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Index
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Fig.1 Exponential growth
But they did not obey or pay any attention.
Instead, they did whatever their stubborn and evil hearts told them to do,
and they became worse instead of better.
Jeremiah 7:24 GNT
The religious leaders of Jesus' day had taken evil to a whole new level. With their rejection of Jesus, their evil had reached its peak. So how did the church get itself in such a state? How had evil grown in the church? And is there a warning for today's church?
Jesus helps us understand how the process works by referring to the situation as it applied in His day. He shows how it ends if corruption is not dealt with from the very outset.
Many years earlier, the forefathers had corrupted the Covenant. This corruption had then continued up until the time of Jesus.
Corruption of the Covenant set in following Moses13C' death. Moses13C warned Israel that this would happen:
After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, 25 he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord: 26 "Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! 28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to testify against them. 29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall upon you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and provoke him to anger by what your hands have made." (Deuteronomy 31:24-29 NIV)
But the warning was ignored and never followed up. The result was an exponential increase in corruption within the church ... reaching its peak with the rejection of Jesus.
The Pharisees and experts in the law had corrupted the Covenant, thereby removing the Key to Knowledge. Jesus berates the experts in the law:
52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge†. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." (Luke 11:52 NIV)
[†Note: The same applies to Paul who was trained by those same experts, and who defiled and annulled the Covenant and its Law.]
Then, following trumped up charges against Jesus, comes the ultimate rejection of their Messiah:
[20] But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
[21] "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.
"Barabbas," they answered.
[22] "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:20-22 NIV)
[Essay: The new-covenant: born of an evil which worsens with time.]
Indeed, the House of Desolation had corrupted the Covenant and its Law to such an extent that new converts/pupils would be twice as much deserving of Hell as themselves:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15 NIV)
Jesus' words indicate how the exponential increase in evil had come about. Once evil gets a toe-hold, then that evil leads to further evil which is then passed on to converts or pupils: as a result, those pupils/converts end up becoming twice as evil as their teachers. While we, perhaps, wouldn't wish to be that precise, the principle nevertheless holds good. Though having said that, Jesus is not one given to exaggeration! Since, following the death of Moses13C, there would be utter corruption of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 31:29 NIV), we stick with Jesus' assessment of a doubling of evil with each teacher/pupil iteration.
It is worth noting the significance of Jesus' words! Those new converts (who are twice as much the sons of hell) will, in turn, graduate, and introduce further errors making their new converts twice as much the sons of hell as themselves. In other words, these last will be four times the sons of hell of those original teachers.
The significance is that, when Jesus' words are projected over time, there will be a rapid expansion of evil within a corrupt church: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64... This is nothing less than an infinite series of exponential growth of evil.
So, following the death of Moses13C, corruption set in (Deuteronomy 31:24-29 NIV) and continued to expand exponentially up until the time of Jesus, when it reached an unprecedented level.
Jesus' words reveal a cycle of events:
Growth of Evil
In the above illustration we see that corrupt teachers produce converts and pupils who are twice as evil as themselves. These converts and pupils eventually become teachers whose converts and pupils are twice as evil as themselves... With each iteration, there is a doubling of evil, leading to an exponential increase in evil.
In the above illustration, the initial errors accepted by corrupt but 'qualified' teachers are added to, to produce converts and pupils who are twice as evil as themselves. These converts and pupils eventually graduate as teachers; they, too, add to the existing errors, making their converts and pupils twice as evil as themselves... With each iteration, there is a doubling of evil, leading to an exponential increase in evil.
This doesn't look or sound good! But when it is graphed then the situation is seen to be diabolical, the work of the lord Satan. We can write this exponential series with the general equation:
Let n = the teacher/convert iteration
Let y = the degree of evil of converts
y = 2n-1
'2' is the smallest whole-number rate of increase in evil. There is every reason to suppose that that rate will rise exponentially as the End of the Age approaches. However, just like the dividing amoeba, doubling is where the exponential increase in evil commences. The introduction of evil results in two camps: those who agree; and those who disagree. Differences in opinions may occur in each of the resulting camps, causing a binary split. And so the colony of dividing opinions continues ad infinitum, just like the dividing amoeba. Today, the divisions within the new-covenant-church are legion.
It is perhaps inevitable that, of the resulting sects and factions, some will become more popular and more widely accepted than others. There is, then, an agenda associated with each sect/faction. This can be seen today, as each church seeks to come up with a 'mission statement' which will capture attention and outdo the mission statements of rivals. In comparison, the MessianicCovenant - aka David's Restored Tent - has no need for such subterfuge or puffery, as it stands tall on Mount Zion, a living and blazing beacon:
In the Last Days - Mic. 4:1-2
Note, too, that the defilement or annulment of the Covenant entails the loss of any checks to the proliferation of evil. In the case of the House of Desolation, the Covenant is destroyed by perversion; in the case of Pauline doctrine, the Covenant is defiled and annulled. The absence of the instantiated Covenant, has left the lost sheep to the machinations of false teachers who make up doctrine as they go along in hopes of putting more bums on seats.
Today, division is papered over then whitewashed by claims that the divided international church is united in their belief in Jesus. Add the claims of Paul et al that the defilement and annulment of the Covenant was due to no less than the authority and power of the Lord Spirit, and the stage is set for the exponential proliferation of evil within the new-covenant church. Will this evil state of affairs ever come to an end? In view of the Lord's remarks, it seems highly unlikely:
33 Further, O mortal, prophesy and say: Thus said the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites and their blasphemies: Proclaim: O sword! O sword unsheathed for slaughter, polished to the utmost, to a flashing brilliance! 34 Because they have prophesied falsely about you and have divined deceitfully concerning you, you shall be wielded over the necks of the dishonored wicked ones, for their day has come, the time set for their punishment.
35 Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 36 I will pour out My indignation upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire of My wrath; and I will deliver you into the hands of barbarians, craftsmen of destruction. 37 You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall sink into the earth, you shall not be remembered, for I the LORD have spoken. (Ezekiel 21:33-37 (Tanakh))
Today, the House of Desolationcovenant and the new covenant have each, in their own ways, prophesied falslely and divined deceitfully.
But to return to topic!
What Jesus is suggesting, in so many words, is that - as each generation of teachers educates the next generation - evil will double. Furthermore, that expansion of evil is not self-limiting; left unchecked by the Lord, the expansion of evil within the corrupt church will continue to grow indefinitely.
Here is some data derived from Jesus' words:
| Student | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 8 |
| 4 | 16 |
| 5 | 32 |
| 6 | 64 |
| 7 | 128 |
| 8 | 256 |
| 9 | 512 |
| 10 | 1024 |
| 11 | 2048 |
Note that the initial injection of evil comes from the teacher who 'educates' student #1. Paul's diabolical new-covenant doctrine is but one example of an initial injection of evil.
Here is a graph of the above data (note that time is implied):
Graph-1: exponential growth of evil.
The graph is ugly! The exponential increase is not only worrying but should set alarm bells ringing. It is easy to see how evil grows in a church - Jesus describes it as reaching an unprecedented level with Jewish rejection of Him. Equally worrying is the difficulty we have in understanding what is taking place in the early stages: looking at the graph one might imagine that there is no urgency to deal with corruption in its early stages. But, if the cycle is to be broken, then the corruption must be dealt with at the earliest opportunity - preferably before sin gets too much of a hold. What is needed is a graph which will show what is taking place from the moment that corruption gains a toe-hold.
[Homework assignment: Time is implied by the teacher/pupil cycle, yet is undefined. It is left as another variable which must be taken into account. Although the original data would be graphed as a histogram, a line-drawing is used, since education will not be synchronised across the entire population (because people will be at different levels of education, the intermediate points on the histogram will be filled in, approximating to a line drawing). Discuss.]
What happens when the y-values are plotted on a logarithmic scale? In this case, it is easier to see what is going on in the earlier stages (ie, lower x-axis values) while, at the same time, seeing what is taking place much later on (ie, higher x-axis values): it provides a picture which accurately shows what is taking place throughout the life of the corrupt church: furthermore, it allows for accurate projections beyond the current time-frame, showing us where the corrupt church is headed:
Graph-2: exponential growth of evil.
Graph-2 shows why it is essential to deal with corruption in the church at the very earliest opportunity. For if it is not dealt with, Graph-2 shows how sin will increase exponentially. When we examine Graph-2 and see the exponential expansion of evil, we begin to understand the reasons for the severity of many of the punishments included in the Mosaic Contract: they were there to stamp out evil before it gained a toe-hold; they provided a warning to all (eg, Deuteronomy 17:12-13); and they offered guidance as to the sort of wrongdoing the church should be looking out for and guarding against. With the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, the Covenant became unenforceable at the Physical Level; nevertheless the Lord will enforce the Law at the Spiritual Level and apply it on the Day of judgment.
Jesus describes a doubling of evil from teacher to student (Matthew 23:15): implied, is that the student, in turn, becomes teacher. But as the world sinks into evil unimaginable, we might expect a far greater rate of increase in evil than mere doubling: the exponential increase of evil in the world will be compounded by the [probably exponential] increase in backsliding, downright evil, and betrayal which will occur within the church itself (Daniel, chapters 11-12; Matthew, chapter 24).
Perhaps the exponential growth of evil in a corrupt church can't be appreciated until Jesus' words are expressed graphically!
Moreover, Jesus' words form an infinite series which confirms the inevitable collapse of a corrupt church. There is an urgency here which is liable to be missed when reading the text.
[Homework assignment: So far, we have considered the exponential growth of evil within the church. However, there is going to be an exponential growth of evil in the world outside the church. Discuss the impact of exponential growth of evil in the world on the exponential growth of evil in the church.]
Since the church of the new covenant is built on corruption, the expansion of evil will apply every bit as much as it did to the corrupt church of Jesus' day.
The current Wall:
[3] Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him [4] and said to him:
"Run, tell that young man, 'Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. [5] And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,' declares the Lord, 'and I will be its glory within.'" (Zechariah 2:3-5 NIV)
The appointment of Priests in the Order of Melchizedek:
15 And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill. (Jeremiah 3:15 (Tanakh))
Lookouts on the Wall:
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen,
Who shall never be silent
By day or by night.
O you, the LORD's remembrancers,
Take no rest
7 And give no rest to Him,
Until He establish Jerusalem
And make her renowned on earth. (Isaiah 62:6-7 (Tanakh))
Standing on the Wall of Fire, the Priests in the Order of Melchizedek can look inside to see what is taking place within Jerusalem. As soon as things start to go off the rails, they will swoop down and put things to rights. The Priests in the Order of Melchizedek will not hesitate to deal harshly with those acting defiantly: they won't be taking prisoners!
In order to break the cycle, evil needs to be picked up early, before it can take hold. And part of the duties of the Priests in the Order of Melchizedek will be to stand on the Wall of Fire and to keep their eyes open for any defilement of the Covenant. They alone will have the authority and power to deal with the defilement and to put a stop to it. Thus, with the approach of the End of the Age, 'the Law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem'.
Version: 2024-09-23
