God Is Beneath Your
Feet
". . .
the way of the wicked He turns upside down." Psalm 146:9
God is alive in
me and new every morning. Thus, as I write a response such as this, what He
teaches me goes in a direction I did not know and things that seemed important
at the beginning, though truth, fade away in the present bubbling
spring.
More and more
of God's people are becoming excited about the meaning and reality of the
manifestation of the sons of God. This fills me with such joy, for it is further
confirmation that God fulfills all He speaks in us. But we must understand that
Christianity as it has been cannot ever produce such a break, such a shift in
reality as the birthing of liberty and the elimination of darkness upon this
planet really must be.
I have never
once thought that I would become an "expert" on Genesis 3. Yet I find myself
back there over and over again. Genesis 3 is the entirety of what must be broken
and cast off. Our return to full union with God and the revelation of God
through us to all creation parallels in every way the original break with Him.
I have looked
only briefly at the casting off of the curse found in Revelation Chapter 12 that
corresponds point by point with every part of the curse spoken by God in Genesis
3. Understanding the psychology of Adam and Eve helps us so much to identify the
difference between Christ and the pretender of Christ forced by human
imagination and ruling in the church.
But it is that
path of Jesus from Gethsemane to the resurrection that shows us the incredible
meaning of our full union with Him. Here's the difference. Adam ran from that
path as fast as he could. Look at the length of time between Adam's
confrontation with the real task God had given him and his flight. "She
also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." See that comma after
"her." That's it.
And so the path
of Jesus from Gethsemane to the Resurrection is a path Adam did not take; this
path does not run parallel, it runs beyond. The only reason we look back to the
garden is to understand the path Adam continues to refuse, the path upon which
we walk.
Now, this
glorious exercise through which the Lord has taken me over the last couple of
weeks, has given me a picture of the three parts of Jesus' defeat of sin and
death that we must know. Remember, I taught in the series on Our Union with Christ,
that we do not "follow" Jesus in this portion of His reality; rather, He takes
us into Himself and carries us in Himself through it. Yet, I am seeing now that
our union with Him inside this portion of the path is more than profound and
utterly unexpected.
First, no
matter how willing we may be, we cannot carry our cross. The Father alone
carries it for us.
Second, Jesus
accepted the "shame" of His nakedness. The outer frame God had crafted for Him
was fully acceptable to Him, He was content. When Jesus said, "Father, forgive
them," when He said, "Hey, mom, there's your son, John," he was stark naked,
stripped of every human dignity and respect.
Third, Jesus
cast Himself utterly upon the Father, refusing to reach for His own power, even
when the overwhelming darkness flooded His soul in the agony of defeat and
separation.
But through all
three of these steps into weakness, there runs a mighty cord, a simple cord,
filling the heart and mind of the very human Jesus, a two-fold cord.
One mighty
strand of that cord was giving thanks, giving thanks, giving thanks for all
things. The other mighty cord was the expectation, the certainty, the
overwhelming confidence that the Father Himself would resurrect Jesus from the
dead. God would raise Him on high.
It was not a
"god" who died upon that cross, but a man. That's why the rulers of the Jews
killed Him. They expected Superman to come out of the sky, blasting thunderbolts
at his enemies. The main reason they hated Him was that He was powerless and
human; how could the Messiah, the revelation of God, be so weak! If Jesus had
been strong, they would have bowed to Him, they would have obeyed Him, that is,
until they could figure out how to finagle behind the POWER and thus, in the
end, gain control over Him. They persuaded the Romans to kill Him because He was
beneath their contempt.
The entire
church has done exactly the same thing with Him, deifying Him, expecting that
when He comes this time, this time we know He will come as Superman out of the
sky, blasting thunderbolts at his enemies. Sure the rulers of the Jews had it
wrong then, but we don't, we have it right!
A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense.
The human mind
despises weakness. Look at how the church has deified every element of Jesus'
weakness. From the halo on the baby to the crucifix on the wall to the Nicene
Creed, every attempt of the Father to prove to us that He reveals Himself
through weakness has been turned into Superman. And those believers in Jesus who
discover the incredible reality that they, IN their weakness, are just like
Jesus are called "blasphemers."
I cannot
express how important it is for us to comprehend the fulfillment of the three
feasts of Israel in the life of the church and in the life of each individual
believer. We are not talking about being born again. We are not talking about
being baptized in the Holy Spirit, we are talking about the final entrance into
the city of God, the fullness of Christ revealed through us in the earth. The
third feast is what everything else is for. The entrance into the third feast
gives purpose to all that comes before. Drawing back from the third feast makes
all the rest of redemption of limited value for the present time.
This three-step
passage of Jesus IS the pearly gates of the city. Pearls: our response to pain
and humiliation. We give thanks with joy AND we expect with all confidence that
the Father is about to raise us on high.
But we never
cover our weakness with pretending and we never reach for our own power separate
from Christ living as us. The weapons of our warfare have nothing to do with our
outer frame, but they are mighty.
I am going in a
direction I have never seen before; I hope to unveil things I have never
considered. Yes, my title is provocative, but when you see what I mean, you may
well be in tears as I am. In my last letter, I talked about the outer frame of
disability. Now I want to look at the outer frame of ability.
We humans
possess both a physical body and a spirit body in equal proportions. Our soul
exists at the point of union all through these two bodies. Our persona, our
individual human ways and characteristics, are determined by the metabolism of
these two bodies in equal proportions. Every human's spirit is as much a
contributor to their person as their brain and heart. Just because we are blind
to the spirit realms does not mean that our spirit does not function fully. A
so-called psychic is just someone who is a bit more in tune with his or her
spirit than most. Yet everyone is a "psychic" whether they know it or not. That
is, everyone derives half of their persona from their spirit.
Paul instructs
us to walk in our spirit merged with the Holy Spirit. The church calls such a
practice "new age." It is "new age" when a person enlarges their unregenerate
spirit, but every "Christian" manifests spirit all the time, even if they know
nothing about any union with the Holy Spirit.
Our spirits are
as complex and as ordered as our physical bodies. They contribute entirely to
our outward persona or form as much as our physical bodies. People move out from
the nature of their individual spirits equally as much as they move out from the
nature of their individual bodies. The reason we don't know that mentally is we
are blind.
What blind
person do you know that goes around pretending and arguing, convinced they are
NOT blind at all, but that everyone is lying to them about this so-called
"ability to see"? Real blind people ask questions, all the time.
When Jesus
said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," he was referring to the quality of
knowing that we, in our present state, are unable to see whole realms of normal
human existence and expression. He was referring to the quality of a child to
ask questions. Someone who says, "I don't need the gifts of the Spirit," is
saying that they are happy to be half a human, crippled and blind, with no
interest in what they really are.
Back to human
ability. God crafted, by His sovereign choice, the outward form or persona for
each individual one of us to walk in all the days of our life. That outward
persona comes from the characteristics of both our physical metabolism and our
spirit metabolism joined fully in equal measure.
Here is a
person that is never sick; there is a person who is always sick. Here is a
person that sees success with everything he or she touches. There is a person
who sees things fall apart every time he or she makes an attempt to rise up from
failure. Here is a person who is continually bubbly and optimistic; there is a
person who is continually grumpy and pessimistic. Here is a sanguine; there is a
melancholic. Here is one who is powerful and dominating; there is one who is
timid and withdrawing. Here is a person who is disciplined and put together;
there is a person who is scattered and undisciplined. These are all qualities
that come out of the construction of both spirit and body merged together.
These are the
extremes, but God fashioned every form of in-between as well, including the
outward form that is the ability to move along a scale from say, undisciplined
to disciplined versus the inability to move along that scale at all. There are
15 billion different human personas, every one different and unique.
You and I did
not choose the form we live in; neither can we change that form. Absolutely NO
human form is in any way "better" before God than another. God does not play
favorites to any outward form, capable or incapable.
When I lived in
a certain place, a brother who was a dear friend of mine ran a small
construction crew in the nearby town. I ran the construction work in the
community. We both heard from God all the time. He heard God speak to buy this
tool and that tool, to engage in this increase and that increase, all with great
joy. I heard God speak, "No," every time I sought to purchase for myself even a
screwdriver. I was disturbed by that for awhile until I realized that God has an
entirely different path and persona for each individual person, though we walk
side by side in Christ.
Since that time
I have refused to place my nature and persona onto anyone else as the
"expectation" of what they ought to be doing in God. I accept completely that
God can speak to my brother in a very different way than He speaks to me. I am
unusual in the realms of Christianity.
When I raised
the question that God had placed in my heart the desire to write, the only
response I received back was from one who said that twenty years before God had
told her to lay down the desire to write. And that was the end of that. As if
that had anything to do with God in me!
One of the
greatest sins we commit against one another is to lay upon our brother the
obligation and expectation that whatever God speaks and does with me is what
that brother ought to be hearing and doing. It is sin, and the practice of it
does not take place inside of Christ.
"You ought to
change; you ought to practice a different persona than the one God fashioned for
you," is a charge we burden one another with - weights NO ONE can
bear.
The charge that
I should not "talk about Asperger's" is a personal offense. It is contempt
thrown against me; no different than lepers have always been treated. I have
lived with that condescending, "If you were really in Christ, you would be like
ME!" all my life and it still - well, I do give thanks in my frustration.
I was
"reviewed" in my teaching ability again this week. And again this week, I was
told that I ought to do the things I cannot do. I could write a book on the
things they say, but I cannot do them. Yet I am a well-loved teacher with a
track-record of students who learned from me what they did not learn from
others. Yet I do not have the group "people-person" abilities found in the
"teacher's manual." I compensate for what I do not have by showing deep
compassion and the utmost respect to them as persons whenever we are one-on-one.
No evaluator has ever seen that, nor is there a place for it on their forms, but
my students see it and there is a place for it in their hearts.
Yet, going
through this review, I was fully aware that I have never been treated in the
educational world with the contempt by which I have been treated (by some) in
the church. I say "some" because not all are like that, but those who are seem
to stand out and often to lead. The world does not expect you to "be like
Christ," Christians do. And they torment one another with that expectancy,
turning Christ into a whip.
Now we have
arrived at what I have been driving towards for some time in these
letters.
First, in a
previous letter I explored the Greek words for Philippians 3:21. Here is the
paraphrase I gave with the two critical Greek words:
(Jesus)
metaschematizo our lowly body that it be
synmorphizo His glorious body . . .out from His
dynamite energy bringing us into His full sway.
"Metaschematizo"
refers to the alteration of our outward form or persona. "Synmorphizo"
refers to an element of internal union with Him far beyond our present ability
to know.
God will change
our outward form or persona in the resurrection, that is, the fullness of the
Third Feast, but NOT in the way humans
would expect in their present ignorance.
May I suggest
that you obtain and read Hind's Feet on High
Places by Hannah Hurnard. I have read and taught this book
over and over because it gives me such great hope. Much-Afraid is very much
afraid; she is hit with attacks by craven-fear over and over. She is crippled
and twisted. She stumbles and falls every step along the way. When she reaches
out for "help," all she gets in one hand is suffering and in the other, sorrow.
NO ONE believes that she could possibly "know" the Shepherd.
Her change does
come. But NOT in the way she or anyone else expected. Rather she discovers that
all along, sorrow has really been Joy and suffering has really been Peace. She
discovers that her "blemishes" are now beauty, and that her bruises and her
tears and her failings ARE now the jewels of her crown.
But
"metaschematizo," or the alteration of the outward form, is used
elsewhere by Paul in an entirely different application. Here it is found three
times, all underlined.
". . . those
who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which
they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles
of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of
light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of
righteousness . . ." 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
We are not
talking about Dracula's here, but Christians. Paul is referring to those who,
finding that they do not care for their outward persona crafted for them by God
- primarily because it does not give them an advantage in the eyes of others -
then work on and alter their outward form until it gives them a place of
advantage and preeminence in the church, in the eyes of other
Christians.
However, here's
the deal. It is impossible for a human being ever to alter his or her outer form
or persona. Certainly, God fills our hearts with joy and peace where once we did
not know His love. But those are qualities that shine from the inside out,
always coming through an honest and real expression of our outer form. Of
course, we believe God for healing - and He heals, and we rejoice to see Him
transform us. But it is God who transforms us, we do NOT transform
ourselves.
Therefore, when
someone alters their outward form for advantage or approval in the eyes of
others, they are not actually changing anything. All they are doing is draping
their own version of fig-leaves upon themselves. They are pretending. I know
such people (a few), very, very well, having walked with them side by side every
day for years.
They are fake.
Yet they fill most churches, and every one of us have practiced this fakery to
greater and lesser extent much of our lives.
Notice, in 2
Corinthians 11, that Satan and his ministers "transform themselves." Don't do
it; be real. Christ is in YOU.
Next, let's
look at the upside-down unreality we call "church."
"For you see
your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the
world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world
to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world
and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not,
to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh (no
human outer form or persona) should glory in His presence." 1
Corinthians 1:26-29
God does not
call very many of the people to whom He gave the outward form or persona of
success and achievement and human capability. Quite the contrary, most of the
people God calls are people to whom He gave the outward forms of inability, of
failure, of stumbling, of ineptitude.
The majority of
people whom God calls into His church are the kind of people that humanity
despises.
But He does
call some of the others as well. Let's say, for discussion purposes, that 10% of
the people God calls into His church are outwardly capable.
Since no one
chooses his or her outer form, it is no one's fault if they are capable and
successful in this world. One who is capable and successful is well able to know
Christ revealed as them, and to enter into the fullness of Christ in the
firstfruits. But NOT MANY will.
Look at that
word, "wise according to the flesh." We have always read that wrong. We read it
as being "wise according to evil." But that's not what it says, it says, "Wise
according to outward human ability." That is, the people we naturally look up to
as wise and capable leaders, those whom we call "examples."
Here is one of
the biggest problems with Christianity. Even though only, say, ten percent of
those whom God calls into the church are outwardly capable and successful
leaders, still, it is those people almost entirely that become the ministry and
leaders in the church. Now, even though this reality is upside-down, it has been
God's order for the present in-part age of the church. I will explain
why.
But first, I
want to give an illustration to help us understand all reality.
When Adam
rejected the way of Christ, God turned the world and all humanity upside down.
Technically, as believers in Christ, we have been turned right side up, but we
hardly know that. For the most part, we Christians have lived in the same
understanding as the world, that of being upside down.
But humans do
not hang upside down all on the same plane. The nature of being upside down
takes the form of a pyramid. Consider a pyramid. If you are an American, you can
pull out a one dollar bill and look at the pyramid on the backside. The eye at
the "top" is the eye of Lucifer. The levels of the pyramid from "top" to
"bottom" are the levels of the hierarchy of human authority. Those near the top
are most like Lucifer in their definition of "God." They sit upon the ones who
are beneath, ruling over others with their wisdom and their human abilities.
Those at the bottom, according to the upside-down version of reality, are the
ones sat-upon, the crushed, the despised.
Now, turn the
dollar bill "upside-down." You are looking at reality as it is.
Lucifer is
FALLEN. He is far lower than man. Yet man, hanging upside down, arms flopped
down towards Satan at the bottom, defines God the Father and Jesus the Christ by
the definition Satan gave himself.
What is it that
keeps man from falling as low as Satan?
God caught man
and is holding him by his feet.
If you want to
see God, do not look "up," look down. God is beneath your feet.
But look again
at the pyramid turned right-side up, that is, with the point at the bottom. In
this illustration, God does not hold onto the entire pyramid. No, He has His
grip entirely upon the top of the pyramid, that is, upon that thin wide layer of
the despised.
It is the
despised of humanity who are "closest" to God. All the rest of humanity owe
their entire survival to those same despised.
Think about
this: modern protest rails against the "top 1 percent." They imagine that
"people power" can bring that "top 1 percent" down. They are delusional. The
"top 1 percent," who or whatever they might be, and however they might be
defined, got there only because they are more ruthless than all of the 99% put
together. They can bring down, not the other 99%, but the in-between 98% in a
moment by such stunning evil and cruelty that no man can take a breath. We will
likely see them do it. (And the majority of "rich" people probably are not in
that ruthless 1%.)
But no one on
this planet is looking at the 1 percent at the opposite end of the spectrum. No
one is looking at the blind, the maimed, the crippled, the homeless derelicts
standing at the street corners. No one is looking at the autistic, the Down
syndrome, the lepers, the unhealed.
No one, except
God.
It was
impossible for Sauron ever to imagine that hobbits could be some sort of threat
to him, especially two weak, hungry, worn-out, defenseless hobbits stumbling
without outward hope through the darkness and horror of his realm. Sauron never
considered weakness, neither did the Pharisees, neither does the world, neither
does the church.
In the third
Pirates movie with Johnny Depp, there is a particular scene. The pirates had
passed into the unseen realms of death in order to rescue a "dead" Captain Jack
Sparrow. Now they are faced with the puzzle of how to return to the world of the
living. They hit on the "solution." Now - everything about the scene and the
movie is absurd and ridiculous. If you have not seen it, I am not suggesting you
do so, even though, to silly boys such as myself, it is a fun movie.
What is
important is the concept. In order to pass from death into life, the pirates had
to turn the ship "upside down." They succeeded in doing so, only to be frozen in
the probability that all was lost. Then, surging into the light, they found
themselves right side up and back in the world of the living. Two fools who had
thought to "transform themselves" by their own abilities before the ship went
under, were now seen, still hanging upside down.
"Then the
master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the
streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the
lame and the blind.' And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded,
and still there is room.' Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the
highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."
Luke 14:21-23 (I suggest you read the whole chapter.)
Jesus was not
talking here about being born again. He was not talking about receiving the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He was not talking about fellowships of deeper-truth
Christians or years of ministry and service, and He especially was NOT talking
about "going to heaven."
Jesus was
speaking of the revelation of Jesus Christ, of the fullness of the Feast of
Tabernacles manifest in the church upon this earth.
If we want to
know the way into the fullness of Christ, we had better go looking for people
who never get it right, for people who are crippled and maimed in body and in
soul; we need to follow the blind. If we want to know God, we better find a Down
syndrome boy and ask him to tell us the secret; we better find an autistic girl
and learn what makes her sing. God is found among the lepers; He is there on
death row among the "criminals." Ask a drunk, homeless, Vietnam vet standing on
the street corner holding a soiled cardboard sign to show you Christ.
We KNOW this is
the gospel. The first shall be last and the last first. The valleys shall be
exalted and the mountains brought low. Except you become as a little child you
won't even see the kingdom of God. To be the greatest in the kingdom become the
lowest of servants. And a little child shall lead them.
If you want to
see God, look down.
The revelation
of Jesus Christ will shatter the sensibilities of every human being upon this
planet. Ninety percent of all Christians will be deeply, deeply offended by Him
(in more ways than one).
How dare He! To
come in weakness, to walk as the despised.
A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense.
When God turns
the world right side up, 99% of all humanity and 90% of all Christians will find
themselves hanging upside down. They will not be impressed. The very last thing
most Christians want is for Jesus to come again.
When Jesus
said, "Whatever you do unto the least of these My brethren you do it unto Me,"
He was not speaking figuratively; He did not mean "it is the same thing as doing
it unto Me." The lowest and most despised people in the church, the ones who
simply cannot appear "Christ-like" no matter how hard they try and no matter how
many tears they shed, are He.
He bears their
sorrows and He carries their grief.
But what about
that 10% in the church, the "not many" who are called as capable, as leaders, as
wise, as successful? What about that 10% whom the church always places as
pastors, as elders, as apostles, as bishops, as the leaders of the
church?
Is there any
hope for them?
There is always
hope in Jesus.
My pastor, Joel
Osteen, is a prime example of one given a wonderfully successful outward form
and persona by God. Everything he touches prospers. He is a sincere and humble
man. There is not an ounce of "I control you" that comes through him; if there
were even a shadow of such a thing, we would never return there. Yet he does get
it wrong. There are times when he suggests that God blesses him outwardly (and
it is God blessing him outwardly) because of some element of his "getting it
right."
I am not
impressed when people who, not knowing Joel Osteen, criticize his outward
persona. I am not "exalting" Joel Osteen; I am using him to make a
point.
Every single
Christian and every single assembly does the same thing. We pick people to be
the "leaders" because they are wise and sensible and capable. We imagine that,
because they are wise and sensible and capable, because they are outgoing and
socially astute and gifted, that they are closer to Christ than the rest of us,
and that their outward persona is more like Christ's than ours.
And this is not
wrong for the capable ten percent to become ministry in the church. God has
established this order for His church during this in-part time.
The problem is
this. Most of those who are capable imagine that their outward persona of
success and leadership makes them "more like Christ," and that is why God
"anoints" them. They are completely wrong. God anoints them
because of the Blood so that He might move through them to touch those who ARE
"closer" to Him, the ones who are incapable of "leading" anyone.
Now, some of
the brethren whom I have spoken of, who were such a blessing and strength to me
through life, were both outwardly gifted and anointed of the Lord. One in
particular, everything he touches prospers. He is not "rich," but at every turn
God leads him with favor, doors open for him, things fall into place. He is a
continual optimist. Yet, never once, not in all the years we walked together,
did there come from him any shadow of thought that his outward persona made him
any different than me in my outward persona, but at all times he walked together
with me as an equal in the Lord, heart to heart, side by side.
Even the
mistaken idea that "I experience continual favor and health and success because
I must be doing something right," is not a problem for our Savior. The horror
that is created in most Christian circles is when that belief about "what Christ
looks like" becomes a club to beat the precious ones God has entrusted
temporarily to those with "successful and capable" personas or outward
forms.
Jesus said it
this way: "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying
his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with
the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not
looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two
and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:48-51
Now, I can
accept that the anti-human prejudice of the translators could have made this
sound worse than Jesus actually said it, but even so, it still must be pretty
awful.
Yes, there will
be pastors, there will be elders and apostles, there will be bishops and
priests, who do enter into the fullness of the Kingdom. They will be those who
follow right behind the lepers. They will be those who keep their hands upon the
Down syndrome, to know which way to go. They will be those who sit at the feet
of the blind and who listen carefully to the crippled and the maimed.
The time is at
hand. Are we ready for a world, are we ready for a church, turned
right-side-up?
The princess
must kiss the frog.
I do suggest
that you rent the movie, Penelope, with Christina
Ricci. It is the classic fairy tale in a modern setting. It is the absolute
truth of God. Pay close attention as you watch, after Penelope has escaped the
horrific manipulation of her pretending mother, after she has embraced her
deformity with joy, after she has been transformed, listen to the little boy
speaking to Penelope, his teacher. Write down his words, ponder them in the
setting in which they are spoken.
"It is not the
curse. It is what you do with the curse."
"Fix it"
yourself and lose. Give thanks with all joy and be transformed.
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