Steve McVey writes This is the man to whom I dedicated my newest book, "Walking In the Will of God" Let's pray for our Father's intervention in this terribly painful situation for him and his family as well as respond in the ways mentioned below. See my earlier post (June 15) for more details. Statement of Defense & Christian Testimony Brought in Shi Weihan TrialDear Friend of Shi Weihan,Below is a summary of an English translation of the Statement of Defense made on behalf of Shi Weihan in the case of "Illegal Business Operations" brought against him and six others for printing and distributing bibles and Christian literature free of charge. This is now public information and we ask that you share it with as many people as possible.Part of this well written defense makes a strong testimony for the value of the Gospel being freely proclaimed in society. "First of all, in this case, the purpose of the defendant Shi Weihan in printing the Bible and other religious books is to spread the Gospel of Christ and is a conduct based on his own belief. The defendant Shi Weihan is a devout Christian. He began to believe in the Savior of his life, Jesus Christ, back in 1990 and later became a pastor. According to Christian teachings, spreading the Gospel is a great mission Jesus Christ issued after He was resurrected and ascended to heaven. He commands His believers to spread the Gospel to every corner of the earth. Therefore, the believers also regard the spreading of Gospel as their joy. During his missionary work, Shi Weihan found that many Christians lacked materials for true Christianity, and these believers are often harassed and confused by some cults. In order to cultivate the right faith in them and enhance their spiritual level, spreading the Gospel through words is the best way. That’s why Shi Weihan printed the Bibles and other religious books with money donated by other believers. In this way, the believers can enhance their spiritual life through words and understand and practice better Jesus Christ’s teachings so that they love other people as they love themselves, which is beneficial for social stability and harmony."Other points brought in the Statement of Defense:* It appeals to the right of Christians to freely practice their faith.* It appeals to the need for Christians to be able to have sufficient materials to help them protect themselves from cults that are rampant in parts of the poor countryside of China.* It appeals to the supremacy of the Chinese Constitutional guarantee of Religious Freedom and Freedom of the Press over the Procedural Regulations regarding governmental bodies given the power to deny the right to print and distribute publications deemed undesirable by them.* It makes clear the impropriety of a criminal charge for "illegal business practices" being applied to an operation where bibles and other materials are given away for free rather than for a motive of profit making.The original judge found Shi innocent of the charges on two previous occasions. The Public Security Bureau continued to hold him and press for a conviction. The Defense Statement makes it clear that a new judge assigned at the most recent hearing is the same judge who had previously held another Chinese pastor who printed and distributed bibles--Cai Zhouhua--guilty on the same charges as those brought against Shi Weihan.The lawyer who brought this brilliant defense has since faced the failure of the Chinese government to renew his license to practice law (along with 21 other attorneys who have championed human rights cases in China). Hence, he was unable to be present at Shi Weihan's sentencing. It is interesting to note that the case was delayed beyond the legally specified time alloted by Chinese law. During the delays, the lawyer's license to practice expired and the government failed to renew it, essentially preventing him from continuing Shi's defense.Now, with just nine days left to mount an appeal, the family is unable to rely on the attorney most familiar with the case. It is hoped that the family will, nonetheless appeal to the court for reasonable treatment in light of the circumstances. Friends and Christians all over the world stand in solidarity with them to appeal to the Chinese government for fair and merciful treatment for Shi and for thousands of other Christians that continue to suffer suppression of free religious expression in China.Given Shi's well-attested character and good deeds performed on behalf of many poor and disadvantaged citizens of China, it is hoped that the courts will show mercy and allow Shi to be released so that his health (he suffers from diabetes and his family has been refused in their efforts to provide him medicine) can be properly attended and his family can resume a semblance of normality in their daily lives.
You can request the "immediate release" of Shi Weihan by calling or writing the following Chinese officials:Tang LongCity of Beijing Deputy Secretary Generalof the Municipal People's GovernmentPhone: 011-86-10-62362008Liu JianchaoMinistry of Foreign AffairsDirector of Information DepartmentPhone: 011-86-10-65963342Chinese EmbassyAmbassador Zhou Wenzhong2300 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008Tel: (202) 328-2500Fax: (202) 495-2138
Encouraging letters can be sent to:
Shi Weihan Qinghe Detention Center of theHaidian Sub-Bureau 2585,Longgang Road, QingheTown,Haidian District, Beijing China
AND
Shi Weihan's wifeZhang Jing, and their two daughters,Shi Jia (12) and Shi En Mei (8):3207 Jisheng Villa, West Sanqi,Haidian district, Beijing Municipality, China
Thursday, 18 June 2009
A Tale of Two Hearts- John Solomon
Folks ,a new light is dawning.
A light that will grow in brilliant intensity.
A light that will divide what can be divided.
A light that finally, after centuries, will define the misty cloisters of religion, and bring into the sharpest focus the deathly imitation of God's realities. For years, religious people have got away with the fake. Now no more.
The reality is here already and growing.
You will love this excerpt from the ning community site "Good and Noble Heart Community".
http://goodandnobleheart.ning.com
A Tale Of Two Hearts
Posted by John Solomon on June 16, 2009 at 10:48pm
View John Solomon's blog
Law vs. Grace
The same on the outside, but the opposite on the inside
Why Ten Commandment Keeping Is The Most Dangerous Form Of Idolatry
This is a tale of two hearts.As a result of Adam‘s sin, we are all separated from any chance of eating from the tree of life and receiving the divine nature.As a result of Christ’s sacrifice, we become partakers of the divine nature and receive a new heart. We become a new creation in Christ Jesus, literally a new species complete with a new heart.The old deceitfully wicked heart is what we were all born with. It is all we know. The wise, if they receive God’s instruction, know that the human heart needs to be caged in with a bunch of thou shall not’s. If they don’t control their nature with the Ten Commandment restrictions, then they are in danger of practicing the evil in their hearts.In Rom 1:27 we are told, “ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”The Greek word translated “working” above is strongs#2716"katergazomai" and is also translated “work out” , “causes” or “performs”. So the message is simple; by controlling our sinful heart by caging it in with Commandment keeping, I will avoid becoming as corrupt in practice and lifestyle as my evil heart. In other words we are warned not to “work out” the evil which is in our hearts, but instead to control it- behavior modification.Hence, the Law has no power to give us good hearts. It only has the power to keep us from acting out the wickedness within. So the inner man who reasons with the mind, recognizes the law is holy, just and good. But he also recognizes all the law keeping in the world will not make him holy. All the law can do is point out how depraved the human heart really is. We are therefore CAPTIVES in our minds to the law which instructs us on how to cage in the evil desires of the human heart.Now back to strongs#2716 “katergazomai” which we are warned NOT to do in Romans. When we are born again and we receive the new heart, the heart of Christ. We become a new creation, literally a new species with a new heart- the heart of Jesus. This is not a figurative change of heart. This is a new heart which gradually puts to death the deeds of the old heart. John says when we are born again, we are incapable of sin because it is the “seed”- the Greek word is literally “sperma” - of God {IJohn3:9}.So BEING the “seed“ of God, the offspring of God, everything changes within!Paul, in describing the new heart and new life now uses the same strongs#2716 “katergazomai” in the OPPOSITE way as he did in Romans! “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out [strongs#2716 ] your own salvation with fear and trembling; “ Phil 2:12-13.So the very thing we are told NOT to do when we are under the Law, we are told to practice under Grace! The same exact word!So in other words, when we are under the law, we are told to not live out what is in our hearts, or we might end up like the wicked people in Romans chapter one.But when we are born again and under Grace, we are told to live out what is in our hearts!So to the unsaved, my advice to you is to by all means keep the Ten Commandments and do not follow the way of your heart.But to the saved my advice is by all means follow what is in your heart- live it out- it is Jesus within you!So the very thing that was given to us to help us form a good, safe and healthy society is the very practice that will keep you from becoming like Christ!!! Because becoming like Christ requires “working out”, and Law keeping requires not working out. Law keeping is holding in!Don’t misunderstand. I am not advocating sin. I am simply displaying the utter superiority of following Jesus versus law keeping. One makes you look righteous, whereas the other is the result of you already being the righteousness of God and working it out.So today is not the day of holding back, it is the day to just let go!Follow Jesus as He leads you from within.“Fan to flame” your new heart. And when all is aglow, just follow the light.
A light that will grow in brilliant intensity.
A light that will divide what can be divided.
A light that finally, after centuries, will define the misty cloisters of religion, and bring into the sharpest focus the deathly imitation of God's realities. For years, religious people have got away with the fake. Now no more.
The reality is here already and growing.
You will love this excerpt from the ning community site "Good and Noble Heart Community".
http://goodandnobleheart.ning.com
A Tale Of Two Hearts
Posted by John Solomon on June 16, 2009 at 10:48pm
View John Solomon's blog
Law vs. Grace
The same on the outside, but the opposite on the inside
Why Ten Commandment Keeping Is The Most Dangerous Form Of Idolatry
This is a tale of two hearts.As a result of Adam‘s sin, we are all separated from any chance of eating from the tree of life and receiving the divine nature.As a result of Christ’s sacrifice, we become partakers of the divine nature and receive a new heart. We become a new creation in Christ Jesus, literally a new species complete with a new heart.The old deceitfully wicked heart is what we were all born with. It is all we know. The wise, if they receive God’s instruction, know that the human heart needs to be caged in with a bunch of thou shall not’s. If they don’t control their nature with the Ten Commandment restrictions, then they are in danger of practicing the evil in their hearts.In Rom 1:27 we are told, “ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”The Greek word translated “working” above is strongs#2716"katergazomai" and is also translated “work out” , “causes” or “performs”. So the message is simple; by controlling our sinful heart by caging it in with Commandment keeping, I will avoid becoming as corrupt in practice and lifestyle as my evil heart. In other words we are warned not to “work out” the evil which is in our hearts, but instead to control it- behavior modification.Hence, the Law has no power to give us good hearts. It only has the power to keep us from acting out the wickedness within. So the inner man who reasons with the mind, recognizes the law is holy, just and good. But he also recognizes all the law keeping in the world will not make him holy. All the law can do is point out how depraved the human heart really is. We are therefore CAPTIVES in our minds to the law which instructs us on how to cage in the evil desires of the human heart.Now back to strongs#2716 “katergazomai” which we are warned NOT to do in Romans. When we are born again and we receive the new heart, the heart of Christ. We become a new creation, literally a new species with a new heart- the heart of Jesus. This is not a figurative change of heart. This is a new heart which gradually puts to death the deeds of the old heart. John says when we are born again, we are incapable of sin because it is the “seed”- the Greek word is literally “sperma” - of God {IJohn3:9}.So BEING the “seed“ of God, the offspring of God, everything changes within!Paul, in describing the new heart and new life now uses the same strongs#2716 “katergazomai” in the OPPOSITE way as he did in Romans! “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out [strongs#2716 ] your own salvation with fear and trembling; “ Phil 2:12-13.So the very thing we are told NOT to do when we are under the Law, we are told to practice under Grace! The same exact word!So in other words, when we are under the law, we are told to not live out what is in our hearts, or we might end up like the wicked people in Romans chapter one.But when we are born again and under Grace, we are told to live out what is in our hearts!So to the unsaved, my advice to you is to by all means keep the Ten Commandments and do not follow the way of your heart.But to the saved my advice is by all means follow what is in your heart- live it out- it is Jesus within you!So the very thing that was given to us to help us form a good, safe and healthy society is the very practice that will keep you from becoming like Christ!!! Because becoming like Christ requires “working out”, and Law keeping requires not working out. Law keeping is holding in!Don’t misunderstand. I am not advocating sin. I am simply displaying the utter superiority of following Jesus versus law keeping. One makes you look righteous, whereas the other is the result of you already being the righteousness of God and working it out.So today is not the day of holding back, it is the day to just let go!Follow Jesus as He leads you from within.“Fan to flame” your new heart. And when all is aglow, just follow the light.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Barack Obama- Ninja Fly Swatter- In a cool fashion!
I couldn't work out whether cooly was right for the adverb of cool....or whether coolly, which seems to always imply cold reserve, which is not what I am saying.So hence now...in a cool fashion! Sheila, need help.
This is visual evidence that Barack is actually from another planet disguised as an Afro-American!
KMOO Marriage gets first judicious rollicking
Never let it be said that this 51 year old is ready to put up his slippered feet, grab his pipe, and cosily nestle into Daily Mail nostalgia world....but obviously after the KMOO post, I was immediately jolted. Here at last is someone in a senior public position saying what we've known in private for years.
Regarding both KMOO marriage and KMOO childcare(abortion), has it come to this after 40 years prayer, countless debates, Christian sermons, Christian action groups....
That the only thing left is satire?
Like Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".Holding a mirror up to society. This also was the function of straight literature in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was perhaps the final straw that set the slavery issue before the people of America.
When someone as noble and wise,informed and intellectual as Professor Winston is happy to get behind abortion, then we know how sick Britain is.
Few Christians, and even fewer Christians who have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, believe in abortion. More than that, it is not that we dislike abortion as an intellectual concept. It's more visceral. Some of us feel strong nausea. It is to us very similar territory to the Jewish holocaust. Just as an intelligent nation bought into the lie of murdering innocents, we feel Britain has bought into the lie of "abortion".
This piece covers the same ground as KMOO marriage, only the judge uses his own satirical technique, this time to compare cohabiting to a children's game pass the parcel.
Only marriage can mend broken Britain, says top judge in attack on 'pass the partner' society (Daily Mail today)
Marriage should be promoted by the Government to end the 'social anarchy' of family breakdown, a senior judge said last night.
Mr Justice Coleridge accused mothers and fathers who fail to commit to each other of engaging in a game of 'pass the partner' that has left millions of children 'scarred for life'.
In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament, he called for a change of attitude that would attach a 'stigma' to those who destroy family life and said a National Commission should be established to devise solutions for the 'epidemic' of broken homes.
He said: 'The reaffirmation of marriage as the gold standard would be a start.'
Currently, one in three marriages ends in divorce. One in ten children lives with cohabiting parents and a quarter live with a single parent.
Children from single-parent families are far more likely to do badly at school, suffer poor health, fall into crime, drug abuse, binge drinking and teenage pregnancy.
Sir Paul Coleridge, 60, who is married with three adult children, is a leading family judge, having presided over the divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.
He also made the ruling in Britain's largest divorce settlement in which Beverley Charman received£48million when she divorced insurance magnate John Charman.
The judge's comments stopped short of condemning the Government
But his support for marriage will be music to the ears of Conservative leader David Cameron, who has made clear that a Tory government would support marriage through the tax system.
By contrast, Labour ministers insist alternative family set-ups are equally valid.
In his speech to the Family Holiday Association charity of which he is a patron, Mr Justice Coleridge said: 'I am drawing attention to the endless game of "musical relationships", or "pass the partner", in which such a significant portion of the population is engaged.'
Condemning the 'endless and futile quest for a perfect relationship', he said many parents were in 'a complete and uncontrolled free-for-all where being true to oneself and one's needs is the only yardstick for controlling behaviour'. See KMOO
He added: 'The children are caught up in the conflict of their parents' unresolved relationship issues and it can leave them scarred, sometimes severely scarred, for life.'
The judge also said government should support 'those who chose not to marry but live a committed life with a partner', since they provide stability for children.
Calling for 'a fundamental change in individual attitude and behaviour', he said: 'What is a matter of private concern when it is on a small scale becomes a matter of public concern when it reaches epidemic proportions.
'I am not suggesting that all relationship breakdown and termination can be avoided in all cases. Of course it cannot.'
But he concluded: 'The time has come for a major examination of all the issues surrounding family life, its support and maintenance, and especially the mechanisms and laws for its termination.'
Regarding both KMOO marriage and KMOO childcare(abortion), has it come to this after 40 years prayer, countless debates, Christian sermons, Christian action groups....
That the only thing left is satire?
Like Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".Holding a mirror up to society. This also was the function of straight literature in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was perhaps the final straw that set the slavery issue before the people of America.
When someone as noble and wise,informed and intellectual as Professor Winston is happy to get behind abortion, then we know how sick Britain is.
Few Christians, and even fewer Christians who have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, believe in abortion. More than that, it is not that we dislike abortion as an intellectual concept. It's more visceral. Some of us feel strong nausea. It is to us very similar territory to the Jewish holocaust. Just as an intelligent nation bought into the lie of murdering innocents, we feel Britain has bought into the lie of "abortion".
This piece covers the same ground as KMOO marriage, only the judge uses his own satirical technique, this time to compare cohabiting to a children's game pass the parcel.
Only marriage can mend broken Britain, says top judge in attack on 'pass the partner' society (Daily Mail today)
Marriage should be promoted by the Government to end the 'social anarchy' of family breakdown, a senior judge said last night.
Mr Justice Coleridge accused mothers and fathers who fail to commit to each other of engaging in a game of 'pass the partner' that has left millions of children 'scarred for life'.
In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament, he called for a change of attitude that would attach a 'stigma' to those who destroy family life and said a National Commission should be established to devise solutions for the 'epidemic' of broken homes.
He said: 'The reaffirmation of marriage as the gold standard would be a start.'
Currently, one in three marriages ends in divorce. One in ten children lives with cohabiting parents and a quarter live with a single parent.
Children from single-parent families are far more likely to do badly at school, suffer poor health, fall into crime, drug abuse, binge drinking and teenage pregnancy.
Sir Paul Coleridge, 60, who is married with three adult children, is a leading family judge, having presided over the divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.
He also made the ruling in Britain's largest divorce settlement in which Beverley Charman received£48million when she divorced insurance magnate John Charman.
The judge's comments stopped short of condemning the Government
But his support for marriage will be music to the ears of Conservative leader David Cameron, who has made clear that a Tory government would support marriage through the tax system.
By contrast, Labour ministers insist alternative family set-ups are equally valid.
In his speech to the Family Holiday Association charity of which he is a patron, Mr Justice Coleridge said: 'I am drawing attention to the endless game of "musical relationships", or "pass the partner", in which such a significant portion of the population is engaged.'
Condemning the 'endless and futile quest for a perfect relationship', he said many parents were in 'a complete and uncontrolled free-for-all where being true to oneself and one's needs is the only yardstick for controlling behaviour'. See KMOO
He added: 'The children are caught up in the conflict of their parents' unresolved relationship issues and it can leave them scarred, sometimes severely scarred, for life.'
The judge also said government should support 'those who chose not to marry but live a committed life with a partner', since they provide stability for children.
Calling for 'a fundamental change in individual attitude and behaviour', he said: 'What is a matter of private concern when it is on a small scale becomes a matter of public concern when it reaches epidemic proportions.
'I am not suggesting that all relationship breakdown and termination can be avoided in all cases. Of course it cannot.'
But he concluded: 'The time has come for a major examination of all the issues surrounding family life, its support and maintenance, and especially the mechanisms and laws for its termination.'
Sunday, 14 June 2009
The Power of Teams
I stayed with my friend John Stevens a couple of weeks back. We talked for hours. I was particularly riveted by his testimony to do with teams. He has kindly reproduced some of it here. Basically this is the issue. Teams have a great supernatural power. Things happen in teams that never happen quite any other way. Peter Stott takes teams with him. The early apostles always made sure there were at least a couple of them and often others too.
One can put a hundred to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight!
There is something beautiful about a whole team focussed on one goal and working on it together. And it gets especially interesting when it is evangelistic.
Para church movements were frowned upon in the days of “submission and authority and redefining the vision of the local church.”
This is what I think. Firstly until such time that local churches become more balanced expressions of the whole counsel of God, (does this relate with the phrase the 7 spirits of God?)…remember my vision /picture of the Word as a suspended orb between all the Biblical aspects of God’s nature and character)….. we need specific teams and ministries to make up the lack….
Secondly, I have noticed already so far that the Melchizedek order has little human frame of reference. For instance God suddenly sets apart Paul and Barnabas to reach the Gentiles. The rest of the church at Antioch stayed put. In 1969, Arthur Blessitt was minding his own business of preaching to street kids on the Sunset Strip, when God breaks through and sets him suddenly on a 38 year journey to traverse every country on earth – even the closed ones- carrying the Cross. So, I guess there will always be teams called to specific jobs in specific callings….just as it was also for Mel Tari in the Indonesian Revival. The theory that everything will issue logically and smoothly out of local churches, as we thought in the 70s and 80s….well It clearly isn’t so. Perhaps it was good that Morris Cerullo never listened to anyone!!!!Eh!?
John’s piece is so much more though. It is an encouragement that we will never feel right for the job and God understands this as well.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
What works in reaching out with the gospel?
Is it a valid question to ask ‘what works’? As if there is a methodology out there that guarantees success.
I think that it is true to say that presumption the classic fault of the rational man. Once we land on a workable thesis we test it beyond its endurance and suffer the inevitable disappointment when y doesn’t follow x .
One of the most encouraging paragraphs in the New Testament is 2 Cor 4v7-14;
‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us…’ That’s verse 7. That’s true revolution. That’s taking the rational western liberal man and consigning the invention of the enlightenment and modernity and post-modernity to ‘an earthen vessel’. For all this progress you are still an earthen vessel. The real secret, hidden from those brilliant thinkers, those philosophers, is the treasure within.
Our fault is when we detach the two and over emphasize our humanity or diminish our humanity in the light of His divinity. The treasure has no value in itself. Only when it can be transported, and for that an earthen vessel is all that is required.
‘We are perplexed but not in despair’ v 8. If verse 7 is revolution verse 8 comes as a shock. Surely, our rational minds feeding on verse 7, say, surely if verse 7 is true it follows that all we have to do is ‘be’ and the treasure will make itself known through our calling, our gifting, our serving, our giving and so on. And yet the apostle is perplexed as is his team. That I find hugely encouraging and liberating!
I’m often perplexed but if the apostle was then I’m reassured.
Story One. I’d been a Christian for a matter of months. I was 18. A friend offered me a lift home. On his car key-ring dangled a picture of a beautiful girl. I asked him who she was. He said ‘My fiancé. But she doesn’t look like that now’. It turned out that she had anorexia nervosa and was close to death. We were both lab technicians for a pharmaceutical company. Our lab leader was compassionate and allowed my friend to spend hours researching anorexia in an attempt to save his girlfriend. Meanwhile God stirred in my heart to offer to pray for her. I spoke to my friend and he agreed and so a few of us at church prayed that weekend. The truth is in fact that having plucked up the courage to say to my friend ‘I believe God loves your fiancé and wants to heal her, will you let me pray for her?’ I forgot all about it. But on the next Saturday morning I was due to go with a small evangelistic team handing out tracts in a local market. As we were praying just before going out, the heavens opened (get literal) and the rain was so loud on the roof we couldn’t hear each other’s British prayers – so we took a very important decision and decided not to do the evangelism. Our leader asked a question. Has anyone got anything from God? I piped up, embarrassed that I had forgotten to pray during the week. I remember praying something like ‘God would unblock the barrier preventing her from getting up and eating’ and everyone said Amen. On Monday morning back at work my friend came in almost jumping with joy as his girlfriend had started eating. She had suddenly got out of bed on Saturday morning at the same time that we prayed. Now that is verse 7.
My rational response was ‘so now everyone will ask me about Jesus and we’ll have revival in the lab…who’s first…’. It didn’t happen. No-one became a Christian. No-one asked about it. Not one soul. I was disappointed, a little angry perhaps, certainly perplexed.
Later that year at Exeter University and in the maelstrom of meeting many people, I often shared my faith sometimes with roomfuls of people pumping me and other Christian friends with questions. I witnessed to a large number of fellow students. I probably told people Story One. Not one jettisoned their agnosticism, atheism, or spiritual lethargy.
I was worn out. I had all this treasure. I was perplexed and more or less I gave up witnessing. The years rolled by. I spoke in tongues. I prophesied. I saw a few miracles of healing. But no fruit from my witnessing. Deep down I was crying to God. ‘This should work. This should work. God what is going on?’
I felt the impact of failure. Then in 1985 I had a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit and ‘felt’ the anointing in a more tangible way than before. When the Holy Spirit falls on people He often speaks and I had a few verses that came to mind, two from Isaiah and one from the Psalms.
One of the Isaiah verses contained the line ‘and I have given Him to be a witness to the peoples…’ This verse (Is 55v4) refers to the Messiah but on this occasion the Holy Spirit fired it into me – I was the target. And it created faith where presumption had previously been trying and failing to get a foothold.
Within a few months I joined a Christian team taking (mostly non-church) teenage boys on Activity Holidays. The leaders were all baptized in the Holy Spirit and were more or less of one mind in terms of the overall vision for the team and that it must be run by the Holy Spirit.
My particular role was to lead worship and hill-walking. But when some of the lads responded to the gospel in meetings they were passed on to some of the leaders – including me – and we led a number to the Lord. I was underway.
A year or so later, with my young family, we went to Roffey Place Christian Training Centre in Horsham Sussex.. For those of a certain vintage you might know Colin Urquhart. He and Bob Gordon led Roffey. I left the relative comfort of a ‘charismatic’ church and teaching career to go to Roffey because I was hungry for the reality of what we were preaching but rarely seeing. I loved my church and am indebted to many in that church for their witness and their love. Without them I would not have given Jesus a second glance. But hunger is hunger.
At Roffey I was immersed in an army looking for a battle.
Bob Gordon would often say that we’d been invited to participate in a corporate anointing and that there was no place for any of us to do our own thing.
On missions, sometimes on the streets of villages and towns, sometimes in tents or churches, we were taught not to hand out tracts but to be praying, trusting that it was God who would stimulate conversations and ultimately it is God who saves, heals and so on. All this is great in theory. In practice 2Corinthians 4v7-14 is the reality.
Story Two. Mission in Basildon,Essex. (I apologise if you live in Basildon but it is not a place I would choose to live in. For different reasons it could well have been Monty Python’s substitute for Basingstoke). Nevertheless to Basildon we went. A team of about twenty, for a week culminating in a three large evening services at the hosting church. I was billeted with a Ugandan Christian. We both prayed early in the morning separately before heading down for breakfast with out hosts. At some point he looked up and asked me with a smile, ‘John how many will be saved this week?’ I screwed up my ‘faith’ and said, ‘maybe 10?’ He laughed and said, ‘No John there will be more than this, there will be 120’. My only experience of church mission was maximum effort and minimum fruit, his experience was much fruit. 120 individuals came to the Lord that week.
Few if any were saved in the Meetings, nearly all were through the team on the street. A Catholic member of our team had very little confidence in witnessing about Jesus. But he had felt God calling him to wait in a certain spot. And there he had returned day after day. He was about to give up when one day he stopped a woman to talk to her and her story came tumbling out. She was on her way to a shop to buy a knife to murder her son-in law! She ended up giving her life to Christ. ‘We have this treasure in an earthen vessel that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us’. The week dismantled my defeatist thinking and created a new level of personal expectation but in the context of working in a team. Basildon!
I return to my opening sentence. ‘What works?’ I’m sure the Roffey experience I had is the same that many believers have when they devote their time to a team that is led by the Spirit of Jesus.
What works is hunger. What works is being led by the Spirit. ‘Jesus after He was baptized was led by the Spirit into the desert…’ The Greek for ‘led’ is ‘ekbalo’ and is later translated in the same chapter in mark for ‘driving out’ a demon! It is a forceful word. It can be used to describe kicking a ball. In one translation it says the Spirit drove into the desert’. It’s like that. Something you cannot deny, insistent but good.
Up to that point for 30 years the Spirit had not descended upon Him or driven Him into the wilderness. This is important too. Jesus had a long period of apparent inactivity. We are not called into fleshly busyness. Sometimes saying no is the greatest challenge.
‘…they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia…they tried to go into Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them…’ Acts 16 v 6-10
Paul and his team had come to the edge of the world at Mysia. Somehow they knew the Spirit would not let them travel East or West. South was where they came from and North was Sea of Marmara in the corner of the Med. That night Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia saying ‘come over to Macedonia and help us’. ‘Immediately we sought to go to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called us to preach to them’. Across the Med they went.
This aspect dovetails in with “Life In the Order of Melchizedek” series. Morris Cerullo calls revelation a supernatural burst of advanced knowledge. This is very much the realm Nicholas and Pam move in, and it is the hallmark exhibited over and over again in Arthur Blessitt’s picture autobiography The Cross to be reviewed soon. Time and again he finds himself in the midst of world-changing pivotal circumstances….a real life version of the fictional Forrest Gump.
One can put a hundred to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight!
There is something beautiful about a whole team focussed on one goal and working on it together. And it gets especially interesting when it is evangelistic.
Para church movements were frowned upon in the days of “submission and authority and redefining the vision of the local church.”
This is what I think. Firstly until such time that local churches become more balanced expressions of the whole counsel of God, (does this relate with the phrase the 7 spirits of God?)…remember my vision /picture of the Word as a suspended orb between all the Biblical aspects of God’s nature and character)….. we need specific teams and ministries to make up the lack….
Secondly, I have noticed already so far that the Melchizedek order has little human frame of reference. For instance God suddenly sets apart Paul and Barnabas to reach the Gentiles. The rest of the church at Antioch stayed put. In 1969, Arthur Blessitt was minding his own business of preaching to street kids on the Sunset Strip, when God breaks through and sets him suddenly on a 38 year journey to traverse every country on earth – even the closed ones- carrying the Cross. So, I guess there will always be teams called to specific jobs in specific callings….just as it was also for Mel Tari in the Indonesian Revival. The theory that everything will issue logically and smoothly out of local churches, as we thought in the 70s and 80s….well It clearly isn’t so. Perhaps it was good that Morris Cerullo never listened to anyone!!!!Eh!?
John’s piece is so much more though. It is an encouragement that we will never feel right for the job and God understands this as well.
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What works in reaching out with the gospel?
Is it a valid question to ask ‘what works’? As if there is a methodology out there that guarantees success.
I think that it is true to say that presumption the classic fault of the rational man. Once we land on a workable thesis we test it beyond its endurance and suffer the inevitable disappointment when y doesn’t follow x .
One of the most encouraging paragraphs in the New Testament is 2 Cor 4v7-14;
‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us…’ That’s verse 7. That’s true revolution. That’s taking the rational western liberal man and consigning the invention of the enlightenment and modernity and post-modernity to ‘an earthen vessel’. For all this progress you are still an earthen vessel. The real secret, hidden from those brilliant thinkers, those philosophers, is the treasure within.
Our fault is when we detach the two and over emphasize our humanity or diminish our humanity in the light of His divinity. The treasure has no value in itself. Only when it can be transported, and for that an earthen vessel is all that is required.
‘We are perplexed but not in despair’ v 8. If verse 7 is revolution verse 8 comes as a shock. Surely, our rational minds feeding on verse 7, say, surely if verse 7 is true it follows that all we have to do is ‘be’ and the treasure will make itself known through our calling, our gifting, our serving, our giving and so on. And yet the apostle is perplexed as is his team. That I find hugely encouraging and liberating!
I’m often perplexed but if the apostle was then I’m reassured.
Story One. I’d been a Christian for a matter of months. I was 18. A friend offered me a lift home. On his car key-ring dangled a picture of a beautiful girl. I asked him who she was. He said ‘My fiancé. But she doesn’t look like that now’. It turned out that she had anorexia nervosa and was close to death. We were both lab technicians for a pharmaceutical company. Our lab leader was compassionate and allowed my friend to spend hours researching anorexia in an attempt to save his girlfriend. Meanwhile God stirred in my heart to offer to pray for her. I spoke to my friend and he agreed and so a few of us at church prayed that weekend. The truth is in fact that having plucked up the courage to say to my friend ‘I believe God loves your fiancé and wants to heal her, will you let me pray for her?’ I forgot all about it. But on the next Saturday morning I was due to go with a small evangelistic team handing out tracts in a local market. As we were praying just before going out, the heavens opened (get literal) and the rain was so loud on the roof we couldn’t hear each other’s British prayers – so we took a very important decision and decided not to do the evangelism. Our leader asked a question. Has anyone got anything from God? I piped up, embarrassed that I had forgotten to pray during the week. I remember praying something like ‘God would unblock the barrier preventing her from getting up and eating’ and everyone said Amen. On Monday morning back at work my friend came in almost jumping with joy as his girlfriend had started eating. She had suddenly got out of bed on Saturday morning at the same time that we prayed. Now that is verse 7.
My rational response was ‘so now everyone will ask me about Jesus and we’ll have revival in the lab…who’s first…’. It didn’t happen. No-one became a Christian. No-one asked about it. Not one soul. I was disappointed, a little angry perhaps, certainly perplexed.
Later that year at Exeter University and in the maelstrom of meeting many people, I often shared my faith sometimes with roomfuls of people pumping me and other Christian friends with questions. I witnessed to a large number of fellow students. I probably told people Story One. Not one jettisoned their agnosticism, atheism, or spiritual lethargy.
I was worn out. I had all this treasure. I was perplexed and more or less I gave up witnessing. The years rolled by. I spoke in tongues. I prophesied. I saw a few miracles of healing. But no fruit from my witnessing. Deep down I was crying to God. ‘This should work. This should work. God what is going on?’
I felt the impact of failure. Then in 1985 I had a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit and ‘felt’ the anointing in a more tangible way than before. When the Holy Spirit falls on people He often speaks and I had a few verses that came to mind, two from Isaiah and one from the Psalms.
One of the Isaiah verses contained the line ‘and I have given Him to be a witness to the peoples…’ This verse (Is 55v4) refers to the Messiah but on this occasion the Holy Spirit fired it into me – I was the target. And it created faith where presumption had previously been trying and failing to get a foothold.
Within a few months I joined a Christian team taking (mostly non-church) teenage boys on Activity Holidays. The leaders were all baptized in the Holy Spirit and were more or less of one mind in terms of the overall vision for the team and that it must be run by the Holy Spirit.
My particular role was to lead worship and hill-walking. But when some of the lads responded to the gospel in meetings they were passed on to some of the leaders – including me – and we led a number to the Lord. I was underway.
A year or so later, with my young family, we went to Roffey Place Christian Training Centre in Horsham Sussex.. For those of a certain vintage you might know Colin Urquhart. He and Bob Gordon led Roffey. I left the relative comfort of a ‘charismatic’ church and teaching career to go to Roffey because I was hungry for the reality of what we were preaching but rarely seeing. I loved my church and am indebted to many in that church for their witness and their love. Without them I would not have given Jesus a second glance. But hunger is hunger.
At Roffey I was immersed in an army looking for a battle.
Bob Gordon would often say that we’d been invited to participate in a corporate anointing and that there was no place for any of us to do our own thing.
On missions, sometimes on the streets of villages and towns, sometimes in tents or churches, we were taught not to hand out tracts but to be praying, trusting that it was God who would stimulate conversations and ultimately it is God who saves, heals and so on. All this is great in theory. In practice 2Corinthians 4v7-14 is the reality.
Story Two. Mission in Basildon,Essex. (I apologise if you live in Basildon but it is not a place I would choose to live in. For different reasons it could well have been Monty Python’s substitute for Basingstoke). Nevertheless to Basildon we went. A team of about twenty, for a week culminating in a three large evening services at the hosting church. I was billeted with a Ugandan Christian. We both prayed early in the morning separately before heading down for breakfast with out hosts. At some point he looked up and asked me with a smile, ‘John how many will be saved this week?’ I screwed up my ‘faith’ and said, ‘maybe 10?’ He laughed and said, ‘No John there will be more than this, there will be 120’. My only experience of church mission was maximum effort and minimum fruit, his experience was much fruit. 120 individuals came to the Lord that week.
Few if any were saved in the Meetings, nearly all were through the team on the street. A Catholic member of our team had very little confidence in witnessing about Jesus. But he had felt God calling him to wait in a certain spot. And there he had returned day after day. He was about to give up when one day he stopped a woman to talk to her and her story came tumbling out. She was on her way to a shop to buy a knife to murder her son-in law! She ended up giving her life to Christ. ‘We have this treasure in an earthen vessel that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us’. The week dismantled my defeatist thinking and created a new level of personal expectation but in the context of working in a team. Basildon!
I return to my opening sentence. ‘What works?’ I’m sure the Roffey experience I had is the same that many believers have when they devote their time to a team that is led by the Spirit of Jesus.
What works is hunger. What works is being led by the Spirit. ‘Jesus after He was baptized was led by the Spirit into the desert…’ The Greek for ‘led’ is ‘ekbalo’ and is later translated in the same chapter in mark for ‘driving out’ a demon! It is a forceful word. It can be used to describe kicking a ball. In one translation it says the Spirit drove into the desert’. It’s like that. Something you cannot deny, insistent but good.
Up to that point for 30 years the Spirit had not descended upon Him or driven Him into the wilderness. This is important too. Jesus had a long period of apparent inactivity. We are not called into fleshly busyness. Sometimes saying no is the greatest challenge.
‘…they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia…they tried to go into Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them…’ Acts 16 v 6-10
Paul and his team had come to the edge of the world at Mysia. Somehow they knew the Spirit would not let them travel East or West. South was where they came from and North was Sea of Marmara in the corner of the Med. That night Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia saying ‘come over to Macedonia and help us’. ‘Immediately we sought to go to Macedonia concluding that the Lord had called us to preach to them’. Across the Med they went.
This aspect dovetails in with “Life In the Order of Melchizedek” series. Morris Cerullo calls revelation a supernatural burst of advanced knowledge. This is very much the realm Nicholas and Pam move in, and it is the hallmark exhibited over and over again in Arthur Blessitt’s picture autobiography The Cross to be reviewed soon. Time and again he finds himself in the midst of world-changing pivotal circumstances….a real life version of the fictional Forrest Gump.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
The Deathly Hush surrounding Marxism
When those born in the 1950s were growing up Marxism was huge. I remember now with total embarrasment how I as a born again Spirit-filled person in 1974 said these words...
"I don't follow Marxism, but if I did, I would not follow the the form practised in Russia, but would favour the model as practised by China."
Friends, to see how wrong this was I recommend you all read Mao The Unknown Story.
Also, compare this with aspects of Watchman Nee's bio by Angus Kinnear
So if you consider having your tongue cut out by Red Communist guards is a good option, because your anointing is so great whole swathes of prison population were turning to Jesus.... well , by all means.....be my guest....go with Marxism.
Richard Wurmbrandt, the pastor imprisoned by Communists behind the Iron Curtain, traces the unknown history of Marx before Das Kapital. He also makes the point that for a supposedly humanist philosophy , it is amazing how Christianity was specifically targeted.
Other prisoners of a jail had a rough time....but only the Catholic priest was found crucified upside down on one of the prison walls.
Now , if atheism is as many have it, just a neutral position, why would the worst of the worst atrocities ever committed against humans be only effected against believers in a religion. And only the Christian religion.
The point of this post is to raise the curtain on the otherwise now silent stage that was communism. Frau Hannelore Noack, afriend of my parents, has been doing the same on the subject of Nazism in Germany. Her writings are studied in German Universities.
The same question emerges. How can an intelligent nation, perhaps THE most intelligent nation on Earth....sorry Brits....you don't even compare with this nation of intellectual heavyweights....How could such a nation stoop to the attempted mass genocide of the only people on Earth that are commonly known as the People of God, and certainly the nation who gave Christianity their Saviour?
And of Communism, a similar silence hovers among the world's intellectuals. How could such a seemingly noble humanist set of aims fall so quickly into mass killing machines on a level in China and Russia that only a newly mechanised 20th century war machine could accomplish.
This is why I believe there is such a silence in the Universities, on Radio 4, in Prospect magazine (which by the way provides much of the direction for the BBC) and among all the world's particularly atheistic or agnostic elite.
You see if a nation as clever as Germany, whose very language structure lends itself to deep intellectual analysis....
If such noble aims as are expressed in Das Kapital, although erroneous in its conclusions about how all people are "equal", if the enactment of these can lead to such extreme horrors...(GENERAL NOTE All people are not equal-1 Corinthians 12:22those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. This is about as far from Communist practice as you can get)
what is that saying about learning
about left-brain articulation and analysis
about our rather more complex make-up as humans.
Have you noticed the deafening silence in the open analysis of these questions.
What Simon Sharma, David Starkey and many more are not saying is how more than anything else, 20th Century history shows there is NO MIDDLE POSITION.
The intellectual elite fall for the same lie all these thousands of years later that the devil sowed in the Garden. (a, that he doesn't exist by the way) and b that we as gods have this independant posture that can think our own way between the knowledge of the good, and the knowledge of the bad. Not ever as it says in Romans 1, coming to the self-knowledge that it is the lie of our independant posture that gives the devil the fulcrum to move us in any which way he will. And so in analysing history you get the hubris of the intellectual detaching himself from history and making grand patronising statements about "these poor people from the past"...in the same way that Romans 1 analyses the different people judging one another...but unable and unwilling to realise they are of the same spirit.
You see, if we are stuck in this "independant" thing...we are so deceived we don't know we're in it."If the light within you is darkness then how great is that darkness." This by the way is a verse you will never ever hear in 1st and 2nd level churches...because they are themselves stuck in this spirit of self-delusion.
Who can deliver us? 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18
So, thinking that all we need is more "knowledge of good" humanity stumbles on in its attempts to raise up a world government of beneficence for all!!! Not knowing that each "unborn again " step that is not taken knowingly and deliberately in Union with the One True Spirit of life, is doomed to failure from the word go.
So for this reason and practically only this reason MARXISM must fail.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Marxism bears a significant resemblance to New Testament Church Life in Acts. Because that's where it was nicked from.
The proliferation of Marxism was through cell-groups. Where was that nicked from? Methodism.
Now here's the rub. We spent 6-10 years trying to live New testament Church Life as Spirit-filled Christians. And a lot of it was like Marxism.
Why? because there is no MIDDLE POSITION. Even when you are a Christian.
You either have broken through in revelation and practice to the REST that Paul talked about...or you are still in sin!! Hurting the people you are living with.
Neither marxism nor charismatic Christianity can live Acts of the Apostles.
Everyone needs a spirit change on the inside of them. Not just sufficient to get you born again. Not just sufficient to get you prophesying with the best of them in meetings....
BUT TO GET YOU LIVING!
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Why Proverbs 3:5 is REALLY a good idea.(Subtitle-How Prophet/Artist/Dreamers think)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
Don't
Don't
Don't
Rely on your own insight. Proverbs 3:5
Just about the first song I ever received was this verse shortly after being baptised in the Spirit.
In fact I never really thought of myself as a musician until after this....even though I'd been learning classical guitar since I was 10. Proverbs 3 is a track on CD 1 of Early Harvest.
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Today's post is about how Prophet/Artist/Dreamer types think. The apostle John was one of these by temperament as well as by anointing.
This could be a real key for some of you. Either to help you understand yourself. Or to finally help you understand your crazy husband/wife/brother/aunt/work colleague/hamster....well perhaps not hamster.
More than any other character type they think of everything in terms of "DIRECTION ARROWS". Before you finish speaking....often within about 5 words...
they have read YOU
read the direction in which the substance of what you are trying to say is going
and consequently want to continue listening to you
or have already switched off.
This is one way in which they appear rude within the context of the veneer of polite society.
Another type of person who behaves in a similar kind of way are business people. What matters is the bottom line. Profit or loss. The entire infrastructure that may or may not be built around this bottomline is pretty well worthless....however pretty it looks to all those who are working in and around the business.You see this attitude among the entrepreneurs in the series Dragon's Den.
This form of thinking contrasts completely with the more static "snapshot assessment" of a situation favoured by nearly everyone else.
This set of facts are now so, substantiated by this and this and this , which tells me exactly how a situation is now......no more ...no less. I don't wish to know how it will be in 10 years if things continue at the same rate. That is not currently the question in hand.
But for a prophet/dreamer/poet it very much is the question.
The more factual person will regard the former as a bit hysterical....strangely too emotive.
But the prophet is reading the direction arrow. He/she is asking...yes ...but where is this all leading? And if you are only receiving prophetic/creative input you will all be suffering nervous breakdowns from the stress of not knowing what to do with it.
Imagine a roomful of Phoebe's from the show "Friends". Creative it may be....but what awful songs!!!!
A few posts back I described how churches must have their direction arrows fixed in a 3rd level type direction. It does not matter that people may all be at different stages in their Christian walk....at least the leadership have set the tone....and the tone or direction is
to see Christ fully formed in each and every person , such that they can go out and reproduce others to the Father level......and so on.
By far the majority of churches.....what Jesus calls in Revelation "People who call themselves Jews but are not..."
these are not actually churches, since they do not contain people who have had a born again experience yet. They are kind of religious precursors to the church.
Then there are evangelical churches, which although always containing some mature Christians,never set their direction arrow beyond running as a 1st level church. A kind of New Covenant throwback to the Outer Courts in the Old Testament.
The direction arrow of the Pentecostal/charismatic churches never goes beyond a kind of dipping your toe in the River of God ,somewhere in the Holy Place.
But David says "Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee
In whose heart are the highways....the direction arrows to Zion...the Place where God really dwells and rules." Then in the New Testament " Seek first the Kingdom of God....and His righteousness....being clothed in His own righteousness..and walking in it!!!" These are and always were the only true direction arrows. Every church maintains that this was their goal all along. Well...can I say...the world has not noticed , if that really was your aim. So what are you going to do about it?
************************
Now this post is about how prophets/artistic/creative types view the madness in which the world is run.
Proverbs 3:5 does not say Trust in the Lord with all your heart....period. That would be a Phoebe type existence.
Nor does it say Rely on your own insight. That, in Friends, would be a Ross-type existence.
It says there must be an interplay. You use your own factual input....but you don't build your existence on it. You trust in the Lord. With all your heart. ie You don't hold back.
(By the way...this is why "Living Together"...KMOO marriage...does not work...because you are holding back something)
Here are some mad fruits of a life lived "relying on your own insight". At least from a prophet's perspective.
Recession
If you feedback interminable data/hard facts about a recession via all media outlets all the time, you crash market confidence, creating even greater dips in the market.I call this the UK Dawkins Left-brain hamster wheel principle.
I use Dawkins because he proudly asserts the Left-brain, Materialist approach to life. Although, like fellow-evangelistic atheists Brian Eno and Philip Pullman, none of them live according to their own philosophies. They are all far too creative for that. Brian Eno,being for example, a part of the miracle that is U2.He was their sound engineer on Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire.
Let's look at the UK Dawkins Left-brain hamster wheel in Genesis chapter 1.
Here is some hard-wired left-brain factual data, which we will feedback incessantly. Notice all the facts are completely true.
The Earth was formless and void.
Notice that none of this has any permanent relevance for the Word of Faith.
It's an interesting fact....but then
God said Let there be LIGHT!
And ofcourse this kind of thing gives UK Left-brain hamster wheels a bad name. It's just not playing by the rules!!!!
Banking
Far from relying on the left-brain....now it's even worse....it's not even someone's brain. It's a binary-coded electrical device called a computer. No wonder some Jew came up with the fact that if you attach the number 6 to each letter of the alphabet...the numerical value of computer adds up to 666.
So, you have all these so-called business bankers waiting to give you a decision on a loan during this difficult financial period...and their decision is already made. Their decision was made some time ago....when they signed up wholeheartedly to committing over their entire decision making process to limited left-brain input and a few mathematical algorithms.
What is your gut feeling about this loan then?
I have no gut left I'm afraid. It's now all wires and buttons. And it's outside my body on this monitor flashing in front of me.
Was there any point in you coming into work today?
Yes.they answer, I smile nicely, while I tell you "the computer - he say NO".
By the way the Reith Lectures this year are covering similar ground. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith
Politics
How do prophet/poet types regard the madness that is politics here and in the USA? Well, it turns out, in a very similar way to women, who are far too sensible to take stances based on testosterone.
To creatives well aversed with producing lasting things of value, the whole creative process is obvious. It is the interplay between raw inspiration and out of the box creativity, married to function, yes,married to a left-brain step by step implementation of an idea.
Now in a traditional household the husband was the "houseband" ,the provider, the one keeping the whole thing together in terms of providing the raw materials of existence,and the wife was the "weber" the weaver....the one who dealt with the intricacies of getting the whole thing to work, such that everyone was cared for.
Obviously things are now more complex ...but I am not making any particular point here.
What I am saying is, just as the brain needs both sides working together to function....and does not dream of setting up adversarially one against the other...
And just as the husband/wife function together, and don't spend their life standing on opposing tables in the kitchen in gladiatorial combat....
What the double glazed marble throwers!!!! are the USA and Great Britain doing spending every four or five years changing first one way then the other....as if a left-centric party was the bees knees of life....then four years later the right-centric party is the bees knees of life.
The Government of Supply,Business and Fiscal Productivity is true Government.
The Government of Care and welfare is true Government.
But they are both that at the same time!!! Ask any woman. It's only a group of idiot males that it takes 300 years or so to filter this information through to. I refuse to identify with idiots like that. If that makes me a female, then I guess a sexchange is needed. I'm not too sure Christine would like that though.
Do you see how rather than associate with male idiots I became a piano tuner. Males are the ones who rush to Harvard, Harrow,Eton,and Oxford, become part of the Skull and Bones,rush to positions of Testosterone......
Then when they are there....think....
Ahhh!!! I'm in charge. Ummmm, nothing prepared me for this....what do I do now???
Oh ofcourse.....I'll invade a country!!!
So, I repeat- what the double-glazed marble throwers are both USA and UK playing at when it comes to politics?
Since when is democracy.....for 4 years the wife is solely in charge of a house, then the next four years the husband is in charge....the answer is. NEVER. A house is always run by two spouses.
I'm sorry if that is too complicated for men to grasp. Would you like me to go a bit slower?
*******************
Are you beginning to understand the devastating impact of people who "rely on their own insight", rather than trusting in God with all your heart. We are not talking about people going a little off course. We are talkng the daily brush with death that people have to endure,caused by stupid testosterone left-brain hamster wheel living.
Praise God this at last gets dealt with in 3rd level living.
But you can see why non-Christian artists/poets/prophets who live perceiving everyone's direction arrows peeking out of everyone's middles, you can see why they are driven to drink ,drugs ,hopeless despair and suicide. Left-brain folk are only just now beginning to get the data.
Don't
Don't
Don't
Rely on your own insight. Proverbs 3:5
Just about the first song I ever received was this verse shortly after being baptised in the Spirit.
In fact I never really thought of myself as a musician until after this....even though I'd been learning classical guitar since I was 10. Proverbs 3 is a track on CD 1 of Early Harvest.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Today's post is about how Prophet/Artist/Dreamer types think. The apostle John was one of these by temperament as well as by anointing.
This could be a real key for some of you. Either to help you understand yourself. Or to finally help you understand your crazy husband/wife/brother/aunt/work colleague/hamster....well perhaps not hamster.
More than any other character type they think of everything in terms of "DIRECTION ARROWS". Before you finish speaking....often within about 5 words...
they have read YOU
read the direction in which the substance of what you are trying to say is going
and consequently want to continue listening to you
or have already switched off.
This is one way in which they appear rude within the context of the veneer of polite society.
Another type of person who behaves in a similar kind of way are business people. What matters is the bottom line. Profit or loss. The entire infrastructure that may or may not be built around this bottomline is pretty well worthless....however pretty it looks to all those who are working in and around the business.You see this attitude among the entrepreneurs in the series Dragon's Den.
This form of thinking contrasts completely with the more static "snapshot assessment" of a situation favoured by nearly everyone else.
This set of facts are now so, substantiated by this and this and this , which tells me exactly how a situation is now......no more ...no less. I don't wish to know how it will be in 10 years if things continue at the same rate. That is not currently the question in hand.
But for a prophet/dreamer/poet it very much is the question.
The more factual person will regard the former as a bit hysterical....strangely too emotive.
But the prophet is reading the direction arrow. He/she is asking...yes ...but where is this all leading? And if you are only receiving prophetic/creative input you will all be suffering nervous breakdowns from the stress of not knowing what to do with it.
Imagine a roomful of Phoebe's from the show "Friends". Creative it may be....but what awful songs!!!!
A few posts back I described how churches must have their direction arrows fixed in a 3rd level type direction. It does not matter that people may all be at different stages in their Christian walk....at least the leadership have set the tone....and the tone or direction is
to see Christ fully formed in each and every person , such that they can go out and reproduce others to the Father level......and so on.
By far the majority of churches.....what Jesus calls in Revelation "People who call themselves Jews but are not..."
these are not actually churches, since they do not contain people who have had a born again experience yet. They are kind of religious precursors to the church.
Then there are evangelical churches, which although always containing some mature Christians,never set their direction arrow beyond running as a 1st level church. A kind of New Covenant throwback to the Outer Courts in the Old Testament.
The direction arrow of the Pentecostal/charismatic churches never goes beyond a kind of dipping your toe in the River of God ,somewhere in the Holy Place.
But David says "Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee
In whose heart are the highways....the direction arrows to Zion...the Place where God really dwells and rules." Then in the New Testament " Seek first the Kingdom of God....and His righteousness....being clothed in His own righteousness..and walking in it!!!" These are and always were the only true direction arrows. Every church maintains that this was their goal all along. Well...can I say...the world has not noticed , if that really was your aim. So what are you going to do about it?
************************
Now this post is about how prophets/artistic/creative types view the madness in which the world is run.
Proverbs 3:5 does not say Trust in the Lord with all your heart....period. That would be a Phoebe type existence.
Nor does it say Rely on your own insight. That, in Friends, would be a Ross-type existence.
It says there must be an interplay. You use your own factual input....but you don't build your existence on it. You trust in the Lord. With all your heart. ie You don't hold back.
(By the way...this is why "Living Together"...KMOO marriage...does not work...because you are holding back something)
Here are some mad fruits of a life lived "relying on your own insight". At least from a prophet's perspective.
Recession
If you feedback interminable data/hard facts about a recession via all media outlets all the time, you crash market confidence, creating even greater dips in the market.I call this the UK Dawkins Left-brain hamster wheel principle.
I use Dawkins because he proudly asserts the Left-brain, Materialist approach to life. Although, like fellow-evangelistic atheists Brian Eno and Philip Pullman, none of them live according to their own philosophies. They are all far too creative for that. Brian Eno,being for example, a part of the miracle that is U2.He was their sound engineer on Joshua Tree and Unforgettable Fire.
Let's look at the UK Dawkins Left-brain hamster wheel in Genesis chapter 1.
Here is some hard-wired left-brain factual data, which we will feedback incessantly. Notice all the facts are completely true.
The Earth was formless and void.
Notice that none of this has any permanent relevance for the Word of Faith.
It's an interesting fact....but then
God said Let there be LIGHT!
And ofcourse this kind of thing gives UK Left-brain hamster wheels a bad name. It's just not playing by the rules!!!!
Banking
Far from relying on the left-brain....now it's even worse....it's not even someone's brain. It's a binary-coded electrical device called a computer. No wonder some Jew came up with the fact that if you attach the number 6 to each letter of the alphabet...the numerical value of computer adds up to 666.
So, you have all these so-called business bankers waiting to give you a decision on a loan during this difficult financial period...and their decision is already made. Their decision was made some time ago....when they signed up wholeheartedly to committing over their entire decision making process to limited left-brain input and a few mathematical algorithms.
What is your gut feeling about this loan then?
I have no gut left I'm afraid. It's now all wires and buttons. And it's outside my body on this monitor flashing in front of me.
Was there any point in you coming into work today?
Yes.they answer, I smile nicely, while I tell you "the computer - he say NO".
By the way the Reith Lectures this year are covering similar ground. http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith
Politics
How do prophet/poet types regard the madness that is politics here and in the USA? Well, it turns out, in a very similar way to women, who are far too sensible to take stances based on testosterone.
To creatives well aversed with producing lasting things of value, the whole creative process is obvious. It is the interplay between raw inspiration and out of the box creativity, married to function, yes,married to a left-brain step by step implementation of an idea.
Now in a traditional household the husband was the "houseband" ,the provider, the one keeping the whole thing together in terms of providing the raw materials of existence,and the wife was the "weber" the weaver....the one who dealt with the intricacies of getting the whole thing to work, such that everyone was cared for.
Obviously things are now more complex ...but I am not making any particular point here.
What I am saying is, just as the brain needs both sides working together to function....and does not dream of setting up adversarially one against the other...
And just as the husband/wife function together, and don't spend their life standing on opposing tables in the kitchen in gladiatorial combat....
What the double glazed marble throwers!!!! are the USA and Great Britain doing spending every four or five years changing first one way then the other....as if a left-centric party was the bees knees of life....then four years later the right-centric party is the bees knees of life.
The Government of Supply,Business and Fiscal Productivity is true Government.
The Government of Care and welfare is true Government.
But they are both that at the same time!!! Ask any woman. It's only a group of idiot males that it takes 300 years or so to filter this information through to. I refuse to identify with idiots like that. If that makes me a female, then I guess a sexchange is needed. I'm not too sure Christine would like that though.
Do you see how rather than associate with male idiots I became a piano tuner. Males are the ones who rush to Harvard, Harrow,Eton,and Oxford, become part of the Skull and Bones,rush to positions of Testosterone......
Then when they are there....think....
Ahhh!!! I'm in charge. Ummmm, nothing prepared me for this....what do I do now???
Oh ofcourse.....I'll invade a country!!!
So, I repeat- what the double-glazed marble throwers are both USA and UK playing at when it comes to politics?
Since when is democracy.....for 4 years the wife is solely in charge of a house, then the next four years the husband is in charge....the answer is. NEVER. A house is always run by two spouses.
I'm sorry if that is too complicated for men to grasp. Would you like me to go a bit slower?
*******************
Are you beginning to understand the devastating impact of people who "rely on their own insight", rather than trusting in God with all your heart. We are not talking about people going a little off course. We are talkng the daily brush with death that people have to endure,caused by stupid testosterone left-brain hamster wheel living.
Praise God this at last gets dealt with in 3rd level living.
But you can see why non-Christian artists/poets/prophets who live perceiving everyone's direction arrows peeking out of everyone's middles, you can see why they are driven to drink ,drugs ,hopeless despair and suicide. Left-brain folk are only just now beginning to get the data.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
OK....So where then should we stop?
Ask Jesus into your life and what should you expect?
This is the second Person of the Trinity,remember. He was co-existent with God before the worlds were made. He is the Word, present at, speaking into being, the whole of creation. And He's just come into you. By the Holy Spirit.
Exactly where is Jesus going to draw the doctrinal line before He gives up working in you?
An evangelical will say He will change your personality and behaviour and give you eternal hope for the future. (Code for...don't expect much now....but believe for as much as you can after you die.) This is the Passover view of Christianity.
A Pentecostal /charismatic will say Jesus does all this....but in addition He sends the Power of His Holy Spirit in an anointing called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to "taste the gifts and powers of the world to come". Gifts as listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14....sandwiched with a slopping,running over,inundation of love thrown in!!!! Anything more and you have to wait until you die. This is the Pentecost view of Christianity.
Both these 2 Feast versions of Christianity never preach on the third Feast, either because they've never bothered reading about it....or if they are aware, as I have said....it's relegated to after death or after the 2nd Coming of Christ.
In general, when something is too much for your faith, just put it back a little, to after you die!
It's a great catchall and no one can call you on it!!!
Well I'm calling you on it! This post requires you to read this entry in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_Movement
As you read above, you have a choice after you have received Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
You either run with this and preach the gospel and bring more into the same double brand of Christianity, or as read in this passage you settle back down into formalism....into intellectualizing what you've received....into falling back into what Galations calls trying to complete what is lacking by works.
But as in the passage, there is a third choice. You get hungry!!! And you begin to pray. And you begin to seek God. For two reasons. Because your life still isn't working. Because your life experience in no way matches the New Testament writers.....and unlike all other people...you actually care about that.
So all through history there have been believers, who out of desperation press through to the 3rd Feast. Within themselves. The Feast of Tabernacles.
People criticise these "Latter rain" people. Saying it's unscriptural. It's heresy.
Let's turn this around.
Jesus has been born in you. As a seed, when you invited Him in , either on your own, or in some kind of evangelistic or other kind of meeting.
This is Jesus. The One who spoke the worlds, the Universe,the solar systems into being.
He has come to grow in you. Exactly at what point do you think He is going to stop!
Since he is the Author and Finisher of your faith.
Since He invented the picture tableau of the "earthly sanctuary" known as the tabernacle, described in detail by George Warnock in the links section.
Since He instituted the earthly pattern shadow of the three Feasts among the Jews....
Tell me exactly why it is heresy to expect Him to so grow in you, that as you step more and more wholly into the River described in Ezekiel....that He doesn't take over the whole of you...
such that you become a manifest Son or daughter!
Or is there some regulator built into the Earth,in the same way as in car engines,that cuts you back at a certain point....say 50%, 75%.....to save your body overheating!!!
Hmmmmm!
What is it about falling in Love with God
with all your heart
with all your soul
with all your mind
with all your strength
that you can't intellectually adhere to!
This is the second Person of the Trinity,remember. He was co-existent with God before the worlds were made. He is the Word, present at, speaking into being, the whole of creation. And He's just come into you. By the Holy Spirit.
Exactly where is Jesus going to draw the doctrinal line before He gives up working in you?
An evangelical will say He will change your personality and behaviour and give you eternal hope for the future. (Code for...don't expect much now....but believe for as much as you can after you die.) This is the Passover view of Christianity.
A Pentecostal /charismatic will say Jesus does all this....but in addition He sends the Power of His Holy Spirit in an anointing called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to "taste the gifts and powers of the world to come". Gifts as listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14....sandwiched with a slopping,running over,inundation of love thrown in!!!! Anything more and you have to wait until you die. This is the Pentecost view of Christianity.
Both these 2 Feast versions of Christianity never preach on the third Feast, either because they've never bothered reading about it....or if they are aware, as I have said....it's relegated to after death or after the 2nd Coming of Christ.
In general, when something is too much for your faith, just put it back a little, to after you die!
It's a great catchall and no one can call you on it!!!
Well I'm calling you on it! This post requires you to read this entry in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_Movement
As you read above, you have a choice after you have received Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
You either run with this and preach the gospel and bring more into the same double brand of Christianity, or as read in this passage you settle back down into formalism....into intellectualizing what you've received....into falling back into what Galations calls trying to complete what is lacking by works.
But as in the passage, there is a third choice. You get hungry!!! And you begin to pray. And you begin to seek God. For two reasons. Because your life still isn't working. Because your life experience in no way matches the New Testament writers.....and unlike all other people...you actually care about that.
So all through history there have been believers, who out of desperation press through to the 3rd Feast. Within themselves. The Feast of Tabernacles.
People criticise these "Latter rain" people. Saying it's unscriptural. It's heresy.
Let's turn this around.
Jesus has been born in you. As a seed, when you invited Him in , either on your own, or in some kind of evangelistic or other kind of meeting.
This is Jesus. The One who spoke the worlds, the Universe,the solar systems into being.
He has come to grow in you. Exactly at what point do you think He is going to stop!
Since he is the Author and Finisher of your faith.
Since He invented the picture tableau of the "earthly sanctuary" known as the tabernacle, described in detail by George Warnock in the links section.
Since He instituted the earthly pattern shadow of the three Feasts among the Jews....
Tell me exactly why it is heresy to expect Him to so grow in you, that as you step more and more wholly into the River described in Ezekiel....that He doesn't take over the whole of you...
such that you become a manifest Son or daughter!
Or is there some regulator built into the Earth,in the same way as in car engines,that cuts you back at a certain point....say 50%, 75%.....to save your body overheating!!!
Hmmmmm!
What is it about falling in Love with God
with all your heart
with all your soul
with all your mind
with all your strength
that you can't intellectually adhere to!
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Questions and Answers re From Eternity To Here
As well as Frank's answers to my questions below, you can see my comments on this book, up to this point at least ,in these two posts.1. How long did the book take to write?
Frank: I've been writing the book since 1992. Most of the book comes from spoken messages I've delivered in various conferences throughout the years, turned into a book long afterward. The actual sitting down and writing it out in its present form took about two years.
2. It certainly has the feel of something you can read out in meetings. Is that how you felt when writing it?
Frank: Yes, because the chapters were originally spoken messages I delivered, the conversational style and tone bleeds through. Personally, I've always liked reading authors who sound like they are talking to me. Watchman Nee's work is like this, because virtually all of his books were taken from transcribed messages.
We also created a free discussion guide that will help readers discuss and assimilate the content. I'm happy about that because this is not book to just read and put down. It's written in such a way that the reader will want to meditate on and digest its contents.
Frank: I've been writing the book since 1992. Most of the book comes from spoken messages I've delivered in various conferences throughout the years, turned into a book long afterward. The actual sitting down and writing it out in its present form took about two years.
2. It certainly has the feel of something you can read out in meetings. Is that how you felt when writing it?
Frank: Yes, because the chapters were originally spoken messages I delivered, the conversational style and tone bleeds through. Personally, I've always liked reading authors who sound like they are talking to me. Watchman Nee's work is like this, because virtually all of his books were taken from transcribed messages.
We also created a free discussion guide that will help readers discuss and assimilate the content. I'm happy about that because this is not book to just read and put down. It's written in such a way that the reader will want to meditate on and digest its contents.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THE “FROM ETERNITY TO HERE” BLOG CIRCUIT
Today (June 9th), the following blogs are discussing Frank Viola’s new bestselling book “From Eternity to Here” (David C. Cook, 2009). The book just hit the May CBA Bestseller List. Some are posting Q & A with Frank; others are posting full reviews of the book. To read more reviews and order a copy at a 33% discount, go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Rediscovering-Ageless-Purpose/dp/1434768708/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233609867&sr=1-4
For more resources, such as downloadable audios, the free Discussion Guide, the Facebook Group page, etc. go to the official website: http://www.frometernitytohere.org/
Enjoy the reviews and the Q and A:
-----
Out of Ur - http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/05/viola.html
Shapevine – http://www.shapevine.com/ (June newsletter)
Brian Eberly - http://www.brianeberly.com/
DashHouse.com - http://www.DashHouse.com/
Greg Boyd - http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/
Vision Advance - http://vision2advance.blogspot.com/
David Flowers - http://ddflowers.wordpress.com/
Kingdom Grace - http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com/
Captain's Blog - http://www.captainestes.blogspot.com/
Christine Sine - http://godspace.wordpress.com/
Darin Hufford - The Free Believers Network - http://www.freebelievers.com/
Zoecarnate - http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com/
Church Planting Novice - http://www.churchplantingnovice.wordpress.com/
Staying Focused - http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/
Take Your Vitamin Z - http://www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/
Jeff Goins - http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/
Bunny Trails - http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com/
Matt Cleaver - http://mattcleaver.com/
Jason T. Berggren - http://blog.jasonberggren.com/
Simple Church - http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/
Emerging from Montana - http://wordofmouthministries.blogspot.com/
Parable Life - http://www.theparablelife.blogspot.com/
Oikos Australia - http://www.oikos.org.au/blog/
West Coast Witness - http://www.westcoastwitness.com/
Keith Giles - http://www.keith.giles.com/
Consuming Worship — http://www.consumingworship.org/
Tasha Via - http://www.tashavia.blogspot.com/
Andrew Courtright - http://www.andrewcourtright.blogspot.com/
ShowMeTheMooneys! – http://www.showmethemooneys.com/
Leaving Salem, Blog of Ronnie McBrayer - http://leavingsalem.wordpress.com/
Jason Coker - pastoralia.missionaltribe.org
From Knowledge to Wisdom - http://isthistheway.typepad.com/
Home Brewed Christianity - http://www.homebrewedchristianity.com/
Dispossessed - http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com/
Dandelion Seeds - http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeschoolblogger.com%2FDandelionseeds&h=c2d85ac2c4c1ec9a2360ae786e941445
David Brodsky's Blog- "Flip the tape Deck" - http://flipthetapedeck.blogspot.com/
Chaordic Journey - http://jeffrhodes.wordpress.com/
Renee Martin - http://www.reneemartinmusic.com/profiles/blog/list
Bob Kuhn - http://organicchurchnola.wordpress.com/
Living with Freaks: http://www.livingwithfreaks.com/
Real Worship - http://therealworshipleader.com/
Fervent Worship - http://ferventworship.blogspot.com/
Julie Ferwerda Blog - http://www.julieferwerda.com/ / http://www.onemillionarrows.com/
What's With Christina?! - http://w2christina.blogspot.com/
Irreligious Canuck - http://www.irreligiouscanuck.com/
This day on the journey - http://guychmieleski.blogspot.com/
Live and Move: Thoughts on Authentic Christianity - http://liveandmove.blogspot.com/
Spiritual Journey With God - http://www.elvineve.blogspot.com/
Dries Conje - http://www.echurch.co.za/ / http://www.thejesusfeed.com/ / http://www.bookdisciple.com/.
Journey with Others - http://journeywithothers.blogspot.com/
Christine Moers - http://www.welcometomybrain.net/
Breaking Point - http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com/
Hand to the Plough - http://www.handtotheplough.com.au/
Jon Reid - http://jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother/welcome-pilgrim.html
Weblight - http://www.blog.worldwidewebservices.se/
D. L. Webster - http://gzmproductions.com/dlwebster
Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life - wholeheartedlife.blogspot.com
Today (June 9th), the following blogs are discussing Frank Viola’s new bestselling book “From Eternity to Here” (David C. Cook, 2009). The book just hit the May CBA Bestseller List. Some are posting Q & A with Frank; others are posting full reviews of the book. To read more reviews and order a copy at a 33% discount, go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Rediscovering-Ageless-Purpose/dp/1434768708/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233609867&sr=1-4
For more resources, such as downloadable audios, the free Discussion Guide, the Facebook Group page, etc. go to the official website: http://www.frometernitytohere.org/
Enjoy the reviews and the Q and A:
-----
Out of Ur - http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/05/viola.html
Shapevine – http://www.shapevine.com/ (June newsletter)
Brian Eberly - http://www.brianeberly.com/
DashHouse.com - http://www.DashHouse.com/
Greg Boyd - http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/
Vision Advance - http://vision2advance.blogspot.com/
David Flowers - http://ddflowers.wordpress.com/
Kingdom Grace - http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com/
Captain's Blog - http://www.captainestes.blogspot.com/
Christine Sine - http://godspace.wordpress.com/
Darin Hufford - The Free Believers Network - http://www.freebelievers.com/
Zoecarnate - http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com/
Church Planting Novice - http://www.churchplantingnovice.wordpress.com/
Staying Focused - http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/
Take Your Vitamin Z - http://www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/
Jeff Goins - http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org/
Bunny Trails - http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com/
Matt Cleaver - http://mattcleaver.com/
Jason T. Berggren - http://blog.jasonberggren.com/
Simple Church - http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/
Emerging from Montana - http://wordofmouthministries.blogspot.com/
Parable Life - http://www.theparablelife.blogspot.com/
Oikos Australia - http://www.oikos.org.au/blog/
West Coast Witness - http://www.westcoastwitness.com/
Keith Giles - http://www.keith.giles.com/
Consuming Worship — http://www.consumingworship.org/
Tasha Via - http://www.tashavia.blogspot.com/
Andrew Courtright - http://www.andrewcourtright.blogspot.com/
ShowMeTheMooneys! – http://www.showmethemooneys.com/
Leaving Salem, Blog of Ronnie McBrayer - http://leavingsalem.wordpress.com/
Jason Coker - pastoralia.missionaltribe.org
From Knowledge to Wisdom - http://isthistheway.typepad.com/
Home Brewed Christianity - http://www.homebrewedchristianity.com/
Dispossessed - http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com/
Dandelion Seeds - http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeschoolblogger.com%2FDandelionseeds&h=c2d85ac2c4c1ec9a2360ae786e941445
David Brodsky's Blog- "Flip the tape Deck" - http://flipthetapedeck.blogspot.com/
Chaordic Journey - http://jeffrhodes.wordpress.com/
Renee Martin - http://www.reneemartinmusic.com/profiles/blog/list
Bob Kuhn - http://organicchurchnola.wordpress.com/
Living with Freaks: http://www.livingwithfreaks.com/
Real Worship - http://therealworshipleader.com/
Fervent Worship - http://ferventworship.blogspot.com/
Julie Ferwerda Blog - http://www.julieferwerda.com/ / http://www.onemillionarrows.com/
What's With Christina?! - http://w2christina.blogspot.com/
Irreligious Canuck - http://www.irreligiouscanuck.com/
This day on the journey - http://guychmieleski.blogspot.com/
Live and Move: Thoughts on Authentic Christianity - http://liveandmove.blogspot.com/
Spiritual Journey With God - http://www.elvineve.blogspot.com/
Dries Conje - http://www.echurch.co.za/ / http://www.thejesusfeed.com/ / http://www.bookdisciple.com/.
Journey with Others - http://journeywithothers.blogspot.com/
Christine Moers - http://www.welcometomybrain.net/
Breaking Point - http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com/
Hand to the Plough - http://www.handtotheplough.com.au/
Jon Reid - http://jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother/welcome-pilgrim.html
Weblight - http://www.blog.worldwidewebservices.se/
D. L. Webster - http://gzmproductions.com/dlwebster
Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life - wholeheartedlife.blogspot.com
Sunday, 31 May 2009
KMOO Rollout Has Been Success!
FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THE INITIAL KMOO ROLLOUTS INTERNATIONALLY, BUT PARTICULARLY HERE IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES, FURTHER KMOO PROGRAMMES ARE BEING DRAFTED FOR THE FIELDS OF INSURANCE ,BANKING,MORTGAGE LENDING , ARMY RECRUITMENT,EDUCATION ,RELIGION AND POLITICAL REFORM.
This week leaders from both the United Nations and the European Community were celebrating the success of the initial rollouts of the KMOO programme in marriage, childcare, finance and religion. Although KMOO is virtually unknown in its abbreviated form in the wider world, leaders have been designing and shaping programmes for decades according to a worldwide KMOO philosophy.
KMOO is simply an abbreviation of Keep My Options Open.It is a philosophy that has been found to be entirely in keeping with the modern understanding of our evolution as human beings. It takes its basis from the survival of the fittest and is completely at odds with the older traditionalist and non-secular view of religion.
One of the most well-known applications of KMOO has been in the field of human relationships. Usually referred to as "living together", KMOO marriage has been found to be the most pragmatic answer to instructing large numbers of people in preparation for marriage and building family units.
In former times, the largely religious view was felt to be far too demanding , both in its frameworks which required more complex understandings of largely discarded philosophies such as fidelity, and love which considers the partner's wishes above his or her own. With population numbers and population densities increasing, the long and complicated explanations of such matters are now considered by most, as unwieldy and at worst as impractical in a world where the average attention span of most humans is 12 minutes 30 seconds.Possibly less straight after watching XFactor.
The greatest successes have been the changeover in education where KMOO has been applied. By encouraging sexual experimentation with numbers of partners by focussing more on the mechanics of contraception, the previous poor use of time management whereby elders and supervisers would try and prevent the young from too serious involvement with each other too soon in life, has now been discarded in favour of leaving them to get on with it, thus leaving the older generation more hours to go about their own concerns.
KMOO has its detractors however. Craig Little of Pro Family Management, a traditionalist social education hub in the UK, has brought up the issue of the UK having the largest teen pregnancy figures in Europe. KMOO enforcers , in reply have called for thicker, more durable condoms.
Craig Little recently also brought up the question of longterm psychological problems caused by partners breaking their relationships whenever small to medium problems emerged while co-habiting in KMOO marriages. The international KMOO thinktank have collected data on these matters, and while their psychologists have observed an increase in the levels of depression, often hidden under layers of displacement behaviour, with professional help most return to relative normality in 20- 30 years. This , they believe is a small price to pay rather than the high financial cost of providing some kind of secular alternative education to get over the complicated concepts formerly taught at no cost by churchmen in earlier centuries in their sermons.
KMOO behaviour, it is insisted has led to very "colourful and varied" existences as mixed parents and mixed siblings learn to appreciate and blend with their new extended families. This has also led, they point out, to the proliferation of Theme Parks and Macdonalds outlets, where the doting single parent can take his or her children on the one day per week they may see their offspring. Children largely learn to adapt to their new conditions and are well able to bury their hurts for the 20 or 30 years necessary to function as relatively normal, but medicated individuals in the modern workplace.
Kaye Volkhardt of the Traditional Marriage Bureau challenges the KMOO vision of relationships when she says"Partners who live together know only a kind of "present commitment". They have never known the joy of abandonment of any other agenda to a lifelong mutual commitment to another being. They miss out on knowing that their partner has made a firm bottomline decision to be with them and them alone."
KMOO specialists dismiss this as an ostrich view of life, which denies that the world has moved on into a fuller understanding of "survival of the fittest", and "getting on at the expense of the other".
KMOO Childcare
Perhaps the greatest success in KMOO development has been the implementation of laws in the field of Childcare. In later years this has indeed concerned greater provision of child care, but since the 1960's KMOO childcare has usually used the more abstract word "abortion". This involves the careful implementation of a parent's choice to benignly end a child's life. KMOO experts have found it far less emotive and effective to use medical vocabulary like foetus and termination.
This gives great freedom to the parent and greatly adds to a KMOO enjoyment of life.
Craig Little has long opposed abortion and asks healthcare providers if anyone has considered the rights of the unborn child? He doubts whether the use of medical words has any effect for the unborn child, whose rights are diminished in the same way whether emotive terms such as killed or impersonal words such as foetus or termination are used. Either way, its life is stopped.
Again KMOO proponents see only a success story, since neither the parent nor the state have any ongoing costs to find, the parent can continue to be in full time work, supplying more tax payments to further develop KMOO political advances. It is a win-win situation that would be extremely expensive and troubling to reverse, and would in turn in no way conform to the tenets of "survival of the fittest" and Darwin.
In the last few years the KMOO philosophy of religion has been so succesfully implemented in schools, that its fundamental tenets are now being applied to high finance and politics. And nothing has been found to work better in both when moving from bull to bear markets, from highrolling investment to market crashes.
It enables both high bankers, industrial heads and politicians to keep their powerbase when ordinarily in the weaker models of centuries past, they would have lost their power, and most probably their lives.This is one of the great strengths in KMOO development; learning how to create a smokescreen of such brilliant intensity that everyone is afraid to identify such fundamental questions as responsibility which so threatened stability in historical settings. By removing this base and worthless principle and instituting the far more Darwinian "power for power's sake" , groups of individuals are better able to leverage exit strategies that are ultimately more appealing than simply "losing one's head" for the sake of any cause. So high bankers, industrial heads and political groups keep in power longer,while their power vehicle may change completely. This , it has been found by KMOO educators, has been a much more encouraging carrot for school leavers and university graduates who seek to learn from KMOO successes and follow on in their train.
What was it about rolling the KMOO philosophy of religious education into schools that acted as such a stimulus to these other areas? Leon Schmitten of EU council Affairs explains, " The old model of unity based on any solid foundation such as "truth" , say, was found to be unworkable in such a large field of opposing opinions. By creating a climate where everybody's tenets of faith are continually presented in unmanageable quantities , everybody's minds are so overworked that it better suits our framework of "Keeping All the Options Open" continually, so no one is embarrassed by ever having to nail his decision to one particular mast. This keeps every party happy that their side is being discussed openly and freely, without having to undergo the frictions that deciding for one route or one course was ultimately the correct way." Leon said this policy had been found to work in such a stupendous way in teaching RE in schools.
Charles Gridlock of CTS (Christianity Today in Schools) disagrees. "Presenting Christianity as in any way equal to other religions is false for these reasons, whether a person wishes to ultimately follow its tenets.
Firstly no other religion has laid itself bare when it comes to prophesying the end from the beginning. From declaring x hundred details about what the Messiah would be like, down to how things will wind up on Earth. No other religion has been that stupid, or accurate, depending on your belief.
Secondly no other religion has been stupid enough to declare "another agent" other than man himself for his salvation. All other religions construct their own hoops through which a man may leap. And many versions of Christianity have stooped back down to this model rather than accept their own core original beliefs".
KMOO maintain that while these things may be so, their method has galvanised a lot more disparate groupings together into one manoeverable mass, than has ever been acheived by getting people to believe a certain way.
Charles counters with another problem as he sees it. "The Bible maintains that its method, which it self-titles as folly, is to be disseminated through what it calls "the folly of preaching". By removing access to this, disallowing it in another words, Christianity has declined in schools to the level of one of many historical teachings that fly in the face of the popularly-assumed superior Darwinian model of understanding."
"And the problem is..?" ask KMOO representatives Richard Dawkins,Brian Eno and Philip Pullman.
"The problem is no schoolboy or girl in this day and age is once encountering Christianity properly during the whole of their school life."replies Gridlock"They only hear vague and disputable ideas about Christianity third hand."
"Exactly" , say KMOO. "This removes choice, and this is what we ultimately stand for. Our ideas which stand for the "survival of the fittest" have indeed been shown to be the only ones fit for survival."
On the back of 40-50 years of stupendous success, KMOO are now proposing rolling out new forms of KMOO contracts in areas such as banking, mortgage-lending and army recruitment.
The Head of KMOO policy in the UK , Mr.Lionel Greyshade, explains.
"The old forms of commitment such as marriage have been shown to be too unworkable, so we will be initially rolling out "Present Day" commitment forms in fields like house buying. The lender will pick a house and simply say "I'd like to live in it until such time as it doesn't suit me any longer and then move on instantly to another dwelling. "The loan institution will take back the lion's share of the property that the borrower has spent several years paying for, in the manner of a divorce or partnership breakdown, and the house buyer will then move off virtually penniless to another property."
"Isn't that virtually the same as property rental?" we asked.
"Similar, but its got a better KMOO title...Present Day commitment mortgages. Sounds current and more up to date."
Army Generals, faced with recruitment problems are now considering KMOO as their only hope. Present Day Army contracts are being developed this year which fully tally with KMOO objectives.
"I promise to join the army and serve it as long as it suits me.Should I feel at a later date that it is asking too much from me, namely my life, I will move on to another job or unemployment."
KMOO were finally asked whether they thought that in the long term their tenets of faith were largely unworkable? What matters in life, is what matters now, was the reply.
author's rights reserved:Chris Welch May 2009
(In true Iggy style, can I just state that this has been a spoof. I do not hold to this belief system nor recommend it. )
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Life in Three Dimensions
I'm excited about this because I really believe it is another parable clue to explaining what I am on about. I really think this could be from the Lord Himself...because He always was brilliant at parables.
Parables I realised recently are God's way of flicking us over from left-brain "meter" or "law-based" thinking if you will, to a more comprehensive "picture" or "creative" way of thinking usually associated with the right brain.
I've covered this material briefly here. But again I want to say this. In the 90s when this right brain /leftbrain stuff came out it was such a release for us artist/musical/prophetic types that we made the mistake of relating the right-brain to our spirits. On this blog I have been careful not to do this.
Spirit is spirit. It is NOT material. Brain is brain. It IS material. It is the electrical mechanics behind our thinking. And mind....well...it's our soul, but like spirit you can never pinpoint it...though materialist thinkers (using materialist in its original philosophical meaning) think the electrical signals is all there is to us.
Electrical readings show us we use parts of our brain for different skills...sometimes on their own ,sometimes together. They also show that in a healthy person we have some sort of telephone exchange system between the two sides of our brain.
Dyslexia,dyspraxia (poor physical co-ordination) autism, synesthesia......all show up as different ways of processing.
I was listening to Frank Viola today who again referenced our Western tendency to Aristotelian thinking. Tony Fitzgerald used to call it "Greek thinking" as opposed to Biblical "Hebrew"thinking.
Proverbs is Hebrew thinking...where knowledge is one thing....but wisdom is quite another.
There's a proverb which illustrates the difference. It says somewhere "A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a man who hasn't the use of his legs."
When we speak wisdom from our spirits IT HAS LEGS. ("That'll walk!!!") It comes out of our lives. Out of the core of our existence.
When an Anglican Bishop who is not even born again speaks the word "God", to a born again person it sounds like an empty sound; it often sounds like his mouth is full of a large potato when he mouths the word. It has no legs, so to cover the reality of the situation, his mouth seems to go into overdrive to make up for the deficiency.
So you can't say Left-brain bad, right-brain good....because you need both to function.
What you cannot do is live from your left-brain alone. And Proverbs 3:5 highlights way too much dependance on our reasoning powers and practically no "trusting" going on in our heart. This has some amazing repercussions. I have covered some already but in future posts I want to cover "how prophets think", I want to cover the mad way Brits and Americans do politics.... and the fundamental differences between how different character types
process information. Here's a nugget to get you going. I lived for a year in France and getting enrolled as a self-employed tuner in their system was something else!!!
I learned this truth: Bureacracy is inversely proportional to the amount of Truth manifest in a nation. You think France is bad...just go to Italy. What does that say about Catholicism???
So back to this post.
What is the Third Level?
It isn't what you think it is.
Traditional left-brain Greek mentality thinking imagines a series of 3 steps going higher and higher. So ofcourse this is offensive because if you claim to be "on the third-level" you are putting yourself above someone else.
Surprisingly and gob-smackingly it is none of this. In a moment I'll give the parable picture. But now I will give some examples.
Ursula describes in her School of Prophecy post being caught up to heaven. So there you are with the Director of all directors, the One who has knowledge of the end from the beginning. You must surely be in for some deep spiritual revelation to confound all others. This surely is a Third-level meeting. Well it confounds others all right. Jesus whirrs you round in His arms. Hugs you. Looks full in your face. Beams with love!!! That's the third-level. I'm so sorry to disappoint the theologians!
Now if this was a freak one-off occurrence you could put this down to Ursula not being quite up to the deep things of God ,so this was Jesus humouring her. But no....
When Roberts Liardon went as a young boy, he was pretty impressed, because Jesus played splash with him in the River of Life. You know deep stuff like that.
When Jesse Duplantis went he described a carbon copy of many of the things Ursula saw, but Jesus was really keen to show him the house he'd had built for him. Jesus had rigged him up with a quadrangle with a fountain, and loads of 17th century type furniture, because he knew Jesse loves that stuff. Jesse said, "I can see you Jesus. I can see the Father. Um...I thought there were three of You? Where's......."
Jesus just looked at him. Jesus grinned. Jesse felt a bit embarrassed. "Oh ofcourse, He is on Earth, preparing the Bride!!!! What a nana I am? How could anyone be so stupid?"
Back on Earth now in revival. And that's what the third level is....it's continuous revival. What do you find?
You find Evan Roberts face down on the podium around 1905 and 6. Only getting up to say something as directed. Quite often he said nothing. And he was the acknowledged leader of the meeting! This is third level!!!
Or you read of Mel Tari , 60 years later. Just going around with a load of friends, being led to do miracles. Without title.Without name. Just lifting up the Name of Jesus. Just loving Jesus with all your heart, soul and strength.Just enjoying the ride.
This is third level.
Third level is what John Stevens writes on his blog about thin places. The wall between the 3rd heaven and here on earth appears to be paper thin.
After Evan Roberts, the Pentecostal movement was born...then some pressed onward into Apostles and prophets, and the Apostolic movement was born. But really , it was like a retreat, back from 3rd level stuff into a more humanly comfortable 2nd level. They couldn't go back to the 1st level, because having tasted the heavenly gifts....well who would ever want to go back that far? But nevertheless....all the "man-directed" junk reappeared. The labels. ...the superintendents..... the heirarchies. And running meetings in the raw effusion of the order of Melchizedek... well the Presence of God wasn't enough anymore!
Here's another third-level truth.
On the way into the tabernacle there are no steps.
In Anglicanism there are steps. You start as a curate. You become a vicar. Then you become a Bishop. Your ermine gets thicker!!! Your penguin costumes get more and more elaborate. You'd better believe there are steps!!! Bishops and vicars have to then perform this mental juggling act between what is read out in the scriptures in a 2 yearly cycle or whatever....so everything that Jesus says about becoming a servant etc.....has to be mentally squared up with the way Anglicanism is run! No wonder some of them have breakdowns! One of my friends has recently de-vicared!!!
Because the tabernacle has no steps...they are forbidden..."lest they show the shame of man's weakness"....the 3rd level or Holy of Holies is on the same level as anything else in the Tabernacle!!!
Here's another 3rdlevellism!!!
Every single human on Earth was taken into the bosom of the Father at the Cross - in Jesus.
The problem is ignorance. People don't know that!!
Every single Christian was born again in the 3rd Level...the Holy of Holies....when Jesus ascended into the heavenlies right into the Holiest Place. This is made clear in Ephesians 1 and 2.
But the god of this world has blinded our eyes. Now some have escaped into level 1. They know Jesus has forgiven them their sins. Some have escaped into level 2 and now manifest the spiritual gifts, lead people to Jesus, and build networks of 2nd levellers. But Juan Carlos Ortiz prophesied that there would come a time when everybody would be born again in the third level, the Holy of Holies....here on earth. The New Covenant...when everyone would know the Lord from the least to the greatest.
And the foretaste of that was Florida last year!!! It wasn't just the Todd Bentley show. Nicholas and Pam were there. Peter Stott was there. Leaders from Southampton and Chichester were there. Basil De Souza came back so zapped...while he was preaching he looked at somebody in India and they were levitated to the ceiling in the glory, such was the Fire of God coming out from his eyes.
The doors of the 3rd level were ajar!!! It was the "Jesus in His worldwide Body" show as televised by God Channel!
But let me explain again what this blog is about.
Suppose the Father gives you a bike. And while enveloping you in His arms, you're sitting on the bike enjoying balancing. And each meeting He gets the bike out, and because He is there holding you very firmly, you are able to balance while the bike is stationary.
Well after several meetings would you not be saying to the Father..."I'm getting a bit frustrated, because you gave me this bike, and you are getting me on it every meeting...but when do I get to actually ride it myself and learn to balance on my own?"
"No. No son. This bike is only for Josh Mills meetings with the gold dust. It won't work out on the roads!!"
Well ofcourse that's silly. And that's the point of this blog. This blog is saying that 3rd level Christianity is precisely that. It's taking Christ in your form, as you...and living him out on the road. Learning to balance the bike yourself. And the glory of this Jesus life is that it works!!!
By faith. By His grace. Not of our own works. But it genuinely is Him living our life. And we activate it as we activate anything by stepping out on His Word. By believing in our heart and by confessing with our mouth. Like Dan who continually writes and says "Iam the righteousness of God in Christ!" Whew that's a powerful one!
But that's not the parable.
It's in answer to this question that has been buzzing in my mind for months."If this 3rd level thing has nothing to do with elitism...how on earth do I articulate that in left-brain words. How do I say I am exploring the 3rd level without it sounding really like I'm saying I am something special."
Well I believe this is one of those nuggets that Jesus has breathed Himself. It's like this.
Three dimensions.
Physicists say a single point is a singularity. Imagine an infinitely small dot having no height, no width and no breadth. Add one dimension. Width. So you can now go from point A to another point B on the horizon but only in one line. Better than being stationary isn't it? Are you superior because you are making for point B, though you haven't arrived? No. No more superior than a person simply getting on a train. It's just something you do.
But supposing the place you want to reach is way over to the left and nowhere near where the A to B train is going. Well you could always use a car. A car moves in 2 dimensions. You can turn left and right.
Are you more superior because you use a car? Well Jeremy Clarkson says you are. But in reality it is just another tool that gives us slightly greater flexibility. But we're not saying we've arrived.
We're on our way. But in 2 dimensions.
Supposing we want to mend the space station which keeps breaking down. We're going to have to move in 3 dimensions. A rocket or rocket plane.
Have we arrived? Are we superior? No it's just a tool which has more manoeverability to allow us to move in three dimensions. Up as well as across and straight ahead.
This dimension parable picture is brilliant for another reason. It shows how a person can be born again in the third level but still has to go through all the growth stages. Something I couldn't quite get my head round, though I knew from Florida last year was true. All we are saying is that a third level seed of three dimensional Divine Life has been placed into a believer's spirit. That seed is perfect. Can't be improved on. Contains everything within it that the believer will ever need...."the Fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells within My Lord...etc...and we are complete in Him." But the 3 dimensional seed still has to grow
OUT
IN THREE DIMENSIONS.
But at least it is 3 dimensional seed.... not one or 2 dimensional seed that we've been preaching for nearly 2000 years...and getting only one or two dimensional results!!!!........meanwhile, where was I?
Ah yes....So any talk of 3rd level as having arrived...well Paul just said...I press on to know the power of His resurrection that if at all possible I may attain to the resurrection of the dead...Phew...to even be thinking like that.
Mind you this was the man, who having been stoned,left for dead, was prayed for by the brethren, gets up, and without even a cup of tea says..."Right, next town then!!!" It always reminds me of the Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who loses all his limbs and fights on.
All third level is , is simply the revelation you need to get you out of that meeting room, away from those praise CDs, away from the prayer closet, away from 24/7 one hour prayer sessions
to a place where you start growing up into the Head
Fulltime
leaving meetings behind
but when you later go into them you turn them on their head
because you are a 3rdleveller
you live there.
You don't go to meetings so they can bless you.
You go to meetings so you can take them by the scruff of the neck and head them off in a 3rdlevel direction, before anyone knows what you are doing!
3rd level subversion...like Jesus walking to the front of a meeting reading Isaiah 61 then saying Today this is fulfilled amongst you.
Meanwhile a rabbi looks up, raises his thick eyebrows and says "Aherm! I don't remember that last sentence. Come again?What was that?"
Part of third level life is winding people up. I love the fact that by calling this blog "On to the 3rd Level"...tons of people stuck in their left-brains are thinking of Greek step mentality and that I am setting myself up as a super saint who has achieved step 3...and therefore hate this blog...
when really Ephesians says all of us have been caught up into the heavenlies and we operate now from there. 1st and 2nd levellers read these chapters out because they have to......but 3rd levellers are the only ones who dare to say
because this is TRUE we run our meetings this way. Today this is fulfilled before your very eyes!!!
Another 3rd levellism is that our God is not
The God of Abraham and Isaac.
For years we have effectively preached that.
Our God is
The God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob.
This is the generation of Jacob...those who seek the face of the God of Jacob..Ps24
AND LIVE!
Parables I realised recently are God's way of flicking us over from left-brain "meter" or "law-based" thinking if you will, to a more comprehensive "picture" or "creative" way of thinking usually associated with the right brain.
I've covered this material briefly here. But again I want to say this. In the 90s when this right brain /leftbrain stuff came out it was such a release for us artist/musical/prophetic types that we made the mistake of relating the right-brain to our spirits. On this blog I have been careful not to do this.
Spirit is spirit. It is NOT material. Brain is brain. It IS material. It is the electrical mechanics behind our thinking. And mind....well...it's our soul, but like spirit you can never pinpoint it...though materialist thinkers (using materialist in its original philosophical meaning) think the electrical signals is all there is to us.
Electrical readings show us we use parts of our brain for different skills...sometimes on their own ,sometimes together. They also show that in a healthy person we have some sort of telephone exchange system between the two sides of our brain.
Dyslexia,dyspraxia (poor physical co-ordination) autism, synesthesia......all show up as different ways of processing.
I was listening to Frank Viola today who again referenced our Western tendency to Aristotelian thinking. Tony Fitzgerald used to call it "Greek thinking" as opposed to Biblical "Hebrew"thinking.
Proverbs is Hebrew thinking...where knowledge is one thing....but wisdom is quite another.
There's a proverb which illustrates the difference. It says somewhere "A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a man who hasn't the use of his legs."
When we speak wisdom from our spirits IT HAS LEGS. ("That'll walk!!!") It comes out of our lives. Out of the core of our existence.
When an Anglican Bishop who is not even born again speaks the word "God", to a born again person it sounds like an empty sound; it often sounds like his mouth is full of a large potato when he mouths the word. It has no legs, so to cover the reality of the situation, his mouth seems to go into overdrive to make up for the deficiency.
So you can't say Left-brain bad, right-brain good....because you need both to function.
What you cannot do is live from your left-brain alone. And Proverbs 3:5 highlights way too much dependance on our reasoning powers and practically no "trusting" going on in our heart. This has some amazing repercussions. I have covered some already but in future posts I want to cover "how prophets think", I want to cover the mad way Brits and Americans do politics.... and the fundamental differences between how different character types
process information. Here's a nugget to get you going. I lived for a year in France and getting enrolled as a self-employed tuner in their system was something else!!!
I learned this truth: Bureacracy is inversely proportional to the amount of Truth manifest in a nation. You think France is bad...just go to Italy. What does that say about Catholicism???
So back to this post.
What is the Third Level?
It isn't what you think it is.
Traditional left-brain Greek mentality thinking imagines a series of 3 steps going higher and higher. So ofcourse this is offensive because if you claim to be "on the third-level" you are putting yourself above someone else.
Surprisingly and gob-smackingly it is none of this. In a moment I'll give the parable picture. But now I will give some examples.
Ursula describes in her School of Prophecy post being caught up to heaven. So there you are with the Director of all directors, the One who has knowledge of the end from the beginning. You must surely be in for some deep spiritual revelation to confound all others. This surely is a Third-level meeting. Well it confounds others all right. Jesus whirrs you round in His arms. Hugs you. Looks full in your face. Beams with love!!! That's the third-level. I'm so sorry to disappoint the theologians!
Now if this was a freak one-off occurrence you could put this down to Ursula not being quite up to the deep things of God ,so this was Jesus humouring her. But no....
When Roberts Liardon went as a young boy, he was pretty impressed, because Jesus played splash with him in the River of Life. You know deep stuff like that.
When Jesse Duplantis went he described a carbon copy of many of the things Ursula saw, but Jesus was really keen to show him the house he'd had built for him. Jesus had rigged him up with a quadrangle with a fountain, and loads of 17th century type furniture, because he knew Jesse loves that stuff. Jesse said, "I can see you Jesus. I can see the Father. Um...I thought there were three of You? Where's......."
Jesus just looked at him. Jesus grinned. Jesse felt a bit embarrassed. "Oh ofcourse, He is on Earth, preparing the Bride!!!! What a nana I am? How could anyone be so stupid?"
Back on Earth now in revival. And that's what the third level is....it's continuous revival. What do you find?
You find Evan Roberts face down on the podium around 1905 and 6. Only getting up to say something as directed. Quite often he said nothing. And he was the acknowledged leader of the meeting! This is third level!!!
Or you read of Mel Tari , 60 years later. Just going around with a load of friends, being led to do miracles. Without title.Without name. Just lifting up the Name of Jesus. Just loving Jesus with all your heart, soul and strength.Just enjoying the ride.
This is third level.
Third level is what John Stevens writes on his blog about thin places. The wall between the 3rd heaven and here on earth appears to be paper thin.
After Evan Roberts, the Pentecostal movement was born...then some pressed onward into Apostles and prophets, and the Apostolic movement was born. But really , it was like a retreat, back from 3rd level stuff into a more humanly comfortable 2nd level. They couldn't go back to the 1st level, because having tasted the heavenly gifts....well who would ever want to go back that far? But nevertheless....all the "man-directed" junk reappeared. The labels. ...the superintendents..... the heirarchies. And running meetings in the raw effusion of the order of Melchizedek... well the Presence of God wasn't enough anymore!
Here's another third-level truth.
On the way into the tabernacle there are no steps.
In Anglicanism there are steps. You start as a curate. You become a vicar. Then you become a Bishop. Your ermine gets thicker!!! Your penguin costumes get more and more elaborate. You'd better believe there are steps!!! Bishops and vicars have to then perform this mental juggling act between what is read out in the scriptures in a 2 yearly cycle or whatever....so everything that Jesus says about becoming a servant etc.....has to be mentally squared up with the way Anglicanism is run! No wonder some of them have breakdowns! One of my friends has recently de-vicared!!!
Because the tabernacle has no steps...they are forbidden..."lest they show the shame of man's weakness"....the 3rd level or Holy of Holies is on the same level as anything else in the Tabernacle!!!
Here's another 3rdlevellism!!!
Every single human on Earth was taken into the bosom of the Father at the Cross - in Jesus.
The problem is ignorance. People don't know that!!
Every single Christian was born again in the 3rd Level...the Holy of Holies....when Jesus ascended into the heavenlies right into the Holiest Place. This is made clear in Ephesians 1 and 2.
But the god of this world has blinded our eyes. Now some have escaped into level 1. They know Jesus has forgiven them their sins. Some have escaped into level 2 and now manifest the spiritual gifts, lead people to Jesus, and build networks of 2nd levellers. But Juan Carlos Ortiz prophesied that there would come a time when everybody would be born again in the third level, the Holy of Holies....here on earth. The New Covenant...when everyone would know the Lord from the least to the greatest.
And the foretaste of that was Florida last year!!! It wasn't just the Todd Bentley show. Nicholas and Pam were there. Peter Stott was there. Leaders from Southampton and Chichester were there. Basil De Souza came back so zapped...while he was preaching he looked at somebody in India and they were levitated to the ceiling in the glory, such was the Fire of God coming out from his eyes.
The doors of the 3rd level were ajar!!! It was the "Jesus in His worldwide Body" show as televised by God Channel!
But let me explain again what this blog is about.
Suppose the Father gives you a bike. And while enveloping you in His arms, you're sitting on the bike enjoying balancing. And each meeting He gets the bike out, and because He is there holding you very firmly, you are able to balance while the bike is stationary.
Well after several meetings would you not be saying to the Father..."I'm getting a bit frustrated, because you gave me this bike, and you are getting me on it every meeting...but when do I get to actually ride it myself and learn to balance on my own?"
"No. No son. This bike is only for Josh Mills meetings with the gold dust. It won't work out on the roads!!"
Well ofcourse that's silly. And that's the point of this blog. This blog is saying that 3rd level Christianity is precisely that. It's taking Christ in your form, as you...and living him out on the road. Learning to balance the bike yourself. And the glory of this Jesus life is that it works!!!
By faith. By His grace. Not of our own works. But it genuinely is Him living our life. And we activate it as we activate anything by stepping out on His Word. By believing in our heart and by confessing with our mouth. Like Dan who continually writes and says "Iam the righteousness of God in Christ!" Whew that's a powerful one!
But that's not the parable.
It's in answer to this question that has been buzzing in my mind for months."If this 3rd level thing has nothing to do with elitism...how on earth do I articulate that in left-brain words. How do I say I am exploring the 3rd level without it sounding really like I'm saying I am something special."
Well I believe this is one of those nuggets that Jesus has breathed Himself. It's like this.
Three dimensions.
Physicists say a single point is a singularity. Imagine an infinitely small dot having no height, no width and no breadth. Add one dimension. Width. So you can now go from point A to another point B on the horizon but only in one line. Better than being stationary isn't it? Are you superior because you are making for point B, though you haven't arrived? No. No more superior than a person simply getting on a train. It's just something you do.
But supposing the place you want to reach is way over to the left and nowhere near where the A to B train is going. Well you could always use a car. A car moves in 2 dimensions. You can turn left and right.
Are you more superior because you use a car? Well Jeremy Clarkson says you are. But in reality it is just another tool that gives us slightly greater flexibility. But we're not saying we've arrived.
We're on our way. But in 2 dimensions.
Supposing we want to mend the space station which keeps breaking down. We're going to have to move in 3 dimensions. A rocket or rocket plane.
Have we arrived? Are we superior? No it's just a tool which has more manoeverability to allow us to move in three dimensions. Up as well as across and straight ahead.
This dimension parable picture is brilliant for another reason. It shows how a person can be born again in the third level but still has to go through all the growth stages. Something I couldn't quite get my head round, though I knew from Florida last year was true. All we are saying is that a third level seed of three dimensional Divine Life has been placed into a believer's spirit. That seed is perfect. Can't be improved on. Contains everything within it that the believer will ever need...."the Fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells within My Lord...etc...and we are complete in Him." But the 3 dimensional seed still has to grow
OUT
IN THREE DIMENSIONS.
But at least it is 3 dimensional seed.... not one or 2 dimensional seed that we've been preaching for nearly 2000 years...and getting only one or two dimensional results!!!!........meanwhile, where was I?
Ah yes....So any talk of 3rd level as having arrived...well Paul just said...I press on to know the power of His resurrection that if at all possible I may attain to the resurrection of the dead...Phew...to even be thinking like that.
Mind you this was the man, who having been stoned,left for dead, was prayed for by the brethren, gets up, and without even a cup of tea says..."Right, next town then!!!" It always reminds me of the Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who loses all his limbs and fights on.
All third level is , is simply the revelation you need to get you out of that meeting room, away from those praise CDs, away from the prayer closet, away from 24/7 one hour prayer sessions
to a place where you start growing up into the Head
Fulltime
leaving meetings behind
but when you later go into them you turn them on their head
because you are a 3rdleveller
you live there.
You don't go to meetings so they can bless you.
You go to meetings so you can take them by the scruff of the neck and head them off in a 3rdlevel direction, before anyone knows what you are doing!
3rd level subversion...like Jesus walking to the front of a meeting reading Isaiah 61 then saying Today this is fulfilled amongst you.
Meanwhile a rabbi looks up, raises his thick eyebrows and says "Aherm! I don't remember that last sentence. Come again?What was that?"
Part of third level life is winding people up. I love the fact that by calling this blog "On to the 3rd Level"...tons of people stuck in their left-brains are thinking of Greek step mentality and that I am setting myself up as a super saint who has achieved step 3...and therefore hate this blog...
when really Ephesians says all of us have been caught up into the heavenlies and we operate now from there. 1st and 2nd levellers read these chapters out because they have to......but 3rd levellers are the only ones who dare to say
because this is TRUE we run our meetings this way. Today this is fulfilled before your very eyes!!!
Another 3rd levellism is that our God is not
The God of Abraham and Isaac.
For years we have effectively preached that.
Our God is
The God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob.
This is the generation of Jacob...those who seek the face of the God of Jacob..Ps24
AND LIVE!
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