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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, December 5, 1980
Page 6
This spirit is NOT the person or any part of the person, but some
thing INSIDE the person. It is not a "soul." The person, made of
matter, is the soul while breathing air and circulating blood by the
heart. Human LIFE resides in the blood and the breath of air. The
portion of spirit added to every human person from birth does not supply
human life. Of itself, it cannot think or reason--the physical BRAIN
does that. When a human dies, the portion of spirit leaves the body.
It is preserved intact by God (Eccl. 12:7) until the resurrection.
Since all knowledge enters the brain through the five senses, only
knowledge of the physical and the material is programmed and stored in
the human spirit. The human, with this one portion of spirit residing
within him from birth, cannot KNOW or comprehend spiritual knowledge.
The normal human mind can deal with physical and material matters. But
his PROBLEMS, troubles, evils, are spiritual in nature, and he CANNOT
SOLVE THEM.
MAN WAS MADE TO NEE D ANOTHER SPIRIT--the Holy Spirit of God. Just
as a human could not KNOW the things of human knowledge except by the
portion of the spirit of man which is in him, SO he cannot know the
things of God--spiritual knowledge--except by the addition of the Holy
Spirit of God (I Cor. 2:11).
Adam had the "spirit in man," and access to the Holy Spirit (tree
of life). What happened to Adam? He used his MIND with its "spirit of
man" to CHOOSE a WAY OF LIFE contrary to the Law of God. His mind became
carnal. SATAN SWAYED IT. Satan has been swaying all human minds from
birth ever since--all EXCEPT THAT OF JESUS!
That is not demon possession. It is a voluntary CHOOSING to follow
a WAY OF LIFE contrary to God's Law--the way of SIN. All have sinned.
But such a person is IN HIS RIGHT MIND--HIS HUMAN MIND! He is deceived
and used by Satan, but NOT demon possessed!
A demon-possessed person is just that--possessed by the demon. The
demon has ENTERED, and taken POSSESSION. The person no longer has con
trol of his own mind. The demon has taken possession of it!
When Jesus talked to the demon-possessed, He did not talk to the man
at all. He talked to the demon. The demon-possessed cannot of themselves
cast out the demon. They are no longer in possession of their own minds!
Jesus by His authority cast demons out. So did the apostles.
Now HOW does one come to be DECEIVED by Satan and used by him? And
HOW does one become demon-possessed? We are talking about two different
things.
ALL, except Jesus, since Adam, have been DECEIVED and led by Satan
from earliest life. Satan begins working on and deceiving the human mind
even during the first year of life--injecting his attitude of SELF-CEN
TEREDNESS, vanity, coveting, competition, resentment of authority. But
what about a top-ranking minister? He is one who, supposedly, had pre
viously become aware of that, had REPENTED of that self-centered way of
sin, and turned to GOD'S way.
He, if deceived by Satan and used by him, is one who, like Lot's
wife, began to "look back''--even if just a little at first. He may have