Summer 2000
A Return to the Spiritual
Seeley D. Kinne

Adam was created to be entirely under the control of the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, this was his normal state. He was as at home in the Spirit as a fish is at home in water. But this quality of life was forfeited through transgression.

The ultimate purpose of the atonement of Jesus upon the cross is to restore us to this normal state of divine relationship and control, with additional blessings of higher privilege.

Over and again the Lord's effort with man has sought to bring him back into this place of total Holy Spirit control. But the denseness and self-centeredness of man, along with the wiles of Satan, have hindered the plan of God.

Since the redeemed are yet incapable of sustaining this life of fullness under the Holy Spirit's power and control, such as Adam experienced, the Lord has made available to us “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” which are parts of Holy Spirit activities divided to different individuals.

This Holy Spirit baptized and gifted Body of Christ, when operating through these Holy Spirit giftings, equals the original state of Adam, and on occasion excels, for the last Adam is greater than the first.

Our birth into this world ushers us into a developing state of sense-relationship to our environment. Our intelligence, reasoning, and will power, directs and controls the activities of each member of our body. Without direction from the head, our members do not act.

So also, the New Birth brings us into a developing conscious relationship to the Lord, and to the spiritual world. In the supernatural realm, Christ is the Head, and without Him, the members do not act. But the professing Church often seeks useless remedies, neglecting and forgetting Christ, her true Head. Therefore, she has not progressed as far into spiritual maturity as intended.

At this present time, there is a mighty call going forth to the people of God to return to Christ as the true Head, to find their place in His Body and function under His direct control.

A child when born into this world is ignorant, helpless, and mentally inactive; so also, one born into the Body of Christ is a mere babe in spirituals. Therefore, the need of care and training in spirituals is very great. The Apostle Paul said,

“Now concerning spirituals, brethren, I would
not have you ignorant” I Cor 12:1.

The Church, as a corporate body, is the place of His operation, in which the source of all activity is the power of God manifested through the movement of the Holy Spirit. All power and working of man is therefore an intrusion.

The workings of the Holy Spirit are internal, invisible, and spiritual. But they are not limited, or confined to the inner man. They become outward and visible as His witness through the operation of gift ministries.

When one is baptized in the Spirit, he is endowed with His ministry gift, or gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's use of our voice is called prophecy - God speaking or acting by the members of man. For the body to grow up into Christ in all things, each member must supply its individual part. The nature and existence of the Church of Jesus Christ is of such a glorious heavenly nature.

Man can be so deceived that he will produce substitutes for the true and glorious body of Jesus Christ moving and operating through these giftings; but the hour is at hand for God to restore His Church in power and glory.

Happy are those people who find their way into those Churches where His presence and power is both acknowledged and sought after, and where ample room is made for the movings of His Holy Spirit.