“If the light that is in you be darkness,
how
great is that darkness?” -Jesus
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
ANTICHRIST (Adjective)
The
word “antichrist” in this writing is always used as an adjective, never as a
noun. It does not refer to the specific
personality. It is merely a descriptive
word referring to the antichrist ethos, or spirit, or philosophy which gives
rise to the non-responsible gospel.
CARNAL
Having to do with the physical/ material
appetites. As specifically applied in the
Bible and this work, the term typically describe one who is still primarily
driven by selfish appetites, rather than the more noble motives of the divine
Spirit.
CHARACTER
ESSENCE
Our
core metaphysical make up, primarily defined by our values and the personal
traits they produce to uniquely identify us.
CORE
PERSON
Our
most essential being. Figuratively, our
“heart.”
ESSENTIAL
OR PRIMARY SIN VALUE
This
is the most basic sin motive held at the deepest governing level of our subconscious
core person. It is essentially the value
which engenders the desire to self-direct our lives instead of embracing God’s
guidance.
FLESH
As
used figuratively in the New Testament, the term refers to an inner body or
collection of completely self-concentric appetites which server to motivate
selfish actions.
GOSPEL
Strictly
rendered, the word means, “The good news.”
Broadly rendered, it is used to denote Christian redemption in general,
including its teachings and dynamics. In
this writing it is also used figuratively to identify the false teachings of
the antichrist which only masquerade as the Gospel of Christ, but are, in
truth, a great heresy. Thus, the phrase “non-responsible
gospel” used in this writing is used with a note of sarcasm to refer to these
heretical teachings. Please notice, in
this use, the word “gospel” is never capitalized, as is a reference to the true
“Gospel” of Christ is, to show respect.
GRACE
The
term grace, including its use in the Bible, refers to an innate, or naturally occurring goodness. The pop-definition of
grace is “unmerited favor” which is
really more the definition of “Mercy” when use in the redemptive context. But, grace
is a much larger term than mercy. Grace produces Mercy; but, grace and mercy do not equally interchange, especially in the Bible. It is important that grace be correctly understood as naturally occurring goodness so as not to lose the important
redemptive truth that those who are
Spiritually merged with the character essence of the Living Christ also
experience His natural goodness in their own character through their symbiotic
relationship with Him.
HEART
This
word is used figuratively in the Bible to refer to one’s core person,
which would include, of course, the mind, both conscious and subconscious,
one’s value system and the motives or drives which it produces, and one’s
emotional make-up. Our heart is
essentially the non-corporal us, the character essence who is actually housed
within our physical body, but in some since, is separate from it.
HEART-ONENESS
In
this writing, “Heart-oneness with God”
means to share and fully embrace his values and life interpretations.
HOLY
/ HOLINESS
In
the simplest terms, to be “Holy” is to be
singularly devoted to God. In the
case of a believer in Christ, holiness has to do with the condition of his
heart, his core person. A heart becomes
holy before God when, on its most primary
governing level, it is singularly set aside and devoted entirely to Him. In other words, its ultimate and supreme devotion
is completely unshared with anyone or anything else. That highest level of devotion belongs only
to God. So, while on secondary levels of
a believer’s heart a believer may actually embrace many worthy devotions, his family, his job etc., yet, in a holy heart, all of those lesser devotions are
subject to and governed by that more primary devotion to God. And, this is the singularity of devotion which
the Living Christ enables through our Spiritual merger with His character
essence. As his divine faith supplements
the believer's faith to entirely subjugate that
essential sin motive of self-determination, our heart is then no longer divided between self and God on
its primary governing level. Now,
the core being of the believer is wholly
given to God and thus, it is holy. So, when God says, “Be ye holy, for I am
holy,” the idea is simply that God is
singularly devoted to goodness, thus, we should also be singularly devoted to
God’s goodness on the most primary governing level of our heart.
INFLUENCE
Influence
is the sum total of our power to effect our
own and the larger reality around us.
A good and accurate concept of redemptive faith is to understand it
as the willingness to humble our
influence (the sum total of our power) before God’s influence.
[Influence: Learn More - Read this Section of "Touching God's Heart"]
[Influence: Learn More - Read this Section of "Touching God's Heart"]
MOTIVE
An
inner stimulation which drives us to an action.
In this writing, the word “Motive” is often used in connection with
“Values” (see below) simply because our values often do produce motives which
drive us.
NON-RESPONSIBLE
/ NON-RESPONSIBILITY
These terms are used to label and describe the
antichrist belief system which has as its prime tenet, the idea that since a believer cannot consistently resist
the primary sin motive (the desire to be self-determined) a just God cannot and
does not require him to do so. Thus,
the believer becomes non-responsible
for his sinful lifestyle realities.
REDEMPTIVE
FAITH
The
specific type of faith which saves the soul.
In Christian Redemption, it is a type of trust which engenders a
profound humility. The idea is that Redemptive Faith expresses itself as a
willingness to fully embrace of God’s values and daily directions in one’s
life. Thus, it becomes the highest form
of trust.
SELF-DETERMINED
/ SELF-DETERMINATION
To
be self-directed and thus self-sovereign over one’s life. The idea is that one charts his own life
course and develops his own values and prefers not to answer to any others –
specifically God’s.
SPIRIT
/ SPIRITUAL
The
best way to conceive of “the Spiritual” is in terms of “Influence.” One’s influence is the sum total of his power to effect his own and the larger reality. Thus, stripped to our most abstract nature –
we are each, a very unique and
personalized influence. And, “the
spiritual” is all about the
issues surrounding the nature, quality, and impact of that influence on reality.
So, for now, our spiritual person is
housed within a physical body and a physical dimension of life. Yet, even now, that
spiritual person within us transcends the physical. This is so, in that our spiritual person is
not really identified by physical attributes.
And, he remains, in some sense, a separate core person, merely residing
within that physical house. Instead, our
spiritual person is identified by his character essence –
plus – his influence (the
impact of his character essence on reality).
So, in short, “the spiritual” refers to that
dimension of life which is entirely driven by and concerned with the
issues surrounding the idea of influence: is it good or bad, strong or weak, oppressed
or free, holy or unholy, humble or arrogant, etc. And, eventually, in Christ, our spiritual
person will, indeed, be ushered into a purely spiritual dimension of life,
the economy of which, is completely centered around the issues of influence. We typically refer to that coming reality
simply as – “Heaven.”
[Influence: Learn More - Read this Section of "Touching God's Heart"]
[Influence: Learn More - Read this Section of "Touching God's Heart"]
SPIRITUAL
BAPTISM / SPIRITUAL MERGER / SPIRITUAL INTEGRATION
These
terms refer to a unique, stand-alone, redemptive event which occurs after one’s
conversion. In this occurrence, the
divine Spirit effects a merger of the human character essence of the believer
with the divine character essence of the Living Christ. And, through this merger, the believer is
infused with the values of Christ in primordial or infant form. And, the power of those shared divine values
then bring to the believer a liberation from the domination of the essential
sin motive resulting in a consistently faith-expressive life.
SYMBIOTIC / SYMBIOSIS
Interconnected. In this writing these terms describe the
relationship that exists between the believer and Christ as a result of their
Spiritual merger. This interconnected relationship
between the believer and Christ results in the believer sharing in the
character essence of Christ – including His value system.
TRUTH
The
correct interpretation of reality. Only
God’s interpretation of reality is the authoritative and decisive interpretation
of life’s circumstances. Thus, only God
is the real Truth Giver. All other
interpretations of reality are merely alternative delusions which serve only to
compete with and /or obscure the Divine Truth.
VALUES / VALUE SYSTEM
Values
are our most deeply held life principles, tenets, beliefs, etc. Our value system is the entire collection of
our values, taken together. And, these
guiding life principles are so deeply held and well established in our core
person that they typically function more like instincts than a cognitive
thought process. Our values and our
value system actually constitute a kind of “life filter” which we use to interpret
life. Thus, we pass all of life’s issues
through this interpretive filter to gain a perspective on those issues. So, very obviously, a value system which is
entirely based in divine truth is completely indispensable to the quality of
our relationship with God. Our values
system is the very basis of our heart-oneness (heart agreement) with Him. And, it is the complete and thorough renewal
of our value system which is at the absolute center of God’s redemptive agenda,
and all of the redemptive work of both the Dying and the Living Christ.
