"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."
Gen.5: 24
We live in a time in which post-apocalyptic tales abound. There is the recognition that something has indeed claimed the body politic, but not something good. There is the awareness that the scales have been tipped or that a bridge has been crossed, and the ropes of the bridge are frayed and perilous.
We have crossed into the dangerous country of moral relativism. Our social and moral decline is palpable. The "Funeral Of A Great Myth" has come upon us. We are are both the supine myth and the bewildered mourner. We do not get far without God. That is our collective myth. That is our collective lie.
The horses of the real apocalypse are snorting fiercely. They are are tearing at the veil of the astonishing lie that has frozen us. We have become numb to the march of chaos in our midst, but a scantily clad young woman, or young man will be paraded before us by the "watchers" as healing salve upon our wounded spirits. Human nudity cures all ills! Let us "see" naked flesh and will be satiated. Let us play with idolatry of the heart and we will fall asleep.
We devour flesh, but are not satisfied. Single vision is our lot. We are the cyclops of ancient myth. We are slaves of single vision, but fooled into believing that we have two eyes. Where did that fathom eye go? Perhaps it too was a dream. Removing God from the collective consciousness is not without fatal consequences. Fiery rhetoric and stormy disagreement will not dismiss the reality of the reality.
It seems that the crossing of the bridge of moral relativism has expunged God from the conscience of humanity. 'What is, is right" is the norm, and we are not the richer for it. The lines have been removed between right and wrong. Unilateral legal fiat ex cathedra is the new milieu. This is a frightening turn of events. When God is removed evil will rule the day. The humanistic assault upon divine law is relentless and harrowing to say the least. There is only the facade of expediency. And how long can that last as a defining social ethic before descending into chaos?
In the pre-flood world the godless line of Cain took over the godly line of Seth through Adam. The result was a powerful shift in the structure of that world. The descent into darkness overwhelmed the world completely. An anti-God moral monism took over the world and promoted narcissistic relativism.
One may indeed pretend that God is not there, but it is a deadly game of pretense. Pretense become delusional and fuels the spiral into bewildering corruption. Human rebellion with its inherent contempt for things divine creates its own destruction. "Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap" is an abiding truth that cannot be uprooted by atheistic rhetoric.
Atheism is a disease of the spirit. Atheism is moral intoxication that shakes its rebellious fist at the deity that it hopes does not exist. Enoch lived during such times. He lived during a time of moral confusion and rabid self-indulgence. At sixty-five years of age he had his first son in an age of apostasy. He was faithful to God, and walked with God during days of violence and moral decay.
Enoch's faith walk should inspire us. We live in a similar time. It is difficult to know who is of the Faith and who is not,and for that reason we are to leave judgement in the hands of God. Enoch knew this to be true. He set him self to walk with God.
It was a conscious and irrevocable decision on his part. Enoch's epic decision to fill in fully with God set him out from the merely religious persons of his day. Remember is as old as humanity. Homo Religiosus (Religious Man) is an intrinsic part of the human condition. Psychotherapists know this too. Both the therapist and the "patient" are religious beings. However, one religious position is deemed superior to the other.
Enoch's life is a testimony to the power of the irrevocable decision to be other than the normative culture. After all, what is normal is highly subjective and suspicious. God revealed himself to Enoch in a wonderful manner. Enoch's walk with God was completely redemptive. God empowered him to stand aloof of the 'maddening crowd."
We need the uncompromising spirit of Enoch today. Are you ready to walk with God in a manner that is completely redemptive? God healed Enoch from the invasive spiritual pathogens of the extant culture, and gave him a new life. Are you ready to be healed and be real?
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Thursday, October 31, 2013
High Definition Faith
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death..." Phil.3:10
The key to understanding the writings of the apostle Paul is to understand his perception of the person of Christ. Paul's relationship with Christ began with his explosive encounter on the road to Damascus. It was there, on the road to Damascus where the Iesous rent the space-time fabric, and forever transformed the mad heart of Saul the hunter.
The Iesous chose to rescue Saul the hunter of the believing ones and give him a new heart. Saul was the ideal hit man for the religious group that licensed him to kill long before there was any 007. The Pharisees saw in Saul the desperate and "True Believer" who would go out and kill those who resisted the one true faith.
Saul harassed and killed the believing ones with extreme prejudice. The perceived opposition of the believing ones was personal with Saul. Who were they to resist conformity to the one true faith with its ancient traditions? They were mocking the true faith by believing in the crucified Iesous.
The Iesous was an upstart that deserved crucifixion because of his actions of healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching the poor. The Iesous deserved crucifixion because he healed the blind, showed mercy to tax collectors and prostitutes. Who could put up with such a strange person? One of his greatest outrages was to consistently heal weak ones on Sabbath days.
The Iesous had a rogue ministry. He did not get permission from the Pharisees to have such a ministry. He never collected fees for his work, and so the religious officials could not get their cut. The Iesous had overthrown their thing-their syndicate. Religion was big business and was a way to go about things and Iesous did not show respect to the power structure.
A plan was put in place to remove the Iesous and return to the way things were done before he came on the scene. A meeting was held and the secret council decided to have the young Iesous killed. It was nothing personal, just business.
The Pharisees hired one of his disciples. They wanted this disciple to keep a close eye on the Iesous from the inside, and watch for an opportunity to set him up. The inside guy was paid thirty pieces of silver from the temple coffers of course. After all, this was ministry too. This ministry expense would remain off the books!
The real "Passover Plot" was the betrayal of the Iesous at the hands of a friend. The Iesous was led to several trials and bogus witnesses could not agree on their testimonies. It didn't matter because the fix was in. The outcome of the trails were predetermined. Iesous was led away to die. Little did the religious and political gangsters of that time know that God was using them to do his will. God can make the wrath of man praise His Name.
Judas, the fall guy for the Pharisees hanged himself because of remorse. He went to his place. Later, a new guy was found to continue the work of getting rid of the sect of Those of the Way. Saul was the chosen one. He was to continue what Judas could not finish.
Saul was given the full support of the Pharisees to exterminate Those of the Way. Corrupt power used the religious zeal of the young Saul. He was the perfect choice. He was ambitious, angry, highly intelligent, and intensely religious. His profile was perfect. He could abuse and kill without pain of conscience. It was just business.
God had other plans for Saul. God had seen his profile too. God saw potential in the young manic genius. God saw that Saul could be the perfect representative of the message of Salvation. The Iesous met Saul as he was on his way to destroy another cell of Those of the Way. The Iesous saved Saul with irresistible power.
God changed the hit man's life. The Hammer of the Pharisees became the Hammer of God. God took the Pharisees most dangerous hit man and turned his life around in a powerful manner. Saul was knocked to the ground by the Light of the World. Imagine Light knocked him off his horse. The Light of the World overthrew the instrument of the prince of darkness.
We cannot fully appreciate the salvation event of Paul, but it forever changed his perception of himself and Those of the Way. Paul's greatest desire was to know the Iesous in an even deeper manner. Paul wanted to know deeper and deeper the living Iesous, and the power of his resurrection.
Paul wanted to go ever deeper in his relationship with the Iesous. He wanted to enter into the unfathomable depths of the sufferings of his Savior. Here is faith in high definition. Conformity to the image of Christ meant for Paul co-suffering with him. Paul was intense and determined. Paul wanted to be like the Iesous. This was complete ontological transformation. Paul's Christology was a living Christology. He would not settle for anything less.
Faith in high definition was Paul's goal. Is God calling you to this type of faith walk?
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, follow this blog and visit his website.
You can now listen to this blog on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pneumatikos
The key to understanding the writings of the apostle Paul is to understand his perception of the person of Christ. Paul's relationship with Christ began with his explosive encounter on the road to Damascus. It was there, on the road to Damascus where the Iesous rent the space-time fabric, and forever transformed the mad heart of Saul the hunter.
The Iesous chose to rescue Saul the hunter of the believing ones and give him a new heart. Saul was the ideal hit man for the religious group that licensed him to kill long before there was any 007. The Pharisees saw in Saul the desperate and "True Believer" who would go out and kill those who resisted the one true faith.
Saul harassed and killed the believing ones with extreme prejudice. The perceived opposition of the believing ones was personal with Saul. Who were they to resist conformity to the one true faith with its ancient traditions? They were mocking the true faith by believing in the crucified Iesous.
The Iesous was an upstart that deserved crucifixion because of his actions of healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching the poor. The Iesous deserved crucifixion because he healed the blind, showed mercy to tax collectors and prostitutes. Who could put up with such a strange person? One of his greatest outrages was to consistently heal weak ones on Sabbath days.
The Iesous had a rogue ministry. He did not get permission from the Pharisees to have such a ministry. He never collected fees for his work, and so the religious officials could not get their cut. The Iesous had overthrown their thing-their syndicate. Religion was big business and was a way to go about things and Iesous did not show respect to the power structure.
A plan was put in place to remove the Iesous and return to the way things were done before he came on the scene. A meeting was held and the secret council decided to have the young Iesous killed. It was nothing personal, just business.
The Pharisees hired one of his disciples. They wanted this disciple to keep a close eye on the Iesous from the inside, and watch for an opportunity to set him up. The inside guy was paid thirty pieces of silver from the temple coffers of course. After all, this was ministry too. This ministry expense would remain off the books!
The real "Passover Plot" was the betrayal of the Iesous at the hands of a friend. The Iesous was led to several trials and bogus witnesses could not agree on their testimonies. It didn't matter because the fix was in. The outcome of the trails were predetermined. Iesous was led away to die. Little did the religious and political gangsters of that time know that God was using them to do his will. God can make the wrath of man praise His Name.
Judas, the fall guy for the Pharisees hanged himself because of remorse. He went to his place. Later, a new guy was found to continue the work of getting rid of the sect of Those of the Way. Saul was the chosen one. He was to continue what Judas could not finish.
Saul was given the full support of the Pharisees to exterminate Those of the Way. Corrupt power used the religious zeal of the young Saul. He was the perfect choice. He was ambitious, angry, highly intelligent, and intensely religious. His profile was perfect. He could abuse and kill without pain of conscience. It was just business.
God had other plans for Saul. God had seen his profile too. God saw potential in the young manic genius. God saw that Saul could be the perfect representative of the message of Salvation. The Iesous met Saul as he was on his way to destroy another cell of Those of the Way. The Iesous saved Saul with irresistible power.
God changed the hit man's life. The Hammer of the Pharisees became the Hammer of God. God took the Pharisees most dangerous hit man and turned his life around in a powerful manner. Saul was knocked to the ground by the Light of the World. Imagine Light knocked him off his horse. The Light of the World overthrew the instrument of the prince of darkness.
We cannot fully appreciate the salvation event of Paul, but it forever changed his perception of himself and Those of the Way. Paul's greatest desire was to know the Iesous in an even deeper manner. Paul wanted to know deeper and deeper the living Iesous, and the power of his resurrection.
Paul wanted to go ever deeper in his relationship with the Iesous. He wanted to enter into the unfathomable depths of the sufferings of his Savior. Here is faith in high definition. Conformity to the image of Christ meant for Paul co-suffering with him. Paul was intense and determined. Paul wanted to be like the Iesous. This was complete ontological transformation. Paul's Christology was a living Christology. He would not settle for anything less.
Faith in high definition was Paul's goal. Is God calling you to this type of faith walk?
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, follow this blog and visit his website.
You can now listen to this blog on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pneumatikos
Monday, October 28, 2013
Heart Recognition "Software"
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will rest you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11:28-29
We live in days that are filled with frustration. Indeed, we live in days of uncertainty. Everywhere we turn there is the shrill and metallic voice of programmed discontent. The mathematical modeling of human behavioral responses to given situations has been at the disposal of corporations and governments for quite a while.
It is fairly well known that if human beings are bombarded with a significant amount of stress events certain behavioral patterns will emerge. Deliberate and provocative stress will after a time wear down protective behavioral patterns. At that point the individual is so overwhelmed by the unrelenting level of stress that he surrenders any attempt at resistance.
Then the individual can be trained to respond to the administration of stress with positive reinforcements. That is, the person is rewarded for desirable behavior. Desirable behavior is behavior that the manipulator subjectively finds positive and desirable. People are merchandise today.
Soon there will be no such thing as privacy. Everything to be known about anyone of us will be encoded on microchips and massive servers around the earth. The human genome project was designed to map out the secrets of our molecular selves. It seems that in this world all knowledge is dangerous knowledge.
The world is no longer 'nation' states as such, but 'world game' controlled by multinational economic entities. The programmed complexity of post-modern society can be exhausting and bewildering. The social DNA of post-modern society is carefully cultivated through the manipulation of currencies and violence.
Nothing is left to chance with the social engineers. The social engineers will only clone the amoral fiction that meet the needs of the Controllers whose greatest thinking culminates in reviving the tired old mistress of socialism. (More on this later).
God does not leave anything to chance either. God has heart recognition software that predates the controlling efforts of post-modern society many centuries. God knows that the human heart can become weighed down by burdens that wound and paralyze. For those who are exhausted and grieved by life God has seen your situation. God has come in the person of the Iesous with 'rest' for the spiritually harassed.
The rest that God gives is out from both self-induced and other-induced misery. It is a supernatural rest that cannot be googled. It cannot be accessed from some remote server or uploaded or downloaded. It is rest out from God as a source. He is higher than the man made surveillance satellites that litter the immediate heavens.
God's rest is in the Iesous. God's rest is primary and without co-pay or fee schedule. God's rest is literally the cessation of riot within the heart. God's rest is a state of being. It is not snatched away by the those who would sell the dust on the heads of the miserable ones. God's rest is not subject to punitive levy.
God is not offering an invitation in verse twenty-eight. The first word 'Come' is not an invitation but a command stated in the imperative. Read the verse carefully to absorb its powerful and prescriptive language. God's rest is for the one who is loaded down over above the cubic capacity of the heart to bear.
The Greek word for rest is anapauso. The prefix on the word means 'up' and 'pauso' means to cease, or to stop. Is this cool or what? No medical plan today covers cardiac care in this comprehensive manner! The word anapauso also means to restrain something that is going on in the heart.
You must appropriate God's rest through faith. You must come to God and believe that he is, and that he rewards those who diligently search him out. The command to 'come' demands a positive response to God. God's heart recognition software is designed to accurately know and minister compassionate love.
God already knows that the human heart is filled with selfish patterns of behavior. God knows that people know their own self betrayal, and their betrayal of others. God knows that we have violated trust and practiced unforgiveness. God knows that we practice spiritual autism. That is, the cultic worship of the self. God knows that eventually we grow weary of the massive weight of the self-lie.
The command of God is to surrender the cult of the self and find rest in Iesous. Those who are weighted down may be lifted up by God. Those who come to the Iesous will find rest for their souls. Peace is a rare and precious gem in this world. Rest is given to those who trust God. Rest is given to those who heed the command of the Iesous to "Come unto Me."
The moral anchor of Faith is under heavy attack in the west. The culture is under assault. There is the opaque promise of another Utopia, but Utopian societies are often managed by tyrants. Utopian cultures have promised much over the centuries, but, alas have accomplished little. Utopian societies have always imploded due to the weighty ego of its founder.
There is not egotistical claim from the Iesous. He can say that he is "meek and humble" and not earn a skeptical retort. There is no arrogance in God. God can say that he is meek and humble. He will not judge the soul that begs his rest. He will not reproach the one who lays bare his deepest need.
Those who are worn thin by life's adversities can find a home in the Iesous that will not be threatened by anyone. The Ieosus has rest for those trapped in the dismal fiction of the post-modern digital wilderness.
People have lost the sense of being human. Their self-consciousness is being reduced to binary calculations. They are becoming digi-trons. They are at the edge of the old world of 'human being' and are precariously in danger of falling off. The heart is in need of rest from the thought forms that are being fed to it at the subliminal level.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website. You can now listen to his blog at http://www.blogtalkradio/drjosiahrich
We live in days that are filled with frustration. Indeed, we live in days of uncertainty. Everywhere we turn there is the shrill and metallic voice of programmed discontent. The mathematical modeling of human behavioral responses to given situations has been at the disposal of corporations and governments for quite a while.
It is fairly well known that if human beings are bombarded with a significant amount of stress events certain behavioral patterns will emerge. Deliberate and provocative stress will after a time wear down protective behavioral patterns. At that point the individual is so overwhelmed by the unrelenting level of stress that he surrenders any attempt at resistance.
Then the individual can be trained to respond to the administration of stress with positive reinforcements. That is, the person is rewarded for desirable behavior. Desirable behavior is behavior that the manipulator subjectively finds positive and desirable. People are merchandise today.
Soon there will be no such thing as privacy. Everything to be known about anyone of us will be encoded on microchips and massive servers around the earth. The human genome project was designed to map out the secrets of our molecular selves. It seems that in this world all knowledge is dangerous knowledge.
The world is no longer 'nation' states as such, but 'world game' controlled by multinational economic entities. The programmed complexity of post-modern society can be exhausting and bewildering. The social DNA of post-modern society is carefully cultivated through the manipulation of currencies and violence.
Nothing is left to chance with the social engineers. The social engineers will only clone the amoral fiction that meet the needs of the Controllers whose greatest thinking culminates in reviving the tired old mistress of socialism. (More on this later).
God does not leave anything to chance either. God has heart recognition software that predates the controlling efforts of post-modern society many centuries. God knows that the human heart can become weighed down by burdens that wound and paralyze. For those who are exhausted and grieved by life God has seen your situation. God has come in the person of the Iesous with 'rest' for the spiritually harassed.
The rest that God gives is out from both self-induced and other-induced misery. It is a supernatural rest that cannot be googled. It cannot be accessed from some remote server or uploaded or downloaded. It is rest out from God as a source. He is higher than the man made surveillance satellites that litter the immediate heavens.
God's rest is in the Iesous. God's rest is primary and without co-pay or fee schedule. God's rest is literally the cessation of riot within the heart. God's rest is a state of being. It is not snatched away by the those who would sell the dust on the heads of the miserable ones. God's rest is not subject to punitive levy.
God is not offering an invitation in verse twenty-eight. The first word 'Come' is not an invitation but a command stated in the imperative. Read the verse carefully to absorb its powerful and prescriptive language. God's rest is for the one who is loaded down over above the cubic capacity of the heart to bear.
The Greek word for rest is anapauso. The prefix on the word means 'up' and 'pauso' means to cease, or to stop. Is this cool or what? No medical plan today covers cardiac care in this comprehensive manner! The word anapauso also means to restrain something that is going on in the heart.
You must appropriate God's rest through faith. You must come to God and believe that he is, and that he rewards those who diligently search him out. The command to 'come' demands a positive response to God. God's heart recognition software is designed to accurately know and minister compassionate love.
God already knows that the human heart is filled with selfish patterns of behavior. God knows that people know their own self betrayal, and their betrayal of others. God knows that we have violated trust and practiced unforgiveness. God knows that we practice spiritual autism. That is, the cultic worship of the self. God knows that eventually we grow weary of the massive weight of the self-lie.
The command of God is to surrender the cult of the self and find rest in Iesous. Those who are weighted down may be lifted up by God. Those who come to the Iesous will find rest for their souls. Peace is a rare and precious gem in this world. Rest is given to those who trust God. Rest is given to those who heed the command of the Iesous to "Come unto Me."
The moral anchor of Faith is under heavy attack in the west. The culture is under assault. There is the opaque promise of another Utopia, but Utopian societies are often managed by tyrants. Utopian cultures have promised much over the centuries, but, alas have accomplished little. Utopian societies have always imploded due to the weighty ego of its founder.
There is not egotistical claim from the Iesous. He can say that he is "meek and humble" and not earn a skeptical retort. There is no arrogance in God. God can say that he is meek and humble. He will not judge the soul that begs his rest. He will not reproach the one who lays bare his deepest need.
Those who are worn thin by life's adversities can find a home in the Iesous that will not be threatened by anyone. The Ieosus has rest for those trapped in the dismal fiction of the post-modern digital wilderness.
People have lost the sense of being human. Their self-consciousness is being reduced to binary calculations. They are becoming digi-trons. They are at the edge of the old world of 'human being' and are precariously in danger of falling off. The heart is in need of rest from the thought forms that are being fed to it at the subliminal level.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website. You can now listen to his blog at http://www.blogtalkradio/drjosiahrich
Friday, October 25, 2013
Preventing Spiritual Necrosis (Deadness)
"Mortify, therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection (pathos), evil concupiscence (results of pathology), and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them." Col. 3:5-7
Paul's great letter to the community Colosse presents the incomparable Iesous as the head of the ekklesia (church). The ekklesia (called out ones) of the New Testament are those who are joined to the Iesous in an organic relationship. The relationship that the ekklesia enjoys with the Iesous is substantive and vital. The Iesous is the Creator of the assembly of Called Out Ones. The Called Out Ones are those who were purchased or redeemed with God's own blood (Sacrifice).
How different this message is from the 'health and wealth' salesmen and women. There are no amusing theatrics or muttering of supposedly speaking in tongues (other languages). There is the reality of the living Iesous and his church. In not one of Paul's thirteen letters of the New Testament did he advocate either 'health and wealth' nor 'muttering speech' which are done today to bring attention to a particular individual, and not to the Iesous.
We are to cultivate a relationship with the Iesous because he purchased us at the cost of his own life. He alone is to be the focus of our protracted gaze. No one could do for us what he has done through his suffering on the tree.
According to Paul's letter to the church at Colosse the Iesous is Lord of All. His kingdom and dominion extends to both the visible and invisible realms. Isaiah wrote that his kingdom is greater than the largest number imaginable and then multiple times beyond that number and so on...you get the idea.
Our lives are to be the living narrative of the new thing that God has done through the Iesous. God designed the plan of the new life in the Iesous in eternity past. The only way to live the new life is by submission of our human will to God's will. This is the decisive step that must be taken if one is is truly serious about the upward call of God in the Iesous.
This is not an emotional act. It is a volitional act. It is an act of the faculty of the will. The will is the starting point of the new reality. The will involves the capacity to decide one's course of action(s). The writers of the New Testament understood that in order to serve God in an appropriate manner the human will must surrender to God's will.
The New Testament writers knew that the will can be very subtle and cunning. They knew that the will could fabricate evil and selfish ends. They understood that if the individual did not place his will upon the altar to God, there would be no capacity to serve God.
God is not naive and neither were the New Testament writers. The idolatry of self-worship is within our spiritual DNA. It is counter intuitive to submit one's will to another without some type of gain or advantage.
Paul wrote that the Called Out Ones are to mortify their bodily members. Mortify is an old word that means to 'submit to death' or to make dead. This is a striking picture of spiritual self discipline. Note, that this is written to the Called Out Ones who have come to know the Iesous as Savior. However, to have the Iesous as Lord of one's life requires this vital step in the direction of a willful death of one's bodily members.
Some of the sweetest sounding, and the most godly sounding Called Out Ones have not taken this step of mortifying the flesh massive corruption of the inner person will definitely happen. The human will alone cannot control or stop the corruption of the inner person. The human will cannot stop the corruption of the inner person because it too is corrupt according to deceiving lust patterns.
This awareness is revelation psychology. The therapeutic intervention enjoined by God for all the Called Out Ones is the complete suspension of their bodily members for selfish ends. The prescriptive treatment is to 'mortify' one's members. There is no other way. Looking for another way means that one is not satisfied with God's way. It is the folly of the self seeking to keep its lie alive.
The self lie does not want to die. It loves the secret corrupt 'life.' It loves to rejoice in its covert activities. The flesh-self must be put to death by an act of the will that has submitted itself to God. We cannot do it on our own. Without Iesous we can do nothing.
We are our own worst enemies when we stand off from the revealed will of God for our lives. Necrosis is the killing of health tissue. Necrosis does not stop in its determined process. Necrosis does not stop until it has consumed all healthy tissue. Necrosis of the spirit acts in the same way.
Paul's diagnosis and prescription for spiritual necrosis is to render it dead in one's life by the surrendering of one's will to God. Healthy spirituality is the result of coming to terms with one's great need to follow God's will.
It is very rare to find the word 'driven' used in the New Testament. Even in the above passage there is no use of the word 'driven'. We are not 'driven' we are Spirit led. We follow the Good Shepherd. There is no doctrinal basis for the word 'driven' in the Spirit led life. Mark used the verb 'thrown' when speaking of the Spirit snatching up the Iesous to be tossed into the wilderness to be tested by the Adversary.
The Called Out One will know her/his purpose when it is understood that the word 'mortify' is an imperative and calls for a once for all decision. Mortify is demarcation of will. Mortify is to crucify the flesh with its affections and lust patterns.
Crucifixion is an intrinsic biblical term. Even scholarship that is not sanctified under the blood of the cross may lead astray. There is no autonomy in the life of the Called Out One. S/he is completely dependent upon the Iesous for all things. There is nothing cute about this word. It is forensic. It calls for a precise and decisive act. How the flesh rebels against the thought of its demise.
The Pneumatikos One (spiritual one) has competed the process of the unspeakable act of mortification of the flesh. S/he is on the other side of the process. S/he knows the life of superabundance because the flesh is mortified.
Today, if God has been speaking to you about mortifying your members answer Him with a decisive and precise, Yes, Lord.
Do not be deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man sows that he shall also reap. He that sows to the flesh will reap corruption, and he that sows to the Spirit will reap life and peace. Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog. You may also listen to this blog at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drjosiahrich
Paul's great letter to the community Colosse presents the incomparable Iesous as the head of the ekklesia (church). The ekklesia (called out ones) of the New Testament are those who are joined to the Iesous in an organic relationship. The relationship that the ekklesia enjoys with the Iesous is substantive and vital. The Iesous is the Creator of the assembly of Called Out Ones. The Called Out Ones are those who were purchased or redeemed with God's own blood (Sacrifice).
How different this message is from the 'health and wealth' salesmen and women. There are no amusing theatrics or muttering of supposedly speaking in tongues (other languages). There is the reality of the living Iesous and his church. In not one of Paul's thirteen letters of the New Testament did he advocate either 'health and wealth' nor 'muttering speech' which are done today to bring attention to a particular individual, and not to the Iesous.
We are to cultivate a relationship with the Iesous because he purchased us at the cost of his own life. He alone is to be the focus of our protracted gaze. No one could do for us what he has done through his suffering on the tree.
According to Paul's letter to the church at Colosse the Iesous is Lord of All. His kingdom and dominion extends to both the visible and invisible realms. Isaiah wrote that his kingdom is greater than the largest number imaginable and then multiple times beyond that number and so on...you get the idea.
Our lives are to be the living narrative of the new thing that God has done through the Iesous. God designed the plan of the new life in the Iesous in eternity past. The only way to live the new life is by submission of our human will to God's will. This is the decisive step that must be taken if one is is truly serious about the upward call of God in the Iesous.
This is not an emotional act. It is a volitional act. It is an act of the faculty of the will. The will is the starting point of the new reality. The will involves the capacity to decide one's course of action(s). The writers of the New Testament understood that in order to serve God in an appropriate manner the human will must surrender to God's will.
The New Testament writers knew that the will can be very subtle and cunning. They knew that the will could fabricate evil and selfish ends. They understood that if the individual did not place his will upon the altar to God, there would be no capacity to serve God.
God is not naive and neither were the New Testament writers. The idolatry of self-worship is within our spiritual DNA. It is counter intuitive to submit one's will to another without some type of gain or advantage.
Paul wrote that the Called Out Ones are to mortify their bodily members. Mortify is an old word that means to 'submit to death' or to make dead. This is a striking picture of spiritual self discipline. Note, that this is written to the Called Out Ones who have come to know the Iesous as Savior. However, to have the Iesous as Lord of one's life requires this vital step in the direction of a willful death of one's bodily members.
Some of the sweetest sounding, and the most godly sounding Called Out Ones have not taken this step of mortifying the flesh massive corruption of the inner person will definitely happen. The human will alone cannot control or stop the corruption of the inner person. The human will cannot stop the corruption of the inner person because it too is corrupt according to deceiving lust patterns.
This awareness is revelation psychology. The therapeutic intervention enjoined by God for all the Called Out Ones is the complete suspension of their bodily members for selfish ends. The prescriptive treatment is to 'mortify' one's members. There is no other way. Looking for another way means that one is not satisfied with God's way. It is the folly of the self seeking to keep its lie alive.
The self lie does not want to die. It loves the secret corrupt 'life.' It loves to rejoice in its covert activities. The flesh-self must be put to death by an act of the will that has submitted itself to God. We cannot do it on our own. Without Iesous we can do nothing.
We are our own worst enemies when we stand off from the revealed will of God for our lives. Necrosis is the killing of health tissue. Necrosis does not stop in its determined process. Necrosis does not stop until it has consumed all healthy tissue. Necrosis of the spirit acts in the same way.
Paul's diagnosis and prescription for spiritual necrosis is to render it dead in one's life by the surrendering of one's will to God. Healthy spirituality is the result of coming to terms with one's great need to follow God's will.
It is very rare to find the word 'driven' used in the New Testament. Even in the above passage there is no use of the word 'driven'. We are not 'driven' we are Spirit led. We follow the Good Shepherd. There is no doctrinal basis for the word 'driven' in the Spirit led life. Mark used the verb 'thrown' when speaking of the Spirit snatching up the Iesous to be tossed into the wilderness to be tested by the Adversary.
The Called Out One will know her/his purpose when it is understood that the word 'mortify' is an imperative and calls for a once for all decision. Mortify is demarcation of will. Mortify is to crucify the flesh with its affections and lust patterns.
Crucifixion is an intrinsic biblical term. Even scholarship that is not sanctified under the blood of the cross may lead astray. There is no autonomy in the life of the Called Out One. S/he is completely dependent upon the Iesous for all things. There is nothing cute about this word. It is forensic. It calls for a precise and decisive act. How the flesh rebels against the thought of its demise.
The Pneumatikos One (spiritual one) has competed the process of the unspeakable act of mortification of the flesh. S/he is on the other side of the process. S/he knows the life of superabundance because the flesh is mortified.
Today, if God has been speaking to you about mortifying your members answer Him with a decisive and precise, Yes, Lord.
Do not be deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man sows that he shall also reap. He that sows to the flesh will reap corruption, and he that sows to the Spirit will reap life and peace. Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog. You may also listen to this blog at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drjosiahrich
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Release From A Spirit Of Infirmity
"And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when the Iesous saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." Luke 13:11-17
This powerful narrative within the Gospel document called Luke reveals a meta-medical condition in the life of an individual. I call the condition of this person meta-medical because it would be considered outside of the worldview of post-modern medical science.
The "spirit of infirmity" created a condition of weakness within the individual that manifested itself in physical distortion. The afflicted person suffered from acute and morbid curvature of the spine. She found herself unable to lift up, and stand erect.
The weakness in her life resulting from the "spirit of infirmity" was comprehensive in nature. That is, the whole person was affected by the dis-ease. Her condition was global and chronic. She had been bound by this condition for eighteen years. Her entire life, therefore, was given over to this appalling condition.
She did not possess the means nor ability to change her condition. She suffered passively from her dis-ease. There was no release for her,and she had come to terms with the reality of her estate. Knowing the "reality" of her estate create an attitude of acceptance. She had accepted that this was her lot.
She built her mind around the chronic reality of her situation. This was reinforced by her culture. She had succumbed to a negative belief narrative that controlled her thoughts. Her thoughts controlled her reality.
Think of the multiplied millions whose lives have become bound by a spirit of infirmity through drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex addiction, addiction to pornography, and many other types of bondage.
The intervention strategies used to "help" such persons have seen limited positive results. The universally accepted intervention strategy are powerful psychoactive pharmacological agents that only manage symptoms.
The Word of God delivers persons from bondage. The Word of God is the supernatural healing agent that knows exactly how to break the spirit of infirmity that condemns persons to lives of ugly and dismal servitude. Addiction is another way to speak of enslavement and degradation. God does not degrade and enslave. God lifts up the head shamed by brutality. God lifts up the head of the one who has known only horror and abuse.
There are unfortunate events and circumstance that come into our lives. They can either control our perception of ourselves or we can control our self-perception. This woman had lost that ability. Was she a victim? Did she consider herself a victim? We are not told how she felt about her situation.
She, however, is deeply bound and tragically besieged by this dis-ease. Some would call her condition 'impossible.' Obviously, there was no help for her. Or so it would seem, but there was someone who observed her one sabbath day. He carefully observed her within the religious environment and decided that he would radically intervene and speak the Word of God into her bondage.
Elohim, who spoke life into the void of Genesis chapter one would speak into the chaos, and void of the woman's condition. Where there was no life he created life. Where there was no release he granted release. Elohim, broke the power that dominated and controlled her life for some eighteen years.
It is time that we got back to practicing the prayer of deliverance for those who are bound by a spirit of infirmity. The powerful, effectual prayer of the spiritual one avails much. It is time to jettison the cutesy nonsense of spiritual tomfoolery and get serious with God. Countless lives are being ruined daily as we play at faith. Let me be very clear this is no game.
The idea that "spiritual powers" can bring ruin and chaos into the lives of persons is outside of the worldview of post-modern medicine. Nevertheless, such powers are real. They are malevolent forces that harass and havoc lives. They constrain and constrict the lives of people.
The Iesous saw that the woman's condition was the result of a spirit of infirmity. We don't know what a spirit of infirmity is. We cannot give a classification and identity to it, but we do know something about it through its behavior. The behavior of the spirit of infirmity (weakness) reveals its nature. It seeks to overthrow an individual's life in order to control it for terrible and ghastly ends.
The behavior of an entity or being indicates character. All behavior is the result of character whether good or bad. The behavior of the spirit of infirmity is perverse (willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired, contrary). It is also malignant (virulent, deadly, or incurable).
The obstinate spirit of infirmity controlled the neuro-muscular system of the woman so that she could not stand upright. The perverse spirit perversely controlled her life. It could not be otherwise. It never is. Her condition of exogenous (derived from outside of the body, an external source) perverse control was irresistible. She needed help from a source stronger than her controlling agent. The Iesous was/is the Strong One of Authority, and the Great Physician for her spiritual- medical psycho-physical condition.
The word of the Iesous released the woman whose life had been frozen around a chronic estate. The Iesous spoke a new reality into her life. There was no ritual or ceremony. There was effective and complete release from the restrictive lie of her life.
In verse eighteen there are three different words used to describe the woman's spiritual harassment. There is the word "bound", "loosed", and "bond" and in the Greek text each word adds a descriptive nuance to her condition. Collectively, the words tell the story of a morbidly oppressed and distressed life.
The Iesous has come in order to deliver those who have been similarly wounded by life. The Ieosus has come to lift up those who did not have the ability to lift themselves up because bound by a chronic spiritual condition.
Today, if you need release from a spirit of infirmity the Iesosu can and will deliver you too. Blessings to You.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website. You may also listen at http://blogtalkradio.com/drjosiahrich
This powerful narrative within the Gospel document called Luke reveals a meta-medical condition in the life of an individual. I call the condition of this person meta-medical because it would be considered outside of the worldview of post-modern medical science.
The "spirit of infirmity" created a condition of weakness within the individual that manifested itself in physical distortion. The afflicted person suffered from acute and morbid curvature of the spine. She found herself unable to lift up, and stand erect.
The weakness in her life resulting from the "spirit of infirmity" was comprehensive in nature. That is, the whole person was affected by the dis-ease. Her condition was global and chronic. She had been bound by this condition for eighteen years. Her entire life, therefore, was given over to this appalling condition.
She did not possess the means nor ability to change her condition. She suffered passively from her dis-ease. There was no release for her,and she had come to terms with the reality of her estate. Knowing the "reality" of her estate create an attitude of acceptance. She had accepted that this was her lot.
She built her mind around the chronic reality of her situation. This was reinforced by her culture. She had succumbed to a negative belief narrative that controlled her thoughts. Her thoughts controlled her reality.
Think of the multiplied millions whose lives have become bound by a spirit of infirmity through drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex addiction, addiction to pornography, and many other types of bondage.
The intervention strategies used to "help" such persons have seen limited positive results. The universally accepted intervention strategy are powerful psychoactive pharmacological agents that only manage symptoms.
The Word of God delivers persons from bondage. The Word of God is the supernatural healing agent that knows exactly how to break the spirit of infirmity that condemns persons to lives of ugly and dismal servitude. Addiction is another way to speak of enslavement and degradation. God does not degrade and enslave. God lifts up the head shamed by brutality. God lifts up the head of the one who has known only horror and abuse.
There are unfortunate events and circumstance that come into our lives. They can either control our perception of ourselves or we can control our self-perception. This woman had lost that ability. Was she a victim? Did she consider herself a victim? We are not told how she felt about her situation.
She, however, is deeply bound and tragically besieged by this dis-ease. Some would call her condition 'impossible.' Obviously, there was no help for her. Or so it would seem, but there was someone who observed her one sabbath day. He carefully observed her within the religious environment and decided that he would radically intervene and speak the Word of God into her bondage.
Elohim, who spoke life into the void of Genesis chapter one would speak into the chaos, and void of the woman's condition. Where there was no life he created life. Where there was no release he granted release. Elohim, broke the power that dominated and controlled her life for some eighteen years.
It is time that we got back to practicing the prayer of deliverance for those who are bound by a spirit of infirmity. The powerful, effectual prayer of the spiritual one avails much. It is time to jettison the cutesy nonsense of spiritual tomfoolery and get serious with God. Countless lives are being ruined daily as we play at faith. Let me be very clear this is no game.
The idea that "spiritual powers" can bring ruin and chaos into the lives of persons is outside of the worldview of post-modern medicine. Nevertheless, such powers are real. They are malevolent forces that harass and havoc lives. They constrain and constrict the lives of people.
The Iesous saw that the woman's condition was the result of a spirit of infirmity. We don't know what a spirit of infirmity is. We cannot give a classification and identity to it, but we do know something about it through its behavior. The behavior of the spirit of infirmity (weakness) reveals its nature. It seeks to overthrow an individual's life in order to control it for terrible and ghastly ends.
The behavior of an entity or being indicates character. All behavior is the result of character whether good or bad. The behavior of the spirit of infirmity is perverse (willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired, contrary). It is also malignant (virulent, deadly, or incurable).
The obstinate spirit of infirmity controlled the neuro-muscular system of the woman so that she could not stand upright. The perverse spirit perversely controlled her life. It could not be otherwise. It never is. Her condition of exogenous (derived from outside of the body, an external source) perverse control was irresistible. She needed help from a source stronger than her controlling agent. The Iesous was/is the Strong One of Authority, and the Great Physician for her spiritual- medical psycho-physical condition.
The word of the Iesous released the woman whose life had been frozen around a chronic estate. The Iesous spoke a new reality into her life. There was no ritual or ceremony. There was effective and complete release from the restrictive lie of her life.
In verse eighteen there are three different words used to describe the woman's spiritual harassment. There is the word "bound", "loosed", and "bond" and in the Greek text each word adds a descriptive nuance to her condition. Collectively, the words tell the story of a morbidly oppressed and distressed life.
The Iesous has come in order to deliver those who have been similarly wounded by life. The Ieosus has come to lift up those who did not have the ability to lift themselves up because bound by a chronic spiritual condition.
Today, if you need release from a spirit of infirmity the Iesosu can and will deliver you too. Blessings to You.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website. You may also listen at http://blogtalkradio.com/drjosiahrich
Friday, October 18, 2013
Elohim: The Strong One of Authority
"In the beginning Elohim created (Heb. bara) the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep (Heb. roaring) deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Gen. 1:1-2
The foundation of the Genesis document is given in this verse. Moses is not a proponent of Chance and Necessity, nor does he concoct highly imaginative theories of cosmogony and assign remote mathematical symbols to them in order to earn a hearing.
The writer gives a theological confession without apology and states that prior to mass/energy Elohim was/is. Certainly, human language systems are strained when attempting to speak of the unspeakable. Not in the sense of the classic language philosophers who used language to argue themselves into a metaphysical corner. "Whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent."
Thankfully Moses never studied with the language philosophers. Moses was given his profound insight into the origins of all things through Elohim. Philosophy can only go so far and then its structure turns upon itself because it is the product of the thoughts of men.
Moses writes that Elohim was before and at the beginning. Moses uses the word El which was a common name for deities in the ancient Near East. El was symbolically represented by a picture of an ox or bull, and so it meant "the Strong One of Authority." The Strong One of Authority created or fashioned mass/energy and its behavioral manifestations.
Elohim's thought/action is the grounds of the energetic patterns that we experience. We are interactive beings. We do not merely observe the behavior of mass/energy we are ourselves mass/energy beings with souls. The instruments that are designed to observe the behavior of mass/energy are composed of the same as are the observers. We are cosmic dance too.
Elohim created the behavioral phenomena called 'heavens' and 'earth' through speech/action. Again we are confronted with energy behaving as designed by Elohim. Beneath the visible or measurable phenomena is the abiding speech command of The Strong One of Authority. The Periodic Table of The Elements are inherent in the cosmos because of Elohim.
Honestly, we are not arguing First Causes. We are stating that classical evolution or theistic evolution (compromise) are impossible given the nature of what is. If Elohim is removed from the structure of the cosmos there is no cosmos. We will not consider matter as such, because matter is an illusion. Matter creates the belief in hard solid stuff, and there is not hard solid stuff. There are only dancing patterns of energy.
Understand the context of the last statement. I am not arguing from the viewpoint of reductionism I want to point out an observable fact. We are indeed patterns of energy in motion, and we are more. We are body/soul. We are mysteries as much and much more than energetic patterns at dance. Infused and intrinsic to the energy dance is moral behavior. A signature of the existence of the Creator.
Rocks are said to be mere things in the non-theistic belief systems. However, in the biblical system rocks 'know' the Creator. Rocks are not extensions of the Divine Essence, but rocks recognize the Creator as the Creator. He is LORD of all. All things belong to Him as the Creator. The frightening behavior dynamics of the Sea of Galilee that tossed and threatened the boat of the disciples ceased their raging at the command of the Iesous.
There is no such thing as nature. That is a philosophical idea. The New Testament uses the term 'physis' to denote something that is intrinsic to the cosmic order. In that since there is nature, but not in an absolute since of an order devoid of the CREATOR. There is no Nature in that sense.
The documents of the bible are without equal. They are authoritative in an absolute manner. Yes, they are ancient, yes they present a worldview that many would call primal perhaps, but primitive no. The thought forms are powerful, and complex, but the alphabet of the Hebrews is based on 22 consonants. The Job document is more ancient than Genesis. Genesis is framed around a series of beginnings. In fact, Genesis is about a new beginning.
The earth was the work of divine creative fiat. Elohim sculpted the topography of the earth for human habitation. (Statistical reasoning can be highly manipulative). There is more water on the surface on the face of the earth than land mass for many reasons. Land, however, is still dynamic, but not as much as water.
The ontological wasteland that The Strong One of Authority fashioned into a habitable environment for human, plant, and animal life was called the Chaos Monster in ancient creation stories. Some theologians have tried to press the tri-leveled universe into the Genesis creation account with little success.
The cosmology of Genesis is theological. All of life is theological. Science is theological, but scientism is religious. The word science means 'knowledge.' Technology is applied science to some degree. Technology is used today to sell novelty products to the masses, manipulate their minds, and create dependency on 'necessary' but 'irrelevant' nonsense.
The first verse of Genesis point to a greater reality. That is, Elohim is prior to the created order. His creative work is a mystery. I was taught that Elohim created the world from nothing or no-thing. Even today, mass/energy is no-thing. However, that is not what the theologians meant by no-thing.
I know that the mind prejudiced by the belief of things in space finds it very difficult to retrain itself to believe that 'hardness' is a sensory illusion. Long ago, when I met with Fritjof Capra who wrote "The Tao Of Physics" we had a long discussion on this topic. Dr. Capra holds a Ph.D in Particle Physics.
Lastly, note the Power of the Spoken Word in ancient Near Eastern thought. This is lost to our culture. Elohim speaks terse, simple, and effective words. Speech is prior to, and tied to mass/energy. Einstein let us know that the smallest 'piece' of mass contains an enormous amount of energy. In other words, Elohim's speech is filled with power (the ability to do work). We are told by some great physicists that the universe is the product of Mind.
The universe is not a clock or a machine. It is energetic mystery. Finally, Elohim is using his great power today to recreate souls that have been ruined by sin. Through the power of Re-generation he is giving life to those who have been undone through the Chaos Monster of sin. Elohim or The Strong One of Authority has come into the created order as the new proto-man Iesous.
The old order of sin means absolute ruin, and so Elohim has created a new order of Man headed by the Iesous. You can have eternal life today through the Iesous and know life in superabundance. Come to the Iesous today and confess your belief in his redemptive death on the cross for you.
Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog and visit his website.
The foundation of the Genesis document is given in this verse. Moses is not a proponent of Chance and Necessity, nor does he concoct highly imaginative theories of cosmogony and assign remote mathematical symbols to them in order to earn a hearing.
The writer gives a theological confession without apology and states that prior to mass/energy Elohim was/is. Certainly, human language systems are strained when attempting to speak of the unspeakable. Not in the sense of the classic language philosophers who used language to argue themselves into a metaphysical corner. "Whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent."
Thankfully Moses never studied with the language philosophers. Moses was given his profound insight into the origins of all things through Elohim. Philosophy can only go so far and then its structure turns upon itself because it is the product of the thoughts of men.
Moses writes that Elohim was before and at the beginning. Moses uses the word El which was a common name for deities in the ancient Near East. El was symbolically represented by a picture of an ox or bull, and so it meant "the Strong One of Authority." The Strong One of Authority created or fashioned mass/energy and its behavioral manifestations.
Elohim's thought/action is the grounds of the energetic patterns that we experience. We are interactive beings. We do not merely observe the behavior of mass/energy we are ourselves mass/energy beings with souls. The instruments that are designed to observe the behavior of mass/energy are composed of the same as are the observers. We are cosmic dance too.
Elohim created the behavioral phenomena called 'heavens' and 'earth' through speech/action. Again we are confronted with energy behaving as designed by Elohim. Beneath the visible or measurable phenomena is the abiding speech command of The Strong One of Authority. The Periodic Table of The Elements are inherent in the cosmos because of Elohim.
Honestly, we are not arguing First Causes. We are stating that classical evolution or theistic evolution (compromise) are impossible given the nature of what is. If Elohim is removed from the structure of the cosmos there is no cosmos. We will not consider matter as such, because matter is an illusion. Matter creates the belief in hard solid stuff, and there is not hard solid stuff. There are only dancing patterns of energy.
Understand the context of the last statement. I am not arguing from the viewpoint of reductionism I want to point out an observable fact. We are indeed patterns of energy in motion, and we are more. We are body/soul. We are mysteries as much and much more than energetic patterns at dance. Infused and intrinsic to the energy dance is moral behavior. A signature of the existence of the Creator.
Rocks are said to be mere things in the non-theistic belief systems. However, in the biblical system rocks 'know' the Creator. Rocks are not extensions of the Divine Essence, but rocks recognize the Creator as the Creator. He is LORD of all. All things belong to Him as the Creator. The frightening behavior dynamics of the Sea of Galilee that tossed and threatened the boat of the disciples ceased their raging at the command of the Iesous.
There is no such thing as nature. That is a philosophical idea. The New Testament uses the term 'physis' to denote something that is intrinsic to the cosmic order. In that since there is nature, but not in an absolute since of an order devoid of the CREATOR. There is no Nature in that sense.
The documents of the bible are without equal. They are authoritative in an absolute manner. Yes, they are ancient, yes they present a worldview that many would call primal perhaps, but primitive no. The thought forms are powerful, and complex, but the alphabet of the Hebrews is based on 22 consonants. The Job document is more ancient than Genesis. Genesis is framed around a series of beginnings. In fact, Genesis is about a new beginning.
The earth was the work of divine creative fiat. Elohim sculpted the topography of the earth for human habitation. (Statistical reasoning can be highly manipulative). There is more water on the surface on the face of the earth than land mass for many reasons. Land, however, is still dynamic, but not as much as water.
The ontological wasteland that The Strong One of Authority fashioned into a habitable environment for human, plant, and animal life was called the Chaos Monster in ancient creation stories. Some theologians have tried to press the tri-leveled universe into the Genesis creation account with little success.
The cosmology of Genesis is theological. All of life is theological. Science is theological, but scientism is religious. The word science means 'knowledge.' Technology is applied science to some degree. Technology is used today to sell novelty products to the masses, manipulate their minds, and create dependency on 'necessary' but 'irrelevant' nonsense.
The first verse of Genesis point to a greater reality. That is, Elohim is prior to the created order. His creative work is a mystery. I was taught that Elohim created the world from nothing or no-thing. Even today, mass/energy is no-thing. However, that is not what the theologians meant by no-thing.
I know that the mind prejudiced by the belief of things in space finds it very difficult to retrain itself to believe that 'hardness' is a sensory illusion. Long ago, when I met with Fritjof Capra who wrote "The Tao Of Physics" we had a long discussion on this topic. Dr. Capra holds a Ph.D in Particle Physics.
Lastly, note the Power of the Spoken Word in ancient Near Eastern thought. This is lost to our culture. Elohim speaks terse, simple, and effective words. Speech is prior to, and tied to mass/energy. Einstein let us know that the smallest 'piece' of mass contains an enormous amount of energy. In other words, Elohim's speech is filled with power (the ability to do work). We are told by some great physicists that the universe is the product of Mind.
The universe is not a clock or a machine. It is energetic mystery. Finally, Elohim is using his great power today to recreate souls that have been ruined by sin. Through the power of Re-generation he is giving life to those who have been undone through the Chaos Monster of sin. Elohim or The Strong One of Authority has come into the created order as the new proto-man Iesous.
The old order of sin means absolute ruin, and so Elohim has created a new order of Man headed by the Iesous. You can have eternal life today through the Iesous and know life in superabundance. Come to the Iesous today and confess your belief in his redemptive death on the cross for you.
Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog and visit his website.
"To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice"
"Does the LORD delight in brunt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil (wrong) of idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, he has ejected you as king." I Sam. 15:22-23
King Saul was commanded by the LORD to destroy the Amalekites, and to totally destroy everything that belonged to their nation. This act was to be judgement upon the Amalekites for their terrible actions toward the people of Yahweh as they came up from Egypt (double distress). Yahweh's covenant relationship with his people ensured protection from their enemies.
The first king of Israel was given the task to execute the judgement of Yahweh upon his enemies. The enemies of Yahweh's people were also his enemies too. The LORD has an irrevocable relationship with his people.
Cults teach the opposite of biblical revelation. Cults teach that Yahweh's people lost their covenant relationship, and that the covenant promises made exclusively to Israel (Ysrael) belongs to their community. This is false theology, and arrogant violence to the received documents.
Our point, however, has to do with Saul's attitude toward the command of Yahweh given through the prophet Samuel. Samuel delivered Yahweh message to Saul through the classical messenger formula, "Thus Saith the LORD." The messenger formula was used by the Old Testament nabi (prophets) to indicate that their oracles did not originate of themselves.
The 'messenger formula' was authoritative revelation given to a specific person during a specific time in Salvation History. Saul went to the city-state of Agag, and he set an ambush against the city and routed their defenses. Victory over the Amalekites was within his grasp. He had the means to complete the task given to him by Yahweh, but he decided to disobey the divine directive and handle the Amalekites on his own terms.
Saul disobeyed Yahweh's command to devote all to destruction, and instead decided to deal with the Amalekites the way he saw fit. Saul destroyed all of the Amalekite city-state except the king of the Amalekites, Agag, and the best of their goods.
This act of Saul revealed his character and heart toward Yahweh. "But Saul and the army spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed (v.9)."
The LORD repented that he had made Saul king. This troubled Saul. In fact, the revelation that Yahweh repented at making him king troubled him all night. But the next day, Saul arose from his discomfort and went out and erected a monument in his own honor!
Saul was only superficially bothered by disobeying the LORD. Saul loved himself more than Yahweh. And so it goes. Do not be fooled by those who have a form of religion, but deny the power thereof. When pressure is added to arrogance, the arrogant ones will abandon Yahweh's will and go off to establish a monument in their own name. This was a religious act. It was self-worship on Saul's part.
Saul's self-lie was ingrained within his personality. In fact, the lie of ego-centrism had ruined his ability to establish a deep relationship with Yahweh and others. Saul's self-worship was demonstrated in his actions. He failed to carry out the Will of Yahweh, he lied to himself about himself, and he lied to Samuel.
Those who play the game of self destruction must first set about their own ruin, and then they move out from their dark center to inform and infect others with their vile pathogen. Such persons are indeed pathogenic. They infect the lives of others. Saul's dis-ease was idolatrous self- worship.
Saul lied to Samuel who had the gift of discernment. Samuel had deep perception into people, things, and circumstances. He knew that Saul was a liar. Notice the manner in which Saul greeted Samuel. Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD'S instructions."
Saul's greeting was to disarm Samuel, much as patients/clients do today with therapists. The insincere greeting told of what Saul thought of Samuel too. Saul lied to his face, sincerely, and honestly. Saul had stepped back from reality. His mentality was full of lies, phoniness, and subterfuge. But he did not realize that Samuel was an expert in voice stress analysis. Samuel knew body language, and how the eyes behave or not behave when one is lying.
The naive king Saul was out of his league with Samuel. Samuel 'passed over' Saul's greeting and religious behavior. Samuel asked Saul, "What is this bleating of the sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of the cattle that I hear?"
The evidence of Saul's disobedience was seen and heard by Samuel, and yet he presumed to lie to Samuel. The evidence of disobedience is always obvious to all except those who are willfully blind. Those who are willfully blind believe that no one is privy to the scam and sham of their hypocrisy.
The end of Saul's regime of lies and self-worship is not going to end well for him. He is corrupt. His challenge will be to realize that he has not lied to man, but to God. There is no continuum of gray for his appeal. There is only obedience and dis-obedience. He will face the Either/Or of his own creation. He abandoned the completed safety of the Will of God for the feeble shelter of self-worship. Intoxicated with the wine of self-deceit Saul's conscience cannot know guilt. Moral guilt is forbidden by his cult of the self.
Saul believes that he can 'play' Samuel, but that belief is not based in reality. Lies remove the individual out of the realm of reality. Lies are a false world view where the narcissistic liar is the sole star. Everything and everyone are skewed and made to fit into the tawdry world of the liar including God.
Lies never work over the long term, but their short-term damage can be catastrophic. Saul will come to know that his false worldview will not last. Yahweh will step in and teach him that in the ancient Hebrew worldview every action carries its own consequences-either good or bad.
Beloved, we too are Saul. We can be guilty of incomplete obedience to God. This does not have to be the case. The Saul within each of us desires to glorify the self, and to build monuments to the self. If the Saul within is not crucified then there can be no true spiritual life. Are you ready to give up the Saul within and live the life that God has planned for you?
Please remember that we are dealing with an event from an ancient text. Note the remarkable manner in which the writer has captured the intrinsic nature of human behavior. The motivation for most, if not all action, are inherently selfish. The monument to the self that Saul erected to himself bespeaks the nature of human action to juxtapose formal service to Yahweh along side service to self.
Therapists can miss this very provocative element of human nature. I may wish to have unconditional positive regard for all persons in a theoretical model, but that approach may open the door to being crushed by someone bent upon ruining my life.
The Saul-nature is radically opposed to the things of God. The Saul nature has no desire for God because it cannot. It is completely immersed in the elemental principles of this age (aeon). The lie of Saul is based upon the fleeting vapor that we call life.
We are but breath. We are temporal beings seeking to thrust an eternal principle upon the cosmos. We can use word, and deeds of the folly of power to evoke an image of ourselves that we are everlasting, but that is the greatest lie. Saul lied to Yahweh and Samuel because he first lied to himself.
He really believed that he could lie to God without consequences. Every acts carries its own consequences. This is primary doctrine in ancient Hebrew Theology. Even some of the suffixes in Hebrew words bespeak this reality. Hebrew words are not merely words in the western since of mere linguistic units. Hebrew words unleash events and new realities.
Saul will come to realize his grave sin in the crushing events in what remains of his life. He will be aggrieved by morbid psychopathology of his own creation. He tossed down the gauntlet to God and he found out the monument to himself could not help. He became the prototype of Nietzsche before there was a Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). The idolatry of the self always culminates in madness. The idol of the self is always built upon sand.
The word of man cannot satisfy. The Word of God is food for the hungry soul, and refreshing drink for the parched soul. Come to God today. Leave behind the Saul life for a life that is real.
God his sent his Son that we may have eternal life. Obey God and except the finished work of the Ieosus on the cross today. Now is the day of salvation. Share this message with someone today.
Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog and visit his website.
King Saul was commanded by the LORD to destroy the Amalekites, and to totally destroy everything that belonged to their nation. This act was to be judgement upon the Amalekites for their terrible actions toward the people of Yahweh as they came up from Egypt (double distress). Yahweh's covenant relationship with his people ensured protection from their enemies.
The first king of Israel was given the task to execute the judgement of Yahweh upon his enemies. The enemies of Yahweh's people were also his enemies too. The LORD has an irrevocable relationship with his people.
Cults teach the opposite of biblical revelation. Cults teach that Yahweh's people lost their covenant relationship, and that the covenant promises made exclusively to Israel (Ysrael) belongs to their community. This is false theology, and arrogant violence to the received documents.
Our point, however, has to do with Saul's attitude toward the command of Yahweh given through the prophet Samuel. Samuel delivered Yahweh message to Saul through the classical messenger formula, "Thus Saith the LORD." The messenger formula was used by the Old Testament nabi (prophets) to indicate that their oracles did not originate of themselves.
The 'messenger formula' was authoritative revelation given to a specific person during a specific time in Salvation History. Saul went to the city-state of Agag, and he set an ambush against the city and routed their defenses. Victory over the Amalekites was within his grasp. He had the means to complete the task given to him by Yahweh, but he decided to disobey the divine directive and handle the Amalekites on his own terms.
Saul disobeyed Yahweh's command to devote all to destruction, and instead decided to deal with the Amalekites the way he saw fit. Saul destroyed all of the Amalekite city-state except the king of the Amalekites, Agag, and the best of their goods.
This act of Saul revealed his character and heart toward Yahweh. "But Saul and the army spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed (v.9)."
The LORD repented that he had made Saul king. This troubled Saul. In fact, the revelation that Yahweh repented at making him king troubled him all night. But the next day, Saul arose from his discomfort and went out and erected a monument in his own honor!
Saul was only superficially bothered by disobeying the LORD. Saul loved himself more than Yahweh. And so it goes. Do not be fooled by those who have a form of religion, but deny the power thereof. When pressure is added to arrogance, the arrogant ones will abandon Yahweh's will and go off to establish a monument in their own name. This was a religious act. It was self-worship on Saul's part.
Saul's self-lie was ingrained within his personality. In fact, the lie of ego-centrism had ruined his ability to establish a deep relationship with Yahweh and others. Saul's self-worship was demonstrated in his actions. He failed to carry out the Will of Yahweh, he lied to himself about himself, and he lied to Samuel.
Those who play the game of self destruction must first set about their own ruin, and then they move out from their dark center to inform and infect others with their vile pathogen. Such persons are indeed pathogenic. They infect the lives of others. Saul's dis-ease was idolatrous self- worship.
Saul lied to Samuel who had the gift of discernment. Samuel had deep perception into people, things, and circumstances. He knew that Saul was a liar. Notice the manner in which Saul greeted Samuel. Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD'S instructions."
Saul's greeting was to disarm Samuel, much as patients/clients do today with therapists. The insincere greeting told of what Saul thought of Samuel too. Saul lied to his face, sincerely, and honestly. Saul had stepped back from reality. His mentality was full of lies, phoniness, and subterfuge. But he did not realize that Samuel was an expert in voice stress analysis. Samuel knew body language, and how the eyes behave or not behave when one is lying.
The naive king Saul was out of his league with Samuel. Samuel 'passed over' Saul's greeting and religious behavior. Samuel asked Saul, "What is this bleating of the sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of the cattle that I hear?"
The evidence of Saul's disobedience was seen and heard by Samuel, and yet he presumed to lie to Samuel. The evidence of disobedience is always obvious to all except those who are willfully blind. Those who are willfully blind believe that no one is privy to the scam and sham of their hypocrisy.
The end of Saul's regime of lies and self-worship is not going to end well for him. He is corrupt. His challenge will be to realize that he has not lied to man, but to God. There is no continuum of gray for his appeal. There is only obedience and dis-obedience. He will face the Either/Or of his own creation. He abandoned the completed safety of the Will of God for the feeble shelter of self-worship. Intoxicated with the wine of self-deceit Saul's conscience cannot know guilt. Moral guilt is forbidden by his cult of the self.
Saul believes that he can 'play' Samuel, but that belief is not based in reality. Lies remove the individual out of the realm of reality. Lies are a false world view where the narcissistic liar is the sole star. Everything and everyone are skewed and made to fit into the tawdry world of the liar including God.
Lies never work over the long term, but their short-term damage can be catastrophic. Saul will come to know that his false worldview will not last. Yahweh will step in and teach him that in the ancient Hebrew worldview every action carries its own consequences-either good or bad.
Beloved, we too are Saul. We can be guilty of incomplete obedience to God. This does not have to be the case. The Saul within each of us desires to glorify the self, and to build monuments to the self. If the Saul within is not crucified then there can be no true spiritual life. Are you ready to give up the Saul within and live the life that God has planned for you?
Please remember that we are dealing with an event from an ancient text. Note the remarkable manner in which the writer has captured the intrinsic nature of human behavior. The motivation for most, if not all action, are inherently selfish. The monument to the self that Saul erected to himself bespeaks the nature of human action to juxtapose formal service to Yahweh along side service to self.
Therapists can miss this very provocative element of human nature. I may wish to have unconditional positive regard for all persons in a theoretical model, but that approach may open the door to being crushed by someone bent upon ruining my life.
The Saul-nature is radically opposed to the things of God. The Saul nature has no desire for God because it cannot. It is completely immersed in the elemental principles of this age (aeon). The lie of Saul is based upon the fleeting vapor that we call life.
We are but breath. We are temporal beings seeking to thrust an eternal principle upon the cosmos. We can use word, and deeds of the folly of power to evoke an image of ourselves that we are everlasting, but that is the greatest lie. Saul lied to Yahweh and Samuel because he first lied to himself.
He really believed that he could lie to God without consequences. Every acts carries its own consequences. This is primary doctrine in ancient Hebrew Theology. Even some of the suffixes in Hebrew words bespeak this reality. Hebrew words are not merely words in the western since of mere linguistic units. Hebrew words unleash events and new realities.
Saul will come to realize his grave sin in the crushing events in what remains of his life. He will be aggrieved by morbid psychopathology of his own creation. He tossed down the gauntlet to God and he found out the monument to himself could not help. He became the prototype of Nietzsche before there was a Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). The idolatry of the self always culminates in madness. The idol of the self is always built upon sand.
The word of man cannot satisfy. The Word of God is food for the hungry soul, and refreshing drink for the parched soul. Come to God today. Leave behind the Saul life for a life that is real.
God his sent his Son that we may have eternal life. Obey God and except the finished work of the Ieosus on the cross today. Now is the day of salvation. Share this message with someone today.
Amen.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry please follow this blog and visit his website.
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