BIBLE DOCTRINE WITH PASTOR ROBERT R. MCLAUGHLIN

The Doctrine of Negative Volition. Part 2. Saul's negative volition and the witch of endor.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Doctrine of Negative Volition.

Negative volition is refusal of Bible doctrine divided into two categories.
A. Primary negative volition is refusal to assemble for Bible teaching, the rejection of your right pastor teacher and his authority.
B. Negative volition - refusal to transfer doctrine from the left lobe to the right lobe.

There is also the refusal of the faith-rest technique as a part of negative volition.

He fails to appropriate promises, to utilize doctrine which he has already learned, to utilize the principles and to mix them with his faith, HEB 4:2.

Saul went to the witch of Endor, held a seance, and still there was silence, until Samuel entered the scene.

Urim and Thummin

The real breastplate or the checkerboard, the Urim and Thummin, is with David.

Saul executed 85 priests, 1SA 22:18, and the Ephod went with the one priest who escaped, Abiathar, 1SA 22:22.

You have to have the real thing, the high priest and the breastplate, and Saul had neither.

When the backslider or the reversionist needs doctrine the most, he has it the least.

In verse 6, the reversionist or the backslider seeks miracles, signs and wonders in time of pressure. The reversionist or the backslider is totally thoughtless.

“I know you are busy but, I’d like to take a few moments of your time.”

Translation: three hours of boring, dull, depressing conversation, usually a monologue.

Reversionists or backsliders are usually thoughtless; they are whiners, selfish, they lack sensitivity and common courtesy.

The first sign of a reversionist or backslider is his refusal to listen to the word of God.

Only believers with doctrine can survive the heartaches, the pressures, the catastrophes of life.

Saul lost the spiritual battle before he lost the physical or natural battle.

You never lose the visible without first losing the invisible.

Saul is now accepting necromancy which is the practice of supposedly communicating with the spirits of the dead in order to predict the future.

He is in the last stages of reversionism, which is hardness of the heart, blackout of the soul, ending in physical death.

Contact with necromancers and mediums was specifically forbidden by the word of God, LEV 19:31.

Contact with necromancers and mediums was a sign of reversionism or backsliding and brought on divine discipline, LEV 20:6.

The believer who has negative volition toward doctrine will end up with the vacuum of the soul opening up and drawing in 1TI 4:1, doctrine from demons.

The black-out of the soul plus the hardness of the heart causes the believer not to understand doctrine they have previously understood.

If Saul had been learning his doctrine he would have known and understood the book of Judges and how Gideon handled this same problem, and at this point it was one bit of doctrinal information he could have applied.

You never know when you are studying the word of God, what doctrine you are going to need.

If Saul had simply remembered what Samuel had taught him about Gideon he would have been victorious.

Reversionism or backsliding leads to instability.
 Frightened one moment and courageous the next.

The reversionist or the backslider seeks to use the Lord.

Delusion, deception, and superstition mark the believer who is backslidden.

The reversionist or the backslider can use a number of disguises; here it refers to clothes but in other cases it could also mean vocabulary and personality disguises.

He is obviously unstable, JAM 1:8; JAM 4:8.

Saul is only going to change his clothes to disguise himself, but the most dangerous types are those who change their personality.

Just as you would use clothes to disguise the body, personality can disguise the soul.

It is interesting that Saul was the king who had prohibited the practice of divination and necromancy.

What has happened to Saul in reversionism explains why many believers begin with doctrine as Saul did, sound, conservative, courageous, but then they give lip service to doctrine and reversionism always changes these people.

Life is something that continually changes.

We not only undergo physical change as we stay in this world, we also undergo mental change and spiritual change.

Cowards do the wrong-brave things.

In dangerous situations, cowards are unpredictable.

1. Saul’s military is weak and limited.

Because Saul has been so busy with personal vengeance, chasing David, that he has neglected the military training of his nation.

2. Saul is a believer, a reversionistic backslidden believer.

Saul should have been listening to doctrine; instead he is creeping from rock to rock, so as not to be seen, going to a seance.

3. It isn’t courage that is needed; it is good training and discipline. Heroes don’t make the difference. Brains make the difference. Brains, discipline, and recognition of authority equals victory.

4. The Jewish army no longer has discipline.
5. Saul is now under the sin unto death and divine discipline. Jonathan wasn’t a reversionist or the backslider, but he is going to die by association.

6. Saul’s problems =
a. He is desperate
b. He is confused
c. He is filled with human viewpoint
d. He is under demon influence
e. He has blackout of the soul
f. He has hardness of the heart

ZEP 3:15 The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you will fear disaster no more.

The Doctrine of Negative Volition, Part 1.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

A great spiritual heritage, I might say, though many of them rejected the spiritual part of their heritage and lived instead in the natural part of earthly blessing because of the promises made to their father Abraham.

GEN 12:2 I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

ROM 9:5 From whom [the Jews or Israelites] are the fathers, [the regenerate ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], in fact, from whom is The Christ, the One who came in the flesh, the One who is God, ruler over all, extolled, praised, eulogized forever, Amen.

The spiritual heritage of Israel, the Shekinah glory, the unconditional covenants, the gift of the Mosaic Law, the Sabbath, and the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We could have also noted the ark of the covenant, the various articles inside the ark which spoke of sin, the tabernacle, the Temple, -

- the various feasts and Holy days like the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of the First Fruits, Feasts of Pentecost and the Feasts of Trumpets, these are all related to the spiritual heritage of Israel.

In the Old Testament the concept of the deity of TLJC was revealed by the Shekinah glory, but in the heritage of Israel, the Shekinah glory was invisible.

Man is a free agent, man has free will, but he’s always looking for an excuse, a patsy, someone to blame.

Then God sent His Son; the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, JOH 1:14.

Dwelt - aor-act-ind - skenoo = to tabernacle.
Tabernacled = eternal God, the second person, with all of the attributes of God, became a member of the human race and true humanity.

This answered the Jews and their excuse, “We didn’t get to see, Adonai Elohim, we didn’t get to see His glory and go into the holy of holies.”

You have always wanted to see God, so the First Advent, you now have your wish, and now the Shekinah glory is in your midst.
1CO 1:22 For indeed Jews ask for signs,
ISA 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

COL 1:15 He is the exact image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.

But when the Shekinah glory was here, and they saw the Lord Jesus Christ, face to face, and they heard His message, and they saw His miracles, they had the whole picture, and still they hardened their hearts, and had that same negative volition.

There is a purpose for the First Advent, apart from our so great salvation, there is a purpose, which is related entirely to Israel.

They would make idols out of stone and wood and bronze and gold and silver, and they would worship these things; they had to see something, they said.

When you see the Shekinah glory, it makes absolutely no difference to most.

You have to have self-determination and free will.

JER 29:13 And you will seek Me and find {Me,} when you search for Me with all your heart.

HEB 11:6b ...He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,
those who in MAR 12:30 love the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their mind, and with all their strength.

For in the Church-age, in spite of all that God has done and how He has revealed the mystery doctrine of the Church-age, the average believer knows nothing about it.

The Doctrine of Negative Volition.
Point 1. Introduction.

A. Primary negative volition is refusal to assemble for Bible teaching, the rejection of your right pastor and his authority.

Epaphras was the founder and pastor of a local church at Colossae, according to COL 1:7 and 4:12. However in Phile 23, Epaphras was serving with Paul in Rome during Paul’s first imprisonment.

Epaphroditus may or may not have been the pastor at Philippi, but when he carried the Philippian epistle from Paul to that group of believers, he carried a series of non-face-to-face messages.

While the apostle John was teaching face-to-face in Ephesus, he was at the same time teaching at least two other groups in a non-face-to-face manner.

2JO 1:1 The elder [John] to the elect lady [the eklektos kuria] and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth.
3JO 1:1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

When John was banished to the Island of Patmos by Nero, he penned the book of Revelation, which is a series of non-face-to-face messages delivered to seven churches on a regular basis; i.e., to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

How can a believer in a non-face to face situation use their spiritual gift to build up and edify the body of Christ?

You are an ambassador for TLJC, and you represent Him as well as the pastor-teacher and the assembly you have been called to wherever you are and wherever you go.

Right where you are, you can use your time, talent, treasure and your spiritual gift.

1. Evangelism
2. Pastor-Teacher
3. Teaching
4. Helps (Ministering)
5. Administration
6. Exhortation
7. Giving
8. Mercy

Point 1. Negative volition = refusal of Bible doctrine divided into two categories.

A. Primary negative volition = refusal to assemble for Bible teaching, the rejection of your right pastor and his authority.
B. Secondary negative volition = refusal to transfer doctrine from the left lobe to the right lobe.

Negative volition is a refusal of the rebound technique.

This is the malfunction of the grace apparatus for perception whereby the believer assembles, but because he does not rebound, he is not filled with the Spirit.

Failure to be filled with the Spirit means no doctrine is transferred to the right lobe because there is no doctrine in the left lobe.

There is also the refusal of the faith-rest technique as a part of negative volition.

He fails to appropriate promises, to utilize doctrine which he has already learned, to utilize the principles and to mix them with his faith, HEB 4:2.

Inconsistent negative volition refers to a person who takes in doctrine only when he is under pressure.

Saul went to the witch of Endor, held a seance, and still there was silence, until Samuel entered the scene.

The Urim was a breastplate on the shoulder of the high priest which had stones that would light up when you had a question and you wanted divine guidance - Right shoulder was no and left was yes, called Urim and Thummin.

Thummin is the checkerboard with 12 squares, one for every tribe of Israel. One is that the real breastplate or the checkerboard, the urim and thummin, is with David.

Since Saul executed 85 priests through that rat Doeg the Edomite,
1SA 22:18, the Ephod went with the one who escaped, who was Abiathar,
1SA 22:22.

ECC 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

The History of the NT Greek Canon.

Papyrus was mostly used for more ancient books. It survived in warm, dry climates such as the Middle East, but became frail after repeated use.



Parchment or vellum, which became more used in the 4th century, was made from the skins of cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes, and was much more durable than papyrus, but more expensive.



At the close of the first century A.D. the codex or leaf form of book, came into use in the Church. This is the form of book that we have today.

Majuscules or Uncials were all capitol letters without spaces or punctuation. This was beautifully done in very old manuscripts and eliminated errors due to handwriting styles.



Minuscule was a script type of writing using lower case letters.
Since the minuscule handwriting made books cheaper, they were more available to people with limited means.



Greek manuscripts fall into these two major groups (majuscule or minuscule), having subgroups of being written on either papyri or parchment. Either material was used interchangeably depending on cost.

In English for example it would read: GODISNOWHERE.

In the 4th century, when Rome received Christianity, scriptoria were established to produce copies of the NT. Therefore, just because a manuscript is older, that does not mean that it’s necessarily more accurate.



God chose to preserve the NT by the very number of man’s mistakes. In other words, the mistakes preserve the original text.

There are over 5700 manuscripts catalogued of parts of the NT alone. Each having small differences, then the number of variants becomes high, however, by comparison of them all, the variants become quite clear and a wonderful rendering of the original text is possible.

Wescott and Hort indicated that about one eighth of the variants had any weight, the rest being trivial.

Philip Schaff estimated that there were only 400 variants that affected the sense of the passage, and only 50 of these were important.

Dr. A.T. Robertson, the greatest of Greek scholars, indicated that of real concern regarding textual variants amounted to but “a thousandth part of the entire text.”

Four categories:
Papyri………….116
Majuscules …….310
Minuscules……..2877
Lectionary………2432
5735

Codex Sinaiticus

At the age of nineteen, young Count Koinstantin von Tischendorf amazed his professors with his fluent knowledge of the classical languages and his knowledge of history.

This is how Tischendorf dis­covered the 129 pages of what is today known as the Codex sinaiticus, or the Codex Aleph.

Codex Sinaiticus is still one of the finest and most accurate texts available to us today, and it became the basis of many revisions and corrections of earlier editions of the Bible.

Actually, Codex Vaticanus, also known as Codex B was known to be some fifteen years older than Codex Sinaiticus (Codex Aleph). Vaticanus dated back to 325 or 350 A.D., and had probably been brought from the East by Pope Nicholas in 1448.

In 1809, when Napoleon exiled the Pope, it took about fifty wagons to transport the Pope’s library.

Tregelles, another great scholar and friend of Tischendorf’s, decided to investigate the Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican library.

A third very interesting manuscript, which very few people knew about, is the Codex Alexandrinus.
This Greek language manuscript had been written about 450 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 1621, when Cyril Lucar became the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, he transferred the manuscript to
Constantinople.

The beautiful document, Codex Alexandrinus, was presented at court in 1627, just fifteen years after the King James Version of the Bible had been completed.

The first thing that was printed was Jerome’s Latin Vulgate as it was the most popular Bible translation at the time, although by then Bibles had been printed in several languages of Europe.

No Greek NT had been “printed” until 1514 and was called the Complutensian Polygot. It was a magnificent edition of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin texts. 600 were printed, of which 97 are preserved today.

However, the first Greek NT to be published (put on the market) was an edition prepared by the famous Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1516.

Erasmus could not find a Greek manuscript that contained the entire NT. He used about a half dozen different, incomplete copies of the Greek NT. For most of the text he relied on two rather inferior manuscripts from a monastic library at Basle, one of the Gospels and one of Acts and the Epistles, both dating from the 12th century.

Said of this first edition, owing to the haste in production, the volume contains hundreds of typographical errors. Said of this first edition: “It is in that respect the most faulty book I know.” (Scrivener)

Erasmus made a second edition which became the basis for Luther’s German translation. Corrections were made but the text was still only based on a half-dozen Greek manuscripts.

Further editions were made for a total of five editions in all by 1535. The text of Erasmus’ Greek NT rests upon a half-dozen miniscule Greek manuscripts. The oldest and best of these (codex 1, a miniscule of the 10th century) he used the least because he was afraid of its supposedly erratic text.

It is Erasmus’ text (Textus Receptus: Received Text) that is the basis of the 1611 King James Version. This is not to say that the KJV is a terrible translation, but it is flawed as any other translation and it is not as good as RSV, NIV, or NASB etc.

ROM 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. KJV

ROM 8:4
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. KJV

After Erasmus thousands of manuscripts of the Greek NT have been discovered as well as other ancient Greek texts that have aided in our understanding of the Koine Greek.

In fact the 26th edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek NT was published separately from the United Bible Societies’ Greek NT. Without communicating and by using different critical methods the two editions are identical.

5735 Greek manuscripts discovered and criticized over hundreds of years have reproduced God’s original Word to the writers of Scripture within 99.999% accuracy.


Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
April 8, 2008

Canonicity Definition, Origin, and the OT.

Definiton:
Canonicity is derived from the Greek word “kanon” which originally meant a rod or a ruler – hence a measuring stick or a norm.

The canon of Scripture is the divine absolute standard of God’s revelation to mankind.

Argument: We don’t have any of the originals and the originals have been copied over and over so there are bound to be mistakes. Answer: True

Argument: The Bible was written by men and not God.
Answer: True.

But over 40 different writers who wrote over a period of 1,500 years are in exact agreement about types, antitypes, prophecies, fulfillment of prophecies, timelines, stories, and history, and all without a single glitch.

God the Holy Spirit so directed the writers of Scripture that without changing their personality, their vocabulary, their frame of reference, God’s complete message to mankind was recorded in their own language and vernacular.

This is the doctrine of inspiration. The Bible is not human viewpoint, but it is the Holy Spirit’s use of human agencies to record God’s complete revelation to mankind through mankind.

The Origin of the Scriptures:

The Bible was inspired by God and it is now complete.

REV 22:18
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book : if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book;

1 Cor 2:10
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God

1 Cor 2:16
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

When we turn to the decree of Artaxerxes, made in his twentieth year, NEH 2:1-8, for the first time is permission granted to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. This prophecy fulfills the conditions of DAN 9:25

Therefore, 69 weeks of prophetic years of 360 days (69 x 7 x 360 = 173,880 days) = 173,880 days.

After this many days, from March 14th B.C. 445, one would arrive at the 6th of April, A.D. 32.

Luke 19:42
“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes. (NIV)

The Old Testament

For instance the original Greek of John 1:1 is as follows:

Now look at an OT verse in the Hebrew:
à áÌÀøÅàùÑÄéú, áÌÈøÈà àÁìÉäÄéí, àÅú äÇùÌÑÈîÇéÄí, åÀàÅú äÈàÈøÆõ.

In 280 B.C. 72 Alexandrian scholars got together and produced an amazingly accurate translation. This was called the Septuagint or “the Seventy” in honor of the translators.

:
The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, although only a handful of chapters were written in Aramaic

Unlike the NT, the OT scriptures were kept among one people, the Jews, for centuries. Outside of the Septuagint it remained in Hebrew, was kept among people who spoke the same language, and the Jews were well trained copyists and preservers of the OT

Originally the OT was divided into 3 parts: The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings

The Torah or the Pentateuch consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

The second group, the Nabhim or Prophets which are split into two categories; the Former Prophets (before the Babylonian captivity) and the Latter prophets (after the Babylonian captivity). There are four books in each category.

The three Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel

The Minor Prophets, which we divide into 12 separate books, are all one in the Hebrew Bible, called the Twelve. Apart from Daniel “The Twelve” includes everything from Hosea to Malachi

The third section of the Hebrew OT is called the Kethubim or “The Writings.” This was divided into 3 sections, The Poetical Books, The Five Rolls (also called the Megilloth), and The Historical Books.

Lastly there are the three Historical Books at the end of the Hebrew Canon: Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (one book), and Chronicles.

Therefore, the Hebrew OT contains 24 books compared to our 39

This endorsement of Scripture takes us from GEN 4:10 (the first book) to 2CH 24:20-21 (the last book in the OT Canon)

The Apocrypha are books written after the close of the OT Canon in 425 B.C. The word Apocrypha means hidden or secret. Their addition was an attempt by the devil to infiltrate God’s Truth.

The Apocrypha teaches: Prayers and offerings for the dead (2 Macc 12:41-46). Suicide is justified (2 Macc 14:41-46). Salvation by giving money (Tobit 4:11). Cruelty to slaves (Ecclesiasticus 33:25-29). The soul is produced by parents (Wisdom 8:19-20).