The Bible speaks repeatedly of two realms—the realm of Spirit and the realm of flesh.
Double-Mindedness or Stability
As I have already written in so many of these contemplations, I grew up in a very orthodox Church and family and took upon myself a concept of a God of wrath and judgment that struck terror in my soul. I spent over 50 years attempting to love this God and feel loved by Him. I didn’t dare question anything I had been taught because I was so frightened of being deceived.
From the Beginning
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God
The Bible opens with these words. And the apostle John reiterates them in his gospel:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Putting on Immortality
Last January I wrote:
Today is what in this world we would call my 74th birthday, but since, in my true and permanent identity, I am immortal (with no beginning and no ending), and therefore never “born,” I don’t wish to acknowledge it as my “birthday,” but rather as the day I “put on” what Paul refers to as “sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3) or “mortality.”
The Veil
[June 18, 2015] After sleeping soundly for 6 hours, I was awakened by a vivid dream wherein my sister and I were engaged in a heated argument with my brother attempting to “referee” by timing us so each of us could have our “say.” Upon awakening, I immediately realized that the dream was from the Spirit, letting me know just how petty and unreal everything we were thinking and saying was. I knew that it was “flesh” viewing flesh and reacting to flesh with flesh. It was life “in this world” veiled from the reality of life in the kingdom of God by our belief in two powers. Because I was saying things that I thought I had actually observed and felt, I knew the dream was not one of those nonsensical ones we so often have. I knew that I was to pay attention and listen to the “interpretation” from the Spirit.
Freed from the Conscience
I think very few people really have an accurate understanding of the conscience. We have been taught in orthodox Christianity that it is the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin—telling us what we ought or ought not to be doing. It is that which tells us what we are doing wrong and causes us to feel condemned. It never tells us that we are doing something right; it just makes us feel guilty for the wrong that we do. Yet we have been taught to look upon the conscience as a good thing and to be careful not to “sear” it by violating it.
Powers and Principalities and Rulers of the Darkness
As I’ve said earlier (see But What About …?), I have learned to just continue to read Scriptures without attempting to understand them through reasoning or searching out what others have said about them. I have become confident that when they are needed or when I’m ready to hear, God will reveal their meaning for me—for it is only the words that He speaks to me that are Spirit and life:
Continue reading “Powers and Principalities and Rulers of the Darkness”
Knowledge or Love
In our spiritual journey, we all continue to increase in our knowledge of God. Many of us have the revelation that there is but one Power (God Omnipotent) and that it is always good, that there are not two powers, one of evil that we must “overcome” while we are in “this world.” We know that the kingdom of God is within each of us and that we can experience that kingdom now, that we don’t have to wait until we die to enter it. We know that every man is God in expression, made in His image and likeness and given dominion over all the rest of creation.
The Truth that Sets Us Free
I am in the kingdom of Heaven right now. It is at hand
and is within. It’s not something I attain to by studying, thinking or working. It is righteousness, peace and joy, each of which is a free gift, not to be earned. It is my Father’s good pleasure
to give it to me Luke 12:32.
Death to Humanity
It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus, who, though tempted in all ways as we are, knew no sin (no sense of separation from God, His Father) agreed to become sin (take upon Himself that sense of separation—My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?
) in order to experience death for every man that we could become the righteousness of God