Spring 1976
The Experiential State

Taken from a paper written in the 1940’s by
Seeley D. Kinne

A GREAT, FAR REACHING AND VERY DESTRUCTIVE DELUSION prevails most everywhere in Christendom. It is that state of mental conception without heart experience. It is a claim that discovery is possession; that a truth sighted is the same as or as good as if experienced; that mental idea is the same as heart possession.

In accordance with this glaring delusion, the common or ordinary way of approaching Scripture truths is to hear them stated, accept them as truth; but fail to act upon them, and proceed the same old way as before. James 1:22-25 describes one who does this as a forgetful hearer of the Word, self deceived.

Millions of well meaning but deluded people are called Christians in our America who were never born again or had a change of heart or any real touches of spiritual life. Many thousands of people call themselves Pentecostal because they once had a touch of the Spirit, now lost and drowned in form and natural-plane living.

Now there has arisen a people who discovered great latter day truths. But to profess to believe and fail to experience in a most thorough and practical way the essential steps which carry one into the experiential state, is to be deceived. We must awake and attain to the necessary preparation.

The initial experiences of new birth, justification, sanctification and Holy Spirit baptism, by which one is brought into active relations with Jesus Christ; and accompanying works of confession, restitution, repentance and consecration are essential foundation. The deeper and more thorough, the better the foundation. If there be any lapse, it must be corrected. Faulty foundations will not do for skyscrapers. Take heed how you build (1 Corinthians 3:10).

You must “grow up into Christ in all things,” Ephesians 4:15, by living a life in the Spirit, above condemnation according to Romans 8:1. This chapter is a vivid picture of a spiritual climb, with the cross on the natural man, and “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freely working to the entire freeing from “the law of sin and death” (Revised Version). “For it men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things” (Verse 5, Weymouth).

So then, if you master the marvelous lesson of living a life in the Spirit as set forth in Romans 8:1-9; there comes then another privilege, beginning with verse ten. If you have come into the working of “the law of the Spirit of life” so you are a spiritual Christian, you may look for the working of that law against death in your body. And if it rise to that degree of power that raised Jesus from the dead, it will give life to your mortal bodies.

Sons of God were a class of spiritually grown or matured believers in the early Ecclesia (Church). They were “adopted,” that is, set into their places in the Ecclesia by the Spirit. They lived and walked in the Spirit. Paul stood at the head of this group; but he was not satisfied. He saw something more in the Spirit. It was knowing the power in Christ’s resurrection. He sought it. He prayed for his Ephesian brethren, that “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding” might enlighten them, that they might know what is the exceeding greatness of His power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.

For some days after Jesus’ resurrection, and before His ascension to stay in Heaven, He lingered here on earth in a glorified body. It has not been recognized as a type of experience, but represents a celestial state of experience, also called manifestation or revelation of the sons of God. The sons in Bible times did not come into this state; but sons now will shortly enter into it in these days. This is the “Inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which as been reserved in Heaven for you, whom God is guarding through faith for a salvation that even now stands ready for the unveiling at the end of the age” (1 Peter 1:5).

Jesus closed His message on the tribulation with the suggestion of an escape from it all, but did not give full directions as to how. But they are further given later in the epistles, and still more minutely to be given now in the time of escape. The history of the Christian era is an almost continuous record of bloodshed and martyrdom. But in this end time there comes forth a company that cannot be persecuted or martyred. They have gone the way of the cross. They have been to Golgotha. They have passed through such a re-creating crucifixion to earth’s varied attachments, the tendrils of affection that twine about kith and kin, and finally and fully they are crucified to self in its many forms and ramifications, so that there is nothing remaining in them to die. They are martyrs of the cross. Have you had strange happenings? Be content to die to all that you may live eternal luxury. “It is appointed unto men once to die!” If you are willing to die on the cross you may escape the grave. But by one or the other you must.

If then, you have sighted a privilege; if you feel a spiritual pull; if there is an inward whisper of the Spirit; if there are cravings within that cannot be stilled; arise, gird up the loins of your mind; prepare for the conflict. Be determined to find the way. Enter the race. You cannot successfully advance without entering the School of Christ to be taught of Him. He has sent the Holy Spirit to be His teacher. Illuminated by revelation is one of His first lessons. How to receive truth by the Holy Sprit is essential. Reading the scriptures without the revealing light of the Spirit is insufficient. Works of the Spirit such as crucifixion, re-creation, the law of the spirit of life operating to set free from the law of sin and of death in spirit, soul and body; and other works of growing up into Christ, cannot be attained without coming under teachings of the Holy Spirit. So far all these are a preparation, and Divine Intervention, the sovereign power of the Lord, is ready to help us.