with God at any time about decisions made within His Church? Why? Pride. Because we all have it and we have this human reasoning. We think we know better. Remember Job? We look back and Job was speaking things about he didn't know, and God said, "Well, you're just speaking words and you don't have any knowledge." Well, we can have this same tendency within our life because we can make choices.

Now, this goes back to ordinations in the Church. Now I'm going to refer to aspects within the post (I'm not going to cover it all), about “Ordinations & The Church,” because there are things for us to learn from this with regards to being under government or governing ourselves, remaining under, yielding to God's spirit. So let's look at some of the writings Mr. Weinland has put here, that God has revealed why He uses ordinations for the purpose of governing, or all for the purpose of how we will respond to this appointment. Reading these things we should just remember back about Lucifer and the angelic realm. What was the process that Lucifer did not submit to? Well, we need to do the same. What is the process of why we won't submit to the things that God is doing, the binding and loosening that God does or the appointed of somebody as an elder within God's Church? What is it? Well, is it because we're doing “a Job,” because we're speaking without knowledge? And I can put to you, brethren, from experience, personal experience, that the truth is we're speaking without knowledge. We're doing “a Job.” When we're doing “a Job,” what are we doing? We're doing a natural carnal mind. We're doing sin. That's what we're doing. Because we do reason, we do think, we do question. And the post covers this in great detail. And I would encourage everybody to go back and read the posts that cover “Ordinations & The Church,” because it is so much detail that God has provided there with regards to our own attitudes, the way we think.

Now, I'm just going to pick up aspects of this post. One of the headings is:

Ordinations & The Church – Pt. 1 – November 5, 2013

....

It Is God's Church

The reality is that ordinations can bring out some of the best in people (in those who yield more fully to God’s spirit being “in” and “leading” them), and ordinations can bring out some of the worst in people [Why is that?] (in those who do not yield to God’s spirit, but to their own selfish carnal spirit).

Now, this is an important statement, to understand this because this really boils down to the truth of the matter. IF somebody is ordained in God's Church it will bring out something in us. It will bring out something. There is not just a neutral nothingness. If there is an ordination, at any time there is an ordination, no matter who it is, there is two responses. There is, one, if a person has yielded to God's spirit and God's spirit is leading them, it will yield something. It will yield a positive thing. But the other one is that we can choose to not to yield to God's spirit. So what will that produce? That will produce things that come out of the selfish carnal mind, which is human reasoning. We will try to reason our way through it. So what is produced?  A wrong way of thinking will produce a wrong attitude, a wrong spirit! That's what actually comes out of it.

Now, often when an ordination takes place the first thing that we do is we move into the knowledge stage and we ask one question. We do. This is just human nature, brethren. Now, if we haven't ever done this, we're doing pretty well. But I know that within me that I have done this. I have done this. I am guilty of this. Because when somebody is ordained the first thought that comes into the mind is, "Why is that person being ordained?" Now, the reason we do that is because we have forgotten. We have forgotten and we haven't really got to the point that we really believe that this is God's Church and that all appointments are a matter of God ruling and governing in His Church, and He allows decisions for reasons that we don't know. We think we know, but we don't! We don't know the why of any ordination! I must repeat that. We do not know the why of any ordination! We can only assume we know...and that's the problem. We assume we know, but we actually don't know.

I believe now that I understand more about this topic than I ever have before because God has given it to the Church through this posting, that we can understand more about ourselves, that when we ask why of something it's because we're not yielded to God's spirit and we're using the natural carnal mind. Because we will reason, we will try to work out, "Why was that person ordained?"

Now, the next stage from that is, yes, we can have those thoughts, "Why is it?" Well, if we can deal with that quickly, to say, why – why is because God has ordained it as so. God appointed it so! God did it! Now, that's where it can stop. God did it for a purpose. God ordained somebody for a purpose that may not necessarily be for this particular age, or it may not be fully revealed, the purpose of it yet. We just don't know! So we can stop it, brethren. We can stop at that point and say, "Well, this is God's Church! God ordained it!" And then we can rejoice at what God is doing in His Church for the benefit of everybody. That's the purpose. Or, we then let it go longer, we don't yield to God's spirit at that point, we do not choose to yield to it. We actually go the other way. We push God's spirit back. Now we go on and try to reason why this has taken place. And what happens with that thinking, brethren? Where does it lead to? It leads to the point of believing that the person that was ordained is not worthy of the ordination! That's what it leads to! We reason that the person was not worthy of the ordination. Now, when we get to that point of reasoning, what are we really saying? It's the clay turning around to the Potter and saying, "What are you doing? What are you doing making that vase?" So in other words, we're rebelling against God, we're going against God, we're disagreeing with God, we're no longer in unity with God's decision because we have reasoned for ourselves what we think is best.

What does that remind you of, brethren? Lucifer. Lucifer did exactly the same thing. This is about a reasoning and then a choice. So we need to be very careful of the thinking. So when somebody is ordained in God's Church, if that thought comes in and says, "I wonder why that is happening..." we need to jump straight on it and say, "I know why it is happening! It is God's will and purpose! That is why an ordination takes place." And it is not for us to reason beyond that point, because we know why. We already know. God has revealed to us why an ordination takes place through this post, and the fact that this is God's Church, God is ordaining somebody into the role of service for a purpose that we don't fully understand or know all the time. We might think we do, but we don't. But we can have confidence this is God's Church and God is doing this for the benefit of His creation within the Church and out of the Church. That's why God is doing it. And it can be for the individual, for their growth!

So there's lots of reasons, but we're not there to analyse it all, trying to second guess what God is doing.

So the next phase, of course, we've just covered. We need to be very careful of that phase, which is starting to work out that “we think,” “we have reasoned,” that the decision is wrong. Because any time that we go down that path that's what we're doing; we're disagreeing with God. And that is sin, brethren. Any time that we then decide to have this wrong attitude, to have this wrong spirit, about going down this “unworthy” part in our eyes, the way we see it, we have in fact lifted ourselves up against God. We have done “a Lucifer.” We have done “a Lucifer”; that's what we've done!

Now reading more in what the post says:

Those who yield to God’s spirit will react to an ordination in a spiritual way – after a godly manner.

So they'll be positive and excited at what God is doing. And that's the point. We will be positive. We will be excited for the individual, but we'll also be excited at what God is doing in His Church, what He has done in giving to somebody the opportunity in the role of service, giving them the opportunity of growth, spiritual growth. Now, this can test those that have not been ordained. It can test the thinking, and that is one of the purposes that is outlined in this post for ordinations within the Church, because it is a way of testing our attitudes. What are we going to choose? Now, if we haven't got grounded in our thinking that this is God's Church and that all ordinations are from God – ALL ordinations are from God; they are choices that God has made – if we haven't got that grounded deep into our spirit, the potential for sin is so obvious, brethren, because we're going to go down this path of human reasoning. And yet we have the power, God has given us the opportunity to choose to reject any thoughts of negative, any thoughts of, "This person's not worthy," any thoughts of, "I wonder why?" We can get rid of all that because we simply can go to “point one,” which is, “This is God's Church and it's God doing it!” We do not have to know. We don't have to reason. We don't have to debate. We don't have to go down that thinking of trying to understand why. It's not given to us. We don't need to know why!

What's been given to us is that we need to choose to submit to the authority over us. That is the choice that we have, not whether or not we're going to try and work out why or reason or try to use the natural carnal mind. That's not what we've been given to do. We have been given the choice to submit ourselves – not to why, but to submit ourselves – under, remain under the government of God.

Continuing on now with the rest of that statement:

This can include both the one being ordained and those who respond to (observe, witness) it. This can and does try and test people as to their true spiritual development.

Now, this is a really good measure, brethren, because I know you all – and I know I have and I'm human and I have these thoughts – I know everyone in God's Church has had these thoughts. Every single person has had these thoughts because it's natural and we've got a natural carnal mind.

So the choice we have is, what are we going to do? What are we going to do when anybody is ordained? Are we going to take the positive side and rejoice in what God is doing? Or are we going to sin by going against what God is doing?

Continuing on:

A true spiritual response from one being ordained will first be an attitude of humility and soberness of mind. One will recognize that an ordination can be dangerous, as it can feed pride and self-importance...

Who does not know this, brethren, that someone has been ordained? This is very, very dangerous. This is important to remind ourselves – anybody that has been ordained, to remember this – that our greatest weakness, our greatest problem is pride.

Continuing on:

... since that is the natural human response to such an occasion.

Now, this is true. This is true, brethren, because all of us have pride and we can take to ourselves in anything, whether it's not even an ordination. Any raising up of anything can trigger pride because we take it to ourselves to think that the reason this is happening is because of “me”... because of “me.” No. What is happening is because of God. That's the answer. It's happening because of God. So we need to be very careful individually – everybody, whether we're ordained or not we need to be very careful – about anything that may feed our pride. But with regards to ordinations, this is the danger. This is why we should be sobered. We should not take any credit to the self about what we think, or the reason why we think we were ordained. It has nothing to do with how “good” we are. It's all about what God is doing in the Church for His purpose.

Not only will one be sobered to the dangers of normal human nature [pride], but also one will be sobered to a realization of greater responsibility and expectation before [from] God.

And the reason is we're being called to serve. And the word “minister” is “servant.” It means “servant, to serve.”

The soberness and care that is taken to heart concerning one’s own example and speech (words that come out of the mouth) will grow in importance, practice [patience], and guardedness. Within the midst of this soberness is also a “joy” due to understanding the greater opportunity for [of] growth and service to God and His people.

So this greater opportunity for spiritual growth comes about because of an ordination, and there is a greater opportunity to serve. Now, every ordination has the potential of service to degrees, because one person is called into the ministry (always called to serve in the ministry), but the opportunity to serve can be lesser than somebody else's opportunity. But time is an amazing thing and we just do not know what opportunities of service are ahead of us.

Now, there are great opportunities for all of us to serve to different degrees at different times, and we know going into the Millennium the opportunity for us to serve is enormous! It's about the role of service.

A true spiritual response from those who witness the ordination of another will also be one of humility, as one recognizes this is from God...

Now, this is the key point. This is the key point. The moment we don't see it as coming from God we have great spiritual problems within our life.

Continuing on...

... and then desires to support, help, and rejoice in the ordination. A spiritual response will be to combat and guard against any carnal response that “will” emerge.

And Mr. Weinland highlighted the word here boldly with italics, "will" emerge, because that's natural! That is natural! We will all do it. We will all have that first question, "Why?" Now, depending on our spiritual maturity, depending on how we sit with God and view this topic, whether or not we will then run with that thought or we'll discipline it. The most important thing is that we will recognize that every ordination is from God for a purpose.

A right response and decision (choice made) will also be the complete willingness to “come under” any form of government structure that may now involve that person’s life in relationship to the one ordained.

Now, this is an incredible thing because this is what it's about. This is about coming under and remaining under this government. We understand, brethren, that as people are ordained in God's Church the structure of God's church changes, and it's about the recognition of a spiritual authority. It's about a spiritual government. It's not a physical government! We look at this as God's government. So this is spiritual in nature. So the decision we make, whether or not we're going to support the person who has been ordained by God, given the opportunity to serve by God, whether or not we as individuals will support that ordination, support that person on a spiritual level is the issue. Because on a physical level people can make out they support people and they can come up and say, "Oh," you know, "well done!" "Congratulations!" And "We're pleased for you!" and all those things, but deep down they have what? Envy and resentment because they don't agree with the ordination. They don't agree that God has done the right thing. They think God's done the wrong thing because it should have been somebody else or "It should have been 'me'!" "It should have been me! I've been around all this long time, why isn't it me? What's going wrong? What's wrong with the decisions within God's church?" Well, that thinking, brethren, is carnal. It is carnal thinking! Why? Because all decisions are powered by the power of God's holy spirit. This is God's true Church!

Continuing on:

For such individuals who have or seek to have a right spiritual response to an ordination, there is the conviction at the forefront of it all that “this is God’s Church.” God will be seen (understood) as fully being over His government in His Church. Every member of the Body of Christ who is affected by an ordination in God’s Church is always tried and tested when such occurs.

Well, we know that, brethren, because this is what has happened from the foundation of the Church in 31 AD. This very issue has continued in God's Church, and guess what? Going forward it will continue. And in the Millennium, guess what? It will continue! Because natural carnal mind exists, we're going to have natural carnal minded thinking. We're going to ask, "Why?" And unless we have this clear picture that it is God's Church and believe it with all our being, we will not go any further with the question, "Why?" We will actually rejoice in the ordination. Now, that takes God's spirit. To rejoice in an ordination, any ordination no matter who it is, takes God's spirit. But in that, brethren, we need to choose. We need to deal with our thinking upfront, straightaway.

Then there are those [who are] not yielding to God’s spirit who react to an ordination in a completely carnal manner. For the one being ordained, the response can be one of “expectation,” as though they deserve this, are finally recognized, or have earned it.

Now, that's carnal thinking, brethren. That is carnal thinking.

The response is one of pride and eagerness to be “lifted up” above others – to be “over” others and to be “seen” as having authority. Such a spirit is often one that rejoices more in “being served” rather than in serving others, even if by examples sake alone (which has great value to God’s people when lived well).

So, brethren, we need to be careful of this thinking. There are two lot's here, of course, which is the thinking of the knee, "Well, why wasn't I ordained," and then the person that is ordained to take it to themselves in pride and desiring to be “lifted up” in the sense of “being seen by others” as “having authority,” when really that's not what that's about at all. This is not what it's about. But because of experience and because of maturity in God's Church, which both take time, these things can happen within individuals. Because it's only through time and experience and the power of God's spirit and making right choices that we can come to fully “see,” to fully believe, and to fully know and understand what an ordination is really about. It is a choice from God, and that's as simple as it gets. An ordination is a choice from God and any ordination carries great responsibility, and in actual fact, it can be a burden. It can be very, very dangerous if it's not handled correctly. And often I've said it's easier not to be ordained than it is to be ordained. To be ordained carries a great burden, a great responsibility, because, as it was mentioned previously, the words that people speak are taken at a higher level, they're considered to be “like God's speaking,” when in actual fact we're all human. But there's a great expectation on anyone ordained because people then view them differently.

Well, we, brethren, need to view all people that are ordained in a right manner, and that is one of spiritual authority. It's a role of service. It's not about thinking that they're “better” than us. That's not what it's about. It's just simply God has chosen a person to fulfill a role according to His will and purpose. That's about as clear as it gets.

So our attitudes, brethren, can pop up at different times. They can be about those that are ordained and it can be those that are not ordained, that witness it.

Going on in the statements here:

....

Those who witness (observe and/or are directly affected by) an ordination and respond carnally can display a number of different responses.

And those responses are attitudes that come out.

It can be one of jealousy and envy in which case the individual can believe a mistake has been made (that God is not in the picture)...

Now, this is something that is a common thought within our carnal thinking that the mistake has been made because, "I know that person! I know them! How could they ever be ordained?!" Well, that's carnal reasoning. That's carnal thinking.

... and/or that they should have been ordained instead.

"Because, obviously, the person making the decision about who's going to be ordained and who's not going to be ordained can't obviously see how good 'I' am, 'my' spiritual works, and how long 'I've' been in God's Church! Surely they're overlooking 'me'. They've made a mistake!"

Often such carnal responses include personal “judgment” toward the ordained individual.

"They're not worthy! I know them. Obviously the person ordaining them doesn't know. The Church has made a mistake."

They themselves have determined that the qualifications of the one ordained are lacking. This kind of judgment can view things about a person’s past through eyes that are unforgiving and blind to one’s true spiritual growth.

They don't see themselves as they really are on a spiritual level. And of course, the tendency of human nature, brethren, is not to be forgiving. For example, how would we respond to somebody that was in authority and killed somebody, and organized people to be killed, and then the ministry decided to ordain that person as an elder? How would we respond to that? What would we think? Because we're hanging on to this past of the person. Well, I was referring, of course, to the apostle Paul, who was a murderer. He authorized the killing of God's people, and yet God called him out and appointed him as an apostle, one sent forth to the gentiles. Well, if we have this wrong attitude, this unforgiving attitude, and if we hold them to their past, we're never going to move forward. We're never going to move forward! Because God is all forgiving. God forgives! At baptism everybody's past, everything that they did, every sin to that point in time is washed, cleaned, and forgiven.

So who are we, brethren, not to be forgiving? Well, we know that's sin. Because what are we doing? When we are unforgiving about a person's past, or about a sin, what are we doing? We're placing ourselves as God. We're being “a Lucifer.” We're lifting ourselves up to take on the authority of God because only God can forgive sin. And there are conditions for forgiveness, but God is all merciful and He is all forgiving, so He has this forgiving approach to His life, the way of love, the way He is. He is all merciful and He forgives and God moves forward with that person, working with them in mercy and being forgiven. But we, brethren, with our natural carnal mind, of course, we are unforgiving! And when we're unforgiving we do not “see” our true spiritual condition, we don't really “see ourselves,” and that's our problems.

Other carnal responses can also produce things like bitterness, anger, resentment, depression, escalating harsh judgment...

...going to speak down more about that person. We're going to be really hard on them and the decisions that they make and the smallest little error that they may make. And all ministry make mistakes. When they make that mistake, because of the anger and the bitterness and the resentment we're going to speak against them, we're going to judge them really hardly instantly, because it justifies our position. It justifies our thinking! They weren't worthy anyway so look at what they've done! And so we'll be willing to jump out straight away and speak about that person and pull them down. Not knowing that they acknowledged that they made the mistake and have gone and repented that hour...and yet we're holding on to it with this harsh judgment and we'll escalate it. It'll just get worse and worse because we're looking at them in a negative way. So we're going to pull them down no matter what. Even though they are in a state of repentance and have God's spirit, we will escalate our judgment on them, our condemning judgment. We'll pull them down! And any opportunity we get to spread this disunity, this discord, this disagreement with God's decision, we will speak to others about it.

Does that remind you of something? Does that remind you of something? That was Lucifer. So if you look at these attitudes...

...unfaithfulness, presumptuousness, and other spiritually debilitating attitudes.

The carnal response, the satanic response, the Lucifer response will produce things like bitterness because that's what Satan did. He became bitter at what God was doing, God's purpose for mankind. We believe, we understand that, that it was at that point, when God revealed His true purpose for mankind. Because you remember back, we just read, that when God created the universe and the earth and He produced the earth, the angels sang for joy! They were in unity! They were joyous and positive. But it appears that once God revealed the truth of why He was creating this physical universe – was to place man on it to be Elohim, to be greater than the angels – what did it produce in Satan's thinking, Lucifer's thinking? It produced, just like an ordination can do (true?), it produced a wrong way of thinking. So we've read what an ordination can produce because of a decision or judgment. They've worked it out for themselves, this reasoning that can take place, determined for themselves. Well, this is what Lucifer did. He went to bitterness, anger, resentment, depression, escalating harsh judgment on God, unfaithfulness, is what he did. Presumptuous, he took it to himself cause he was going to raise himself up, and other spiritually disabilitating attitudes. Satan formed an attitude.

These attitudes are not just confined towards the one who is ordained, but are often turned towards (against) those in the government of the Church.

Because if we disrespect one person that is ordained, because we don't think that they're worthy of that ordination, we will then turn that same harsh judgment towards those who made the decision to ordain the person – because we've left God out of the picture. We just think it's a decision made by man. We think that the reasoning is carnal and that the decision to elevate the person in the sense of a role of ordination, elevating them on a spiritual level for a role of service, is done because of favoritism or wrong reasoning. Because that's what actually happens to us. So what actually happens then is the person will then turn to criticizing God's government, any minister. They will criticize them. They probably won't criticize every single one of them, because some of them they would hold them as in “higher esteem” than others, because of their human reasoning; therefore, they may not ever criticize somebody in a higher level of authority within God's Church (perceived) and they would probably always hold them in high esteem. But others, well, you know, they don't necessarily view them that way. Well, that's not the way to think, brethren. God ordains everybody to a role of service within the ministry. Our response to that is one of joy in what God is doing in His Church.

In reality, that kind of wrong response is actually a spiritual one that is against God because the individual does not "see" God as being in full control of His Church for whatever His purpose might be.

Now, this is, really, the truth of the matter. It is God that is in control of His Church. Now, if we don't see these things on a spiritual level, brethren, we're going to have the wrong response.

All ordinations into God's Church are under God's control and purpose. Now, this is the way we know whether or not we are yielding and remaining under God's government. It's based on our response to ordinations. If we don't remain under government we will raise ourselves up and express our opinion, our view, the way we see it in the sense of the way we see the ordination. Now, the ordination is only one aspect of this matter of remaining under government, because it can apply to many, many other decisions that are made within God's Church, and therefore, we need to be very careful about how we respond to the decisions that are made in God's Church.

Let's pick it up again in Ezekiel 28:15 – You, perfect, it says, "You were perfect," but “were,” again, was added. You, perfect, and that is “complete and sound,” in your ways from the day, from the time, you were created, being a created spirit being. Till, until, iniquity, now, that word “iniquity” is “to deal unjustly,” wickedness was found, was present, in you. Lucifer's mind was for God and for God's way of governing until he, Lucifer, chose to go against (think differently towards) God's way of government. So this is a process of thinking. And it may start with that resentment, or that jealousy, or asking the question, "Why?" That's what it can often start with. "Why?" Sin was found in his thinking and in his way of dealing with spirit life. He now desired to be served rather than to fully submit to the purpose of his creation, and that was to serve.

Verse 16 – By the abundance of your trading, and that is “merchandise, traffic, or trade,” which was the way he dealt with God's creation, the way he dealt with God's way. So through this abundance of his dealings with other spirit beings you became filled with violence within. Now, that “violence” is “cruelty and injustice” within his thinking, “to treat violently in the midst.” So here we have a change of thinking. Violence, as we understand, is murder. Because when we have this ill will, this wrong thinking, this injustice in our thinking, it leads to another thing which leads to another thing, which leads to murder, to death. Hence, Lucifer is a murderer and the father of it. He was a generator of it because he was the first to go down this path of violence. He became filled with this thinking within this cruelty and injustice, and it was towards other spirit beings, but his rebellion was towards God. He set out then, of course, to convince others, to draw them alongside, that God was wrong and that he was right, that God was unfair with what He had announced and what God was doing. God's ways were no longer “fair” in his eyes, in his reasoning.

Does that sound familiar with an ordination, brethren? We can raise ourselves up to think that "It's not fair," that "It's unjust," that "It's not right," because of our human reasoning. Because we have to connect this reasoning with the way that Satan reasoned, Lucifer reasoned, because they're the same thinking. They're the same thinking and it leads to something else. What does it lead to? Sin.

Verse 16 – And you sinned, and that sin is no longer serving, no longer serving God. Because Lucifer was created with a mind for God, and because God's way is a way of love they had an aspect of this love towards others. It wasn't powered by God's holy spirit, but when you serve somebody else with a right attitude – and that's what Lucifer was created to do, to serve in a right attitude – to be for others, well, that is God's way. But he then developed this way of thinking which was he desired now ill will. He desired, no longer, to love God's creation, to love God's plan. He actually desired ill will towards it now.

Therefore I, God, cast you as a profane thing, and that is “polluted or defiled,” out of the mountain of God, out of God's government, out of God's way of being. And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,

from the midst of the fiery stones. So Lucifer was removed. Lucifer chose not to yield himself to the purpose of his creation. He chose not to remain under God's government. Because of this choice God removed him from his position in authority within the spirit realm.

Now, we can look at this when it comes to people that leave God's Church because that's exactly what happens. They raise themselves up against God. They no longer desire or choose to remain under God's government; therefore, they need to be removed. They actually remove themselves first because the moment that they sin against God they remove themselves from God. They may still be part of the body of Christ in the sense of being in the church (not in a spirit way but being associated with the Church, in the church), they may have roles that are authority or positions, they may be, brethren, it doesn't matter, because in the end they have actually removed themselves from God because of sin, unrepentant sin. So they may not yet have disfellowshipped themselves or been disfellowshipped, but they actually have been removed on a spiritual level from God.

Because of their choice God removes them from their positions within the fellowship of God's Church. So that's actually what actually takes place. They are cut off from the flow of God's spirit and in time they are removed from fellowship from God's Church, from God's people. They have already been disfellowshipped – because they did it to themselves – from God. They've been removed from God because they've cut themselves off by unrepented sin.

Verse 17 – Referring to Lucifer...Your heart, your inner thinking, was lifted up, it was exalted – why? –   because of your beauty. So he began to think he was better than the other created spirit beings. It was obvious to him that he was bright and beautiful as a spirit being, so he actually lifted himself up thinking that he was better. He took it to himself – forgetting that he was a created spirit being and that everything that he had came from God – that he lifted himself up and saw himself as beautiful, “better than,” “higher than” in his thinking.

You corrupted, you destroyed, your wisdom, what God had given him, this ability to serve, this ability to think, this ability to reason, to think out to the benefit of others – not God's holy spirit – but he was created for God's plan. He corrupted it! He corrupted it himself by his choice. The thinking that he had been given was now corrupted, it was polluted, it was defiled. Why? Why did Lucifer do this? ...for the sake of your splendor, and that word, “splendor,” is “the brightness, the self-importance.” It all goes back to the way we see ourselves, what we take to ourselves.

Do we see ourselves as servants or do we desire to be served? Do we think we are better than others? Do we take credit to ourselves for anything on a spiritual level? Do we take credit to ourselves for anything that God allows us to have access to? Well, if we answer those questions, brethren, it will give us an idea of what our thinking is. Are we resentful to decisions that God has made or is making? Or are we going to be resentful to decisions that God will make in the near future, or in the Millennium, or in the Hundred Years? Are we going to be resentful towards somebody that is elevated on a spiritual level for the purpose of service? Or are we going to be resentful to somebody that may have an opportunity to serve within God's Church? Are we going to be resentful towards God about it? Because when we're resentful or envious or treat a member of the Body of Christ with any ill will – we've read scriptures before in previous sermons – it's the same as doing it to Jesus Christ. So, IF we have ill will towards anybody in God's Church it's exactly the same as having ill will towards Jesus Christ! Now, that is a powerful, powerful thing to understand. Because Christ said, "If you've done it to the least of these, My brethren," if we've done it to the child, remember, "you've done it to Me." It's exactly the same thing. Because a member of the Body of Christ, the Church of God that has God's spirit, has Jesus Christ living and dwelling in them; therefore, if we have ill will to them, if we have any ill will towards a member of the Body, we have ill will towards Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ lives and dwells in the person.

Well, this is the same thing when it comes to this area of ordinations or any decision of binding and loosening when we start to question God – "What is God doing in His Church?" – rather than submitting our will to God's government, to remain under, yielding to God's government.

Spiritual government can be seen by the way we think. Do we yield our thinking to God? Do we place our thinking under God's government? Or do we think we know better? Are we doing “a Job,” just talking the talk, speaking words without knowledge, without spiritual understanding, coming from our own human reasoning?

What will be the outcome of every created being that has chosen to rebel against God's government? What is the outcome of every created being?

Verse 17 continuing – I, God, will cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings, that they may gaze on you. You defiled, you polluted, your sanctuaries, “your prepared holy place” is another way to put it. Which, really, the mind is a place that God wishes to dwell. So we have to be very careful that we don't pollute it by sin, by wrong thinking, by choosing to think hostility to God and not submitting to God's government in our life.

How did Satan do it? How did he defile his sanctuary, the place, the holy place that God had set aside for him? Because he was created without God's spirit, but it is desire in him, this mind in him that God had placed into him... By the multitude, and that is “the greatness or the many.” It's many, like multitude, many of your iniquities, so it's not just one thing. It's a twisted and perverted thinking that comes out of it, “the multitude of your iniquities.” So this perversion, this twisting. Because when we go down the path of one sin – let's just say it's envy – we then break all the others because envy is driven by pride! Pride! And when we have pride, what do we do? We have ill will where we're stealing people's character. We're doing all those things? All about this relationship, the last six commandments. If we have envy we're breaking them all, really, because they're all connected and it's all because of this pride that we have.

So this “multitude of your iniquities,” this perverted thinking, this twisting of the thinking. By the iniquity of your trading, this unjust trafficking, which was the trafficking of his rebellious, unthankful, twisted attitude towards others, the attitude he was transferring, he was trading to other angels!

Well, we have that same potential, brethren. We need to be on guard about that very potential, that we don't do the same thing, that we do not do that exact same thing, which is to trade our attitudes, trade our spirit, the wrong spirit towards others. Because every time we see this spirit lifting itself up in us we need to deal with it. And that's what overcoming is about; that's what fighting is about. Fighting is about fighting the thinking, that thought that comes into our minds. And it does. Everybody has those thoughts. Everybody in God's Church is required to fight them. Now, there are times when we don't succeed as well as we really had desired because we let things go too far, but we can repent of it and we can acknowledge that we were in rebellion to God.

Well, let's be careful that when any ordination takes place within God's Church, that we do not “trade our attitude” of negativeness to others. We should “trade” our positive attitude! And it should be genuine, sincere, and real, that we support God's decision. Because it's not really about the individual – let's just be fair – it's not about the individual. It's about the work that God does through the individual. It's about the work that God does because it's God doing the work. We are just the vessels! We are just the clay and He is the Master Potter and He will achieve His will in and through us.

So when somebody is selected to be ordained we should rejoice in what God is doing and what God has the potential to do in that person. And we can rejoice for the person because of the opportunity they've been given and the responsibility and the burden of carrying that role. But we can rejoice in them; therefore, we can support them. We should desire the best for them, the best spiritual outcome for them, and we shouldn't ever have a wrong attitude, that twisted and perverted attitude of jealousy and envy or ill will, and we shouldn't, definitely, speak it out to others.

Now, the moment we speak out to others in a negative way towards the individual or towards others, there is sin. The moment we go up and congratulate somebody on their ordination because of what God is doing, and we have a wrong attitude about it because we're not doing it with a sincere, genuine heart – in other words, we don't believe it – we're being a hypocrite. We're just acting out a role like the Pharisee's did, to be seen, to be seen of men, to be seen by other brethren as being happy and joyous because of the ordination. We have sinned and we need to repent of it. Because we've got a wrong thinking. And the wrong thinking is we do not see God in the picture of every single ordination.

Now, we're covering ordinations today and in Part 2 we're going to go on to other topics.

If you'd like, quickly, to turn to Revelation 12. (Hold your place, sorry. Hold your place there.) Revelation 12:4; I'll refer to it, which is what actually was the outcome of Lucifer's trading. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. So we understand that because of his trafficking, because of the trafficking of his attitude, it infected others, and then they had the choice to make themselves. So when that thought came in they had a choice to make. They had to then choose what they were going to do. Were they going to accept and listen to this negative broadcasting that was coming out from Lucifer? Or were they going to fight against it and choose God's way? Were they going to choose to continue to serve God's will and purpose? Well, we know the outcome. They were cast out from the presence of God, which was one third of them, Lucifer and a third of the angels. They had chosen to not be under God's government any longer. In actual fact they had chosen, without fully realizing it, to be under the government of Lucifer. Because we are all under government of one shape and form, and we'll always be under government... for the rest of our physical life and the rest of our spirit life. We will always be under a government. And our desire is, of course, to always remain under, yield to and be under God's government for the rest of our physical life. And in the spirit realm we desire, and will be, under God's government, under God's thinking, God's ways.

When we speak against any decision made by God's ministry (as long as it is not sin), we have chosen for ourselves to not yield, not be under God's government. And why would we do that? We will do that because we have chosen, we have reasoned within ourselves and we have chosen to think that we know better than God. We're doing “a Job.” We're speaking without knowledge, without spiritual knowledge, and spiritual understanding. Now the result of pride and rebellion of God's government will be seen.

Let's go back now to Ezekiel 28:18 – Therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. We don't fully understand every aspect of that statement at this point in time.

Verse 19 – All who knew, and that is “to know” you among the peoples are astonished at you; You have become a horror, and that is “a dreadful event.” Because the destruction of Lucifer, of Satan, is going to be a dreadful event. It's going to be God's mercy and love doing it, but it's still a horrendous thing. To see anybody destroyed is a terrible thing because we understand the choice that they have made.

Now, anybody with God's spirit will realize and see that the destruction of Lucifer and anybody that chooses to remain in rebellion to God, remain in pride, needs to be destroyed. And it is only an act of God's mercy and love that somebody is destroyed for eternity. They will never have life again. So this destruction, this dreadful event that is going to take place – dreadful in the sense of not that it's disappointing. It's dreadful because the fact that it has to take place; it actually has to take place.

You shall become a horror, a dreadful event, and shall be no more forever. No longer exist.

So we're going to leave Spiritual Government – Part 1 there, and we will pick up Spiritual Government – Part 2 soon. □