We ahve to begin the the two-sided coin of being humble enough to include in our thought processes that we don’t know it all: in fact, we know very little. And on the other side, we must be courageous enough to say what it is that we feel the Spirit is telling us- ragardless of the reprecussions.

And believe me, I know what some of those are! 

All truth always enters the stream of hamanity’s thought as heretical or blasphemy. And I am doing just that. It’s both rewarding and mytaphorical hell. But, as Neale Donald Walsh put it, “The time to challenege your most sacred beliefs is at hand. If you don’t challenge your beliefs soo, your beliefs are going to challenge you.”

It’s a two-edged sword.

I’m getting it from both direction, but I’m still standing.

It seems that almost all religions and or denominations like to set up four walls and then tell people how they can live and function inside those four walls. Or at least how they “should live“.

Timothy Freke put it this way, “As long as people lived inside a hermetically sealed culture, with only one religion, and one sacred text, everything was fine. But whenever cultures collided it soon became apparent that there were many different sacred scriptures inspired by many different gods saying a variety of contradictory things.”

So, what does one do with that?

You practice love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and tolerance! And you don’t set up an ABSOLUTES that your religion has that others don’t have. Which is exactly why literalism and fundamentalism are keeping tensions elevated and religions fighting one another.

 All three monotheistic major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have their faction of “fundamentalists” that are hell bent on destroying the others- in the name of God, of course. So, if you want to get a glimpse of the history of literal fundamentalism, CLICK HERE, Monday July 2 through Friday, July 6th.

Who do you communicate holistically with NOW?

Who can you have those deep conversation s with wherein you ask the most stupid questions, but they one you ask it of doesn’t make you think it was stupid? Who is it that you can just simply “explore” ideas with and not feel like you can’t change your mind later. In fact it is the voicing of the questions or concepts that allows you to draw the important answers that would be left unknown had you not asked.

You don’t have to join an “order“, but there has to be one, and I am talking about those who are above you in the pecking order of wisdom. Who can you call when the going gets tough or the questions seem endless? If you can answer that question, your spiritual health is good.

If not, why not?

Remember the gravity of Isaiah 5:13 and Hosea 5:6!

Look them up and make sure you know them from here on out.

I joined the church, I followed the rules- until I broke them. Once I messed up (which was often), I repented. I got back in the yoke and went at “rule keeping” once more- only to fall again. amn, this repentence think sure seems to happen a lot. It seemed I could never do what was required.

Maybe it was because no one can.

Have you heard of grace?

True disciples of Jesus, the Christ, understand that they have a round trip ticket. From whence we came- to there we must return. Sure, there will be a stop at “Heaven’s Immigration Office” to see if we have any tobacco, spirits, or other goods that aren’t allowed by customs. Once we’ve passed the White Throne Judgment though, we ALL get back to where we began.

And you know what? Instead of being more of a reprobate because I know that, I’m much more loving and could care less about breaking any immigration laws. Funny how that works- just the opposite of what I’d been told.

Have you looked at your tickets recently?

We know all about the divisions of denominations; however, there are larger cultural powers and principalities at work here that cover larger chunks of time and history.

John R. Gavazzoni nailed it when he said, “Someone very observantly summed up the onward sweep of Christianity westward over the last two centuries in the following analysis, and I give you my version of his perspective: The Jews tried to keep Christ contained within their law, while the Greeks sought to turn Him into a philosophy; the Romans made of Him an empire; the Europeans reduced Him to a culture, and we Americans have made a business of Him”.

And if you look at the religious TV channels in your area you can see how and why, not to mention the scandalous hundreds of millions of dollars that several so-called “evangelists” make from their entertainment programs.

Where are the disciples?

 

So, how did we get to this place where we are chasing after every philosophical whim and religious diatride? We have a lot of great philosophers who were sincere and who added much to our consciousness; however, they also gave us some bad advice that the church seems to be following all too frequently. Where are the learned men of old?

It seems to me that we have too many carts being pushed by horses when the horses were meant to pull the carts, if you get my point. Let’s take Rene Descartes as an example. He was a dualist of the high order and he suggested that the body works like a machine in that it has the material properties of extension and motion, and that it follows the laws of physics.

Translation?

“I think, therefore I am.” If you studied any history or philosophy when in school, you’ve probably heard that statement. As I see it though, it’s just the opposite. “I am, therfore I think.” Heavy emphasis on the I AM!

My reasoning (if that’s what you call it) is as follows.

I have a physical body and I know that because my senses tell me so.

I am aware of my senses because my mind tells me so.

I am aware of my mind because of my consciousness.

My consciousness is part and parcel, united, and linked to “the consciousness“- God!

Carl Jung would call it the collective unconsciousness. Call it what you might a key to understanding the mysteries of spiritual powers is revealed in tapping into the Holy Spirit, aka “the consciousness“.

In this journey that we are all on, we have to trash Rene’s ideas about man and who he is, how he operates, and get back to our spiritual roots. The Lord willing, I will try to unpackage this “thinking-consciousness” in my February 16th message that you can listen to on the Podcast. Or, if in Houston, show up Friday night around 7ish.

And then, just this might have been more than you want to know. 

Advances in science, new psychological discoveries, social reforms, and digital refinements are both a blessing and a curse. New anything automatically brings discouragment as well as promise. It’s that old And-Also, paradoxical thing. Holding the tension as Richard Rohr calls it.

I believe we are on the cusp, or in the throes of a spiritual revival, transformation, mega shift, or whatever you want to call a major change. I don’t know how long it will be or how far we will have to go into it before we truly realize what’s happening. Things like this have their own life and it could take several decades or a century before historians will be able to properly describe “what’s going on” (sounds like a Motown song).

It’s going to take a collective mind (several people) to get a handle on it. I don’t see any one man sounding the trumpet. Maybe that’s why I’m trying to figure out what this “spiritual order” is that I feel the Holy Spirit started me in search of several months ago.

Every time I think I’ “onto it“, I lose it, whatever “it” is. 

It’s like a massive jail break. Ideas and running here and there and none know where it’s all going except, we’re escaping our current prison, and that in itself is good enough for now.

Should they call me pastor? Brother Ernie? My response is to ask what they called the Apostle Paul- simply Paul! I am sure someone called him brother Paul or apostle Paul; however, I don’t put a profession in front of a friend: electrician John or plumber David. And?

But when it comes right down to it we are ALL theologians!

And like in all fields and professions some are better than others. Some are down right pathetic, others, fairly wise. As Tony Campolo put it, “Our theologies are nothing more than our attempts to express what we believe about what is ultimately  important to us in life. Whether our theologies are sophisticated and systematic, or incoherent and overly simplistic, we all have them.”

Theology is not some esocteric discipline reserved for the high priests of “called people”. Jesus is much more than the ground of ontological ground of all being and the teleological basis for the categorical imperative of the transcendental unity of apperception!

Egoic BS!

I don’t want to be embarassed by my theology. I want to represent God well- and simply! How about you?

Origen ran into some problems with Demetrius around 230 and fled from Alexandria in 231 He made his permanent home in Caesarea. A series of attacks on him seems to have emanated from Alexandria, whether for his self-castration (a capital crime in Roman law) or for alleged heterodoxy is unknown; but at all events these fulminations were heeded only at Rome,

Origen seemed to think that ALL mankind would eventually be saved. He became what was labeled a “universalist”. That pretty much discredited anything else Origen would do. But decades and centuries later the Catholic church refused to dismiss the inclusivist ideas and men like St. Vincent backed him up.

St. Vincent is credited with saying, “I would rather be wrong and with Origen than right with the world.”

Is there anyone in your life that you’d say that about? 

II Corinthians 4:7 says “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the transcendence of the power may be of God and not us.” Are you kidding me?

I’m afraid not! 

My humanity reminds me of a need greater than I can supply, or at least the potential is there is we’ll just submit to it. As Martin Zender wrote in his book “Flawed By Design“, we were actaully created in such a way that we’d need God!

God wants me, you, us to NEED Him. And I sure do, how about you?