Our Twisted Darkness

He reveals mysteries from the darkness. And brings the deep darkness into light.

There is one who whose default settings are not alien to the Father’s heart, one who knows the Father as He is, one who sees His face and experiences His lavish love. There is one who believes. Imagine: What if this one entered into our darkness? What if this Son became human? What id this Son stepped into the gnarled and twisted world of the fallen Adamic mind?

I do not mean, “What if the Son became human in order to reveal the Father to us?” Such revelation is, of course, absolutely critical, but in itself revelation alone does not sole the problem; for we are blind and cannot receive it. And worse, as we have seen, our twisted minds turn the revelation of the Father into proof of our false god. But what if the Father’s Son stepped into Adams’ skin put on Adams’ fallen eyes and received the revelation of the Father for us? And what if he used our twisted darkness to do so?

Rich

Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen. "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Resistance is Fertile

I was reading some wonderful thoughts over at Jeff MCQ’S blog, Losing My Religion.
Here in particular the final part of a five part set of ponderings entitled “God Is in the Darkness” (part 5: If I Descend into Sheol).

In light of his thoughts, reflections, pondering and questions, I want to add something here from my friend Bill Landon, an excerpt from his book, “The Devil You Don’t Know”.

“We should not be surprised by the fact that the idea of Satan in our flesh is inherently offensive to us in our worldly understanding. This offense is, in a curious way, one more bit of evidence that this is a true representation of our condition in this world. I can say this because Satan is a liar and the father of lies. Please read John 8:44. The most dreadful prospect for a liar is exposure. For this reason we would expect a swift and strong reaction of the flesh to exposure of its true identity. The clear light of truth is death to one who lives by falsehood. The only power a lie has comes from our belief in it. Once the truth is known and accepted, the liar and his lies can no longer exert any influence over our living. This is why Scripture tells us that the truth is liberating us: John 8:32. Given the gravity of this situation, it would be naive for us to expect truth about the flesh to come to us without some considerable resistance.”

“Another aspect of this truth that Satan dwells in our physical body as the flesh is our reaction to this truth. We have all been the victims of years of exposure to the lies of the evil one. This exposure to falsehood has biased us in our thinking and understanding of how the world operates. The last thing that Satan wants is for us to see the truth about anything—especially the truth about our need to be healed and spiritually completed. As long as the evil one can keep us convinced that we are spiritually healthy or at least very nearly good in our natural state, he can block us from turning to the one true source of life and spiritual health—Christ. This includes not only interfering with our salvation but also complicating our daily surrender to letting Christ operate as our only effective source for living. I would be more suspicious of the validity of the idea of Satan in the flesh if it were easily acceptable to my intellectual understanding than if it came as it does with some conflict. The devil will never give up his resistance to God and to our well-being. The only way we can ever know if our objection to an idea is due to its truth or falsehood is by spiritual discernment.”

“A common argument that is leveled against this view is that the idea of Satan in the flesh is an indictment of the Father for shoddy workmanship. Some people see this understanding as an accusation that the Father did a partial job when He saved us because He left the evil one in our body. Later on I hope to show that this is not the case. I maintain that this idea of Satan in the flesh in no way disparages the wonder of the Father’s creation or our rebirth. This idea is, rather, a testimony to the completeness of the Father’s planning in His creation and in the supremacy of His power. For now let’s just say that if God is as big as we claim He is, He should have no problem with Satan living next door.”

“In order for the Father’s plan and purpose for the creation to be carried out, the first change in humanity (spiritual leading shifting from the human spirit to the human body) had to be reversed. The first change was needed to allow the action of our free will and to factor Satan into the process as the flesh. In this way the Father gave us real alternatives to choose between. Further, the Father gave us the contrast between the darkness of the flesh and the light of His life so that we might be able to learn about Him and the evil one. Further, the human spirit had to be reactivated and even brought to a level of function beyond what Adam had in his original creation.
I maintain that the revitalization of the human spirit could be (and was) carried out without and necessary modification of the human body. The purpose of the rebirth was to establish the communications between God and us in a Father to rebirthed child relationship. What the rebirth did was to bring into sharper focus the conflict between the two opposing spiritual forces. It is precisely because of the flesh and the Spirit exist within the same physical entity that we can see the true nature of each force. The situation of Christ in our spirit and Satan in our flesh sets up a tension and a contrast that is easy to learn from—if we have the openness to do so.”

Rich

Flourishing Or Floundering

One of the main tactics the father of lies employs is to convince us that things are all quiet on the religious front, while simultaneously trying to keep hidden from us that there’s an accelerated exodus taking place within organized, institutionalized religion. This is reminiscent of the scene in the movie The Wizard of Oz, in which the fraudulent so-called “wizard”, having been shown up for the fraud he really is, bellows out, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

I’m sure there are more reasons than any of us know as to the reasons for this exodus, but I am wondering if their Heavenly Father is doing what he does best, namely, beginning to reveal and make real His life in them as them, which is totally incongruent with a value or virtue-based approach to life and living.

Is it possible that our brother Paul’s insightful warning was prompted by an inside knowledge of the wiles of the Prince of Darkness?

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart”

Is it possible that even we, His sons, can have a darkened, ignorant understanding which can effectively cut off or alienate us from knowing and experiencing the true source of our only Life?

There will always be a select few superheroes who, due to their “natural” or soul-based predisposition outwardly appear to excel and flourish as they operate within a values (a.k.a. ‘law’) based religious environment, but for the vast majority of us mere civilians it will hit us sooner rather than later that at best, we are floundering!

I am including something from Oz Chambers that fleshes this out with much more insight and detail. You can read it here.

Rich

Putting up Blinds

I am so enjoying this book, “Unto Full Stature.”

Rich

“We have on rare occasions observed individuals who developed their soul until there was a natural loveliness to behold in the window. They have discovered some of the natural laws for producing love, joy, gentleness, etc. Yet for everyone who has attained this natural mastery there are ten thousand who have put up blinds over their windows. By this their soul is saying: “Please don’t look in. I am ashamed that you will not see love, joy, meekness, etc. My natural factory has become bankrupt. I am forced to defend myself with these blinds. Please don’t look in my windows.”

“This leads us secondly to see who so many insist upon putting up blinds. Whenever you see a drab, stoical, unexpressive person, you are looking at a life that has somehow become disappointed, disgruntled and warped in their soul by wrong conceptions. Circumstances have seemingly dealt a severe blow and the soul has become passive. The mind cannot be challenged into thinking; the will has become unexpressive. The blinds are the mechanism of the self life which insists upon wearing a mask to hide the emptiness and barrenness of the inner soul.”

“There are many who admit, “I am caught in a web of circumstances that have put blinds over my windows; it is like being in a dungeon. I can’t see out, and I’m not willing for others to see in. Is it really possible under such circumstances to live with open windows?”
In answer I refer you to this passage which explains how God would use the dungeon to work His inward graces. It would seem if you find these inner graces at all it is through the crushing, the breaking, the darkness. Like Jeremiah, you will “find grace in the dungeon” (Jeremiah 31:2 Moffatt). It is not abnormal to be caught, that is, to find yourself unable to get out of the dungeon.
So often that is God’s way-His hour of opportunity. In that moment of complete despair as he offers His grace we discover He is getting the dungeon out of us. It is when HE comes in to bring His Life, Light and Love that the old blinds will come down and there will be a glorious expression out of our inner being. Thus wherever we are there is light. He is that Light which changes every dungeon circumstance.”

Shut Up

A memory was brought to mind this morning. Thinking back on it, it seems so very long ago, and yet it is as current as today, the healing touch of the Father’s hands pressing upon eyes that are barely able to see.
Oh the wonder of this one, this King, Lord, and yet He alone has birthed by His spirit a cry from within the depths of my being, Abba-Papa!

The memory was maybe twenty five years ago, I was sitting in the Devonshire Mall in Windsor Ontario, I had done some shopping or had seen a movie, that is still a bit foggy right now, but anyway there I was sitting waiting for my precious wife to show up at the place we’d designated to meet.
While sitting there (trying to be patient) somehow over the mall din this faint but persistent noise attached itself to my hearing. Tap, tap, tap, tap, what the heck was this? I soon discovered it was the sound of a blind man walking around through the maze of this congested mall and the cane he was using was doing the tap dance sound effects I was hearing.
I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought at that moment until several minutes later, here comes that same knowable sound of, tap, tap, tap. What the????
Sure enough it’s the blind man once again, only this time it was different, suddenly I am aware of my Father asking me a question about this enigma. “Son, who is blinder than a blind man?” to which I stood mute within my heart, thinking, you got me on this one, Papa. He then spoke these words/thoughts into my heart, “Only a man who has eyes to see and yet cannot see is one who is blinder than a blind man.”

Who you calling blind - me? Yup! I was there with my pants down around my ankles on this one, but the funny thing about it all was that I was not being condemned, but enlightened and awakened to a much greater reality of knowing Him then I presently thought I had.
My Papa has been and is continually working on my blindness to this day, and my hope is He will never stop. Oh how I long to see with ever greater clarity!

So why have I entitled this blog piece, “Shut Up?” Well this talking of blindness also triggered thoughts about the blind man called Bartimaeus.

"Then they came to Jericho And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him here." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage, and stand up! He is calling for you." Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And the blind man said to Him, "[Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!" And Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road."

Funny how so many voices, at least in my life, have been telling me to shut up over the years, just as in blind Bart’s life, only to discover that although blind at the time, there was awakened within him a consciousness, a knowing, that Light was about to put out the fear of darkness that kept him and me crippled.
One of the greatest helps to me in seeing things in sharper focus is what I call, ‘thinking out loud.’ It is in putting thoughts, ideas, ponderings out in the visible, audible realm where I can hear myself think, and more often than not without any fanfare there comes such breath-taking epiphanies.

Religion is a static, fossilized, imprisonment, it allows no movement outside the lines/box, and when someone as in my case, me, begins to dare to think out loud, attracts the attention of those bound up in fear and lash out with all kinds of unfounded accusations.
What are you saying, Bro, are you trying to add or take away from the Holy Scriptures etc., etc? To my surprise I hear myself responding, “Nope, I’m merely asking more questions and wanting to see how He is fitting all things together.’

Bottom line, I refuse to ever shut up. Somehow this God and Father that has called me to Himself seems to delight in my stubborn persistence of wanting to know Him more than merely blending in with the darkness.

Rich