³ The carnal mind is enmity with God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. The carnal mind lusts for things, lusts for people, lives in pride, lies, seeks the honor of men instead of God — wanting to be its own God as Satan promised Adam and Eve. Since the carnal mind cannot be subject to the Law of God, (the inner law on every man's heart), obviously your mind must be destroyed; from the Word of the Lord within: "that which lives in the enmity must be destroyed." The cross is to man's will and his carnal mind, which must be denied and destroyed so that we do God's will instead, speaking only what He tells us to say, and working according to His orders. The carnal mind must be destroyed by the Spirit of God to be replaced by the mind of Christ. When the carnal mind dies, you are at rest and have peace.

To walk according to your own decisions is worse than worshipping stone or wooden idols:

Your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. And you have done worse than your fathers; for behold, every one of you walks after the imagination of his evil heart, and therefore you do not listen to and obey me. Jer 16:11-12. From the Word of the Lord within: "Every man was his own king."

For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Gen 8:21.

I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; Isa 65:2

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9.

Therefore, this I say and testify in the Lord, that from this time forward you must not walk as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Eph 4:17

Let the ungodly forsake his way, and the unrighteous man [forsake] his thoughts; Isa 55:7

Everyone is ungodly and unrighteous until the Spirit has destroyed their sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial, which destroys the selfish, vain, carnal mind with its thoughts. The basic operation of grace is teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and how to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Tit 2:11-12.

The thoughts of the unrighteous are detestable (foul, disgusting) to the LORD, but the words of the pure are pleasant words. Pro 15:26

No one is righteous before being purified, for we, through the Spirit, by faith, patiently wait for the hope of righteousness. Gal 5:5. We persistently and patiently wait in humble silence for the Spirit by grace to teach us how to live righteously, Tit 2:11-12, and for the Spirit to destroy our sinful nature, including our carnal mind.

The LORD knows the thoughts of man, and that they are vanity. Psa 94:11

let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no;' for whatever is more than these comes from the evil one [the Spirit of Satan within you]. Mat 5:37.

Paul, addressing crucified believers, wrote: "Where in times past you walked according to the ways of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan],.. we also all had our conduct in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts of our mind." Eph 2:3.

Note! Until you have killed, (mortified), the sinful nature within you on the inward cross of self-denial, you are walking according to the ways of the world and Satan, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the thoughts of your mind, both of which have to be destroyed by the Lord.

If you ever expect to do the will of God, you must let grace destroy your carnal mind, which is enmity with God. The carnal mind is the mind of the serpent, the mind of Satan. The God of Peace will soon come and bruise the head of Satan under your feet. Rom 16:20. Christ called the Pharisees: "you serpents, you generation of vipers," Mat 23:33; they were serpents because they were controlled by their carnal minds, which is enmity with God. (The serpent is another name for the devil or Satan.) But when Christ bruises your mind (the head of Satan) under your feet, he destroys the enmity that originated in the garden, when the serpent became man's god. Thus as Christ destroys the carnal mind and destroys the imagination, every thought becomes captive to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor 10:5. By repentance on the inward cross of self-denial, through grace God gives us a new mind, heart, and spirit; he writes his law in our mind and hearts, Jer 31:33; so that we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:16; so that we no longer fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts of our mind. Eph 2:3.

From the Word of the Lord within:

• Your thoughts are not my thoughts.
• At best your thoughts are a vain hiss.
• Those who follow their own brain will weep and mourn; there will be great pain.
• The mind is a terrible thing.
• There is a blessing to make the cessation of the mind permanent.
• You must go on waiting, watching, and listening; then our hearts will be quiet by grace.
• We must grow in silence.
• We labor with a cursed mind for the carnal mind is neither subject to the law of God, nor can it be; that which lives in the enmity must be destroyed.
• You will receive a new heart and mind. Grow up into the mind of Christ, from which all good thoughts proceed.
• To know is not to think.
• All thoughts must be rejected.
• We do not sing from our carnal minds; there will be a group of purified believers singing of the blessing.
• That which lives in the enmity must be destroyed.
• To make decisions is to live in your carnal mind.

Casting down all our own decisions,
and every barrier that is raised up against the wisdom from God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Cor 10:5.

I once was very despondent over my carnal mind's evil, and asked the Lord why he had given us such a mind; the Lord's answer came back very quickly: "for survival until you find me." Until your carnal mind is destroyed, stay obedient to what you have been commanded, bear the daily cross making the best decisions you know how; and everything will go well.

George Fox writes of the carnal mind that must be destroyed by the grace of God:

That mind, which speaks of God, but does not live, nor dwell, nor abide in the fear of God, that mind must suffer, and pass under the judgment of God, for the curse of God is upon that mind; for that mind is earthly, and of the earth, upon which the curse of God is. And that mind may talk of God, and speak of God, but not in union with God, nor from enjoyment of God in the spirit, nor from having purchased the knowledge of him through death and sufferings [of self]; but from hearsay [or reading] of him, and from custom and tradition.

But the true fear of God destroys that mind, which speaks of him, but does not live in his fear; and that mind is raised up, which abides in his fear; and this is acceptable sacrifice, which is pure, clean, holy, and without spot. Then that which knows God, speaks of him, which has purchased the true knowledge of him through suffering; and to such there is no condemnation, but joy and peace. And this mind sings true praises to God, the other in hypocrisy; and therefore the woe is unto it. And this mind is stayed upon God, the other is gadding after the creatures, committing fornication with other lovers; and speaks of God, but is not subject to God, and must pass through condemnation.

More from Fox's Letter #19:

For whatever is seen with a carnal eye, is carnal. See, if you find something in your understandings made manifest, which is eternal, to guide your minds out of all external things, which wither away, and fade. For the cross is to the carnal mind; your carnal minds going into the carnal and earthly things, or your eyes and lusts into the earth, where lightness, rashness, crossness, bitterness, and presumption are. Then the tongue will run at random, and is at liberty; and he who does not have power over his own tongue, his religion is vain, and the light mind rules. But the light within, which convinces you, will show you, when the mind goes forth; and show you the daily cross, which is to crucify that carnal mind; for the carnal mind minds carnal things; and the cross is to the will of man, for it shall never enter [the kingdom]...,but the carnal mind is to be taken away, and destroyed.

God destroys the fleshly, carnal mind, giving the crucified believer a new mind and heart; and we have scriptures to support that very occurrence:

Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed; and get a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? Eze 18:31

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. Heb 8:10

And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jer 24:7

And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them. Jer 32:39

Strip yourselves of your former nature that controlled your conduct, which corrupts itself through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And put on the newly created nature [of Christ], which is created in God's image of true righteousness and holiness. Eph 4:22-24

And do not be conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Rom 12:2,8:6-7

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Phil 2:5

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:16

So in humble silence we persistently and patiently wait on God, so that by his grace received, our evil mind is replaced by the mind of Christ.

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