Our human nature prepares us to be deceived even when we read scripture, for we look at it with natural eyes. The Bible has much to say about sight and blindness. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
1 Corinthians 2 deals extensively with this and sums up the problem in verse 2:14 "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them, for they are spiritually discerned." This means that unless one is born again, one cannot understand. But there is a far greater truth in here than just that the unregenerate cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God. The verse says the natural man, not the unregenerate man. The unregenerate man is 100% natural, but the man who is born again still has a natural man. Even though the scriptures tell us that the natural man is the enemy of God, it is that same natural man toward whom almost all Christian teaching and teaching methods is directed.
Gal 5:17
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
NASU
2 Peter 1:20-21
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
NASU
In case we still don't get the message, look what Paul says about the wisdom of the wise, one of which he used to be as the Pharisee of Pharisees.
1 Corinthians 1:19
9 For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
NIV
The bottom line is that if we learn and are taught scripture as an argument directed toward human reason, we will gain an understanding of scripture that can be greatly in error EVEN IF WE ACCEPT IT AS THE WORD OF GOD. This certainly was the case of the Pharisees.
John 5:39-40
39 "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
NASU
The Pharisees believed the scriptures were the word of God and they believed that they possessed the knowledge of them, yet it was their knowledge and pride that blinded them to Christ, despite the miracles that Jesus did. The Bible gives us hundreds of prophesies that Jesus fulfilled, yet no one person recognized Him because of the scriptures. If you think about it, that seems impossible, but true nevertheless and that should be a lesson to us.
Let me illustrate with the scripture that paints the picture that Jesus enacted to depict the blindness He then called the yeast of the Pharisees.
Mark 8:1-33
In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,
2 "I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
3 "If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance."
4 And His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?"
5 And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven."
6 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.
7 They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.
8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.
9 About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.
10 And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
Why did Jesus sigh deeply? He had just performed one of the clearest signs of who He was and they failed to see.
2 Kings 4:42-44
42 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat."
43 His attendant said, "What, will I set this before a hundred men?" But he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, "They shall eat and have some left over.'"
44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
NASU
What are the works of Elisha? Opening the eyes of blind, blinding the eyes of those who see, raising the dead, filling water jars with oil, feeding people bread according the Word of the Lord with some left over. Who preceded Elisha? A prophet wearing a coarse robe of hair with a leather belt, who lived in a river canyon in the desert. Who preceded Christ as the first prophet to Israel in 400 years and what did he look like? What did the person he announced as the Lamb of God do?
Do you see the picture? I didn't, until I looked intently for several days. At first glance, there seemed to be no particular purpose for the works of Elisha, but in the aggregrate they were prophetic enactments of the works of Messiah.
But, the Pharisees weren't the only blind men. What about the disciples were with Him 24/7?
13 Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?
18 "HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember,
19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve."
20 "When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven."
21 And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
No, they don't, so Jesus continues the lesson in the school of Christ, by giving them another picture of the picture they had seen but could not understand.
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.
23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, (the first touch) He asked him, "Do you see anything?"
24 And he looked up and said, "I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around."
He sees something, but not clearly. He only recognizes what he sees by the understanding that trees do not walk around, therefore, they must be men. Reason is being exercised, but reason does not produce a clear vision.
25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; (Then Jesus gives him a second touch and an important thing happens.) and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
It was only after he looked intently after the second touch that he saw clearly. The Pharisees did not look for a second touch, nor look intently. Neither did the disciples. They did not receive their second touch until the road to Emmaus and then in the upper room.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."
But the school of Christ continues.
27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?"
28 They told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets."
29 And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."
30 And He warned them to tell no one about Him.
NASU
If we are just reading this in Mark, we have received a first touch, but we would have to say "Lord, I don't get it. Why does Peter say you are the Christ and then you tell them not to tell anyone." If we look intently, we might turn to another gospel for a clue.
Matt 16:16-17
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
NASU
The disciples' natural man believed Jesus was the Christ. That is why John and Andrew left John the Baptist to follow Jesus. That was the first touch. But, look what Peter has just said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." They had thought Jesus was the Messiah who would restore the kingdom to Israel. That is why they were always asking about their positions in the kingdom. But Peter has just said something new. Something Jesus had not told him. Jesus was the Son of the Living God. Jesus confirms that the natural man (Peter's flesh and blood) could not see this, but it was revealed to Peter by the Father in heaven. Now the school begins in earnest as Jesus begins to tell the disciples His whole mission. Note he states the matter plainly. No dramas, no parables; just plain talk. What is the result?
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
NASU
They don't get it, especially Peter, who is now super spiritual. He takes the Lord aside and rebukes Him. What a lesson! The instant God begins to give revelation Satan is right there to deceive and confuse. Peter didn't know that it was the Father who had revealed to him that Jesus was the Son of God, nor did he understand that Satan had deceived him into trying to tempt Jesus. Revelation is received by the spirit and usually does not come at once with understanding as it must be received by faith. We find ourselves enabled to believe without, or even despite, rational evidence. We just know because we know and this belief which is sufficient for us to act is, in itself, evidence that that which is unseen, yet believed, is real.
Heb 11:1
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
NASU
This faith is not something we can produce in ourselves it is a supernatural gift of God. Note that faith is the means through which we are saved
Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
NASU
If we receive the word of God by faith then in time the Lord will usually provide testimony of two or three witnesses to firm up our faith and ground our understanding. But in this transition period we are very vulnerable to Satan's deception and our natural reasoning. We see an example of Satan's attack at Jesus' baptism. As soon as His Father speaks to Him from heaven confirming that Jesus is His Son in whom He is well pleased, Jesus is taken into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. So are we.
As one reviews the gospels, if we have eyes to see, a collage emerges which in its entirety reinforces this lesson: it does not matter what we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, or reason with our mind, we cannot apprehend the truth of scripture apart from revelation by the Spirit. The nation of Israel proved it. The disciples' experience affirms it and scripture states it plainly.
Luke 9:43-45
While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 44 "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." 45 But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
NIV
Matt 11:25
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
NASU
Luke 18:34
34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.
NASU
Mark 4:11-12
11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
12 so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
NASU
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
9 However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"-
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
NIV
As I was writing this I became aware of the fact that of how difficult it is to teach the principle of the yeast of the Pharisees without violating the principle in the process. The Lord is, and must be, our Teacher. No human can open our minds to the scriptures as the Holy Spirit does.
Matthew 22:8-12
8 "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.
9 "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
10 "Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
11 "But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
NASU
This is Jesus speaking to His disciples. If He commanded such as this to His disciples how much more should it apply to us. I am still not certain of the proper way to teach, but I am sure of what its result should be -- to point the one being to taught to the One who is his Teacher. Any teaching that results in dependency on the human teacher rather than pointing them to Christ via the teaching of the Holy Spirit is likely to do far more harm than good.
The picture that I described came to me through the process that this pictures. Some became clear in minutes. Others days, months and even years, but the pattern and method of the Lord in doing so is unmistakable. Jesus gives us a first touch. He draws our attention to something, but often does not give us the understanding at that time. If we are paying attention, we do like His mother, Mary, we "hide these things in our heart" for in His perfect timing He will reveal the meaning in such a rich full way, that we will know with certainty that He is the One who has revealed it to us. This message is reinforced throughout scripture. Those who wait on the Lord are blessed, but those who are impatient and seek out their own understanding miss the blessing; the greater revelation.
The Holy Spirit gives life to the scriptures in many ways. Sometimes He quickens a particular verse or passage and gives us the meaning as we read it. However, it appears that He often uses the second touch method to give us revelation of deeper and more complex teachings. Something that is so contrary to our understanding that we could not accept it if it became clear to us immediately. Often this understanding will require growth on our part, just as we might say to an inquisitive child, "Wait until you are older. You will then be better able to understand." Therefore, we should pay close attention when He draws us to scripture but does not give the understanding right away. As Mary and Martha learned when Jesus tarried so as to raise Lazarus, the waiting often prepares us to receive a new and greater revelation.
The scripture is primarily a picture book. One of examples. The OT testament is full of pictures of spiritual truths. The NT gives us the captions, but the pictures of the truths are often in the OT. But Jesus taught in similitudes, his miracles are similitudes, the explanation of His parables are similitudes. These are all pictures that to see we must ask for a second touch and then look intently (and patiently) until we see clearly. If we become impatient and grab a commentary and choose which of the scholars answers seems right to us, we partake of the yeast of the Pharisees. We may acquire knowledge through the flesh, but because we do not ruminate on the unleavened manna there is no life in it. It is not acquired through the spirit and thus has no food value. The spirit is not fed.
2 Cor 3:5b-6
our adequacy is from God,
6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
NASU
Paul had great learning, unlike the eleven, and began his ministry arguing from the scriptures in the synagogues, an argument that he, Paul, a Pharisee, was unable to accept himself. Yet, now having his eyes opened Paul thinks he can persuade those like him on the strength of his testimony. Paul tries this many times with little or no success. The result was that he caused many great arguments, sufficient to cause rioting which brought in the Romans who beat, imprisoned and subsequently had to protect Paul from the Jews. Paul preached a brilliant intellectual message to the Athenians, however, many began to sneer as soon as Paul proclaimed Jesus as risen from the dead. They cut Paul off as soon as he proclaimed Jesus risen. Two thousand years later, many still do the same.
By the time Paul went to Corinth, he had learned a hard lesson in the school of Christ. We cannot apprehend the truth of the gospel of Christ through persuasive words of human wisdom, so (with much fear and trembling) Paul decided to preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified. It says in Acts that Paul literally (in the Greek) became "afflicted" with the word of God. We immediately see a change. He proclaims the gospel. He does not offer apologetics, he no longer argues, he does not give 5 point sermons, and when the Jews reject him, Paul says that their "blood be on their own heads," he is clean. He is going to bring his message to the Gentiles. Immediately, see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Corinth. These things were written as examples for us. Many times our focus on what is being said blinds us as to what is being portrayed. Many become deceived in this way.
1 Tim 1:5-7
5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion,
7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
NASU
The letter to the Ephesians may be the deepest spiritual lesson in the Epistles and is impossible to understand at even a shallow level in the flesh, and who knows the height, depth, width and breadth in the spirit? It shows a clear pattern:
Proclaim, Pray, Testify as to what you have seen and heard, Exhort and encourage
Paul proclaims the gospel, the mystery of Christ. Paul prays that they will receive knowledge of the fullness of Christ and that the eyes of their heart will be enlightened. (they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.) Paul implores the Lord to touch these blind men. He gives testimony, often to the indescribable, and exhorts the believers to seek truth and apply it to their lives.
We rarely see that today. We seek a mental assent to our persuasive words, we do not implore Jesus to touch the blind men, we do not testify as to what we have seen and heard for our Pharisees teach us that God no longer speaks and cannot be seen, and finally we are afraid to exhort lest we offend. Worst of all, not only are we "not entering the Kingdom of God, we are preventing others from entering."
We cannot argue a person into the Kingdom of God. We can only point to the One who is the narrow Gate, who is the Way, the narrow path, the true Shepherd whose sheep must know His voice as He goes before them. Only then will we get the true vision of the scriptures.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Food Preservation
"...I believe that much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception of and a wrong feeling for the Scriptures. A silent God suddently began to speak in a book and when the book was finished lapsed back into silence again forever." [A. W. Tozer-The Pursuit of God.].
I was down the street visiting with a brother in the Lord who is confined to a wheelchair. We were discussing the role of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures and were given a great similitude. I started talking about freeze dried food and using it as an example. As I noticed that he was fully tracking with me on this, he told me that he eats freeze dried food all the time because he orders his food over the internet and the shipping is cheaper for freeze dried. Interestingly, I have never tasted it, but was the one speaking on it, so I began to listen to what I was saying and then looked the subject up.
Here is a brief description of how freeze drying works:
Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, is like "suspended animation" for food. You can store a freeze-dried meal for years and years, and then, when you're finally ready to eat it, you can completely revitalize it with a little hot water. Even after all those years, the taste and texture will be pretty much the same.
The basic idea of freeze-drying is to completely remove water from some material, such as food, while leaving the basic structure and composition of the material intact. There are two reasons someone might want to do this with food:
Removing water keeps food from spoiling for a long period of time. Food spoils when microorganisms, such as bacteria, feed on the matter and decompose it. Bacteria may release chemicals that cause disease, or they may just release chemicals that make food taste bad. Additionally, naturally occurring enzymes in food can react with oxygen to cause spoiling and ripening.
Like people, microorganisms need water to survive, so if you remove water from food, it won't spoil. Enzymes also need water to react with food, so dehydrating food will also stop ripening.
Freeze-drying significantly reduces the total weight of the food. Most food is largely made up of water (many fruits are more than 80 to 90 percent water, in fact). Removing this water makes the food a lot lighter, which means it's easier to transport. The military and camping supply companies freeze-dry foods to make them easier for one person to carry. NASA has also freeze-dried foods for the cramped quarters onboard spacecraft.
Once the material is dried sufficiently, it's sealed in a moisture-free package, often with an oxygen-absorbing material. As long as the package is secure, the material can sit on a shelf for years and years without degrading, until it's restored to its original form with a bit of water (a very small amount of moisture remains, so the material will eventually spoil). If everything works correctly, the material will go through the entire process almost completely unscathed! "
The above is a picture of freeze-dried spaghetti. Note how unappetizing the picture on the left is. Yet, it is the same spaghetti as that on the right. The only difference is that the water has been removed.
So there you have it. If you were to make the spaghetti pictured above, you would make it just as you usually do. It is regular spaghetti. Then, you would freeze it and place in a freezer which has a vacuum pump that lowers the atmospheric pressure which allows the ice to evaporate directly from solid to gas without passing through the liquid state. You would be left with all of the solid material of the pasta and sauce but no water. The spaghetti could then be kept for years and by adding water, it could be restored to the same hot, tasty food it was originally.
This is a breathtaking similitude for what our Father has done with His word. A similitude is something that is like unto. (I.E. The Kingdom of God is like unto a mustard seed .....)
The logos, the constant Word of God, is the true bread, the solid, spiritual food. The rhema, the instant Word of God, is the water, symbolizing the Spirit. When God prepared the bread for us He gave it to the prophets and the apostles, and Jesus, by revelation by the Holy Spirit in the form of rhema, the utterance of God. Fresh-baked, nutrious manna.
To preserve it, it was written down and became the letter. The letter on the page is dry and one dimensional by itself. The essence of it is there, but the life, the spirit, has been removed from it. Not very appealing in the natural. Imagine eating the dry spaghetti pictured above. When an unbeliever or a Christian reads or hears the logos in the natural it is just like eating the dry spaghetti. Hard to read. Impossible to truly understand. It is easy to choke on it. Remember the law was not designed to save, but to be a tutor to make us aware of our sin, to bring us to total helplessness and dependence on the grace and mercy of God. "The letter kills, but the Spirit brings life."
However, when the Spirit (the water from the Rock) is poured back into the bread it is restored back to what was when it was first given to the author of the scripture. In doing so the logos can once again become rhema. This is the food that Jesus said that man must eat along with his natural bread. "Every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God." Not the written logos, but rhema.
This is why we cannot depend on any human to be our teacher. I am not saying we cannot be taught by God using a human. I am saying we must not look to the human to be our teacher in lieu of the Holy Spirit. I have received nutritious manna from the driest possible human teacher as the Holy Spirit quickened a stale morsel to life and I have received nothing from the most learned and eloquent human teacher. We must dine at the Lord's table. Otherwise, we are eating the dry freeze dried food that has not been restored to its original state to bring us life.
Once again, we have the Gospel pattern of death and resurrection, even of the logos. The rhema of God becomes the dead letter as it is written, then it is raised up in new life as the Spirit comes back into the dry bones and just as in Ezekiel's vision, the bones come back together, flesh is put on them and the Spirit quickens them back to life.
This is the similitude. I am going to buy some freeze dried food because I want to eat it dry and then hydrate it to burn this similitude into my heart. I have eaten the dry word, but I have also tasted the Living Word. There is no comparison.
I hope you will chew on this for a while and I will pray that the Lord makes this as tasty for you as He did my neighbor and me. First the natural, then the spiritual. "If you do not know of earthly things, how can I speak of heavenly things?"
I was down the street visiting with a brother in the Lord who is confined to a wheelchair. We were discussing the role of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures and were given a great similitude. I started talking about freeze dried food and using it as an example. As I noticed that he was fully tracking with me on this, he told me that he eats freeze dried food all the time because he orders his food over the internet and the shipping is cheaper for freeze dried. Interestingly, I have never tasted it, but was the one speaking on it, so I began to listen to what I was saying and then looked the subject up.
Here is a brief description of how freeze drying works:
Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, is like "suspended animation" for food. You can store a freeze-dried meal for years and years, and then, when you're finally ready to eat it, you can completely revitalize it with a little hot water. Even after all those years, the taste and texture will be pretty much the same.
The basic idea of freeze-drying is to completely remove water from some material, such as food, while leaving the basic structure and composition of the material intact. There are two reasons someone might want to do this with food:
Removing water keeps food from spoiling for a long period of time. Food spoils when microorganisms, such as bacteria, feed on the matter and decompose it. Bacteria may release chemicals that cause disease, or they may just release chemicals that make food taste bad. Additionally, naturally occurring enzymes in food can react with oxygen to cause spoiling and ripening.
Like people, microorganisms need water to survive, so if you remove water from food, it won't spoil. Enzymes also need water to react with food, so dehydrating food will also stop ripening.
Freeze-drying significantly reduces the total weight of the food. Most food is largely made up of water (many fruits are more than 80 to 90 percent water, in fact). Removing this water makes the food a lot lighter, which means it's easier to transport. The military and camping supply companies freeze-dry foods to make them easier for one person to carry. NASA has also freeze-dried foods for the cramped quarters onboard spacecraft.
Once the material is dried sufficiently, it's sealed in a moisture-free package, often with an oxygen-absorbing material. As long as the package is secure, the material can sit on a shelf for years and years without degrading, until it's restored to its original form with a bit of water (a very small amount of moisture remains, so the material will eventually spoil). If everything works correctly, the material will go through the entire process almost completely unscathed! "
The above is a picture of freeze-dried spaghetti. Note how unappetizing the picture on the left is. Yet, it is the same spaghetti as that on the right. The only difference is that the water has been removed.
So there you have it. If you were to make the spaghetti pictured above, you would make it just as you usually do. It is regular spaghetti. Then, you would freeze it and place in a freezer which has a vacuum pump that lowers the atmospheric pressure which allows the ice to evaporate directly from solid to gas without passing through the liquid state. You would be left with all of the solid material of the pasta and sauce but no water. The spaghetti could then be kept for years and by adding water, it could be restored to the same hot, tasty food it was originally.
This is a breathtaking similitude for what our Father has done with His word. A similitude is something that is like unto. (I.E. The Kingdom of God is like unto a mustard seed .....)
The logos, the constant Word of God, is the true bread, the solid, spiritual food. The rhema, the instant Word of God, is the water, symbolizing the Spirit. When God prepared the bread for us He gave it to the prophets and the apostles, and Jesus, by revelation by the Holy Spirit in the form of rhema, the utterance of God. Fresh-baked, nutrious manna.
To preserve it, it was written down and became the letter. The letter on the page is dry and one dimensional by itself. The essence of it is there, but the life, the spirit, has been removed from it. Not very appealing in the natural. Imagine eating the dry spaghetti pictured above. When an unbeliever or a Christian reads or hears the logos in the natural it is just like eating the dry spaghetti. Hard to read. Impossible to truly understand. It is easy to choke on it. Remember the law was not designed to save, but to be a tutor to make us aware of our sin, to bring us to total helplessness and dependence on the grace and mercy of God. "The letter kills, but the Spirit brings life."
However, when the Spirit (the water from the Rock) is poured back into the bread it is restored back to what was when it was first given to the author of the scripture. In doing so the logos can once again become rhema. This is the food that Jesus said that man must eat along with his natural bread. "Every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God." Not the written logos, but rhema.
This is why we cannot depend on any human to be our teacher. I am not saying we cannot be taught by God using a human. I am saying we must not look to the human to be our teacher in lieu of the Holy Spirit. I have received nutritious manna from the driest possible human teacher as the Holy Spirit quickened a stale morsel to life and I have received nothing from the most learned and eloquent human teacher. We must dine at the Lord's table. Otherwise, we are eating the dry freeze dried food that has not been restored to its original state to bring us life.
Once again, we have the Gospel pattern of death and resurrection, even of the logos. The rhema of God becomes the dead letter as it is written, then it is raised up in new life as the Spirit comes back into the dry bones and just as in Ezekiel's vision, the bones come back together, flesh is put on them and the Spirit quickens them back to life.
This is the similitude. I am going to buy some freeze dried food because I want to eat it dry and then hydrate it to burn this similitude into my heart. I have eaten the dry word, but I have also tasted the Living Word. There is no comparison.
I hope you will chew on this for a while and I will pray that the Lord makes this as tasty for you as He did my neighbor and me. First the natural, then the spiritual. "If you do not know of earthly things, how can I speak of heavenly things?"
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The Air We Breathe
During the fifteen years I flew a private plane I gained a new perspective on smog. After spending most weekends in the clear, clean air of the mountains we would fly home at 11,000 feet with a 200 mile visibility. I never noticed the air at that altitude smelling clean, for clean air has no smell. It is odorless and invisible.
From the air the LA basin has the appearance of a lake filled with a yellow brown smoky substance, 1500 feet deep, and during descent you realize you will soon begin to breathe this into your lungs. As the plane would enter the top of the haze, the sensation was more like getting ready to submerge in a submarine, and my body would take a deep breath like you would before going under water. The instant you submerge the visibility immediately drops from 200 to 3 miles, and, if at night, the stars disappear as an orange haze illuminates the cabin and the sky. As the air pours in through the vents, you first sense the temperature change, then you wait to take your first breath. Then comes the stench, a musty chemical smell, something like burned oil, then tightness grips your lungs as your body gives its warning.
At cruising altitude, it is very peaceful. The plane is on autopilot and all I have to do is enjoy the scenery and watch out for occasional aircraft that, at night, I can see coming over 100 miles away. But, now things become very busy. The radio is active as I begin checking in with air traffic control. The reduced visibility keeps me on high alert watching out for air traffic as I follow my planned route to avoid restricted areas, and peering intently through the haze trying to locate the airport.
Fifteen minutes later, I am safely on the ground and take a deep breath -- AND SMELL NOTHING. It is not that the air no longer smells, but that I don't notice. I was so busy I didn't even notice the change. It is not just that I no longer smell it. I cannot smell it, no matter how intently I sniff the air.
You see, our senses are given to us to warn us of danger, but once the danger is accepted they automatically reset to a new level of sensitivity. The abrupt change in air one experiences in an airplane, sets off the alarm, yet I have driven the same route in an auto over the Grapevine into LA and never noticed the change in the air. When changes occur slowly, the senses cannot detect it unless we are playing very close attention, constantly sniffing the air for odors.
This situation is well known as the frog in the kettle syndrome which demonstrates that if a frog is placed in a kettle of water and gradually raised to a boil he will die in the water rather than jump out. Yet, he would jump out immediately if he was thrown into water was slightly over 100 degrees. Some of you have experienced this getting into a hot jacuzzi. You have to ease into the water to get used to it.
My point in all this is not to alarm you regarding breathing smog, but rather to point to a threat that is far more dangerous to your soul. It has become increasingly clear to me in recent weeks that God did not give us the Gospel to help us understand the world, but He created the world to enable us to understand the Gospel. The Gospel existed before the creation.
John 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
NIV
And, God designed His creation so that the visible would express His attributes, divine nature and power.
Rom 1:20
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
NASU
Col 1:16-17
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
NASU
This is not just some theological concept. God has given us precise images, called similitudes, throughout creation which perfectly represent spiritual truths if we have eyes to see them. And, God provides the sight to those who love, obey and seek Him. In the case of what we are discussing, let us consider the example of lung cancer. A cigarette smoker gets a strong warning from his body the first time he takes a puff. If he ignores it, the body increasingly tolerates the damage to the lungs as it focuses on the pleasure it gets from the nicotine. The warnings increase with wheezing, coughing up phlegm, and finally cancer of the lung which begins to spread death throughout the lungs and the rest of the body.
This physical world example of how the air we breathe can poison our body accurately portrays that which is also invisible in the air that is poisoning our soul. This was powerfully brought home to me at a men's retreat a couple weeks ago. The pastor was addressing the issue of the excuses we give for not memorizing scripture and asked us to complete the following sentence. "There she goes just a-walkin' down the street …" Most of you are already completing it in your head "singing doo wah, diddy diddy, dum diddy doo." His point was that we memorize things without intending to and we don't even have to know what they mean. Then, he asked us how many of us could name the twelve sons of Israel or the thirty miracles of Christ. The difference is exposure. We absorb what we are exposed to without thinking about it.
The truth of this almost knocked me off my chair. I had felt a little sheepish knowing the words to Doo wah, Diddy diddy, but at least that was a song. My sheepishness quickly turned to anger, however, when I realized I had been forced against my will to memorize "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." By exposing my spiritual lungs to the cultural airways, I have been forced to memorize the ingredients of a Big Mac and I cannot get rid of it no matter how hard I try. It is a part of my soul.
Now think of how the "word" of the culture has become a part of you. We even have a game for it -- Trivial Pursuits -- where we pride ourselves on how much irrelevant knowledge we have accumulated. Some you may be thinking, "well I see your point, but aren't you exaggerating a little when you compare this to lung cancer?" To that I just ask you to look at your kids, because we cannot see ourselves.
2 Tim 3:1-5
3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
NIV
Rom 1:28-32
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
NIV
Consider the following headlines in the context of these scriptures. All these headlines appeared on one day! Friday, June 14, 2002.
Boy of 17 hacks into missile secrets
WHO confirms Ebola cases
MARTHA'S PRISON EVERYDAY COLLECTION
American Taliban Says Interrogation Violated Rights
Bishops Back Off of Ousting Priests
Dying Grandmother Raped in Hospital Toilet
Senate Cloning Bill Faces New Setbacks
Girlfriend Arrested in Man's Torture - Buttocks Almost Cut Off
ABC Peter Jennings Vetoes Patriotic Song for July 4
Gangs, prison: Al Qaeda breeding grounds?
Bush mulls 'provisional' Palestinian state
Two female would-be suicide bombers arrested
Israelis 'betting on suicide bombings'
China Tackles Locust Plague
Murder Verdict in Infant Starvation
Buddhist Funeral Rites Held for Ape
Stand back and look at what these stories as a whole represent? View them as a collage, not one by one. Did your nose detect them when they appeared? If not, your sense of smell is already seriously diminished and there is some lung damage.
Once this occurs and your spiritual senses have reset, you lose the power of discernment. You will "see" these things, but not notice because they have become accepted by your soul. Paul refers to this as those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Other Christians may warn you about such things, (as I am now doing) but you will not see them to be very serious. You may say, "I see your point, but aren't you exaggerating a bit?" I know the feeling, because for thirty years I didn't see it either. I only saw clearly after being cleansed. Even now, there is probably much that I am missing. The only way you can tell if I am right or wrong is to cleanse your senses. You cannot discern polluted air until you breathe clean air.
You see, once you have lost the ability to smell, you cannot will yourself to do so. You are trapped. The only escape is to cleanse and reset your senses. We will discuss how the body and the soul can be cleansed and healed in The Lamp of the Body.
From the air the LA basin has the appearance of a lake filled with a yellow brown smoky substance, 1500 feet deep, and during descent you realize you will soon begin to breathe this into your lungs. As the plane would enter the top of the haze, the sensation was more like getting ready to submerge in a submarine, and my body would take a deep breath like you would before going under water. The instant you submerge the visibility immediately drops from 200 to 3 miles, and, if at night, the stars disappear as an orange haze illuminates the cabin and the sky. As the air pours in through the vents, you first sense the temperature change, then you wait to take your first breath. Then comes the stench, a musty chemical smell, something like burned oil, then tightness grips your lungs as your body gives its warning.
At cruising altitude, it is very peaceful. The plane is on autopilot and all I have to do is enjoy the scenery and watch out for occasional aircraft that, at night, I can see coming over 100 miles away. But, now things become very busy. The radio is active as I begin checking in with air traffic control. The reduced visibility keeps me on high alert watching out for air traffic as I follow my planned route to avoid restricted areas, and peering intently through the haze trying to locate the airport.
Fifteen minutes later, I am safely on the ground and take a deep breath -- AND SMELL NOTHING. It is not that the air no longer smells, but that I don't notice. I was so busy I didn't even notice the change. It is not just that I no longer smell it. I cannot smell it, no matter how intently I sniff the air.
You see, our senses are given to us to warn us of danger, but once the danger is accepted they automatically reset to a new level of sensitivity. The abrupt change in air one experiences in an airplane, sets off the alarm, yet I have driven the same route in an auto over the Grapevine into LA and never noticed the change in the air. When changes occur slowly, the senses cannot detect it unless we are playing very close attention, constantly sniffing the air for odors.
This situation is well known as the frog in the kettle syndrome which demonstrates that if a frog is placed in a kettle of water and gradually raised to a boil he will die in the water rather than jump out. Yet, he would jump out immediately if he was thrown into water was slightly over 100 degrees. Some of you have experienced this getting into a hot jacuzzi. You have to ease into the water to get used to it.
My point in all this is not to alarm you regarding breathing smog, but rather to point to a threat that is far more dangerous to your soul. It has become increasingly clear to me in recent weeks that God did not give us the Gospel to help us understand the world, but He created the world to enable us to understand the Gospel. The Gospel existed before the creation.
John 1:1-3
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
NIV
And, God designed His creation so that the visible would express His attributes, divine nature and power.
Rom 1:20
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
NASU
Col 1:16-17
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
NASU
This is not just some theological concept. God has given us precise images, called similitudes, throughout creation which perfectly represent spiritual truths if we have eyes to see them. And, God provides the sight to those who love, obey and seek Him. In the case of what we are discussing, let us consider the example of lung cancer. A cigarette smoker gets a strong warning from his body the first time he takes a puff. If he ignores it, the body increasingly tolerates the damage to the lungs as it focuses on the pleasure it gets from the nicotine. The warnings increase with wheezing, coughing up phlegm, and finally cancer of the lung which begins to spread death throughout the lungs and the rest of the body.
This physical world example of how the air we breathe can poison our body accurately portrays that which is also invisible in the air that is poisoning our soul. This was powerfully brought home to me at a men's retreat a couple weeks ago. The pastor was addressing the issue of the excuses we give for not memorizing scripture and asked us to complete the following sentence. "There she goes just a-walkin' down the street …" Most of you are already completing it in your head "singing doo wah, diddy diddy, dum diddy doo." His point was that we memorize things without intending to and we don't even have to know what they mean. Then, he asked us how many of us could name the twelve sons of Israel or the thirty miracles of Christ. The difference is exposure. We absorb what we are exposed to without thinking about it.
The truth of this almost knocked me off my chair. I had felt a little sheepish knowing the words to Doo wah, Diddy diddy, but at least that was a song. My sheepishness quickly turned to anger, however, when I realized I had been forced against my will to memorize "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." By exposing my spiritual lungs to the cultural airways, I have been forced to memorize the ingredients of a Big Mac and I cannot get rid of it no matter how hard I try. It is a part of my soul.
Now think of how the "word" of the culture has become a part of you. We even have a game for it -- Trivial Pursuits -- where we pride ourselves on how much irrelevant knowledge we have accumulated. Some you may be thinking, "well I see your point, but aren't you exaggerating a little when you compare this to lung cancer?" To that I just ask you to look at your kids, because we cannot see ourselves.
2 Tim 3:1-5
3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
NIV
Rom 1:28-32
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
NIV
Consider the following headlines in the context of these scriptures. All these headlines appeared on one day! Friday, June 14, 2002.
Boy of 17 hacks into missile secrets
WHO confirms Ebola cases
MARTHA'S PRISON EVERYDAY COLLECTION
American Taliban Says Interrogation Violated Rights
Bishops Back Off of Ousting Priests
Dying Grandmother Raped in Hospital Toilet
Senate Cloning Bill Faces New Setbacks
Girlfriend Arrested in Man's Torture - Buttocks Almost Cut Off
ABC Peter Jennings Vetoes Patriotic Song for July 4
Gangs, prison: Al Qaeda breeding grounds?
Bush mulls 'provisional' Palestinian state
Two female would-be suicide bombers arrested
Israelis 'betting on suicide bombings'
China Tackles Locust Plague
Murder Verdict in Infant Starvation
Buddhist Funeral Rites Held for Ape
Stand back and look at what these stories as a whole represent? View them as a collage, not one by one. Did your nose detect them when they appeared? If not, your sense of smell is already seriously diminished and there is some lung damage.
Once this occurs and your spiritual senses have reset, you lose the power of discernment. You will "see" these things, but not notice because they have become accepted by your soul. Paul refers to this as those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Other Christians may warn you about such things, (as I am now doing) but you will not see them to be very serious. You may say, "I see your point, but aren't you exaggerating a bit?" I know the feeling, because for thirty years I didn't see it either. I only saw clearly after being cleansed. Even now, there is probably much that I am missing. The only way you can tell if I am right or wrong is to cleanse your senses. You cannot discern polluted air until you breathe clean air.
You see, once you have lost the ability to smell, you cannot will yourself to do so. You are trapped. The only escape is to cleanse and reset your senses. We will discuss how the body and the soul can be cleansed and healed in The Lamp of the Body.
Lamp of the Body
In This is the Air We Breathe, we talked about how our senses are designed to warn us against harmful things. Our sense of smell warns us against poisonous gases. Our sense of taste warns against poisonous substances. Our hearing gives us warnings of danger. But, the sense we trust the most is sight. A common statement of fact is "I saw it with my own eyes." Ironically, the eye, the sense we trust must, may be the easiest to deceive. Magicians depend on this and this is easily demonstrated by optical illusions.
This physical reality is also true in the spiritual realm for we see again and again in the Bible the evidence proving that we are born blind spiritually. It is only by Jesus' touch that we have eyes which can see and then only where there is light. Once again the physical gives us a picture of the spiritual. Jesus had much to say about those who were blind.
Matt 13:14-15
'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;
And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
And with their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes
Lest they should see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I should heal them.'
NAS
But in this article we are addressing the role of the eye as the lamp of the body. In that context the eye is similar to the nose. The nose brings air, the essence of our life, into the body. Without fresh air we will quickly die, poisoned by our own breath. Note the similitude here. God breathes the breath of life into man, and man exhales a poisonous gas that can kill him in less than eight minutes if concentrated. Breath in scripture is a picture of the essence of life of the spirit, for it is the Holy Spirit (pneuma) that brings the inner life into man. The life of the soul comes through the spirit when we walk according to the Spirit, or when we walk according to the flesh, most of the outward life of the soul comes in through the eyes. Since the eye is such a dominant sense, this a very powerful force to overcome. The Spirit whispers, but the flesh shouts. It bombards our soul with a cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, sensations and cravings.
The eye (the lamp) brings the light into the body and determines what it sees. We see the light that the eye has brought into our body to be processed into "seeing" by the brain. As was demonstrated with the optical illusion, we can see with our eyes without perceiving, or perceive in error. But, since sight is our most powerful and trusted sense, we are directed by, and even become, what we see. Once we have seen something, we are reluctant to change our minds because we have "seen it with our own eyes" and, like smell and hearing, we can be influenced by what we see even without noticing it. Continuing with verse 34, if our eye is clear (single is used in some translations and better fitted in context) our body will be full of light.
We imitate and do what we see and hear. This is incredibly powerful because we do it unconsciously. We become like the things we look at with the eye or hear with the ear. Take accents. Why do people in different states have different accents? Are they taught? Does anyone have to be taught profanity?
Kids are especially influenced by their role models: athletes, entertainment figures, musicians, teachers and parents. They become like them in dress, speech, mannerisms and character without conscious thought. The exposure alone is sufficient for the images to imprint themselves on our soul. Hang around longshoreman, you begin to talk and act like longshoremen. Watch MTV and you begin to sound like MTV -- a fact that should by now have become obvious as millions of young women compete with each other for the attention of boys like streetwalkers on a corner.
Recently the two leading movies opened with $52 and $86 million weekends. The first was an obscenity saturated movie with the rapper Emenim. The second promoted witchcraft for children. In an interview a twelve year old boy stated he wanted to be just like Emenim when he grew up. He thought the rapper looked cool, acted cool and dressed cool. The fact that his work speaks of killing and raping his mother, among other things was not a concern -- to him or his parents. What was subtle in the music of the Doors of the parents, is now blatant in the music of the children. The targeting of Harry Potter to young children is obvious. What is not obvious is that now if one selects a book on witchcraft, or any other occult topic, on Amazon.com, the customer will be presented user reviews written by practitioners of the occult and recommendations for actual occult paraphernalia offered by Amazon.com merchants. This is also true of sexual perversions of every kind. In short, our culture allows us to see everything.
Jesus warns us of this. He says that if our "single" eye is bad, the light that we are filled with will be darkness. If the light in us is darkness, it is very great indeed, for it has become part of us. We will trust it and hang onto it tenaciously because since we have seen it with our own eyes it is guarded by our pride.
Note that it is this illustration that Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt 6:24, where He continues by saying :
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
NASU
The wealth, or mammon, is just an illustration of the tangible things of this world that we can serve. He is saying that we will either serve the light or the darkness that comes in through the eye.
No one can serve two masters, for by definition a master is someone who is supreme in authority. Both cannot be supreme. One can only have one true master. If we try to please two, we please neither, and we are constantly torn between the two and buffeted back and forth.
Imagine a secretary working for two attorneys; both with pressing deadlines; both coming out and putting on pressure to put them first; both telling her to do things differently. She would come to despise one or both, but could not serve both with complete devotion. The translation uses wealth but this is the physical world picture, not the spiritual reality. The spiritual implications are far more profound. We are talking about involuntary changes to our soul, our very essence.
The spiritual reality is better depicted by Parkinson's disease, where opposing muscles jerk the body around uncontrollably. The muscles have two masters that cannot be smoothly coordinated because they both want to be the supreme authority. We will either be ruled over by Christ as our head, with the Holy Spirit controlling our muscles or by the flesh controlling our muscles by our nervous system. If we try to serve both, we are the most miserable of men being tossed around uncontrollably.
When we choose Christ as head, then the body rebels and fights for its life until it is crucified. Only then are we free to serve one master. One, of many, messages of the Cross is that an internal desire or command (the law of sin or the law of the Spirit) is far more powerful than any external command. Even though the persistent craving of lust of the flesh for food or sex may be less intense than the external consequences of abuse, it is relentless and since it is internal, the will sees it to be part of us and is predisposed to satisfy it. The (law) of sin opposes any external command as a matter of principle since it violates its sovereignty. Only the law of the Spirit can defeat the law of sin within us. Paul gives us testimony concerning this in Romans 7 and 1 Corinthians 9:26-27:
26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
NASU
The simple fact is that, regardless of what we think our senses tell us, we are born as slaves to our bodies and all that goes with it, and we only become free when we surrender completely to the Spirit of Christ to become His bondservant. It is this battle in between that causes us so much misery and where Satan focuses most of his energy, amplifying the power of our sinful body over us.
John gives a warning concerning this as well: 1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
NASU
This is all background to illustrate the key point that the major cause of defeat in Christians comes through the eyes. The evidence is overwhelming. Surveys indicate that over 50% of pastors have a problem with internet pornography, but this obvious problem is not as great an enemy as the shaping of the Christian (and non-Christian) soul by all forms of world visual imagery. TV, movies, books, magazines, newspapers, billboards, the mall, the beach, and billboards. Everywhere, we find ungodly images which unconsciously make their imprint on our soul. Like our sense of smell, we quickly reach the point where we no longer notice. The images create desires that bring us to failed marriages, financial ruin, and condition us to operate according to the rules of the world. Let me offer just two of hundreds of available examples: Styles and values.
Why do we so quickly become dissatisfied with many of the things we buy? How many times have you bought clothing you have never worn? Or, purchased, a car, furniture or even a house that you thought was very stylish, only to hate the look of it later. These are all driven by lust of the eyes. Fashions come out and soon you begin to see them in media and advertisements that are directed not at persuading you to purchase them, but rather to create an image. Our conscious mind can reject an obvious sales pitch, but we not even notice that it is being conditioned to receive an image favorably.
By avoiding a direct appeal which the will can reject, an image is planted in the mind where the natural lust of the flesh can be amplified by spiritual temptation. If you don't believe unclean spirits can plant thoughts in your mind or induce emotions (among other things), you will accept none of this now. If you have been given a measure of discernment, you know this lust amplification is similar to the fiery darts referred to in Ephesians 6. If you can't accept this now, I encourage you to hide it away in your heart and ask the Holy Spirit for discernment and wisdom. .
Now consider the alternative -- nature. Why do created things such as trees, flowers and sunsets never go out of style? They are always beautiful. Interestingly enough, there are also classic designs of clothing, hair styles, furniture, houses and even automobiles that never go out of style. Those who own them are never hip, but it seems the Lord has enabled us to enjoy certain things we have made. The wisest man who ever lived learned this the hard way. In the race where the one "who dies with the most toys wins" King Solomon was the undisputed winner. Imagine having seven hundred wives whose new hairdo he had to notice. Look at what he had to say:
Ecclesiastes 5:19-20
19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
NIV
Ecclesiastes 6:1-2
6:1 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: 2 God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
NIV
Ecclesiastes 6:3-6
3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man- 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity.
NIV
So the Bible says that God controls our enjoyment of our possessions, and it is Satan's strategy to continue to cause us to lust for things we will not enjoy. I submit to you that the reason simple, elegant designs do not go out of style is that God enables us to enjoy the things that he has designed himself, or inspired, and most of them, like the things in nature, are free. Classic architecture always looks good. In America you can always wear a blue blazer and penny loafers. In short, God has given us good gifts that He allows us to enjoy and Satan does everything he can to make us dissatisfied with them.
And he is very successful. The family in America has almost been destroyed in no small part by the necessity of two incomes to pursue the styles that change from day to day in our society. Even with the two incomes, millions of families have been led into financial bondage trying to keep up appearances.
As successful as Satan has been with styles, it pales in comparison to what he has done with the most fundamental of values -- truth. Here the father of lies has created the whopper of whoppers. He has convinced a major portion of the world that there is no such thing as truth. If this is accepted, then how can one lie? For if there is no objective standard for truth then there is only opinion. Decisions then become not a product of reason, but of feelings and emotions, that part of the soul Satan can deceive the easiest. That is where he started with Eve and where he works today. Feelings have become the basis for decisions and beliefs.
The advantage to this view of truth from the deceivers point of view is that one is never caught in a lie. This is why one can persecute the Boy Scouts one day for restricting access of homosexuals to young boys and the next day chastise the Catholic Church for failing to do the same thing. How can one hold a view against both at the same time? Easy. Universities even have a name for it and teach courses on it -- situational ethics. Basically, one can compartmentalize (remember that word from the Clinton era) each opinion according to time, place and circumstances based on how one feels about it that day.
This philosophy of Post Modernism is so absurd that one finds it difficult to even raise an argument against it and that is one of the keys to its success. Goebbel, Hitler's propaganda chief, posed the argument that it was easier to tell a big lie than a small one, because such a lie does not alert the hearers' defenses. When a person hears such a lie, he tends to believe it because no one would tell something so obviously untrue unless it were true. They measure truth against their own standard. People tend to believe lies they would be unwilling to tell and distrust lies they would speak themselves.
This appears to be divine judgment per Romans 1. Those who value absolute truth measured by God's Word are given discernment. Those who reject God are given over to a depraved mind which when it reaches it's full measure is unable to discern good and evil.
Though this twisted line of thinking came into being as philosophy, it was spread not by the teaching of it, but rather by living it. (Please pay close attention to this.) This is to the shame of Christianity which has attempted to do the opposite. Satan knows us well so he has molded a philosophy (Post Modernism) into a life and deceived Christians into turning a new life in Christ into a philosophy. Consequently, whole generations who made have never heard of the term Post Modernism live it out even though most cannot spell it, much less explain it. Their eye has been upon it in movies, television, the school, their peers, and, sadly, many of their parents. A recent survey of college seniors indicated that 73% of them said that their professors taught that there was no absolute right or wrong. Further, 53% believed that the only difference between Enron executives and others is that they got caught. Thou shalt not be judgmental has become not only the greatest, but only commandment. The only truth that is not considered truth is one that claims to be exclusive.
Dennis Prager, a Jewish news commentator, has a test that for fifteen years he has asked of high school seniors. He asks if they would standing on the bank of a flooding river and a stranger and their dog were floating by, which one would they throw a rope over if they had to choose? It is always the same. One third choose their dog. One third choose the stranger and one third can't decide. Prager says that, in every single instance, when he asks the ones who won't vote for the person, "Why not?" Either the ones who don't know, or the ones who actually would vote for their dog, consistently give the following answer: "I feel for my dog. I love my dog. I don't feel for the stranger."
According to Prager "we have raised a generation of Americans to believe that all action emanates from feelings. Feelings are what matter. How do you feel about it?. That is the question left of center. How do you feel about it? And when you say "You're wrong," when I tell American youth, "You're wrong, that is wrong, it is a wrong position; human beings are more valuable than animals." They look at me as if a fascist has entered the room. "How dare you tell us our feelings are wrong." Feelings is the new American religion."
This philosophy has saturated the school system to the extent that now even math problems may have no single "truth" or answer. One is at a loss to even begin to counter such an argument and that is just the point. The venom of the serpent paralyzes its prey before killing it. At this point in history, the venom is in the bloodstream and no argument will counteract it.
When one is stung by a bee, the bee rips away its abdomen leaving the poison sac attached to the stinger which penetrates the skin. If the stinger remains, or one pinches the sac by trying to remove the stinger, all of the venom is injected into the wound and the pain and swelling are dramatically increased. The proper method of removal is to immediately scratch away the stinger with a fingernail. Most of the time this will pull out the stinger, but at the least it will cut off the poison sac and thus prevent venom from continuing to be injected. If done immediately, a bee sting can be rather mild.
This is a good lesson when dealing with any form of poisoning. The first step should always be to cut off the poison supply. Then, apply an antidote. What is true in creation is true in the spiritual realm, for God has given us instruction how to do precisely the same. First, cut off the poison, and then saturate the wound with the antidote, the water of the Word of God. Jesus gives us stern warning concerning this.
Mark 9:45-48
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where
"'their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.'
NIV
I can attest that this works. For thirty years I saturated myself with the culture with a primary focus on business. Each night, I would come home and turn on the TV while reading the newspaper, business magazines and journals, and assorted business and self-improvement books. While all of the things I am speaking of have been present for many years I saw nothing and would have argued against everything I am now saying. I was 110% focused on the things that were most interesting to me and I was exposing myself to everything else in the culture as a part of the process.
In 1997, the Lord woke me up and taught me the absolute truth of His Word beginning with "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Sometimes change occurs slowly, but my bad habit was used for good. I was already spending 110% effort pursuing the things that were most interesting to me. Now the fear of the Lord made it extremely important to me to understand what He had to say and, without any conscious effort on my part, I completely quit all media (newspapers, magazines, TV, movies, all of it) and began to focus all of my attention on the Bible. At first I understood very little, but I continued because I was certain there were answers there and I wanted them. Fast. As I began to read seriously I picked up a copy of Experiencing God and on the first page it quoted 1Corinthians 2:14. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. When I read this, I saw that to understand the Bible I had to be born again and now knew this was the case, but I also saw the term "spiritually discerned." I understood spiritual discernment to be a gift of the Holy Spirit, so I accepted the passage at its face, that I was not going to understand the spiritual meaning of the Bible unless the Holy Spirit gave it to me. I have never been one to try to do things the hard way and if I had read this right my own efforts were going to be futile so I told the Lord that I would carefully read what He had written and then I would just ask Him to show me what it meant. The Lord had trained me in my years in business to never to add or subtract from the written word. All my business success was derived from this principal and it became the other pillar of my Bible Study. If you approach the Bible as a little child it is quite simple: read exactly what it says, no more, no less. Then ask Father what it means. Understand He always answers either yes, no, or not now and the delayed answers are almost always the richest.
Can I just say that the Lord does exactly what He says? It is true, we do not have because we do not ask. Is it God's will that we read and understand His Word? Then, this is something that we can pray for with full confidence that He will do for us in His own way and He will custom tailor instruction that is perfect for us. He knows our background, our future, exactly how and what we think and how to make us understand. It is our flesh and our impatience that destroys our understanding of God's Word. This subject is discussed in detail in the Yeast of the Pharisees. Some things he may not ever want us to understand for we know in part and we prophesy in part. I now consider prayer and meditation on scripture to be the most important part of Bible study.
I did this for about a year before I saw another TV program. When I did, I was amazed and appalled. I could not believe what had happened to the shows and the commercials. I simply could not stand to watch even a few minutes of it. When I read newspapers and magazines I could see the bias and the blatant promotion of radical viewpoints. In short, I could now see plainly what I was blind to before. As time goes on, that vision continues to improve. I plainly see the truth in
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.
NIV
Consider this challenge for a moment. If you read in today's paper that terrorists have poisoned selected water supplies throughout the United States what would you do? Would you continue to drink from the tap as long as it tasted ok or would you begin drinking only purified, filtered water? Your soul is being poisoned as we speak and the only solution is to cut the poison off and begin drinking only from the Water of the Word. Try it for 90 days. Cold turkey. Take all of the time you spend now reading, viewing or listening to any worldly media or entertainment and devote it to prayer and reading and hearing the Word. Spend it with your children. Then, test your eyesight. Pray that the Lord will allow you to see through His eyes and read Time magazine and watch a couple sitcoms at random. Look at the covers of the girls and women's magazines in the grocery store checkout line.
When the boiling frog is removed from the hot water before death and allowed to cool, he will jump out if replaced in water of the same temperature. So will you. We are feeding our flesh and starving our spirit. This sad young man is a picture which represents the health of the spiritual body of most of us. Only by feeding the spirit can it hope to reign over our mortal body.
The Roman Cross
The Roman cross put it's victim to death by bringing pain, weakness, and humiliation until the victim no longer had the strength to draw a breath. Somewhere in the process the victim's will for life turns to despair and a desire for death. This point is a similitude for the key, I believe, to the believer's Crosses. It is at this point, when the soul realizes that its position is hopeless, that struggling for life will result in only a few more breaths of greater pain, and the body appears to possess no more strength of its own, that the self-seeking soul receives its ultimate humiliation as it realizes .... it cannot even die on its own!!! It learns to its horror that despite the instructions of the will, the body will not obey and will struggle for the next breath on its own. It is only then, that in total humiliation, the soul realizes it is not the master but the slave and always has been. All strength of body, soul and pride have been destroyed.
It realizes that it itself is not God and only God can help. It cries out to God to free it from the body of this death and submits its spirit into the hands of the Living God. Immediately, upon this surrender the soul passes through death into life and stands sheepishly before a welcoming Lord, as it now wonders what all the fuss was about. All its life it struggled to avoid this? But without a word of reproach, the Father kisses His prodigal son, gives him the finest robe and puts His ring on His finger. Then the party starts.
It realizes that it itself is not God and only God can help. It cries out to God to free it from the body of this death and submits its spirit into the hands of the Living God. Immediately, upon this surrender the soul passes through death into life and stands sheepishly before a welcoming Lord, as it now wonders what all the fuss was about. All its life it struggled to avoid this? But without a word of reproach, the Father kisses His prodigal son, gives him the finest robe and puts His ring on His finger. Then the party starts.
Bread of Heaven
Est 1:1-5
Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces,
2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa,
3 in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence.
4 And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.
5 When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.
Est 1:10-12
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.
12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.
Est 1:15-18
15 "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"
16 In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
17 "For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, "King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.'
18 "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger.
Est 1:19-20
19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she.
20 "When the king's edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small."
22 So he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.
Est 2:2
2 Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.
3 "Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them.
4 "Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti." And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.
7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
8 So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.
9 Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king's palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.
12 Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women -- for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women --
13 the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king's bounty.
A great king had a disobedient wife so she was cast from his presence and an orphan from a foreign land was brought into the king' palace, bringing nothing she desired of her own with her. She is fed special food from the kings table and is chosen to sit on the throne.
John 4:32-34
32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
33 So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?"
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
John 6:54-56
54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
John 6:57-58
57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."
"Royal jelly is the food secreted by the worker bees which is given to the growing bee larvae. This food is also given to the worker bee larvae for the first three days after they hatch, but the queen larvae are fed the jelly throughout the entire period of their development until they pupate.
We now know that royal jelly consists of roughly two-thirds water and the rest dry matter. The royal food has an extremely complex chemical structure which imparts to the queen larvae a completely different form. The queen even possesses unique organs and working mechanisms, quite remarkable when you consider that both queen and worker grow from an identical egg and the only difference between the two is the diet of royal jelly fed to the queen for all her life. Over the three days during which they are given royal jelly, the worker larvae undergo a stormy growth process; they become 250 times heavier than the original egg. The queen, fed royal jelly throughout her formative period, is born five days earlier than the workers and is twice as heavy. In addition she can live for as long as five years and in the most intensive breeding period can produce up to 2000 eggs daily, considerably more than her own weight. A worker bee lives barely six weeks in the summer, and winter bees do not survive longer than six months. The effect royal jelly has on the bees is nothing short of miraculous and it would seem clear that very extraordinary substances are responsible for this."
Rom 1:18-20
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces,
2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa,
3 in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence.
4 And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.
5 When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.
Est 1:10-12
10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.
12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.
Est 1:15-18
15 "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"
16 In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
17 "For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, "King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.'
18 "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger.
Est 1:19-20
19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she.
20 "When the king's edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, great as it is, then all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small."
22 So he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.
Est 2:2
2 Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.
3 "Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them.
4 "Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti." And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.
7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
8 So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.
9 Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king's palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.
12 Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women -- for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women --
13 the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king's bounty.
A great king had a disobedient wife so she was cast from his presence and an orphan from a foreign land was brought into the king' palace, bringing nothing she desired of her own with her. She is fed special food from the kings table and is chosen to sit on the throne.
John 4:32-34
32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."
33 So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?"
34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
John 6:54-56
54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
John 6:57-58
57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."
"Royal jelly is the food secreted by the worker bees which is given to the growing bee larvae. This food is also given to the worker bee larvae for the first three days after they hatch, but the queen larvae are fed the jelly throughout the entire period of their development until they pupate.
We now know that royal jelly consists of roughly two-thirds water and the rest dry matter. The royal food has an extremely complex chemical structure which imparts to the queen larvae a completely different form. The queen even possesses unique organs and working mechanisms, quite remarkable when you consider that both queen and worker grow from an identical egg and the only difference between the two is the diet of royal jelly fed to the queen for all her life. Over the three days during which they are given royal jelly, the worker larvae undergo a stormy growth process; they become 250 times heavier than the original egg. The queen, fed royal jelly throughout her formative period, is born five days earlier than the workers and is twice as heavy. In addition she can live for as long as five years and in the most intensive breeding period can produce up to 2000 eggs daily, considerably more than her own weight. A worker bee lives barely six weeks in the summer, and winter bees do not survive longer than six months. The effect royal jelly has on the bees is nothing short of miraculous and it would seem clear that very extraordinary substances are responsible for this."
Rom 1:18-20
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Running the Race
I was reading a book on the matter of the Law and the Church and a similitude I heard Sunday spoke loudly.
The pastor was talking about taking his son to the Nascar museum where they were looking at the instrument panel of a race car. His son noticed that the guages were mounted in a helter skelter fashion -- some tilted left, others to the right, at various angles. He asked his father about it, who, it turns out, guessed right. This was done so that during the race, when all was right, the needles on the guages would all point straight up. As long as they did so, all was well, and a brief glance at the entire panel of gauges at once would show this. Any deviant guage would quickly reveal itself, thus prompting the driver to pay attention to that particular guage, but otherwise the driver's concentration should be focused on running the race. I am sure you will see, that although Paul spoke of a footrace to the Galatians, this is an even better similitude.
When you are driving in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic like we do in Southern California, only at 215 miles per hour, the slightest loss of concentration in driving the car can cause a fatal crash. It only takes a fraction of a second and it's all over. But, if a driver focuses all of his attention on the track and completely neglects his oil pressure, engine temperature, fuel, etc. he may be forced out of the race due to mechanical failure. The key is balance.
If the instruments were not arranged in the matter described it would be necessary to focus on each guage, reading not only the needle position, but also its relative measurement, then judgment would have to be applied. Is the temperature normal? It looks a little hot. Let's see, what is it normally .... Crash!!!!!! You just hit the wall. This is a wall many in the Church hit every day.
So how should we run the race? We should focus on our driving, with occasional glances over to our guages on the straightaways or when traffic is clear, but when we are in tight corners all of our focus must be on driving the race. We do that by focusing on Jesus, not the owner's manual. But, when the guages are not in alignment, then what? Time to slow down, identify the problem and if serious, make a pit stop. During the pit stop, we should rest, take time to properly address the problem, and unlike auto racing, we are in no rush. The prize in the race we run goes to those who finish, not those who get there first or go the fastest. It is an endurance race. That is why those guages are so important, but it only takes a glance.
Too much attention to the guages and one spends all of his time arguing in the pits or he hits the wall. Flame out or rust out. When the mechanics cannot agree as to the interpretation of the guages, it is time to put all opinions aside and consult the designer and manufacturer. Sometimes there might be a delay in answering, because He is more interested in how the crew works together than the car.
I think the similitude for spirit and letter and the application here is obvious. I am seeing many hit the wall as they are in the very act of preaching that they walk by the Spirit, but are in fact arguing over the guages.
The pastor was talking about taking his son to the Nascar museum where they were looking at the instrument panel of a race car. His son noticed that the guages were mounted in a helter skelter fashion -- some tilted left, others to the right, at various angles. He asked his father about it, who, it turns out, guessed right. This was done so that during the race, when all was right, the needles on the guages would all point straight up. As long as they did so, all was well, and a brief glance at the entire panel of gauges at once would show this. Any deviant guage would quickly reveal itself, thus prompting the driver to pay attention to that particular guage, but otherwise the driver's concentration should be focused on running the race. I am sure you will see, that although Paul spoke of a footrace to the Galatians, this is an even better similitude.
When you are driving in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic like we do in Southern California, only at 215 miles per hour, the slightest loss of concentration in driving the car can cause a fatal crash. It only takes a fraction of a second and it's all over. But, if a driver focuses all of his attention on the track and completely neglects his oil pressure, engine temperature, fuel, etc. he may be forced out of the race due to mechanical failure. The key is balance.
If the instruments were not arranged in the matter described it would be necessary to focus on each guage, reading not only the needle position, but also its relative measurement, then judgment would have to be applied. Is the temperature normal? It looks a little hot. Let's see, what is it normally .... Crash!!!!!! You just hit the wall. This is a wall many in the Church hit every day.
So how should we run the race? We should focus on our driving, with occasional glances over to our guages on the straightaways or when traffic is clear, but when we are in tight corners all of our focus must be on driving the race. We do that by focusing on Jesus, not the owner's manual. But, when the guages are not in alignment, then what? Time to slow down, identify the problem and if serious, make a pit stop. During the pit stop, we should rest, take time to properly address the problem, and unlike auto racing, we are in no rush. The prize in the race we run goes to those who finish, not those who get there first or go the fastest. It is an endurance race. That is why those guages are so important, but it only takes a glance.
Too much attention to the guages and one spends all of his time arguing in the pits or he hits the wall. Flame out or rust out. When the mechanics cannot agree as to the interpretation of the guages, it is time to put all opinions aside and consult the designer and manufacturer. Sometimes there might be a delay in answering, because He is more interested in how the crew works together than the car.
I think the similitude for spirit and letter and the application here is obvious. I am seeing many hit the wall as they are in the very act of preaching that they walk by the Spirit, but are in fact arguing over the guages.
The Well
A couple years ago a youth pastor requested to use our ranch near Yosemite for a summer youth retreat. We had been waiting on the Lord to show us his purpose for it so we agreed. They proposed to make the needed improvements and we would make the property available. We had a large cedar barn, built like ones a hundred years old, with the haylofts up top. With the equipment and ranch junk moved out it would be an excellent meeting place. So they prepared a budget to make the necessary conversions of sleeping areas, bathrooms and kitchens and pour concrete on the remainder of the barn floor. I cautioned him, though, about managing the water.
We had a good well for the mountains which produced five gallons per minute, but I told him that he should not have more than 60 to 75 people at a time. We had owned the property for sixteen years and the well had never failed us even during some years of severe drought. Nevertheless, we had some discussions about buying a water tank to store up surplus at night.
The work began on Memorial Day weekend and was proceeding on schedule. At beginning of July, the pastor brought his staff up to do the final preparations for the camp which was to begin the last week in July. They had only been there a couple days when the well ran dry. He called the well company out to check it and they said it was now down to less than one gallon per minute. A trickle.
So now he had a real challenge. Almost two hundred kids had paid for camp with sixty five due in less than three weeks and no water. Not only did they have to come up with the money to drill a new well, but get a well driller to do it in time. Fortunately, the caretaker was friends with a local well driller and it was arranged that he could drill on theTuesday before the Friday camp was to begin.
The money was raised and so it remained to where and how to do the well. With the little time remaining it was impossible to relocate the water lines and electric to a new location so they decided to drill about twenty feet away from the old one. There was no way of knowing if water was below, but experience said that water was more likely at a greater depth than the existing 190 feet. The cost to drill was $11 per foot so the budget provided for a 300 foot well.
So all was ready for the drilling. During that time the staff continued to pray that the driller would find water. The Lord had made it clear to me that I was to stay out of this, so I had prayed that He would provide all of the water needed for whatever it was that He had planned for the place. But, Tuesday the well driller did not show up. Instead the road was filled with bulldozers and fire fighting equipment.
A forest fire had broken out about two miles to the Northeast. This was quite serious, because if the wind changed from west to east, there was no break between the fire and our ranch and there was a great deal of highly flammable brush. So the camp staff had a new concern for prayer as did I, but I had a great peace about this, for I knew the property belonged to the Lord.
The fire continued to burn, but the wind held so that not even smoke or ash came toward the ranch and on Thursday the well drillers showed up and began to drill. All was proceeding well with the new shaft down to 180 feet, but no water yet. Still, the other well right next to it was 190 feet so we did not expect much yet. Then, the drill bit broke.
Here they were on Thursday afternoon with no water, a forest fire, two dry wells of identical depth, work has stopped and at 7:00 AM the next morning sixty five kids are leaving the church to go to camp. More prayer.
The following morning brought good news. The fire was contained in the river canyon and the well driller came with a new drill bit and began to drill again through the solid granite of the mountain. He had only gone a couple feet and hit quartz. It is the quartz veins that are porous and allow the water to flow. This appeared to be the same vein as the old well. Then, at 239 feet they hit a gusher. Large amounts of water in a deep vein of quartz. The drilling continued to 300 feet but nothing but more granite so they stopped to test the well. The driller said that he thought the flow was 30 gallons per minute! This was huge. One rarely ever gets such volume in the mountains. Further, he said he was unable to calculate it accurately because the water was flowing in faster than he could measure it. Apparently the Lord has big plans.
About 2:00 PM the pump was installed, the pipes connected to the water system and all was ready. A few minutes later the first vans arrived.
Great praise report. But that is not the end of the story.
Though this occured three years ago, this morning I woke up thinking about it. Why, I thought, did they drill a whole new well only 20 feet from the old one, instead of drilling the old one deeper. At $11 per foot the new well would have cost $2,000 less, $2,500 less if the drilling had stopped when they hit water. The reason was the well house.
You see there was a plywood shed over the old well. Not in very good shape, but it had a sound concrete foundation. The shed could have been replaced all new for less than $500. So a similtude emerged.
When the well went dry, the church was surviving on small jugs of lukewarm water that were filled from the old well over which was built a house. Unknown to them, only 50 feet down was more cool, fresh, flowing water than they could ever drink. But, to reach it they had to drill deeper on faith. There were two ways to drill. The most costly way was to leave the existing well house intact and drill outside the house to a greater depth than before. It would be far easier to deepen the old well, but to do so the existing wood shed needed to be torn down to its solid concrete foundation. Then, the well could be drilled deeper. Once, the water began flowing again, the wellhouse could be rebuilt anew.
There is always more water available. The only question is how deep one must go and count the cost to get there. The water from the new well is cold and refreshing even on the hottest days. It flows out of solid granite. Water from the rock.
The camp the next year forgot all about the well water. It was taken for granted. They were no longer thirsty. The following year the retreat was moved to a new location and was entitled "Back to the River," the Colorado River that is, great for water sports: houseboats, water skiing, jet skis. Water play, not water to drink. Once again they drank out of jugs; they were no longer drinking water from the rock.
The caretaker's house up the hill and the barn down the hill are on the same water supply. If water is used in the barn the pressure in the house slows to a trickle. In order for the occupant of that house to be assured of constant water, we will have to dig deeper. I will pay for this well, but I have a great advantage. Someone before me has already explored the depths of the rock, I know where the river is because I have listened to the reports of the spies that went into the land. I know the river is only 50 feet down, so I will tear down my wellhouse to the foundations, drill and rebuild. The cost for me will be less for I have heard and heeded the testimony of those before me. I believe this is where Jesus would say, "He who has ears let him hear."
John 4:10-11
10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
Fifty feet down, but first you must tear down your house.
We had a good well for the mountains which produced five gallons per minute, but I told him that he should not have more than 60 to 75 people at a time. We had owned the property for sixteen years and the well had never failed us even during some years of severe drought. Nevertheless, we had some discussions about buying a water tank to store up surplus at night.
The work began on Memorial Day weekend and was proceeding on schedule. At beginning of July, the pastor brought his staff up to do the final preparations for the camp which was to begin the last week in July. They had only been there a couple days when the well ran dry. He called the well company out to check it and they said it was now down to less than one gallon per minute. A trickle.
So now he had a real challenge. Almost two hundred kids had paid for camp with sixty five due in less than three weeks and no water. Not only did they have to come up with the money to drill a new well, but get a well driller to do it in time. Fortunately, the caretaker was friends with a local well driller and it was arranged that he could drill on theTuesday before the Friday camp was to begin.
The money was raised and so it remained to where and how to do the well. With the little time remaining it was impossible to relocate the water lines and electric to a new location so they decided to drill about twenty feet away from the old one. There was no way of knowing if water was below, but experience said that water was more likely at a greater depth than the existing 190 feet. The cost to drill was $11 per foot so the budget provided for a 300 foot well.
So all was ready for the drilling. During that time the staff continued to pray that the driller would find water. The Lord had made it clear to me that I was to stay out of this, so I had prayed that He would provide all of the water needed for whatever it was that He had planned for the place. But, Tuesday the well driller did not show up. Instead the road was filled with bulldozers and fire fighting equipment.
A forest fire had broken out about two miles to the Northeast. This was quite serious, because if the wind changed from west to east, there was no break between the fire and our ranch and there was a great deal of highly flammable brush. So the camp staff had a new concern for prayer as did I, but I had a great peace about this, for I knew the property belonged to the Lord.
The fire continued to burn, but the wind held so that not even smoke or ash came toward the ranch and on Thursday the well drillers showed up and began to drill. All was proceeding well with the new shaft down to 180 feet, but no water yet. Still, the other well right next to it was 190 feet so we did not expect much yet. Then, the drill bit broke.
Here they were on Thursday afternoon with no water, a forest fire, two dry wells of identical depth, work has stopped and at 7:00 AM the next morning sixty five kids are leaving the church to go to camp. More prayer.
The following morning brought good news. The fire was contained in the river canyon and the well driller came with a new drill bit and began to drill again through the solid granite of the mountain. He had only gone a couple feet and hit quartz. It is the quartz veins that are porous and allow the water to flow. This appeared to be the same vein as the old well. Then, at 239 feet they hit a gusher. Large amounts of water in a deep vein of quartz. The drilling continued to 300 feet but nothing but more granite so they stopped to test the well. The driller said that he thought the flow was 30 gallons per minute! This was huge. One rarely ever gets such volume in the mountains. Further, he said he was unable to calculate it accurately because the water was flowing in faster than he could measure it. Apparently the Lord has big plans.
About 2:00 PM the pump was installed, the pipes connected to the water system and all was ready. A few minutes later the first vans arrived.
Great praise report. But that is not the end of the story.
Though this occured three years ago, this morning I woke up thinking about it. Why, I thought, did they drill a whole new well only 20 feet from the old one, instead of drilling the old one deeper. At $11 per foot the new well would have cost $2,000 less, $2,500 less if the drilling had stopped when they hit water. The reason was the well house.
You see there was a plywood shed over the old well. Not in very good shape, but it had a sound concrete foundation. The shed could have been replaced all new for less than $500. So a similtude emerged.
When the well went dry, the church was surviving on small jugs of lukewarm water that were filled from the old well over which was built a house. Unknown to them, only 50 feet down was more cool, fresh, flowing water than they could ever drink. But, to reach it they had to drill deeper on faith. There were two ways to drill. The most costly way was to leave the existing well house intact and drill outside the house to a greater depth than before. It would be far easier to deepen the old well, but to do so the existing wood shed needed to be torn down to its solid concrete foundation. Then, the well could be drilled deeper. Once, the water began flowing again, the wellhouse could be rebuilt anew.
There is always more water available. The only question is how deep one must go and count the cost to get there. The water from the new well is cold and refreshing even on the hottest days. It flows out of solid granite. Water from the rock.
The camp the next year forgot all about the well water. It was taken for granted. They were no longer thirsty. The following year the retreat was moved to a new location and was entitled "Back to the River," the Colorado River that is, great for water sports: houseboats, water skiing, jet skis. Water play, not water to drink. Once again they drank out of jugs; they were no longer drinking water from the rock.
The caretaker's house up the hill and the barn down the hill are on the same water supply. If water is used in the barn the pressure in the house slows to a trickle. In order for the occupant of that house to be assured of constant water, we will have to dig deeper. I will pay for this well, but I have a great advantage. Someone before me has already explored the depths of the rock, I know where the river is because I have listened to the reports of the spies that went into the land. I know the river is only 50 feet down, so I will tear down my wellhouse to the foundations, drill and rebuild. The cost for me will be less for I have heard and heeded the testimony of those before me. I believe this is where Jesus would say, "He who has ears let him hear."
John 4:10-11
10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
Fifty feet down, but first you must tear down your house.
The Message from The Message
"When Paul of Tarsus wrote a letter, the people who received it understood it instantly," Peterson explains. "When the prophet Isaiah preached a sermon, I can't imagine that people went to the library to figure it out. That was the basic premise under which I worked. I began with the New Testament in the Greek --- a rough and jagged language, not so grammatically clean. I just typed out a page the way I thought it would have sounded to the Galatians."
Eugene Peterson - The Message
2 Peter 3:15-16
15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
NASU
2 Peter 1:19-2:1
19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.
20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
NASU
1 Cor 2:14
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
NASU
If the basic premise of a writing is false then can the end product be anything greater? Scripture, being written by men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, was intentionally written in, in the case of the New Testament, a "rough and jagged language" and in the case of Paul, letters contained some things "hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." So then the question becomes, why did God give us His word written so that it is so hard to understand that, even though the brightest minds in history have poured over it for thousands of years, the bulk of the writing remains in dispute? The reason is easily deduced by logic and confirmed by scripture -- God did not intend that scripture could be understood by the natural man.
Matt 11:25
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants
NASU
Matt 13:10-11
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
NASU
Luke 18:34
34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.
NASU
Here we have the scriptures themselves saying clearly and plainly that even though Jesus spoke in person to the people the meaning of His teachings was hidden from not only the people, but His own disciples, until a time and means of the Lord's choosing. The time for the disciples was after the resurrection in Emmaus and in the upper room, and the means was spiritual discernment by revelation. The scriptures say Jesus opened their minds to the scriptures. Even the simplest statement, which the scriptures say Jesus spoke plainly, that Jesus was going to be beaten, mocked and crucified, and raised on the third day was not understood by the disciples by their own testimony and the example of their behavior.
The reason that God has intentionally made His word impossible for the natural man to understand is to bring the natural man to weakness, to cause him to ponder, to meditate day and night on the scriptures he needs to understand, but cannot. He labors at this as did Luther who, he says, badgered St. Paul day and night for the meaning of "the just shall live by faith." It is the meditating on the hidden meaning of the word of God that brings us to recognize our weakness, draws us to hear the voice of God, and humbles us lest we boast in our accomplishments. And, a little child can do it.
No, when Paul wrote a letter and Isaiah prophesied the people did not undertand it instantly. Two thousand years later most still don't. Get the message?
[Editors Note: Our objection to The Message is the ease with which it can be confused by Christians to be a Bible translation instead of a commentary about the Bible. The author, Eugene Peterson, provides many provocative insights such as his modernized paraphrase of Amos 5:21-27 which can be useful as supplementary commentary. However, in our opinion a serious Bible reader would be well advised to seek the most accurate translation to discern what God actually said before trying to interpret what God meant. Scriptures says "we know in part and we prophesy in part." No one gets it all and that is the snare when one tries to interpret the entire Bible.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
