Tosca Lee Talking on Her First and Latest Books

Many of us who have walked outside institutional Christianity, have always had this desire to live outside the box and find the way the Lord wants us to meet and live under His headship.

With that in mind, I came across a young woman who writes in a way that we would appreciate, as she writes in an imaginative style that brings the story of Christ and the scriptures to light in a living, and sometimes disturbing way (to some).

I included an interview with Tosca as she talks about her two fascinating books and what it was that brought her to write them.

They are fictional, but imaginative accounts of how she sees behind the stories many of us know so well.

If you've read them or do read them, let us know what you think.

Demon



Havah

Phil Wickham Singing "Divine Romance"

A Lesson from the 'Jesus People'

I think that in the distant future, historians interested in Christian history will look back at what's called the "Jesus people" movement and identify it as a turning point in history overall.

Why do I say that?

Not because of the elements connected to what happened, as most of them fell by the wayside and very little is left today from the experience. While there are people who do connect it with some ongoing Churches today, overall it has largely been neglected or misunderstood as to its importance.

What were some of the characteristics connected to it? Community, innocence, passion, spontaneity, little leadership, creativity, ordinary people, communalism, excesses in some cases, organic, simplicity and short-term thinking, among many other things.

While much of that is important, it's not what makes the experience significant. What makes it significant is that God Himself initiated the move; it was happening outside the institutional church and institutional leaders. That's one of the reasons when many have commented on it throughout the years, much of the excesses are mentioned, rather than the tremendous strengths involved as well.

As a matter of fact, when the institutional church finally caught up with them, the impetus was winding down, and the 1972 event called Explo 72 was probably the final nail in the coffin. At that event none other than Billy Graham and Bill Bright played significant roles in the meetings which attracted tens of thousands.

A lot of believers have felt that the watering down of the message and institutional church leaders influencing the naive new believers into wearing the right clothes and hair lengths (outward appearances) took the focus off of the simple love of Jesus they had been centered on.

The point I want to bring up though is one of the major reasons the movement stalled and failed, and what we can learn from it.

Primarily it was a victim of its own success. When it became public knowledge and the media began to cover it, it was doomed to failure.

This is important because it's far better when important change like this happens that believers can grow up in relative anonymity until God may choose to reveal Himself through them at the right time - if ever.

Very few believers can ever handle publicity or fame, and shouldn't really have to. Yet the media world we live in makes it hard to grow up spiritually in obscurity.

And if we do happen to become known, we start to think it's the Holy Spirit moving, when in fact it can be the very opposite. As Paul said, he was little known but well known. We need to be the same way. The church may know us, but we won't be popular in the world, and neither should we be.

It's far better to grow and live life in Christ in a quiet and peaceable manner, than it is to become well known and untold pressures put upon us.

There are ways to make an impact without becoming famous or important in our own eyes. The costs of becoming visible in the climate we live in is far too much of a price to pay.

Even so, we will be tested as to our foundations and commitment to the eternal purpose of God lived in us. It's hard enough to do it in everyday life, let alone adding fuel to the fire by allowing ourselves to be put under the type of scrutiny and opening ourselves up to all the people with agendas out there.

We need to be careful how we hold our stewardship of the eternal purpose of God. It's far more profitable to grow and learn spontaneously by the Spirit of God over a long period of time, than use the old methods of trying to increase through our own strength, strategies and plans, thinking we're called to do so.

The reason this is such a temptation is we see something of the heart of Christ in His purpose, as then respond in our own strength, thinking we're increasing the kingdom of God, when in reality we're building our own kingdoms out from ourselves rather than out from Him.

In the end, I don't think what began to happen in the mid 1960s was a failure in any way. What it did was remind us that God can easily move outside the institutional church system, and can make an extraordinary impact on the lives of men and women who want only Him.

The key thing we need to learn if we want to go forward is to stay focused on Christ alone, and stay away from the temptation to become well known. Even if we are approached and we think it's a good opportunity to grow and become known, I would stay away from it and quietly let the Lord do His work.

After all, He's never in a hurry.

This isn't to discourage growth, just that it has to be growth from God rather than human ingenuity and thinking.

What happened with the publicity connected to the Jesus people was the immaturity of the new and primarily young believers was used as an excuse to attack the overall impetus of what God was doing, and the end result was that publicity caused the purpose to really be stillborn before it was able to take root.

We are at that stage again, as Chrisians start to look seriously at alternative ways of meeting as the church and what it really means. Unfortunately there are already those who are off the foundation of Jesus Christ and embracing all sorts of irrelevant worldly issues rather than the only thing that really matters.

Don't be discouraged though if you're not one of them. All the publicity they're attempting to generate will fall by the wayside relatively soon, as it always does.

For those serious and focused on Christ alone, we need to continue to hold to the head and not be tempted to let go.

Much of what the Jesus people experienced for a short period of time was from God and gave a little glimpse of what is in store for the future of the church. Let us not be in too much of a hurry to grow and become well known, rather let us continue to root down deep into Him and never move off of that.

For those of you who have gathered quietly for a number of years, this doesn't mean growth won't come to you, just be careful of it coming forth from Jesus and not from the current temptation to make it a popular experience.

The Church as the Tale of Christ - Part 3

In reference to this unfolding story of God through Christ's body on this earth, we see that the reason God has a purpose of filling everyone with Himself is that He may show the mystery of who He is through a created people.

He not only wants the world to see this mystery that is hidden in Christ within us, but He also wants to unfold it to the invisible rulers and authorities as well: both good and evil.

As the people of God, we then are accountable to be still and know God, in order that we can tap into the already written story and then progressively grow in it, and then reveal it to the watching visible and invisible worlds.

This is of course done both individually and corporately, as we talked about recently. Yet, the individual participation is for the purpose of contributing to the corporate church so we can partake of that part of the story that's in one another. That's the reason we meet and get together, to show forth Christ in an ongoing and growing way.

Each of us are to contribute in order that the corporate body can increasingly show forth who God is in Christ in an ever-enlarging way.

That's why while we are one, we are at the same time a part of the whole. We need one another in order to fully reveal who Christ is, and for God to attain His purpose in us of being all in all.

Paul wrote that the church was a letter that existed to be read by all men. That's another way of saying we are a story, narrative or tale that God is writing by His very life within our spirits. Together we are to show forth the increase of that story from generation to generation until all of who He is is revealed in us.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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The Church as the Tale of Christ - Part 2

So when Christ was sent from the Father in heaven to this world, all that was of the Father was in Him.

Everything that mankind was meant to be was revealed in Him. Heaven had come to earth visibly in Christ.

Rather, the Father had come to earth in Christ, and the Lord lived His life by the Father's life within Him.

Yet, even though He had the Father's life within Him, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature on the earth as a man. In other words: progressively. It'll always be the same for us, both individually and corporately.

So looking at this from the perspective of a story, we see Jesus unveil the Father to us, and He does it by living the story of the Father within Him outwardly before those who believed in, and/or followed Him around.

When we hear Christ telling us when He was on the earth that He was the truth, or the reality, this is much of what He was saying, that the story of His life He lived out before them was the story of His Father's life living out within Him and being expressed outwardly before their eyes. It was also being told through His lips and heard in their ears.

The point is a story was being revealed to them in the person of Christ, and it was the story of who the Father was in relationship to mankind, as revealed in the life story of Jesus Himself.

It wasn't an earthly story or a story originating from earth, rather it was a story from heaven, with its origin in the Father.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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The Church as the Tale of Christ

What is it that the Father wants to do in time and history? Most seem to get confused when the term eternal purpose is used and can get bogged down in uncertainty and confusion.

Let's look at it from the perspective of God narrating who He is to the visible and invisible worlds through telling the story of who He is via His people.

The end result of the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose is that He will be all in all. That means that from the perspective of telling a story, God will unfold Himself in His people over generations; not in only one generation.

At the point where God started the visible creation, the creation of the invisibles was complete, and He started His kingdom and will in the physical creation based on the perfected invisible world.

In other words, while things in the heavens are done immediately, things in the visible world follow progressively. That's the way of life in the visible creation. It's also why many people get frustrated with God, as they look for immediacy, when God, for the most part, works and reveals things progressively.

While there are occasional exceptions, overall this is the way God lives and works within and through us in the seen world.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 4

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom ..."

The purpose of this little series on knowing Christ individually and coporately was to help you understand the tension that can come about from seeing the value of displaying Christ as a people corporately, while also seeing that the only way Christ can be seen in this way is if individual members of the body are functioning and sharing within that context.

Many people think if you function individually that you're taking away from the coporate purpose of God: that's a misunderstanding and not true. Rather it's the very key of revealing who Christ is to one another and the world, as the input of many members gives a more full view of who He is, and others parts of the body of Christ become more fully orbed and reflecting Christ by how you function or what you verbally share.

But as the scripture above says, we must allow the Christ to dwell within us richly in order for this to work, and to present to one another the wisdom of God, which is Christ.

The problem in many attempting to do this without help is they draw from the world and the many things it offers, rather than Christ as the means to accomplish the Father's purpose. Many of you attempting to find this way of practicing Christ together are already way off the mark by focusing instead on irrelevant things like those who promote dubious environmental causes, homosexuals being born into their lifestyes, and a host of other things not related to Christ. You're unfortunately doomed to fail if that's the road you continue to travel.

All that is is a political philosophy built upon humanism you've learned in your high school and college classes. It has no place overall in the purpose of God, and is far from what God has purposed in Christ from before creation.

God is after Christ dwelling in you; both individually and corporately. Dwelling in you isn't referring to just getting you fire insurance and happily going your way, taking in every wind of doctrine along your wayward path. Christ dwelling in you is the formation of Christ within as you set your mind and will on Him who lives in you, and as the many challenges of life force you to hold to Him while He changes you through a myriad of ways into His very image. That's what the work of the cross does, weaken you so the life of Christ can be shaped within you. It's that life which is to be shared with one another, and which ultimately unveals itself as the fulness of Christ from that sharing.

That's what it means for the word of Christ to dwell richly in you. That's what is to be shared with one another and ultimately leads to the end of God's purpose that all should know Him from the least to the greatest. It's knowing Him and bearing His image that is the result of all this, and it can only be done as well as those who individually take Him up and then come together as one in Him.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 3

Eph. 4:16 - From Him (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Continuing on with the complimentary lifestyle that emerges from being one body but many parts, let's look at this verse to see how it simply operates in practicality.

First of all note "From Him," which determines the rest of the practical outworking of the body. For each part to properly do its work, we must be in Him to receive from Him. By in Him I mean in constant union with Christ so we can than bring forth His life to others in the body.

The next part telling us that the body is joined and held together by supporting ligaments because each part is doing its work. Here again we have the complmentary aspect of being one body but many parts.

Again, there can be no body if the parts aren't operating, as with a real, physical body it would shut down and either be sick or eventually die if the parts aren't doing what they're meant to do.

Remember that the end of the eternal purpose of God is to be all in all. This is meant to be seen in the physical world we live in through the body of Christ. This will never happen unless the people of God are in fellowship with Christ, and from there share the things Christ is doing in them with others in the church when they meet together.

Of course this goes beyond meetings to every aspect of life, as many things are practical and not only sharing through talking in meetings.

But the reason why a people are held together is because of this rich variety of sharing of things with one another which creates a type of bond that is eternal. This is why I say that there must be a strong individual relationship and connection with the Lord in order for the corporate body of Christ to emerge.

The body of Christ isn't a glob, but a conglomeration of many parts functioning in a way that makes the whole of Christ be seen. At least that's the goal of the Lord in living within us.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 2

Remember last post when we talked about going to the Godhead to see how things work? Here's one scripture that extends the understanding of that reality.

1 Cor. 12:4-6 (NIV)

"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men."

In other words, while there is an extraordinary variety of ways to express and reveal Christ through His people, it's the same God doing it all.

Remember the context of all of this was the Corinthians were scattered all over the place, separating into cliques and basically divided amongst themselves because they didn't understand that variety and oneness weren't in conflict with each other in the Godhead, rather they complimented one another.

Individuals who saw the Lord in certain ways weren't to separate because others saw another aspect of the Lord. It was the sharing of the Lord with one another that made them a body, a people. The problem with the Corinthians is they would separate over everything that came along, including those that brought a message to them.

Paul said it perfectly in verse 12 of I Cor. 12, saying it this way:

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

In verse 14 Paul continues saying, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many," and in verse 19 he asks the rhetorical question: "If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body." v27 - "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it."

The point of all of this is if you feel the tension and inner conflict concerning being one and many, remember that Paul explains to us the two compliment one another, and exist in time together. You can't have one without the other. You can't have corporate without individuality.

If you attempt to make something corporate without the body parts functioning in their role, you end up with something called a glob; a monstrosity. On the other hand if you have an individual unconnected to the body, they serve no purpose and have no impact on showing forth the many-sided wisdom that Christ is.

Only the body can truly show forth Christ, and that's done through each part properly functioning. To function properly they need to be in union with the Lord.

When this is lived out properly and healthily, the individual parts of the body show forth Christ far greater than could ever be seen, and at the same time the body than gives something back to individual parts which makes them grow in Christ in a way they couldn't on their own. This is how the two compliment one another. When this is lived out, the tension between the two disappears and flow together in a fantastic way.

One thing to keep in mind here, when taking into account the word individual, I'm not referring to what many in the Western world would call "independent." What I'm saying is the people of God can only truly show forth Christ in His fulness by offering up what each one of them have individually. The result is to see Christ in a way that can't be seen individually, no matter how far advanced a person is.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1

In the next several posts I want to talk about knowing Christ. What I want to do is help some of you in the area of individual versus corporately knowing Christ. There is sometimes confusion and uncertainty concerning the two dwelling together.

The reason this becomes an issue for those meeting outside institutional Christianity, is if we're following the right path, we'll in the beginning years have a focus on the corporate aspect of learning Christ (especially Westerners), as we're more of an individualist people than those from the East.

Sometimes those who understand the lack of corporateness in the Western church tend to focus so much on it that it can sometimes confuse and frustrate those who have a strong relationship with the Lord, and in some cases even make them feel guilty for doing it. This isn't done intentionally or in a evil manner, it's just that the focus on corporateness can make people feel uncomfortable pursuing the Lord in their private time individually.

What we need to do is go directly to the Godhead and see how things are done there.

One of the basic truths concerning the Godhead are that they are three but one and one but three. This is where we are to begin. In the scriptures concerning the practical outworking of the Godhead, we see that Father is called the Father of spirits, Jesus the bishop of the soul, and the Spirit the redeemer of the body. This doesn't mean there was any lack of oneness simply because they had specialties they ministered to. Rather it was from that oneness that it happened.

In the church we also see that while we are to be one, we at the same time operate in a variety of ways within that oneness. The reason we operate in a variety of ways is because we have something of the Lord to share with others. That sharing is what enlarges us corporately, and causes us to see the Lord in a much larger way. The way we get there is to know the Lord individually, share it corporately and see and grow in the Lord in a wider, fuller and deeper way than we could alone.

In the many years I've lived in the church outside the institutional churc boundaries, I've seen the ebb and flow of corporate and individual knowing of the Lord. The two work together and not alone. If you attempt to be solely corporate, an odd type of thing emerges, to the point where I've heard some even call themselves a "glob." The problem with something like this is the people can have community and hang out together, but also have a very limited experience and expression of Christ because they are fixated on the corporate part at the expense of the individual.

The point is you can hang out and do things together and still have a very limited relationship with the Lord. Again, the two must work together to have a healthy emergence of the image of God.

If brothers and sisters aren't individually pursuing and fellowshipping with the Lord, they sure aren't going to be able to come together and offer anything to one another that will have spiritual significance.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Christ wants to be seen, not simply heard

The end result of the eternal purpose of God is that He will be all in all; everything that He is will be embodied in His people. This is the ultimate purpose of creation, that who He is invisibly will be shown forth visibly in a people.

He does this through a love relationship with His people, whom He calls His bride. But Christ isn't looking for a trophy wife that is seen as worldly eye candy; an ornament built to impress the world. Many of the people of God wrongly believe they can impress the world by outdoing them. Yet it's futile to try to impress the world this way. You can't outworld the world - we were never meant to.

Just like Christ is completely different than us, as we allow Him to form and shape Himself within us, we become completely other than this world, which bears the imprint of Satan.

In other words, our purpose as a Church is to show forth Jesus Christ, to bear His image, to be a testimony of who He is. That's why Paul tells the churches that they are a letter meant to be read by all men.

Talking about the church as a candlestick, T.A. Sparks said:

"But we say to one another together - what matters it that we have meetings, larger or smaller, and go on with our teaching, with our magazine with a candlestick of gold printed on it? None of these things matters at all. I say, let them go, the Lord save us from them, unless, as the fruit of all and as the source of all, there is this light which is an impact - without any inconsistency, without contradictions, without a lie - so that our teaching is not in the first place heard but seen. If there is to be a coming and an enquiring, it is because something is seen. 'I turned to see the voice.' People are hearing things, and they are turning to see. What do they see? A light, not a teaching? A light with an impact?"

Sadly, a number of believers who think they're being radical and doing this, have already started off wrong, and instead of being a testimony of Christ are moving off Him as their purpose for being a people, and are embracing all types of worldly ideas and thoughts they think are important to God.

Instead of pursuing Christ, they're more interested in being politically correct and believing the many philosophical lies taught them in the school system and universities.

They are trying to impress the world by parroting their psychology and philosophies, rather than embracing Christ as their wisdom. They're blindly following the environmentalist mantra of endless fears, and think they're doing some type of service to Christ. They're following cunning fables created by fallen man and attempting to wrap the name of Christ around it like He's approving of it.

Those doing this won't last along outside the religious systems of this day, as Christ doesn't give or commit Himself to these types of irrelevant things. As the scriptures say, "perfect love casts out fear," and the river of doctrine flowing out of the world that attempts to strike fear in the hearts of man (and God's people)doesn't belong amongst the people of God. We not only need to quit embracing it, but we need ignore it for the most part.

I'm even starting to see a number of misguided and deceived people repeating the ugly lie that homosexuals are born that way, not even realizing they're attacking Christ and His view of that evil lifestyle. It doesn't matter whether it's the old or new testament, homosexuality has always been condemned by God, and to imply that it's the fault of Christ is wickedness, and there are people being given a voice that are spewing out this garbage.

I'm bringing these things up because many seeking to change the practices of the Church of Christ are being deceived and/or talked into pursuing this nonsense, while basically abandoning Christian teaching and doctrine that has refuted this from the beginning.

The thing Christ is after isn't to change the basic doctrines of the church which have been in the scriptures and part of church life from the beginning, He's changing the practices of the church and calling us back to a close fellowship with Him intimately.

He's calling us again to embrace the cross and allow Him to work His work within us, weakening the old man so that the new humanity - represented by Jesus Christ - can be formed within us and be read by all men.

Christ isn't interested in changing or saving this dead world, He's interested in calling us out of it, which is what the term used for the church in the Greek actually means.

While we are to be salt in this world, it's for the purpose of keeping the world from completely imploding and self-destructing before its time, and so Christ can call all those who are to be saved to Him.

When I mentioned above that Christ isn't interested in saving the world, I mean by that that He's already done it. Anybody that calls upon His name shall be saved. From there we are to get back to the purpose God created us: to fill us completely with Himself. That is what we are to focus on and pursue.