Overcoming Evil God's Way

This is just a short post about a new book that I am reading. I found out about it from one of my favorite blogs written by Greg Boyd, a pastor in Minnesota. I ordered the book off the internet and started reading it today and am very excited to continue. What I am sensing just a couple chapters into the book is a person who seems to track very much along the same lines as I have felt led over the past few years. And while this author is a Mennonite by denomination I feel that he is very much led of God in his pursuit of truth, especially about the nature of God's government and how He relates to humans throughout all of history.

The book is called Overcoming Evil God's Way and is an explanation and exploration of the nonresistance beliefs long held and taught by Anabaptists since back during the Dark Ages in Europe. I find it interesting that the Anabaptists had influence in the beginnings of my own church back in the 1800's and that unfortunately we missed being shaped more by the influence of the insights I am finding in this book. But what I have seen so far is very consistent with the new revelations about God that I have been personally discovering in my own study and contemplation over the past few years.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about knowing more truth about God's character and wondering about how to reconcile the violence in the Old Testament with the example of Jesus in the New. While I have not gotten to that part of the book yet, based on the reviews that I have read so far I think I am going to be blessed by the study and clear thinking that seem to be the practice of this teacher. If you want to order a book for yourself, you can get it from the same place I ordered it at this address.

If you would like to read a good review about it you can visit this post at Greg Boyd's blog.

If you do get a copy of it I would be quite interested in your take on this book and would like to hear from you. Meanwhile, I will continue reading it myself.

Control or Authority?

Over the recent past I have become more and more uncomfortable with using the word “control” when referring to God's relationship to our lives and especially to what goes on in this world. Because of the implications intrinsic in the way in which this word is used it conveys popular misconceptions about God's character and fosters a great deal of hidden bitterness in the hearts of millions of people.

Nevertheless it is a very popular theme in much of Christianity. There are popular songs written to promote this belief, and if considered carefully one will come to realize that songs are one of the most powerful means of instilling beliefs that there is. A great deal of the beliefs of many Christians is derived from the theology in the songs that they listen to far more than in any personal study and examination of the Word of God for themselves. This is why so many errors can perpetuate for so long undetected because there is so little accountability to the virus-checking function of the Word of God.

This idea of insisting that God is in control is possibly one of the most widespread assumptions in Christianity. It seldom is challenged as it never occurs to most people that there should ever be any doubt about it to start with. But if they stopped to consider it much more carefully I think most people would soon come to realize that in their real heart they don't really want God to be in control nearly as much as they thought they did.

What I have observed is that people like to believe that God controls events and people's choices as long as this God controls things for the benefit of the person believing that idea. It is definitely part of the create-god-in-your-own-image syndrome. Since we are ourselves addicted to wanting power and control over others we tend to gravitate toward belief in a God who will reinforce our desires and punish those whom we think are not making things work out the way we want. However, when it comes to our lives being at odds with someone else's concept of God and their desire for God to control or punish us to come into alignment with their desires, we recoil with horror and label them as heretics or even dangerous terrorists.

Just think about the world conflicts and tensions brought about by the discrepancies between the typical Christian view of God and Islam's view of God. Most Christians tend to view Muslims as dangerous because they are often so militant and violent in their promotion of their religious views. But if you stop to think about it more carefully you would realize that Christian's desire for domination and promotion of their pet beliefs are not that different as far as the issue of control goes. Muslims simply believe in a God who is to be defended at all costs and unbelievers are to be eliminated. But deep down inside many Christians harbor similar beliefs and want to eliminate all those who don't agree with them by converting them or causing them to become powerless when they refuse to cooperate.

So it can be seen that both sides of this conflict subscribe to the notion that God must be in control and many times His human followers are eager to help Him be in control. Our ideas about religion are deeply infected with the poison of belief in the power of force and coercion if gentle persuasion does not have its intended effect. The history of the Dark Ages is filled with the results of this kind of thinking and it is not nearly as far away from us now as we might imagine. We still worship, to a great degree, the god of power and control.

But to suggest that God is not in control sounds at first like one of the greatest heresies that a person could suggest. I know that many recoil with horror at the first thought that maybe God is not in total control and are afraid to even discuss that possibility. But again, if we are willing to be honest and consider the implications of a controlling God seriously I think most people would come to loath the idea of a God in total control because in their heart they know that they despise such a God.

Cherishing a picture of a God who is in control also affects the way we relate to each other and especially those under our “control” such as our own children. I have personally been aware of unspeakable horrors perpetrated in the name of godly control in the home by husbands or mothers who have tragically mistaken views of what God is like. Outsiders look on these situations with total disgust and unbelievers jeer at such examples of religion gone awry. But if we were to be really honest we would see the seeds for similar potential in our own hearts of flesh and particularly found embedded in these notions of the need for control.

Control, as the way it is typically inferred, is in direct opposition to the concept of freedom that God has such passion about. We simply have very little concept of how important freedom is to the heart of God. This is because of the blindness brought on by our addictions to power, control and force that permeates nearly everything else we believe in our hearts. Because we pay little attention to what is really important to God and instead try to make God out to be the enforcer of what we think is important, we largely miss the ability to see things from God's perspective or value the things that God deems most important.

Our theology of a God in control has lead to a lot of tragic notions when it comes to times of grief and pain. Because of our mistaken ideas about control we come up with suppositions and theories that fly in the face of reason and end up sometimes doing more damage to the heart than healing. We think we are comforting someone who has just tragically lost a child by telling them that God is in control and wanted to take their baby to heaven to be with Him. But in reality we are enforcing a picture of God as a selfish being up in the sky jerking us around on a whim with little consideration for our feelings or needs.

Our belief of a God in control also leads to all sorts of other false ideas that are generally accepted by popular Christianity too numerous to enumerate here. It lies at the root of popular Evangelical notions about the physical, political nation of Israel being restored to a place of power and prominence in the last days. It sometimes figures prominently in our nationalism and patriotism and our penchant for confusing the desires of God for the desires of our politicians to control other nations in the world by force if necessary. We find ourselves frustrated when this God who is supposed to be in control doesn't seem to be utilizing His abilities and powers to control things the way we think He should and so we sometimes assume that He is waiting for some help from us.

Insisting on a God who is in control influences the way we conduct evangelism and infiltrates many of the beliefs and conclusions we arrive at even in our study of the Scriptures. This is not a new notion and all throughout history can be seen the ill effects of people desiring a God who is controlling – of course always on their behalf and not the other way around. When it comes to someone else's idea of God being in control and ourselves being on the controlled end of that exercise of force we suddenly shift gears and then insist that their God must be a false God and their religion is dangerous. We then tend to turn to our own notions of God and try to figure out how to help Him be more effective in staying in control. Thus all of religion becomes something of a power struggle between opposing belief systems about God all subscribing to the use of force to accomplish their domination.

But the real truth is that God has no interest whatsoever in being a controlling God and He never created our hearts to thrive in such an environment. The whole problem of sin did not catch God by surprise and He has not needed to change tactics or His character to deal with this problem that has infected the universe. What He is about is working in and around and behind all things to bring us to a clearer revelation of the real truth about Himself and the truth about His feelings about us so that our hearts will be won back to allegiance to Him without any force or coercion. For the use of force is an element introduced by the enemy of all righteousness and has absolutely no place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So if it is considered that maybe God is not in control in the way we usually think of control, then what relationship does He have over events in this world and our daily lives? As frightening as this scenario is for some to consider, if it is potentially true enough to examine then what is the alternative belief that will replace our penchant for believing in a God who is in total control? And how could we even come to appreciate the superiority of a God who does not control?

The real crux of this issue is the incredible respect and value that God places on the freedom of the intelligent mind and heart and will of every individual that He has created throughout all His vast universe. The real problem that He has to deal with in overcoming sin in the universe is not bad behavior but maintaining respect for the rights of freedom that every person has to not love. Yes, that's right, the freedom not to love. For love by its very nature is impossible to coerce, for the moment that force or coercion is introduced then any love that was ever present in the heart of the individual instantly evaporates and fear takes its place.

You see, God only accepts the service of true love and nothing less than this will ever satisfy His desires for any of His children. Love by its very nature must come from a heart free to not love or it is something other than love. If one stops to think about it carefully, our own hearts crave to be loved with this kind of unconditional love ourselves because that is just how we were designed – in the image of God. So to employ any amount of force precludes the very existence of real love and any imitation of love simply does not satisfy the heart the way real love can and must do.

So for us to live throughout eternity in the presence of a perfect God who is Himself the very embodiment of love we must be restored to a state of perfect freedom fostering spontaneous love based on genuine appreciation for the love that God has for us – for love cannot be based on fear. This is made explicitly clear in 1 John. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

If we were not designed to be controlled or to control others through the use of force or punishments, then what motivation is left to obey God? This is a very frightened question that often comes up into the minds of many who have been “serving” God from a basis of fear for all of their lives. They honestly believe that if we are not afraid enough of a God who waits to inflict dire punishments upon any who dares to cross His will that there would be no incentive left to obey Him and everyone would suddenly fall helplessly into the arms of temptation and would follow every evil desire of their heart. And that is true in the absence of a knowledge of the real truth about God and His passionate love for us.

But “obedience” based on fear of punishment is also based on selfishness at its root, and selfishness can never produce true love. This is why, when properly understood, God, in fact, never punishes the wicked directly in spite of what we assume the Bible teaches. Yes, God has used human language and adaptations to convey His warnings to us that make it appear that He uses threats and punishment to coerce obedience. But when we pull the veil back and we see more clearly into the real workings of God's heart, it will be seen that God is simply respecting our choices and allowing His protection to be removed from our lives in response to our insistent rebellion against Him and the natural consequences of sin take their course.

One thing must become very clear in our thinking, and the sooner the better. It is SIN that kills, NOT GOD. God is the Source and Author of all life and God does not go around conflicted with Himself. Death is not a punishment dealt out to anyone who refuses to pretend to love a God who threatens them with punishment if they don't love Him. Death is simply what happens to a person who refuses to align themselves with the only Source of life that exists.

So if control is actually a counterfeit, then what is the legitimate principle that it is counterfeiting? The bottom line issue at stake that we must relate to in this most important arena of our life is authority. And there is something quite interesting about authority that is often overlooked; authority must be given or ceded to someone, it is not something demanded or imposed on them. Authority is a choice made by the person living under authority, not something coerced on others against their will.

Our sinful hearts have all of our lives lived under the authority of Satan, the archenemy of God instead of choosing to make God the rightful authority for our lives. But since authority (along with love) cannot be forced on us by God, then if we are ever to experience the reality of salvation that He has provided for us, we must choose to come under His authority in response to a knowledge of His real love and kindness and compassion for us. Fear does not inspire love and God never attempts to do what our heart was not designed to do. It is only by love that love can be awakened and it is only by respect and love for the real truth about God that we will be attracted and drawn to cede authority over our hearts and lives to a God who genuinely cares for our heart no matter how good or bad our performance may be.

So the real truth about control is that it is actually a very convincing counterfeit of true authority and has become very confused in the minds of nearly everyone in this world. Subsequently we have projected these mistaken views of authority and control onto our beliefs about God and tend to view His actions toward us in the light of our own ideas about obedience and authority instead of the truth as it is in Jesus. We need to engage in a much more careful study of His Word and His dealings with His created beings all throughout the whole conflict brought about by Lucifer's rebellion and see more clearly the true heart of the Father.

If I want to know God and experience the power of His transforming love in my life, I must be drawn to Him by fresh revelations about Him to the place where I will freely choose to make Him the ultimate authority of my life above my own selfish desires that clamor for control. God will never offer to control me against my will, but He does offer to transform me so thoroughly through the presence of His indwelling Spirit and the influence of His kindness that I can become a loyal servant filled with the real joy of love to the One who loves me beyond all comprehension. I will become so glued at the heart level in my attachment to His heart that it can only be described in human terms as a love-slave, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. This is how many of the apostles came to see themselves and they enjoyed using this term to describe their emotions about their relationship with God. And this is the kind of relationship that I crave to experience much more fully as I get closer and closer to knowing the real truth about God.

Spirit Principles for Healing

I recently had a discussion with one of my sisters about forgiveness. I was explaining how forgiveness is very different from what most of us have assumed it is most of our life. After I described my new perception of this I have learned in the past few years, she said it sounded a lot like something called Ho'oponopono. She sent me some web links describing this theory and I found them quite fascinating.

Even though this has very strong New Age elements mixed in with it, it also appears to have some strong threads of real truth that are not yet clear to most Christians. In short, it focuses on looking within one's self to connect and resolve the evil within that resonates with other peoples sins to accomplish healing in someone else vicariously, even without their permission or knowledge.

The normal skepticism which this kind of thinking usually produces in reactive Christians alerts me to my own weakness toward criticism which produces bitterness in my spirit. I am trying to move the other direction, away from continued infections of bitterness, so I want to remain open-minded about this and try to see it from God's perspective while not immersing myself into potential deception. Since I do not have the wisdom to know what may be enchanted ground I need to stay very close to God and listen to the guidance of His Spirit in this matter. At the same time, I do not want to be deceived by the spirit of pride and fear that will demand that I only believe what has already been established in religious circles as truth and can be easily proof-texted.

What I am seeing is a strong parallel to the largely misunderstood principle of intercessory prayer. I believe very few people have much of any understanding at all of the principles behind this practice and because of that most of religion is largely powerless today. But I also sense a drawing of the Spirit to look deeper into this issue and suspend the natural skepticism that tends to surface that discredits anything I do not already understand or believe. I believe that there could be enormous potential to radically change the world around us in unexpected ways if we would be willing to grasp a knowledge of unused “laws” or principles of truth that are mostly underutilized up to this point. And just because these principles are demonstrated by those who have false notions about God or spirituality does not mean that this truth is somehow tainted and useless for Christians to employ.

I sense that there are supernatural principles that can be highly effective and that God desires us to tap into that we are largely afraid to approach because possibly other religions have utilized them and packaged them in false contexts. Just because New Age and Eastern religions have false notions about God and our relationship to Him does not mean that they may not have better understanding of certain principles of spirituality that are effective even in the context of error. A counterfeit always betrays the fact that there is a true that is likely even more powerful and effective if placed in the context of other truths. This is seen all the time throughout the various Christian denominations and their partial teachings of true and false doctrines. Just because they have false views about certain things they refuse to acknowledge does not mean that the true things they teach and practice are no longer true or effective.

It is like this. If a person believes in gravity because it is so self-evident that it is hard to miss, but refuses to believe in the principles of aerodynamics, that person may never be able to fly. But that unbelief still does not discredit the principle of gravity that they also believe and obey. Just because they happen to believe that gravity overrules the possibility of flight does not make it so, it only deprives them of great potential for expansion of their life and possibilities.

Now if they start to open their mind and explore the possibilities that there may be other principles that at first seem contradictory to gravity, they may be viewed by people around them as heretics for questioning long-established beliefs and traditions. They may be viewed as trying to discount or tear down what is long-established and obvious truth and they may be marginalized and scorned and even persecuted for daring to question traditional truth. But in the end it will be seen that they are not really trying to overthrow the existence of the truth about gravity but are trying to think outside the box and discover other principles that up to that point were not nearly so self-evident to earth-bound creatures who had never soared above the earth.

In retrospect these radical thinkers who were considered dangerous renegades and rebellious heretics by many of their peers are viewed as pioneers or heroes of the faith. Isn't it strange how dramatically our opinions can change and how easily we forget the great resistance of society to these insistent questioners who refused to be satisfied with life and truth as perceived by the world around them. Because of this great change in perspective and our tendency to glamorize the lives of these free-thinkers, we set ourselves up to once again create another atmosphere of intimidation to anyone who wants to look into the possibility of yet more discoveries and insights. Our fear of change is usually greater than our hunger for growth.

At the same time, it is part of wisdom to not cast off all that has been learned in the past as irrelevant and no longer applicable. The laws of aerodynamics do not nullify or discount the law of gravity. The various laws are designed in creation to work together in perfect complimentary ways. And for those willing to experiment and take careful risks based on reasonable evidence and intuitions and an understanding of foundational principles of reality, it will be seen that all the “laws” of creation are designed to be in perfect and harmonious balance. The enormous powers set up in all the universe are delicately balanced, and when they are all obeyed and respected and utilized correctly life has nearly unlimited possibilities. It is when we flaunt some laws, either intentionally or ignorantly, that other natural laws become unbalanced and negative results naturally ensue.

These negative results to ignoring certain principles and thus throwing the powers that make up reality as we know it out of balance is the effects of what we call sin. These effects are often viewed incorrectly as punishments. Sin is at its core trying to define reality in ways that are not accurate which inevitably will unbalance the natural powers of true reality that was established by God in His creation of all things. Just as trying to jump off a high cliff in faith that somehow faith itself will cause me to fly will not suspend the law of gravity no matter how much I believe otherwise. What I need to “overcome” gravity is not a suspension of the law of gravity but a knowledge and proper application of other forces that work in cooperation with gravity to produce safe flight. Successful flight is learning to perfectly balance all of the principles that seem to oppose each other but are actually meant to make life more exciting and thrilling and wholesome.

The very same principle is true in spiritual matters. The realm of the spirit is not separate and disconnected from the physical realm as many try to insinuate. Spiritual realities are not fictional or inventions of our emotions as many people have come to assume, though much of organized religion does fit this description. Spiritual things simply mean that they primarily relate to things of the spirit, both our spirit and spirits that we term supernatural. We call them supernatural because we don't understand them very well and are largely unaware of the principles or “laws” that govern that part of our existence that parallels the more obvious (to us) principles in existence that govern our physical realm.

Many people refuse to even believe that they have a spirit, or if they do they have little accurate knowledge as to how it operates or how they are to relate to it correctly. I know for myself that I was consciously oblivious to the existence of my own spirit until a few years ago when someone systematically explained it from the Bible in a lecture and I was very surprised to realize that it was true. From that point on I began to focus more attention on trying to become aware of my own spirit and trying to learn to detect what it was doing or feeling or whatever it does. Over the years my awareness of my own spirit has increased, though I know I am only just beginning. But in the process I have also realized that my spirit is the primary receiver for communications from God to my heart and I have been immensely handicapped all of my life because of my ignorance about my own spirit.

Unfortunately we have come to idolize science so much that we are very reluctant to believe anything that cannot be proven scientifically. But science has been deliberately restricted to the physical realm of existence and usually is only considered credible if it never goes beyond that boundary. But just because we have artificially created a very small box around what we allow science to work on does not mean there is no other arena of existence. And even more important, the methods of skepticism that underly most of science to discover truth are themselves a hindrance to understanding the things of the spirit. We too often turn science into a false god that we worship and depend on as our source for truth.

Most importantly though, if we try to learn anything, whether in science or in spiritual things without a proper perspective of what constitutes reality we are destined to always arrive at false conclusions just because we are basing our assumptions on false premises to start with. If in problem solving you allow a false assumption to become part of the foundation for the reasoning used to arrive at your conclusions, the conclusions will always be unsteady due to the weakness of the error underlying everything else. This is why it is so important to be willing to constantly challenge and reexamine our foundations and ferret out the weakness and faulty assumptions from our past and replace them with more stable truths that interlock more perfectly with all other truths. Truth is never afraid of repeated and intense examination. It only becomes stronger from the experience.

But if we try to maintain that truth is only what we can perceive with our own reasoning or from scientific methods of discovery, then we cut ourselves off from the only Source of real truth who is the God who set everything up to start with. If we do not have a healthy understanding of the bigger picture of the creation of the universe and the great Battle that is going on between God and ex-Lucifer, then we will inevitably have false assumptions integrated into the foundations of our philosophy of existence and we will be very unstable when true reality becomes more obvious.

Speaking of examining my foundation – I read a devotional this morning that exposed a whole nest of hot-buttons in my own foundation I had completely forgotten about. It seems that the more aware and willing I am to face and resolve my roots of bitterness the more God is beginning to show me places where those roots are attached deep within my memories. As I read the words that used to be an enforced part of my life in my early years I literally felt a ball of cold heat in the center of my chest. I became aware that this was one of the pockets that may have been linked with much of my early rebellion that still lies latent within my soul needing to be healed. But the healing is going to have to be accomplished using quite different methods than the confrontational, forceful methods attempted by my father and my teachers back then.

Is uncovering this pocket of pain and emotional cancer setting me free from it instantly? No, not really. But I am very glad to have it exposed and I immediately prayed for God to expose it even more thoroughly and bring healing and truth to this painful pocket of bitterness in my past. I was completely unaware that this place in me even existed until I read this this morning that made me aware of it. I know that this is the kind of thing that is becoming more common for me – a God-arranged encounter with my past that gives me opportunity to have more healing and more repair to my inner circuits to prepare me for what is ahead.

The second devotional book I read also stimulated my thinking and gave me better insights on certain things I have been discovering over the past few years. It talked about the seal of God and discussed several applications of how the word seal is applied in Scriptures. What occurred to me was the exciting fact that in preparation for the final exposure to the glory of God, it is critical that I be sealed with a perfectly cleansed atmosphere inside like a light bulb is sealed with an internal vacuum so that when the power is applied I will be able to glow perfectly with glory and not burn out quickly. That gives me a whole new view of the sealing referred to in the book of Revelation.

Miracles for Launching

Stories of miracles and personally experienced miracles may be only the ground-based apparatus that is designed to launch us into the realm of living a life in joyful flight through the air. The enormous thrill that one can experience in uninhibited, unencumbered flight, soaring and swooping through the air with the new-found ability to see things from a far greater perspective and to rise high above all problems and confusion is the experience that God desires for us to live in as being normal. But fear keeps most of us grounded and satisfied with simply walking around slowly in our extremely limited little world, thinking that this is all there is to life.

The difference between living life limited by our assumptions about the restrictions of gravity stuck on the surface of the land, and living the abundant, thrilling life of soaring flight that enables us to rise above the depressing clouds of doubt and fear into the sunshine of glory and love and true freedom – this difference is analogous to living life trapped in the world's way of thinking and reasoning and heaven's reality of freedom, joy and love.

Too many times I suspect that we believe that our version of Christianity has opened up to us most of the basic insights and experiences that we will ever need to know. Oh, we believe that throughout eternity we will be adding to our database of knowledge, but somehow we often come to think that our understanding of what it means to be a Christian and to live life in righteousness is sometimes pretty much outlined in our thinking now and we become very resistant to anything that challenges our narrow paradigms.

Some of us also tend to hanker toward wanting to see miracles of some kind in our lives, though many times this desire is held in secret. If we are really honest about this I think we would notice that we like to use miracles to justify our insistence that our system of doctrines and standards are the right ones. Of course we then have to rationalize that if other people are experiencing miracles who do not believe like we do that their miracles must likely be counterfeit and are therefore from the enemy. Or we may move toward an attitude of apathy about miracles because of the obvious problems they raise about who's beliefs they are used to justify.

While it is very true that miracles can originate from both God and from His enemy Satan who uses them to deceive many into believing his false ideas, I think we have some other general misconceptions about miracles that tend to confuse and mislead all of us.

It has been observed by many that it seems to be a pattern in the lives of some Christians that early in their experience they sometimes see many more miracles than they do later in their walk with God. This pattern also seems to fit evangelism in certain regions of the world. Whole groups of people sometimes experience many miracles in their midst when missionaries first begin working with them bringing light and truth about God into their darkened cultures. But the more mature and settled they become in living life in the truth it seems that the cutting edge miracles tend to taper off or may be replaced with counterfeit miracles designed to draw them away from the truth. This tends to work most effectively for those who have become addicted to miracles.

Miracles themselves are generally considered to be events, healings and interventions that cannot be explained through natural means and are thus considered supernatural. I certainly believe that miracles are often supernatural, though not always. I also believe that miracles are very much within the bounds of natural laws of nature but laws at are now still beyond our awareness. A thoughtful person will realize that there are still yet many aspects and principles about the physical world that we have yet to know about, and so anything that operates outside of our present understandings but still within the principles we do not yet understand is generally considered a miracle or an unexplained phenomenon.

But what is the purpose of genuine miracles performed by God in our lives? I suppose there may be many answers to that question that could all be correct. But one thing I am sensing is that one of the main reasons for true miracles is to radically challenge our paradigms and stimulate us into viewing God in a totally different light than we have before. In fact, that may be one of the most important reasons for every genuine miracle. That might also help to explain the reasons for counterfeit miraculous events because they will be designed to convey or reinforce false ideas about God to keep us confused and distant from Him.

One way they accomplish this is to feed into our addiction and lust for continuous miraculous signs that we falsely believe will motivate us or others to live righteously. This can be seen in the interaction between Jesus, one of the world's greatest miracle workers, and many in Israel who became more interested in His miracles than in the real message He had come to reveal to them about His Father. Jesus only performed miracles for the purpose of conveying truths about God that had been so buried that people had lost consciousness of them. Their perceptions of God were dark and foreboding and full of fear and intimidation. They saw God as something of a tyrant or as an unconcerned, apathetic onlooker to their suffering and pain Who chose to do nothing to help them. They did not believe God really cared about their hearts, their lives or their problems except maybe to make demands that only seemed to exacerbate their frustrations. Things are not any different today.

Jesus came to smash the world's paradigms about how God feels about us and relates to us. Jesus declared that He was a perfect demonstration of what God was like without any variation. And in that role He entered into a life of reaching out to people's hearts, identifying with their problems and pain and offering a radically different paradigm of God that aroused intense interest. But it also aroused equally intense bitterness, alarm and opposition by everyone who chose to resist His love. He exposed the fallacy of power and control people use as the means of attempting to live in successful relationships with each other. He exposed that most of our thinking and assumptions about life and about God were pretty much completely upside down from what is real. And He used many miracles to effect dramatic changes in the lives of those who chose to believe, even a little bit, in the message He had brought about how God wanted to relate to them.

But fallen human nature is insistent on living life oriented in the externals and so it soon became evident that many were becoming addicted to the emotional rush and excitement of seeing miracles and were desiring that “high” more than they were willing to believe the truth about the God who was performing these miracles. The very things that God was trying to use to launch them into a completely different way of thinking and living – a way of life analogous to flying freely through the air and soaring high above the clouds – these miracles were becoming objects of attention and focus more than the loving Father who was providing these miracles.

God ways are always being subverted by Satan to become means of distorting our picture of God and thus believing lies about Him circulated by the father of lies. Everything that God tries to do or has put into place to reveal the real truth about Him is counterfeited by Satan so subtly as to make these falsehoods look legitimate and to convince us that God is not as good as He claims to be. The counterfeits are designed to appeal to the externalistic focus of our fallen natures and to make false gods out of many of the things God has provided to point us toward Himself. In this way miracles too, can become a kind of false god that we crave and come to worship instead of allowing them to launch us into the air and begin to live a life of trust and faith in the character of God. I believe this may help explain why God tends to use more miracles early in the experience of some Christians and not as many later on.

Consider a glider aircraft that needs to be launched into the air in a very small area too small to accommodate a runway for it to take off on. Suppose that something like a giant rubber band or other such launching apparatus was arranged to aim the glider upward and propel it up away from the earth giving it time and speed to begin to interact with the atmosphere in ways that enabled it to fly.

Now suppose that the glider somehow decides that the launching apparatus is more to be desired than flying freely through the sky. Maybe the glider is afraid of heights or of the clouds that shadow its visibility of the sun. What would happen if the glider decided to stay attached to the launching apparatus and refused to disconnect from it after being launched? Well, it would then look more like inverse bungy-jumping than it would soaring through the air with the greatest of ease. And ultimately the end results would look something very much like death and destruction.

I think we should not be afraid of miracles or be eager to discredit them. At the same time I believe that we need to shift our focus from the immediate pleasure and joy that we experience in either personal miracles experienced or in hearing about the miracles of others and seek to find out the real reason why these miracles were given. Instead of becoming addicted to stories and experiences of the miraculous, we need to learn how to go far past them and live life in the spirit realm with the Spirit of God beneath our wings. We must allow ourselves to be launched into the real truth about the character and feelings of God and enter into the thrill of personal, intimate fellowship with Him in the joy of flying.

So here's a sound-bite for another analogy that might possibly be developed. Are the wings that keep us airborne called faith and hope and is the fuel for our aircraft love?

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Revivals

I woke up just after 2:30 with the alarming thought that the false revivals in the last days will not only be that of emotionalism and false doctrines, but that the even more deceptive false revivals will look very pious and religious and fervent, but very much filled with the intensity of legalism that I grew up with. That will make it extremely difficult to resist because it will focus on perfection of character, Godliness, holy living and strict adherence to the standards of righteousness. These things are impossible to argue against without placing one's self on the wrong side of the logic from the get-go. So it will be assumed by default that this kind of revival is the true one as opposed to any other thinking or activity going on. This is the counterfeit that will be so convincing and compelling because it appears to have all its ducks in the right order and is enjoying the power of heaven.

This will be presented to be in contrast to other false revivals where there is much display and focus on emotions, feelings and outward attractions and entertainment. Even today both of these camps tend to point to the other as the justification for what they choose to focus on and both use the Bible to defend their positions. Anyone not agreeing with their viewpoint is considered in the enemy camp and is likely outside of salvation. This logic is all too familiar to me, but what is very unfamiliar is what the real revival will look like.

I sense that God is slowly trying to get me to become familiar with the true attributes of the genuine revival so that I will not be deceived and distracted by compelling counterfeits or when it is time to embrace it fully. But even more and beyond knowing some of the subtle differences between the true and the false, I must have the right spirit within me and most of all a right concept of God or there will be no way that I can avoid deception from one side or the other. Both sides specialize in focusing on one assumed side of God's attributes while discounting other's which is why both sides are so dangerously unbalanced. But the true is not a mingling of the right percentages of both sides to achieve equilibrium, the true is going to be, I believe, something of a completely new nature that is not easily defined with the measurements we are used to using.

We have always gaged the truth of a belief system or a group's experience by almost exclusively measuring the externals with what we believe we see in the Bible. That is not all wrong or bad but because it is so filtered through our pre-conceived paradigms and cultural prejudices and because we usually don't have enough of the sweet Spirit of Jesus and a right picture of God in our hearts, we end up judging by our own internal standards instead of allowing judgment to take place spontaneously by waiting for the natural exposure that always occurs when God shows up.

There is simply no way we can accurately judge anyone or any revival without first having major corrections to our perceptions of what God is like. The nature of any revival will simply reflect the beliefs about God that are held in the minds and hearts of those indulging in whatever style of revival endorses those beliefs. If we want to believe in a permissive God that is tolerant of sin in our lives and willing to indulge us for eternity half-perfected or coerced into perfection, then we will focus on doing whatever we can to excite our emotions through any means possible to create the God we want to worship.

If, on the other hand, we believe in a stern God who is very demanding, exacting and unpredictably sometimes harsh and that we are certain is someday going to run out of patience with sinners and exact revenge on them in terrible assaults of pain and torture to satisfy His justice, then we will promote fear and dread as the best motivations to whip up emotions to cause conformity and control among ourselves in the name of inducing perfection at any cost. We will dwell on the terrors of the last days as a means of frightening ourselves and those around us away from any displays of emotion and will cultivate a paranoia against anything that makes us feel too good so that we can avoid becoming tainted with the deceptions of the other camp. Our joy will be forced, our unity dictated and manipulated and our enthusiasm will be mingled with a fervor for fear and foreboding. We will necessarily use redefined religious words so that they fit nicely with what we are experiencing.

Of course, we will not know we are redefining our words because we have been doing that all of our lives already. Anyone who dares challenge our assumed meanings for words or texts will be viewed with deep suspicion at best and considered a threat to our purity and unity. Emotions too, will be considered a threat that must be repulsed and stifled at all cost so that we can perfect ourselves into the stern image of the God that we have created and worship.

Both of these camps contain much truth that has been argued endlessly for centuries against each other. But both camps also have left out important understandings about the true nature of God that has left them inadequate to bring about the kind of transformations that God intends to accomplish in the real revival and refreshing that He is going to bring. But to achieve justification for their beliefs about God each side will become more and more adamant and even militant in their defense and promotion of their views in antagonism against the other until the animosity on both sides breaks into war. But ironically both sides share many of the same lies about God's character and personality that keep them entrenched in a blindness that will prevent them from entering into real grace if they are unwilling to reconsider their fundamental assumptions and paradigms and allow God to reveal the real truth about Himself, addressing the deepest longings of their hearts.

What is certainly not so clear to me at this point is what the true revival will look like. I sense that some vague truths and important points are starting to emerge in my heart and mind but since it has so seldom been observed in this world there is very little to measure it against. But there are a few things that I am starting to feel more aware of that I believe will be hallmarks of a true revival.

For one thing, there will be much more focus in the lives of anyone involved in true revival on the glory of God rather than on their own feelings, beliefs or even perfection. I believe that a true follower of Jesus will realize acutely that they are only a mirror and as such there is no way they can ever for one second live in righteousness without constant reception and reflection of a true picture of God. One of the fateful flaws that I think is emerging in the conservative camp is the belief that someday we will have to live in a self-contained perfection developed through hard, stern struggles against external sin in our life until we have repressed all our evil desires enough to eliminate or at least consistently control them. They believe we will be required to live for a period of time on our own perfection because it has been clearly stated that our Intercessor will no longer intercede for us in the presence of the Father and we will have to live in a perfection and holiness without Him making up the differences between our righteousness and His.

While there is technically some truth in this belief, again it engenders a spirit of self-dependence and fear and much self-focus. It does not recognize that we are only mirrors but somehow believes that for a period of time we have to be originators of righteousness, even if we believe that we achieved it with help from God. With this spirit we are compelled to work very hard on outward perfection of appearances and strict control of our emotions and thoughts so as to please a very demanding, strict God who is waiting for a people to perfect themselves so He can take them to heaven. Since sin is viewed as external violations of rules and laws, then to eliminate sin from our lives means much striving to conform ourselves to the most strict understandings of that law. Of course to try to accommodate much in the Bible that indicates other facets of grace we are taught that we must utilize God's help and power in some way or other to accomplish this task. But the primary focus is always on perfection of behavior, speech and strict thought control. The intensity and fervor with which this is carried out will appear to be how much we are experiencing revival.

But I believe that true revival will be found in those who realize the futility of going about trying to establish their own righteousness, even with a lot of help from God, and spend their energy and attention deepening their hearts into an intimate relationship with God's heart and constantly learning more and more truth about His goodness, His faithfulness, His kindness that leads them to repentance, etc. And as they focus more and more exclusively on God and the true glory of God becomes more and more evident to their hearts, they will simply reflect that glory in natural and spontaneous outflows of righteous living that will surprise even themselves if they can even see it. They will not be obsessed with their own perfection nearly as much as they will become totally enamored with the perfection of the beauty and attractiveness of God.

Because they are not self-focused, either on attempting to perfect their outward behavior or to look to emotionalism to satisfy their deepest cravings, they will be free to enjoy the intense emotions of God without fear or guilt or shame, at least from Him. They will be entering into a whole new dimension of living and reality that will appear to be rigid and law-based by the one camp and dangerously emotional and fanatical by the other camp.

But they will not achieve this by working hard to change their life or by entertaining themselves into bliss, but by unlocking every compartment of their hearts and minds to the refreshing, cleansing, life-giving presence of the One who loves them with a passion they have never imagined before. Their fears, shame and pain will be swallowed up in fresh revelations of His love, forgiveness and purity. They will learn to be led by the true Spirit and will live with God's real presence burning like a fire in their bones. They will begin tasting what it really means to enter into the joy of the Lord.

Father, I am only scratching the surface of what I think You have in store for us. I feel that I have only vague inklings of what a true revival is going to be, but I want to be a part of it. Please keep me from deceptions both on the right and the left of what You want me to truly experience. I want to enter into the genuine joy that You created my heart to experience and I don't want to settle for any cheap imitations or be intimidated by any fear-based theology that demands conformance. I choose to keep looking to You for a transformation of heart instead of being squeezed into someone's mold. I want to be freed from all the fears and lies and triggers that are embedded in my heart instead of masking them over with pleasure or denial. Fill me with Your light of love and truth today.

Please give me glasses made in heaven so I can see reality and others around me the way You do. Please give me hearing aids manufactured by angels so that I can more clearly hear Your still, small voice on a continual basis. Please sensitize my fingers, my lips – all of my senses to feel what You feel, to sense what You value and to become more alive with the abundant life that You promised to give to me. Fill me with Your sweetness, fresh revelations of Your goodness and more capacity to appreciate Your perfect kindness. Help me to realize the danger of denying the truth about You and the fatal consequences of unwillingness to be brought into perfect synchronization with Your heart, not because you will punish me but because it is inevitable from close encounters with You. I choose to allow You to align me with the powerful forces of life through submission to Your loving discipline and mentoring. Make me one of Your successful experiments of grace for Your reputation's sake.

Trusting in Fear

This is a collection of a number of thoughts I have had over the last few hours. I woke up at 2:30 this morning wide awake and decided that it must be an invitation to meditate and commune with God. The effect of my varied thoughts was fitting many of the pieces together that I have been learning lately into cooperating with the way God does things in stark contrast to how we usually perceive that He does things.

We are addicted to coercion and force. God never uses these things. That is very baffling to us and almost incomprehensible. But it is essential to accept this truth if we are to become free of the roots of bitterness.

My thoughts had been stirred up last night by reading an email from a person who I believe to be very close to God and living a life of faith. I was a little surprised to find that he was utilizing the teachings of another person who, upon investigation into his web site, is promoting some of the favorite topics used by radical, right-wing conservatives to induce fear in people. I was disappointed because, even though I believe in the importance of relaying warnings from God, I don't believe that reinforcing those warnings with larger and larger doses of fear is God's desire. It is mixing in ingredients from the enemy of God that dilutes the real truth about God.

It is far too easy to indulge in fault-finding instead of God-finding. Something I remember James Rafferty saying long ago comes back to my mind. We will never bring about the fall of Babylon by pointing out everything that is wrong with it. Babylon will collapse of itself when the real truth about God is revealed in all its glory. Then the deceptions and errors of Babylon will simply be revealed naturally in the light of the real truth about God and no one will be able to camouflage their lies any longer.

I know that it is very hard for me to shift my own paradigms from what is so familiar and is constantly reinforced by many around me to viewing things the way heaven processes them. But I also am confident that the song I am being taught in the dark, like the bird being instructed over and over with a certain whistle in the covered cage, I will be able to sing with confidence and harmony once the cover is removed and I am placed into position with many others who may presently being taught their own parts in the dark. I do feel somewhat isolated from the cacophony of opinions and arguments going on in the religious world right now and I consider that a wonderful blessing. I don't want those distractions to slow down the personal mentoring and paradigm realignment that needs to continue in my own heart and mind. I have enough distractions in my own small world right now that keep me occupied learning to resist them.

I need to keep my primary attention focused on learning God's ways more thoroughly right now. They are so different than what I am used to that it takes a long time for them to become more clear to me and settle deeper down into my subconsciousness where they can influence my reactions to circumstances.

God's ways are far more natural and consequence-based than man's ways. But grace is always present to prevent many consequences or we would not have opportunity to learn and grow.

A thought that came to me in the shower was about a possible 7-layer sequence of good-news, bad-news events in the history of the Great Controversy. Since seven is a perfect number it can denote the perfection of either good or evil depending on what assumption you start with. If you start out believing in the innate goodness of God and then cycle through the switch seven times you will end up with the last news being very good. If you start with the assumptions that there is a dark side to God or there are flaws in His governance like Lucifer inferred, then you will end up with bad news at the end and it will be very bad. There are many questions raised in the meantime but the most important thing to know is that what you start with is what will be perfected in the end.

I want all fear to be eliminated from my life, my conversation, my writing, and my thinking. God has not given us a spirit of fear and so it always must come from another source. I don't want any contaminating spirits from any other source infecting my mind with roots of bitterness. I already have far too many to dig up already.

I am still thinking about the effect on the spirit that dwelling on all the potential disasters coming soon has on us. I am not advocating living in ignorance about what is really going on in the world. But I believe there is a subtle deception that we are not aware of in somehow believing that if we just have the knowledge of what is going on in the darkness behind the scenes - like what the pope is up to, all the details of the latest conspiracies, what the government is about to spring on us, etc. – that somehow this knowledge will somehow empower us to escape. That is utter nonsense when flushed out into the light but why does it maintain such powerful influence over so many people? The solutions offered by most people who are promoting these inside scoops are even more absurd in light of the overwhelming power behind the forces preparing these disasters.

I am sensing more and more that the answers are fatally flawed because they depend on elements only found in that same view of reality. The fundamental assumptions that we hold about how relationships work in this world and what is real power derail us from discovering the only real way of escape offered by God. If we believe that God is going to use the tools of the enemy to fight the enemy we are already heading down the wrong road to finding an effective solution.

Babylon is all about force and deception and fear. If we employ those same tools in our explanations of God's plans for these times just ahead of us, we are contaminating and polluting the true nature of His ways and His character. We confuse ourselves about what is really going on and the true nature of the controversy. Man's ways are not God's ways – when are we ever going to believe that? God's ways are so radically different than what we extrapolate from most of our Bible study and from other sources that we continue to promote a false image of Him in our teachings and excited, urgent news bulletins.

It is time to begin pre-screening everything we publish or preach or teach through the filters of the real truth about God's nature and His unfailing love. We must radically rethink all of our end-time scenarios in the light of the absence of force and fear in the ways of God. I believe that the intensifying drumbeat of fear found in much of what is being promoted today by excited conservatives may actually play into the plans of the enemy. For his ultimate purpose to to entrap our minds and hearts in the atmosphere of fear which will create our greatest vulnerability to being overcome by his even greater fear.

Fear-bonding is highly effective for manipulating people for a time but it is also very unstable for healthy relationships. Fear-bonds used for allegiance are easily overcome (but often to our astonishment) by simply presenting the person with a greater fear to induce them to switch their allegiance. No amount of determination and will-power and good intentions have any real affect on these kinds of bonds. A person may be ever so certain that they will never waver in their determination to follow “the truth” whatever that means to them. But if they are depending on fear-bonds to keep them anchored when the testing time comes they will be caught off guard and will be blind-sided by overwhelming pressure that will easily change their whole perspective of reality. Fear-bonds may be powerful but they are not stable enough to get anyone successfully through the events about to crash into our lives. They are too rigid and stiff and as such are all too vulnerable to cracking and collapse.

That is also why Babylon will ultimately fall as well. Because Babylon is built as an empire founded on fear and deception, it too is vulnerable to collapse when that fear is reflected back to them in the image they have created in their ideas of God. Fear is not a reliable building material in our life and the sooner we quite depending on it and utilizing it the sooner God can build a safe fabric of protection around our hearts. Love (and joy in its true meaning) alone is the only antidote to fear. We have no business mingling fear and love in our presentations about God because we are distorting God's image in the hearts of those we are trying to save. Perfect love casts out fear.

I am afraid that maybe we are playing right into the enemy's hands when we use fear to motivate ourselves to prepare for the Second Coming. The purpose of Babylon is to teach people fear by any means possible and to weave it into the fabric of their lives. This reinforces the lies that keep us afraid of God, whatever they may be. If God's own people are presenting pictures of Him tainted with fear then they may in fact be simply pre-conditioning hearts in preparation for the greatest assault of fear this world has ever witnessed. By subscribing to the legitimacy of fear as a valid tool for getting people's attention and allegiance we may be inadvertently conditioning them to follow the path of fear wherever it leads them. If fear itself becomes our master, the thing we are trained to pay attention to, then we will follow it to places we never dreamed we would allow ourselves to go.

Someone recently commented that the most often repeated command in the Bible is to not fear, not be afraid. I have noticed this in my own study of the Bible over the past few years and it has caught my attention. If God repeats something that often it may be because it is so very important for us to understand and also because it is likely something we are not learning very well. We cling to the mistaken notion that we must have at least some fear to make our messages effective. It gets such immediate results and we quickly become addicted to its power to wield influence over others. We dress it up in religious clothes and justify its use by compiling many proof texts to support our assumptions. But none of these things change the fact that the spirit of fear never comes from God.

That is not to say that God will not allow fear to motivate people to move toward Him. God can use anything and anyone to coordinate circumstances and influence hearts to change direction if they are willing. But just because God uses things the devil does against him does not justify our employing those elements as correct representations of what God is really like. The closer we get to God in our character and thinking the more dangerous it is to mix into our thinking an element of the enemy. We must never pick up the weapons of the enemy to use against him. He invented those weapons and knows their potential and inner workings far more than we can ever know. If we choose to continue to use the enemy's weapons we will sooner or later be captured by those same weapons. Our only true safety is in keeping our minds and hearts aligned with the ways and heart of God.

When God delivers warnings it is very true that fear is usually produced as a result. We should not necessarily work to reduce this legitimate fear directly for it has the effect of dislodging our complacency and causing us to be ready to reconsider our assumptions. But only the Holy Spirit has the skill to know how to use this opportunity to turn hearts toward the real truth about God. We have no business trying to preempt the Holy Spirit and bring conviction or fear into people's hearts. Our primary business is to focus so clearly on the attractiveness and truths of God and the purity of His nature that fear will be melted away in the heat of His passionate love for all of His created beings.

I am coming to realize that the only way I can address the fears deeply embedded in my mind and heart about the coming end-time events is to obsessively focus on filling my mind and heart with more and more truth about God's glory. When God's glory fills the whole earth then Babylon will fall. And when God's glory really fills my own heart with the light and beauty of God, then the many lies and fears and excuses and resistance I have toward God will also melt away and Babylon will fall in my own heart.

Only when Babylon is conquered by the refreshing revelation of God's real character within myself will I be fit to take the battle to those around me using the same method. Truth exposes falsehood naturally just as light dispels darkness. You cannot get rid of darkness by describing it in detail or attempting to force it to leave. It simply melts away instantly when light is introduced. It works in the heart just as surely as it is going to work in all the world.

In Revelation 17 John is shown the great deceiving woman, the great whore representing false religion symbolically. John wonders at this woman, and this word also means to admire. The angel with him immediately asks him why he did this. This woman is shown to him riding on the back of a great beast which previously in Revelation 13 is described as the one the whole world wonders after. In essence John is feeling the same magnetic draw of awe and attraction that the rest of the world is overwhelmed with and I believe the angel's words are really warning John about the danger of even starting down that path of wonderment and fear.

If one examines the characteristics of this symbolic woman as well as the beast she ride on and is in close collusion with, it becomes clear that the primary means for gaining control over people's minds and hearts is fear, deception, lust and intimidation. Using these ingredients the power of this pair is irresistible unless one is internally divorced from indulging in the attractions the fallen heart has for these things. And the real fatal attraction that makes us vulnerable to them is the desire to use them ourselves. It is part of our fallen human nature and only the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in our heart can deliver us from this most alluring temptation.

Corporate Body

I just received a question in the comments for a recent post that I think is very good and needs careful consideration. This arises from my series of posts about my visit to a community of the 12 Tribes a number of days ago. I am not setting myself up as an authority here in answering this question but I feel a need to stimulate genuine thinking on the part of everyone including myself to pursue a clearer understanding of reality and what is true and healthy for us as well as what may be enslaving our minds and hearts while leading us to think we are God's chosen people.

First I would like to repeat the question here and my short answer that I left in the comments and then explore further what I feel impressed is some of the important issues raised here. The question from an anonymous reader was:

Do you think God will find a people willing to do His will? Not just scattered individuals, but a corporate body at His beck and call?

This is my posted answer:

I really appreciate your question and I think I would like to take a whole post to address it. In brief here is my belief about this. The biggest problem I have seen in every attempt to duplicate what is described about the church early in the book of Acts is the human interference and manipulation to achieve what only the Holy Spirit has the right and ability to do. I looked up the word "corporate" in dictionary.com just now and here are two definitions. 3. done by or characteristic of individuals acting together; "a joint identity"; "the collective mind"; "the corporate good" 4. organized and maintained as a legal corporation; "a special agency set up in corporate form"; "an incorporated town" Unfortunately the last definition is always closer to what churches and organizations designed by humans always end up being in an attempt to achieve the first definition. Will God find a people willing to do His will as a corporate body? My answer to that is completely conditional on the assumptions buried in the word corporate. Thank-you so much for helping me think about this more and I would love to dialog further about this with you if you are willing. I will write a post on this maybe even today.

Do I think God will find a people willing to do His will? Absolutely. But I will also preface that by insisting that in reality He will not find them – like as in discovering them or running across them somewhere – but will find them because His own Spirit drew them individually to Himself and they were willing to be drawn. The underlying assumptions are vastly different between thinking it is up to us to get ourselves ready and organize a special group so that God can accept us or believing that we are completely helpless to change or do anything as sinful humans unless God supplies all the desire and ability.

If God did not keep us artificially alive we could not even exist to even make any choices. Because we are born into a sinful human race we are disqualified technically from even deserving life at all. But because God is not as interested in technical pre-qualifications as He is in harmonious, love-bonded direct relationships with His children, He has demonstrated His mercy and grace and provided time for us to exercise the only thing we really own – our power of choice. Dependent on the ultimate settled choice that we make, we will either be transformed back into His image as we were originally created in Adam and Eve or we will be deformed into the image of God's enemy and suffer the tragic consequences that will be suffered in the end by Satan.

I think the danger always lies in thinking that somehow we have to perform what God has clearly indicated is only possible in Him. We artificially set up preconditions to salvation that were never God's idea or plan. We fail to realize that there is nothing we can ever do or say to get God to love us or to save us in heaven. Not understanding the real definition of the word salvation we inadvertently believe we have to establish our own righteousness (or at least a certain amount) before God is willing to save us. But an honest study of Paul's writings and the teachings of the Son of God will reveal that God is the one who only can transform us and eliminate sin from our lives. The only real thing we can do to facilitate that process of cleansing and renewal (which is what salvation really means) is to keep giving God permission to live in and motivate us from within our spirit.

One of the most misused texts in the Bible about this subject is misunderstood precisely because it is not viewed in the context of the even more important verse immediately following it. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

The second part of the question is something that I also want to carefully consider with an open mind as I hope each person thinking about this will also be willing to do. Will there be a corporate body of people willing to do His will?

As noted in my first response to this question, there is more than one definition of the word corporate and in that lies the real problem. Depending on which definition is assumed by the person making the statement, the answer could be a resounding yes or also a resounding no. I notice more and more that in trying to dialog with others about matters of importance that too much of our disagreements come about because the two parties are utilizing quite different definitions for the common words they are using in the discussion and that disparity creates a great deal of confusion, heated debate and sometimes even animosity. I find it necessary to sometimes make certain that it is understood what my words mean before I even make a statement so that an honest listener will have a better chance of knowing what I am really trying to convey.

Ultimately however, a common understanding or at least mutual respect, will only come about if the spirit of the people involved is of the right source. There can appear to be wonderful unity and agreement among a group of people who all subscribe to the same ideas or follow a common leader but the spirit that motivates them may not necessarily be of God. Conversely there may also be much disagreement between parties who are coming from different directions on some subject who strive to be understood or influence each other's opinions, but if they are willing to keep their own spirit within the sweet influence of God's true Spirit and pursue diligently an attitude of humility and love toward the other, the world will be astounded at the revelation of God that will emerge as the Holy Spirit brings about reconciliation and progressive harmony. The condition of our spirit is far more important and critical to true unity and fellowship than the correctness of our doctrines.

I wanted to visit all of that as a prerequisite for addressing this question about a corporate body because it has so much potential for controversy and alienation if not related to in the right spirit. What I want to say about this may appear to be wrong or antagonistic to some people but I believe that God will guide each of us who are willing to listen with a priority of staying in tune with His attitude.

Our beliefs about religion are always reflective of our preconceived pictures of God. If a person believes that God is one who is sitting up in heaven waiting for humans or some group of humans to get their act together before He can act, then it would be easy to see how we might believe that it is up to us to get the world prepared (whatever that happens to mean depending on which religious brand you subscribe to) so that He can return to earth. I understand that kind of mentality for I grew up in that kind of belief system, but I no longer feel confident in that kind of man-centered religion. One thing I have noticed is that all religions tend to focus attention on man and his performance more than on God and the real truth about His character. As a result we have all the millions of multiplied ideas and formulas about how to be saved as seen in the world today, most of which claim to be the exclusive truth and denying the rightness of all others.

Because of the egocentric nature of most religion it is only natural to follow that it is up to men to accomplish God's purposes here on earth. As a result we look at the words of God or the prophecies in the Bible and come to believe that to a great extent we are going to have to make them happen. Or we might take the stance that God forces His prophecies to take place even if He has to personally interfere with the natural flow of human history and activities to accomplish that. We have such a difficult time trusting that God could simply be relaying to humans through prophecy what He can see more plainly than we can predict what happened in our lives yesterday. God does not need to force into reality what He already knows will happen without His intervention. Our perceptions of God are amazingly puny.

But that is a little off the main point here. Will there be an actual group of people on earth that could be described as a corporate body acceptable to God? Again I would say a resounding yes given that we make this statement with the right underlying assumptions. Let me first be very explicit about what I believe is the real truth and then address my concerns about what I believe are false assumptions or misguided applications of this idea.

I firmly believe based on what I find in the Word of God and other inspired sources including the impressions of the Holy Spirit, that God is going to personally oversee the assembly of a corporate body of believers who have allowed the sweet Spirit of Jesus to so infiltrate their hearts and transform their minds that they will individually be directed and orchestrated by the Spirit of God to act in harmony and unity with all others who are also thus led. But most importantly I want to point out that this assembly of true disciples (those mentored directly by the Spirit of God) will not be following any human intermediaries claiming to speak for God. When we look to a human as our source for truth it is a direct assault on the freedom of conscience so fiercely protected and valued by our Creator. Anyone claiming to be an authority and a source of truth that others must conform to or be lost is attempting to usurp the place of the Holy Spirit and is really taking on the spirit of anti-Christ. No matter how convincing or appealing, persuasive or emotionally comforting they may be, no human has the right or authority to intimidate others or speak as God to the conscience of any other human being. To do so is to set one's self up as a false god. The first commandment clearly forbids having any other gods in our lives as a priority or influence other than Yahweh, the supreme God – no exceptions.

When I use the word corporate in relating to the body of Christ, I only use it as relating to the meaning as in: done by or characteristic of individuals acting together; "a joint identity"; "the collective mind"; "the corporate good". I even qualify this to add that all of this emanates from purely the coordination of the work of God's Spirit and not by any human devices, teachings or programs.

The counterfeit and the characteristics most widely seen in demonstrations of this is the other definition noted above: organized and maintained as a legal corporation; "a special agency set up in corporate form". This is the artificial human model of organization utilized by governments and societies for human-oriented purposes. Do you realize that in our country a corporation is also considered officially as a person? It is really only a fiction on paper but in the fictional world created by governments of men it holds great importance.

Since this man-controlled model is pretty much the only one seen on earth except on rare occasions, it is easy to see why we settle for this model mixed with the previous one and believe that this is what God intended for His body. But this is not God's design for His people and anything that has the fingerprints of humans in its construction is not going to be the true corporate body that God is going to demonstrate before all the universe at the close of this earth's history. To believe that we must assist God in patching together a body of like-minded people imitating the outward symptoms seen in the early Christian church is to play God with the hearts of innocent people and will ultimately lead to disaster sooner or later. To subscribe to this way of thinking means that the God we believe in is simply not big enough to handle the job and He needs our help to bring to pass the final events of the Great Controversy.

God does not need us – not really. But He is intensely desirous of our fellowship with Him and as such chooses to offer us the privilege of participating with His work in the wrapping up of His trial before the universe. For if one takes a look at the much bigger picture of what is really going on in the Great Universal Controversy it is God who is being accused, who is on trial and who is calling everyone forward as witnesses to state what they think about Him. Everyone is a witness whether they claim to be religious or not. He offers to transform the lives of anyone (religious or not) willing to cooperate with His plan of salvation (restoration) and in doing so transform their testimony about Him to be more truthful. We are not the focus of the trial – God is!!! When we get this into our selfish, egocentric minds and realize our true role in this universe we will be much more likely to cooperate with God's desire for us to be conformed into His image and be released from the bondage of fear and the slavery of sin. Anything other than this is a cheap imitation that will collapse in the light of the glorious truth about our loving Father.

Anytime there are counterfeits it means that somewhere there will soon be found the genuine that is extremely superior to all counterfeit imitations. So far all I have seen is counterfeit “bodies” claiming to be the body of Christ. I am eager to see the real body emerge from the fog with the clear trademark glowing from their lives of the perfect humility and sweetness of the Holy Spirit and the likeness of Jesus. It will not be manipulated or designed by any human being or be under the domination or control of any human being. It will be an amazement to all the world in its ability to perfectly function and coordinate without any visible control system and will by its very presence expose all other counterfeits for what they really are. Then everyone will be faced with a final choice as to whether to cling to the comfortable systems they have enjoyed for so long or to be out of step with everyone around them and become part of the radical Christianity spontaneously motivated by the Spirit of God and His Spirit alone.

I want to refer at this point to stories that come from the old Soviet Union and the dark, oppressive days of communism when Christians were in danger of their lives for worshiping together. There were times when the spies and secret police were so effective that true believers did not even dare to share with each other the place and time when they could meet for worship. Obviously this would normally prevent them from doing so at all except for one very amazing secret that the spies could never penetrate. The believers learned that if they listened individually to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, that still small voice that Elijah was reminded to listen to, that miraculously they could all come together at the same place and time and then worship in perfect peace knowing that no one among them might be a dissenter since it was not any human directive that had brought them together. Since only those who were in tune and harmony with the Spirit of God could hear that Spirit and respond to it, all those who thus worshiped together were assured that each person there was safe to trust and they could fellowship together without inhibition or fear. That is the very same Spirit that is going to operate in a similar manner to assemble the true body of Christ in the final days of this world's tragic history.

When this true body is seen “corporately”, it will be very similar to that seen in the early days of the Christian movement. But there will be absolutely no force or fear or control to motivate them just as there was none in the early days of the Christian believers. The early church did not have a rule that new believers must give up all their possessions to join the body, they did so only because they were motivated by the liberating Spirit of Jesus and their heart priorities were so radically turned upside down that they felt no more attachments to what they previously had clung to so strongly. Jesus became the overwhelming and overriding passion of their lives. The disciples did not have to create and enforce rules to hold the early believers together because the power of the love of Jesus was so intense in each heart that all they could think of doing was to press together in sweet, unselfish fellowship and look out for the need of those with whom they were bonded in perfect love.

Some may claim that the story of Ananias and Sapphira proves that the apostles had a rule about giving up everything to join the church and that they employed fear and intimidation to hold the believers together. But after a careful study of this chapter and with consideration of the context I have come to the conclusion that we have dreadfully misinterpreted this story to support our mistaken notions and our desires to control the church of God. It is very clear in the story that they did not have to do what they volunteered to do. The problem was not that they did not bring all the money but the real problem was in the deception and pride that they harbored in their heart. The reason they died was not because God was mad at them but was because evil hidden in the heart when brought into proximity to the pure and holy passion ever present where God is produces such intense inner conflict that death is the inevitable result. They were trying to introduce a human-based, corrupt spirit of pride into a pure atmosphere still charged with the electric presence of the pure sweetness, humility and unselfishness of God and the two are always a fatal mix.

Likewise, when the true body of real believers begins to coalesce in these last days, there will likely be scenes similar to this story that will easily be misconstrued to slander the truth about God and His people. As the pure passion of God becomes more evident in the purified lives of His true followers, that rarefied atmosphere will became dangerous and even lethal to anyone trying to bring their selfish heart into fellowship with those who are completely devoted and swallowed up in the love and kindness of God's true Spirit. The final polarization will take place as everyone is compelled by default to either surrender fully to the sweet influence of the Spirit of Jesus in personal, direct communion with Him or they will embrace some brand of counterfeit that claims to unify the religious and moral agendas set forth by their human leaders.

When this true glory of God fills the whole earth with the real light of God as prophesied in Revelation 18, the darkness of all counterfeits will be exposed and the myriad false systems of beliefs about God represented in Revelation as Babylon will collapse. No humans will orchestrate this event just as no humans can put together the body of Christ. Only the true Creator can create His body and when it becomes evident I want to be a small part of that body. In the meantime I want to be part of the pre-assembly process of learning to fellowship with small parts of the body and learn to be moved and guided by the Spirit that promises to accomplish this work in the true power that God uses – the power of unadulterated love and love alone.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)