Sheila R.Vitale, Pastor, Teacher & Founder
LIVING EPISTLES MINISTRIES

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I. Introduction

Is 41:29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are NOTHING: their molten images are wind and confusion. (KJV)
 

    The word nothing means to be of no quantitative value, to be equal to ‘0,’ to be negative, or to have a negative charge, such as that of an electron, which is the basic unit of electricity, and does not necessarily signify having no existence, or having no power. Our whole universe, as well as the individual atom, engages in the continuous interaction of positive and negative forces, without which there would be no visible world. The word morning in Genesis 1 suggests such a mixture with the positive forces dominating the negative, and the word evening, likewise, suggests the negative forces dominating the positive. Day suggests a combination of morning and evening where the positive forces prevail, and Night, likewise, suggests morning and evening, with the negative forces ruling. There is only one power and that of a positive God, but the negative forces of disease and death freely exercise their spiritual authority over our world, and over us, the inhabitants thereof. How can this be? The Tree of Life, the germ cell of creation and the energy source which generates the atoms and everything else that we see in this world, results from the interaction of the positive and negative forces of Jehovah and Elohim's Spirit, and the Earth (which is not the earth known to our world, but a dark spiritual substance). Elohim's positive Spirit married the negative Earth, and the spiritual clay which was destined to be formed into a visible creature engraved with Elohim's righteous nature, appeared. Michael, the seed of Elohim’s Spirit, formed the earth that he was joined to into a visible image of himself and began to engrave Adam, the civilized, immortal man, with Elohim’s righteous nature. Adam knew that the nature of the conscious Earth produces a wild animal that dies from generation to generation, and that the nature, or Name, that he chose would determine the future of the whole creature (Gen. 2:19), so the conscious Earth (who desired to engrave Adam with her own nature) seduced Adam with witchcraft to agree with her thoughts. Adam, who was an inexperienced mixture of positive and negative forces, temporarily failed to dominate his negative, earthen side because he had a knowledge of the Evil One, but lacked the necessary experience to deal with her witchcraft, seduction and manipulation. So the whole creature was born as a mortal man with a mind which is the image of the Beast, and an earth consciousness rather than a God consciousness. But the ungodly fruit of Adam’s error is temporary, because Michael who first formed Adam, raised him from the dead in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And now the Lord Jesus Christ is raising Christ from the dead in the many personalities of humanity, and teaching him how to dominate and permanently restrain his wife.1
    This no simple task, but she, too, will be sealed with Elohim's righteous nature, which will reverse her unhappy condition and restore her to immortality. Michael is appearing in the earth today as the Lord Jesus Christ, to raise Christ from the dead in the individual mortal man, and restore the whole man to his first estate. Christ Jesus is reforming the spirit of humanity's mortal, malformed mind (Eph. 4:23) into the immortal Mind of Christ, and strengthening and educating the personality to experientially overcome (Rev. 12:7) the earthen mind that lives through him. So, for the period of time that our spirit is divided between the carnal mind that we were born with (Rom. 8:6) and the newly-formed Mind of Christ (which is our spiritual renewal), we are temporarily double-minded. (James 1:8.)

1 The words man and wife signify spiritual principles. Jehovah is the only true male, and the conscious Earth is the spiritual female. All of humanity, physical males and physical females, are spiritually female in relation to Christ Jesus, Jehovah's ambassador to the world. But the nature that our mind, not our physical body, is engraved with, determines our spiritual sex in relation to other men. Christ Jesus' spiritually male mind is now available to physical males and physical females who are willing to endure the painful and difficult, but challenging, process of having their nature changed.
 Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
        29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (KJV)

It Is Out Of This Double-mindedness, That The Predicament Of Unconscious Mind Control Arises.

                            II. The Problem

    SEDUCTIVE THOUGHTS FROM THE CARNAL MIND OPPOSE OR REPLACE THE THOUGHTS OF CHRIST During a recent visit with certain brethren, I perceived a spiritual suggestion in my mind to visit a model home. I did not know whether the idea came from the carnal mind or from the Lord, but suspected that it was from outside of myself. I had never had such a thought before. Why now, when I had visitors?
    The day that my visitors left, I had an overwhelming desire to return to the model houses and pick out the one that I wanted. I had trouble believing that the Lord would give the ministry such an elaborate home, but was certainly not offended by the idea, if that was His will. I prayed extensively about the possibility of seduction, but felt led to go back any way. So, armed with a pencil and paper to take notes about each model, I went through all of the houses again, praying in each one. When I left I thought that I would return the next day, but Christ Jesus honored my prayers and dissolved the spiritual suggestion which did not arise out of His mind.
     I was temporarily influenced by a thought which now appears to have come from someone else's mind, but I sidestepped the destruction that flows through the Carnal Mind, by submitting myself, and the thought, to Christ Jesus. This is what walking behind Jesus is all about.
    I am convinced that the suggestion to look at a model house, and that I might actually live in such a place, came from the mind of one of my guests. There was no deliberate intention to seduce me. He was probably entertaining the possibility of living there himself. I had heard the thought of one of my guests who was merely thinking about living there himself, but didn’t verbalized his idea.
    All thought exists in the spirit before it is verbalized, but once an idea is expressed as spoken language the spiritual thought and the verbal expression of it flow together, and there can no longer be any question as to whose thought it is. But the unverbalized thought that continues to exist in the spirit, the spiritual thought, registers as an original idea in the heart center of anyone nearby who can hear in the spirit.
    This is an excellent example of how the thoughts of our mind can be a dangerous force to others who are open to the spirit world and sensitive to the mental plane, which is the spiritual world of ideas. Those of us who have committed our lives to Christ Jesus, must fight off the thoughts of the Carnal Mind, not only from within ourselves, but from others who are both physically and spiritually near to us.
    A perfect man restrains his carnal mind so that only the thoughts of Christ, which damage no one, flow out from him. We must do our best to police our own thoughts, yet, each man is required to fight off invading thoughts from any source, and is ultimately responsible for his own actions.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. (KJV)

    Logos, the Greek word translated word in the above verse, is one of several Greek words translated word in the King James translation. Logos means the original creative idea which generates the spoken word and its visible representation in the world of images. This verse is talking about thoughts, which are spiritual words that can be heard only by the heart. Verbalized speech, as it is heard by the physical ear, is the echo of the original thought.
    The Greek word translated offend, Strong's No.4417, means to cause one to stumble, trip, err, fail or sin. It does not mean to hurt one's feelings.
    So we see that James is talking about inaudible, spiritual sound which seduces a man to follow the Carnal Mind instead of Christ Jesus, and not about audible insensitivities which merely ruffle one’s feathers.
    This is how our Old Man, that Man of Sin, operates in this visible world, which is hell. Seductive thoughts bombard us from every side. We must either resist them, or confess that we cannot resist, or have not resisted, because of spiritual weakness due to sin, and ask the Lord, Jesus, to help us. We are responsible for restraining our own Carnal Mind, and to fail to at least try to do so, is the sin of pride.
    Apologies are profitable between parties who realize that there has been a co-mingling of thought, but failure to restrain our carnal mind does not make us responsible for the other party’s seduction -- unless we have done so deliberately.
    In the event that someone is seduced because of our failure to restrain our own Carnal Mind, it is, once again, the sin of pride to put the emphasis on THEIR hurt, rather than OUR failure to restrain, because each man is ultimately responsible to resist every seduction that comes his way.
    We might be tempted to take responsibility for the other person's seduction, believing that our motive is to alleviate our own guilt. But the truth is, that to take control of a situation to the extent that we speak and make decisions both for ourself, and for the other party, is to dominate them and deny them their right to think and act independently. This is control, which is the sin of witchcraft.
    To take the full burden and responsibility for a seduction which has arisen out of any, or all, of three factors, (1) the imperfect sin nature of EITHER or BOTH parties (2) OUR failure to restrain our Carnal Mind and/or (3) THEIR failure to overcome the seductive thought, or to accept an ungodly responsibility for the other's hurt, is as much the sin of pride as not confessing our part at all.
    Walk the middle path, brethren, confess your sins and repent, but do not deny the other party the opportunity to do the same. To take full responsibility for not restraining our carnal mind AND for the other party's failure to resist our seductive thought, is to tempt the other to justify their part in the matter and think in their heart, the one who generated the thought has taken all of the responsibility, therefore I am innocent.
    And so, the sin which the other has not taken responsibility for remains in him. He has learned nothing, and any tendency that he might have had to take the easy way out has been strengthened. The one who thought the seductive thought in the first place (that the other failed to resist) is now doubly responsible, because the pride that arose when the seduction was revealed (that led him to take an ungodly responsibility for both parties) has now seduced the other again -- this time to reject the opportunity to grow from the experience.
    So, brethren, ask the Lord to help you identify your own Carnal Mind, and war against her with all of your strength. But should she escape the bands you place upon her, confess that you lack the strength to restrain her because of your sin nature, and repent of this inherited condition. But be careful to resist guilt, condemnation and any ungodly burden with all of your strength.

                        III. The Solution

1. Identify the Carnal Mind within you:

     Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my [Christ] mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (KJV)

2. Identify the Carnal Mind outside of you:

    Acts 21:12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.    

                13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. (KJV)

3. Identify the Christ Mind wherever He is appearing:

    John 8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

                16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true [WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST]: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. (KJV)

    2 Cor 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. (KJV)
 

4. Distinguish between the Christ Mind and the Carnal Mind:
 

    Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (KJV)
 

5. Resist and war against the Carnal Mind wherever she is appearing:

                        IV. Epilogue
 

Lord Jesus, Help Us All, for I Have Told Them the Truth about How Our Fallen Mind Operates. May the Mind of Christ Be Formed in Us All, May Christ Jesus Prevail over the Carnal Mind, Our Strong Enemy, and May We All Be Born Again into the Spiritual World above Where Those Who Are Engraved with the Righ-teous Image of the Lord Jesus Christ Abide Always.