Supplement 5 — For Lessons 9 & 10

Supplement Five

For Lessons Nine and Ten

In the beginning of PART II: God’s Historical Dealings With Man, we have studied the Dispensation of Innocence. We have seen how God tested man in a state of innocence for the purpose of discovering whether man would remain true to his test of obedience to God. We have seen that man failed, lost power over Satan and demons, and became a fallen, helpless creature set upon by the most subtle and unprincipled evil spirits in existence. We have seen that man lost control of the Earth and became subject to Satan. We have also seen that this Fall was brought about by doubting God’s Word, by adding to it, by contradicting it, by misinterpreting it, by temptation to transgress it, and by actual transgression of it. These were the steps of man’s Fall, and he must take steps that are just the opposite of these in order to be redeemed from the fall. The steps one must follow to be redeemed are:

1. 1 Doubt Concerning God’s Word

If one wants healing, health, success, happiness, and prosperity from God through the gospel, he must first stop doubting the Word of God in its entirety. If man had never permitted himself to doubt in the first place, if he had warded off all suggestions of Satan that are contrary to God’s Word, there would not have been the struggle that there is today to believe God without doubting. The first and last lesson one must learn if he wants anything from God is to doubt not. It is reported that Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “It never occurs to me to doubt God.” Every man should maintain this attitude toward God at all times.

God has made it very plain that the absolute condition of answered prayer is “Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” James 1:5-8. The Moffat translation reads, “Let him ask God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will be his. Only, let him ask in faith, with never a doubt; for the doubtful man is like the surge of the sea whirled and swayed by the wind; that man need not imagine he will get anything from God, double-minded creature that he is, wavering at every turn.” The Weymouth translation reads, “Let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray. A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord—such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes.”

What could be clearer than this? If this is God’s condition of answered prayer, it will pay for everyone to make up his mind before he prays that he is going to cleave to what he decides to ask of God and fight it through until he gets an answer. If children of God could learn this one secret, they would stop asking God for blessings until they thoroughly made up their minds that they want them badly enough to see their desires through to a complete answer. Then, following this procedure, their prayers will be answered. But many times they change their minds when the answer does not come all at once. They decide that it is not the will of God, or that it would not have been best for them to have received an answer. These things should always be settled before prayer is made for something. The fact that an answer is not forthcoming the same moment we ask is no proof that it is not the will of God or that it might not have been best for us.

This is the most harmful procedure for a child of God to follow, but sad to say, it is one of the most common. A few failures like this will soon make us form a habit that causes failure in almost every prayer that is prayed. Failures are so common in the lives of men concerning answered prayer that it is safe to say that not one percent of all prayers are answered. But under the circumstances even this is a high percentage. Definite requests are made to God by the millions, but few are answered. This condition doesn’t seem to bother the average praying man or woman. In fact many believe the false idea that it is normal not to get an answer to prayer, except occasionally.

Such people should wake up and realize that if they can get an answer once in a while, they can get an answer every time they pray; that if desperation and absolute necessity can force them to have faith enough for God to answer one time, they can force themselves to become earnest and have enough faith for everything that they pray for at all times. Why should there ever be a doubt in any mind, if the simple definite promises of God are found to cover the need? If God’s Word does not promise what is asked, it is not necessary to have it; for Peter said, “According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness . . . Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” 2 Peter 1:3-4.

If absolute, unwavering faith is what God demands before He obligates Himself to answer, let everyone who asks see to it that he asks in faith, nothing wavering, and since he has the definite Word of God promising him what he asks, he will receive. Since it was Satan (through the serpent) that raised the first doubt in man and made it second nature to doubt God, let everyone recognize that all doubts are of the devil and are contrary to the Word of God. Let him put a stop to all doubting by wholeheartedly resisting the devil, and the devil will flee from him James 4:7. All doubting is definite opposition to God and His Word, and when one is in such opposition to the One he expects an answer from, he cannot hope to receive it.

In order to not doubt God’s Word, one must know it beyond question. This is the secret of knowing the truth, and it will make us free, as promised by Jesus John 8:31-32. The way to know the Word of God is to take it for what it says and reject the interpretations of demons and men who try to change even one jot or tittle of it. All such changes are satanic in origin and propagation, and must be rejected before doubt can be completely dispelled. All doubts must be rooted out before prayer can be answered, and prayer must be answered before the benefits of the promises can be fully realized. The way to answered prayer then becomes clear, and it is the duty of each individual to see to it that he masters all doubt and demons and cooperates with God’s Word with all his heart.

1. 1 Addition to and Misquoting God’s Word

Until all doubt is cleansed from the life, there will be some addition to and misquoting of God’s Word, because of the fact that this is part of doubting God. As long as doubt is tolerated and indulged in, it will be easy to reason about the Word of God and excuse one’s self for doubt and unbelief. The habit of praying people is to question, wonder, reason, argue, and lay blame upon God when prayer is not immediately answered. They seldom stop to analyze the truth, realizing that they are to blame for yielding to satanic powers, which cause a person to walk in doubt and unbelief.

If immediate answers to all prayers are the goal of any believer, he must never add one thing to God’s Word or take one thing from it. He must learn to take every statement of God as it is written and practice it to the letter. If there is any occasion to argue or contend about any part of it, he must take the side of God and maintain faith in it just as it is, making no apology for faith in it. He must never give in to any excuse for unbelief and never doubt one thing that is plainly written. His first and last contention should be that it is clear, and that it means what it says and says what it means. He must never excuse himself or anyone from absolute conformity to it just as it is written, whether it harmonizes with his own theories or those of his church. Dishonesty and handling the Word of God deceitfully will destroy more faith in one day than can be built up in a lifetime. He must never be guilty of trying to evade truth or what is plainly evident in the Scriptures themselves. A frank admission of what is plainly written and a confession of faith in it will do more to build up faith than all questioning and doubting programs of the devil and natural reason.

1. 1 Contradiction of God’s Word

Not only must one never doubt, add to or take from God’s Word, but, if he wants God to honor him enough to answer prayer, he must never try to make God a liar by contradicting the Word of God. There is nothing to be gained by maintaining faith in man’s interpretations of the Bible at the expense of maintaining faith in God and what He plainly says. If God makes a statement it should be final, and no argument is necessary for such arguing is merely trying to evade plain truth. It is not possible to misunderstand God or His Word if one will put forth the least effort to accept what He says just as He said it. One can afford to contradict theories of men concerning God’s Word, but he cannot afford to contradict what is plainly written. When God makes a statement it should be accepted at face value. There should never be one word uttered that will in any way throw a reflection upon God or His Word, or make Him seem false in any detail of His statements.

If God promises certain things to men upon certain conditions, then be strong in faith, knowing that God is right and anything to the contrary is wrong. It is only by faithfully taking God at His Word in all that He says, that faith will grow and become unwavering. When one achieves unwavering faith in what God says, he will receive unwavering answers to his prayers. But when man is double minded and changes his mind every few minutes about what he has asked of God, how can God decide whether the man really wants it or not? Under the circumstances God does not give it to him. When one doubts, he contradicts God’s Word that promises him what he has prayed for, and such contradiction cuts him off from the answer.

Our motto should be, “The Bible States It; I Believe It; That Settles It.”

1. 1 Misinterpretation of God’s Word

The next step in retracing our steps from the fall is to stop misinterpreting God’s Word. It is impossible to misinterpret what is written if one will take at face value what is plainly written. Every person that has intelligence enough to read what God says has intelligence enough to believe what He says, and that is all that is necessary. The very fact that a person can see what it says well enough to accept it or make a change to it as he pleases, proves that he can understand what it plainly says. If what he reads is not clear, he could not understand it well enough to change it. Thus, if all can understand what is plainly written well enough to change it as he pleases, it is clear that all can, if they choose, believe it and leave it as it is. A solid unshakable faith will be created if God’s Word will be taken just as it is. Faith will never have to change because the Word itself will never change.

1. 1 Temptation to Transgress God’s Word

Temptation to transgress the Word of God must be rejected with a firm and definite refusal. One must resist the temptation to transgress God’s Word concerning open sin, or he becomes a sinner and incurs the death penalty. One must likewise refuse temptation to doubt the promises of God if he wants answers to prayer. One cannot transgress God’s Word concerning sin and still be exempt from the death penalty. Neither can one transgress the law of faith and still get from God those things for which he has prayed. The law of faith says, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” Matthew 21:21-22; “All things are possible to him that believeth” Mark 9:23; “What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” Mark 11:22-24; ‘’Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” John 15:7; and “let him ask in faith, nothing wavering” James 1:5-8.

There is no possible way to transgress the law of faith and get an answer. Jesus said, “heaven and earth shall pass away [be changed] but my word shall not pass away [be changed]” and one might as well shoot peas at a battleship, hoping to sink it, as to expect an answer when the law of faith is willfully transgressed. When one is tempted to transgress, such temptation is a warning signal that he is being attacked by demon spirits who want him to disobey God. No sin has yet been committed until actual transgression, so a person under such temptation must immediately become aggressive against this temptation and refuse all further parley. It must be no, now and forever! When temptation is resisted faith grows, and final victory is but a matter of time.

You may be tempted in every conceivable way to break the law of faith or to transgress some part of God’s Word. Don’t do it. It will not pay. God is faithful and He will stand by you and by His promises, so never doubt that He will do what He says. James said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” James 4:7-8. Paul advised believers to “Hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised . . . Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise . . . Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” Hebrews 10:23, 35.

This last passage teaches that it is God’s pleasure to see His children exercise faith in spite of the devil, demons, and all opposition. He glories in their spunk when they resist the devil and He will back them up in their fight. “Without faith it is impossible to please him” Hebrews 11:6. It is written of Enoch that he pleased God by believing that God would translate him Hebrews 11:5. Who ever heard of a man being translated in Enoch’s day? Yet he believed the Word of God that he was going to be translated, and such faith pleased God. God gets great pleasure out of men daring to believe that anything is possible. Enoch did not argue, doubt, question, and call God a liar when God told him that He was going to translate him. He believed that it would be as God said, and it did happen. This is faith.

The disciples were rebuked on several occasions when they doubted. When they worried about food and raiment, Jesus said, “If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Matthew 6:25-34. When Peter dared to walk on water and did so until he doubted, Jesus said, “O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:28-33. When the disciples questioned Him about having bread to eat, Jesus said, “O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?” Matthew 16:5-10. And so the story continues. All wavering, questioning, worrying, fretting, complaining, discouragement, fear, or reasoning about how to get the benefits of life or the fulfillment of God’s promises is pure unbelief. Such a program never did produce desired results, so why not cleanse our lives of all unbelief and dare believe God? If such doubting is displeasing to God, and if this is the reason why prayers are not heard, then why continue to deliberately and willfully yield to such temptations, thereby committing sin against God and robbing ourselves of our rights in the gospel? We know we will not get anything by this method, so what have we got to lose in trying another way? It certainly could not produce more failures than the method we are currently using.

There were only two times when Christ marveled at men. The first time He marveled because a man had such great faith. The centurion said, “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed . . . When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said unto them that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel . . . And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour” Matthew 8:5-13. The second time Jesus marveled because of the unbelief of His own hometown people Mark 6:1-6. God marvels at both things—great faith and unbelief. Evidently, the greatest mystery to Him is that men do not believe Him after having more than His Word, as the centurion did. We have His promises by the hundreds, and many hundreds of healings, answers to prayer, miracles, and supernatural manifestations in Scripture, proving to man that God will do what He has promised, and yet it seems so hard for the average person to believe. It is no wonder that God refuses to answer when men refuse to ask in faith, nothing wavering. If man does not want the benefits of the promises, then let him go without them. This is happening in the lives of multitudes, but it can be different with every person if he chooses to come out of this one failure in life and believe God.

1. 1 Transgression of God’s Word

For every sin committed, there is a penalty incurred. This is true of man’s laws and it is also true of God’s laws. Laws without penalties would be no laws at all. They would merely be advice, and not even good advice at that, for they would not offer any incentive for man to accept them. When a person yields to temptation to break the law of faith or any other law of God, he incurs the penalty of the broken law. There are some sins that demand the death penalty, such as those in Gal. 5:19-21; Rom. 1:29-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Mk. 7:19-21. The penalty for breaking the law of faith is failing to receive those things which man would receive if he exercised faith instead of unbelief. No man can break this law and still get results or answers to his prayers.

When prayers are not answered for one who is in Christ, let it become a settled fact with him that he is breaking the law of faith. All the devils in Hell or any power on Earth cannot keep God from honoring faith if it is properly exercised. It matters not what has been asked of God, He will answer upon the sole condition of faith in His promises. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” John 15:7. This is final and irrefutable. It is the all-inclusive condition of answered prayer. Make no mistake about it, this is the cause of unanswered prayer, but it can easily be corrected. All one has to do is to get into Christ and meditate on the Word of God until his heart becomes full of His promises, and then ask in faith, nothing wavering, and it shall be done.

Ten Questions For Supplement Five. Do You Know:

• That three separate and distinct persons of the Godhead are now carrying out God’s plan of creation and redemption of all things? The Bible is very clear that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead—that they all existed as separate beings from all eternity; that they were all capable of doing the same things; and that they all took separate parts in the creation and redemption of all things. All three had a part in the drafting of God’s plan, as we have seen in Lesson Five, Point II. God’s plan is revealed in three distinct parts, and is now being carried out by three distinct persons. One person, now called the Father because He had a Son, took the first or headship part and commanded what was to be done. This is revealed in both Testaments. David said, “thou art exalted as the head of all” (1 Chron. 29:11). Paul said of saints, “ye are Christ’s; and Christ’s is God’s” 1 Corinthians 3:23. He also said, “I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” 1 Corinthians 11:3. This proves that Christ and God the Father are two distinct persons as much as are man and woman. Another person, now called the Son because he had a Father, took the second or representative part in the creation and redemption of all things. God the Father created and redeemed everything by Jesus Christ. We are told that “All things were made by him . . . the world was made by him . . . God created all things by Jesus Christ . . . by him all things were created . . . by whom also he [the Father] made [planned] the worlds” Ephesians 3:9Colossians 1:15-18Hebrews 1:1-3. Then too, it is by Jesus Christ that God redeems the world to Himself John 3:16John 17:42 Corinthians 5:17-211 Peter 2:24. Still another person, now called the Holy Spirit to distinguish Him from the Father and from the Son, took the third part of direct operation in the creation and redemption of all things. It was the Holy Spirit that brooded upon the face of the deep and operated at the command of God in restoring the Earth to a habitable state Genesis 1:21Job 33:4. It was the Holy Spirit that came upon Mary and by whom she conceived the Son of God Luke 1:35. It was the Holy Spirit that has operated in the lives of all men of all ages, bringing about the work of redemption in their lives and giving them power to carry out the will of God Acts 3:212 Peter 1:21John 3:3-5John 14:16-17, 26John 15:26John 16:7-15Acts 10:38. We can say that God the Father redeems by the sacrifice of Christ and through the direct power of the Holy Spirit.

• That demons and Satan were not created sinful? All things were created perfect and sinless in the beginning of their creation. Concerning Lucifer, it is stated in Ezek. 28:11-17, “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Concerning the angels that fell, it is stated that they “sinned” and “left their first estate” 2 Peter 2:4. Concerning demons, it is also clear that they sinned, for they already know their punishment for what they have done Matthew 8:29Luke 8:31. Not one Scripture says that God ever created anything sinful or imperfect. In Eccl. 3:11 we read, “He made everything beautiful in his time” and anything contrary to this idea would be out of harmony with God.

• That people will be saved after the rapture of the Church? This is clearly stated in Acts 2:16-21, where we read of people being saved and receiving the Holy Spirit in their lives during the Tribulation. See also in Rev. 7:9-17; 12:17; 15:2-4; 20:4-6 where great multitudes of people will be saved and come out of the great tribulation. That the Church is raptured before the Tribulation will be proven later.

• That there have been only two worldwide dictators since the creation of the earth? The first one was Lucifer, as proven in Lessons Six and Seven. The second one was Adam, as proven in Lessons Eight and Nine. There will not be another worldwide dictator until Christ comes to reign on the Earth forever. This we shall see in Lesson Forty-eight.

• That Hell has literal fire and not spiritual fire? One reading of the following passages will prove this: “I am tormented in this flame” Luke 16:19-31; “Into the fire that never shall be quenched” Matthew 25:41, 46Mark 9:42-50Isaiah 66:22-24; “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone . . . And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever” Revelation 14:9-11Revelation 19:20Revelation 20:10. The idea of spiritual fire could never be understood in such plain literal passages that speak of fire, smoke, and brimstone. There is no statement in Scripture that even hints of spiritual fire that will torment people, so to even question the reality and literalness of Hell is showing opposition to the Bible.

• That the soul and spirit or the inner man is immortal? This is definitely stated in 1 Pet. 3:4, “But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a quiet spirit.” If the spirit is not corruptible, then it is immortal.

• The righteous are in a conscious state of bliss between death and resurrection? This was true of Lazarus and all the Old Testament saints who were held captive in the lower parts of the Earth before Christ captured them and led them to Heaven when He ascended on High Luke 16:19-31Matthew 12:40Ephesians 4:7-11Hebrews 2:14-15. This was true of Moses who appeared with Christ on the mount while his body was in corruption in Moab Matthew 17:3Deuteronomy 34:5-6. This will be true of the future martyrs of the Tribulation Revelation 6:9-11. And this will be true of all who die in Christ now and go to Heaven until the resurrection 2 Corinthians 5:8Philippians 1:21-231 Thessalonians 4:16.

• That the wicked are in a conscious state of torment between death and resurrection? This is proven by the rich man in Hell in torment after death Luke 16:19-31. This is also proven by the fact that there are conversations and other manifestations of consciousness in Hell Ezekiel 32:21Isaiah 14:92 Samuel 22:6Psalms 55:15Psalms 116:3.

• That the soul does not sleep in the grave after death? This is proven by the Scriptures in the two points mentioned above. All passages used to teach soul-sleep really refer to the body, which alone, sees corruption and goes to the grave. This is clear from an examination of all passages that speak of the dead knowing nothing in the grave. According to Jas. 2:26, it is the body only that dies, and therefore this is the only thing that is put in the grave. The souls go to two different places where they are conscious after death, as proven in Points 7 and 8, above.

• That the dead cannot communicate with the living after death? This is clear from what was said of the rich man in Hell, who was told that the dead cannot go back on Earth to warn the living Luke 16:19-31. It is true that Moses appeared with Christ on the mount, but this was a divine plan to bear witness to the sonship of Christ and to show witnesses what the coming kingdom was to be like Matthew 16:28–17. There is not one authentic case of the dead communicating with the living to teach that men in general who die can so communicate.