The current teaching has removed the necessity for a change in the inner man, which is the basis for the groaning for the redemption of the body. The entire Divine redemption, it is maintained, looks toward forgiveness, mercy, and "grace." "We go to Heaven by grace." Such a concept does away with the central issue of the Kingdom of God, which is the transformation of the inner man so Paradise may be regained.

The practical result of the erroneous concept of salvation is that the believers do not understand why they are plagued with suffering in the present life. They view their pains and inconveniences as being random attacks of the enemy. They are reluctant to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the all-important judgment and conversion of the inner man because they do not understand the cause and effect relationship between the transformation of the inner man and entrance into the Kingdom of God, including the donning of immortality by the outward man.

The believers of today think Heaven and eternal life are synonymous, not understanding that one can be in the heavens, in the spirit realm, and have no eternal life at all.

Also, the believers of today suppose that Heaven and the Kingdom of God are synonymous. They do not recognize that the Kingdom of God is the rule of God in us, not a place where one can go.

In addition, the believers have been taught that God will, by "grace," transform both their inner man and their outward man at the coming of the Lord so they will change from church attenders to powerful princes who will govern the nations of the earth.

All such assumptions are unscriptural, as can be tested by examining what the New Testament actually states.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of "groaning" the believers imagine that Paul was weary of the struggle against sin and wanted to go to Heaven to rest. Little do they understand the fires that were burning in this Jew—fires of eternal Life confined in an aging, mortal prison. The inner Paul was rapidly approaching the image of God. The outer Paul was still the same body that carried about the murderous Saul of Tarsus.

The body of the fleshly believer is quite compatible with his untransformed inner man. His hope is that his untransformed inner man in some kind of body will be caught up to Heaven to sit with God on the thrones of glory. This is a fairy tale, a fable that has kept the Christian believers of the twentieth century in perpetual babyhood. Because of their ignorance of God, today's believers are ripe for the deceptions put forth by Antichrist. Many of them will fall away from God the moment they face suffering.

It is God's plan to clothe our transformed inner man with a transformed outward man so there is compatibility between the two. Our house in Heaven is responding directly to the progress we are making on the earth. The taller we grow in spiritual stature the taller our heavenly body grows. The stronger we grow in the Spirit of God the stronger our heavenly body becomes.

To be continued.