“Back to the Garden” is a small book of 19,595 words.  It is a culmination; a journey.  A bit of invitation, exhortation and personal processing, outlining the freedom and limits in constructing a solid spiritual house while living in a deconstructionist age.  May you find it to be a guide or an encouragement on your personal  journey into enlightenment as you set your own course “Back to the Garden.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Finding Your Way

Back to the Garden

By

William Mark Parry

 

 

 

Pinnacle House Press

2025 –Final First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

 

 

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, Including: photocopy or recording, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or podcast. Contact James Hoefer at livingchrist@cox.net for permission, or to discuss publishing your own manuscript with Pinnacle House Press.

 

The picture on the cover is copyright free, a photo by the Author: Tree graphic” is from a drawing by Kathryn Z. Parry, also produced as a TierraCast Pendant.

 

ISBN: 9798345559406

 

Available at Amazon.com

 

 

Scripture quotations are from The Revised Standard Version^® (RSV), copyright © 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; The Amplified Bible^®, Zondervan Bible Publishers, Grand Rapids Michigan Library of Congress Number 65-19500; The Tanakh, the new JPS. Translation (from the traditional Hebrew text) (ISBN 0-8276-0252-9), and The Jewish New Testament– Translation by David Stern (ISBN965-359-003-0).

 

 

William “Mark” Parry is an Artisan Architect, Poet and Educator, living in Northern California’s abundant beauty and strange contradictions. IdeaStudios.com is an architectural practice founded 1988 in Kenwood California.

ArtisanArchitecture.com is a brand advancing his interests in Artisan Architecture, historic and architectural education and preservation since 2012.  He has shared his poems, musing’s, inspired thoughts, photography and personal reflections on life, truth, and spirituality since 2015 on www.worksofwords.live. All operate under the umbrella of William Mark Parry Architect P.C. A Professional Corporation registered in California in 2002.

May you be blessed along your way, finding abundant life while learning to walk in the Realms of Wonder.

 

“

 

This Book is dedicated to

the Glory of God

as seen in

Man, fully alive.

 

Foreword by the Author

B

 

ack to the Garden is a small book of 20,686 words.  It is a culmination, a journey, a bit of invitation, exhortation, and personal processing. It outlines the freedom and limits in constructing a solid spiritual house while living in a deconstructivist age.

 

May you find it to be a guide or an encouragement on your personal journey into enlightenment as you set your own course “Back to the Garden.” If you purchase this book at Amazon, I would love to hear from you. You are allowed to share feedback, which can inspire others as well, or visit with me personally on www.worksofwords.live

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgements

I

 

need to acknowledge the influence made by many on my thinking and my heart’s life. First, of course, is the Lord for walking me back into the garden to rest under His branches. Also, for His Shabbat and embracing His Torah as my way to life; it is not the Law. It is freedom from the ways of this world. It became the last of my many paths toward that fruitful tree. Also thanks goes to my precious wife for her ongoing kindness, patience, and long suffering. She carried me on her back, I kicking and screaming for half of our emotional life together. She bore graciously my dysfunctional thinking, talking, and doing. She is the love of God made real for me. Her eye is my very own obsessive/compulsive meter (she knows me better than I know myself in many ways). We are in LOVE together over thirty-three years now.

I also need to acknowledge all who were willing to bear my growth pains with kindness and patience. This mercy is born only of God in them. You know who you are, even if I do not. Thanks to Bianca of Certus Coaching whose suggestion this book was and whose effective and insightful prayers helped guide it. You share this fruit with me my dear sister. Thanks to the men of the King ’s Counsel on Ransomedheart.net in 2008 who shared with me for a season my belief in the Kingdom that is at hand. Thanks also to my CBMC band of brothers, your witness and lives grew me up.

 

 

 

I have learned from you that men only grow into men in the intimate company of other real men thanks for your strong and faithful company.

For the record I want to list, not in any particular order, a few profound influences of authors, poets, seers, and mentors on my heart and mind. I love them all, some I have known personally.

Others have risked exposing their hearts that I might touch them. These are those I look forward to talking with for a few thousand years in the world to come including:

Kathryn Lynn Bernadette Zaharris Elmore Parry, Robert Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan), Major Ian Thomas, Art Katz, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Watchman Nee, Oswald Chambers, Dr. Skip Moen, Rabbi Myles Weiss, Mrs. Louise Kinter, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Andrew Murray, Aristotle, John Eldredge, R.W. Emerson, Reece Howells, Rabbi Joseph Abraham Heschel, Charles Manning,  Joni Mitchel, Phil Downer, Michael Fortune, Rob Bell, Moishe Rosen, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Joseph Good, Rev. John Jackson. Dr. James Hoefer, Harry Golden, Janver Holly, Martin Luther, Brother Lawrence, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dylan Thomas, Calvin C. Straub, and you my newest friend whose desire for true life touched the Lord of my life who moved my heart to share this and get it into your hands.  Thanks Abba.

Mark Parry

 

 

Table of Contents

	Page
Introduction	5
The Invitation	14
Returning to the Garden	19
Finding Life	25
Wrong Choices	28
Dysfunctional Thinking	31
Functional Thinking	38
What’s In A Name?	42
The War	51
Resolving our conflicts	55
Discernment vs Judgment	60
Real Life	69
Real Love	75
Real Faith	76
Conclusion	80
Appendices
My theology	85
My Statement of Faith	86
About the Author	88

Introduction

 

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,

but let God transform you into a new person by changing

the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”

(Romans 12:2 NIV) 

 

W

hen a building is erected, it freezes in time the social, economic, political, and philosophical ideals of those who constructed it. Architecture is a mirror of the times. Since World War II, many architects have abandoned the time-honored principles that created beauty and grace in our established environment.

This was done by the inspiration of a few European architects who fled the war in Europe and came to America with a bright, new idea. Formerly of the National Socialist State of Germany, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Roe, and Hannes Meyer fled the Nazi regime, running into the schools of Architecture in America and abroad. They called the school they founded “The Bauhaus” and brought its communist, intellectual principals and ideals to the architects of America leading them to go “Back to Zero.”

The school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925; Dessau from 1925 to 1932; and Berlin from 1932 to 1933, under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928; Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930; and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933, when the school was closed by its own leadership under pressure from the Nazi regime, having been painted as a centre of communist intellectualism. Although the school was closed, the staff continued to spread its idealistic precepts as they left Germany and emigrated all over the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus#cite_note-2 a)

Believing, as most young people do, that they knew more than all the generations that had come before, they imported the modernist architecture, now called the International Style. That generation’s ideals have built many of the college, government, and corporate buildings; their ideas transformed the very institutions they house.

Our buildings seem now to express a worship of technologies, economy, and speed. Our buildings are generally highly technical, low in craft, light and unsubstantial in structure with false finishes, yet with luxurious interior appointments. Our structures have become less human, more for show and pretense than those constructed by previous generations.

This reflects our shared philosophy since architecture is a mirror of our hearts and the way we live our lives.

“Man shapes his architecture and from then on his architecture shapes man.”  

Winston Churchill

Another current architectural style known as Deconstructivism, promoted by magazines and architects. One architect in particular, Frank Gehry, expresses this aesthetic that speaks of buildings breaking  down. He uses chaotic dis-harmonious elements with irregular shapes and forms. These buildings appear to be deconstructing. As a design priority guiding the decisions of architects it reflects the sheer insanity of our times. We are now deliberately constructing precarious buildings that look ready to fail. Perhaps some artists in architecture like Gehry are simply reflecting the spirit of our culture.

If so, we are in a deconstructivist age.

In our age, much of the social, political, economic, and social structures are also being deconstructed all around us. Yet at the same time we also see rising up before us new buildings, of new institutions, and expressions of a new culture. A revival of classical architecture has begun. Mankind is always in flux, and we are advancing, building, and tearing down at the same time. We remodel or rearrange things all the time.

One day the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright reflected upon his life- building his vision for America, while working and re- working his homes. That day a fire raged at one end of his estate Taliesin East, and a building project at the other. He spent his day going between two very different forms of work, stopping to say to an apprentice in passing, “Is this not like my life?”  It was his life: building at one end and fighting a fire at the other.  Is this not reflective of mankind’s life on this planet too?

The question is- are we focusing on the fire or on the new construction? Strauss and Howe, in their book “The Fourth Turning,” explain the chaos of our times.

They believe we are in a social, political, and economic sea change, a recalibration of institutions during a generational shift. Societies are changing their institutions to reflect the emerging values, ideals, and goals of the new consensus of engaged people.

Institutions are created by people to serve them.  They, like all living thing, have a life cycle.  The older generations hand the baton of power and leadership ever so reluctantly to the next.  Living things change with the seasons.

Other spiritual or religious people believe we are in “the end times,” that Christ/Messiah is coming or coming back to judge the world and destroy the false gods and judge their servants.  I believe His kingdom is at hand. I hope He comes quickly, since we need all the help we can get.  But until He does arrive, I will build for His coming kingdom.

Still, others look at the ancient calendars and see the end of the world coming. Some believe extraterrestrial beings will be our salvation or destruction. Others hope for a new age based on their expectations and desires to remake the world into a singular vision they believe is true. Whatever your philosophy or theology we are clearly in an age of upheaval and change.

With man’s limited understanding of history and prophecy, who can really know what is to come? It is God alone who can be certain exactly where we are in this great dance, the drama of life on planet earth.

Presenting a structure for peace of mind in a deconstructivist age.

What I do know for certain is that what is built now is only done by the hands of mankind. We must work together to accomplish anything. If we do not, even what has been built will continue to crumble about us.  In these periods of upheaval people are still walking, talking, and sharing and working.

As an architect I understand the need for structure, order, organization, and planning. Spirituality, creativity and walking straight are not mutually exclusive. Making a living, accomplishing things among the institutions and authorities of our age, are important skills for spiritual and creative people. It is not always what we do but how we do it that has the greatest impact on the world around us.

Every building project requires hundreds of different individuals, each in separate trades, professions, government entities or departments. Bankers and developers, builders and inspectors, engineers, designer and crafts people, remedial workers- all do their part. The architect’s job requires statesmanship, leadership, artistry, psychology, science, and practical communication skills. We bridge the interests, agendas, and passions of many different people and divergent responsibilities. We must bring them to together to work effectively on a singular shared vision.

This work of words is a focused consideration of these skills in the light of spiritual thinking regarding God in a deconstructivist age. You may find this book to be challenging. It might pound on a few of your personal walls.

If you love God and desire to follow Him truly, you may have your ideas about God challenged.  My intent is not to challenge or offend but rather to present ideas; to inspire others to assess their presuppositions about God; and how these relate to other people and their walk with God.

I suggest we build bridges between the myriads of paths to knowing God, and fences along the roads we each walk to get there.  On our mutual paths in life we each have intersections and places where our paths cross.

We are all at different points in our growth and journey.  Without bridges, fences, gates or crossing guards at these intersections, we can have real trouble getting safely through. These fences and intersections are part of my considerations. It is healthy and necessary to have these structures or fences in our minds, and between ourselves. They define who we are and keep us safe.

What we do not have, in my mind, is a right to assault or attempt to dismantle other people’s fences without an invitation. Others must invite us to share in their own work of delineating their spiritual, physical, or intellectual landscapes.  This is simply respectful. Our age has become very aggressive in the promotion of views. The courtesies and considerations of past generations are falling away in the heat of the dramas and difficulties of our changing times.  Courtesy, kindness, and consideration are some of the historic crossing guards at our intersections.

Now mandating, coding and even legislating into our culture behaviors that challenge other’s beliefs is now the norm. The loss of these social structures is not healthy and will cause trouble ahead if we do not address it as a culture.

People of faith in a supreme being, a deity who calls us to rise above our self-will and exercise kindness, should be leaders in this effort. I believe we are called to lead our society into peace, not war.

People who have been abused can view the world as a threatening place, and some may act out of the position that “The best defense is a good offense”. Occasionally the abused become abusers themselves and blame their victims just as their perpetrators did. This happens in spiritual, physical, or emotional arenas. Our walls can define us; some of these are in the way of our knowing others and others knowing us. A defensive posture can develop into a philosophy about how life works and the ways required to relate to people.

A philosophy can be defined as what one believes is the way to think and behave in order to make things work in life. And one’s theology can be defined as what one believes is absolutely true or real, or who God really is and how He operates.

Let us not hold God responsible for other people’s bad behavior.  Let us not attribute to God everything that goes wrong in the world, as most of these are the result of human behavior.  Let us also remember that people can grow and change.

We often relate to people in based on the manner of a previous encounter, never noting that their behavior, even character, may have changed as they have grown.  The growth required to advance again relationally may be our own.

We also have a right to define our own belief systems and have confidence that we can share them peacefully.

We each develop a personal philosophy of life and a theology about God as we grow. I view this as a house for our spiritual and mental life. The question to ask ourselves is not whether others agree with our beliefs but whether they are true. The ancient Hebrew bible is one of mankind’s oldest records and has formed the foundation of Western thought and the development of it’s spiritual, political, and social structures, and is therefore worthy of thoughtful consideration.

“ Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.” 

(Deuteronomy 19:14 NIV.)

Much of the modern age has been about questioning knowledge and tearing down fences between arenas of knowledge. It has evolved into tearing down people themselves and questioning everything, and even attacking those who do not agree.

It is a fact that as knowledge increases boundaries are moved or at least expanded. Removing altogether the ancient boundaries is extremely dangerous.

While this appears to create personal freedom, it has allowed chaos to rule. Families, tribes, and nations have been divided because of differing opinions. This is not good or necessary.

This is my contribution as an architect to express the need for rebuilding some of those lost ancient fences or boundaries.

At the least I am suggesting the importance of respecting and honoring those established by others.

The Judeo/Christian religious communities believe that God spoke through the Hebrew Scriptures. The Jews call these teachings the Tanakh. The Christians call it the Bible. I call it truth- very helpful in walking effectively and living peaceably on the earth.

“I, I’m the one comforting you. What are you afraid of, or who? Some man or woman who’ll soon be dead? Some poor wretch destined for dust? You’ve forgotten me, God, who made you, who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth. And here you are, quaking like an aspen before the tantrums of a tyrant who thinks he can kick down the world. But what will come of the tantrums?

The victims will be released before you know it. They’re not going to die. They’re not even going to go hungry. For I am God, your very own God, who stirs up the sea and whips up the waves, named God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

I teach you how to talk, word by word, and personally watch over you. Even while I’m unfurling the skies, setting earth on solid foundations, and greeting Zion: ‘Welcome my people!” (God speaking through Isaiah 51:12-16 ′The Message’).

I personally choose to trust God Himself to maintain and reconstruct the ancient boundaries we have torn down. Let us trust that for the increasing knowledge He has allowed to pour forth. He will be the strong tower of our defense and our place of rest and unity in these challenging times. May He guide us into all peace, and may His love be the spirit that unites us.

The Invitation

J

 

oni Mitchell first sang to the nation on the Johnny Carson show in 1969 a song written about Woodstock. It came from a youthful heart, an aware and searching mind reasonably considering the questions of the day.  It still applies today.

 

“I came across a child of God,

he was walking along the road
and I asked him ‘Tell me where are you going?’
this he told me….
He said, “I’m going down to Yasgur’s farm
Gonna join in a rock n roll band.
Gotta get back to the land to set my soul free
We are star dust, We are golden
We are billion year old carbon
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden…”.
“Well then can I walk beside you?

I have come to lose the smog.

And I feel as I’m a cog in something turning.
And maybe it’s the time of year,

Yes and maybe it’s the time of Man.

And I don’t know who I am, but life is for learning…”

 

 This little book is a walk down that road. It is my hope that you will find who you are, or perhaps find confidence in what you believe and who you are becoming.

May you find peace of mind. I hope you find the confidence to peacefully accept what others think and believe about God. I feel as if I am a cog in something turning.

Some of us grew up in a perfect childhood garden. For some of us the perfect garden exists only in our imagination, sealed away from the harsh realities of our true life experience. For others it was a real place, protected, in precious, cherished memories of youth. It is a secure place of pure love, joy, hope, faith, and peace.

Far too many others have lived in a wilderness or a prison, and only have a hope of a luxuriant garden of peace and abundant love someday. Somewhere in hidden in their heart and thoughts is the desire and hope for more; there must be more than this.

Whatever your story, friend, I am here to assure you that there is a glorious garden. It is a supernatural place that awaits you. But it can only be seen it with the heart, not the eyes. If this sounds like gibberish to you, return this book for a full refund. Or pray now that the eyes of your heart be opened to the possibility that there is a truth about this life that you cannot see with your intellect or natural understanding.

There indeed exists a spiritual realm that can only be discerned by your heart, not your reason.  It can be understood eventually in your head, but its reality starts in your heart.

You must believe in the possibility before you can see the way back to the garden.

We tend to spend the second quarter of our life redefining, clarifying, or relearning what we were taught in the first quarter of our journey. Life is both a journey of discovery and the process of structuring what we believe is true into our own individual spiritual and intellectual house, a place for our soul to comfortably live and find shelter from the storms of life.

Our decisions about what is real become the building blocks of our philosophy of life and theology about God. We each have one whether we admit it or not. It is what guides us and defines for us our path through this life. It is built by our presup-positions, our judgments about what is true or real.

Whatever our personal story all of us tend to grow out of the hopeful and youthful faith in life, love, or God far too quickly.  Getting back to the simple place of love, faith, hope, and joy seems to be much of the learning and challenge of our walk on this planet.

Mental Warfare

One of the things I have learned as I have walked this journey is that leaving the garden happens far too quickly and with many small steps. Getting back to that garden is nothing less than WAR.  At age 18, two weeks before my mother’s death as a passenger in a single car accident, I wrote:

 

My life is a war,

My mind the battlefield,

My thoughts the weapons,

My decisions the outcome.

Life or Death.

Choose Life!

I learned early on about the warfare for my mind and heart. My hope is to foresee an end of my personal skirmishes or to at least navigate victoriously.  I desire to walk in peace of mind and heart. That same week I wrote:

 

God is the center of my being,

All that I am is because of Him.

I need Him, He needs me, He is my strength.

There are no doubts, fears or frustrations

 I cannot handle through Him.

 

If I totally open myself to Him, he will totally fill me.

If I totally give of myself to Him, He will totally give of Himself to me.

 

The more I give the more I receive.

God is love, God is a lover, God is direction.

All that I am is through Him;

Through Him I can be all that is in me.

 

There is no better time to start down that path to return to the garden than NOW!  For the world is actually getting to be a far scarier place, a far riskier and demanding place than it was in my youth, in  the 60’s and 70’s, when Joni first sang her song.

There was a naiveté, a youthful wonder that has fled the eyes of many of the youth of today. There is far less hope in the hearts of young adults. Life seems more desperate and more serious. Finding peace of mind and hope in times like these is a challenge.

 

For me this peace of mind has come as I have learned that the war is indeed between my own ears. It is not so much an external war but an internal psychological and spiritual war.

Much of our reality is formed by how we react to events, not by the events themselves. We build walls in our hearts and minds by our decisions during the most tumultuous times. We build a spiritual house in which to live.

We each must learn the nature of this battle because our hearts are caught in the crossfire between our reason and our spirit/soul.

We need a structure, walls for our psychological and spiritual house that are true and balanced to keep us safe and sane. We must guard our thoughts to guard our peace of mind and our heart.  A friend told me once…

 

“The mind is a dangerous place.

I never go in there without an Uzi.”   

 

Todd Stebbins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L

Returning to the Garden

et us return to the Garden, the archetypal story of the beginning when mankind was walking in unity with God.

Following is an interpretive reflection, a meditation perhaps, on the holy scriptures of Israel. I have joined direct quotes from contemporary Jewish versions of these scriptures with my considerations. The ancient Hebrew Scriptures are the stepping stones along my spiritual path. Yours may be different. That is fine. Let us walk together for a while. You can stop to rest at any time. I will wait.

I will share some interjections, interpretations and conjecture based on the Hebrew scriptures known as the Tanakh. I also share from writings of the first century followers of Jesus, whose Hebrew name was Yeshua. Much of the Jewishness of the early followers of Jesus has been removed by the later “interpretations” of those early Hebrew and Greek texts.

Many of the Christian scriptures changed Hebrew names for places and culture to Greek idioms.  This has led to misunder-standings and conflicting opinions about the person of Yeshua/Jesus. Context is everything to proper interpretation.

You cannot understand the implications of Hebrew thought from a Greek mindset without care.

His first followers were mostly Jewish and followed a path they called “The Way.”  It was a Hebraic path they walked with Yeshua in a Hebrew culture, thinking with minds trained through Hebrew thought, culture and education.

Cognitive Dissonance

Over time a Greek mind set based on Greek education, reason, and presuppositions led to different ways of interpreting scriptures through a murky cultural lens which obscured the original Hebraic meaning. The Greek mind tends to come to understanding through deductive reasoning or logic alone. The Hebrew mind should come to understanding in the practice of God’s ways and word as inspired by the Spirit of God.

Rather than seeking to understand scriptures in the Hebrew way, many Christians relied on Greek education and thought patterns. The paths of faith walked in this way got slippery.

The term is Cognitive Dissonance.  It defines the results of following a God who revealed himself through Hebrew minds while walking in a world operating through Greek philosophy.

These differences remain, and for many causes a chasm between practicing Jews, and Christians.  Much of Christianity has taken the God revealed in Hebrew scriptures walking with him in ways that make Him look very much like a Greek or Pagan god. No wonder the Jewish world resists this path.

My hope is to encourage mutual respect in each other’s right to have different insights into the one true God.

Differing cultural expressions do not necessarily compromise foundational scriptural truth. They express them differently, with differing emphasis. We also have a long history of Gnosticism influencing our way of seeing to add to the confusion

Following is my own rendering of the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden and the begging as written in the Tanakh and augmented with the Habrit Hadassah (New Testament). This is the earliest recorded walk of Mankind and God together, and the point at which their paths diverged. There are other valid, more scholarly interpretations, and far deeper meanings to be found. But this story forms the basic ideas essential to the rest of our discussion.

We will consider how to live on the fruit of the tree of life, and how to reject the fruit from that other tree, the one that, the story warns us brings death.  Remember both were trees of knowledge.

You can trust God with what you do not understand about him. He will walk you into the light. I am reflecting here from my heart and understanding and will make no presumptions of its validity for you. That is for you alone to determine. The choices of what you believe and accept as true are yours to make as a free person.

 

 

 

 

In the beginning was Life and Light, and the Life was the Light of mankind. This was the True Light which gives light to everyone entering the world. (1) The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not suppressed it. (2)

 

The Light of Life is Love and the Word of God. Love desired a lover and created mankind to fulfill a desire to love.  Love placed mankind in the perfect creation, the Garden of Eden.

 

The Lord God who is Love and Life (3) planted a garden and from the ground Life caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, all the animals, and every living thing. Love placed in the middle of the garden the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (4) Mankind lived briefly as lovers do with God in the Garden of Eden. Mankind lived in perfect Love with God alone.

 

In Love, and for the sake of His lovers, God commanded them saying “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat. But as for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat of it, for as soon as you eat of it you shall die.”(5)  The Spirit of Truth knew eating of the tree of independent human reason would bring dysfunction.

 

Then the liar and thief came to mankind, the ancient foe of Life and Love. He deceived mankind, convincing them that eating the forbidden fruit was good! He assured them it would make them “like” a divine being knowing good from evil. Desiring knowledge, and lusting for it, they gave into the temptation of a self righteous pride- knowing outside of God. They chose the lie over life and truth.

 

They chose to rely on human speculations and natural reasoning alone. They loved human knowledge and forsook true knowing. True knowledge is revealed only in the love, light, and through the Spirit of Truth- the light of God. This choice led to separation, isolation from truth and love. This is foolishness. (6) This is death.(7)

 

The choice to accept the darkness of human reasoning independent of God, the decision to choose what is good and bad for others, the pride of self, defending and protecting one’s right to oneself is deception.(6) The act of choosing to judge others’ hearts or intentions usurped the rule of Love. Believing one can know what only God can know releases the virus of dysfunctional living and thinking. Separation, isolation, human ego, pride of knowing, self-serving, false judgment, vanity, hate and Death reigned in the Garden of Love, and all things changed. (6,7,8)

 

And the Lord God said “Now that man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever!”  And so, for the sake of his lover, Love banished man from the Garden of Eden. He set guards about the Tree of Life for a season. (9) God’s heart wanted to protect people from themselves and protect them from an eternity in isolation from Himself.  He had a plan for reconciliation, a plan to redeem this tragedy, a plan established at the very foundations of the World, before the planting of the garden. (15)

 

In the fullness of time, the Lover of mankind revealed to all who had ears to hear and eyes to see that if they humbled themselves to follow His guidance they could yet return to the garden. Once again man could choose to eat of His fruits and the Tree of life, returning to true life, and live forever in heart and spirit. (10,11) Through the restored relationship with God mankind could love truly again. In this mutual love, honor, and respect, mankind could tend and restore the Garden in God’s wisdom until Love Himself returned in person, and in the fullness of time He would remake it anew. (12,15)

 

This tree is the love God revealed in a human being who is perfect love, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus the Christ). As the light of the Father’s word, He became this light and lives in the midst of us in spirit, full of grace and truth. We who choose to eat of this Tree of Life have received of its fullness; grace upon grace, life upon life, truth upon truth.

Written on that tree are the Creator’s, the Father’s own words. Love said… “This is the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to me along any other path.” (13) Yeshua

 

The dysfunctions, the viruses of isolation, pride of self and pride of knowing, willful self-serving, and death yet remain in the garden of love. Mankind still chooses to eat of the tree of Independent Human Knowledge. Yet the All-Compassionate One, the lover supreme has provided a way:  Reject the fruit of tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life; live in love, grace and truth alone, rely upon God and not your own understanding and you shall have life to the full, and that eternally.

 

“

1. John 1:9
2. John 1:4-5
3. 1 John 4:16; John 8:12; 8-5:39,
4. Genesis 1; Genesis 2:8-9
5. Genesis 2:16-17
6. Genesis 3
7. 7. Romans 8:6-8, II Timothy 2:3-7 Isaiah 55:10,11 Prov. 14:12
8. 8. Isaiah 1:19-20; Ephesians 4:17-18;Romans 8:6-8; Galatians 6:8;

1 John 2:15-17 

9. Genesis 3:22-24
10. Isaiah 42:1-8, Galatians 4:3-5, John 3:16, 4:42, 6:47-51
11. Matthew 1:28-30
12. Titus 2:11-14; II Peter 3:10-13
13. 1John 5:11-13; Colossians 1:15-19; John 14;6
14. Ephesians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5;17-19
15. Rev. 21,22 

 

Finding Life

W

 

ho does not want life to the full? Who can define it for someone else? We are led into life one step at a time. Finding life is a battle. Our lives are built upon our choices, what we believe; what we think is real; what we determine is true about ourselves, others, and God.

These are very critical determinations that should not be made lightly or without consideration. Our life is a war. We live or we die based on what we decide in a world fraught with risk and dangers.

We build a structure by our thinking; a perspective, a philosophy for our life and a theology of our god with each decision we make.

If there are two trees in the garden of our hearts and minds, we had better be very clear about which one we are choosing to eat from.  If there is a liar and a thief of life, bent on stealing away the truth, our hope, and our life, it would be wise to learn to discern the difference between truth and lies. I can only share the choices I have made.

You alone are making the choices that mold your life. The merit of those choices is between you and your creator. This is the reality of adult minds and hearts. The substance of your choices will prove themselves over time as will mine. You are ultimately judged by God alone and He loves you intensely and desires only your growth into being what you were created by Him to be.

When traveling through Italy and Greece to study architecture years ago, I met another young man on a Ferry from Brindisi, Italy to Corfu Greece. He was a traveler seeking to understand life.  He was gathering a philosophy for life as I was. He told me his name was Michael Fortune and we had a supernatural encounter I’ll never forget.

We walked for hours about the hills of Greece near the town of Logos.  He told me he would walk for days just to hear a word from “the Man.” We were searching for a way to find true life. He told me he found it on his own hand.  He held it up and said, closing one finger after another into his palm, starting with his pinkie through the four fingers, with each declaration:

 

 “The secret to life is simple and it’s on your own hand.

You must do as you think,

Listen as you hear,

See when you look, and

Speak when you talk”

 

 Then placing his thumb over his clenched fingers he finally declared:

“But above all

you must do it”!

 

 

I pondered this for a few months and realized that the Chinese martial artists have proven that with a solid fist and a very focused mind you can break through nearly anything. Again, here is our topic- how to attain breakthrough into peace of mind in your connection with God.

We also might discover that when one finds true peace with God it generally leads to peace with others as well!

What we focus our hearts and minds on will determine our course in life. Studies show we can only think one thought at a time. “The Man” (Michael Fortune’s name for God) told me once, “your mind wanders but your footsteps are firm.”

I am sharing with you through this little book what I have learned to keep my mind from wandering. I hope it helps you. Changing your mind changes your life.  Biblically a change of mind is defined as “repentance.”  That is not so hard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wrong Choices

I

 

n our story, Adam and Eve made the wrong choice and mankind has been suffering the consequences ever since. They chose rebellion to God’s clear command. You may not believe this to be true but the evidence is all around you.

They chose to believe the lie over God’s clear command. Why? God’s way was not in their best interest? I suppose they could have thought that God was not actually good and was keeping something from them that they thought was good? Perhaps it was simply deception.

They chose to listen to the adversary of God who promised them a vain and selfish thing. He promised they would be “like gods.” they did not realize that their choice to reject God’s advice was a choice to replace God  as a father, shepherd or spiritual guide with their own independent reason, their own judgments about truth and reality.

 

 

God’s disappointment is understandable. The Hebrew word at the root of Knowledge is Yadda. To know is to yadda something. Yadda is also translated in the scriptures in the context of a man “knowing his wife” To choose to know something outside of relationship with the pure and perfect being that is God is a form of adultery. This is a thing that corrupts much.

Prior to this corruption they had been created for a direct relationship with God and their hearts and minds were clearly in communion with the heart and mind of God.  They knew things through God’s prism of knowing in God.

With their disobedience came the consequence of a change of status and perspective- independence, self-knowing, spiritual death, and isolation from a profound and personal relationship with their creator.

This disobedience released dysfunctional ways of thinking and behaving that were passed on through the all the following generations.

Let me say here that God is not asking for us to do away with our reason. He gave us the capacity in the first place. He says:

“Come now, and let us reason together”

(Isaiah :1;18)

But our reasoning must be informed consistently with the mind, will and way- the word of God. We must reason with God, not with ourselves alone. This is found in the Holy Scriptures, and confirmed in our own spirits by His Spirit.

 

If we wish to make the right choices we must know the will, way, and intentions of our creator. We must let him inform our thoughts and reasoning with his truth and light.

One of my most influential teachers and mentors was Arthur Katz. A messianic Jew – a descendent of Aaron the high priest of Israel- the very mouth piece for Moses.  His profound book “Apostolic Foundations” is a must read for any serious spiritual leader. His little book “The Spirit of Truth” has helped me consistently recalibrate my compass along my way true life.

He was a brilliant, loving man and teacher with a serious and un-compromising prophetic nature- that is one more concerned with God’s perspectives than any other.  His presupposition to determining truth and real understand is foundational to all thinking or reasonable believers.

 

“God does not expect us to do away with our reason,

 but simply to sweep it off our altars

 and use it in His service”

Art Katz,   “Reality the Hope of Glory”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dysfunctional Thinking

A

 

fter people chose to rely on their own reason outside of  knowing through God inspired thoughts, they jumped on the treadmill of dysfunctional thought. If we believe we are god, choosing to sit on the judgment seat of what is good and evil, right or wrong, matters can quickly get murky, confusing, self-centered, and go very awry.

We can easily get caught in a circular thinking process about the implications of our decisions. We play chess with our potential actions in the dark hours. We revisit our words and conversations, looking intently for where we might have erred; evaluating supposed outcomes, potential benefits and liabilities to supposed outcomes. We end up thinking ourselves silly.

We can also create a fantasy world about ourselves and God to preserve a false understanding. We imagine we can make the world what we desire, that we can know what God knows, becoming god in our own understanding, and become fools.

We do not realize that outside of the Truth and Spirit of God, we are in deception.

Dysfunctional ways of being, thinking, and doing to the Hebrew mind are the effects of wickedness– we are deceived by our own independent thoughts. Those walking outside of God’s paths are defined biblically as “The Wicked”.

 

“An oracle of transgression speaks

 in the heart of the wicked”

 Psalm 36:1

 

St Paul was a most accomplished man. He was a Pharisee and a student of Gamaliel, one of the most revered ancient Rabbis of Judaism. He also was a follower of “The Way” and a disciple of Yeshua/Jesus.

He believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, the one prophesied o come and for whom all faithful Hebrews waited. The faithful Torah observant Jews (as was Shaul/Paul). The Messianic Jews, followers of “The Way” would also have listened.

It is something that all believers, Jew or Gentile, should consider for it will bring peace of mind.

 

So, this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls] and the futility of their minds.  (Ephesians 4:16-18, Amplified Bible)

Our dysfunctional thinking, our selfish, wicked thought patterns lead us round and round and round. We speculate our lives away on the treadmill of conjecture.

We waste our lives on plans that never come about or on the consequences of bad decisions we never expected. We become trapped in a mire of wasted efforts from deceptive thinking and planning. We spend much of our time reacting or rebuilding what falls down about us because it is based on false things that do not actually work. Disillusion trip us up.

As an architect I make plans for a living.  I know a thing or two about making plans that actually get built, and what gets in the way of their creation and accomplishment. There is a structure to the universe that cannot be denied. There are physical realities, natural laws, rules, and principles that mandate what is possible and what is not. Yet I see these are governed by the greater spiritual laws.

God created the universe and knows deeper things than we have yet to figure out with our limited understanding. We are like Neo in the first movie, The Matrix, who must learn how to navigate life on and off the grid, the man-made constructed reality about us, that he called “The Matrix.” We must learn to discern between the two realms of natural and supernatural existence.

But first we must first choose to believe that there is another way, another reality outside of what we see, touch, and feel.

We need to understand in a greater degree both the spiritual and natural reality of life on planet earth to effectively navigate our walk through it.  We tend to focus on our natural desires, planning our lives based on what we can see with our eyes or deduce with our minds and not our heart, we focus on natural things.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” John Lennon from Double Fantasy

 At the very birth of the modern world, during our culture’s creation of the structure of the modern mind, a great intellect emerged with eyes wide open, one with a keen clarity of thought  (and a wide sense of humor). G.K. Chesterton wrote in 1908 regarding what has confused our modern minds:

Scientific Thought

He called it “Scientific thought” and it has usurped the power of God in many rational thinking people; it has attempted to sweep God into the corner of irrelevancy. Science became a god and much of mankind became atheists in order to serve this new god.

“The new scientific society definitely discourages men from thinking (about spiritual matters*); it is a fact, …modern science cares far less for pure logic (truth*) than a dancing Dervish…Nothing can save him but a blind hunger for normality, like that of a beast. A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith. The moment his mere reason moves, it moves in the old circular rut; he will go round and round his logical circle, just as a man in a third-class carriage…will go round and round the Inner Circle unless he performs the voluntary, vigorous, and mystical act of getting out at Gower Street. Decision is the whole business here; a door must be shut forever.”

        (G. K. Chesterton,  Orthodoxy * my addition)

Oswald Chambers’s wife recorded his daily messages to disciples and students of his Bible College. They have become one of the most popular daily spiritual devotionals in all Christendom. Oswald put it this way:

 

“Simplicity is the secret of seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly for a long while, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear; you have to obey it clear. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will think yourself into cotton wool…If there is something upon which God has put His pressure, obey in that matter, bring your imagination into captivity to the obedience of Christ…The reasoning capacity comes afterwards, but we never see along that line, we see like children; when we try to be wise we see nothing (Mathew 11:25)

The tiniest thing we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is quite sufficient to account for spiritual muddle, and all the thinking we like to spend on it will never make it clear. Spiritual muddle is only made plain by obedience. Immediately we obey, we discern. This is humiliating….”  (Oswald Chambers: My Utmost For His Highest)

 

I wrote after my trip to Italy and Greece in 1985 and walks with Michael Fortune on the Isle of Paxsos in the town of Logos.

 

 

In the past I spent my time in the past,

I spent my time in the future,

I did not spend my time in the time.

Now it’s time.

 

I was told when you’re young you have time but no money

When you’re old you have money but no time.

I heard you can spend your time making money or

or your money making time.

 

I think it’s time to spend your time in the time.

It’s not time for doubts,

It’s not time for regrets,

It’s not time for fear,

 

It’s time to be all you were meant to be,

It’s time to just be.

It’s time,

It’s time,

It’s finally time.

 

Some 30 years later I am actually walking clearly in reality. It has been a long, slow road full of pitfalls and confusing sidetracks. I am getting off the treadmill of my independent rational thought process and finding the place of simple rest and trust.

I have chosen to return to that place of childlike faith in an almighty God who simply is and I have my life in Him. I am eating from the Tree of Life and rejecting that other tree. I am trusting in his plans and holding mine lightly.

It is very easy to spend our time in our mind and not live; it is very easy to have our experiences in our head and not in our hearts; it is easy to chase illusions, dreams or fantasies.

 

It’s very easy to spend our time;

Thinking and not listening,

Talking and not speaking,

Looking and not seeing.

Not doing what we think…

 

It is very easy to miss out and miss it all together. It is easy and very tempting to eat from the wrong tree.

 

“It’s easy to die, it’s living that’s Hard.”

Annie Lenox from Diva

 

 

 

 

 

Functional Thinking

W

 

hat is functional thinking? Can you tell the difference? Let us see if we can answer this question for one another. Might I suggest we pay attention to our thoughts, and pay careful attention to the words of others sent to help us grow.  Listen particularly to those who are critical or challenging to your way of thinking. They just might be sent by the good Shepherd to lead you into greener pastures or straighter, smoother paths.

“The strength of a person’s spirit would then be measured by how much ‘truth’ he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extent he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

There may be paths we do not know how to enter because we have never been there and do not know the way. If we want a fuller life we must make different decisions. We cannot walk a new path along the same way, thinking the same thoughts and making similar decisions to the ones that brought us here now. We must change our mind; follow our heart, soul, and the Spirit in a new way to find a new place to live, new paths to walk.

Watchman Nee (Nee To-Sheng) was a Chinese Christian teacher and writer. He came to Christianity in China, and thought with an Asian rather than a Greek mind. He had a non-western approach to Christianity.  Greek thinking can be a challenge if we worship a God expressed through scriptures that flowed through Hebrew minds and a Messiah who grew out of a Hebrew culture.

As mentioned previously, there is a decided difference between the Greek versus the Hebrew mind. Both trees after all where trees of “Knowledge”.  Nee’s writings are very refreshing as they do not have western prejudices and traditions of thought. His words help clear our minds and hearts of presuppositions that we might see or hear the truth expressed in the scriptures.

“In Judeo-Christianity man is made in God’s image, but in Greek religion God is made in man’s image.” 

Sexual Personae- Art and Decadence Camille Paglia vintage Books

In his book Spiritual Reality or Obsession, Nee clearly outlines what is functional thinking vs. dysfunctional thinking. He concludes the book with this:

“If we do not want to be obsessed, we must live in the light of God. Our greatest temptation is to kindle our own firebrand.”

Who among you reveres the Lord and heeds the voice of His servant? Though he walk in darkness And have no light, Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. But you are all kindlers’ of     fire, Girding on firebrands.

Walk by the blaze of your fire, by the brands that you have lit! This has come to you from My hand; you shall lie down in Pain” (sorrow) Isaiah 50;10-11

“Whenever we are confronted with a problem, immediately we try to search out the answer ourselves. We ourselves attempt to decide what is right and what is wrong. Brothers and sisters, this is not the way God wants us to go. We need to be humble, acknowledging how unreliable we are. Our judgment is undependable, our thought is undependable, our action is undependable. We are subject to error. What we judge as right may not necessarily be right; what we judge as wrong may not be wrong at all. That which we consider to be sweet may actually be bitter, and vice versa. That which we take as light may not be light after all, and that which we take as darkness may turn out not to be darkness. We must not substitute for light of God with the firebrands which we ourselves kindled. We should receive light from God.”

“The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt 6.22-23 KJV.)

“A Christian who has not light in him tends to be obsessed. What a pity if one does not see what he ought to see and does not know what he ought to know. We must ask God to shine through us that we may touch Him. A Christian life should not be filled with problems, doubts, and hesitations. We ought to be able to see whether it be right or wrong. If we can see, we will avoid being obsessed.”

“If any man willeth to do his (God’s) will, he shall know the teaching whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself” (Jesus in John 7:17 KJV)

“The condition of enlightenment is that we genuinely want the will of God. Let us not hastily and confidently decide any matter which comes before us. Rather let us ask God to give us a perfect heart to do the will of God. A hardened heart, a selfish heart, a self-reliant heart may shut out God’s light. If we wish to have the light of God, we must be tender, unselfish, and not self- reliant. In short, we must be humble. May we ask God to deliver us, that daily we may live in His light and thus be able to know what is true and real. May God save us from falsehood and obsession.”

May we eat from the tree of life! May we be given the discernment to know it’s fruit. May we be given the ears to hear God’s voice, may we be given the inspiration to read His divine scriptures, His Word! May we become enlightened! May we serve the Prince of Peace and become and advance the peace that our age so desperately needs!

 

 

 

 

What’s In A Name?

Names are important, aren’t they? The first thing we are told Adam did was name the animals in the garden. Hebrew names carry with them identity. They often define the personality, the very nature of the named. A name can reveal the character and reality of an object. You sit on a chair. A stool is different from a chair, and very different from a throne!

How we name our gods declares their attributes and defines our relationship with them. There is an eastern god by the name of Shiva, “the destroyer.” What we fear is what we serve. For example, if I fear I will not eat tomorrow I will serve my fear by overeating today.

In our story the critical decision was a choice of who to believe, whose idea to obey, who to serve: YeHoVaH or the “Prince of the power of the air, “The Adversary”?

 

“You are gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

Your gonna have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But your gonna have to serve somebody.”

Bob Dylan; From the album “Slow Train Coming”

The one true God is more powerful, more present, and more available to us than the limitations of our ideas or knowledge about Him. Let’s not let our fears about God or His words, nor names, or ideas others have about God get in our way of walking with Him. Lets advance back into the garden on the paths He create specifically and individually for us.

Although we all share the same planet our perceptions and experiences are entirely unique. We need a uniquely aware and present God, one who knows us and created us specifically to be who we are. We need the true God to lead us; One who is real and wants relationship with us individually. If he is a true God He will find a way to speak to us so we can hear his truth- if we are interested in knowing Him for who He is and not who we think  or want Him to be.

Tet·ra·gram·ma·ton

Rabbi David Fohrman discusses a revelation regarding the name of God in his book  “The Exodus You almost Passed Over “ specifically, regarding the : Tet·ra·gram·ma·ton, the Hebrew name of God transliterated in four letters YHWH Or JHVH and articulated as Yahweh or Jehovah.

In his chapter “What’s in a name” he relates the revelation of God’s character through the revelation of his power within the Exodus story and its correlation with the life story of Joseph regent of Egypt. This is a God working out history and purposes though generations of people. He knows them intimately and reveals Himself to and through them consistently. It is an amazing story, read it some time.  Fohrman shares:

“Power is an attribute of God, but it is not His identity.  It is not His true name. “Back then, I never revealed Myself for Who I really was” as God goes on to tell Moses: My name YeHoVaH I never made known to them.

(Ex. 6:3 Vowel points: e, o, a my addition;  See research

of Dr. Nehemiah Gordon at nehemiaswall.com)

 

“But YeHoVaH seems to convey something else entirely. Comprised of an overlay of the Hebrew words for was, is and will be, it seems to denote the simultaneous experience of all three of these states- was, is, and will be- experience all at once. That’s not just being eternal, that’s a whole new way of being altogether. That is why after all, YeHoVaH is not an actual Hebrew word. It’s not a word because what it would mean if it were a word, just doesn’t exist in our world. Who experiences time like that? Where would you have to be, to experience time like that? You’d have to be outside our world.”

Rabbi Fohrman: “The Exodus You Almost Passed Over”

God is off our matrix, outside our ability to even comprehend!

 “ My ways are not your ways…as the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thought’s higher than your thoughts.”(YeHoVaH speaking through his Prophet Isaiah 55:8)

The God that desires to walk with us in love, truth and grace is the only one that can lead each of us individually into all truth, grace and sincere, real love. Once we find ourselves in TRUTH, we will find the Spirit of TRUTH is grace and it will be our love, not our beliefs or theology about that Spirit that will unite us. Truth in Grace is the way of Messiah and the way back to the garden of love.

To find peace in our discussions of God we must choose peace. To find love between us we must choose to speak and act in loving ways. We far too often consider our spiritual activates and services the purpose of our spirituality, rather than the engagement, interactions and ways we engage in conversations about Him.

“The expression of human character is not good doing, but God likeness.  If the spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life not good human characteristics. God’s life in us expressed itself as God’s life, not as a human life trying to be Godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in practical details of life, not in times of communion with God”  (Oswald chambers:  My Utmost For His Highest)

Finding the attributes of God we admire and share together allows us to relate together about Him. When we focus on our areas of disagreement, we hinder growth and sharing. We miss the chance to understand more of this great God who is all about us, whose very creation declares His being.

I spoke today with a neighbor who had nearly died of a heart attack a few days ago. He had been antagonistic about sharing god-talk with me before this.

We had walls between us, but not today! He was so very glad to be alive, and I was so very glad he was alive, that talking about life and love and even God was easy. We did not need to have a completely consistent understanding of God to talk today.

He is not even sure he can understand God. That is something we could agree on. We both agreed today our words limit our abilities to communicate about such a vast subject. He changed his mind and we built bridges of mutual trust and under-standing. We walked together further into the garden.

“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”

(Amos 3:3NIV)

I see God as the greatest, purest, most vital ocean of love, grace, truth, power, and majesty. All good, all glory, all might and truth, all knowledge, are contained in that vast ocean. My ability to understand, contain or comprehend this vast sea is about as big as a tea cup. It is easy to get very focused on one’s little tea cup of understanding and miss the chance to drink from the cup of another and benefit from their understanding and hence widen one’s own world.

It also easy to believe what I understand is all there is to know. The value is in the sharing of the understanding of Himself that God has revealed to others. It is better than sharing only my understanding.  To teach or preach to others things they may not wish to know or care about can be unkind and ungracious; it is not peaceable. I really need to remember this- do you also?

In today’s spiritual cultures, those seeking enlightenment, those seeking truth, those seeking God may get caught in a quagmire of disagreements.

Some heated dialogues even turn into hard hearts or mean words. Most of it is in the name of religion, institutionalized doctrines, or dogmas.

At the heart of the matter, we are generally seeking the same thing: peace, joy, life, love, hope, truth, grace, mercy, and understanding. But we tend to be so sure and so intent on defending or promoting our understanding that we bulldoze over the hearts we wish to touch.

That is not God’s way. It is alienation, isolation; it is eating from the wrong tree.

My journey as an architect has led me to participate in many different religious institutions. I have participated in the design and construction of churches and synagogues and the homes of many spiritual people of different faiths. People want their homes and churches to reflect who they are and what they believe. For me to do my work well, I must be willing to get myself out of the way and understand others. I must choose to respect another person’s right to have preferences, choices and differing values. This is a choice we each must make if we wish to share our journey with others.

Every person, building, community or organization, every living organism has a structure. It is necessary.  The issue is the size and use of the building blocks that go into the construction. We have major building blocks, minor ones, and connectors of the elements. We have openings, portals, and partitions.

All these elements make up the architecture. Every person, community or organization has an architecture that contains and structures its life about the heart or soul of the community.

What I have learned is that every faith community has three key elements. One is the vital life of faith and the presence of the living Spirit of God. The second is the social culture or interpersonal style. The third is the institutional or organizational structure.

The institutional structure is the hardest most rigid of the elements. It holds up the heavy timbers and elements that protect from the atmospheric pressures of life on the earth. It is very important. But it is only one third of the elements needed to hold a spiritual community together.

My question to pastors and leaders is simple. Are our religious programs and processes holding up the altars of our faith in God or are they on the altar? Are they being worshipped and defended, and sacrificed to instead of God. Are these hindering the Spirit’s freedom to move about the building?

Are they dominating our communities of faith rather than supporting or serving it? Are we teaching the traditions, or interpretations or ways of our founding fathers as if they are the words or ways of God himself?

“Man shapes his architecture and from then on His architecture shapes man.”

Winston Churchill

 

Every spiritual community, every tribe, every people need these three elements to bind them together.

If we are personally confident in our own personal walk and knowing of the divine being we call God we should be able to come and go into these buildings confidently.

If we are not comfortable within ourselves, we tend to need to deconstruct them or work to rebuild them into what makes us comfortable or safe. I do not believe that is God’s intention.  He loves us and desires every tribe or people to love and worship him in the spirit of truth, grace, confidence, and peace.

His love flows from His heart into our own heart and then is shared between us if we are willing to trust in Him for the unity we need.

God is far bigger than our ability to understand, and He is not about to change or mold Himself into the image we choose. Let us accept others as we would Him. He might be revealing something of Himself through them, something we are entirely unfamiliar with and cannot recognize otherwise.

A former concierge for the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco wrote the lessons she had learned serving all walks of life in her little red book titled “Thank You Very Much”. She came up with this wonderful phrase which I consider a definition of humility.

I embrace it to be true:

“Don’t allow other people to make you feel bigger or smaller than you actually are. Always remain your own size.”

Holly Steel  “Thank You Very Much”.

When we make our God talk only about our names, definitions or rules, we are making others smaller than we are.

By requiring others to agree with our prioritization of the elements that bind our theology or faith community together we are not eating of the fruit of the tree of life, rather it is bark.

We then cannot drink in the fresh water of the Spirit carried in the hearts of others. We have gained nothing and our relationship with the divine and others has not grown.

My experience and perceptions as an Architect participating with many churches or synagogues has led me to this conclusion.

I conclude that the churches and synagogues I have attended are much like different dining rooms. The meals are often cooked from the same set of ingredients but by different cooks who mix things up in different proportions in different sequences, and add some different spices.

The dining rooms use different plates, silverware, and tables and chairs all have a different style. But the same nutrients are in the food. We generally eat of the fruit of the same tree.

We gather from the same garden if it is God’s word- His life, truth, grace, peace, and mercy we seek. Those things come from only one source I know of.

 It is not so much about the name we use for our God as it is truly knowing and reflecting the One who is named.

The War

A

 

s I have walked my path of life, I have sensed a constant    pressure of the adversary to crush the love, hope and joy in my heart toward others, tempting me to side with fear, judgments, isolation, superiority or self-righteousness; eating the fruit of my own determination of good or evil for others.  That has been the most consistent form of warfare.  It is fought between my ears, and worked out in my behaviors with others.

Major Ian Thomas, a decorated veteran of WWII and the war for the heart and soul of men, told me a shortly before his death at 94 that the heart and the spirit of man are synonymous. If we want to know a true spiritual life we must know the movements and motivations of our heart.

Which means that the battle for your heart is the battle for the rule of your soul. The heart is the throne of your life- who is going to sit there? The one who rules your heart rules your decisions, and hence your life, and all over which you have influence.

The one who rules our hearts, rules the earth, for we were made to “take dominion “of the creation. As the descendants of Adam we were given stewardship of this planet. (Gen. 1:27-28)

Another one of my favorite theologians of the heart, Bob Dylan, in the song “Bye and Bye” on his album “Love and Theft,” sings:

 

“I’ll baptize you with fire so you can sin no more

I’ll establish my rule through civil war.”

(fire =the Holy Spirit; civil war is between our two natures)

 

“The Saving Life of Christ” Maj. Thomas’s classic work defines sin as dysfunction. Dysfunctional life in scripture is living according to our own understanding and self-centered unspiritual desires. Thus we protect and defend our right to ourselves, determining our own way rather than serving the life and way of God and others as outlined in scriptures and by his Spirit. This is eating from the wrong tree.

Functional life is submitting our understanding and all of life’s issues to our God. We determine whether we will follow our natural instincts and desires the yetzer hara (evil inclination) or walk a higher way living a spiritual life by the yetzer hatov (good inclination). We submit ourselves either to our dysfunctions or our functional lives. Functional living comes from eating of the Tree of Life.

This civil war between our natural human desires the yetzer hara and our spiritual, redemptive tendencies the yetzer hatov is everyone’s battle ground. We must not lose hold of the source of life, we must take a stand for life, fighting the temptation to shift our perspective, slipping into the dark.

”Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to make us lose what God has put into us by regeneration.… He does not come on the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view;

and only the spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil. Temptation means the test by an alien power of the position held by a personality.”

(Oswald Chambers: My Utmost For His Highest)

Perhaps this is a little theological for everyday life. Yet it is to me a structural reality of the heart and mind. If we understand the battleground, it is easier to win skirmishes, or at least keep the thoughts that are sent by our adversary in a prisoner of war camp.

Interestingly the Hebrew Scriptures declare that our thoughts grow from our heart.

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matt 12:34)

 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he is” (Prov. 23:7)

“Guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life”                                    (Prov. 4:23),

“Take captive every thought and subject them to Christ”

(2 Cor.10:5),

An important aside, the rabbis never interpreted Jeremiah 17:9 “the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it?” to suggest unregenerate man has a wicked heart; that is not a Hebraic thought but more of a Gnostic view of human nature.

More accurately they described the heart of man as weak or deceitful.

Although we may be given a new heart in Messiah, we still need to strengthen this new heart by living in His love and power.

We are free from the arrows of judgment, condemnation, or hateful men when we have our being and our knowing in Messiah, for as Shaul (Paul) tells us:

 “Focus you minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in Glory.

(Colossians 3:2-4  Jewish New Testament)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Resolving our conflicts

T

 

he great communities of faith who love God and walk in obedience to Him have many concerns and divisions.

Unity will only be found in the true revelation of the peace, love and shared truth of God. Yet our walking together in peace is possible if we can find common ground on the purpose and nature of our lives together.

This will be an individual choice and a real challenge for some. Our theological and ideological differences must be resolved in our common scriptures, stories, and understandings

We can choose to agree to disagree, thus leaving up to God how to sort out the differences between us. It is His Spirit that will walk us into all truth, not our paradigms or determinations.

His is the Spirit of Truth and He will bring us home into the garden of life, love, perfect peace and perfect joy. Yet I believe this is not geographic, it is experiential, attitudinal, and relational.

Back in the creation story, if we could read the pages between the first two chapters of Genesis, I believe we would discover in those unwritten words a solution for our conflicts.

It is written in the heart of God and implied in the scriptures but takes real grace and maturity to find a place for it in your heart or theology. Eventually with growth, insight, and maturity it is written on the heart of people who desire peace, people who trust in the God of peace to reveal it.

You could call it enlightenment: agreeing to disagree, sharing what light we can at the moment, is a way to walk together toward that precious garden walk into the light.

If I were Moses, I would call this missing text Genesis chapter One and a Half and place it right between Genesis One and Genesis Two.

That unwritten chapter would explain this idea:  That the creation of the world was done in the heart and mind of God in Genesis One. The working out of the details in space and time was done in Genesis Two. How he did it is in chapter one and a half. The need for this book can be explained by my experience as an architect.

We have two distinct processes in any design and construction project. First is the creation and second the execution. We design and permit and then construct or form.

As an architect, I find that most problems arise in the Communi-cations between the two. Thus we might say that Adam broke the communication link between the will of God and the will of man.

The problem with execution always occurs once the plans are put into the hands of other people- people who do not have the exact same understanding or view point as the Creator.

The text for Genesis one and a half might be worth considering when you disagree with other peoples of faith.

In my mind we can simply let all our theological differences camp out in Genesis one and a Half! Let us wait to meet Moses, Augustine, or Luther and sit with them in the counsel of God and not worry about how to figure out all our questions about how this really is supposed to work out. Let us trust God has a plan for our unity even if we cannot see it at this time.  If we believe in it, we might just start to see it.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

(Romans 8:28 KJV)

As Adam and Eve made the wrong decision, we will have trouble really understanding or discerning the uncorrupted perfect plan of God.  We can however choose to trust Him to work it out in and through us. And if we do not have peace or see clearly, we can wait for Him to bring the light.

As long as we are relying our human reasoning, independent of actions founded in faith on the scriptures about unity, peace, acceptance and love of others- we are the problem.

We must each walk in truth, and as much as we are able, in absolute obedience to the revelation of God.

But we should show grace and deference for the challenges and weakness others face.

Winston Churchill said during the Great War., “Be kind to everyone you meet, they are fighting a battle you know nothing about.” If we are questioning Gods choice to allow us the right to interpret His word, and choose our paths by feeling we are the only correct judge of His word, we are eating from the wrong tree.

If we are defending our particular understandings of the scriptures and defending our traditions as if they are God- breathed, we are the problem.  None of us will get a chance to read that unwritten chapter that calls for grace, acceptance, unity, and peace between the New and the Old Testament believers in the Messiah or the 47,000 sects of Christendom. “Genesis 1.5” is written in heaven.  Let us trust God with the things we do not understand about His plan here!

Let us eat of the tree of life and share the fruit rather than dismissing the fruit another has picked from that precious tree. We all wish to share our love and insights regarding God and need to share if we are to live together in peace and true life.

Naturally conflicts and misunderstandings will arise. If our heart is for unity, we will be willing to work through those difficulties to find clarity rather than cut others off. That is if we will trust each other and our God.  We might even be in peace following our God’s clear path and still create real issues in others who do not understand or agree with us. Mercy, grace, love and forgiveness are foundational for spiritual people. Let’s stand firmly on those foundation stones.

The greatest peace for me has come with the understanding that I am judged by God based on the motives of my  heart and the truth of my actions.(1 Cor. 4:5) I am not judged by other people’s responses, reactions, or feelings about me.  However their words or reactions give me clues about the effectiveness of my words or actions.

I am called to be in the truth and in peace. I let my God deal with the ramifications of my actions good or ill. I seek Him first to be sure I am “in Him” as I act or respond to others’ actions. (1 Cor. 4:3). Yet this does not assure my effectiveness; I am but human.  He will reveal the Truth in His time.

We can and must choose peace and mutual respect. We can trust in God who has given us free will to guide our free hearts, the key being, trusting above all in His almighty love and power as sovereign Lord of all.

 

“The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and like water He turns it where He will”

(Prov. 21:1).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discernment vs Judgment

S

 

ince Adam and Eve made the wrong choice and ate the forbidden fruit its bitter juices have flowed through our thoughts and hearts. Shame, isolation, self-defense, independence, false judgment, delusional thinking and every dysfunction has entered humanity’s heart and mind since that day.

Relying on our own knowing, independent of God, human understanding has been corrupted our very view of God. We have become judges of God and others rather than lovers, friends, and servants of Him, and each other.  And what is God’s judgment of us due to this rebellion?

If God had man’s mind He would say “I warned them, gave it straight and clear, I told them, don’t eat that fruit or else…” That is all that human judgment has to rely on and that is how we anticipate God’s behavior based on our own understanding. But the Prophet of God tells us:

 “God’s ways are not our ways as the heavens are higher than the earth so our God’s ways higher than our ways. “

(Isaiah 55:8-9. NIV)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved for those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son. Now this is the judgment; the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds won’t be exposed. But everyone who does what is true comes to the light that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”

Yochanan (John 3:16-21 niv)

Christians believe that Rabbi Yeshua (Jesus) was the Messiah. Even if we don’t accept this, His words and the words of his disciples are as worthy of consideration as any other Rabbi’s words in the Talmud, Mishna, or Gamarra.  All faithful Israel’s hope is in the Messiah; all of Christianity’s hope is in the Messiah (Jesus Christ), and as Rabbi David Rubin of Shilo Israel says:

“The only difference between us (Christians and Jews) is in the question is the Messiah coming or coming back?”

The Hebrew Scriptures inform us even Abraham was saved not by obedience to the commandments, as none had yet been given. He was saved by faith in the Messiah that was to come. (Genesis 15:5 and Romans 4:1-17)

So, whether the Messiah is to come or to come back, our faith in Him is that what makes us righteous and therefore “saved.”

Of course, the Torah (the teachings) is for our good, it is for our well being and instruction. It is for our life but does not solve the penalty of sin and guarantee redemption. How we choose to adhere to Torah teachings is a personal decision between one’s self and our God.

If God Himself, as Judeo/Christians believe, purposed the Messiah to take away the offense, to take away God’s need to judge mankind, why do we hang on to our right to judge so fiercely?  Most “religious” people are some of the most judgmental people I have met.

They often pride themselves on the correctness of their knowledge of what is good and evil, what is true or false, what is right or wrong.  My trust is in the Messiah, not my knowledge about Him, or my knowledge about the Scriptures, the Prophets, Sages, Talmud, Mishna, or any Midrash.

It is in the very presence of the Holy Spirit of the living God resident in my heart and illuminating my mind that I find the light, hope and truth revealed.

Admittedly, we all must discern and decide what is a right or wrong action or behavior. To apply that assessment to the heart intentions of another- that is something else altogether.

Yet religious people go to lengths to establish themselves as the judges of theological correctness, intentions, etc. of other religious people. Many Christians with whom one might dialog about judgment will immediately say:

 “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”  

(Corinthians 6:1-3)

But it seems to me that this verse really needs balancing by the heart of Christ and the Father. One must bear in mind just when the believers in the Messiah/Christians are to be judging the world.

As I read the verse, it is not until the Messiah/Christ has come back in the flesh that we are to go about this work of judging others. Can you actually claim that you are now in that condition?  Moses was the first “authorized” judge of others and God said to him…

Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s

(Deuteronomy 1:16-18 KJV)

What did Yeshua/Jesus say about Judgment?

“If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”   (John 12:46-48)

“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.”   (James 2:12-13)

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Matthew 7:1-3 (NAS)

The Messiah say’s of himself:

“I am able to do nothing from Myself [independently, of My own accord–but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders]. Even as I hear, I judge [I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision], and My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me.” 

  John 5:29-31 (Amplified Bible)

” Who are you to pass judgment on and censure another’s household servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he shall stand and be upheld, for the Master (the Lord) is mighty to support him and make him stand.”   Romans 14:3-5 Amplified Bible)

The apostle Paul says,

 “As for myself, I do not care if I am judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself… I am not by this acquitted but the one who judges me is the Lord.”

(1 Corinthians 4:2-4)

 

“Now, a crown is being held for me—a crown for being right with God. The Lord, the judge who judges rightly, will give the crown to me on that day —not only to me but to all those who have waited with love for him to come again.”   (2 Timothy 4:7-9)

I am choosing to wait in love for Him to come. I am finding it very freeing to not even consider judging, evaluating, examining others, and in turn finding a real freedom from the opinions others seem to form of me as well. Yes, wisdom requires discernment and insight, but I am working hard these days to not be eating that very tempting fruit that kills my heart and poisons my relationships with others.

I understand as you surely do, that we must learn to discern between truth and lies, right and wrong, good and evil. We must learn to avoid that which hinders us on our walk into the light.

We must be guided by God to pick the right fruit and eat from the tree of life. Our discernment needs to be submitted to the merciful, loving Spirit of wisdom that is love, grace, and truth. We cannot rely on our own understanding alone. That is the wrong tree.

We must study the scriptures intently, the word of truth.

We must discern carefully the movements of our heart and the thoughts of our mind to be sure that we are in truth and not in deception, judgment, hate, or unjust anger, etc.

We must be in the Light. We should not rely on our human understanding. Even our religious views can become darkness. Rather we should rely on God to help us discern. That is the fruit of the tree of Life.

Truth may be humbling to our ego, our vanity and our pride.  It may taste bitter at first but it is sweet to the stomach once digested. The fruit of man’s judgment and understanding independent from God tastes sweet at first. But it rots in the gut and causes many sleepless nights.  It will kill your heart and poison your mind.

I suggest that the Judgment of God is good; the judgment of man is self-centered, and generally dysfunctional and often very bad. Our mutual adversary wants us to let our judgments rule our lives. He pressures us to make judgments and decisions outside of the peace, rest, truth or the commandments of God.

Our enemy can rule us if we decide for our own will, according to the limited wisdom of our experience and the spirit of the world. He uses our voices or our key strokes to craft his accusations. We find ourselves following the traditions of men rather than the holy way of God in who is the ruler of all.

Our enemy would have us choose for ourselves rather than act according to true wisdom. He would have us angry, acting hatefully because of differences rather than being loving.

We will grow in unity by our personal obedience to the scriptures, by our humility and reverence for God, trusting Him to be informing the hearts and minds of others in His time and His way.

True love is only of our Creator. True discernment and true judgment come only in the light and revelation of God.

Anything that is not of truth and wisdom comes from the darkness, which rejects Love, Truth, Peace, Joy and all the glorious mercies and many kindnesses of God.

We are free from the accuser and judge of this world if we know our position in Messiah /Christ. When we know our Messiah as our friend and brother, and our judge, we will welcome judgment from Him wherever it may present itself, because His judgment is only sent to heal or deliver us from the wrong choices that bring so much trouble and grief.

True Judgment from God, even when it comes through others, is as a gift that has come to make us free from that poisoned fruit and give us entry, even in this life, to the Joy set before us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glory of the fire of Judgment!

 

It burns the fire of judgment, it burns.
It burns away the bonds and chains, it burns.

It burns the fire of judgment it burns away the dross and pain.

Refiners fire, glory come, burn away, burn away. Oh glory, glory to the fire of Judgment sent out from the hearth of God.

Glory for the fire of judgment sets us free to be people of God
Glorious burning come to me, release me from my misery.
Glorious fire thanks to thee my heart and mind are finally free.

 

Freedom comes with the Judgment, freedom from this body of death, Burn me mold me make me able to withstand this happiness. Happy are the ones who find you, molded in the fire so pure. Happy are the ones who know you to be their only perfect cure.

 

Cure from anguish, cure from pain, cure from all sordid gain.
Cure from sorrow, cure from ease, the cure that will in God’s mind please. Grateful are we who know this truth, the burning of our flesh from youth. Grateful are we little ones, who doubt not God’s redeeming Son.

This time, later, maybe now, this fire it comes upon your brow.

Let the burning be your redemption and for you, the final cure.

 

Futile is resistance, say the wise ones. For in the burning comes the Son. Son of God, Son of glory, God’s holy anointed one. Coming finally for his bride, made ready through His judgments’ flame.

Bow before the refiner’s fire, stand not lest you be crushed,
Humbly bow, stand no longer, be before his altar slain.

For in mercy, grace and kindness He receives his lover’s lame.

Real Life

M

 

y favorite definition of our purpose for living comes from an older version of the Episcopal book of prayer:

“The purpose of life is to know God and enjoy him forever.”

Knowing God is true life; finding Him and discerning the reality of God our greatest challenge. His reality is declared in the Holy Scriptures, revealed in the lives of those who walk intimately with him whether saint, sage, rabbi, master, minster, teacher, or student. His presence (Spirit) is discerned in our hearts and informs our minds, and can be observed in his very creation.

Our challenge in life is to discern that which is not of God and that which is; what is of us and what is of Him. I define religion as humanity’s version of relationship with God. If you sincerely, humbly, faithfully choose to walk the path from darkness into true life you will find a path into the Light. It is about what you are seeking and who you follow that determines where you are heading and what you will find.

 

You will also find groups of sojourners along the way that you can travel with. Find those who share for a short or long season the same values, principles, understandings, and truth that you do. There is great joy and encouragement in the shared journey. We are created as a social people we need each other.

Back in the garden the problem occurred.  Adam and Eve chose badly, and received the consequences of that choice. Shame, fear, dysfunction; separation from God entered the world through them.

As Adam and Eve discovered to their dismay, sinful man begins instinctively to shrink from the presence of God. That impulse of evasion was the first (though not the last) of the new qualities that the couple showed after their fall (from grace and truth). Before, they had enjoyed an intimate fellowship with God, and welcomed His presence. Now they feel threatened by Him, and experience the need to hide from His presence. 

(Brooks Alexander. “Oracle of Transgression” SCP Newsletter 2009 Volume 34:1)

It is our natural fears, and judgments about who God is that isolates us from God and each other. It is when we find what God thinks and plans for us that we begin to draw close again losing our shame and our false judgments about God, ourselves and others. The reality of God is far better than our beliefs about god.  We need to be disillusioned with our understanding of God and expectations of others before we can see and live truly.

 

David Benner warns in The Gift of Being Yourself:

 

“There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with reality.

 

 Most of us are quite willing to embrace reality when it fits with how we see ourselves and the world, and when it is not overly unpleasant.

 

However, when our life experiences confront us with things about ourselves that were unwilling to accept, we call on psychological defense mechanisms to help maintain a sense of safety and stability.

 

While these unconscious strategies help with short-term coping they block long term growth. This is because they distort reality. Ultimately the functions are to protect us from unpleasant truth” …

 

Choosing to face the reality of our life allows us to advance beyond and embrace our destiny. Real life flows in truth and grace alone. Acknowledging our dysfunctions and failings allows the grace and mercy of an all loving, merciful God to draw the poisons out of us.

The vital truth our false self and the revelation of our true self flows most clearly in our intimate relationships with others. We see who we are in the mirrors of the eyes of others.

Our reality is reflected back to us as we look honestly in the eyes and hearts of others who react to the way we are being at any given moment.

Generally it is our fears and false judgments, our own perceiving of others outside of the grace and mercy of God, that separates us from them. We are then isolated from the ones we love and from truly knowing God and ourselves.

Some of our greatest assets in finding God and ourselves in our journey is the time shared honestly with sojourners along the way. Find those who share the same values, principles, understandings, and truth that you do, for a short or long season. If you can accept the things you cannot understand there is great joy and encouragement in the shared journey. We are created as a social people we need each other.

However sometimes we outgrow those around us. We can in grace and mercy be grateful for the sharing and move on in peace and leave peace behind us.  Discerning who to walk with and for how long is a critical decision to finding the paths of life.

Real life is found in truth and reality. If it is true, it’s real.

Eat from the tree of life, do not lean on your own understanding about God or man. Let God reveal Himself to you and you will find the truth about Him and the truth about yourself and others.

Putting God in to your little god box will not make Him more real to you but simply separate you from His reality. Putting people in little boxes isolates us from the reality others as well. You sense that isolation and find it manifested with others.

Those who actually know God can be a real challenge to you when you are even slightly off-center.

It is spiritual; you sense the conflicts. This is part of what leads us into the truth.  If God is real and present then we will see Him clearly if we are looking honestly for Him. You cannot miss the reality of a real God. False conceptions of God are the real problem. God is perfectly content with Himself; it is we that can be discontent with Him. To find the true God we must be willing to let go of our own expectations of Him. In finding God we will find our own hearts kept still

 

“There is only one problem on which all my existence,

my peace, and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself

and if I find my true self I will find Him.” 

(Thomas Merton)

 

 There is a wonderful Christian song;

 

“I have made you too small in my eyes,

 Oh God forgive me,

And I have believed the lie that you

 Were not able to help me.

 

But now oh Lord I see my wrong,

 Heal my heart and show Yourself strong,

And in my eyes and in my song, oh Lord be magnified.

 

I have leaned on the wisdom of men, oh Lord forgive me.

And I have responded to them,

Instead of your grace and your mercy.

But now oh Lord I can see my wrong,

 Heal my heart and show yourself strong,

and in my eyes and with my song.

 oh Lord be magnified; oh Lord be magnified.” (Don Moen)

As I see it dysfunctional life is living according to our own understanding and self serving desires. Functional life then would be to submit our understanding and all of life’s issues to God. Real life happens when we turn away from our dysfunctional limited life and choose to let God’s life flow through us.

How do we do this? Jesus/Yeshua said “I came that you might have life and that to the full” (John 10:10). A fully functioning life is a life of faith in Messiah Yeshua to lead and guide us into all life.

Most Christian Bibles say, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as Righteousness” (Genesis 15.6). Yet a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew might say “Abraham allowed no distrust, believing he who said it had the power to do it, and that was accounted to him as Righteousness.” Abraham allowed no distrust and hence became “the father of faith.”

Changing your mind, choosing to trust will change your life if what you choose to believe is actually the Truth. Your life will be amplified, and blessed if your faith is placed in someone greater than you. Allow that faith to be made real in and through you.

“Everyone needs a transcendent metaphysic to hold themselves together; or they will fall for anything, or what might be worse they will fall for nothing at all”                    Dr. Jorden Peterson

 

L

Real Love

ove is a verb. Love is a not just an emotion; it is a spirit as well. It is a reality which must be followed and allowed to flow through you. Love is a decision.

God is Love. And He is the one to define what love is. He has revealed it in the Scriptures and through those that know Him intimately. A Biblical Hebrew word for Love is “ahab”: it is both a Noun and a Verb.  It’s root: H: “He”-ה and B: “Bet” – ב denotes; family, home; one in awe of returning to the comfort and safety of familial love. Implying in the Paleo Hebrew a revelation of the empowerment by God in being loved, and therefore loving in return.

Being in love is the power to return to the Garden.

The Apostle Paul writes of Love in 1 Corinthians 13:

 

Love is patent, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Real Faith

F

 

aith is a noun in the Greek, a descriptive word of something that may or may not be possessed. Yet in the Hebrew it is a verb. The Hebrew language is driven by verbs, actions not defined as things. I have a gift of believing in things I cannot see, and trusting that the evidence will present itself.  It usually does over time.  It is taking real faith to write this book, to act out my belief. I am trusting I have something others will care to read. It takes faith to believe that it will be published and put into your hand and that you will find it worthwhile.  That is a belief in something I cannot see, I have now only hope and trust. This text your now reading is the evidence of my faith.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1-3

We all have faith in lesser and greater measures. It takes faith to get out of bed and not believe meteors will hit you as soon as you walk out the door. It takes faith to go through a green light and trust that the other cars will remain stopped.

The real question is on what our faith rely. The greater the object of our faith the greater the possibilities it allows us to consider.

 

“Man’s reach should exceed his grasp

or what’s a heaven for?”

(William Blake)

 

To live takes faith.  Someone without much faith once said to me: “My life has no more meaning than a blade of grass in a Kansas wheat field.” An AA practitioner told me not to choose a doorknob as a higher power. What we put our faith in should be big and powerful enough to keep us in faith. Let us not make the object of our faith too small.

We must have faith that our lives have a purpose beyond the square footage we take up. Humility requires that we accept the simple reality of our abilities and limitations. Faith requires that we believe there is and can be more than we can see. We live on each day because of our faith. The quality of our lives and our contributions to the lives of others is dependent on the objects on which we place our faith.

We serve what we fear. If I fear I will not eat tomorrow, I will spend most of my energy figuring out how to acquire food; I will serve my hunger. I believe placing our faith to align with a supreme being of grandeur, love, compassion, truth, and glory will be better for us. We must fear God who is the creator and sustainer of life itself. We should show Him reverence and be obedient to His promptings if we wish to find more life.

“The Greeks made gods in man’s image and the Hebrews made man in the image of God.”

(Camille Paglia Sex,Art and decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson ISBN0-679-73579-8)

I have a dear friend who does not believe God exists. We cannot both be right. One of us is wrong. I would rather live a life of faith in the glorious majesty of the living God of truth and find out at the end of my time that I was wrong, than live a life solely bent on serving my own selfish inclinations and desires. Selfishness usually costs you more than it returns. That is the choice we all must make. That is the very nature of the civil war within.

 

“You are going to serve somebody,

it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

but you are going to serve somebody”

(Bob Dylan)

 

The real crux of a walk of faith is obedience to the path you have chosen; to walk your talk. If you are serving a true God and walking on a true path this should not be a problem.

 

The proof is in the results. If you find yourself spending a lot of time defending your choices and beliefs because others are not seeing the reality of them something is not right. We should be sure we put our faith in a real God, not a religion or philosophy about God.

 

It takes faith to believe, faith to hear, faith to understand, and faith to act.

 

 

 

The good thing about the God I serve is He is full of promises and they are clearly written. He also has plenty of guidance and sound wisdom, also clearly written in the Holy Scriptures:

“So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus (Yeshua). Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.”  2 Peter 1:4-6 (Amplified)

But it is acting on the word, doing it, that makes it real. It is the obedience of walking with God that is the point after all. If not, why bother? The choice is yours to make! Which tree will you eat from, now, while it is yet today? Whom will you serve?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

L

 

ooking around, reading the newspaper, watching the news-  you can see that something has gone very, very, wrong in this world. You know it in your gut. Yet you also know there is more than this. You no doubt have had those supreme moments of love, joy, and hope- glimpses back to the garden.

Maybe you can still remember those long summers of your childhood.  Whether you are near or far from those precious places you must also know in your heart that even then something was missing. There must be a perfect garden to which we will return one day.

The dysfunctions, the brokenness, and the insufficiency of this reality to meet our heart’s deepest needs yet remain.  We can consider and question the validity of our shared myths and spiritual understandings for years. We can question the nature of truth, reality, and goodness till we are old and die in our questions. There comes a time to stop questioning and start finding and trusting in answers.  This too is a choice and an act of faith.

This is to choose to walk a path of faith, believe there are answers, and there is a true God who delights to reveal them to us. This is the path to life. This is the path back to the Garden.

Those who know of God, and those who walk in obedience to the commands of God understand that this life is a process of growth in understanding, faith and obedience. It is a journey of walking into the Light and the Truth.

It is a walk of faith that requires trust that there is a safe, good supernatural guide who knows the way for everyone- family, tribe, and people. The paths and the stepping stones will vary during our individual journey. We cannot judge accurately the validity of another’s journey from our path. We are all so unique and different. And that is the Glory of God.

 “The Glory of God is man fully alive” St. Irenaeus

But if it is a true path, we will find ourselves encountering each other. It is at these times that the reality of our faith and trust is tested. Our gracious kindness and respect one for another will show the unbelieving world the reality of our faith. Peace will come between us when we individually and corporately choose to trust that God is one, no matter what the name another uses for Him.

If we can trust God to lead us into truth and life can we not trust Him to do so with others in His time and way?

Can we trust God to guide others, everyone, no matter how chaotic and separated we might appear to be? Can we trust that we can be united by the Holy Spirit?

Yes, that spirit is the Spirit of Truth and only to degree that we accept and walk in it can that Spirit be revealed to or through us. That also is a fact. Can we trust God the creator, author and finisher of our faith to be the judge of the truth, rather than we ourselves? Can we trust what we know to be true and follow it without demeaning others who see things differently?  Can we choose not to disqualify another’s path because we do not understand it?

Can we trust that Spirit to do the same for others who might not be interested in our walk at all and are entirely contrary to us? Can we choose in faith to listen attentively for what our God is speaking to us through the words, writings and understandings of others who have a different kind of knowing of God than we?

I think God can do all these things in and through us if we get our opinions out of the way and follow Him. I think all things are possible for the one true God whose Spirit it is that unites all believers in that one God!

Those who are still searching for their path into the light, hope, peace and faith in God have choices to make as well. What path? What family, what tribe will be the best fit for you now.  With whom are you called to share your journey? It must be shared if it is real.  We need each other to help us see and help us grow.

We cannot see clearly ourselves and we need the insights, understandings and faith of others that have walked longer than we on this path of life. That I hope is clear.

My walk has led me through many families, and tribes of faith and each has imparted treasures in my heart mined from the depths of their human trouble and suffering.

Diamonds are formed in the depths of the earth under great pressures. Gold is refined by fire, and so are our hearts, and our faith.

Finding the balance, walking in truth and grace is done one step at a time. Walking back to the garden of rest and peace is done one thought at a time. Our lives are built one action based on one decision; one at a time.  That is just the way it is. It is a biological and spiritual fact.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not

on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.

(Proverbs 3:6)

 

The bulk of this little book was written in the summer of 2010, during a six-week period. It was the result in part of my architectural practice going through the sea change of the great recession starting in July of 2008. All my hopes, dreams, and ambitions vanished. I spent a year or more recovering from the shock. Another year trying to figure things out, and then finely seeking the clear fresh waters of life and purpose again.

This is part of the result of that prayerful searching. Indeed, it was a trial by fire, the hardest and most glorious time I can recall, for my God walked so intimately and presently with me as I let go of all I thought I needed.

I have continued to refine and edit occasionally over the years since then. As I grow in grace truth and understanding. May you as well continue to refine and edit your life as you grow in grace, truth and understanding.

I entrust what I have shared is for the purposes and glory of our Creator, the Source of all Life who is Love: YeHoVaH.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable- if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-put these things to into practice and the God of shalom will be with you. “ (Philippians 4: 8-9. Tree of life Version)

 

The end,

or perhaps a new beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendixes:

My theology

F

 

or those who need to judge whether or not I am a heretic I will provide the following statement of my theology (faith). The heretic hunters most likely will find something wrong here and if so, I would suggest heretic hunters pray for my soul. My sweet wife warns me that they might be burning heretics at the stake again someday.  If so, I trust I will have sufficient oil in my spirit to light a blaze that will fill the night sky for years to come. I expect however euthanasia will be more politically correct soon, I’m getting older and not of much use to the powers of this world.

Following is a summary of what I call the message of my Lord. This has been revealed in scripture, proven by my experience and is what I consider a workable truth. Something you can work with, stake your life, heart, and mind on.

Credit for this statement of faith must be given to others, Yeshua/Jesus my best friend and first consultant, The holy Scriptures of Israel,  the New Testament of Yeshua Ha Mashiach;  Rabbi Shaul (Paul of Tarshis) and Andrew Murray.

My Statement of Faith

S

 

o, this is the reality of our life as I see it now, today! The very Son of God, comes down from heaven, and walks with man, as a man, while yet God. He comes to fix the broken connection, (the hard wire) between man and God, by His death and resurrection. Adam broke this when he chose rebellion, his own selfish path at the very beginning of man’s time here. Because Adam chose to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, mankind has been suffering ever since. Death was the consequence for that decision, and the Messiah came to take upon Himself that consequence and pay the infinite price to rescue those He loved. He was the great intercessor for mankind, acceptable to God. He came to set things straight.

In His (Christ’s/Messiah’s) death on the cross He took upon Himself the punishment for the rebellion of Adam. This man, Yeshua the Messiah (the Second Adam and Last man) received at His resurrection an entirely new life, the life of man in the power of God. This life is capable of being communicated to us, entering and renewing and filling our life with His power. At Pentecost He imparted that life through the Spirit of the Father.  Through whom He might do what He could not do while upon earth- make Himself one with those He loves.

He now actually lives in them by His Spirit and lives their life for them as they yield to Him, so that they can now live His life before all mankind. He exchanges His eternal life for our limited one.

God/Yeshua/Holy Spirit/Jesus does this for a reason. He does this so that we would be able to be all that God had purposed for us when we were created, prior to Adam’s rebellion.

Our purpose, is to represent Him: to reveal Him and His ways, to manage a particular part of His affairs down here, a realm, a sphere of influence, a territory- for Him.  We are His stewards and called to take dominion of his creation. He has given us His Spirit in us as guide and to empower us for this work.

He sits on the seat of power and authority in the heavenly realm and leaves it up to us if we wish to consult Him or not

Being a gentleman God can wait. He has all the time in the world to let us figure it out. It is we that do not have time on our side.  He gives us freedom to have our own way or choose His way.

We in faith eagerly wait until He comes in power and great glory to judge the living and the dead.

Then He will personally take rulership of His Kingdom. He will then restore all things “Back to the Garden”, for all dissension, lies, opposition, dysfunctions and every impure thing will have been removed once and for all. 

About the Author

R

 

alph Waldo Emerson said  “Do not speak about yourself; who you are thunders so loudly behind you that you cannot be heard”

I would prefer to let others tell you about me. It would in my mind be a less biased and more accurate picture of my reality. I am blind to who I really am.    I tend to see my failings or get caught in the vanity or grandiosity of my thoughts and hopes.

When I see myself in the eyes of my knowledge of God then I am the most real, and that requires humility and grace to bear.. A proverb say’s “let another praise you and not your own mouth”  But since I am writing this alone and am really a complete unknown to the greater world outside of my personal sphere of influence, I will simply provide my story: You can find it at: worksofwords.live/2015/08/01/seasons-of-walking-in-the-word/ (the password is jahh).

It is there if you wish to understand what formed me in my early days.  It is as true as I know now but that may change as I grow further in truth and understanding of reality.

Leave a comment, let’s get to know one another!