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Introduction
For the past two or three months, I have felt an increasing desire to print and make available to our readers, The Election of Mann, An Allegory. I continued to hold off, though, not completely convinced that I had completed printing enough of Jane Leade's writings for the present. (We will continue printing them as we have the funds to do so.) While on our last western trip (the whole month of October, 1996), we received repeated confirmations from a wide variety of individuals, none of whom knew each other, from various parts of the country. The word was the same. It is time now to begin printing your own writings. These confirmations came in the form of personal prophecy mostly, as well as wise counsel from respected and seasoned vessels of the Lord. This book is not meant to be representative in every least detail of that which has been chosen as the topic. Obviously, that is not possible in any case. It is meant to generally give body and substance to that which is by nature vague and abstract. The topic for this study is the election of man, both in the particular and collectively. That God has purposed to have a race of humans completely different from all that has issued forth through the genealogy of fallen Adam, is an accepted conclusion among those who are a part of that remnant out of which this new race is to be chosen. It is also the understanding among most of these same ones, that none shall come into such a renovated, renewed state of being in the New Creation, which is Christ, with their "veil" -- that is, with their reasoning mind, still intact. There is no question that the great bar to the supersensitive life which exists in the spiritual realm, identified as the Holy of Holies, as denoted in Moses' Tabernacle, is that which is represented by the "veil" which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies -- the reasoning mind, along with the natural sense life. Many among the ranks of believers still suppose that the reasoning mind is God-given and should therefore be included and used even in holy matters. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Adam, in his original state was complete in himself, for he had been made in the image and likeness of God. Adam was both male and female in one being -- in the image and likeness of God. But something obviously happened between the, "it was very good," of Genesis 1:31 and the, "It is not good," of Genesis 2:18. It is to be suspected that Adam had already begun to turn from his completeness within to an outward completeness. This was nothing less than spiritual adultery and defilement, which caused Virgin Wisdom, then resident in him, to flee, not at all content to be in any way complicit in such an unholy affair. Adam, by the time he was put to sleep and Eve was taken from him, had fallen from the inward spiritual realm, in which he had known union with the Father, into the outward carnal realm of reasoning to know both good and evil. Therefore, just as the first Adam turned from within to the outward, material realm and death, so there is a people who, through the last Adam, will turn from the outward to the inward, spiritual realm of life and then go on to inherit all that Adam would have inherited had he passed the test. There is no question that our old heavens (reasoning minds and senses) must be rolled up like a scroll and put away as we begin walking by new lights. As the sun of reason ceases to shine, the moon of the senses ceases to be that light by which we walk, and every starry imagination is cast to the earth as untimely fruit, then shalt thou see the sign of the Son of man coming in the new heavens with great power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29,30) He will never come in the old heavens! We must come to the place where we no longer walk by the lights and understanding of reason. We must come to the place where we are not moved by what we see, by what we hear or feel - that is, by the senses. We must be moved only by what we believe according to the spirit of faith. We are commanded to cast down imaginations, bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. All of this quite obviously has everything to do with our personal death, resurrection and ascension. This resurrection and ascension, which has been too little understood or taught, is an inward, spiritual one during which one receives his new spiritual body. It is not yet a glorified body (that comes after ascension and union), but it is one with which we are enabled to ascend for union with the Father. This spiritual body is the change of raiment which is implicitly promised to the Zadok (Melchizedek) priesthood of Ezekiel 44:15,16. In order for a priest to enter behind the veil, he must put off one set of garments and put on another (Leviticus 16:4) in which he was to approach the Lord in the Holy of Holies. This change of raiment is typical of that spiritual body or the High Priestly royal robes conferred upon the Melchizedekian priests, whose every word and activity is from the ground of resurrection. Since much is said about the soul in this book, let me say that I do not wish to be dogmatic about anything but from years of experience and Bible study, it is my conclusion that the soul is the feminine part of man. In the Greek it is pronounced (psoo-khay) psuche and is in the feminine gender. The Hebrew word, spirit, is pronounced (roo-akh) ruwach, and has a masculine gender. We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. The soul, as I understand it, is the seat of the intellect, the will, and the emotions. The spirit is the seat of the intuition and conscience. The body is the seat of the five senses. It seems imperative to me that those who shall come into that realm of the Spirit that is characterized by life and are to be known as sons, must cease from being guided or in any way controlled by the soulish (the feminine). For they that are led by the Spirit (the masculine) are the sons of God. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are virgins and are not defiled with women (the soul). Revelation 14:4 It is not for the sake of controversy that we offer this writing, but for the sake of blessing. Therefore I will simply offer, as a note of clarification, my personal views on another point, which some may see as a bone of contention -- the Trinity. I will not argue the point with any but simply state my convictions as they are at this time, though subject to change as the Spirit of God gives me further light. I do not believe that there are two in the God-head. I believe that there are three which bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One (I John 5:7). We pray that this little booklet will in some way be a blessing to those who prayerfully read it with an open mind and heart, and that it may help to speed them along their way to the manifestation of the Son of God in them.
Larry Hodges
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