Title: 13
Author: JOEG
Last saved by: Paul Davey
Company: Auth Co

© 2003 Joe Griffin		03-04-24-B.SBC03-6 /

Crisis Management: Use of Phroureō in Homer; Phil 4:7c: Deploying the FLOT Line Forms the Garrison that Defends the Heart and Mind; Conclusion

8.	In The Iliad by Homer, the word phroure is used to indicate a garrison in the sense of a field fortification.  In Chapter 10, Hector, the polemarch of the Trojan army, asks for a volunteer to go reconnoiter the Achaean beachhead to see if they have secured their perimeter:
Homer.  The Iliad.  Vol. 4 of Great Book of the Western World.  54 vols.  Edited by Robert Maynard Hutchins.  Translated by Samuel Butler.  (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1952), 10:68-69:
Neither again did Hector let the Trojans sleep; for he too called the princes and councillors of the Trojans that he might set his counsel before them.  “Is there one,” said he, “who for a great reward will do me the service of which I will tell you?  He shall be well paid if he will.  I will give him a chariot and a couple of horses, the fleetest that can be found at the ships of the Achaeans, if he will dare this thing; and he will win infinite honour to boot; he must go to the ships and find out whether they are still guarded as heretofore, or whether now that we have beaten them the Achaeans design to fly, and through sheer exhaustion are neglecting to keep their watches (frouršw, phroureō).  (p. 68; 299-322)
		Dolon is the unfortunate volunteer spy.  He is intercepted by Ulysses, king of Ithaca along with Diomedes \dī' a-mē' dēz\, an admiral in the navy of the city-state of Argos.  They both force a confession out of Dolon from whom they learn the entire layout of the Trojan position.  When Dolon got started he told it all and then some:
Ulysses smiled at (Dolon), “Tell me, and tell me true, where did you leave Hector when you started?  Where lies his armour and his horses?  How, too, are the watches and sleeping-ground of the Trojans ordered?  What are their plans?  Will they stay here by the ships and away from the city, or now that they have worsted the Achaeans, will they retire within their walls?”
And Dolan answered, “I will tell you truly all.  Hector and the other councilors are now holding conference by the monument of the great Ilus, away from the general tumult; as for the guards about which you ask me, there is no chosen watch to keep guard (frouršw, phroureō) over the host.  (p. 69; 405-417)
Dolon spun on a dime and tried to cut the same deal with Ulysses that he thought he had with Hector.  Dolon has no integrity because he has no garrison in his soul.  His end was predictable:
Dolan: “Now, therefore, take me to the ships or bind me securely here, until you come back and have proved my words whether they be false or true.”
Diomedes looked sternly at him and answered, “Think not, Dolon, for all the good information you have given us, that you shall escape now you are in our hands, for if we ransom you or let you go, you will come some second time to the ships of the Achaeans either as a spy or as an open enemy, but if I kill you and make an end of you, you will give no more trouble.”
On this Dolon would have caught him by the beard to beseech him further, but Diomedes struck him in the middle of his neck with his sword and cut through both sinews so that his head fell rolling in the dust while he was yet speaking.  (p. 69; 443-59)
		Dolon proved that he who has no phroureō around his soul is very vulnerable to attack.
9.	The best English translation of phroureō is “garrison.”  The peace of God is a phrase that denotes the entire arsenal of ideas stored in the armory of the soul’s stream of consciousness.
10.	From this inventory the believer is able to deploy a FLOT line of problem-solving devices to defend his soul.
11.	FLOT: A military acronym meaning ‘Forward Line of Troops’ used as an acrostic for the divine defense line of problem-solving devices formed from Bible doctrine circulating in soul’s stream of consciousness; God’s protection for the believer against invasion by all the insidious enemies of the spiritual life.  [Thieme, Freedom through Military Victory (1996) 82.]
12.	The word phroureō may be understood as a garrison around the soul acting as a FLOT line made up of the ten-problem-solving devices.  These provide the artillery required to manage every outside adversity of life and prevent stress in the soul.  This is possible because the peace of God, or inner happiness, is able to maintain the stability of soul necessary to deploy these defenders out on the FLOT line.
13.	A military garrison’s ability to successfully resist any enemy who approaches is dependent upon its strength of deployment: the larger the garrison the larger the units that can be sent out to do battle.  This illustrates the problem-solving devices deployed on the FLOT line.
14.	Imagine a country where every town is fortified and defended by its citizens.  Among so many towns some will be more strongly garrisoned than others.  These are the ones that are the real defenders of the nation.
15.	Consequently, in these threatening times, it is the mature believer who is the true patriot for only the believer who lives the sophisticated spiritual life is capable of providing the nation with a protective wall of fire.
16.	All believers are potential garrisons.  Each is imputed all the assets necessary to grow in grace and attain the mental prosperity necessary to set up a FLOT line of problem-solving devices that when fully deployed contributes to sustaining a wall of fire around his client nation.
17.	These are the ones who are able to defend themselves against the attacks of the enemy and at the same time enlarge the pivot of the client nation.
18.	The pivot is mature believers living within a national entity whose spiritual advance establishes client nation status and guarantees its perpetuation in every generation.  These invisible heroes provide the prosperity and preservation of that nation through blessing by association.  [Thieme, Freedom through Military Victory (1996), 83.]
19.	A client is a person under the protection of another; a dependent.  One for whom professional services are rendered.   A client nation is a national entity in which a certain number of spiritually mature believers form a pivot sufficient to sustain the nation and through which God furthers His plan for mankind.  Under divine blessing God specifically protects this representative nation so believers can fulfill the divine mandates of evangelism, communication and custodianship of Bible doctrine, providing a haven for the Jews, and sending missionaries abroad.  [Thieme, Freedom through Military Victory (1996), 82.]
20.	Today believers are challenged as never before in the history of client nation America.  It becomes more imperative for the believers of the next generation to develop the peace of God in their souls.  It is the disposition of sophisticated believers and it is upon them that the continued protection and preservation of the client nation rests.
21.	The pivot of the present generation is weak but those who make it up have been strong enough to hold the line since September 11, 2001.  But the next generation must quickly add to its numbers.
22.	 The attack of Hagar’s children served as a dire warning to those who can interpret historical trends: client nation America is under divine scrutiny and should the next couple of generations ignore this and other warnings, then the future of the United States as a client nation is in jeopardy.
23.	An enlarging pivot whose members possess the peace of God will form the garrison indicated by Paul in:
Philippians 4:7 -	In fact, spiritual prosperity from the source of God, which rises above, transcends, surpasses all human viewpoint systems of thinking, shall garrison …
24.	Now we turn our attention to what is actually garrisoned: the direct object of phroureō, the accusative plural of:
	kard…a, kardia -	plus the second person plural of the pronoun sÚ, su: “your hearts”
Kardia needs little commentary.  It refers to the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness which store wheel-tracks of righteousness for application to life and circumstances.  It is accompanied by a second direct object, the accusative plural of:
nÒhma, noēma -	“mental perception; thought; that which thinks: the mind.”
With the second person plural pronoun it is translated, “the thought process of your minds.”
25.	The peace of God, which includes the entire inventory of divine operating assets and the result of its utilization under the three spiritual skills to the level of the sophisticated spiritual life, develops a garrison in the soul that protects and defends two of its characteristics: (1) the stream of consciousness with its inventory of wheel-tracks of righteousness and (2) the thought process that emerges from this inventory in the evaluation of outside adversities, historical trends, and the assaults of the agent provocateurs of the sinful nature.
26.	Here now is a corrected and expanded translation of our passage:
Philippians 4:6 -	Stop worrying habitually about anything but in every circumstance by means of the prayer network and by means of your entreaty after thanksgivings let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:7 -	In fact, spiritual prosperity from the source of God, which rises above, transcends, and surpasses all human viewpoint systems of thinking, shall garrison, by means of a FLOT line of problem-solving devices, your steams of consciousness and its stored inventory of wheel-tracks of righteousness and the thought process of your minds in Christ Jesus.

F.	Conclusion: 
If we are to function as good soldiers for Christ in the Invisible War, and if we are to become players in the preservation of our client nation we must learn to resist fear.  It will require spiritual growth in order to accomplish these objectives.  But persistence in the double-column advance will result in the development of an inventory of ideas that will bring peace to our souls.  This peace is based on the development of an increasing confidence in the promises of God and His power to supply and protect members of His royal family.
Confidence toward God means you have learned about His undiminished love for you and through reciprocity you turn to Him in time of need.  You have the power of His Word available to withstand the temptation to engage in fear and worry.  And when they do intrude into your souls you will be able to expel them by means of rebound followed by the faith-rest drill.
Having reestablished control of your soul’s command post, you can claim promises and develop doctrinal rationales in order to concentrate on your doctrinal conclusions.  With confidence you can “cast all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
With this confidence you can utilize the Instantaneous Extradimensional Communications Network called prayer.  After thanksgiving you take advantage the unique prerogative of addressing the throne of grace as a royal priest.  You may make your entreaties known to Him and having structured your requests in accordance with the Father’s will you will also have the confidence that He will answer your prayers.
This confidence of soul continues to increase with your spiritual advance so that once you have attained the apogee of the sophisticated spiritual life you will possess the peace of God which we have identified as tranquility of soul based on the knowledge of doctrines pertaining to reconciliation.  Our eternal future is secure and we have an imperishable inheritance of eternal life with the Lord in a resurrection body.  No challenge this world offers can rob us of these truths.  We are thus able to garrison our souls with a FLOT line of problem-solving devices that protect us from the outside adversities of both the cosmic system and the lust pattern of the sinful nature.
When we accomplish this level of sophisticated problem solving then we have become professionals at crisis management: the ability to face life as it comes.  With poise, grace, and stability toward the afflictions of this world and with humility, gratitude, and reciprocity toward the superabundant grace of God, we move forward undaunted.
It is with this disposition that we become members of our client nation’s Pivot.  From this position of spiritual power we become true patriots who can provide invisible historical impact in our generation and participate in restoring the wall of fire around fortress America.  It is then that we will also have the power to fulfill the mandate of the following passage:
2 Chronicles 7:14 -	“If my people who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will restore their land.
2 Chronicles 7:15 -	Now my eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

Closing prayer:
Heavenly father we lift our prayer to Your throne of grace this evening with humble appreciation for all the blessings You have given us.  Beginning with our so great salvation and including all the eternal benefits that we possess through faith alone in Christ alone, we also express our gratitude for the temporal blessings that each one of us enjoy.  My we recognize that these things are designed to sustain us in the work we each have to do in our service to You and as combatants in the Lord’s army.  May we through continued understanding of your will become more attuned to the mission You have decreed for us.  May our prayers be more in tuned with the Invisible War and its progress than the afflictions that confront us in the temporal battles of this life.  None of these things catch You by surprise and we have the privilege of bringing each to Your attention with the confidence You will manage them within the context of Your plan.  This confidence will bring us to the rarified atmosphere of plērōma, where we will share Your peace through inner happiness based on our spiritual prosperity.
With these things in view we boldly approach your throne of grace this evening and ask that you protect our troops in the Middle East.  Bring injury and death to an end and may the post-war process not only restore order to the Iraqi people, but also may the reason this war was necessary serve as a motivation for the believers in this country to take up spiritual arms and press forward in the double-column phalanx toward the objective of restoring our nation’s cultural order.  Each and every one of us has a duty to perform in this Invisible War.  May we therefore become resolved to do our duty and allow You to take care of the consequences.
And we lift our prayer in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is YHWH Sabaoth, the Lord of the Armies.  Amen.

Grace Doctrine Church Media Ministries:	     www.gracedoctrinechurch.com          www.joegriffin.org          www.gdcmedia.org