The A.U.G. Degree

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

I did not invent the expression, “The A.U.G. Degree.”  I wish I had.

No, I heard another Preacher refer to the A.U.G degree.

It’s based, of course, on 2 Tim 2:15 in the King James Version,  “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.”

A.U.G. is approved unto God.

If you want your A.U.G. degree, study the Bible to show yourself approved unto God.

I believe the A.U.G. degree is more important than a college or university degree because in gaining the knowledge you’ll acquire by studying for it, you’ll also find the way to go to heaven and avoid a fiery hell.

But I don’t scorn college degrees.

The Bible says, “Every prudent man deals with knowledge.”

I pursued a BSEE degree at University of California, and I pursued an Associate’s degree at Los Angeles Valley College.

I very much hope to qualify in the sight of God as a prudent man who deals with knowledge.

I’m retired now, but in my career, my main education came from the U.S. Navy Electronics School, and from my own reading of technical books.  I’m self-educated in computer programming, in several programming languages.

The textbook to study for the A.U.G. degree, of course, is the Bible, the sixty six books from Genesis to Revelation.

From Hebrews 11:6,  “But without faith it’s impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.  One way that we seek God is by praying to God.

Another way that we seek God is by reading his book, the Bible, since most of what we know about God comes from the Bible.  And we see how God dealt with ancient Israel, and with various men and women down through history.

Please pay special attention to the word “diligently.”

If you’re diligent about seeking the Lord, you don’t seek him sloppily.  You don’t seek him casually.  You don’t fool around when it comes to seeking the Lord.

You show the Lord and his Word proper respect.

The above passage in 2 Tim 2:15 says we must rightly divide the word of truth.

There have been people who did not rightly divide the word of truth who are now tormented in a fiery hell.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses did a so-called translation of the Bible called, “The New World Translation.”  But it’s junk.  Stay away from that so-called translation, and from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses say there’s no hell, but Jesus said there’s a fiery hell, where their worms don’t die, and where the fire is not quenched;  where there’s crying and gnashing of teeth.

Now someone’s lying.  Either the Jehovah’s Witnesses are lying, or Jesus is lying, and I know Jesus doesn’t lie.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that only one hundred forty four thousand will go to heaven.

No, it’s one hundred forty four thousand Jews, twelve thousand out of each of the twelve tribes, who get saved out of “The Great Tribulation,” as we read in the book of Revelation.

But there will be millions in heaven because the Lord enabled John the Revelator to see into the future in heaven, and he saw “thousands of thousands.”  A thousand thousand is one million.

I wonder how many Jehovah’s Witnesses are now being tormented in the hell that they said did not exist.

I remember singing along to the song, “Gimme That Old Time Religion.”  Catchy song.  But be careful of the words.

“It was good for Paul and Silas.”  O.K., I don’t think you’ll go wrong following Paul.  In fact Paul says, “Be followers of me like I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1)

But doesn’t the song also say, “It was good for Grandpa?”

I don’t think either of my Grandfathers was a Christian.  But if your Grandpa was a Christian, are you completely content to have exactly the same religion that Grandpa had?  Was your Grandpa an expert Theologian?

But if you’ll study for your own A.U.G degree, then you’ll be in a position to confirm or deny that Grandpa had good Theology.

Seems like it was Norvel Hayes who said in his teaching, “If your religion is what it is because that’s what your Grandfather was, did you ever consider that your Grandfather might have been wrong?”

Let me give you a specific example.

No doubt some people are Baptists because their Grandfathers were.

I’m not an enemy of the Baptists.  They can tell you how to get to heaven by becoming born again.  I visited the Van Nuys Baptist Church in California, and met a nice Christian girl there.  We dated for a while.

But Dr. Charles Stanley is a Baptist.  He has said that the Baptism with the Holy Ghost has been done away with.  That’s a lie.  I don’t say that Stanley deliberately told a lie.  I guess he was taught wrong, so now he teaches wrong.

If the Baptism with the Holy Ghost has been done away with, how did I get it when I was 13 or 14, more than half a century ago?

And how have I been able every day since then to pray both in English and in another language that I never learned, and don’t understand (unknown tongues)?

No, Stanley is wrong.  And Jesus wants you to have the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages) if you’re a Christian.

I don’t know whether this teaching of false doctrine will be enough to send Stanley to hell, but I’m sure it’s not good for his congregation, who are told not to have this blessing that God wants them to have.

Jesus said, in Acts 1:8, “You’ll receive power after the Holy Ghost comes on you.”

You’ll be a stronger Christian after receiving the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, and you’ll be more effective at winning souls.  You’ll be more effective at dealing with the enemy, the Devil and his demons.

Stanley will be ashamed on Judgment Day, and will suffer loss for that teaching of false doctrine.

But let me also point out this fact:  Stanley couldn’t be the Pastor of a large church if his parishioners moved on to a different church.

And why should his parishioners go elsewhere?  Because the Bible says, “Go from the presence of a foolish man when you perceive that he doesn’t have the lips of knowledge.”

Chapter 2

John Osteen was a Baptist Pastor who studied the Bible on the subject of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost.  (Please see my book, “John Osteen, Exceptional Pastor.”)

Osteen said, “Well, what’s wrong with it?  It’s scriptural.”  So John Osteen got the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues (languages).

His Baptist church kicked him out.  But Osteen and some of his followers went and started Lakewood Church in Houston, TX.  Last I heard, they had thirty thousand members, about fifty times as many as the Baptist church had that kicked John Osteen out.

The Bible also tells us to be diligent in business.  I don’t know what your vocation is, but whatever you do, God wants us to be diligent at our work.

The Teletype Corp. of Skokie, IL did very well for many years.  They had a good product that filled a need, and was used by companies, by the military, and by the Federal Aviation Administration.

I worked for two different employers where we were either repairing or refurbishing Teletype machines.

But advances in technology come along that might impact your business.  If you’re in the technology field, diligence suggests that you try to keep up with new developments.

Such a new development was the invention of the stepper motor.  Instead of continuous rotation, you pulse it and it rotates in very small steps, according to the pulses it receives.

The new stepper motor no doubt appeared in the trade magazines, and of course, the Salesmen from the stepper motor manufacturers were out selling their products.

That would have been a very good time for Teletype Corp. to ask the questions, “How can we put this new device to work?  Can we use it to simplify or enhance our products?”

The answer would have been, yes, we can build as good a product at a better price, and perhaps retain the lion’s share of the printer market.

So, others came along and replaced that quarter horsepower motor, and many gears, clutches, shafts, springs with some small stepper motors that almost overnight made the Teletype machine history.

Lack of diligence can put you out of business.  It happens all the time.

But more important than diligence in business is diligence studying for the A.U.G. degree.

In fact, Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The richest man in the world can’t buy his way into heaven.  No, Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John chapt 3)

You get born again by obeying Romans 10:9,10, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you’re saved.  For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation.”

And I can testify to this:  if you’ll study for your A.U.G. degree, it will also help in whatever your legitimate vocation is.

Psalm 1:3 says, “Whatever he does will prosper,” if you meet the qualifications in Psalm 1.

In the U.S. Army, I repaired a radar that no one had been able to repair for three months.  Sergeant First Class Catlett is my witness.  He has already gone to heaven, I think.

At the Christian TV station where I worked, I repaired a problem about the “doorbell diodes” that one of the executives of the station said might shut down the TV station.   I said, “That can’t be the will of God.”

I went up the mountain to the transmitter one day, well before the day’s programming was to start, and the Lord helped me to fix the problem.  We didn’t have to go off the air.

Pastor Ray Schoch is my witness.

I was working for a Government Contractor on the Hubble Space Telescope project.  There was a problem with one of the printed circuit boards.  The Hardware Engineers said it was a software problem.  The Software Engineers said it was a hardware problem.

I knew both the hardware and the software.  I wrote software that proved that the board was working.  I gave it to the software people and told them, “If you’ll do it like this, it will work.”  They did, and it did.

I worked at a computer company in the Silicon Valley area of California.  They were developing a RISC computer (Reduced Instruction Set Computing).

They were using a Motorola 68HC11 microprocessor for diagnostics, but there was a certain port it didn’t seem to be able to communicate with.

At one of the staff meetings, that problem came up.  After listening to teachers like Kenneth E. Hagin, I said, “I can fix it,” at the staff meeting.  One of my co-workers, Eddie, didn’t think I could do it.

I looked at the manual on the 68HC11 (Every prudent man deals with knowledge.)

I sent an email, using the company internal email system, to the software person, and to some others.  I said there was a certain bit that needed to be set in the microprocessor if you were going to use it with external “open collector” configuration, as we apparently were.

Perhaps two weeks went by, and no apparent progress.

I decided that probably my email needed a wider readership.  So I sent pretty much the same email to everyone and his brother at the company, and in a couple of days, the problem was solved.

Smith Wigglesworth was an important British Man of God.  (Please see my book about Smith Wigglesworth.)  Before the Lord called him to full time ministry, Wigglesworth was a plumber.

Wigglesworth hadn’t learned to read until he was about twenty one.  His wife, Polly, taught him to read.  Their textbook was the Bible.

After Wigglesworth learned to read, he pretty much didn’t read any other books but the Bible, and no newspapers.  He knew there was a lot of junk in the papers.

Wigglesworth told how the Lord helped him with his plumbing work.  In one case, Wigglesworth went to collect his money for a certain job he had just completed.

The man said, “It’s not possible that the job could be finished this soon,” and went with Wigglesworth to inspect.  Sure enough, the job was finished.

Wigglesworth probably learned his plumbing by apprenticeship.  But these days, even a Journeyman plumber had better read about advances in plumbing (but not to the exclusion of the Bible) because it has become much more sophisticated.

If you watch any of the episodes of “Ask This Old House,” there are many new hi-tech plumbing devices, and there are electronic controls.

If that’s what your customer wants, you’re at a serious disadvantage if you haven’t been keeping up, because one or more of your competitors probably has been keeping up on the latest advances.

The Bible says to be diligent in business.

Seems like it was Howard Pittman that the Lord showed him people entering in at the gate of heaven after their lives on earth.

Sometimes two people arrived at the gate of heaven at the same time.  But the two couldn’t both go in at the same time.  First one, then the other, because we get into heaven on our own merits, if our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life in heaven.

The angels write your name into that book when you become a Christian.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.