The Doctrine of Reversionism, No. 2

RV34-01

God alone can provide and maintain a garment of spirituality which is befitting a believer – a garment which is kept spotless. There are means provided for that, not the least of which is the one that we have just completed exercising – the calling upon the doctrine of 1 John 1:9 in the confession of known sins. That cleans up the garments of our spiritual character and our spiritual life.

Believers in reversionism thus are portrayed to us as those who are walking with dirty garments. They have defiled themselves with the sin of this world. They have absorbed viewpoints and attitudes and practices of Satan's world system. For this reason, they are under divine discipline.

So, we read in the first part of Revelation 3:4: "You have a few names, even in Sardis, that have not besmirched their garments." Revisionism is the lifestyle of filthy rags and the loss of great personal rewards in eternity.

The Doctrine of Reversionism

1. Backsliding

   Reversionism is the end result of backsliding from a level of spiritual maturity. This is very often from the very top of the mountain – from a spiritual maturity structure in full status development.

2. Emotional Domination

   Reversionism results in the emotions controlling the soul, and in the hardening of the facets of the soul. So, the mind; the will; and, the emotions are insensitive toward God.

3. Falling from Grace

   The third point that we made is that reversionism is falling from what the grace of God has sown and reaped for the believer. When it says that we are fallen from grace, it means that we are fallen from what God has said in building the spiritual maturity structure in our souls, and from the blessings which we, consequently, reap.

4. Negative to Bible Doctrine

   The greatest problem in all of this is the temptation to think that reversion isn't such a terrible thing. It is turning your back upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is something that you would recoil from, and therefore is not something over which you must be concerned. That is probably the first step into reversionism. Reversionism comes about in a very definitive way. Therefore, if you can pin down in your mind the first movement (the first step) that leads to this kind of spiritual self-destruction, it will help you to avoid it. The primary cause, of course, is that the reversionist Christian has gone negative to Bible doctrine and to the pastor-teacher authority delivering that doctrine. What this means is a rejection of true doctrine and thus a divine viewpoint.

   Attending Church Services

   So, the reversionistic Christian has gone negative to Bible doctrine and to the pastor-teacher authority delivering that doctrine. This rejection is revealed in some very definitive ways. One of the ways is sporadic attendance at church services. Some Christians are the whale type. Whales, as you know, go to the bottom, and they just go out of sight. But whales are mammals who must breathe air. So, periodically they do what is referred to in marine language as sounding. They come back up to the top; empty the blow hole; spew the water out; take another breath; and, then they go down again. We know that these Christians are down there. I know they're down there. From week to week, I see them disappearing down below into the mass down at the lower levels. I don't see them for a Sunday. Or maybe I see them Sunday morning, then I don't see them Sunday night. Maybe I don't see them for a couple of weeks. I know they're down there, and I know that, sooner or later, they'll show up again. And sometimes it takes a month. Sometimes some of these are really well-developed whales. They can go for two months, I've notice, before they finally have to break the surface and get another little gasp of divine viewpoint and get a little bit of insight into the soul. They have developed tremendous capacity of survival. Then they go down, and I know that we're not going to see them again.

   So, I see those who sometimes take jobs around the church, and they're going to fix this, or they're going to do that. I always hold my breath, hoping they'll finish before they descend again. Because I know that once they go down, they're out of sight, and the job is going to start hanging fire for a long time until they break the surface again. But usually I'm there waiting for them with the harpoon to shove it in about the time that they think they have eluded us.

   But the reversionistic Christian makes his way into that spiritual regeneration by the simple little device of neglecting the intake of divine viewpoint into the soul. Man does not live by physical food alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The only way you live on food is to shove it into your mouth and swallow it. The only way you live on spiritual food is to shove it into your mentality and go positive toward it (and swallow it) into your human spirit. It's just as simple as that.

   So, attendance at church service is not a small thing. This a very important thing. If you're sporadic and erratic on church service attendance, you are telling us something about your spiritual condition. It's inevitable. You are training your children in a lifestyle which is going to show up in their spiritual condition when they come into adulthood.

   Personal Bible Study

   A second factor is neglect of personal Bible study. It's not enough to attend services. That is a keystone that is at the heart of it, but then there is that daily walking with the Lord – that daily being preoccupied with Christ. There is only one way you can be preoccupied with Jesus Christ. You don't get preoccupied with Jesus Christ by sitting out in the woods and contemplating the clouds floating by. You're only preoccupied with Him as you enter the Word of God.

   So, there are other means provided, beginning with the Word of God itself in a variety of translations and paraphrases: for you to read; to meditate; and, to feed upon. We have tapes and books and whatnot to enable you to spend a little time on a regular daily basis with the Lord. This is not any great mystical experience, and not any great getting emotional and sweaty about it, but just spending time with the Lord – just eating a little spiritual food.

   The reversionistic Christian very often gets into this neglect because he wants entertainment more than instruction in the church services. He wants to come to a church service, and he wants to hear a powerful pulpit-pounding ... preacher sounding off. Then he feels that he has really been in God's presence. He wants to be where there's a little entertainment. He wants to laugh. He wants to hear jokes. He wants to be able to go home and repeat the stories to his friends and impress them on how spiritual he is. And that desire for entertainment more than instruction will get you into reversionism very quickly indeed.

   Your Pastor-Teacher

   The reversionist is in this position because he has, someplace along the line, rejected the instruction from his right pastor-teacher. There are many pastor-teachers. Some you should listen to, and some you should not. The one you should listen to is the one who is your right one – the one whom God has designed for compatibility with your own personal temperament and personal spiritual condition. That is a marvelous thing that God the Holy Spirit brings together. He brings the right congregation with the right pastor. He brings the right believer with the right pastor. I don't care whether they are separated by miles and miles of distance. In one way or another, God very marvelously brings them together. Then people who were just ordinary human beings, kind of floating along, suddenly are amazed on the development and the expansion and the fruitfulness of their own lives, and the sense of significance of storing treasures in heaven. They really feel that they've gotten a hold on their Christianity and on their relationship with God.

   That is directly attributable, first of all, to being related to your right pastor-teacher. His duty in the local church and his authority in the local church stems from his faithful exposition of the Word. He does not have authority because of who or what he is. That is irrelevant to the issue. He has authority to the extent that he is delivering, from the original languages of the Word of God, what God has to say. The pastor-teacher who leads his people to placing him on a pedestal, to a spirit of adoration toward himself, actually is the cause for a lot of Christians becoming reversionistic. This is a very great occupational temptation in the ministry to put on a front, and to carry on in such a way such that people are impressed with you.

   There are some preachers who are exhibitionists. They like to let it all hang out, and they do it in order for you to be impressed with them in one way or another. This causes believers to have their eyes on the pastor-teacher as a star personality instead of Jesus Christ. There is only one celebrity in the Christian life, and that is Jesus Christ. Therefore, He is the only celebrity that we should push forward. He is the only celebrity that we should make over. It should never be any human being, including the pastor-teacher, who may be the channel of your great spiritual blessing.

   You must remember that the pastor-teacher has an old sin nature. Therefore, he basically is as big a bum as the people he preaches to. He knows that about them. You should know that about him. The sin nature is the sin nature. Don't try to glorify it. Don't try to magnify. Don't try to pretend that it is not a deadly viper, no matter in whom you may find it.

   Of course, it is hoped that, in spiritual leadership, that viper is under better control than perhaps with most people. But he is, in fact, himself no better in that respect than anyone else. Therefore, it is not what he is. It is not who he is. It is not anything that he may become or anything that he may do that is the issue. It is the Word of God that is alive and powerful. And if Satan himself were to stand up and be preaching the Word of God, if it is God's truth, it is alive and it is powerful. The source of that information is irrelevant to the truth. When you understand that, then your eyes will not be on the human beings. You will not have the truth that you accept being dependent upon who gave it to you. So, if the person who gave it to you should suddenly break down in some way, the truth is not now undermined and discredited. ... The truth of God is the truth of God, no matter where you get that truth from.

   The pastor-teacher gift never means that one is qualified for a pedestal elevation. It only means that he has authority to communicate doctrine, and he has a gift to do it. If he does it, then he should be treated as an authority. The pastor-teacher should not have to run around, as he often does, with reversionists saying, "I don't get any respect." That is characteristic of the reversionist. He does not exercise respect toward the teaching authority.

   Therefore, the pastor-teacher's teaching (his authority to teach) does not come from the fact that he has some kind of sinless perfection, or that he is meeting somebody's idea about what a preacher should act like; what he should do; and, so on. There are a lot of stereotypes about preachers that are completely human viewpoint. In the ministry, you have to be careful not to be poured into that role, because that undermines the ability to deliver God's understanding and God's viewpoint to the people of God.

   Now, it is interesting that the more a pastor-teacher gets with clear doctrinal teaching, the faster some of the nice Christians in the congregation (often the so-called pillars of the church) will desert that church and look for a church that has a nice program. When you find someone who is a rebel; who is an opponent; and, who is a resister of a ministry which is indeed teaching the living and powerful Word of God, then you say to yourself, "I see a reversionistic believer." People who are in the center of God's guidance do not leave a church which is instructing them in the powerful and living Word of God to go to some other church. The people who leave are the people who are out of touch with divine viewpoint. They have a problem with the divine viewpoint they're getting, and that's why they want to escape.

   So, they want some church that has a nice program. Strangely enough, these are sometimes (and very often, in fact) the people who at one time were the 100% enthusiasts behind the pastor-teacher. Pity the pastor-teacher who is sucker enough to get caught up with the compliments and the adoration and the expressions of support (as important as those may be) that he gets from individual human beings. Those same human beings, someplace down the line, will turn on him like a snake which has been frustrated. It's a false motivation in Christian service that puts on a front. And a pastor-teacher who is undiscerning will miss that to his sorrow. People often serve in the Lord's work for reasons that they wouldn't want to actually come out and publicly state. Very often they deceive themselves to the degree that they don't even know that they are really serving the Lord from false motivations.

   Spiritual Insanity

   A reversionist is spiritually insane. He doesn't know that he's nuts. That's the way it is with a crazy person. A crazy person is the last one to discover that he's off his rocker. It's obvious to everyone else, but a crazy person thinks everybody else is wrong. A person who is spiritually off-center thinks that he's right on track. So he is the one who thinks that other people are out of line with reality. You have to be aware of the fact that your motivation in Christian service will often be very defective simply because you have fallen into reversionism. Someplace along the line, you went negative to the Word of God.

   What is it to be negative to the Word of God? Being negative to the Word of God means that you reject it outright. You say that it's false, or the worst expression of being negative is that you're indifferent toward it. You sit there like a bump on a log, and you hear the Word of God, and that's okay. And there is no response to it positive or negative. You just are indifferent toward it. You don't really take issue with it, but what you have in effect done is expressed a negative attitude toward the Word of God. And you are a very mistaken person if you don't think you're going to go into reversionism in a very subtle and a very systematic way. People who are very deep in reversionism are so spiritually insane that they have lost all touch with spiritual reality. They have no capacity to apply doctrine to their life situations. They call all the wrong plays. They have all the wrong distorted viewpoints. Yet, they think that they're absolutely right. They'll look at you; they'll argue with you; and, they'll think, "How in the world can you be so dumb and so simplistic and so unable to understand the realities" that they see so clearly?

   God often leads a reversionistic believer in a congregation to cut out simply for the peace and the strength of the local congregation. That's why, when somebody cuts out of a local congregation, you have to be very careful about chasing after him. You'd better make very sure that Almighty God has not grabbed that character by the scruff of his neck; jerked him out; and, tossed him out the door. I have seen it happen scores and scores of times. Only those who were equally spiritually insane in reversionism as the ones who got tossed out thought that some very great loss had been experience by the congregation, because some very wonderful person had been removed. God removes people for the strengthening; for the efficiency; and, for the spiritual advancement of the positive believers, that they may have freedom within that congregation through the Word of God.

   Had this been done in Sardis, there would have been fewer reversionistic believers. Had this kind of attitude been maintained for the Lord's dealing with those who are out of fellowship and not sympathizing and condoning what they were doing, there would have been a lot more people storing treasures in heaven.

   So, the more a pastor-teacher starts fulfilling his responsibility toward God for putting the Word of God out there clearly, and making the decisions that need to be made, the more the nice Christians and the pillars will very often rise up against him, because it is conflicting with their desires. So, they conclude that the pastor-teacher is the one who's out of touch with divine viewpoint just because they are being frustrated in some way. So, if you think you're being frustrated in the ministry of your local church, you better examine very carefully whether you are the one that's in reversionism, and whether it's possible that indeed you have slipped the cogs someplace along the line that has put you in a place where you do not share God's point of view.

5. Biblical Descriptions of Reversionists

   There are some biblical descriptions of the reversionistic Christian. We won't go through these in detail. We'll just mentioned these for you. In Jeremiah 9:25-26, we have the words "uncircumcised heart." These words refer to a reversionistic believer – an uncircumcised heart. In 2 Peter 2:7-8, you have the expression "tortured soul." That is talking about a reversionistic believer. In 2 Peter 2:14, you have the words "unstable soul." "Unstable soul" is a reference to reversionism. In Romans 1:28, you have the words "a reprobate mind," referring again to a reversionistic believer.

6. Recovery From Reversionism

   Recovery from reversionism requires confession of sins to return to a status of spirituality, and then ability thereby to function under the grace system of perception in securing doctrine for the human spirit. Recovery from reversionism requires confession of sin to bring you back to the position of spirituality. It will not bring you to the position of spiritual maturity. You may have built calluses on the soul. You may have shattered and splintered your spiritual maturity structure. It is not going to take you back to where you were. Confession will only take you back to where you can start correcting the problem. That then is corrected with the daily functioning under God's grace system which enables you to understand spiritual phenomena, and storing doctrine in the soul.

7. False Objects of Affection and Loyalty

   The next point deals with one of the great disasters of reversionism. It is a disaster which undoubtedly was true here in the church of Sardis. That is this: Reversionism leads Christians to false objects of affection and loyalty. Reversionism leads a Christian to have false objects for his love and false objects for his loyalty. In other words, his spiritual insanity reverses the directions that he should be taking in affection and loyalty. His occupation with Christ, for example, is replaced by a devotion instead to some idol object. That idol object can be drugs, as is so prominent in our day. It could be sex. It could be booze. It could be social status. It could be wealth. It could be a desire for prestige. It could be a lust for power. Any of these things can be an idol that is the thing that this individual worships. Reversionism leads from occupation to Christ to devotion to one of these false objects.

   This is also evidenced in the fact that the right man or the right woman in a person's life is replaced in affection by some unimportant wolf or flirts. The reversionistic Christian is very prone to move from his right man or right woman and to devote affection and to gravitate to a wolf or a flirt. This quality of false objects is also evidenced in the fact that genuine friends are rejected and attacked in place of devotion and loyalty to insignificant people who happen to be prominent. These are people with prestige, or people who know how to play roles. A Christian in reversionism is absorbed by who is prominent and who is famous, and by being associated with that person.

   You know what it means to talk about a name-dropper. When you hear a person who is a name dropper (a Christian who is dropping prominent names), it is a significant sign that you are dealing with a reversionist. He is absorbed with being associated with people in prominence or people who have prestige and power who are playing roles that impress him. He wants to be associated with those people. He is drawn to them. Instead, he will reject the people who are his real friends, because they're little nobodies. They're not significant people. They're not prominent people.

   This is also evident in the fact that the right pastor is deserted for the wrong pastor, as we've indicated. It's indicated also by the fact that the right church is abandoned for a church where his carnal state will be unruffled and indulged.

   Equality vs. Liberty

   One of the great places that this principle of reversionism (leading to false objects of affection and loyalty) is in government. A Christian, in terms of government, will reject a government which provides liberty for one which promises equality through social programs which restrict freedom. This is one of the great reversionistic problems we face in our country today. The American people, with their Christian heritage, are rejecting liberty, and instead they are choosing government influence in terms of social programs which undermine their personal freedom for the idea of creating equality. Equality is not what the Word of God promises. Equality is condemned by the Word of God. Only liberty is held forth in the Word of God.

   Let's not be stupid, as reversionistic people are, in trying to associate that it is what you are that will determine whether we vote for you. All of these smug, sophisticated, establishment reporters and news media are all saying, "Well, all three presidential candidates are born again, so it doesn't matter which one you choose." Oh, yes, it does. It makes a big difference. They may all be born again, but it is how informed they are on the Word of God so that they even know what a moral principle is. Some of these born again candidates do not know enough about the Word of God to understand what is a moral choice.

   I sense that this is a potential weakness. I'm almost ready to sit down and write Mr. Robertson a letter and call that to his attention, which I'm sure somebody else has. At this point, they need some kind of a program of informing and educating Christians in hardcore Bible doctrine principles. They're going to have a tough time finding it. They're going to have to resort to some tape system. But if that is not done, then these Christians are going to be vulnerable to the attacks of this kind of nonsense: "They're all born again, so what's the difference?"

   There is a strong evidence that one of these candidates, Mr. Reagan (that the conservatives would favor), who has established a record of conservative leadership in elected office, believes in astrology. He took his oath of office in the state of California at ten minutes after midnight because he was told by his astrologist that that was a propitious moment for him to be sworn into office. I don't know if he still believes in that cockamamie nonsense or not. But the point is that I don't care if he builds his own little Tower of Babel with his zodiac on the top, and he gets up every morning and he spins it around. As long as he votes according to principles of the Word of God, then that's the issue. He may be born again. He may not be born again. The point is, how will he exercise power?

   You must understand that you vote for what? You vote, as a spiritual Christian, for the person that has the most divine viewpoint orientation. That's all you're interested in. How much divine viewpoint orientation do you have, and will you act upon it? That's what we want. Now, we hope that you are a good Christian. We hope you are born again. All of those are pluses, but those are irrelevant to the issues of government. And our government today is struggling to survive because we have permitted gradual Fabian socialism to take over the biblically free enterprise capitalistic system that our Constitution produced. If it's not stopped, this nation will be destroyed. In all likelihood, it will be destroyed no matter if a very sound, biblically oriented Christian is elected to office. God's program is going to be executed, but at least people should vote according to divine viewpoint concepts.

   So, you have to know the people you're voting for. All I'm saying is do not be a reversionistic type Christian who is impressed because somebody says, "I'm born again," or somebody gives you a big story about his Christian lifestyle. That is not what we want to know. If he's been in office, all we want know is his report card. Tell me how you voted on these issues on which the Bible gives us some direction.

   Eternal Things are Ignored in Favor of Temporal Things

   Another factor in revisionism leading Christians to false object of affection and loyalty is that eternal things are ignored in favor of temporal things. This is reflected in how you spend your money; how you spend your time; and, how you spend your abilities. A Christian who is in reversionism will not spend his money on the things of the Lord. A Christian who is in reversionism will not invest his abilities (his gifts that he has of various kinds) in the work of the Lord. A Christian who is in reversionism will not spend his time doing the Lord's work. He will direct all of those key factors in some other direction away from the things of the Lord. That is a sure sign of reversionism corroding the soul.

   The reversionist is zealous for legalism while he attacks grace and privacy of the individual believer. The reversionistic Christian is a Pinocchio. He has a long nose, and he sticks it in other people's business all the time. The Lord fortunately makes that nose longer all the time, so that it's easier to recognize the reversionistic busybodies. When you see them, you should have a suitable instrument to snip a piece off when they poke it in your direction. It will be a great service to them, and it will help them to learn that reversionism is a fruitless lifestyle.

   The reversionistic Christian who gets himself mixed up in this way finds companionship with those who oppose the pastor-teacher and the sound doctrine that he's teaching. But he is antagonistic toward those who are positive toward that doctrine and toward that teacher.

   Rearing of Children

   Divine viewpoint rearing of children is another area where the reversionistic Christian gets all fouled up. He gets mixed up with human viewpoint of the sin nature. He thinks that the society and the government should have a leading role in educating his children. He thinks that progressive education, which is based upon humanism, is the direction for the maximum blessing of the human race. The reversionistic Christian thinks that the child belongs to the state and that the state should care for him. That, of course, is false. So, ... the reversionistic Christian and the reversionistic human being are all fouled up in terms of the rearing of children.

8. Verbal Attacks

   The reversionistic Christian has constant criticism, slander, complaining, and judging. He is the habitual, unrestrained verbal attacker. He is constantly verbally attacking. He is the kind of Christian you just hate to get into a conversation with, because you're going to be exposed to his spiritual contamination. There are some people you will discover that, even if they're Christians, you just hate to get into a conversation with them, because they're going to contaminate you with the things they're going to say to you: in their attacks upon other believers; and, in their attacks upon certain areas of truth. And you just don't like to be in the presence of that kind of attack upon truth. So, a reversionistic believer has constant criticism, slander, complaining, and judging.

9. The Sin unto Death

   Persistent reversionism may result in the sin unto death if it is not reversed. This is ultimately where persistent reversionism may lead. If it goes far enough; it becomes devastating enough; and, it becomes enough of a problem, then God, I guarantee you, will snatch you not only out of the circle of genuine believers, but He will snatch you right out of this life.

10. The Mastery of the Details of Life

    The breakdown in one's mastery of the details of life is a major step in backsliding down into reversionism. There is something about money that is a key feature in this business of reversionism. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is because money is the epitome of expressing envy and greed, but there is something about that that the Word of God recognizes, and comes out with a heavy emphasis that the threat of reversionism is primarily to be found in the handling of your financial resources. This is demonstrated in 1 Timothy 6:9-10 which says, "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil which, while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

    There would be few of us who, in our associations, have not seen Christians who have pierced themselves through with many sorrows because of their lust for money – their love for material things. Your breakdown in the mastery of the details of life is a major step in backsliding down into reversionism.

11. Mental Sins

    Hebrews 12:15 tells us that mental Sins are also a major contributor to reversionism.

12. Trust

    The reversionistic Christian is never to be trusted. This is the sweetness and humility type. He may be very sincere in his sweetness and humility, but he is disoriented to the Lord. A lady visiting this morning told me, as she went out, that one of the things she had learned from the Berean tapes was the reality of Christian emotion, as over against the sweetness and the front and the fakery that one puts on in the Christian life. She said, "That was me all the time, until suddenly I realized that here I am going about putting on a front so that I'll be a nice Christian. I'll be a sweet Christian. I'll be acting like Jesus. Then I realized that that was the last thing I was doing." The reversionistic Christian thinks that he is really acting like the Lord, with sweetness and humility, but he is disoriented. This is the person who will declare undying love to you. He will declare his goodwill. He will declare his allegiance. But all you're getting is an emotional domination from his soul which is being expressed. He's a sentimentalist. And someplace down the line, you will cross him; he will rebel; and, he will turn on you.

    Flattery

    This reversionistic type will use flattery, like asking your opinion. Isn't it flattering for somebody to come up and ask you your opinion? Some of you just love it because they come up and they ask your opinion. The reversionistic type doesn't really care about your opinion. He's just asking you so he can ingratiate himself to you so that he can get you to support his cause – some cause that is out of the plan of God. He'll use flattery; he'll ask for your opinion; and, then he will use you to promote some cause of his own.

    The greatest point of danger to a positive believer is when such a reversionist becomes attractive to you. When a reversionist becomes attractive to you, you are in real trouble. When somebody who is a resister of the Word of God becomes attractive to you, then you are going to absorb his ways. The time will come when you will follow that reversionist, and you will be drawn away from the source of blessing and prosperity into a desert of poverty – spiritual poverty. So, be careful about trusting the reversionistic believer and getting close to that kind of a person.

13. Calloused

    Reversionists are calloused, so they are miserable. They should be pitied. They are beggarly. They are spiritually blind. They are lacking the garment of the spiritual maturity structure which reflects the glory of God. All of that is described in Revelation 3:14-20. Please remember that in this letter to the Laodicean church, Jesus Christ is there knocking at the door of the heart, but that is not a picture of salvation. This is a picture of Jesus Christ trying to alert a reversionistic believer to his condition, and for that reversionistic believer to turn back to fellowship with the Lord whom he has locked out of his life.

14. A Pseudo Spiritual Maturity Structure

    The reversionistic Christian often operates on a pseudo spiritual maturity structure which blinds him to his true spiritual condition. He thinks that he actually has a spiritual status which he does not have. God does not promote or bless in reversionism. A lot of people have self-made benefits, and they attribute them to God. Do not attribute your self-made benefits to the Lord. If you are in reversionism, He's not blessing, and He's not prospering, but you may still be living it up high.

15. Super Grace vs. Reversionism

    Every Christian is constantly moving toward super grace (or maintaining that position), or he is in reversionism. That is a very important principle. Every Christian is constantly moving toward super grace (or maintaining his attainment of that position), or he is sliding backwards in reversionism.

Types of Reversionism

So, we're going to crystallize the problem that existed in Sardis with specific categories of reversionism. Just remember that it all begins with being negative toward the Word of God, and being indifferent toward the Word that you have received. When you do that, you have begun to crack the spiritual maturity structure in your soul, and then you begin to go down from there, and you begin to express it in all kinds of different ways. All the while, you are thinking that all is well with your soul, when increasingly things are less and less well with your soul. Reversionism is a serious thing because, as with the people in Sardis, it brought them under the condemnation of the Lord Jesus Christ because their works were human good. That is dirt on your spiritual garments. That is dirt upon your spiritual character. That is dirt upon your temporal fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ does not tolerate that in those of us who claim to be members of His family.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

Back to the Revelation index