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THE LEAVEN IS LUKEWARM

 

 

 

 

 

In the New Testament, we find the allegorical concept of leaven, which is mentioned in several verses as a component of a process which will rise, or puff up, its host. Perhaps the most mysterious verse is where The LORD tells us the Kingdom of God is also connected to the concept of leaven.

 

"Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Luke 13:20, 21).

 

Since leaven repeatedly shows up in a negative context, usually as a symbol of sin (or unrighteousness), the very idea that the Kingdom of God could ever be "leavened," is rather unsettling. However, the parable where Christ tells us that leaven – and the process of applying it – will negatively impact the Kingdom of God is clearly stated, to say nothing of the fact the comparison is consistent with other Scriptures which show the Kingdom of God will indeed be severely affected by a process which is likened to that which is produced by leaven.

 

Spiritual Leaven

 

The word leaven is simply an old English term describing a substance, such as yeast or baking powder, which causes bread, rolls, or cakes to rise. Leavening is actually related to fermentation and, significantly, it is a progressive process. Further, as Jesus described "three measures" of meal, which would denote three stages, a progression of sorts is obviously in view.

 

The idea of a continuing process in the metaphor of leaven is seen in several verses – including the one connecting leaven with the Kingdom of God, for the verse states that, once begun, this "leavening" continues "till the whole was leavened" (Luke 13:21). The Apostle Paul re-affirms this consumptive process as well when he writes the following:

 

"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole loaf?" (I Corinthians 5:6).

 

Many believers have been taught an oversimplified version of the true nature of the threat posed in the parables concerning leaven – usually concluding the parable simply repudiates hypocrisy. But there is actually far deeper meaning built into this instruction. For instance, Christ cautioned the disciples to be wary of the leaven He associated with the two priesthoods in the temple.

 

"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6).

 

On that occasion, the disciples had forgotten to bring some bread with them as they journeyed. Thus, when the LORD warned them about the leaven, they assumed it was a cautionary statement concerning the physical compound associated with leaven used in baking:

 

"And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread" (Matthew 16:7).

Assuming Things Are Literal

 

Here is yet another example of Christ speaking of an intangible Spiritual truth that was misperceived by His followers as something physical. This is, of course, a pattern which is occurring to this very day. The LORD attempts to communicate prophetically significant things of the Spirit, but the False Prophets are still telling their flocks to expect a literal fulfillment.

 

"How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:11, 12).

 

Clearly, this "Spiritual leaven" is repugnant to God, so it's not exactly a leap to conclude that Christ does not want this "doctrine" to infect the believers He has gathered to Himself.  

 

These two religious orders had sharp doctrinal differences, but they had come to consensus through a compromise body known as the Sanhedrin. This council was moderated by the high priest in a facilitated environment, and the high priest's selection rotated between the two factions. Thus, it wasn't the specific doctrine of either group which Christ hated, it was the way in which the two factions dealt with their doctrinal differences – a process which is a doctrine in and of itself. In short, the very fabric of Old Covenant religion had become defiled through the way in which two opposing views (read "hot" and "cold") collided, as they had come to synthesis (read "lukewarm").

 

"I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15, 16).

 

The Dialectic Of The Dragon

 

This formula is obviously related to the Practice of the Dialectic – also known as Diaprax, or the process known as the Dialogue to Consensus. The Dialectic was developed to encourage dialogue between two opposing perspectives, as a way to persuade one or both parties to move away from a fixed, absolute position, until some form of consensus is reached.

 

Unfortunately, although vast numbers of people have heard of the Dialectic, most assume the lesson learned by exposing the Dialectic is simply so people will avoid compromise; however, the Dialectic Process is far more insidious than a system which generates simple compromise, as it has already changed the way that most people think.

 

As a paradigm shift in human mental reasoning processes became widely prevalent in the Baby Boom generation due to the timing of the introduction of the Dialectic way of thinking into the educational systems of America, everyone in this generation has been practicing the Dialectic process most of their lives, so it is now the norm; and those few who are moving in opposition to this paradigm, are shunned, rejected, and despised. Because this "Dialectic" system is deployed via verbal communication, we long ago recognized it in Revelation as the language of Dragonspeak – so named after the Spirit related to the "False Prophet" – an entity which is presented as a lamb, but is actually a vessel which speaks like a dragon:

 

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon" (Revelation 13:11).

 

Thus, the leaven which Christ repeatedly (and emphatically) warned of, is this Dragonspeak Process, and the entire world, including the vast majority of believers, are already heavily programmed to speak like a dragon.

 

An example is in order. Earlier, I noted that leaven is used as a metaphor for sin, and certainly false doctrine. Most would agree with that statement. When I then stated that Christ's parable concerning how the Kingdom of God is predicted to be leavened, until the whole was leavened, most would think to themselves, "How can that be?" – or perhaps they thought "well, OK, but what about the Scripture that says [fill in the verse]."

 

This is the Dragonspeak process in action. Every person's worldview, or doctrinal stance, is now extensively intertwined with relationships. People are now integrated into social networks comprised of institutions, family members, pastors, teachers, and clustered cultural subsets which have significantly impacted their thinking. Among Christians, the most fervent relationship they have is found in their doctrinal perceptions of the Saviour.  

 

A Conversation With A Cultist

 

A personal example is also in order. This author spent years bewildered by how believers can continue to embrace the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine, in spite of the obvious Scriptural statements proving its impossibility. Furthermore, I found regular outrage and indignation when the facts conclusively proved the doctrine had a cultic origin. "Where do you get off calling it the Rapture Cult?" was a common refrain heard at the ministry. This is roughly equivalent to the leavenous Pharisees who asked Christ, "By what authority [sayest] thou these things?" (Mark 11:28).

 

However, the same believer is usually not offended if I referenced Mormonism as a cult, or the aberrant Jehovah's Witness group. This lack of indignation was due to the fact the Rapturist had already relegated those groups to cult status, so no relationship existed. In other words, if I say "Mormonism is a cult," the factual statement does not threaten the Rapturist worldview. The emotionally fueled anger found in a Rapturist's response to articulating the doctrine's cultic origin is commonly driven by the assumption the Rapture doctrine is true, even when the facts do not support that conclusion. The believer who is fluent in Dragonspeak would then routinely seek to diminish the facts by saying "that's your opinion, but I disagree."

 

Since the cultic origin of the Rapture system is a historically verified fact, and a fact is directly related to the Spiritual concept of truth, when a Rapture oriented believer reduces the truth to an opinion, they have subtly diminished the truth in order to retain the relationship which was threatened by the truth. In this way of thinking, facts become less important than retaining existing relationships, which are controlled by the heart and mind, rather than the absolute truth found in the Spirit of God.

 

"Trust in the LORD [Spirit], with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding [mind]" (Proverbs 3:5).

 

This Dragonspeak process is actually the same thing encountered when a Christian speaks of the Gospel to an unsaved person. Because the sinner perceives that if he or she becomes a Christian, they will be compelled to modify their behavior – which is relationship driven – they don't want to part with their sin, so they seek to diminish the fact they can be redeemed through Christ. This usually takes the form of attacking the truth, or the historical veracity of the resurrection, or a host of other facts associated with the Gospel – once again, in order to retain the relationship.

 

"If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his [relationships] should be reproved" (John 15:22; 3:20).

 

Thus, the process of the Dialectic utilized by believers to retain an existing belief structure (read relationship) is the identical phenomena used by the lost when confronted with the truth:

 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

 

Cast Not Your Pearls

 

The leaven infected "believer," while rejecting/diminishing the truth, will commonly seek to retain the relationship with the person espousing it – usually with a statement drenched in Dragonspeak, such as the following:

 

"Brother, we shouldn't be divided over non-essentials"

 

Although "Christians" don't realize what they just did, with this type of statement, they have reduced the truth (Jesus) to a "non-essential," or the previously mentioned "opinion."

 

Since it is a fact the Rapture Doctrine is actually Another Gospel, and the Apostle Paul has already stated one who preaches Another Gospel is accursed (Galatians 1:8), clearly, I am not that person's "brother." Further, JESUS told the disciples that when someone has the opportunity to receive the truth and refuses it, the LORD's disciple is to shake the dust off their feet:

 

"But [whenever]…they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your [habitation], which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you…" (Luke 10:10, 11).

 

Most cult adherents would Dialectically respond to that application of the above Scripture, by saying it applies to the Gospel, as opposed to the Rapture "debate" -- and that's precisely the point. Although I am able to show from the Scriptures the Rapture doctrine is false, unless the Spirit of God reveals the truth, all dialogue on the subject is not only useless, it goes directly against the LORD's instruction to walk away from those who cannot hear the truth.

 

Even though I've sought to show how this Spiritual leaven applies to the relatively narrow subject of the Rapture doctrine, there are hundreds of adjacent doctrinal collisions, to say nothing of how the Dragonspeak phenomena has now penetrated politics, economics, science, government, education, and much, much more. For instance, in another New Testament passage, the LORD also applied the allegory of leaven to the political process which sustained King Herod – a half Jew/half Arab whose mingled heritage facilitated an uneasy continuity of government in ancient Judaea:

 

"And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15).

 

These verses are powerful indicators that the "leaven" Christ warned us about is manifested in the religious sphere (the Pharisees), as well as the political (Herod) – thus anticipating the vivid imagery of dual wicked powers, described in Revelation as Antichrist and the False Prophet.

 

This World Is Lost

 

This is all related to the fact that Satan's plan for the world encompasses an all inclusive scenario, in which all the world's governments, and all the world's religions, utilize the aberrant process of the Dialectic, to come to a state of co-existence. The classic formula of two opposing views which utilize the Dialogue to Consensus (Thesis versus Antithesis equals Synthesis, which then becomes the new thesis) claims there is no absolute truth, instead insisting that the consensus is what defines truth.

 

Sadly, our entire world order, including the educational systems which indoctrinate each successive generation of leaders, has been re-engineered to depend on the idea that there is no absolute truth found in God, in that it flatly states that consensus is what defines truth. For example, very few believers with kids in the public school system are aware the actual "dictionary" of education – foundational reading which is required for all accredited teachers -- precisely states as much. In this regard, the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the foundational textbook for teachers which actually defines the terms used in education, is anchored in the relativism of the Dialectic:

 

"We recognize the point of view that truth and knowledge are only relative and there are no hard and fast truths which exist for all time and places" (Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 2, Affective Domain, Benjamin Bloom).

 

Jesus Christ recognized this process of Consensus derived from Dialogue, as the "leaven" which was present in the temple system – with leaven already identified as a substance which progressively develops within its host. Modern parlance might describe this as a self replicating intellectual virus, but in the case of the religious crowd of His day, the formula was described as associated with the two competing priestly factions of the Jews:

 

"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6).

 

In fact, although most believers fail to comprehend it, Jesus even used this symbolic figure of leaven to describe how the Kingdom of God itself would be adversely impacted through this process:

 

"Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Luke 13:20, 21).

 

The woman in the parable is Lucifer, and the leaven is the Dialectical process described herein. Further, it is concealed ("hid" in the text) in that the process was unleashed without warning. Finally, the LORD even includes the three steps of the Hot, Cold, Lukewarm formula in the "three measures" – which are obviously utilized sequentially.   

 

At this point in time, the entire body of Christ is so thoroughly steeped in the process, that only a Remnant is even remotely aware of the danger. Most "believers" who encounter the truth, simply continue to respond with Dragonspeak, until they've dialogued their way back to a state of mind where they have justified their rejection of the facts. But the Remnant who hears the voice of the LORD in these words, are those that God has been calling to come back to Him.

 

"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:14, 27).

 

----- James Lloyd