Jesus' Resurrected Body
RO113-01

Christians are looking forward to the time when they will enjoy their adoption right of a redeemed body. The death of Jesus Christ for our sins has secured the redemption of the Christian's body. This redemption has to do specifically with the release of the believer's physical body from the effects of sin. The full expression of this redemption will be the resurrection of the believer's body in the pattern of the resurrected body of Christ so that all of us as Christians will then be glorified, sin-free, and perfect. God the Holy Spirit Himself indwells every church-age believer as God's pledge that this resurrection and all the other elements of this adoption will one day be realized by us.

The resurrection of the human body is clearly taught in the Bible. As we have pointed out, the Greek words for resurrection refer to something rising from a prone position to a standing, upright position. The Old and the New Testaments both teach the resurrection of the dead for those who are saved and those who are unsaved. Everybody, every human being who has ever lived, will be raised again. The Old Testament and the New Testament record for us examples of people who have been raised from the dead to prolong their lifespan but to die again. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the first of human resurrection with an immortal body never to die again.

We pointed out that the Bible is very clear on the fact that Jesus Christ was genuinely dead when He was placed in the tomb. However, in spite of the guard of Roman soldiers at the tomb, the official seal of the government on the tomb, the stone covering the entrance to the tomb, Jesus Christ arose, and He left that tomb. The empty tomb on that third day fulfilled the Lord's own prediction that when He had provided atonement for human sin, He would come back to life. The fact that He was raised again confirms His claim.

The risen Lord Jesus, furthermore, was seen on ten occasions that were recorded in the New Testament by hundreds and hundreds of people. The fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was also established by change in the attitude of the disciples from discouraged defeat to courageous witnesses. The real resurrection on Sunday morning is testified to by the fact that the day of worship was changed by the Jewish believers from Saturday to Sunday.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is, of course, the basis for the hope of the Christian to be raised as well. The Bible tells us that when the Christian is resurrected, his body will have the same characteristics as that of the Lord Jesus Christ after He was raised.

Philippians 3, for example, verses 20-21 tell us, "For our citizenship is in heaven; from where also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Paul says our bodies will be in the same pattern in the resurrection as that of Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:2 adds this, "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." When He appears, we shall be like Him, meaning that we shall be exactly the way He was upon His resurrection.

The Reality of Jesus' Resurrected Body

First of all, the reality of the resurrected body of Jesus Christ; it really was there as a resurrected body. An ancient heresy taught from the very first in the New Testament church was Jesus Christ was merely a spirit being after His crucifixion so that His body had no substance. You saw Him, but if you went up and shook hands with Him, your hand would go right through His hand, and you'd clasp your own hand. There was nothing there. He was simply a ghostly, spirit-like creature. Well, the body of Jesus Christ was recognized after His resurrection as that of a normal human being, not that of some grotesque zombie walking around.

In Luke 24:13-17, this is explicitly taught us. This is the record of the men on the road to Emmaus, "And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about fourscore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. And He said unto them, 'What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?'"

So, here, the Lord Jesus Christ fell in step with these people. They were not startled when they saw Him. They just viewed Him as a man who's also traveling on the road who fell in company with them and who carried on a conversation with them on the things that they had been talking about. He was a regular, normal human being in appearance. Furthermore, the body of Jesus Christ had substance so that it could be actually felt. It wasn't really just a spirit, ghost-like apparition.

In Luke 24:39-40, here is an appearance of Jesus on resurrection day. He said, "'Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet." You couldn't be more explicit in identifying the nature of the body of Jesus Christ. And you want to remember that there are still cults today that His physical body never was restored, that when the Bible speaks of resurrection it just talks about a spiritual resurrection and He was a spirit being without a substantial, substantive body.

1 John 1:1 says, "That which was from the beginning [referring to Jesus Christ], which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." You see, the early heresy of Gnosticism in the New Testament church was already teaching that Jesus Christ was not a real, physical human being, a real physical body when He was raised from the dead. And John knew about that heresy. This is exactly what he's referring to. He is taking a shot at that false teaching here when he says, "We have handled of the Word of life." So that the body of Jesus Christ had substance. You shook His hand, your hand would close on His hand.

There was one distinction, however, as you may have noticed in Luke 24:39, where Jesus said that He was flesh and bones. He did not have any blood. And so, in that respect, He was different than before. The blood through His veins was no longer necessary for the sustaining of life. So that the body that He had was very real and very substantial, and our bodies will follow this same pattern of flesh and bones, minus the blood.

Identifying Marks on the Resurrected Body

Secondly, we may observe that the body of Jesus Christ retained its identifying marks such as the wounds. He was recognizable by His facial appearance. He was also recognizable by the marks on His body. John 20:26, "And after eight days again His disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace be unto you.' Then saith He to Thomas, 'Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.'"

A Recognizable Voice

So, when we are resurrected, we will recognize each other's voice. You may anticipate that here in the massive crowd of human beings that will be in heaven as you move about, you will hear that voice of Ruth Ann Wilhoite someplace, and you'll look over and say, "Oh, there she is over there! I could hear her voice above all the others! And you'll go out there and find Ruth Ann Wilhoite, because you'll know her voice. It will be an identifiable sound just as it is now.

The Breathing of Air

Eating Food

In Luke 24:41, "And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered [now that they saw Him alive again], He said unto them, 'Have ye here anything to eat?'" What a nice way to deal with it. They were ill at ease. They could hardly believe they were seeing this dead Jesus they saw brutalized by the Romans, and now He was alive, and they recognized them. He puts them all at ease. He says, "Do you have anything to eat?"

Well, verse 42 says, "They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them." There is something that is comforting about a person who is eating. Ghosts and spirits do not eat food. So that, immediately, He put them at ease by eating. He did it just for socializing.

John 21:9-12, "As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread." The disciples had been out on the lake fishing, and they looked, and they saw Jesus on the shore, the resurrected Jesus. So, they rode in. And when they came there, they saw that He had some coals and He had a fire built, and He was cooking some fish. "And Jesus saith unto them, 'Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.' [He invited them to join Him.] .Jesus said unto them, 'Come and dine.' And none of the disciples durst ask him, 'Who art thou?' knowing that it was the Lord. [He was clearly identifiable.]

Verse 15a says "So when they had dined, Jesus." said unto them, and He carried on a discussion with them. So, Jesus Christ in a resurrected body, as will we, be able to eat food. I know that comes, I can see by your faces, as a great relief to some of you. Something that you will appreciate being able to continue to do.

The Resurrected Body in Relation to Solid Objects

They're in this room. The doors are shut. There's no way to get in, and Jesus comes right through and comes into the room through the walls, through the doors - no hindrance. Verse 26 of John 20 says, "And after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace unto you.'" He could walk right through. There's something about the molecular structure of the resurrected body that no longer finds interference with solid objects, and it can go through.

Many years ago, the leader of the Moody Science Films that we have seen so many of used to go about demonstrating (and he put this on film eventually, but I saw him do this in person), he is demonstrating this principle of the Lord's body being compatible to material things so that it could pass through rather than finding interference. And he would have a pedestal, an electrical pedestal upon which he would stand, and he would hold a stick of wood in his hand. And then they would turn on a certain amount of voltage, and after a while, that stick would burst into flame, so that you knew the electricity was coming up through him with enough intensity and heat to set that stick of wood on fire. It was a very dramatic demonstration.

The time I saw him in San Antonio, he was up on the pedestal holding the stick and telling somebody, he'd say, "Turn it over, put it on six. It is on six? Put it over." And the lady next to me said, "Oh, get off and check it yourself!" Because she understood that if it was incompatible, the voltage with his physical structure, it would kill him. But as long as it was in a certain voltage, amperage, and confirmation, it could just flow right through his molecular structure with no interference. Very impressive.

Something's going to happen to us in the resurrection that walking in and out will no longer be necessary. The women's lib, of course, loves this, because gentlemen will not have to open doors for ladies anymore. They don't like that now, and they'll just butt their way through, as they're good at doing.

Now then, it is also true that the body of Jesus Christ in its resurrected state could transport itself instantly someplace and appear there and disappear. Going back to Luke 24:31, "And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him [these were the two men on the road to Emmaus, as they're sitting now at the inn at the table; they recognized Him]; and he vanished out of their sight."

Luke 24:36, "And as they thus spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, 'Peace be unto you.'" He suddenly appears to the disciples. And so, the resurrected body can transport itself instantly back and forth to appear and to disappear.

Vertical Motility

Eternal and Indestructible Qualities

In Revelation 22:1-5, we read, "And he shewed me a pure river." This is a picture of heaven. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: And they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." The body of the resurrected believer is as eternal and as indestructible as was that of Jesus Christ.

What we find about the resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ gives us a pretty good clue as to what Paul means by the fact that he is looking forward to the redemption of his body, the release from the curse of sin, and specifically, the full impact of what the body has coming to it in terms of its resurrection.

The Resurrections of Believers and Unbelievers

Then, in Acts 24:14, this is also stated. Acts 24:14-15, "But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." So, Paul makes it very clear that whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, you are going to be raised once more to life.

So, the people who are taking comfort in the false teaching (of the Jehovah Witnesses, for example) that those who are not believers will be rubbed out of existence, and they will not exist in their physical bodies at all (which, of course, they even deny the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ), are completely wrong in terms of what the Bible says. The Bible makes it very clear that saved and unsaved are raised in those bodies, and they continue forever in the lake of fire, even as we see the false prophet and the antichrist for one thousand years in the lake of fire.

There are two categories, clearly, of people who are raised. Acts 24:15 indicates that, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and the unjust. John 5:29 gives the very statement of Jesus Christ on that subject. John 5:29 says, "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." They that have done good, which is divine good, which you can only do through Jesus Christ. They that have done evil, human good, which is your own effort.

And, of course, this was not unknown in the Old Testament. The Old Testament also clearly taught that everybody, saved and unsaved, would be raised. Daniel 12:2 indicates that. Daniel 12:2, "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

The Bible tells us, then, that saved and unsaved people are both going to be raised to life. Those who are unbelievers will be raised in the same old sin nature-dominated bodies; nothing change. Only those who are believers will be raised in a glorified body in the pattern of the body of Jesus Christ.

The Bible furthermore tells us that there is a thousand-year timespan between the resurrection of believers and the resurrection of unbelievers. We find this in Revelation 20:4-5, where John says, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast [that is, the antichrist], neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years [the millennial kingdom]. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." This resurrection of believers only. The second resurrection will be the resurrection of unbelievers.

In 1 Corinthians 15:23, we have the order given of the first resurrection. There is an orderly progression in that resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:23 tells us, "But every man in his own order [that is, relative to resurrection]: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."

Christ the firstfruits. That took place on the first Easter Sunday morning. They that are Christ's at His coming, referring to Christians of the church age at the rapture. Then we conclude that the Old Testament saints and the tribulation saints that have died must be raised someplace, and they must be part of that first resurrection, so we logically conclude that at the end of the tribulation, the Old Testament saints are raised, and the tribulation saints are raised. This is their resurrection because they're separate from their church. And then, there are certain believers who for one reason or another will die during the millennium, and they must be raised, and we conclude logically that that would happen at the end of the millennium.

Whatever the pattern is, we know that it's Christ the firstfruits; He's the sample and example. We are the next ones, in the body of Christ. Someplace down the line come the Old Testament saints, tribulation saints, millennial saints. The second resurrection then, for unbelievers only, takes place at the end of the millennium, and it precedes the judgment of the great white throne. Be sure that you understand that at the Great White Throne judgment, there are no believers coming unto judgment - only unbelievers. The millennium is over, the thousand years has passed, the golden age is now history, and the final judgments are going to be made, and eternity begins.

In Revelation 20:11-15, we have this explained to us. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works [All of their human good piled up. So, do they have enough to make it?]. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever [like the "whosoever" of John 3:16, this is the other side of the "whosoever," the flip side; and whosoever] was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

At this point at the great white throne, there is nobody arguing his case. Stark silence. These are doomed people. And all they can do is stand and listen to the indictment read against them, and they have no defense. They rejected the provision of eternal life through Jesus Christ. They try to compromise with God by their own human efforts, and God says, "I told you. I warned you. You're not acceptable." And they are condemned then to the lake of fire. That is the second resurrection, followed immediately by the great white throne judgment.

Now of course, unbelievers who don't like to think about things like this and don't like to anticipate that this is what is in their future mock the idea of resurrection, and they have done that over the centuries. It is not uncommon, it was true in the early church and it is true today, that people make fun of the idea of resurrection one way or another and try to simply deny it. The cults basically do that.

Acts 17:32. Paul is speaking to the intellectual men, the intelligentsia of the city of Athens, "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, 'We will hear thee again of this matter.'" They listened to what Paul said. They recognized that he was an educated, knowledgeable, intelligent man, but when he talked about a dead human body being raised to life, they said, "That's too much. You are not a scholar, and we're through listening to you."

1 Corinthians 15:12 says, "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" Now, to whom is Paul speaking here? He's talking to Christians in the Corinthian church. So that, even within the group of the body of the local church here at Corinth, there were some people saying, "I just don't think people are going to be raised back to life." And Paul says, "Well, let's take the logic of what you're saying. If we Christians aren't going to be raised, how can we say that Christ was raised?" He, after all, is the firstfruits; that means he's the pattern, and we will follow. If He's not raised, we're not going to be raised.

2 Timothy 2:16-18, Paul says, "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus [two early heretics]; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is already past; and overthrow the faith of some."

The Nature of the Christian's Resurrected Body

1 Corinthians 15:35, "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" That is the question. So, Paul proceeds to answer it. First all, beginning at verse 40, he says that the body of the resurrected Christian is going to be surrounded by light. It's going to be surrounded by the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 15:40, "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from one another star in glory."

So, he is saying that we Christians will have a distinctive glory of our own which will be the glory of God as the sun has its glory, the star has its glory, and so on. Furthermore, he says that the body that will be raised will be identical to the one that has died.

It will now be free from decay, disease, deformity. 1 Corinthians 15:42, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; but it is raised in incorruption."

Paul also indicates in verse 43 that the resurrected body will have great power. "It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power." The resurrected body of the Christian will have enormous physical strength. It will have enormous physical capacities.

In verse 44, he says that it's going to be a body that God has redesigned to be suited for life in heaven. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

And finally, he explicitly says that it's going to be, in short, like the body of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning at verse 45, "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit. However that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." So that, the body of the believer will indeed be in the pattern of the body of Jesus Christ. The Apostles' Preaching of the Resurrection The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was, of course, a prominent factor in the preaching of the apostles. This is what transformed them, and they realized that if Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead, then they had nothing to say. It was all a vain delusion.

Acts 2:32, therefore, we read, "This Jesus hath God raised up, wherefore we all are witnesses." They could stand before these crowds in Jerusalem and say, "He has been raised, and we can testify to that fact." Acts 5:29-32, "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey Him."

Now, these verses are really a terrible blow to the religious authorities. Here are these simple fishermen who are now alive with the confidence of the resurrected Christ, and they're pointing to the religious leaders of Israel, and they're saying, "You murdered the man who is the Prince of Glory, our Messiah! And God has made this clear to people who have the Holy Spirit." Now, what's the implication? "You dummies don't have it; that's why you don't understand it." Now, of course, that's what enraged the leaders of Israel to be spoken to in that way. And it represented the fact that these disciples were bold because they knew they had a living Savior.

You may follow this further, these examples further in Acts 13:28-31 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. It was the Lord Jesus that was the first one to be raised from the dead with a glorified body. Acts 26:23 tells us that. Acts 26:23, "That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the peoples, and to the Gentiles."

Well, there were other people who were raised from the dead (we know that), but none of them raised in glorified, sinless, perfect bodies. They were all just given an extended lifespan and then they died again. The resurrection of Jesus Christ authenticates, of course, His claim to being the Son of God who secured atonement for the sins of mankind.

In the book of Romans 1:4, this is stated, "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." It is His resurrection from the dead that has declared Him to be truly what He claimed to be: the Son of God.

And, of course, there's that statement in Romans 4:25, which says, "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for [translated "on account of"] our justification." Who was delivered on account of our offences, our sins, who was raised again on account of our justification. He was raised after our justification was a reality. It is God the Father who through God the Holy Spirit raised His Son Jesus Christ from the dead who will also raise all born again Christians to eternal life in heaven. As He raised the Son, we may confidently anticipate that He will someday raise all of us.

2 Corinthians 4:14, "Knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you." So, what a wonderful event all of us have before us in the full redemption of our bodies in terms of the resurrection from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:52-57 we often read at a funeral because they are so apropos to the true, real hope that we have of the reality of reversing that terrible event that those people are gathered at that cemetery commemorating at that moment.

1 Corinthians 15:52-[57], "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed [changed from a sin nature body to a sinless body]. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [We who have a body now that contains the sin nature must put on a body without a sin nature. We who have a body that can die put on one which cannot die.]."

"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory [in the victory of the resurrection]. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?' The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ [because He removed the authority of the law. He removed the sting of sin by His death so that victory is assured to us.]."

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 8, has all that we have reviewed in the back of his mind then when he says that we wait for the adoption, particularly that facet of the adoption which is the redemption of our body that is the resurrection of our body back into the tremendous pattern of the resurrected Jesus Christ.

And in the next two verses, Paul goes on and says because of this, we have a hope, a genuine, substantial, real, and vital hope. A hope that is going to stand us in good stead. It is not the hope that the world presents.

The Falsity of Reincarnation and Positive Thinking

"I'm a Hindu; I will not have Him. How am I going to get around the claims of the Bible? Well, I'll come up with my karma. Yes, you've got to do something about sin. So, however I live, I will die. Then, I will come back in another life form, and I will be given another shot to be able to make up for my evil. And if I do well, I'll come back again in a little higher life form." There are millions of Americans who are obsessed with the idea and the false hope of reincarnation.

The Bible says there is a death that we must die, and then there is a judgment we face. Then there is a resurrection of the same person of the same body. If reincarnation were true, then resurrection could not be true, because resurrection says you're going to come back just the way you are. You're going to come back in the same body you are. You're going to be identifiable. You are going to be what you are today. No matter what happened to that body, it's all going to be restored. Reincarnation says you come in through a series of different bodies.

The reason reincarnation is attractive is because it is associated with the idea that there is within man a seed of deity, that man is actually moving on toward deity. This is why Mormonism is so attractive to so many people, because it is exhilarating to think that I have certain potentials within me that I can turn loose, that I can go on to deity. The satanic notion that there are great powers within us that have not been released, that we have great potential within us if we can release these powers.

What kind of thinking is that? The idea that what you think in your mind is what you will produce externally. That is a thought right out of hell. You know what that is? That is sorcery. That is witchcraft. And it has upon it the most severe judgment of God, and you do not want to fall for that. Reincarnation is based upon the concept that there is something within us by which we can make ourselves better. If you can just think something. What is it you want? Think it into existence.

Norman Vincent Peale was converted to positive thinking when a man in his church told him how he had learned the secret of releasing your inward powers. You imagine something, and you will get it. So, now he publishes "Guideposts," and a lot of people get up in a frack if you question all those wonderful concepts that are in "Guideposts" magazine and the concept that you can bring things about by your thinking. What are you saying? You have power within you that is the power of omnipotence. And you don't have it.

How much nicer to realize that what we are sinners depraved, totally helpless, totally incapacitated, but God comes in and said, "I'm going to give you the capacity of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It's going to override all of that, and I'm going to perform true success in your life, not based upon spirit beings who are coming and going to bat for you but for the true spirit of God who is accomplishing this. You will know what real power is because it is the power of God leading you to the greatest experience of your life: that resurrected body. Reincarnation is the pathetic substitute of human viewpoint, and it has nothing to offer the Christian.

And anything associated with the powers of mind are a delusion. That's why the whole realm of psychiatry and psychology is a great delusion. They do not have the capacity to make the changes in people that they claim. It is not a science. It is assuming there are powers in man that simply are not there.

Indeed, the time is going to come when we stand in our resurrected bodies, and we are going to sing, "Happy Days Are Really Here Again."

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

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