Self-Justification's Seductively Clever Obvious *Truth* - FORCE

FORCE polygamy is easily identified by its rhetoric of self-justifications (which come from the spirit of self-justification, of course).

Of all the self-justifications of FORCE polygamy, there is one self-justification, in particular, upon which all the others are based. Namely, the primary foundational presupposition of FORCE polygamy is the assertion that:

"God is able to do what He wants and that man should obey,
without regard for what others think, including a first wife."

It is an assertion made with two intents for giving self-justification.

One, at first glance, the assertion appears to be a matter of undeniable truth, seemingly being something about which every single Christian would "have" to agree. It appears as an "obvious" truth indeed.

Two, it is also quite clever as it therefore would manipulate any Christian who questions or denies the validity of the assertion as if they are somehow otherwise advocating "disobedience" to God. Without realizing how clever it is in so manipulating them in this way, some Christians can then be therefore seduced into believing it, as they would understandably be fearful of being ---or advocating the idea of being--- "disobedient" to God.

With this presupposition in mind, therefore, then all a self-justifying man perceptibly has to do is
1.) FORCE polygamy on his wife,
2.) claim "God told him to do it", and
3.) defer to this assertion to self-justify himself when anyone else doubts him or otherwise shows him that God would not call the man to do that.

God forbid, of course.

But that shows how very clever the assertion is, indeed.

However, experience has now demonstrated that there is indeed much more to the assertion than first appears. That which initially appears to be a "truth" in that assertion is instead a matter of the truth being changed into a lie. As it is written,

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools...
Who changed the truth of God into a lie".
(Romans 1:22,25a.)

On January 6, 2001, in an email-post to the Friends and Fellowhelpers email listservs, Mark the Founder of this ministry addressed and analyzed the assertion (and how it comes from the spirit of self-justification). He revealed that, in the ongoing history of the advance of the modern phenomenon known as Christian Polygamy, long experience had thus revealed a consistent fact. Namely, the fastest way in which anyone of us may now be able to immediately determine whether someone has been indoctrinated in the rhetoric of FORCE polygamy is by the person's relying upon (and even verbalizing) this assertion as a basis for their belief in the Scripturality of polygyny.

The truth is, of course, that true Christian Polygamy needs no self-justification. We can simply and easily let the Scriptures speak for Itself, and let the true Spirit of God dwelling in us, as we walk in love, as according to love-not-force, bear the obvious testimony of our walking in God's correct truth and callings. But, in order for FORCE polygamy to mis-lead people, it must rely upon such self-justifications, which come, of course, from the false spirit of self-justiifcation.

As such, in order to make it easy for any of us to remember what this assertion is, specifically, and to remember how we can quickly/easily recognize it, Mark the Founder identified the assertion specifically and created an easy-to-remember name for it. History therefore now records that assertion by that name, as Mark the Founder put it,

The Seductively Clever Obvious "Truth".

The text of that email-post now follows. May it serve as a fore-arming for all of us in Christian Polygamy, that none of us fall prey to allowing ourselves to be seduced into mistakenly believing that very clever assertion.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark the Founder, TruthBearer.org
To: FAF Listserv
Date: Saturday, January 06, 2001 12:27 PM EST
Subject: Deeper Love-not-Force & seeing spirit of self-justification's seductively clever obvious *truth*

____________________________________________________

Self-justification's Seductively Clever Obvious *Truth*

<><><>

Deeper Love-not-Force
and
seeing spirit of self-justification's
seductively clever obvious *truth*
____________________________________________________

Greetings in the love of the Lord!

Dear Fellowhelpers,

This will be another one of those "lengthy" and "meaty" posts I make from time to time.

While this is addressed to C specifically, to address the important issues his post raised, nevertheless, I do also believe that this post here might be of interest and value to others among us here as well. I pray this be a blessing for all who read this.

Dear C,

A late night post, eh? Yeah, I understand! :-)

You surely do seem to be on "the right track" as you continue to learn what God has revealed in love-not-force.

Of course, I do fully understand that you are really rather new here, and thus I do understand how you have had very little time with which to learn much about what this ministry is about, about all the depths of the revelation of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force, and so forth.

It is a blessing to see that your heart is "almost" there with regard to understanding love-not-force, as you so rightly do not "get" (as neither do I) how men can just unabashedly FORCE polygamy on their wife. I agree, HOW CAN THEY DO THAT?

With that said, I would note a comment you made.

I'm a confirmed believer in Love Not Force. God was teaching me about this long before I found out about FAF and its specific terminology.

Praise the Lord that you would confirm that you are a believer in love-not-force, although I do perceive that there is much more for you to yet learn about it, in order to fully "confirm" such a belief in totality of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force. (Perhaps I can be of some further help for you in another step toward that end with my post to you here. :-)

I agree that you are LEARNING about love-not-force, and I certainly can accept that God may have long been bringing you to the beginnings of an understanding of it before finally bringing you here to FAF for the final receipt of learning it in full. And that latter point is what I would encourage you to realize here. :-) Namely, if the LORD has been previously teaching you the beginnings of your understanding of love-not-force, then His bringing you here to FAF would then say to me that He has brought you to where you may then learn more and all of it in full.

So, with that in mind, I would say that your post here reveals to me that indeed, there is MUCH about love-not-force about which you do still have yet to learn. Of course, like I said, I realize that you have only been here with us for a very short time so far, so I certainly do not "require" you to so understand it. :-)

And so, to help you further in your learning about love-not-force, I will try to share some things here for you.

No doubt, you do seem to be "on the right track", and I praise the Lord.

What I also see in this post, though, is that something is getting in your way from your allowing yourself to be able to move all that much forward unto growing and receiving the deeper revelation of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force. Please understand, I will share this for your growth in learning about all that is involved in understanding the deeper and full understanding of love-not-force.

Namely, language-wise, there is a sort of, double-sided, almost schizophrenic (if that's a right word to use here) matter of language going on, which I can believe that you might not be seeing here. (Please note, I am definitely NOT calling *YOU* a "schizo", but instead I am only pointing out a double-sided rhetoric, for you to see for yourself.) That is, it is evident from the language here that you have been heavily indoctrinated in FORCE rhetoric, even though, at the same time, you are surely trying to demonstrate an increasing learning of love-not-force (the latter of which is surely to your credit). The language in this post is that of giving self-justification in the name of trying to not give self-justification, but in the end, it still ends up giving total self-justification.

(It is in THAT sense in which I made the reference to double-sided and "schizophrenic" language, not about YOU!)

Indeed, what I still see in this post is evidence of the spirit of self-justification in the language, even while you are in a struggle to not give it place, all as you are trying to find a balance where there is actually no such balance to be had in this matter.

And that can be further demonstration for you that there are some things for you to still learn about what love-not-force really and fully is all about and all. That's why I would encourage you to humbly allow yourself to see that you are not yet "there" in your having fully learned what God would teach you about love-not-force, as He has so revealed for us here for quite some time. But praise God, your being here is most assuredly the "right place" to be then in order to learn about love-not-force, as this is where YHWH has blessed us in giving it to us as the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force! Hallelujah!

To begin some more assistance toward that end for you, I would share the following, in regard to your post here.

Part of the deep revelation to us from God of the principles of love-not-force is that of being ever vigilant and aware, and of knowing how to recognize the two spirits of self-exaltation and self-justification.

And part of understanding THAT part is in being able to see the almost seductive cleverness of the way in which the spirit of self-justification operates and tries to persuade us men into error, such as using *truth* to then open the door to then manipulate the hearer (and sayer) and to allow falsehood to follow, if they accept such seductively tempting appearance of *truth*.

It is much in the same way in which the devil himself tried to "tempt" the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:10-11 in quoting the *truth* of Psalm 91:11-12 , to which the Lord correctly responded (well, of course He responded corrrectly, eh? LoL) by quoting the appropriate doctrine of Deuteronomy 6:16.

The devil was not inaccurate in the way in which he quoted Psalm 91:11-12 as an obvious *truth*, but the Lord saw through the cleverness of that and responded in Luke 4:12 , saying the larger principle, from Deuteronomy 6:16, "It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

When it comes to recognizing FORCE rhetoric, which originates from the two spirits of self-exaltation and self-justification, one of the things, which long experience in this full understanding of walking in all of the principles of love-not-force has repeatedly shown, is the actual source of the declaration of one particular obvious *truth*. Namely, the absolutely true *truth* that

"God is able to do what He wants and that man should obey,
without regard for what others think, including a first wife."

Long experience has now shown that the source of declaring that otherwise obvious *truth*, when in regard to men claiming to supposedly being "called" of God to supposedly FORCE polygamy on their wives, is that of the spirit of self-justification.

Indeed, the FORCE view, almost desperate to retain some self-justification for its cruel approach to first wives regarding polygamy, clings to this seductively clever obvious *truth*. And that itself shows us the source from which it comes: the spirit of self-justification.

For now, in the deeper and full understanding of all that God has now long been showing us with love-not-force, God has made it clear that He will NOT so "call" a man to do that in Christian Polygamy.

Aside from the Spiritual evidence (as for just one example, marriages now being healed and wives here even being very happy with this ministry and even me personally, where previously they were "nervous" about their husbands and the idea of Christian Polygamy, as they are now gladly growing in their marriage), we have had the overwhelming confirmation from God and from the Scriptures too, as in the matter of covenant breaking doctrine. (We have discussed every argument possible for several months, and the truth about covenant breaking doctrine was revealed as so undeniable, that God would never "call" a man to commit that "worthy of death" sin, per Romans 1:31b,32.) We also know that the spirit of self-justification will work in overdrive to try to prevent a man from seeing that, and this becomes visible as the matter of covenant breaking doctrine is so manifestly clear that only by such a false spirit of self-justification, in wanting to hold on to deceiving a man to think he can be somehow self-justified in committing the "worthy of death" sin, trying to prevent the man, only by that false spirit could they NOT see the truth of covenant breaking doctrine. Here's where we must truly walk in the mature principles of love-not-force even toward any such men, so that they might be able to one day see the matter themselves.

But anyway, in the deeper and full understanding of love-not-force, one part of it teaches us how to immediately recognize those two spirits. And part of that is in recognizing some of the standard rhetoric of the FORCE view (of course, as it originates from self-exaltation and self-justification), which uses a very seductively clever use of an obvious *truth* in order to then give self-justification for any man to use FORCE.

Yes, of course, the following statement IS an absolute *truth* indeed, that

"God is able to do what He wants and that man should obey,
without regard for what others think, including a first wife."

No doubt. It is a true statement, an obvious *truth*.

Yet what that seductively clever *truth* there does NOT say, however, is that there are things which God has already pre-ordained for us to know, and had pre-ordained for us to be assured of knowing that we rightly know indeed with all peace and assurance to know, that He would NEVER do, would NEVER so "call", so that we not make the mistake of allowing ourselves to be deceived by the devil, as in being deceived and manipulated by the spirits of self-exaltation and self-justification.

For after all, that seductively clever *truth* can be the basis of all self-justification in just about ANYTHING if someone wants to merely lay claim to God supposedly "calling" them to do anything!

For an example, a man could lay claim to supposedly being "called" of God to steal, rape, and keep the wives of other men (God forbid), and simply use that above obvious *truth* for his self-justification as he purports that God supposedly "told him to do it" (God forbid).

But we know by the Spirit and by the Scriptures that that would be an UNTRUE claim, wholly false, and NOT of God. To say the very least (which is still a HUGE matter indeed!), this man's act is a multi-violation of the 7th commandment against adultery in Exodus 20:14.

For another example, a man could lay claim to supposedly being "called" of God to have a "secret affair" with another man (!), and then to bring that man home to his wife and claim that this was a new "husband" (as if that's possible) for HIM in their family (God forbid). And he could tell his wife that above obvious *truth* for his self-justification as he purports that God supposedly "told him to do it" (God forbid).

But we know by the Spirit and by the Scriptures that that would be an UNTRUE claim, wholly false, and NOT of God. To say the least, for those of us conservative Christians, we see it is clearly the "worthy of death" sin of "men being with men" in Romans 1:27,32

And yet, in either of these cases, the spirit of self-justification in the man could then turn around and say through the man that, while HE, the man, was supposedly "called" of God to do that Scripturally-proven sinfulness, "other" men who might try to copy his example might not really be so "called" of God ---as if HE somehow is allowed to commit evil as other men are not.

That's where it gets even more clever, trying to sound like he somehow "agrees" with those who would gently warn him against such sin, while simultaneously giving self-justification to himself for his sin, and yet STILL opening the door for anyone else to follow his example unto sin as well ---even as he claims to not be opening up that door! (Talk about a clever cult mind control tactic, playing with people's minds! That spirit is indeed VERY clever and we all have to be very careful about it indeed.)

And so, the spirit of self-justification in the man could get very seductively clever in sounding as if he is against OTHERS doing the very thing which he is purporting that God supposedly told THIS man to do! Again, I cry out, O how clever the spirit of self-justification can be, and how much more vigilant must we therefore be about recognizing it, as we are all so vulnerable to such deception, every single one of us.

And so, anyway, that's some of what we have long seen a number of times, when it comes to the spirit of self-justification trying to manipulatingly use the obvious *truth* that,

"God is able to do what He wants and that man should obey,
without regard for what others think, including a first wife."

But the deeper and full revelation of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force has been given to us of God so that we can see through the deception of the seductively clever obvious *truth*, so as to then respond correctly indeed.

That is, to know the deeper and full revelation of love-not-force includes knowing that God has now shown us that He has pre-ordained something for us to know that He would NOT do in a "calling". Just as we know by the Spirit and by the Scriptures that the two examples just cited above would not be a true "calling" from God, we are now given the revelation by the Spirit and by the Scriptures that God would NOT "call" a man to FORCE polygamy on a wife, and would instead bring about any true "calling" in Christian Polygamy by calling the wife as well. God will not make a calling by FORCE, but only by love-not-force. That is what He is has been showing us as pre-ordained so that we not fall into sin and error, as our Lord so loves us indeed. Halleluljah!

Notwithstanding we know that the spirit of self-justification wants a man to desperately hold on to disbelieving or refusing to learn and grow in the manifestly evident matter of these things, such as covenant breaking doctrine specifically, for an example. As God has now overwhelmingly revealed such doctrine as matter of affirming love-not-force (and thus being a part of the deeper and full understanding of what love-not-force really is), we now indeed do have the blatantly evident Scriptural affirmation of love-not-force by covenant breaking doctrine.

As God is true, and as His word is true, God would NEVER call a man to break covenant, to make the man's word not be true. (A man whose word is not true is a man whose word cannot be trusted, and we the Churches trust in Christ because His word is true, knowing with all assurance that His word is true. Hallelujah!)

The Lord has never broken covenant, as His word is ever true, (Yes, I know there is the mistaken perspective about Zechariah 11:10, in which it might appear as though God would "break a covenant". Of course, though, to make that mistake is to forget that that is from the "out of Babylon" prophet Zechariah who was prophesying of the time when the Lord will make a New Covenant. And that needs to be understood within the context that the "pre-Babylon" prophet Jeremiah had already long-time beforehand prophesied of the New Covenant that God would make, because God's people had already BROKEN that old covenant, in Jeremiah 31:31-34! So, all that is going on with the "out of Babylon" prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 11:10 is the mere reality of the ALREADY-BROKEN COVENANT, not broken by God but by His people, about which God would make a New Covenant indeed [in His awesome mercy!] as previously foretold by the "pre-Babylon" prophet Jeremiah!)

The fact ever remains... God's word is ever true, and He does not break His word. Hallelujah!

Just as we who are conservative Christians would say that Romans 1:27,32 would Scripturally prove it to be false any purported claim to a man supposedly being "called" of God to supposedly "marry a man" (God forbid), that very same passage likewise Scripturally proves it to be false for us that God would ever somehow "call" a man to commit another "worthy of death" sin, that of covenant breaking (God forbid), per Romans 1:31b,32.

This is not a matter of debate here at FAF at this point, as we had purposely discussed this over and over for several months here at FAF, in order to have addressed every possible argument about it.

Mind you, all are free of their own free will to believe otherwise, as according to their own free conscience. And no doubt, as this ministry grows, we will regularly have new people join us and they will have to learn and grow in all the deeper and full understanding of love-not-force before they might more fully understand these things. love-not-force is VERY profound, intense, and comprehensive, for sure.

But regardless, we know that what God has revealed for this ministry is the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force as the revelation by which we go forward in the TRUTH BEARER Mission of Bringing Christian Polygamy to the Churches. This Vision is a matter of bringing healing to marriages, and it CAN and DOES work when men will seek to cast off every vestige of the spirits of self-exaltation and self-justification trying to reside in them, so that they can then truly surrender to the Lord and thus faithfully receive and hear what the Spirit is trying to say to their hearts with the message of love-not-force. O how I pray that all men would be able to do so for their own joy and even healings in marriages.

So, we are not going to get "stumbled" in this organization in repeatedly having to consume away all our time in endless "debate" on the matter, when it has all gone on previously anyway. And we have seen the occasional adamant advocate of FORCE come in here to FAF and try to do that very thing, trying to undermine myself, or this ministry, or love-not-force, and/or so forth. Mind you, personally, it's no big deal to me, as I only see it as a reflection of immaturity on the part of one doing it. Yet, it DOES matter when it is only seeking to slow us down in moving forward with the TRUTH BEARER Mission of Bringing Christian Polygamy to the Churches. And since the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force is given to us as the means for so going forward, we do not have to "defend" it anymore here. Yes, we, of course, seek to help others LEARN of it here, as they are humble in asking their legitimate questions, realizing that they do not know all of what love-not-force is "about" or about this organization.

For those who do not yet understand, that's fine. We (and I know I) have love for such ones, and am patient in hoping to be able help such ones further in their growth in Christ, all the while we can NOT allow our time to be wasted by those who have but one agenda: namely, to try to undermine or slow down THIS ministry's Mission by trying to undermine this organization and its leadership or trying to get us into endless "debates" about what they perceive or misperceive about love-not-force.

So, anyway, the point I was making is that God has given us the deeper and full revelation of love-not-force to show us what HE HIMSELF has pre-ordained to show us what He would NOT do. This is not about a man "telling" God what God is supposedly "allowed" to do. Quite the very opposite! It is about God showing us what He would NOT do! O that all would be able to listen to what the Spririt would say unto their receiving such joy therein!

So, this is how we understand what to realize when we hear the claim from within Christian Polygamy of the obvious *truth* that,

"God is able to do what He wants and that man should obey,
without regard for what others think, including a first wife."

When that rather seductively clever obvious *truth*, with regard to a man purporting to supposedly being "called" of God to FORCE polygamy on his wife, is declared to us, the deeper and full understanding of the revelation of love-not-force includes being able to recognize that

1) that is coming at us from the seductively clever spirit of self-justification (even as we faithfully love the man through whom that spirit is speaking)

and

2) God has now revealed for our sake via the full revelation of love-not-force (by both the Spirit and the Scriptures) that the Lord has clearly already pre-ordained that He would NOT ever call a man to do that, as He would NOT call a man to so sin.

So, with that, I would say that you are "on the right track" in your learning about love-not-force, C, although there is still much more ahead for you in your learning process of all the deeper and full understanding of this all, as I hope this reply to your post here has been of some help toward that end.

I have shared the above with you as your post made it evident that you were not aware of these things. No problem. I am sharing this insight here for you in love in trying to help you further along indeed in your learning the deeper and full understanding of love-not-force.

I am fervently prayerful that, by now, you surely gracefully understand that I am not trying to be critical or negative for you either, but simply helping you to also see a mere part of what the deeper and full understanding of love-not-force sees in this kind of post. Yes, my heart is filled with compassion in understanding how difficult it can be for anyone to have their time spent or even years spent in a particular kind of indoctrination to then have that come out in their language as they sincerely seek to explain themselves. And so, I would seek to let you know that I am surely having even love-not-force toward you here in this, patiently trying to help you see how some of the indoctrination, which you appear to have received in the past, has entered in to your post here in the form of FORCE rhetoric, and how that is getting in your way of more deeply and fully understanding all of the depths of love-not-force. (And I can also understand how it can sometimes take a while for such long-time indoctrination to be fully overcome, just as hard as it can likewise be for Christian wives to overcome their long-time indoctrination in "monogamy-only" thinking. So we walk in love-not-force in all such cases indeed.)

No doubt, you are surely having a tender heart and seem to be seeking to understand love-not-force deeply indeed. Praise the Lord!

For indeed, aside from these things above, which you have simply not yet realized, I would surely say that you are actually very well "on track" indeed, and I hope this reply has been able to be of help to you in your growth in that indeed.

As well, I would say for your edification that, yes indeed, I very much agree with you that, as when you wrote:

But I also believe that a man who HAS heard God's voice, and whose wife is determinedly resisting, had better follow God. Had better inquire WHY God gave him a leading when He did, and WHY God didn't reveal His plan to his wife at the same time, and WHAT he is supposed to do about it. (Sorry about that. Follow the pronouns carefully, please.)

Yes, indeed. A man in this case MUST obey God, as neither I nor this ministry has ever once ever said that a man should or could justifiably disobey God (as you now see here, I hope :-) And you are so truly right that he had better do all things you rightly point out here.

What God has shown us with all the profound principles of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force is what that very man should do indeed!

Cast off the spirits of self-exaltation and self-justification.

Not fall into the seductively clever obvious *truth* to wrongly self-justify his actions which God has herewith shown us He would NOT so "call".

Humbly listen and hear what the Spirit is so lovingly bringing to say to his ears if he will but receive all of love-not-force for his good.

Listen, learn, grow, and walk in love-not-force as God has so deeply and fully revealed it for us all here for so many, many months now.

But if a man will still resist this, then he should really see himself as really being no different than the very wife he would criticize for her defiantly not being willing to receive Christian Polygamy doctrine. Just as she would be incorrect to defiantly claim any form of "God said so" opposition to defend her defiance, such a man defying love-not-force is acting in just exactly the same way in his defiance in error. (Could this not be any clearer an example of how the other false spirit, the spirit of self-exaltation, has also taken place in such a defiant man? I would think it could not be any clearer, for sure.)

O how I would that all could be so blessed in just easily receiving the deeper and full revelation of all the principles of love-not-force for their blessing and joy! Our God has lovingly blessed us with this in His wondrous and tender love for us indeed. Hallelujah!

Anyway, C, to bring this to a close, I do pray that this has been of some further help and learning for you about the deeper and full understanding of all that love-not-force entails. No doubt, you surely have much more to learn (as is understandable, as you have only been with us a very short time so far).

And so, if God has been indeed bringing you to the beginnings of the understanding of love-not-force even before you discovered us here at FAF, in the ministry of http://TruthBearer.org, then I would exhort you... if that be so, then humbly realize (and rejoice!) that the LORD has brought you to the right place indeed, in bringing you here, so that you may learn what love-not-force in all its ways really and fully is. What an awesome Lord our God so surely is! Praise YHWH!

So, keep up the wonderful growth!
As I keep saying to you, I so appreciate your tender heart!

I thus pray that this reply here has been able to get you started toward an ever deeper and fuller understanding of the revelation for us of the TRUTH BEARER Vision of love-not-force. Hallelujah!

May the Spirit of our Lord be with you, bless you, guide you, and bring all the matter of His truth and love to you, that you joy might surely ever be full in Him!

YHWH bless...

---Mark
  Founder
TRUTH BEARER
    Acts 24:14
http://truthbearer.org
    Continuing the Reformation...
      Bringing Christian Polygamy to the Churches