The Gospel According To Me

Sovereignty, election, predestination, freedom to choose… Why does it have to be an ‘either-or?’ Maybe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Calvinism vs. Armenism for example: maybe it’s both and then some!
I was discussing this issue today with a friend and brother, musing about the wild and almost unthinkable possibility of coming to see and know the Truth totally apart from either Calvin or Arminius!

For as long as the church has been around, the flesh in believers wants to try to come to the pontificating forefront with its absolute and adamant conclusions regarding the scriptures, much like two doctors congratulating each other on the brave, ground-breaking, never-having-been-done-before open heart surgery they performed.What we don’t see in this picture is that unfortunately the patient died. However, as long as the doctors’ perceptions were right, that’s all that matters, I guess.

Maybe there is so little known about the Truth Himself because of the propensity of us worshiping our erroneous conclusions. Rather than focusing on simply what it might mean ‘to know Christ as our life’ we are too busy making sure no one gets to God apart from our particular brand or version of the truth. For example, maybe “grace” encompasses far more than what we have determined it to be or mean, including things that we are so certain would have nothing to do with Grace.

For example: (2Corinthians12:8-10 1Corinthians 15:10)
These are but two examples of the same thing, His grace.
In the first picture of grace, Paul is empowered to accept the buffeting messenger of Satan (in his flesh) to be God’s will for his life. Actually, Paul was glad to let it happen. In the second picture we see him ‘laboring more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God.’It’s the same grace at work accomplishing two (according the natural way of thinking) diametrically opposed things. One is to accept, the other is to rise up and fight.

To not allow ourselves to think, ponder, and muse over what the Father may in fact be trying to lead us to see, is to set one’s self up as the final authority!

As I have witnessed repeatedly in the institutional church, the moment a child of God (possibly prompted by the Father of their spirit) begins to ask questions of those in leadership, these ‘anointed ones’’, prompted by pride, fear and reputation, seek to put an end to this unholy disruption. The collective working body of knowledge (the truth according to man) will not allow for upstarts to begin thinking for themselves.

It reminds me of the movie, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, when Dorothy’s dog Toto begins to pull back the curtain concealing the machinery orchestrating the wizard’s ‘magic’. Hiding behind this curtain was a mere man, masquerading as the “Great Oz” bellowing out with fire and smoke, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

Seems to me, that Pharisaical attitude was most prevalent when Jesus, the Word was made flesh and walked among us. It was hard (understatement of huge proportions) for those professing their certainty that maybe they just might be wrong in their understanding of what they perceived as truth up to that point (John 5:39). Fear-based thinking dictates that everything line up and fit in with the way it is supposed to, and of course that way is ‘our way.’

I remember a brother sharing just such a dilemma. He had been struggling with the whole thing of election vs. free will. While he was sleeping, he said he sensed the Lord boil it all down most simply for him in a dream. In the dream, he was about to enter a tunnel. Above the tunnel a sign read, ‘Predestined from the Foundations of the Earth.’ As he emerged out of the tunnel, he was prompted to look back, and to his chagrin he noticed a new sign above the tunnel that read, ‘Whosoever will!’ Upon awakening, my friend saw it did not have to be either-or, but both were working in harmony creating a perfect balance.

Rather than admitting we just don’t know about a lot of things, (which by the way, would make plenty of room for most of us that are in the same boat to have some very real heart-to-heart fellowship), we instead declare our perceived but adamant gospels of truth which serve to broaden the gap between us. Of course, this gospel of ours makes no bones or room for anyone to think contrary to our collective body of knowledge, which is at best, having a form of godliness, but lacking the power.

I remember hearing that yesterday’s heresy usually becomes today’s dogma.
Funny thing is that there was a time that it was perceived to be a ‘Godly’ thing to burn or drown such heretical thinkers. Is it possible that not too far under the veneer of our religiosity, there still exists this ‘godly desire?’

Instead of seeing all 'truth' summed up in The Truth, our perceived conclusions may amount to nothing more than successfully to alienate us from those with the same Seed, Son, and Spirit within them.The basis of all that we share in this common union (communion) in Christ, is abandoned for a much greater prize, our desire for prominence and recognition.

Rich

Light shall shine out of darkness

2Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, " Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

From the movie The Matrix, http://www.moviesounds.com/matrix/choice.wav

It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth~what truth? That you are a slave Neo, like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell, taste or touch; a prison for your mind.

This is from a friend of mine:

Deception is the first and greatest mark of a life of futility. This is so because deception is the one all-encompassing ingredient needed to keep people trapped in lives that go nowhere. The working of deception is the goal of God's primary enemy - Satan. Deception is a worldwide phenomenon because it is a human phenomenon. We should expect this would be so because the entire world is under the influence and control of the evil one: "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19). We should also expect Satan's first and primary tool for injury in this world to be the lie and the practice of deception. After all, this is how Satan got control of the world in the first place: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"" (Genesis 3:1).

We should expect considerable resistance from the evil one toward our efforts to allow the Father to bring us out of the futile life of deception we were born into in the natural. Make no mistake about this point - we were all born (in the natural) into a spiritually generated dream world. Humanity is trapped in a dead-end existence leading to personal and corporate failure and ultimately to self-destruction. Yet, we have no legitimate or necessary need to feel either trapped or hopeless. The trap of a hopeless life is a self-imposed trap.

The reason we may have hope even in a fallen world is because there is a loving God who is in ultimate control over all of creation. This loving God desires to be our loving Father and to release us from the bondage of the life of futility. The means of this release is found in the verse just before the one quoted above from 1 John: "We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him." (1 John 5:18). The apostle John does a marvelous job of giving us the entire picture of reality in two short verses. If we are born of God (reborn or born again) then we are safe, even though we still live in a world under the control of the evil one.

Rich

Who You Gonna Serve

2 Timothy 1:8

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

Ephesians 3:1

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--

Rich

Gotta Serve Somebody

Bob Dylan

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,You may call me R.J.,
you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody,
yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

God, You Need us to Help

I find it quite incredulous as I browse and peruse various blog’s, not them as much as the responses to these ‘gifted ones.’
Meaning, you’d swear it was the fourth part of the trinity coming down from heaven speaking such unheard of and profound statements.
Mouths opened wide, in awe of such ‘insight’, obviously something that the everyday Christian could not attain to. Where is the reality of, 1 John 2:26-27
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Bowing at the feet of a so called ‘anointed’ person like a spiritual groupie, is totally whacked. It appears to be impossible to many, for the Father of the rebirthed one to learn directly from Him alone.
As one person said years ago, ‘there are so many Dr.’s in the pulpits today, you’d think God was sick.’
As the rebirthing was miraculous, so is the ongoing training of the Father, Him making known to the believer what s/he needs to know. The wonderful joy that comes in hearing from the mouths of the redeemed as well as the lost, that confirming witness to their spirit what He in fact has been doing and showing them.
I love what Oswald Chambers said, “Don’t necessarily look for the person trying to tell you something new, but be ready to hear as the Father puts a name and a face on what you have been struggling with from deep within.” In other words, a confirmation.
In closing, another thing I want to say here about the whole deal of ‘discipleship,’ rather than seeing it is Him alone that disciples each of us.
All of us being on the same level footing in Christ Jesus. Each learning from Him through each other. More often than not much of what goes down in the name of making disciples is making them converts of our opinions.

Rich

Desire

I have been reading some of John Eldredge's books of late, and this quote from his book, "The Journey of Desire" is most breathtaking.

"Do we form no friendships because our friends might be taken from us? Do we refuse to love because we may be hurt? Do we forsake our dreams because hope has been deferred? To desire is to open our hearts to the possibility of pain; to shut down our hearts is to die altogether. The full proverb reads this way: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy."
The road to life and joy lies through, not around, the heart-sickness of hope deferred."

Rich

Still Waiting

Hello,

Still waiting for the next call. Other than the two friends I chat with pretty much on a regular basis, it would be great to hear a new voice.

Rich

Pick up, Pick up....

Bottom line, sure God can use anything~"anything", but again, this trying to communicate via forums, etc seems too platonic in a sense.
Is it wrong to share what we know to be the Truth, don't think so, but not being able to connect in real time (live voice chat) is most frustrating, at least to me.
Again, it all boils down to a trust/transparency thing, if its not there, many truthful things can be shared, but it’s just talk, rather than hearts being brought to life in His presence. Again, I put out an appeal to any who want to share this One Life we have in Christ!

Rich