The Destruction of SpiriTual Purpose
Greetings, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to
explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly
Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This
morning we seek to understand the destruction of spiritual purpose.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Destruction of Spiritual Purpose
"Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your
sins: whiter I go, ye cannot come. " John, Chapter 8, Verse 21.
Brothers and sisters, we know that all free will creatures have the ability to choose survival, that is
to choose to abide by the heavenly Father's will. Now this process of self destruction does not
proceed instantly. Though the decision may be made in an instant, there are always antecedent events
that occur before the final decision is made. But why examine this process? At face value it appears
to be devoid of spiritual meaning and value, but we can learn by looking as well as leaping. We can
learn from the mistakes of others. This journey to darkness and destruction starts with the loss of
faith followed by the loss of sincerity and the loss of loyalty.
We enter the kingdom of heaven by faith, but sincerity is what releases our faith. Without sincerity,
we can do nothing. Sincerity is essential if we are to give our all. The Father requires that we give
all of our loyalty to him. This sincerity will insure that when confronted with ever increasing difficult
moral and spiritual decision, we will always choose the decision with the highest value, will always
choose the Father's will. What is loyalty? It is the result of the appreciation of our moral and spiritual
obligations. Without loyalty and sincerity, there exists no basis for growth and development. Without
these two qualities, no potentials can be actualized.
Sin is defined as willful disloyalty towards God. Now why would any soul want to be disloyal to
God? This process of being disloyal to truth has it basis in the loss of faith. In the process of us
becoming perfect, we are subject to many ups and downs, many uncertainties and many apparent
dead ends, from the material point of view. Sometimes our faith fails to match or exceed the
assignments that we have and the circumstances of our existence. The fact that long periods of time
intervene before spiritual development makes it possible to see God causes a certain restlessness in
our soul, a certain dissatisfaction. It is the failure to wholeheartedly believe the truth that who has
seen the Son has seen the heavenly Father.
This failure to believe this truth of the Father and his Son being one leads to the erosion of faith, for
while holding this truth in the forefront of our minds and souls may not be necessary when things
are proceeding according to our expectation and our liking, when things are not proceeding this way,
this soul-saving truth is absolutely necessary for peace and tranquility of spirit. When this truth is
allowed to fade from the grasp of the soul, the basis of faith begins to weakens. We know that the
Son is the personal revelation of the Father, and faith rests upon this great truth.
As indicated, this loss of faith in the heavenly Father causes at first a certain restlessness, a certain
dissatisfaction that will not go away. It only increases as the faith continues to erode. During this
period of time, the soul may still profess loyalty to the heavenly Father as it tries to find relief for this
restlessness and dissatisfaction through other means. The soul may identify other goals or even
criticize its status and the circumstances of its status as being unfair, failing to recognize that the
circumstances of its status is the very tool that the heavenly Father is using to develop its potential
so that it can actualize those very potentials that are necessary to become spiritually perfect. At this
point the soul may be sincere in its efforts to find a way to get rid of the intolerable suspense
associated with an eroding faith. And we can see that even here the first steps of disloyalty are
manifesting itself, for it is loyalty combined with faith that causes the soul to carry on its assignments
under the circumstances when the "eye can not see the way."
As time goes on, this dissatisfaction and restlessness increase along with a corresponding erosion
of sincerity and loyalty. At some point, the final break occurs with the plan of the heavenly Father,
a point is reached where all efforts to continue in a plan that does not have the faith and backing of
the self ceases. At this point, the soul openly pursues its own way, breaking with the plan of the
heavenly Father. Now there occurs a shift of faith and loyalty away from the heavenly Father's plan
to the plan of the soul who seeks to find its own way. And for awhile the soul may continue to be
sincere in its misguided efforts. "There is a way that seems right to man, but the way thereof is
death."
But somewhere along this experience the soul fails to realize the meaning and value of its efforts.
It comes to see by its own experiences that the anticipated values and meanings are not going to
materialize or spiritualize. Only truth can be experienced. Error can not. Having realized this truth,
the soul now has a decision to make. It has found out from its own experience that deviating and
rejecting the plan of the Father is a real dead end. "The way of the transgressor is hard."He can travel
no further under the banner of sincerity. He switches to the banner of insincerity. He has consciously
moved from error to sin. He knows that he can't realize what he has attempted, but something
prevents his will from acknowledgment of this fact, and this something is pride. “Pride goes before
a fall.” With his will now being directed by pride and selfishness instead of love and wisdom, he
speedily irreversibly crosses the border from light to darkness. Before, he had reversibly crossed the
border, going back and forth, but now his mind is fully made up and he has decided that even if what
he wants does not exists, he wants no part in the Father's plan. He dismisses all loyalty and faith in
the Father's plan from his mind and soul and enters the valley of no return where darkness and
eternal death awaits him.
We see that a soul on his journey from light to darkness first loses sight of the truth that the Father
and His Son are one, that whosoever has seen the Son has seen the Father. This is the key value that
he loses faith in and subsequently becomes disloyal to the Father. He soon experiences that
dissatisfaction and restlessness which increase as he continues his journey into darkness. At this
point it is still possible for him to return back to the truth since he is progressing in error. The value
of salvation is still within his reach. As he continues the journey towards darkness and death, he
eventually becomes disillusioned with his failure to capture the values and meanings that he thought
awaited him. This is the critical step from evil to sin. It is here that he realizes the error of his ways;
he cannot continue under the banner of sincerity.
Having rejected the banner of sincerity, he switches to the banner of insincerity as directed by his
pride and selfishness. The value is now in danger of being irretrievably lost, but he still at this
junction possesses the power to return to the light. But as he continues to reject the light, this
rejection further hardens his position against the light, and he marches on and loses sight of the value
of salvation altogether. He has lost the ability and capacity to choose salvation. And not only that,
but he has no desire to regain the ability and capacity for salvation. The value of salvation has been
lost. He has been given over to a reprobate mind. This is the eternal decision which forever closes
off his heart to the Father. So we see that the safeguard of sincerity is the surest protection for the
soul that strays away from the path, that loses sight that the Father and His Son are one. If you are
really true of heart, really sincere, you will recognize your error at some point and repent, seek
forgiveness and return to the light. Ignorance can never condemn a soul.
This concludes today's message on the destruction of spiritual purpose. We hope you find something
in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!
The Destruction of Spiriual Purpose
