I am sitting in LAX airport and I have just finished reading comments from so called watchmen as they are attempting to lynch some of my friends in ministry. So I may be a little sensitive on the following topic of “Truth and Fact.”

So I ask you, is truth and fact the same thing? That ought to make one stop and think a bit. I do not think they necessarily are. There are two things that separate truth from fact or make fact truth, the first is context, and the second is motive.

CONTEXT
Contest is the tone, attitude and environment of the moment something was spoken or revealed. I have watched, and read articles that crucify some of my ministry friends These watchmen typically take facts out of context, then distort and twist the fact to make it seem like error and heresy and then label my friends as heretics. In this day of sound-bites and editing technology, one can make anyone say anything about any topic.

MOTIVE
The famous quote of former President Clinton, “it depends on what your definition of ‘is’ ‘is’,” actually becomes the quintessential example of motive’s involvement with truth and fact. What said was fact, but it was not truth, why? Because it was being spun or inappropriately used to make it seem as if he was innocent of the charges.

Truth takes into consideration the hidden reasons why we say what we say. Fact only addresses the words that were said.

Why is this important? Because the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of fact – He is the Spirit of Truth. He knows the thoughts and intents of our heart. He know where we come from to get to where we are. He knows our life in Jesus is a process. To know Him is to know truth and truth sets us free. Fact on the other hand imprisons us and leads us astray.

To live a true, pure spiritual life, one must be able to differentiate between truth and fact. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil contained the “fact” of good knowledge and evil knowledge. The Tree of Life was full of Truth.

Blessings,
John Paul

Now that you have had a Selah moment or a chance to ponder my last posting I want to continue this train of thought for just a little longer. Why? Because I do not want you to misunderstand what I am writing and I also want you to understand what Paul wrote in the Book of Romans.

What I have written is what the Apostle Paul wrote, only using a little different vocabulary. True, Pure, Deep, Spirituality cannot happen as long as we think absolutes are dead. Yes, once the absolutes are written on our heart, we do not have to think on absolutes, they become spiritual habits or a way of life. But, we need to know they are there when confusing choices lie before us. They help us separate the Tree of Life from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and every choice comes from one of those two trees.

IS THE LAW DEAD
Therefore, I am not saying the Law is to be carried out to the letter, the letter of the Law still kills. However, we keep thinking this means the Law is dead, yet isn’t what Jesus said true? He came not to end the Law, but to fulfill the law – how? So how is the Law fulfilled but not dead? Simply this, Jesus was the bodily representation or application of the Law among us. When we look at Him we see the Law of God applied.

In following Him, the Law should move from our head to our heart. The Pharisees could not make that transition thus Jesus spoke to them and said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” In other words they did not want to apply the Law to their theology – their logic, pride and personal agendas blinded them and kept the Law the Law and they missed the application of God’s Love applied to their life.

If we would pause to think about it, the very embodiment of Scripture, the Word, the Son of God, was standing there among them and they thought He was the son of Beelzebub.

It is the application of the Law that allows us to know that stealing is still illegal, murder is illegal, adultery is still immoral, incest is still a crime; all are part of the Law – all are absolutes applied to life. Only the True, Pure, Holy Spirit of God can reveal the application of the Law to turn the Law into the absolutes of life.

SATAN IN HEAVEN
Think about this - Satan was in Heaven for a long time before he fell. He fell because he did not acknowledge the absolutes of God. Satan actually thought that God’s absolute attributes of Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Immutability were not absolute. If He knew they actually were absolute, then he was stupid to try supplant God. I doubt Satan is stupid, because as the “anointed cherub” that would mean God created a stupid cherub to hover over His throne – NOT!

Satan must have thought God was not absolute in any way to think he could win that battle. We can make the same mistake today. We can misjudge God’s absolute nature and think He is just a higher life form that is making suggestions as to how we should live. No wonder Jesus told the Pharisees their father was the devil – in principle, they thought the same way Satan did when he tried to overthrow God. Let’s not make the same mistake.

SELAH
John Paul

Nothing is wrong with seeing God’s laws as absolutes, but it is the application of those absolutes that give life. The letter of the law still kills. Some of you, like Antonio, One of Those, and Renae caught the importance of application. Absolutes without application are held only in the head and will be applied through intellect, passion, and stubbornness or the soul. It is the application of absolutes that moves them to our heart and it is only the One, True, Pure, Holy Spirit that gives that application. To sum this thought up, True, Pure, Spirituality is deepened by the application of God’s absolutes. Thus the reason for covering this topic under the theme of Spirituality.

THE APPLICATION OF ABSOLUTES
This is why the Psalmist wrote, “I delight to do Your will, O my God,” and “Your law is within my heart. Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.” And, “Oh, how I love Your law It is my meditation all the day.” It is the application of God’s law that hands to us the liberty contained in the absolutes of love and life. In a particular application, one might now be able to say, it is not the lobster that is evil; but, the cholesterol it contains that may eventually kill you.

With that thought in mind, we can now focus on the original intent of God’s absolutes. Absolutes are not the “do not’s “ of God, they are the principle’s of abundant life. They keep us in relationship with God and His creation, a creation that was specifically designed by God to aid us in our journey in this life and the life to come. Because we are alive we can fulfill our God created purpose – hard to do if we are dead.

SHADOWS OF MUCH BROADER MATTERS
Absolutes represent more than the law we think they represent. Absolutes are actually a shadow of the real and much broader issues with God. One of God’s absolutes can apply to hundreds of matters not specifically mentioned in the absolute itself. God’s absolutes are there because He loves us and He knows what is best for us and keeps us in harmony with Him and his creation. There are three main principles that God’s laws apply to– revelation of who He is, recognition and protection from evil, and fullness of an abundant life for us.

I like what Renae said, “I don’t let my children play in the highway. It isn’t because I am a mean, overbearing mother - it is because I love them with all my heart. I don’t want them to get hurt.” Yet, I might add, when we tell them to not play in the street they see it as a law that is senseless – they have not made the application of potential danger to the absolute of love.

CONSEQUENCES AND THE RIPPLE EFFECT
The consequences of the violation of absolutes can be short lived or permanent. If I die because I played in the street and was run over; it is rather permanent. If I am dismembered from that violation it is still permanent, though I have my life. If I am injured and fully recover, it is still very painful and the fear of the street can linger for years.

God prefers we do not go through any of that – it is part of His great love for us. So we are beginning to see that it is not just the violation of an absolute that is the problem, it is the ripple effect that continues after the initial consequence. Those ripples continue long after we have forgotten what the violation was. When the consequence appears it is to our advantage that we understand God did not do this to us, the choices we made, perhaps long ago did. He sets before us choices, choices for blessings or evil, but we make the choice.

ABUNDANT LIFE
So we find law without application kills freedom and law with application creates not only freedom but also abundant life. When an absolute resides in our heart. We can now say, “Oh, I get it – God did not want me to get hurt” rather than, “God is so dictatorial, He won’t even let me play in the street.”

Think about it, your life could dramatically change.

Blessings,
John Paul

This may shock you, but here can be no deep, true, pure, spirituality without absolutes. Absolutes give us the boundaries of spirituality and keep us from innocently transitioning to pseudo spirituality in our desperation to know what spirituality really is. To not have absolutes of any kind will always results in lawlessness, a loss of unity, and eventually anarchy. There can be little if any personal direction and social unity without absolutes.

CONSCEQUENCES
When we begin to explore the world of absolutes, we begin to see that for each absolute there is a consequence. If there is no consequence, there is no absolute. What we face at the moment may be an option, but options do not carry the same kind of consequences that absolutes carry. The consequences to an absolute may be beneficial (a blessing) or harmful (a curse) to the individual depending on whether they violated or adhered to the absolute.

GOD’S ABSOLUTE OF LOVE
“For God so “loved” … He sent His Son.” Absolutes are about love not punishment. What Jesus did in taking the form of man, freely giving his life for man, raising from the dead, as well as taking the keys to death, hell, and the grave was not only miraculous, but monumental. In essence Jesus, if you believe what He did, returned man’s right standing with God. If one does not believe in His light, then one continues to be not only subject to the darker powers of this world, but also becomes a pawn of the darkest power. Sadly, perhaps unknowingly they have made this darkest power their god (notice lower case “g”).

In other words, Jesus re-established the absolute of God’s love ruling the world. This rule is called the “Kingdom of Heaven.” Here, as His Kingdom comes and His will is done, the benefits of the Kingdom are not only seen, but experienced. You see, without God’s absolutes the Kingdom of God does not rule and the benefits of the Kingdom do not come.

THE HEART NOT THE HEAD
Absolutes have their greatest benefit when they are held in the heart and not in the head. With the Law of the Old Testament, absolutes were held in the head. Periodically the One, True, Pure, Holy Spirit would visit individuals, and most of the time that Spirit of God mostly visited the prophets, priest, and kings. But, remember with the advent of the infilling or ingesting of the One, True, Pure, Holy Spirit, it is now possible for God’s Spirit and His absolutes to be within, to be written on Hearts of flesh. [If you are new to this blog, you may want to check prior postings for explanations of this ingesting of the Spirit)

Most who believe they are spiritual will have to overcome their tendency to resist this line of thinking and stop running from absolutes in order to enter into the deeper spiritual life. You will need a little time to do this, so…..

Part II will come in tomorrow’s post. It may rock your soul, but your spirit will rejoice. Again, you will need a little time to digest this post before the next post will take root – be sure to read it. Yes, I mean tomorrow’s posting – smile.

Blessings,

John Paul

Okay, this posting stirred the pot! Please keep in mind that all manner of people read this blog, not just Christians. So when I write, I write to reach both communities - believers and nonbelievers. We even have several witches who read it. So do not let a religious nature over react to something I have not written. For example, please tell me one place I mentioned the laws of God in my last post - I do not think you will find the reference. However, I will inject here that even the non Christian would be hard pressed to prove that the ten commandments are not absolutes.

So here are a few non-law absolutes as examples.

ABSOLUTES OF GOD
* God is not mocked. Whatever you do in True, Pure Spirit will come back to reward you in some fashion. Whatever you carnally, selfishly do will also come back to you in some fashion.

* Whatever you focus on you make room for in your life.

* Whatever you fear you empower over your life.

* Faith and fear, at their root, are the same thing - they both believe something that hasn’t happened is going to happen.

* As a man thinks in his heart so is he.

YOU AND ABSOLUTES
So what are some absolutes you have found? Please keep your answers to less than 40 words per absolute or we will not post them. There are some long winded writers out there in blog land.

Blessings,
John Paul

Absolutes certainly are a touchy issue aren’t they? Before we can understand that there are absolutes we need to live by, we need to understand that there is a God who is absolute and not confused by issues of right or wrong, precious or vile, clean or unclean, Holy or profane. He alone is absolute and all that proceeds from Him, His ways, are absolute and perfect.

It is what He believes is absolute that we are to be concerned about. Those absolutes determine the well being of all of Creation, not just mankind. Absolutes hold the creation together in a state of well-being. Without absolutes the atom has no structure, molecules do not form, and cells disintegrate. The One God has made absolutes to permeate the essential nature of creation including how mankind relates to each other and to Him. The reality is that the choices mankind makes, as stewards or overseers of this Earth, has impact on this Earth, and the Earth has impact on all of Creation. Thus the ripple effect of not keeping the absolutes of God means we lose that which God created us to have – a vibrant life in Him.

WIPING OUT ABSOLUTES
Once we wipe absolutes off of our moral or True, Pure, Spiritual grid it will not be long until the path we have chosen removes any possibility there is a God who is absolute and perfect. We are then left to our own devices, which has always proven to be degenerative to society or mankind. God’s perfection as the only Uncreated, Self-existent One, and therefore the only Deity makes Him more than just a “higher life form.” If He were simply a higher life form, we eventually could evolve to His level and become like Him. This lie has been propagated from the beginning of man and has always resulted in a loss of life and True, Pure, Spirituality – communion/connection with God.

ABSOLUTES OF GOD
In light of this, it is not the absolutes of humans, but the absolutes of God we must be concerned with. Like God, those absolutes do not change. They exist to aid mankind in living an abundant life free from darkness and to advance the Kingdom of God here on Earth as it is in Heaven. They reveal the ways of God and help us know Him.

When I hear individuals express their concerns with absolutes, it is usually because they do not want to adhere to them. When their objections are boiled down to the core essentials, their objections are usually for one or two reasons. Either, they are trying to see how much they can live by their own rules without God rejecting them, or they have a closer relationship to others than to God and in so doing care more for the thinking of others than the thinking or ways of God.

TWO PATTERNS
If they are trying to live by their own rules, then attached to those rules will be their own principles, values, and moral code. Since we tend to love darkness rather than light, that means our rules may look good, but that good is temporary and a facade that leads to greater darkness and personal deterioration not only in our life, but in those lives we touch. That personal code becomes a spiritual placebo and will always be errant, and ego centristic in nature. Thus, the distance between God and those with their own rules grows all the while they think they are deeply spiritual and in right standing with God – and at some point God alone decides - they are not.

If they have a closer relationship to others and care more for the thinking of others (including their own thinking) than the thinking or ways of God then they will never know God. This line of thinking promotes the creation over the Creator, leads to continued deterioration and eventually reprobate or totally degenerate thinking. Those who hold this line of thought cannot accept the absolutes of God because the natural mind cannot understand the matters of the Creator who is True, Pure, Spirit. These matters are revealed Spirit to spirit. That which is created will never acquire all the answers that the Uncreated has never not known.

Blessings,
John Paul

When I wrote that God would release “moral champions, who refute cultural moral relativism, and call sin – sin,” I did not mean that these champions would practice “old time religion” and hammer others with their beliefs. Nor would they speak from “self imposed religious loftiness.” Instead I was following the train of thought established earlier in the blog that refuted condemnation and spoke of loving those who do not know True, Pure Spirituality – or its beginning form often called salvation (see Romans 5:10).

We need not demand others to be perfect, but we do need to follow the one who lived a perfect life. We are to follow the one who was friends with sinners and yet did not compromise His belief structure. The one who clearly believed in absolutes and did not see absolutes as merely opinions formed by the belief set of the religious community (denomination) one was raised in. If He did, Jesus would not have called the leaders of the day, “white-washed sepulchers.” He would have instead tried to understand they had a right to their view and he had a right to His. Oh hog wash!

Jesus had a clear set of absolutes, and those absolutes were foundational to the building of the Kingdom. Yet, He without partiality applied them to broken people without condemnation. He called sin – sin in a way that attracted the broken rather than repelling them. Jesus did not hammer those who did not know Him - He loved them. He did not condemn, He convicted. He did not think in terms of situational ethics, but in terms of heavenly mandates.

To Jesus sin was not relative to the moment, it was absolute and it was destroying that which God had created.

I believe the Postmodern church has compromised Christian belief structures and lost track of Kingdom absolutes. In doing so, there is the danger of adopting the view of God as having no absolutes. Which is then followed by the belief there is no God, because there are no absolutes. Or if there is a God he is merely a “higher life form” to which we can attain.

Moral relativism says there is nothing wrong with homosexuality – it is relative to the individual. Then, I ask, how about incest – is it wrong or is it relative to the individual as well? What about murder – is it also relative to the individual? The list could go on and on. Society and the world will collapse without the absolutes of the Kingdom.

I do believe that if we lived a life that demonstrated the love and the power of the Kingdom, we would not have to trumpet against sin. We would also not back down when confronted with statements that were unbiblical or anti-Christ either. We would explain the truth of Jesus whom we follow and do that with deep felt love.

Is there anyone who is righteous enough to become a moral champion? The apostles were, leaders of the early church were. Moral champions are not perfect, they simply follow Him who is perfect. They admit their failures and live a humble and transparent life. Are they rare today? – yes, they are almost nonexistent, but that does not mean that God cannot mature them and raise them up. True, Pure, Morality is the fruit of True, Pure, Spirituality.

If no one lives a True, Pure, Spiritual life, who will be a witness to God’s existence? Our life should be that. Jesus said we are to be witnesses when the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us. So how then do we do that?

Moral relativism causes there to be little or no distinction between those who know the One, True, God and those who do not. No wonder the world sees the church as irrelevant.
Blessings,
John Paul

It has taken some time, but Oprah has quietly risen over the years to a place of prominence, partly because she is committed to helping others, partly because she feels she was born to do this, and partly because she is deeply interested in spiritual matters. Her commitment, financially, visually, and socially has struck a chord in the hearts of many who deep down inside know there is more to life than logic driven solutions. To them it is clear there is invisible matter and life out there and it is superior to the visible life we pay so much attention to. The problem lies in the question, “What invisible world are we talking about – dark or light?”

Rather than ramble on about all the things that we read, hear, and see that endorse the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, I would like to focus on what can be done. Perhaps it will be no shock to you that I feel we should do nothing to boycott, or speak against Oprah or any other new Age guru or pundit. I believe our greatest gift to mankind is to live a spiritual life that demonstrates who God is and that there is only one way to know Him. If we would seriously do that we would change the atmosphere here on Earth and there would be a clear difference between those who know the One True God and those who do not.

There is not a dearth of God in the Earth, there is a dearth of deeply spiritual people who know God, live the life that evidences His presence within them, and display His Names to all they meet. Would the world be different in ten years if those who claimed to be Christians would radiate and demonstrate the presence of God in all they do? Nothing would change over night, but it would change faster than we can imagine. Why can’t we do this and more?

Why can’t we create a culture of Christ likeness, with love, power, and benevolence at the core of that culture? Why can’t we live a life that makes the solutions given by the likes of Tolle, Dyer, Walsh, Williamson, Brown, and others seem trite in the light of God’s presence. The counterfeit is only valuable when the original is absent. Yes, the world is feeding on imitations because we have not offered them the truth.

The problem is that it is easy to love the New Age message, because one does not have to live differently – simply stay on the Tree you are on and you can change yourself – you are god, you have that power. At least that is what the Tree of the Knowledge wants you to believe. But, to live a True, Pure, Spiritual life one has to change or be transformed.

In this age of moral relativism, the lines of right and wrong are becoming more and more blurred. It is believed that as long as we do not hurt anyone, we can do what we want. We have bought the lie that we are to live the good life, to be happy. But, in this day and age, happiness is thought be defined as pleasure and satisfaction – with no suffering or sacrifice. This thinking permeates the world and even the church. Yes, there are exceptions, but few when compared to the whole. The problem is that this is the life God asks those who want to live a True, Pure, Spiritual life to lead. We have to think more of others than our self. This does not mean we have to live in poverty, neither does it mean we get to keep all the money we make, nor all the things we have. The True, Pure, Spiritual life is a giving life – that is an undiscussed, and often undisclosed secret to the Life God asks us to live.

I suspect God is going to raise up men and women who take clear spiritual stands and become moral champions, who refute cultural moral relativism, and call sin – sin. Those who live a life as close to God as they can and not as close to the edge as they can get away with and still make it in the doors of heaven before they close.

What might those champions do to society and what would society look like as they arise in the land? What could be done if every personality did what God had gifted them to do? Would towns and cities change? What kind of backlash would they receive – if any and who from?

These are questions I am now asking myself. What am I to do with the talents and gifts God has given me in the last half of my life? How about you?

Blessings,
John Paul

I am struck by the comments you have offered to my two questions, “Why is this type of program so popular?” and “What do you believe should be done about this.” I am struck by the depth of thought you have put into your responses, and I am struck by their wonderful and yet profound simplicity. To sum up your answers:

“Why is this type of program so popular?” Because people are hungry for spiritual knowledge that can be easily obtained.

“What do you believe should be done about this.” We must live a life that radiates what we believe, with power and love from Heaven.

I would like to take this blog and the next couple blogs, if I might, to make a few comments as well.

Wisdom is found when there is a question or the need for a solution. There are three ways wisdom is found; the first is through education. Here in these institutions of intelligence quotients and scientific methods we find repeatable solutions that when applied to questions seem to have an air of wisdom, but if the solution seems illogical as did Solomon’s solution - divide the baby in half - the institutions crack under the scrutiny of an unperceived higher logic.

The second, is wisdom that is gained from experience. This wisdom is very slow to gain and most of the time it is very painful as well. These experiences produce a deep wisdom, a wisdom that transcends logic and yet retains the structure of logic in that it is intellectually plausible and potentially repeatable. Thus acceptable to most.

The third kind of wisdom, is a form of revelation and it is given directly from the Throne of God. This is the wisdom James was referring to when he penned, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given unto him.” This wisdom is both absorbed by reading God’s word and instantaneous the moment it is needed. It is the reason why we are not to think what we should say when we stand before Kings - the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say. It is the wisdom of Solomon in instantly knowing human nature and the love of a mother for her child. It comes from the Creator who knows all things and has all wisdom - and He loves to give it to mankind.

If there is wisdom to be found in the teaching of many of the New Age Guru’s, etc. it is a wisdom from the first two levels of wisdom and it teaches, as one of you aptly wrote, “self absorbed” introspection that says we are the answer to our problems - I can fix me. But, to a spiritually hungry world who is bored with the status-quo, any food is good food.

The church has not done itself a favor by discouraging anyone who has deeper spiritual leanings. Far to many are outside the walls of the church because ill-informed leaders handled spiritual encounters and spiritual questions the wrong way. I am not against the church, it is just that it is far too easily content with spiritual milk.

Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and almost all the prophets lived in times much like these. There was a huge ground swell of interest in the “metaphysical” and a host of magicians, clairvoyants, mediums, and the like to fill that interest. And like today, there were few to combat the counterfeit with the real thing. So, God gave enigmas that required True, Pure, Spirituality to understand or interpret them. That did not happen over night. Neither did it happen inside the walls of the church (Temple/synagogue). It occurred much more often outside than inside the house of God. Not that it should happen this way, but it did. I believe the Lord is about to do the same again.

Yes, people understand there needs to be a change and that change needs to be spiritual. So why is church attendance dwindling? Shouldn’t the church buildings be packed? Why aren’t there great spiritual leaders rising out of the ranks of the church? Yes, there are leaders rising, but I mean of the True, Pure, supernatual kind. Perhaps, because to many churches specialize in sermons and not in power. Perhaps the church has lost sight of the fact it is to be the “change agent” on this Earth. Perhaps it is because we are more consumed with programs and fads than power and the “Divineum Mysterium.”

I am afraid that the church, in trying to gain respectability, has adopted more of the worldly, naturalistic, and rationalistic approach to the spirit world than the world itself has. I do believe this will change.

More in my next blog.

Blessings,

John Paul

I have been flu ridden for several days. Combine that with commitments to travel to conferences and you have a recipe for fatigue not to mention bed time. Well, enough of me. Let’s get on to Oprah.

Oprah is rapidly taking on a more prominent profile of being a spiritual leader, which would not only include her funding the girls school in Africa, but now the show the “Big Giver.” Almost simultaneously, she is launching a ten week web seminar with author, Eckhart Tolle. Over 700,000 have signed up for this broadcast. So my questions to you are this, “Why is this type of program so popular?” And “What do you believe should be done about this?”

I’ll look forward to you comments.

Blessings,

John Paul