Be Wise as Serpents and Harmless as Doves

The Grand Inquisitor on the Nature of Man

by Fyodor Dosteovski

For may years, I have had among my books a copy of ‘The Grand Inquisitor’, that I found amid other old books in a delightfully musty used book store.  It is a book that I have read many times over the years because its great theme of the quasi-super-transnational-neo-socialist monolithic government and its unopposed state authorized program of manipulated awareness is both compelling and frightening.

‘The Grand Inquisitor’ is chapter 5 in Book 5 of Dostoevski’s last novel,’The Brothers Karamazov’, written in 1880.  Dostoevski dies in 1881.

The story of the Grand Inquisitor takes place in Seville, Spain…”in the  most terrible time of the Inquisitor when fires were lighted to the glory of God, and ‘in the splendid auto da fe’ the wicked heretics were burnt.”  Amid this terrible time the Iesous once again walked among the children of men.”  He came softly, unobserved, and yet, strange to say, everyone recognized Him.”

The Iesous is arrested by the Grand Inquisitor because of his disruptive presence.  The Inquisitor said to the Iesous, “Why then, art thou come to hinder us?  For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that…I shall condemn Thee.”

He, that is Iesous, no longer has a place among men according to the Inquisitor.”  Whatsoever Thou revealest anew will encroach on men’s freedom of faith…but at last we have completed that work in Thy name…Thy freedom,… is ended and over for good.

The frightening speech of the Inquisitor continues with a disturbing confession: “…today, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet.  But that has been our doing.”  The Inquisitor further states, “In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, “make us your slaves, but feed us… we shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name… We shall deceive them…, for we will not let Thee come to us again.  That deception will be our suffering, for we shall be forced to lie.”

One of the greatest treasures that we possess is freedom.  Dostoevski warns us in this powerful presentation that those who would take our freedom will do so through veiled benevolence that secrets the most malevolent designs against us.

In our day we must return to the words of the Iesous who said that we must be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Wisdom is practical and highly skilled insight into people, things, and circumstances.  It is adaptive perspicuity that protects one from following the wrong paths in life.  Wisdom is a necessity in our post-modern 21st century milieu.

Wisdom in ordering our lives within the constraints of freedom through our civil liberties is highly important. May we never take our freedom for granted and may we be ever vigilant.

For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.

Soul Food

"And the diabolos said unto him,"Since thou be the Son of Theou, command this stone that it be made bread." And the Iesous said before him,"It is written, that man (anthropos) shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Theou." Luke 4:3-4.

The Iesous had been taken by the Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tested (interrogated) by the Diabolos. The presence of the Iesous within the cosmos is the will of Theos. He will bring into existence a new being called the church or the called out ones. But we must know who he is intrinsically. That is the purpose of this powerful encounter with the Diabolos. Indeed, the Greek reads that the Iesous was compelled to go into the wilderness and he was tested under the Diabolos. Diabolos is an amazing term and it is made up of 'dia' or 'through' and the verb' ballo', to throw or cast. It means to slander or to divide.

Not only is the Diabolos a slanderer without equal or parallel he is also an accomplished and brilliant interrogator. Notice carefully that the Tempter waits until the Iesous is famished. That is, the Tempter waits until a compelling situation develops and then he attacks with a 'reasonable' solution to an immediate necessity. Never mind that the reasonable solution is outside of God's will and will violate divinely mandated boundaries. Surely God would understand 'why' under the circumstances the Iesous would set aside his will in order to satiate raging physical hunger.

The Tempter's strategy is nothing, if not brilliant. He attacks the area of perceived weakness or need and suggests an answer that is seemingly harmless. The tempter says to the Iesous, "Since you are the Son of Theou, command this stone to be made bread."

The truth of the son-ship of the Iesous is stated and then the alarming lie is smoothly stated in an unalarming manner. To create bread from a stone would be to rearrange the molecules of the stone in a manner appropriate for human consumption and metabolism. But this creative act would create something else too. It would issue in a decisive rupture to the divine plan and dismantle salvation history.

The Iesous, however, had not lost his perceptive power through raging hunger. His reply to the impossible suggestion of the Tempter is formidable and highly instructive. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word of God."

An appropriate response for situations of pressure may be sought in the word of God. God will give strength to endure when we submit to his will and do not seek the convenient path of least resistance. God's word is our 'Soul Food.' He feeds us with his word. He does not feed us with our word joined to his word. His word alone is 'Soul Food.'

For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.

Temptation: The Interrogation of One’s Life Narrative and Pastoral Intervention for Stress Management Pt. 3

It is the rare individual who has never experiences temptation.  Temptation is not chaos, it is however, the threshold that threatens to undo the sacred self that one has so carefully constructed by formal education and social intercourse.

The use of the term temptation is to remove a primal and intrinsic experience from the psychodynamic milieu.  Long before humans were psychological they were religious.  By this, I do not mean to lock temptation within the constraints of mere religion, on the contrary, it is to liberate temptation from sacrosanct jargon to where it appropriately belongs – the common experience of all persons.

Whether one lives in a humble shelter or the grandest dwelling – one is subject to temptation.  Temptation is a reality that marshals all of one’s cultivated or uncultivated values in battle against the self.  Temptation delves into those areas of our lives that are visible and invisible to ourselves and others.  Admittedly, the reality and dynamic power of temptation to overthrow our most deepest resolve may be lost on those who have ‘not yet’ been seized by a situation, or circumstances that unapologetically put one on trial.

Temptation is a mandate to bear witness to oneself.  It is a fierce and lonely encounter.  It threatens to sue our moral foundation and disintegrate one’s cherished ethos.  Temptation is not one size fits ‘all.’  Temptation is tailor made with uncanny precision and detail.  It is filled with intrigue and hidden malice.  It is tantamount to a genetically engineered virus introduced into an unsuspecting host to mercilessly execute its mischievous design.

It has been suggested that the locus of temptation are “tyrannical forces lodged deep within the unconscious seeking to perpetrate violence against the self.  These deeply embedded structures hold the capacity to cripple a person’s abilities to initiate action. Freeing oneself from these unconscious forces provides freedom to build structures and to author lives that contain a sense of meaning.”

The pastoral relationship with a person/client invites the individual to undertake the necessary journey to understand his defenses, resistances, and emotional limitations in order to facilitate the necessary changes for a greater sense of well-being.  The individual must become aware of his own agency.  With no awareness of her own agency, the client’s only recourse is “to blame other for her misery.”  Freedom offers emancipation from those unconscious forces that compromise, or even destroy, a person’s capacity to access meaning within the content of their life narrative.

For more information about Dr. Josiah Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.

The Title Deed of Faith

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Heb. 11:1

In this verse the highly skilled and gifted theologian-writer of the letter to the Hebrews gives the definition of Faith.  He first of all gives the subject noun of this verse which is of course 'faith' or more properly 'pistis.'  Faith  or pistis is a noun of action in the Greek New Testament, and here it is coupled with the state of being verb 'is.' Thereafter he states that faith is that inner persuasion firmly grounded on the revealed character of Theos and his evidential works in history.  Therefore in order to remove faith from a merely subjective milieu he uses a highly technical and specific term which is the word hupostasis.  

Robertson notes:"...Aristotle used this term as did subsequent philosohers.  The word hupostasis means 'what stands under anything.'  It is common in the papyri in business documents as the basis or guarantee of transactions.  Therefore...we suggest the translation 'Faith' is the title deed of things hoped for...The proving of things not seen."

The one who walks by faith orders his/her life in a manner that is consistent with hupostasis.  He or she possesses the certitude that the title deed of faith his is in the present tense.  Faith is the antithesis of mere sensory empiricism that solely relies upon what is either seen or felt.  

We have come to know that the world of sensory perception is the cosmic dance of energy patterns and that our senses only perceive one-one millioneth of the electromagnetic spectrum.  Faith transcends the seen world because it realizes that our explanations of the world are ever subject to revision due to the highly temporal nature of our knowledge.  Scientists routinely acknowledge that as soon research is published in some area it is already outdated, but not completely irrelevant.  

Fath is not subject to temporal revision, it is however, subject to growth and increasing maturity.  Therefore faith is the dynamic encounter with Theos that releases us from the bondage of myopic self-centeredness. This is the prescriptive element of faith: That the hungry soul may seek solice for its deepest cravings through a relationship with Theos by faith.  

Faith in Iesous is the ultimate state of consciousness.  It is a state of awareness that is not artificially or chemically enduced.  All of the drugs and other experiments in behavior modification that promise a sort of temporal escape from pain and disappointment are self-destructive and have inherent diminishing results.  

My friend, what we all need can come only through a faith commitment to the Iesous.  He is ready to receive you today.     

For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.

Temptation: Changing Your Narrative for Stress Management Pt. 2

The evidence that supports the causal link between mind-body interaction is indisputable.  ”The extent to which we love ourselves determines whether we eat right, get enough sleep, smoke, wear seat belts; exercise and so on. Each of these choices is a statement of how much we care about living…self-love has come to mean only vanity and narcissism,” writes Bernie S. Siegel.

Dr. Siegel also states that the above decisions control about 90 percent of the factors that determine our state of health.  We have the ability to construct narratives of our lives based upon experiences and our experiences along with other factors determine how we ’see’ ourselves and view life.

John P. Arden, PhD wrote:  ”The frontal lobe – and particularly its foremost section, the PFC – decides, through its powers of attention and emotional regulatory skills, what is important and what is not.  The hippocampus provides the context for any memories that are associated with the situation…”  The more you describe your ongoing experiences in a particular way, the stronger the neural circuits that represent those thoughts will become your narratives and can be positive or negative.”

This information is important for us to know because of the temptation to create self-destructive narratives.  What we believe about ourselves is taken on by the body and its tissues and organ systems.  The mind does not act only through our conscious choices…Many of its effects are achieved directly on the body’s tissues, without any awareness on our part.  Consider some of our common expressions:  ”He’s a pain in the neck/ass,” “Get off my back,” “This problem is eating me up alive,”  or “You’re breaking my heart.”  The body responds to the mind’s messages, whether conscious or unconscious.

“The emotional tone and perspective with which you describe each experience can potentially rewire your brain.”  ”Interpreting or labeling helps you to make sense of your experiences.  Psychologists call this a narrative.

The temptation to settle for less than who we really are can be a major life narrative, and the excuses – fear based – that are generated to justify this type of self-mockery and is known by the body.  The temptation to be less than we are is profoundly consequential.

Seigel notes:  ”In chronic rheumatoid arthritis, for example, there is often a conscious restriction of one’s own achievements.  When I mentioned this to my mother, who has arthritis, she agreed, “Yes, that’s me.  I’ve belonged to many organizations, and I would work my way up to be vice-presidents, but when I was offered the presidency, I would say, “No, I’m too involved with my family.  I have to refuse.”

There is the temptation of a lifetime of self-denial that is not healthy, and in which one’s family is used as an excuse for acute self-justification.  It is important that we come to realize that there are some narratives that are counter-productive to our growth, maturity, and enjoyment of life.

For more information about Dr. Josiah Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.

Temptation: Recognizing Its Power for Stress Management Pt.1

"He has left him for a little while." Isa. 54:7

One of the realities that is common to all persons is the experience of the creative storm called temptation.  Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote:

"Temptation is a concrete happening which juts out from the course of life." 

The use of the noun 'concrete' in Bonhoffer's statement is powerfully redemptive.

The word 'concrete' is from the Latin concretus, and means to grow, or be solid; from com,-together, and crescere, to grow...or having a material, perceptible existence.  In other words, temptation is a real specific experience, not general or abstract that enters the life of a person.  The temptation event does not come with a warning before its precipitous happening or occurrence.  On the contrary, it comes unexpectedly and there is no time to prepare for its inauspicious and unapologetic intrusion.

The temptation event suddenly comes and presents an opportunity that heretofore was not there for us.  We believed ourselves to be singularly estranged from such mundane opportunistic misgivings.  But the temptation was accompanied by a strange and bewildering excitement.  Its hypnotic power trampled upon our most cherished beliefs. 

The temptation must come with unanticipated power to contort or transform my heretofore unconquerable resolve.  Temptation comes to havoc my deepest intentional resolve and sweep away my most authentic designs.  Temptation comes as a benign and supportive friend while grasping firmly behind its back the dagger of icy betrayal with which to slay my life.

Temptation is the testing of my inherent strength.  Suddenly, an individual is thrust upon the stage of an existential play.  However, this is not the Theatre of the Absurd because my life is the play.  This is no vicarious experience.  I am the experience and the outcome of the temptation is kept secret to me-or is it. The temptation wants to alter me in some mysterious manner that I cannot conceive.  Suddenly, I am a spontaneous recruit, it seems, to interrogate my own life.

Temptation would not be temptation if it lacked the power to substantively interrogate my life.  The interrogation of my life may be lost upon me if it I am overwhelmed by the chilling suddenness of temptation.  But alas, temptation does not come with ruthless power to win me as co-conspirator to betray my life.  It must come to me winsomely, or handsomely if you will, with a hint of undetectable flattery that strokes my pride ever so gently.

It is at that moment, when heart and head have grown weary of resisting the siren song of temptation that the weary head, so tired of heroic resistance (see the Sampson Narrative) lay upon the lap of the dark mistress. 

What temptation are you facing today?  Have you found yourself fighting with Stoic resolve to win the fierce battle of temptation?  My friend, the Iesuos is there through the power of the Spirit the Holy One to give you the power to save you amidst the hour of your temptation trial.  This is the essence of Clinical Theology:  The Iesous is Pro Me and He is there for me in the present tense. 

For more information about Dr. Josiah Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.