Organic Church – Holy Triage

How can people who read the same Bible and attend the same church have completely different interpretations of both God & the Bible?

Think of it like SECURE people and an INSECURE people.

If an INSECURE single person gets a smile from an attractive member of the opposite sex how do they handle it?

VS.

If a SECURE single person gets a smile from an attractive member of the the opposite sex how do they handle it?

When Jesus taught His parables He knew people would react in one of three different ways. Some people would interpret His parables totally wrong, some people would not be able to interpret them at all and some people would actually totally get it.

Today if I read the Bible believing God is mean and He hates me I will add something to it. If I read the Bible believing God loves me it makes it almost impossible to subconsciously add to it… since God is love.

Example: In the parable of the talents it is clear that the man who received the one talent did not believe God was good. See how not believing God is good effects his behavior…..

Mat 25:24-30 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. ” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Example: Few people in the Old Testament really GOT God like David did as revealed in the Psalms. David is even considered a man after God’s own heart.

Mat 12:3-8 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

I happen to believe the God of the old testament was totally misunderstood by His followers. In the above scriptures even Jesus clearly indicates these people didn’t GET God (saying David did get God). This makes me question some of the writings in the Old Testament

We live in a world that represents the elite’s vision to harvest profit. Everything including education is designed to make us produce for the elite. We are slaves and most of us don’t even know it. There are a few elite controlling the masses via big government and via large corporations. The elite keep us hypnotized with a few promises and the crumbs that fall from their tables. We are slaves until the day we become aware of our slavery. Once we are aware we often become alone because we begin to see something that most don’t see. We are hypnotized by the media, video games, greed for gadgetry, sex, a lust for power and popularity. EVEN when we launch movements it often becomes more about us then the cause. Once the elite can no longer rule us in this fashion then prepare for a dictatorship that will be soon to follow.

This is a reflection of a parent who keeps there kids entertained for the purpose of keeping them out of their hair. What happens when the child one day wakes up to this form of manipulation? On that day begins his/her revolution which is often labeled a rebellion.

The American Indians that we robbed, raped, lied to and then murdered did not believe in hierarchies. The American Indians did not believe people were meant to rule over each other. The people we stole this country from became our slaves for a time until the day we didn’t need them and decided to make them our enemies to justify murdering them. Today we are at risk of succumbing to the same fate under the power of the elite.

This is why I love the movie AVATAR!

It is the darkness that conceals what lies deep down at the core that God seeks to eliminate. All I did was articulate what some feel / sense yet fail to understand. Evil means simply to conceal the truth. The world we live in that God tells us to not be of has found many ways / means to shield the truth. Again… I know this is dark, but it is what many feel / sense yet fail to understand. HOWEVER, the truth is when a feeling / sense gets articulated (becomes light) causing some to go into denial (hide) and others to be set free.

We are like gifts that God is unwrapping in this life, but some would rather not be unwrapped because they prefer darkness rather then light.

In the past I have been guilty of planning and producing the “Me Show”. The “ME SHOW” is about trying to be somebody when you feel deep down like a nobody. I find it easy to love and forgive those types of people because I know what it is like to feel like a “nobody”. I have had friends that constantly boast and I have accepted them knowing that behind all the bragging lies pure misery. When your identity is based upon external forces that are beyond your control…. life is like riding a wild horse that can never be broken. I see people everyday thinking they have the power to break the wild horse (life), but these people are only happy when they are temporarily holding something, something that will eventually lead to their deep misery when the wild horse (life) kicks them off… over and over again. This is why I find the Buddhist concepts of desire leading to pain very realistic.

Now that my “ME SHOW” is over my goal today is to simply pour out my heart with no strings attached…. even draw attention toward others and away from me when I have the opportunity. Love given and received freely is my reward. I am glad to not be in a position where my financial security or my self esteem is dependent upon my popularity. I can freely speak my mind without the worry of people deleting me from their friends lists. After graduating from Bible college I decided not to be a pastor because watching other people’s “me shows” started making me sick to my stomach.

The best favor anyone can do for themselves is avoid seeking an identity in the girls, the gold and the glory. The smart girls can usually see right through you, the gold is easily lost unless you make it your wicked slave master and the fame only opens the doorway to controversy. When people identify with the girls, the gold and the glory they invite destructive fears into their lives…. fears that often bring death to their door step early.

The majority in the world that make $2.00 or less a day actually have jobs…… hence we have greed. Greed will forever say more for less. This greed at one point brought American cotton farmers to support the slave trades, but today we refuse to call people paid $2.00 or less a day by their true names…. SLAVES. We love the cheap labor that allows us to get more for less at our Walmart stores.

Today the only way to bring the manufacturing jobs & security back to America is through an economic collapse. The collapse is also hurting the rest of the world. As our wages fall…. so is the requirement for a lower cost of living. Today many are getting the lower mortgages required to be able to buy a home in our own country. What goes around comes around.

Don’t be fooled…. it is a war…. main street vs Wall-Street…. in America main street always wins because Wall-Street dies without us. So if you are unemployed, collecting unemployment, without health insurance or burdening the system in anyway….. fight on soldier! Victory is coming! Both the Government and Wall Street need to keep their cattle healthy so they can continue to milk them for maximum profits.

On a recent visit to my father’s house in CA my cat started doing something weird. As I was working at a desk I heard a clawing noise behind me. When I turned around I was surprised to find my cat sucking on a fuzzy purple robe and doing this marching motion with only his front paws. When I first saw this behavior I laughed because I knew right away it was a harmless disorder some cats have called kneading. My cat did this kneading for around 30 minutes straight and then curled up in a ball to take his routine nap. The next morning I noticed my cat kneading again, pawing and sucking this fuzzy purple robe for around 30 minutes each morning for 9 days straight.

As I have grown spiritually over the years I learned many new things. I have learned that ones psychological state effects how they see God and each other. I have learned that animals are complex creatures with personalities and they feel emotions. When I was a Christian I had a tendency to over-simplify everything in order to feel a sense of control. I looked at animals as disposable entertainment because we were taught that animals didn’t have souls. I was taught as a Christian to compartmentalize everything into it’s appropriate category. As I grew spiritually I realized that the tree of knowledge created this compartmentalizing and categorizing disorder a tradition carried on by religion. I have learned over the years exactly what Jesus meant when He said do not judge in Mat 7:1-2. I have learned that duality is a crime to spirituality.

Some people believe a cat’s kneading behavior is a developmental issue caused early on when a cat is a kitten. I suspect that when a kitten has either nursed too long or not long enough the psychological impact causes this weird behavior. As I watched my cat’s weirdness each morning I began to wonder about the weirdness in myself caused by the things in my past. I wondered about the wounds that were left unhealed far too long or development that may have been stunted by a well meaning nurturer. I love my cat in spite of his weirdness to the degree that I consider him a member of the family. In fact I love my cat more because of his weirdness because his weirdness makes me feel more connected with him. Why does human weirdness have to divide people as it often does? The simple reason I could connect with my kneading cat is the fact that I am connected to my own weirdness. Jesus said before you attempt to remove the speck in your brother’s eye first remove the plank in your own. Our familiarity with our own flaws is what helps us to see more clearly for the purpose of loving people in the purest form possible.

So there you have it…. a lesson on weirdness and how it connects with a beautiful side of loving each other. If you understand weirdness you can love someone deeper, but if you refuse to understand weirdness your relationships will lack the grace and mercy that Jesus spoke about. Love thrives in understanding and dies when it is not understood or when a person refuses to understand. So much for blind faith. Understanding breeds compassion, forgiveness and grace. To be loved is to be understood, to be lonely is to be constantly misunderstood.

“As I Attract The Way, I Will Travel It” – Matthew Ward

Explanation: People who constantly attract abusive people or who constantly end up in abusive circumstances (not knowing why) are self abusers. Only a self abuser could sit in an abusive church congregation and be completely blind to the abuse taking place. This is the essence of spiritual blindness and why Jesus said first look at the log in your own eye before you point out the speck in your brothers. Self abusers struggle with the concept of mercy and grace toward both themselves and others therefore they harbor a lot of grudges. Self abusers keep long lists of people and evidence in there hearts that are a reflection of victimization. All this negative energy finds its way out in the form of abuse that is both given and taken. Some people love drama for this reason because it validates them. One result of an identity crisis is the need to create enemies for the purpose of establishing a personal identity. We create a dramatic story where we are the hero and others become the evil enemy. George W Bush did this and all it did was screw up the world and cause wars. Entire religions and movements have been established on the above principles. We feel like we need to create a group, religion or church for the purpose of identifying with or defining ourselves. People make a lot of money off of our hunger for a sense of belonging. People often get rich by simply finding a way to capitalize upon this collective identity crisis. The end result is the designer of this great scheme laughs his/her way all the way to the bank. Self abusers / the abused both abuse and attract abuse.

The cure: Jesus basically said have no enemies when He said love both friend and enemy the same. We know we are cured when we first learn to identify and live inside our own mess which results in us being more tolerant and understand of other peoples messes. Eliminating the need to create or join groups, religions, movements and all sorts of false solutions all for the purpose of putting our identity crisis at ease. This whole idea is a paradox of the sorts. The above truth is so powerful it could get me crucified like it did someone else I know.

We live in an abusive world that is often totally blind to this vicious cycle….

There has been collective spiritual growth through the centuries; yet most refuse to learn from the history of slobbering babies who could not get along with God or each other. Today the institutional church baths in ego when they demonize other spiritual belief systems and choose to give precedence to political & military powers over love. The old testament is an accurate history book about God’s bride Israel getting it wrong over and over again. Those who refuse to question Israels actions risk repeating the same mistakes. If genocide is wrong today it was wrong yesterday too. If slavery is wrong today it was wrong yesterday too. If sexism is wrong today it was wrong yesterday too. If racism is wrong today it was wrong yesterday too. If we fail to learn from history we will be doomed to repeat it both collectively and individually. The opposite of love is fear and ego is a form of fear. God is love, satan is ego.

Satan is ego. I am not talking about the sense of self that enables you to understand others. Let me demonstrate the characteristic of ego as the Bible in 1st Cor 13 demonstrates the characteristics of love. Ego takes a believer and reduces him to a judge sitting high and mighty with the idea that he can fix the world around him. Ego breeds a hero complex instead of love. Ego causes division amongst people as they try to fix each other instead of love each other. Ego causes believers to fail at providing others room to grow. Ego wants to brand movements of God under a particular denomination. Ego is what causes institutional churches to focus on growth at any cost as they consume money meant for the poor to build bigger buildings. Ego sends believers out to find their lives / purpose and causes them to self destruct in the process. Ego is what makes true spiritual community impossible because it creates the masks we wear when we are afraid to let people see our messy lives. Ego paints the illusion that some are better then others so that all of us aim to become something instead of just living / loving in the moment. Ego is usually behind unforgiveness and thirst for vengeance. Ego collectively causes wars amongst nations who think it is their job to fix each other. Ego leads ultimately to death as it breads hatred which is murder. Ego is a heavy burden to bare and it crushes people slowly suffocating them under it’s weight. Ego breeds idolatry causing people to reverence men more then they reverence God. Ego is shallow and superficial; it destroys families driving men and women to mid-life crisis in search of a new partner to satisfy their egos hunger. Ego is satan.

We all have appetites for something. I just got back from a business trip and spent a single night in Las Vegas a.k.a. sin city. After going to sleep in my hotel room at 10:10 PM I had a rude awakening. The drunk couple in the room next door started fighting. The argument they were having got louder and louder. For some reason I was not mad about the noise, but instead curious about the content of the argument they were having. As the argument escalated a lamp hit the wall and shattered, then the man started getting physically violent with his girl friend. It became obvious that I needed to call hotel security to intervene. The reason I feel compelled to write this article is the underlying reason many people go to Las Vegas a.k.a. sin city. This article is about the unhealthy appetites in each one of us and the painful path they often carve out in our way. In this article I will be addressing the beast within each and every one of us.

Last week I watched a documentary on methamphetamine addiction. I learned about the lengths a person will go to support their drug habit. Some people become hard workers in order to make the money necessary to support their habits. I have a very close friend who was a cocaine addict and literally became the hardest worker in his company to support this habit. I once knew a cocaine dealer who at times made up to $40,000 per week selling cocaine and he used another legitimate business as a front to launder that money. I have met many different forms of addicts, but they all have one thing in common they need money to feed the beast within.

What is the beast within?

There is a saying that goes like this “There is no rest for the wicked”. To discover our own beast within we need to look no farther then our own appetites. For some it is as easy as to follow the money and where they spend it, but for others it may require deeper analysis. Here is a good example. A man with a mid-life crisis feels as if his life has not amounted to much. A mid-life crisis is based around the following questions. Who am I after all these years? Who did I set out to be and why did I miss that mark? A married man in a mid-life crisis will long for the look that he may have once saw in his wife’s eyes. Every man knows what I mean when I mention that special look. This look a man once saw in his wife’s eyes helped form this image of himself that he once loved. As time passed in his marriage he started seeing this look less and less frequently in time even losing his own self respect. I guess a mid-life crisis or an identity crisis in general could be defined as a quest to find the person you once were or the quest to find a certain reflection of yourself you once saw in the eyes others. Other examples of identity crisis are linked to a pastor’s church shrinking or a movie stars ratings shrinking or a rock star’s fan base shrinking. The beast within is always linked to a need for affirmation, security or validation for the purpose of easing tormenting fear.

The lengths people will go to feed the beast within

Show me a successful entrepreneur and in most cases I will show you a man with a horrific beast within. Investigate the divorce rate amongst entrepreneurs and you will most likely find it is alarmingly high. Why is a man able to work endless hours and why was he even willing to sacrifice his own family to achieve success? Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” However make no mistake because the beast comes in many different forms and cannot be limited to money alone. Today we have different terms for this beast like obsessive compulsive behavior or addictive personality disorder, but all these represent different forms of the beast within us. Where do we spend most of our time, what lengths are we willing to go and what does that tell us about who we are? Some people are so obsessed with becoming an authority that they despise all authority. Look at successful pastors and politicians and you will often find a ferocious beast within these leaders. In conclusion, we can link all sin and the breaking of every one of the Ten Commandments to the lengths that people are willing to go to feed the beast within.

Our imperfect human nature will subconsciously and naturally look outward to fill internal emptiness. Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone”. If there is a fire inside your house eating out is not the solution. True it is hard to find the time these days to reflect inward. Reflection and meditiation are often uncomfortable especially if we are completely honest with ourself in the process. Sometimes we would actually rather read books that are the result of other peoples’ reflection and meditiation to find a solution. Sometimes we would rather gleen from other’s intimacy with God rather then experience our own intimacy with God. We wonder why our problems not only fail to be solved, but seem to get worse. Seeking outside solutions may provide shallow and momentary relief, but not a genuine solution.

We constantly try to solve spiritual problems with physical solutions. Reaching outward for solutions only further blinds us causing more stumbling in the dark. The truth is our psychology and our spiritual state of being are the same. The same lies that cause our psychological problems are also creating our spiritual problems. You cannot seperate pschology and spirituality. The lies we believe about ourself, God, others, the past, the future or anything else these same lies will influence our spiritual beliefs. The only cure is finding the truth and in the truth finding freedom. Meditation and reflection done honestly will lead us toward the truth and ultimately to freedom. Many of the spiritual leaders today sought out these positions as a cure for their own emptiness only to find a deeper emptiness. God is not calling you outward, but inward. Many people I have met with a so-called “calling from God” turned out to be very psychologically damaged and ministry was a way of running from the truth about themselves.

Looking for God…… well you will find Him in your own heart if you look for Him there. The image of God is true lawfulfilling love. Healthy marriages, healthy parenting and healthy relationships reveal a kind of love that heals the soul. The source of healthy relationships is a correct view of ourselves that comes from God. We have to get that love directly from God and not mediators like churches, pastors, books or any other outside source. We are responsible to have our own intimate relationship with God first hand. What if in my marriage I had some mediator between my wife and I? What if I only related to my wife through what other people said about her in her old year books? Jesus said “see this temple? I tell you not one stone will be left upon another”. God does not like mediators and He Himself is knocking on your heart wanting to come inside. Jesus said call no man Rabi, father or teacher. Relating to God through mediators will only give you a foggy view of God at the least. Do you want to settle for at best a blurry view of God for the rest of your life?

Faith in illusions is a bondage. I see people in chains every single day. Even somedays I find myself in chains. One way anxiety comes into existance is when we have more fear of our weaknesses then we have faith in God. The real Gospel is just as much about freedom then it is about grace. Jesus said it Himself… He said He came to set the captives free. Every single day I see people in chains and sometimes it is me. Jesus already paid the price for our freedom and so freedom is just a matter of choice. Freedom is not always an easy choice and therefore many choose captivity over freedom. People may seem happy in prison, but they are still captive. In prison you can still eat, sleep and communicate. In prison you can even have good days, but you are still in prison. Here is a reality that can free you from bondage. We are all in a prison and not only are we in prison, but we all are on death row.

 Freedom and intimacy go hand and hand. When we are not free our relationships suffer horrible consequences. A person cannot be intimate with God or anyone until they are free. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Paul called himself a bond slave. A bond slave was a slave that was set free, but then chose to willfully serve his master for life. Freedom first then true service is next. Some people seem free, but there is obligation at the core of everything they do. If our actions don’t come out of our hearts or they are not founded upon love then we are not free. If your faith is placed in an illusion you have no free will because the illusion is your master.

Our faith is often placed in illusions. In life there is one true reality and that is love. A person cannot be intimate with God or anyone until they have faith in that someone. Our goal should be to tear down the things that compete against reality in peoples’ lives. Today we may find out the things we held so dear were actually holding us. Today the true foundation of our lives may be proven weak as it starts to crumble. Today we may find out who really is free in Christ vs who was putting on a good show when their false foundations seemed strong. Trials bring awareness of our weaknesses and sometimes simple awareness is the solution. Humility combined with trials will bring us precious lessons. Lessons are the realization of where we fall in the scale of illusion and reality. We live in a constant battle between who we think we are verses who we actually are as a person. Our faith is always on either a reality or an illusion.