February 7, 2010
A brother in Christ told me, “We must not hold too tightly to what we sense the Lord is revealing to us.” I sensed the Lord speaking to me at that very moment.
I believe we are to hold tightly to the Truth that Christ was crucified, died for our sins, and was resurrected to life; and that God (Eloihim), through His Son, created all that exists, and that we were “made in the image of THEM” (Let us make them in OUR image). The basics of our faith we are to hold tightly, but the continuing revelation from God must not be held too tightly, since our Lord’s revelation is a continuous one.
Over the past ten years, I have gone through many Spiritual changes. I have also gone through quite a bit of testing, and in many different areas of my life, financially, physically, relationally, and Spiritually: I have had plenty, and I have had little; I have been well, and I have been extremely ill; I have sought and sensed the Lord’s truth in scripture, and I have sensed that I am totally lacking in Spiritual discernment, scripturally; I have died to self, and I have experienced my self (flesh), once again, taking hold of me; I have stood in faith, and I have been, in my estimation, faithless; I have sought to be led by my Spirit (and I have), and I have failed to seek, and discern, the Spirit’s leading. In all of this, the Lord has revealed much to me: about my self (fleshly & Spiritually), His word, His will, and His purpose for me.
Two years ago, the Lord, for a reason I’m still not fully certain of, allowed me to question the validity of the bible; not the Lord and His truth, but the validity of scripture in the translations we have today. This absolutely turned me inside out, and, for almost six months, I felt almost on the brink of a mental and nervous breakdown. But on the other side of this trial was the clarity and peace the Lord had evidently intended for me; trials continued, but I could, once again, rest in the Lord and His word!
This is where I am right now, Spiritually, and here are just a few issues I’m attempting “to not hold too tightly“:
1) Is there going to be a literal (“fire and brimstone”) eternal hell (Gehenna) after the general resurrection of the dead, and the Great White Throne judgment. Or does the word of God imply, by “the lake of fire”, an annihilation (a true second death: non-existence) of those who refuse to repent and believe?
2) What is my responsibility, as a believer, now: am I just a witness, to “save the world for Christ”, as the nominal “church” claims, or am I being prepared for the next age as part of the Kingdom of the heavens, or is it both?
3) Seeking to Hear (the internal ear: “the still small voice”) and discern the Spirit of God in me: e.g. are these posts the leading of my Spirit, or are they a product of my flesh?
4) That man is triune in nature, just as the Father, Son, and the Spirit: Eloihim formed man from the dust, breathed the Spirit of life (not the Spirit of God) into man, and man became a living soul (see Genesis 2). Thus there are three distinct parts of man that must be saved: 1) Spiritual Salvation: man’s Spirit of life must be saved; hear the Gospel, repent, believe, speak, and be baptized (immersed), 2) , Salvation of the Soul: sanctification, and 3) Salvation of the Body: “rapture” or resurrection from the dead.
{Note: the nominal “church” only speaks and teaches of the first and last: Spiritual Salvation and resurrection of the body. And thus most “church going” believers cannot discern Paul’s writings which refer to “running the race to win”, and “not being disqualified from the Prize” (not part of the “first fruits” resurrection, or “rapture”, and reigning with Christ in the millennial age to come), which deal with salvation of the soul (sanctication).}
5) Desiring to see and truly know the Lord, and experience His Love, so that His Love may flow through me and my writing also. Or as the Apostle Paul states,
I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (philippians 3)
I am certain that this list will change over time. It may increase or decrease, only time will tell. So as the Lord reveals more of His continuing revelation to me, through His Spirit, I will update this page.
March 30, 2010
I haven’t read this page for a few weeks, so I thought I would check it out to see if there had been any revelations. As I read the five issues I’m still pondering over, I realized that I haven’t received any new insight, in fact, I may be even more uncertain, today, than I was in the beginning of February!
So, I’ll continue to pray and seek, and see what the Lord is trying to convey to me on these issues. I hope that all of you out there will feel free to comment and let me know if the Lord has spoken to you on these issues!
April 8, 2010
I can, I believe, sum up all of my questions, here, in this one short statement:
I am to find my rest in the Lord, alone, on all issues, and then He will take it from there!
I pray that He would show me how to get to this place of rest, faith and peace in Him!
April 25, 2010
I have removed certain links and one page (“God’s Wisdom”) from my blog. This page and links promoted a pursuit of the bible, which I now sense is a result of Spiritual error.
Christ is the Word of God, not the bible:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1)
Once again, Christ is the Word of God, not the bible! Yes, we learn about Christ, initially, through the bible (Romans 10: 17), just as I learned, through my Spirit’s leading, that the above scripture is Truth. But then, unfortunately, most of us sit in our “churches”, for the next thirty or forty years, and listen to our preachers preach from this man-made text, Sunday after Sunday, while totally missing out on the Life that Christ, the Word of God, offers us.
The nominal “church”, which created the “canon” for its own political purposes, refers to it as the Word of God, just as it also, in great error, refers to one mere human being as Christ’s representative on earth (the pope). But what I sense the Lord saying is this, “I am the Word, not the bible! You have enough biblical information about me, so, now, seek my Father’s Spirit’s leading to experience the Life I have given you.”
I spent the last twelve months reading almost three thousand pages of text about the bible (the texts and links I have removed from my blog), and seeking to have discernment for how everything is going to work out, scripturally, in the end. And, as of right now, I am no further along in being sure of what I know about God and the future than I was one year ago. I am, however, sensing, once again, the Lord’s peace in knowing that my salvation is secure in Him (“once for all”); and knowing that anyone claiming anything else is of the enemy, whether they are aware of it or not. I say to all of those who would seek to Spiritually mislead me, Be gone, all you who are determined to nail the Christ back on the cross, by wrongly suggesting that salvation must still be accompanied, first and foremost, by works of the flesh. Be gone, those of you who are either lacking in forgiveness for yourself and others or are ruled by a desire to work your way to God.
Pagan Christendom has spent the last fifteen hundred years reading from and promoting a text (the bible) that was produced merely to give the Catholic “church” spiritual and political power over people in this world; and all denominations, spawned by this apostate harlot, since then, have followed after the same dead religiosity.
It’s time for those of us who have stepped outside of this apostate form of pagan idolatry to cast off the last shackles of its bondage. We should begin this casting off by doing away with the idolatrous worship of the bible as the Word of God.
I’m not suggesting that we throw out our bibles, nor am I suggesting that we never read them again! What I am suggesting is that we seek the Father’s Spirit, as opposed to our clergy, to discern, in the bible, what is of the Lord and what isn’t: let us allow our Spirit to guide us into the Truth and away from the manipulations, distortions and lies that may exist there! If we believe that the Roman “church” was pagan in nature, then why would we fully trust any text that came from it? Christ is the Word of God, as the Apostle John tells us, so why do we hold up a leather bound, man-made text and refer to it as the Word of God?
{How do I know, one might ask, what the Apostle John says in this scripture is true, if the bible truly contains error? By the Spirit in me, which I sense, internally (cognitively and affectively), is in agreement with the apostle’s statement: the scripture becomes reality to me, it becomes life to me, not just some moral teaching by a minister, pastor or priest. Remember this scripture also: “As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8: 14). Thus my point about not throwing our bibles away, but seeking, instead, our Spirit to lead us into the Truth that remains, as opposed to listening to a clergyman or reading books by popular theologians.}
All I see around me is biblical confusion, whether it be in a “church” building or between two believers at odds over scripture. I see men and women, who truly love God, all tied up in “religious” knots over legalistic notions put forth by “Christian authors” they’ve never met and know little about. It’s sad to see the destruction this biblical confusion has caused among people who should, in reality, be living Christ’s abundant life.
If this text, which we call the bible, is truly the Word of God, then why is Christianity divided up into over three thousand sects that all disagree with each other: disagreements and disunity that all stem from differing “doctrinal” interpretations of the bible? Do we believe that Christ is the Lord? Do we believe that Christ is the Word of God? If so, then why would we be content with a text that has led to Christians, worldwide, ignoring the very life that Christ exhibited on earth: a life of unity, peace, love and service to others and His Father? Is God a God of confusion? Is our Lord too weak to keep His children united?
I know this is a difficult issue, but consider what I have written, here, and see where you stand!
April 26, 2010
P.S.
My walk with the lord, over the last twenty four years, has been one of many “starting overs”, Spiritually. It seems to me, from my experiences, that the Lord’s continuing revelation is one that keeps me on my Spiritual toes, which is not always a comfortable place to be: it seems that as the Lord calls me to rest in His peace He also allows me to go through times of upheaval mentally, emotionally, physically and Spiritually. What I wrote about, yesterday, has been yet another example of one of these upheavals in my Spiritual life. But I can state, confidently, that the Lord has not only seen me through these times of upheaval but has also, in the end, strengthened my knowledge of, and faith, in Him!
I am sharing where the Lord is leading me, and if I come off as an authority figure, in any way, then I humbly and deeply apologize! I am not an authority on anything! I am a sojourner who is longing for his true home with the Lord. I am a person trying to find the Lord’s way in this difficult life. I pray, as I often do, that the Lord would, if I am in error, reveal to me where I have misunderstood His leading. And I’m sure that all of you, who have had, or are having, similar experiences, will understand what I’m trying to convey here.
May 1, 2010
Unfortunately, I realize, now, that I have, over the past year or better, been led down a legalistic path, which has separated me (in my own mind and heart) from the Love of God. But, over the last few weeks, the Lord, once again, has been gracious and loving in bringing me back to His Truth, to His light yoke, to His peace that surpasses understanding. The Lord has, once again, led me away from the errant doctrines and dogma of those who would still insist on working their way to God: those who would insist on observing days of the week and Hebrew festivals, those who would insist on placing Christ back on the cross, so that they might fulfill the Law themselves. I pity these people, because, unless they change their ways, they will never experience the freedom and peace that I’m experiencing now; the peace and abundance of Life the Lord has so graciously bestowed on all of us who believe.
So I wish to repent of this Spiritual error, and tell all who have read my posts, over the past year, that I may have written much that was false. This falsehood was not an intentional error on my part, but an error nonetheless. For this error in Spiritual discernment, I am very sorry and ask for your patience and forgiveness.
July 7, 2010
The Lord is in the process of altering me once again, and I have no idea, at the moment, of how I will be changed by this altering. So posting, from this point forward, may be sparse for a while.
November 29, 2010
No answers from God after five hard months, so I’m going to write, from here forward, what is on my mind and heart.
June 30, 2011
It has been months since I read or added to this page, as all who have read it recently can tell, so I wanted to update where I am as of today. This will most likely be the last update on this page, since this is where I’ll be for the rest of this life and the one to come!
The Lord now Lives in me, as I continue to decrease, and where I am at, now, and will be in the future, is according to His will!! (Galatians 2: 20)
