Shades of Gray

We have heard alot of double talk this week, on the TV and on the net, about what is and isn't 'truth', and what is and isn't a 'lie'. It all comes down to perception, or does it really? Is 'truth' only an abstract concept? Can we manipulate the facts without 'really lying'? If we convince ourselves that wrong is right and darkness is light, can we then rationalize away our sins?
A few weeks ago, before the scandle broke into the media, becoming a national obsession, the Holy Spirit gave me a message which i posted here <CyberSex> it is even more timely now. We can not set our own standards, and then change them as the mood strikes. Sin is Sin regardless of our legal posturing or our everchanging definitions. To legalize, excuse, explain away, or try to hide our sin only compounds it further. It also places a stumbling block before the ignorant, encouraging them to continue in their sin.
This weeks message, having absolutely no reference to the current political scandal, continues to expound on this idea of man made law as opposed to GOD Ordained Law. We are not the authority here... GOD IS. HE created, HE rules. What GOD calls Sin is Sin, no matter how much we quibble and rationalize.
Read the message, and be honest with yourself. GOD knows what is in your heart, even if you are in denial.

Shades of Gray

Perception does alot to shape our concept of Reality. We tend to color everything in our lives with our own preconceived notions and prejudices. If we don't like lawyers, we refuse to believe anything they say because 'lawyers are liars'. If we like someone, they can do no wrong (love is blind). This is not simply a matter of overt prejudice, it is far more subtle than that. Many of our 'prejudices' are completely unconscious.
Freud used this fact of the human psyche to postulate his theory that we are all simply driven by these unconscious likes and dislikes, without soul or conscience. Morality, he proposed, is simply an amalgamation of commonly held likes and dislikes. Society 'creates' morality and established religion to enforce it.
Christians immediately turn on this idea because it denies GOD. That is because we are 'prejudice' against atheism. Think about it... In the physical, we are driven, as Freud said, by our unconscious likes and dislikes. That is true. And from the "perspective" of an atheist this afirms his atheism. It is only because we have a different "perspective", a Christian perspective, that we realize the existence of a Higher Law. We see these fleshly drives as suspect and try to bring them within the standard set by our Creator, but still they exist and mold our perception and our actions.
For this reason a serial killer can kill with no remorse. We can not expect a Spiritually dead sinner to understand the ways of GOD. St. Paul said the Gospel was foolishness to the unsaved. It is beyond their perception. The only hope is to change perspective. To find GOD. Then the sinner can begin, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to bring their 'perspective' in line with GOD's perspective.

This said, let's look at Christians. Born again, washed in the blood, saved by grace, Christians. (i left out "Spirit Filled" for a reason i'll explain later) Even as Christians we still have this Freudian psyche. We are still driven and even controlled by deeply unconscious impulses and prejudices. Many are new 'christianized' prejudices. "I'm not going to THAT church. They dance around and babble stuff nobody understands" or "I'm not going there, all they talk about is sin and going to Hell" (for more on this read One Body and Diversity in the Archive) We color our Christian perspective with our traditional beliefs.
Each of us have our own unique perception of reality. No two are the same, as no two people are the same. We may find agreement with others and form a common basis as Freud suggested, but in the end, we are unique and our walk is unique. We can not truly walk in our brothers shoes... but we need to try. This is why Christ commanded us to Judge Not. HE is the only righteous judge. Only Christ knows us from a Divine and True perspective.
Our modern denominations are just what Freud claimed them to be. Only they 'enforce' accepted worship. Our churches are no longer Spiritual gatherings of believers as much as they are social gatherings of the Elect, following the perscribed order and dogma of the church. They program, and schedule, to produce the kind of worship preferred by the group. They have lost the Spirit of Worship. But they have cleverly created the 'perception' of spirituality. Spirituality on demand. Play the right music, speak the right words and the spirit will move. Another thing Freud would say... play the right music and say the right words and you can have someone flap their arms and cluck like a chicken.

So is there no Truth. Is everything just shades of gray. GOD Forbid ! There is a true Divine perspective of reality to which we aspire. It was witnessed to us through the Life and Death of Jesus the Messiah, amd continues to bare witness through the Holy Spirit. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, there is still only one Way... the way of the Cross. "pick up your cross and follow me" says the Lord. St. Paul said we must "DIE to ourself and LIVE through Christ" and again " not me but Christ that lives through me." Our perspective is flawed, our psyche is fallen and corrupt. We canot mend it through Freudian psychology or by being "churched". IT MUST DIE !!! WE MUST DIE !!! "for the wages of sin is death" only through Christ can we be resurrected a new creation with a new, pure heart and mind.
Nicodemus asked " how can a man be born again when he is old?" you may ask " how can I die and still live?" Jesus said " unless the seed be buryed in the earth and die no plant will grow, but if it die then shall it grow and produce much fruit" He spoke not only of himself but also of us, as we follow Him. Unless we die to ourselves, (our wants, our desires, our likes, our dislikes, our prejudices) we canot grow and bare fruit. We must allow the Holy Spirit to completely replace our own corrupt spirit. We must die within, totally and completely.

Before, i left out 'Spirit filled', now the explanation. This term, like 'born again' before it, has been used, abused, and drug into disrepute. What is it to be 'spirit filled', the technical definition is to be possesed. Just as a demoniac is possesed, filled with evil spirits, and therefore under their control and influence so can the believer be filled with the Holy Spirit and under His direct control and influence. Unlike demonic spirits, the Holy Spirit will not compete with the resident psyche for authority. There can be only one Lord. Jesus said you cannot worship GOD and mammon (this material existence) so the infilling of the Holy Spirit will not come until we 'die to this life'. He will not compete for control. We must give ourselves wholly and without reserve.
Unfortunately, as there are many 'christians' who are not saved, but have a social faith, so are there 'spirit filled' christians who have taken that 'social faith' to a new level. As with Freuds clucking chicken, they perform as they have been programmed. Their psyche has chosen displays of psuedo spiritual acts as being desirable and so they 'feel' the spirit move and they act. This of course, for the most part, is unconscious. They truly believe they are experiencing a 'move of the spirit'. Those Christ described at the judgement were totally confused when He said "depart, I knew you not". They were self deceived into thinking they were serving GOD. After all, they had cast out demons, healed the sick, prophesied in the name of Jesus. They thought they were spirit filled believers.

GOD has a strong WORD for this generation. First and formost "ARE YOU TRULY SAVED?" Have you totally turned from your degenerate life, complete unreserved repentance? Or are you playing church, picking through the Scripture finding key verses to support what you want to believe and overlooking anything that offends? Are you open to the Holy Spirit as He, one by one, convicts you of your sins (brings them to light) and leads you more and more toward repentance? Are you totally repulsed by this life and your fallen state and prepared to take up your cross? "ARE YOU BORN AGAIN" a new creation in Christ.

Secondly, "ARE YOU FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT?" Not 'do you exhibit para-normal behavior?' Is the Holy Spirit a real, living, ever-present, influential part of your life? Is He your constant compainion as our Lord promised the Disciples when he said He was going away but that He would send the Holy Spirit? Does he walk with you as Jesus walked with the Disciples? The Holy Spirit is not just a giver of gifts or something to be brought out at need or desire. We do not invoke the Holy Spirit as a voodoo priest invokes his spirits. The Spirit doesn't 'move' because of our praise and worship, our praise and worship should be an outpouring of the Spirit within us.

Marx called religion the "opiate of the people", modern Christianity has become just that. Our Faith is not about what pleases us but what pleases GOD. The Cross teaches us that. Even our Lord, the very WORD of GOD made flesh was "obedient even unto death" to the WILL of the FATHER. Our GOD will accept nothing less than our total submission to HIM. HE doesn't require sacrifice, HE doesn't require offering, HE doesn't require anything, HE demands everything... "even unto death". St. Paul called it "giving ourself as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable."
As long as we are Christian because it makes us 'feel' good, that it soothes our conscience and promises heaven, then we risk the fate of hearing "depart from Me, I knew you not". We are doing no more than Freud predicted in his thesis. As long as our churches cater to those who have the "name of being alive but are dead" then they are just what Freud and Marx claimed them to be.

ARE YOU BORN AGAIN ... ARE YOU FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT ?

These questions are between you and GOD. Only you can answer and only GOD knows the heart of man. But these are critical questions pertaining to eternity. Be honest with yourself, don't be deceived, even by your own psyche. Even if you have been 'saved' for years, even if you consider yourself to be 'spirit filled', search your soul.