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The Great Exchange

Part XLIV

As we've approached the subject of the mystical descriptions of the divided mind of the Devil, we're also seeing some very subtle clues about how the Spirit of Antichrist has come to permeate this entire world.

Those who have walked with the LORD for some time have learned that God regularly provides His sons and daughters with communications and signs, which others consider to be frivolous, or even the result of superstitious excess.

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14).

An interesting example of this type of communication is found in the Scriptural phrase referring to "they that dwell on the earth."

We have previously noted those who "dwell on the earth" is consistently applied as a metaphoric phrase referencing the earth dwellers as the lost. It is contrasted with the saved, who are identified as "them that dwell in heaven" (Revelation 13:6).

While believers have been conditioned to conclude that we will only dwell in heaven after we die, the Scriptures actually teach that our life in Christ, which is obviously in the venue of the Spirit, begins when we are born again in Him. Thus, as we are presently seated "in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3), we are told to rejoice as the Son of God has overcome the dragon's despicable plan, as the Devil has been cast down and exiled on the earth – where the lost "dwell."

"Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitors of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12).

The phrases concerning those who dwell on the earth are usually paired with some action, which serves as the initialization of why they dwell on the earth. For instance, the Spirit in the second beast (the False Prophet) is the one that "deceiveth them that dwell on the earth" (Revelation 13:14), and this earth bound restriction occurs because of the Deception, which leads to the embrace of the Spirit in the first beast (imaged as Antichrist, or Death).

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:9).

This is why Jesus made statements that sounded odd at the time, such as when He was calling disciples, and one asked him if he could wait until he had buried his father.

"And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead" (Mathew 8:21, 22).

We fail to see the whole world is already Spiritually dead, even though the shadow that is this world appears to be alive. Thus, the LORD was saying the Spiritually dead can bury the physically dead, but the disciple that He called – allegorically seen as any person that Christ has called to salvation – should immediately follow Him.

Indeed, the very next verse in this sequence elaborates on this, as another said he would follow the LORD, but he first wanted to say goodbye to those dwelling in his house.

"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:61,62).

This is, by the way, a Sequential Recapitulation of the Israelites who wanted to go back to Egypt, when the LORD had called them to be His chosen.

"And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt" (Numbers 14:4).

A subtle thread of communication is found in the phrase "them that dwell on the earth" (and other variant phrases) as a similitude of those whose life is only in the finite world of physical existence. Not only is it sharply contrasted with "them that dwell in heaven" (Revelation 13:6), but we also see verses where the LORD dwells in His temple – which is the present day body of the believer.

The point is, the Spirit of the LORD dwells in the believer, and the believer is in Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father – NOW.

"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9).

Unfortunately, the body of Christ is now deeply immersed in the long prophesied Falling Away from the Spiritual reality of our present existence in the "heavenly places."

In our generation, Christians have been conned into believing in a literal, physical series of events, that has persuaded them they will be saved if they make the right decisions as these events come to pass. As significant events which they've been prophetically programmed to expect come to pass, their faith in the faulty physical pattern is strengthened, and this diminishes their Spiritual discernment.

Believers are expecting a physical Antichrist that they hope to resist. Whether they have been convinced they will never see this fictional figure through the enormous lie that is the pre-tribulation Rapture, or they believe they will endure the horrors of the anticipated tribulation (standing side by side with the physical Jewish people they've been taught are the real chosen of the LORD), is academic.

This massive deception is vividly described in the Scriptures, and it is directly linked to the Image of the Beast passages in Revelation. As stated in last week's installment of The Great Exchange, the Image of the Beast is the body inhabited by the Spirit of Antichrist, and "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him" (Revelation 13:8).

The False Prophet imagery tells us this Spirit has the power to energize ("give life" in the text) the body of the beast.

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed" (Revelation 13:15).

Few are aware the word for life in this section of Revelation is not the same word translated life in most of the other Scriptures. For example, in John 3:16, when Jesus said the famous passage "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life," he used a different Greek word for life than the "life" the False Prophet gives to the Image.

The Greek manuscripts tell us Christ used the word Zoe, which occurs all over the New Testament – mostly referencing the eternal life given to us by the LORD.  Another word, Psyche, also occurs, referring to physical life – such as "Whosoever shall seek to save his [earthly] life shall lose it" (Luke 17:33).

The "life" that is given to the Image of the Beast is Pneuma (where we get our word pneumatic, indicating an automatic process), and it's uniquely applied to this very unusual power seen in the Image of the Beast. To put it another way, Revelation is telling us that Satan is able to infuse a Spiritual power in this body of the beast, and those who "dwell on the earth" believe it is life, when it is actually a lie.

"For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (II Thessalonians 2:11). 

The ominous fact in this context is that Pneuma is not used to describe those who adhere to overtly false religion (such as Islam, Hinduism, or even Satanism). It is applied to anyone who does not avail themselves of the life of the LORD by being born again in JESUS CHRIST, and coming to union with the living God.

In other words, Death is the default position for "them that dwell on the earth" (Revelation 14:6).

This accentuates the sharp contrast with those "that dwell in Him" (I John 4:13).

"Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).

An adjacent series of verses helps to shed further light on the counterfeit life which is used to animate the collective that is actually the body of Antichrist. The Pneuma "life," which we've already likened to the Spirit of Hell that delivers his prey to the Spirit of Death, is manifested when he "deceiveth them that dwell on the earth" into refusing the Life of Christ – which is synonymous with embracing the Death in Antichrist.

"And all the world wondered after beast" (Revelation 13:3).

The word wonder is the Greek word existemi – where we get our word ecstasy or ecstatic.

When we review an English dictionary, we find the following:

"Ecstasy: A feeling or state of intense, often extreme, mental and emotional exaltation. To fill with ecstasy or rapture" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, emphasis mine). 

The inclusion of the word rapture is simply another sign from the LORD that the doctrine which the Scriptures so conclusively reject is related to the deception emanating out of the False Prophet.

It is not a coincidence the dictionary includes the word exaltation in its linkage to the ecstatic response to the beast. The Holy Bible also uses this word when describing the Satanic power.

"The son of perdition…exalteth himself…so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God" (II Thessalonians 2:4). 

It should be noted that when "those who dwell on the earth" are beguiled  (Genesis 3:13) when they behold the beast, as they "wonder," every aspect of this is tied to the "two parts" which are flesh and blood -- as opposed to the Spiritual "third part" defined by the prophet Zechariah.

"In all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein."

"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say it is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God" (Zechariah 13:8, 9).

In last week's installment of The Great Exchange, we addressed the earth bound properties of the human brain, and how trillions of neurons form pathways that host our thought processes. We also covered how these synaptic circuits have periodic gaps which are briefly connected through a chemical called Dopamine, which is created by the body.

When the dopamine completes the circuit, a physical, earthly connection is completed which is pleasurable. This process is extremely sophisticated, and is tied to the earthly environment, which provides our minds with input. 

Thus, the existemi that animates the flesh and blood side of our existence, is directly related to the Pneuma, or flesh and blood "life" which is imparted to the Image of the Beast through the deception generated by the False Prophet.

As the LORD seeks to instill His divine Life through His amazing Spirit, we find an absolutely stunning reference to the flesh and blood controlled synaptic gap of mankind, in the Old Testament.

"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).

"And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me…" (Isaiah 63:5).

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

-- James Lloyd             

To Be Continued

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