- 13 - The ‘church’ is therefore the communion of spirits loyal to God under the rule of Christ. The word ‘church’ signifies the ‘rule of the Lord’.. Whoever pledges his allegiance to this rule and, consequently, to God, belongs to the ‘church’. • The true meaning of the word ‘church’ therefore has nothing in common with your worldly churches and religious denominations, which are the work of man, conceived in human error, and, like all of man’s handiwork, ephemeral. What Paul describes as the ‘spiritual body of Christ’ was a literal fact in the spirit Creation. All spirit beings brought into existence were members of the great spiritual organism and were subordinate to Christ, its head. They were, however, under no compulsion, enjoying perfect liberty and being free to follow their own free will in all things. All of them were truly devoted to Christ, God’s regent and their king, and through him, to God. This great spiritual family was closely united in the bonds of love. Christ’s rule as God’s regent was not that of a despot, but one of brotherly protection. It was the protecting hand of the strong extended to shield the weak. Their free will, which was the highest gift conferred upon the spirits by the Creator, made it possible for them to refuse obedience to the orders of the king whom God had set over them. The words of the Bible: Job 4: 18: ‘The Creator cannot trust even His servants, and His angels, too, are guilty of error.’ and Job 15: 15: ‘Consider: Even on His holy angels God cannot rely, and heaven is not pure in His sight.’ And yet, they are holy spirits so long as they recognize God’s and Christ’s sovereignty over them and do not, by apostasy, separate themselves from God’s kingdom. • Unhappily the defection of a large part of the spirit world from God came about through rebellion against Christ’s kingship. It was not, as you teach, a direct rebellion against God Himself, but against the regent appointed by Him. This was the first revolution. It took a course more human than you can imagine. It was an exact counterpart of the revolutions you have on earth. In your own uprisings, it is not the physical bodies of the revolutionists that lay the plans and attempt to carry them out, but their spirits. And if you follow the origin and history of human revolutions in all their details, you will get an essentially accurate picture of what happened during the first revolt in God’s spirit world. All revolutions are planned well in advance. They do not arise suddenly. They usually originate with some ringleader, who wins as many adherents as possible to his cause, unfolds his plans to them and promises them high offices and positions of influence in the event of success. Those so initiated next go to work, carefully at first but gradually more openly, on the great mass of the people, without whose help no revolution is possible. This mass of so-called followers, who do most of the raging and shouting in earthly revolutions, generally know nothing of what it is all about. They join the movement because others do, and shout because others shout. They are, therefore, less guilty than the ringleaders, who considered their plans with all of the consequences thereof
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