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The Consequences of Reversionism
RV62-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
We are continuing the study of the letter written to the church in Laodicea, section number eight. This letter is recorded in Revelation 3:14-22.
Evil before the Flood
Early on in the history of the human race, the Bible tells us that mankind degenerated into the vilest kind of thinking and of conduct. We have
this information recorded for us in Genesis 6:5 where we read, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." God, in his omniscience, saw that human wickedness had become very great.
It had multiplied enormously since that first entrance into sin in the Garden of Eden. People at that time were uniformly in rebellion against
God's moral standards and authority. It had become a world mentality, at this point in time, to be antagonistic to God and to everything that
He had to say, and all of His demands. The Bible tells us that every inclination of the thoughts of the human mind was only evil all the time.
People thought for the explicit purpose of figuring out how to do something vile; gross; debased; crude; and, evil. They spent their time
thinking up new ways of degenerating themselves. They were continually absorbed with thinking of new ways of perverting their humanity into
animal-like existence. The pre-flood population felt intellectually superior all the while it was doing this to God's divine standards. There
was a smugness and a self-confidence and, as always, the key feature of the old sin nature was there – arrogance in what they were doing.
In Genesis 6:11-12, we read also, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence, and God looked upon the earth
and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted His ways upon the earth." By God's divine viewpoint, the earth had become a moral sewer.
It was considered sophisticated to practice evil without any restraint. Moral degeneracy was, as always, accompanied by widespread violence.
So, it was not only that men were in a very evil state in their thinking and in their conduct; that they were very morally degenerate; and, that
vileness was rampant in the earth, but there was also violence – crude, unadulterated brutality. Life on earth had become a
continual round before the flood of: fornication; adultery; rape; perversion; orgies; brutality; muggings; murder; greed; stealing; cheating;
lying; sensuality; drunkenness; envy; arrogance; ingratitude; and, disloyalty. Everything terrible that you could think of was taking place on
the earth at that time.
The divine judgment upon this mentality and this conduct is listed for us in Genesis 6:13: "God said unto Noah, 'The end of all flesh is come
before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.'" The divine decision was death.
The divine discipline was death.
Evil after the Flood
In the New Testament, we come to Romans 1:21. The apostle Paul, here under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, reviews the moral condition of the
human race as a whole since the flood – the antediluvian condition: "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." The perceptive mind was blacked out:
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible
man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts
(that is, of their minds), to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served
the creature (the creation) more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
"For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections, for even
their women did exchange their natural use for that which is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned
in their lust one toward another: men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which
was fitting. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which were not
seemingly; being filled with all unrighteousness; fornication; wickedness; covetousness; maliciousness; full of envy; murder; strife; deceit;
malignity; whisperers; back-biters; haters of God; insolent; proud; boasters; inventors of evil things; disobedient to parents; without
understanding; covenant-breakers; without natural affection; implacable; unmerciful; who, knowing the judgment of God, that those who commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
The same moral corruption and violence in the pre-flood civilization continued after the flood. Evil again was viewed as intelligent enlightenment
and as freedom. They deliberately promoted moral corruption and the pursuit of an anti-God lifestyle. Again, as in verse 32, the divine judgment
was death.
Evil Today
We come down to the end of our age, on the threshold of the entrance into heaven, through the rapture, and Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:1-8 describes
what we may expect of people in the time in which you and I live today: "This know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men
shall be lovers of their own selves; covetous; boasters; proud; blasphemers; disobedient to parents; unthankful; unholy; without natural affection;
truce-breakers; false accusers; incontinent; fierce; despisers of those that are good; traitors; heady-minded; lovers of pleasure more than lovers
of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it. From such turn away. For this sort are they who creep into houses and lead
captives silly women laden with sins, led away with various lusts, ever learning and never able to come to knowledge of the truth. Now as
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."
So, the picture is not going to change. God demonstrated His anger and His wrath in His judgment in the flood. Subsequent civilization of mankind
followed in the same decrepit, demoralizing condition. We come to our day, and things are indeed worse than ever. This is amply demonstrated on
all sides of us, that these are the things that Paul describes here. What Paul describes here are the things which are being dignified, and which
are being presented as being normal and acceptable, so the same condition exists again. Historical periods of positive volition to Bible doctrine
truth have been the only things that have restrained this kind of moral degeneracy. When the Word of God was permeating the society, its qualities
enabled that society to rise above an animal level of existence.
However, as Satan has captured the minds of people with anti-God philosophies, humanity has descended into moral darkness. A mind filled with
human viewpoint is, in the nature of the case, subject to Satan's control and direction, whether that mind is in the head of a Christian or in
the head of an unbeliever. The age of the church is an age which will gradually degenerate into the apostasy described in Genesis 6, Romans 1,
and summarized here in 2 Timothy.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to enable believers to reject the influence of Satan's evil world during the age of the church. In
Galatians 1:3-5, we have that explicitly taught. Jesus Christ came so that it would be different for those of us who are believers, and that
we would not be trapped in this kind of mental outlook and of personal performance: "Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from
our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and our
Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
The loss of this provision would be unimaginable if we did not have the provision of Jesus Christ: His strategic victory on the cross,
which made it possible, because of His defeat of Satan there, for us to enjoy tactical victories day-by-day in the angelic conflict: victories
where we live; victories where we come to grips with the enemy; and, victories where we come face-to-face with the corruption of our society
described here in Scripture.
However, there are some Christians who are failures on the field. They do not enjoy tactical victories. They have fallen into reversionism. We
are studying one church, which was, as a whole, exactly in that condition in Laodicea. A Christian in reversionism is on the road to indulging
himself in all of the world's moral sewage. If you're up at
spiritual maturity structure, and you've got some understanding of the Word of God, you're not going to go too filthy too soon, but you'll get
there. It comes by small increments and you will gradually descend into the sewer. The greater your arrogance, the faster you will descend.
It all begins with a loss of temporal fellowship, which moves a believer into this status of backsliding – reversionism. The steps down
from a functioning spiritual maturity structure lead into the same moral degeneracy which is practiced in the world. We have already looked in
Ephesians 4:17-18 at the steps that lead into the terrible status of reversionism. Briefly, they are these.
The Steps to Reversionism
Negative Volition
The first step is a negative volition attitude to Bible doctrine truth. This is neglect of the Word of God or the rejection of Bible teaching, which
means you have rejected or neglected the mind of Christ. You better apply that to yourself. If you've spent your week here in all the wonderful and
important activities of your life, and your involvement in the Word of God has been practically non-existent, then you have already violated
principle number one. You've already taken the first step down into reversionism to some degree. If the Word of God has not been functioning in
your life and your experience, and if you have not sought to cleanse your mind with the free flowing water (the cleansing water) of the Word of God,
you've already taken the first step, and you're already playing a dangerous game.
A Spiritual Vacuum
The perceptive quality of your mind (the learning feature of your
mind), when you have gone negative to God's truth, then is left empty of divine viewpoint knowledge. When your perceptive mind is empty of divine
viewpoint knowledge, it draws into itself human viewpoint errors – literally, the mind of Satan. So, instead of having the mind of Christ,
you've substituted the mind of the devil.
A Spiritual Blackout
Then, a spiritual blackout envelops the perceptive mind so that there is no divine viewpoint available to transfer down into the human spirit,
which is the point of God's contact with us. When your perceptive mind (your understanding of truth) is blacked out, because of your neglect of
the Word of God: you don't bother turning to the Word of God during the week; you don't bother listening to a tape; and, you don't bother opening
your mind to what God has to say, Satan moves in, and he gives you something else. You do not have a mental vacuum ever. So, human viewpoint
comes in. There is no divine viewpoint to transfer down to your human spirit. Your perceptive mind is blacked out, and your human spirit is
starved for information.
Callouses
Then the directive mind (that decision-making capacity of your mentality) is simply fed with the human viewpoint blackness that is in your
perceptive mind, and your directive mind becomes hardened (calloused) toward God. Because the mind controls the emotions and the will, your
emotions and will are also calloused, so that your soul is hardened toward all divine viewpoint information. That's when you begin to go spiritually
insane. That's when you lose all touch with spiritual reality. That's when the Word of God comes to you, and what God has to say, you fight it; you
resist it; and, you come up with the most stupid, inane, ignorant decisions – everything is coming out backwards. Even though
sometimes you may put your finger on a problem (a spiritual problem or a moral problem), you'll come up with the wrong answer on how to solve it.
The directive mind is simply being fed the human viewpoint blackout that's stored in the perceptive mind, and you become hardened toward God the
Holy Spirit in your soul.
Spiritual Ignorance
You become increasingly spiritually ignorant as the calluses build up on the facets of your soul. There is an ignorance in your human spirit.
There is nothing to guide you now. There is increasingly less from the reserve that you put there previously.
Alienation from God
The calloused soul then becomes alienated from the life of God; that is, the life of the leading of the Spirit of God. Because there is nothing
in your human spirit, there is nothing by which the Spirit of God can guide you. The truth that you once knew, you become hardened to. So, it is
incapacitated. Your perceptive mind is full of darkness. That's all that can feed into your directive mind. So, everything is increasingly
alienated from anything that the Spirit of God wants for you.
Continual Falling
The Christian then descends ever deeper into reversionism from spiritual maturity. It continues until the process is stopped and reversed. While the
believer (the Christian) is in reversionism, he falls into the same evil patterns of unbelievers under Satan's direction. The very lifestyle that
Jesus Christ came to save us from is the lifestyle that the Christian will be following. The examples that we read: from Genesis; from Romans; and
from 2nd Timothy are the things that will characterize a person's going to heaven – and that's sewage. That's moral filth in its worst kind
that you're reading there. For some believers, this is in a very gross form; for others, in a more cultured form. But it's all sewage.
Christians who are in reversionism are in a status which the Bible describes as having fallen from grace. This is described for us in Galatians 5:4,
where it says, "Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whoever of you are justified by the law (an example of reversionism), you are fallen from
grace. Reversionism is fallen from grace.
Now that brings us to this horrible, terrible picture here where the mind is empty and blacked out. The perceptive mind has nothing but darkness
to feed into the directive mind. The human spirit lacks God's viewpoint. There is nothing but alienation from the life of God. What happens next?
You have sometimes known people like this. You held them in great esteem, and they were effective, influential Christians. Then, suddenly,
something happened in their experience, and you hear about it; you fall over; you can't believe it; you're shocked; and, you're horrified. Maybe it
happened to you yourself. You wonder: how could you descend into this particular kind of evil, and this particular kind of moral sewage? It's
because this condition first established itself in your life. This is the normal condition of every unbeliever you deal with. That's why he's not
going to be much good to you. What he does with this condition is that he covers it up with human good. He's not going to be much good to you in
terms of divine viewpoint guidance or anything in terms of fellowship and spiritual matters.
You Become Calloused
In Ephesians 4:19, the story continues of the consequences of the believer in reversionism: Paul says, "Who being past feeling." The word "past
feeling is this Greek word "apalgeo." "Apalgeo" means "beyond feeling pain." It comes to the point where you do not feel pain. "To become calloused"
is what this word means. It indicates a lack of sensitivity toward the Holy Spirit and toward God's truth. You have an opportunity to steal. You're
a Christian with some spiritual maturity. You have some degree of spiritual maturity structure in your soul. You steal. You shop-lift. It feels
terrible. You're crushed. You're humiliated. You become calloused. The next time, you find that it's not quite so hard to do. The first time that you
opened your mouth and poured out foul oaths and cursed, and used God's name in vain, you recoiled in horror from yourself because you were sensitive
to spiritual things. Now we're talking about a believer who has come into reversionism who is "apalgeo.' He is completely insensitive to spiritual
things. He is completely insensitive to moral sewage. It now feels OK to him. He has now become the pig who is attracted to the mud hole. So, all
of these things that we've been reading: the sexual immorality; the sexual perversion; and, all of the moral compromises that the Word of God
condemns in one way or another – all those come easy. It's not hard to do evil. It's not hard to break God's rules.
Those are the people we're talking about – a reversionist who is now past feeling. The facets of his soul are totally hardened toward
doctrinal influence: the mind is not influenced; the will is not influenced; and, the emotions are not influenced. It doesn't bother you to do
this evil.
The Greek has this in the perfect tense, which means that this condition began back here in the past at the point of negative evolution toward
the Word of God. It set up an action that continued. Here you are in the present, and it's going to continue right on. It's not going to change.
Your spiritual insensitivity is going to continue until a certain action is taken to reverse the process. It's active. It's the status of your soul
in terms of your mind, your emotions, and your will. It's in the participle mood which indicates that a spiritual principle is being stated for us
here. This calloused condition is built up over a period of time, and because it is built up over a period of time, like a natural callous on your
hand, for example, it cannot be removed immediately. You don't just look at that callous, and say, "I'm going to get rid of this. It looks ugly;
it's getting fatter; and, I don't like it." It takes time to remove the callous.
Whatever is causing the callous to develop, you have to stop that. Then it'll reverse in the other direction, and gradually the callous will be
removed. But these people are in a hardened condition, and I hope you will realize that it begins in a little way. A callous begins in an
imperceptible way. So, don't sit here breathing a sigh of relief that you're not subject to this kind of potential moral degradation.
They have Given Themselves Over
Because they are past spiritual feeling in their souls: "They have given themselves over unto lasciviousness." "Given themselves over" is the Greek
word "paradidomi." "Paradidomi" means "to hand over." The idea here is self-betrayal. A Christian who goes into reversionism is a Christian who
deliberately hands himself over for certain evils. It is aorist. This betrayal of yourself is at the point that you sink into reversionism. It is
active. You choose to do this. You don't just fall into reversion. You don't just fall into callousness upon the soul – insensitivity. It's
something that you deliberately take one step, and another step, and another step. You don't think it'll be too bad.
Lasciviousness
Many people have found themselves in very, very serious evils as a result of saying, "I'll just do it once. I'll just do this little step. I
don't intend to do more. I'm going to stop." It gets worse, because once you're in reversionism, it's a slick slide down. These people have
deliberately betrayed themselves. It's indicative mood. It's a statement of a fact. And they have betrayed themselves to what the Bible calls
"aselgeia." "Aselgeia" is a noun, and it's translated as "lasciviousness" in the King James Version. What this word means is "the absence of moral
restraint." A Christian goes down to where "everything goes." He no longer has restraint.
Don't kid yourself if you think that that cannot happen. This happens all the time, and it happens to very, very good Christians who get on this
road into reversionism. I guarantee you that if you play that game, it'll happen to you. It will happen to any of us. It connotes indecency and
shameless conduct. It is very closely tied to illicit and perverted sex.
Debauchery
Romans 13:13, in the King James Version, uses this word "aselgeia." The King James Version translates it as "wantonness:" "Let us walk honestly, as
in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness; not in immorality and wantonness ('aselgeia')." That is an absolute, unrestrained immorality: "Not in
strife and envying." The apostle Paul here is listing how we treat other people. One of the things he says should not be characteristic of a
Christian is this quality of debauchery. This was an evil which was understandably very prominent among the Corinthian Christians. That was a
church which was deeply in reversionism. In 2 Corinthians 12:21, this word is used: "And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you,
and that I shall bewail many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have
committed."
So, it does happen with Christians. Here it is when he's writing to a group of Christians. He says, "When I come again, I'm going to be humiliated,
when I get into this congregation and I find what's going on and what the condition is, and I discover that "aselgeia" is running rampant among you.
You're born-again believers; you're representatives of Jesus Christ; and, you have the stench and the sewage of moral debauchery all over. And I'm
going to feel terrible. I'm going to be humiliated as a Christian – as one who is part of the same body with you."
They Pervert Grace in Unrestrained Indulgence
Christians in reversionism are those who pervert the grace of God. Grace means freedom. Grace means liberty. But Christians who are in reversionism
will take grace, and they'll pervert it into lasciviousness, and into unrestrained, shameless, indecent conduct. The book of Jude verse 4 says, "For
there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation." These are ungodly men who are turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness: "And denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." They took the grace of God. Jude says there are people
coming in among us, ungodly men, who take the freedom of grace (the no pressure condition of grace), and they say, "That means that I can do anything
I want. Boy, I can just indulge myself." "Aselgeia" is unrestrained indulgence.
Uncleanness
So, I would again caution you to examine your own heart, because this is a serious warning. Where are the areas of unrestrained indulgence in your
life? And Ephesians 4:19 says that this was unrestrained indulgence: "Giving themselves over to unrestrained indulgence." To what? "To work all
uncleanness with greediness." The word "to" is this Greek preposition "eis," which means "so as to." It's expressing the purpose of giving
themselves over to any lack of restraint: "For them to work," and the word "work" is "ergasia," which means "practice," or really, this is the
word used for "business." They gave themselves over, unrestrained, to the business. And it adds "all ('pas') business." It means "every kind," and
every kind of business they were in was a business called "uncleanness."
Impurity
The Greek word looks like this: "akatharsia," which means "impurity." But the word "impurity" is not accurate enough. You have to use the word
"filthy." That's what the Greek means. "Akatharsia" means "filthy." It's something that makes you recoil in horror, and makes you want to throw
up. It nauseates you. It's disgusting. And they are going to engage in every kind of filthy action. What are we talking about? These slobs down
on Skid Row who are drunk bums? No, we're talking about the people who wear nice clothes, and here he's warning Ephesian Christians who know the
Lord, and who know the Word of God, to take care that they don't return to the vomit that characterized them as unbelievers, and which now, in
Laodicea, is again characterizing Christians to the disgust of Almighty God. They are practicing every kind of filthy action.
Greediness
Furthermore, they're doing it: "With greediness." The Greek word is "pleonexia." "Pleonexia" means "covetousness." It comes from two words:
"pleon," which means "more;" and, "echo" means "to have." So, it literally means "to have more." It is always used in a bad sense in the Bible:
to have more of something that is evil. It is greediness for evil. The idea is continual lust for more impurity – an insatiable drive to try
different evils.
This is what is so pathetic when you have to deal with somebody who has fallen into moral evils, and you're going to try to help that person to
turn around. One of the things you have to remember, especially if that is a Christian who has been caught up in reversionism, is that they're
greedy for this evil. At first, they just tip their toe carefully into the water to test it. At first, they kind of recoil – they couldn't
imagine it. Then they got into it; and, they got into it more and more – until now, they are believers who, because they
are so reverted, are greedy for every kind of filthy action.
So how are you going to change a person? How are you going to turn them around? There is only one way you're going to turn them around. We'll
look in more detail at this, but you already should have a clue that the thing that brought that person to this position is resistance against
the truth of God, and against the truth presented in such a way that the person found himself downwind of himself. So, he got a smell of what he
really was. There were no games, and no cover-ups. It's just, "Here's what God thinks."
There are always some people who think that they're going to change this obsessive greediness for filthy, immoral actions by getting people into a
different situation. Never! You only show your own movement toward reversionism if you think that anything but the Word of God is going to reverse
this person's problem.
The Return from Reversionism
So, let's look at the reversal. We could spend quite a bit of time here in reviewing exactly what Christians who are in this condition do. They do
a lot of terrible things, but you can probably figure those out for yourself. I only want to emphasize that Christians are fully capable of all of
these things that we read that characterize the pre-flood and antediluvian civilizations, and it all happens when one is indifferent, or negative,
to doctrine in his soul. You cannot live as a Christian without a daily feeding upon the Word of God. You cannot function in
maximum, spiritual, benefit blessing and prosperity. You can't do it. You get by, but that's all you're doing: you're just getting by. You are not
in a position of maximum blessing. You're disoriented to the best that God has for you.
So, in Ephesians 4:20-21, we have a return from reversionism. Paul says, "But." That's this conjunction "de," which indicates a contrast between
the spiritual Christian and the reversionistic Christian or the unbeliever: "But (this terrible thing he has described), you have not so learned."
The word "not" is "ou," the strong negative: "Absolutely, you have not so learned." The word "learned" looks like this in Greek: "manthano."
"Manthano" means "to increase one's knowledge." Here it refers to the knowledge of Jesus Christ; that is, the Christ. It means a process of
applying Bible doctrine ("epignosis" knowledge) because you have been positive to the truth. So, it's more than just something you know as "gnosis."
It has become "epignosis" (full knowledge) stored in the human spirit, so that you can apply it to your life, so that you can live differently from
the reversionists and from the unbelievers. This is not the way you were introduced to the Christian life. Nobody ever brought you into the
Christian life and said, "This is a pigsty life. That's what you're called to in Christ. You're called to live like a moral pig." Nobody ever
told you that. Nobody ever suggested that that's what Jesus Christ had accomplished His victory on the cross for – for you to do in the field
as a believer. Paul says, "Never ('ou'), absolutely not. Let's get that straight. We don't even pretend that such a thing is possible."
This is the aorist tense for "manthano," which means "at the point of applying the doctrine that you learn." It is active. The believer so lives as
to the truth that he learned. It is indicative – a statement of fact. Christians are not to be in reversionism from the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are to be positive, and capable of a spiritual maturity structure type of living. Believers do not come to know the Lord Jesus Christ while in
reversionism and an evil lifestyle. You do not learn about Jesus Christ. You do not learn to relate yourself to the Lord when you are in
reversionism. Reversionism blanks you out completely. It does nothing for you. Your Bible study does nothing for you. Your praying does nothing for
you. You are a zero until you get back on track.
So, verse 20 says, "This is not the way we have learned about the Christian life. This is not the way we have learned to be related to Jesus Christ.
This is not the way that we have learned to walk as believers." Then verse 21 says, "If." That's the Greek word "ei," and it's a first-class
condition. First class condition means "since" you have – a truth: "Since you have heard Him" and the word "heard" looks like this in Greek:
"akouo." "Akouo" means "to listen" in the sense of "since you have obeyed" – "Since you have obeyed Jesus Christ." "Akouo" is in the
aorist tense: at the point that you heard the gospel and you believed it. It is active voice. Each of you did your own believing. It's indicative.
It's a statement of fact. You heard, in the sense that you believed, and you were saved. Then after you were saved, you have been taught by Him.
The word taught is "didasko." "Didasko" means "to instruct." Doctrine information is the idea here. It is aorist: at the point that you sit in a
group and you learn doctrinal truth. You hear it, and you learn it. It is active. You do your own learning. Nobody can learn for you. Nobody can feed
upon the Word of God for you. You cannot say, "You go to church, and I'm going to stay home and prepare dinner, and then we'll have a lovely
afternoon dinner after you've been to church, and you can tell me anything that was important. You have to be there to learn for yourself. Let
somebody else make the dinner. Don't deny yourself the real food. You have to do your own learning. This is indicative. It's a statement of fact.
You have not heard, and you didn't believe the gospel unto salvation, and you haven't been taught by Him as the truth.
"As the truth is in Jesus:" The word "as" is "kathos,"
and it means, "just as" the truth. This word "truth," is "aletheia." "Aletheia" means "reality:" "You did learn spiritual reality in this way in
(the location) Jesus." And the Greeks says the Jesus. This is the specific God-man (the unique Savior God-man). The truth of salvation –
you learned it; and you believed it. After that, "The truth which is in Jesus." What is the truth in Jesus? The mind of Christ here in the Bible.
That's doctrinal instruction. You did not learn that so that you could live a corrupt lifestyle – the style that is characterized by
reversionism. Positive knowledge to the truth prevents callouses from developing on your soul; prevents reversionism from taking place; and,
prevents the evil living that follows.
Steps for Reversing Reversionism
When this happens, it is necessary to take steps for correction:
Confess It
If you find yourself in reversionism, a
little bit or a lot, step number one is to back off and say, "Where did I get off the track? Where did I go wrong? Where did I arch my back like a
hissing cat against the living God?" And make your confession at that point. Confess the evil known as per 1 John 1:9. That brings you back into
the position of temporal fellowship with the Heavenly Father. That reverses your status from reversionism to edification. You can immediately go
from edification to reversionism. You can meet immediately go from reversionism to edification – both ways. Confession of sin stops the slide
downward, but it does not remove the problems, and it does not remove the callouses. But it does stop the slide downward, and it enables you to
turn around. Turn-around is what happens when you confess. The reconstruction of your spiritual maturity structure begins repairing of the damage
that is done. So, first, to stop (reverse) reversionism, confess the evil.
Forget the Evil
Point number two is to forget the evil. What you have confessed to God the Father, forget it. Don't keep any guilt complexes. Get up and move on.
It is important that you confess it and forget it. Don't eat your heart out over it. Don't be sitting around saying, "I hate myself for what I did.
I hate what I did. It bothers me." Instead, say, "I'm not crying about it." That's really just serving you. Get yourself an onion and start peeling
it – whatever it takes to make you happy, but forget it. That is what is important. You don't light a new sin. A guilt complex is a new sin,
and you confess one, and light a new one like you are a chain smoker. Point number two is: "Forget the evil."
Take in Doctrine
Now, start taking doctrine into your mentality daily. Return to the feeding upon the Word of God, and respond with positive volition to it. What
happens then is that the callouses will begin peeling off of your mind; of your emotions; and, of your will. Depending upon how long you have been
in reversionism and how thick the hardness is, will depend on how long it's going to take for you to come back. How long will it be until your
mind will have the Lord's leading: so that you don't act like a fool; so that your emotions will have God's direction; so that you don't act
like a blubbering idiot; so that your will is sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit; and, so you're not always making bummer moves. To the
extent of how thick the calluses are, will determine how long it takes to come back. But Bible doctrines then will be stored once more in your human
spirit reservoir, and your spiritual maturity structure will again be on its way up. Bible doctrine in the perceptive mind will prevent a
spiritual vacuum from developing to draw in all those human viewpoint falsehoods.
The consequences in lifestyle of a believer who is restored from reversionism is then described in Ephesians 4:22 through Ephesians 5:2. In fact,
it is all these following verses. It goes on. You're a Christian out of reversionism. So, what? Just look at this. Here's what will now become
true of you. Many of these things were just the opposite while you were in reversionism. Ephesians 4:22: "That you put off concerning the former
manner of life, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." That is where it all
begins: information in the mind, which is the thing that has to be renewed: "And that you put on the new man, which, after God, is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying: speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Be
angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let
him labor, working with the hand – the thing which is good, so that he may have to give to him that needs."
A whole nation can be in reversionism. A whole government can be in reversionism. We have a government who, up to recent times, has been in the
business of stealing from those who produce, to give it to those who do not produce, for whatever reasons. The Word of God brands that as
reversionistic thinking.
Verse 29: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." I guarantee you that it will come out when you're in reversionism: "But that
which is good, to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." When you're in a status of spirituality, the things you say
build up people spiritually. When you're in reversionism, it tears them down: "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed unto
the day of redemption." The opposite of all these things grieves the Spirit of God: "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another." When you're in reversionism, you're mean to people. When you're out of
reversionism (when you're in a status of spirituality), you're kind to people. It's one of the signs. You can spot it in yourself: "Tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you." Did you notice that? You're forgiven. It's not because you deserved it. Do
like God does, because His grace says, "I'm going to do this for you." So, you forgive other people, not because they deserve it, or because they
ask you to forgive them, or any of that nonsense. It's just because you're not going to hold it against him. You're a Christian who is not going to
play the dangerous game of holding a grudge, which is a nice step into reversionism.
Ephesians 5:1 says, "Therefore, be followers of God as dear children, imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and has given
Himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for sweet-smelling savor." In Ephesians 5:3 and these verses which follow, you have further specific details
on divine viewpoint living for a Christian who is in fellowship; for a Christian who is building spiritual maturity; and, for a Christian who is free of
the status of reversionism. Read it on your own. It will show you the difference between being in and out of reversionism.
Growth in spiritual maturity enables you to conform closely to this godly lifestyle. Ephesians 5:8 sums it up: "For you were once darkness, but now
you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Don't get your mind filled with blackness again. That is not befitting you. The believer in
reversionism is living in the realm of spiritual death. Ephesians 5:14: "Wherefore he said, 'Awake you that sleep.'" You who are in reversionism,
you're in the land of spiritual death. You're spiritually alive, but you're walking among the corpses. What in the world is wrong with you? "Wake up.
Get up from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
There are some perverted kind of individuals that have a macabre attraction for corpses. And you really have to be way out to go for that. But
that's what Christians are doing who are in reversionism. You have all of that dead debris of the old life, and you're sitting there hugging it,
and being attracted to it. The world comes up and embraces you, and what do you do? Instead of shoving it back, you hug it. What are you doing?
You're hugging a dead corpse. I've seen a few people hug corpses, and it's a gross action. Every believer in reversionism is hugging the old dead
corpse of the life that he left.
Verse 15 says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." So, brand yourself: "fool;" or, "wise." The fool is the one who
does not operate on divine viewpoint wisdom and apply it. The wise are those who apply it, because they have it: "Redeeming the time." Here's a
sobering verse: "Redeeming the time because the days are evil." All the time that you log in reversionism is lost time for rewards. Do you realize
that – the enormity of the price that some Christians will pay because of the amount of their lives that they've spent out of fellowship, and
have spent out of spiritual growth: getting with it, because the days are evil?
"Wherefore, being not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." You cannot understand the will of the Lord in reversionism. So,
here's a believer. He's asleep in reversionism. He's lying down here with the dead corpses. He's detached from spiritual reality. With the light
of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, he can walk with divine viewpoint wisdom, as befits his royal station as a member of the royal family of God.
Without this divine viewpoint of Bible doctrine functioning in his soul, he's a fool. Time in reversionism is lost time for earning rewards:
things that you're going to be able enjoy forever in heaven. Is it worth it? Is it worth being in that status? Is it worth being a cool cat, and
not taking this sort of thing seriously? Wisdom (knowing God's will) and doctrine are the means to that knowledge. That's the winning combination.
It's a terrible thing to walk in the death of reversionism. But there's always a way back, and the sooner the better.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1977
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