Into The Mystic?

Would it surprise you at all if I told you how thankful I am to have the limited amount of intelligence I posses? On my better days I’m a person to whom humility comes easily and who harbors few if any misgivings about his place in the grand scheme of things. I suspect it was a product of his own similar revelation and his subsequent observations of me that my father once said,

“Son, you don’t have to be really smart in this world if you have smart people around you”

His words stung a little then but now serve as a confirmation to me of a blessing that has in may ways characterized my life and that’s helped me to be more comfortable in the many supporting roles I’ve played since.

Genesis 3:22

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever

Knowledge can actually be a curse, look what happened to Adam after he “got smart” via the fruit of the forbidden tree! I think God is saddened by what’s happened, it’s as if He understands what a burden it is to know, to understand, and that as a result man will now be held responsible to choose good over evil…

Can you not see how much better off Adam was before just being

“dumb and happy” ?

In a recent post I wrote about our freedom in Christ and how Christians have allowed a spirit of fear and deception to keep them from experiencing any possible benefit or blessing from things like yoga,the martial arts, or even performances by theatrical magicians and I still believe that. I understand dancing is now considered “okay” as well…However, when it comes to things like Christians practicing Transcendental Meditation or being involved with any other altered consciousness producing practices I think you’re on very shaky ground and through your own freewill are in danger of coming under their mastery and of being in an idolatrous relationship. It’s more likely to be a person who’s real god is intelligentsia who comes to see themselves as some sort of “mystic” Christian. People who because of their vanity, pride and egocentric perspective have moved out to form a new Christian elite of  super apostles enabled to be our metaphysical snake handlers, qualified by Christ no doubt to handle things that would cause the rest of us to stumble…

After all, they’re the Most Holy People of God!

I write about things that are personal to me and this topic is certainly no exception. I struggle with my own rebellious folly but thankfully I’m not smart or creative enough to come up with the necessary lies and perverted logic which would allow me to continue in it’s pursuit. No, I’m a real amateur compared to people like Thomas Merton who laid the groundwork that “enlightened” generations of free thinking people! People who are, both then and now, spiritually seeking and who because the church was asleep at the wheel or busy organizing a bingo game somewhere were left without a proper challenge to this heresy which seemed to meet that need . I’ve noticed that people refer to him as a spiritual visionary. A so called Christian mystic who sought to bring together all of the worlds major faiths and traditions. Sounds good right but there’s so much more! I believe that in the very near future it’s going to be people such as Merton who will be the new age metaphysical apologists for the anti-christ and his one world religion!

When I first began thinking of writing on this subject I wondered if there were any real or legitimate examples of what could be considered Christian mystics. What about John of Patmos the writer of the final book of the bible Revelation?  St. John of The Cross who’s writings so many Christians find inspiration and comfort in? And in conclusion I think the answer has to be yes! But I don’t think they’re the pretentious, self-important, whack jobs that are attempting to pass themselves off as such today!

But what do I know? I’m just dumb and happy!

E.R. Theology

One of the primary reasons our health care system is in so much trouble is that as a society we tend to wait until we’ve reached the critical stage of a condition or a sickness before we decide that the thing to do is walk through the sliding glass doors of the emergency room of our local hospital. It’s by far the most expensive option thats available to us in just about every way possible… monetarily, physically, and even psychologically!

Why is it this way? Opinions vary, (that seems redundant) Here’s mine,

The powers that be, (aka insurance companies,hospitals)
Are playing a statistical numbers game with us. By paying lip-service to the idea of preventative care they know that they’ll come out ahead if they just let people show up at emergency rooms for health care because there’s a high probability that you might die before you ever get there or perhaps just go ahead and die while your there and that’s a bunch cheaper for them than it would of been to,

A) Provide an easily accessible health maintainence structure
B) Treat the conditions they couldn’t prevent
C)Couldn’t think of a C but I left it open (This is an interactive blog, you fill it in)

The cockle bur under my saddle today has to do with what I see as people in the church operating from an eerily similar mindset.

At times it reminds me of a scenario like this, You walk into a hospital E.R. and tell the doctor “I’ve got a sharp pain right here in my chest,close to my heart” what does the doctor do? He hands you a medical book that covers all known sicknesses and illnesses both mental and physical and says “Son, the answer to your problem, your treatment and subsequent healing, are here in this book! open it and start reading, when you get to a point that you don’t understand something look in the back…there’s a glossary of terms and other helpful stuff to answer all of your questions, Okay? thanks…”

Should you press your case, or return later after having read the book and still don’t have the answer to your problem or feel any better they’re ready for you with the stock answer of “there’s lots of stuff we just don’t know, we try to do the best we can with what we’ve got”

listen, here’s a thought…why not lay down here on this gurney,we’ll take you up into our operating room and cut a few things out of you that we think may be involved! rest assured that we’ll bring to bear ALL of the vast medical knowledge we possess where your treatment is concerned…you remember how impressive that was to you before? You’re not in anyway hesitant or reluctant to trust us are you?  after all, we are the “only game in town”  we’re sanctioned by the AMA, Please, please, just trust us! Oh why doesn’t anyone seem to trust us anymore?  Where was I when you just needed someone to talk to about your stress issues, or your diet concerns?  I was here! doing my best to deal with my own stressed out life with my huge belly hanging over my pants…I don’t understand why you never came to me before!

Years ago I saw a billboard that asked this question…Would you do for the truth, what the enemy does for a lie?

I can assure you that our enemy wastes NO opportunity to infuse his lies and deceptions upon mankind as a whole and upon us as individuals.  I’m talking home field advantage here, the fix is definitely in, and the only way that we as Christians can ever hope to “beat the house” is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’m talking about what The Apostle Paul meant when he said that we are “more than conquerors, through Him that loved us” At His ascension, Christ told us that he would leave us with the comforter,the counselor, the friend who is closer than a brother, and that it was good that he should go because the “Spirit” could be in all places at all times as opposed to He (Jesus) who walked in the flesh. Many people in the church know this and are perhaps frustrated or even discouraged because they haven’t seen a move of the Spirit in their congregation. I believe that the Spirit longs to move, longs to pour Himself out upon us and empower us to be the church of the book of Act’s,

So whats stopping Him?

He’s looking for a church that truly is “broken and spilled out” A church that’s become so sick and disgusted with the ways of this world being crammed down their throat that they’ve vomited then out and are laying there prostrate with absolutely no other option than for Him to come and fill them. He’s looking for a church where the self has been crucified, that the gift of His presence will only glorify Christ! Not any man… and in todays world that’s getting to be harder and harder to find.

How can I tie all of this together somehow, or in what direction should I go from here?

These thought’s come to mind.  I must be the change I want to see in the world, My ability to affect or to “change the world” for Christ begins and ends with my own openess and subjection to the only real power available to me to effect that change upon myself, that power being the Holy Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the blood that was shed that made available that power and victory to you and I, which was done for us while we were yet sinners, not after we shaped up and started to fly right! Where more forgiveness is needed the grace of our Heavenly Father abounds even more unto us. I’m going to start walking, there’s no need to wait for everything to be given to me, When does a father give his son the ticket to ride the train? right before he steps on board thats when…