Bring Every Thought into Captivity to Christ

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.


There is probably fewer scriptures the body of Christ needs today than this one, as a growing number of novel teachings are being introduced into the church, which are the exact opposite of who Jesus Christ really is and what He represents.

Especially important is verse 5, which admonishes all of us to walk and think humbly before God. This is why the Holy Spirit tells us to cast down imaginations and high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.

The knowledge of God has been revealed to us, but there are numerous people proclaiming to be Christians which for a variety of reasons oppose this knowledge. They also existed in the times of Paul, and this is why he so strongly stated what he did.

Finally, it's not only casting down this thoughts against God, but also bringing all of our thoughts into subjection to Jesus Christ. This blasts away the lie of so-called post-modernism, which many people who name Christ have adapted in order to be "relevant." The result has been the salt losing its influence, and they become representatives of the world in the name of Jesus. It's a lie.

What Paul under the influence of the Holy Spirit is saying is we aren't allowed to think what we want about Jesus Christ and God our Father, but are to take what we are taught of Him in the scriptures and line our thoughts up with that. There is no alternative. We are not allowed by God to think sloppy thoughts about Him that don't agree with who He is or the scriptures. To think or believe otherwise is to create a god after our own image or imagination; a god that doesn't exist anywhere except in our minds.

Lining up our thoughts with who Christ is is to obey Him. Our thoughts must be brought into obedience to Christ or we'll be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

Crown of the Cross and the Organic Church

Jesus said "many are called but few are chosen," and that has been the case with Christianity since He ascended into heaven; it's also true with what has been identified as the "organic church," as many like how it sounds, but misunderstand the enormous brokenness and humility needed to successfully live in the manner called to by Christ.

Before we get into this, let me say that the term organic church is already suspect in that many people claiming to be part of an organic church really don't understand what it is and what it practically means.

Whether using the term or not, what is means is a people living and interacting together on a daily basis with Christ as the center of their lives, encouraging and admonishing one another, strengthening one another so that we continue on 100 percent committed to the eternal purpose of God, which in the end, means we're all (not some) conformed to the image of Christ.

And as for interacting with one another, this is far beyond friendship and being buddies, but is first and foundationally a spiritual interaction based upon the life of Christ. From there there are secondary activities, but those that would be meaningless without the fact that it comes forth from the person and life of Christ being our center.

For anyone that is hungering and seeking this type of life, we must be willing to bear, what I call, the crown of the cross.

We must live a royal life as the life of Jesus in fact is, but one that is filled with brokenness, humility and and attitude of submission to one another.

I'm convinced that when we see Jesus as He is, the thing that will astound the majority of believers about Him will be the extraordinary humility He has.

Even when talking to His disciples He said when they were together again He would serve them. And of course He said He came to serve.

We're not talking soulish and overactive service here, but service coming forth and originating from Christ Himself within us. That takes an enormous amount of commitment and humility.

By service I'm not talking about the so-called "ministry" and "purpose" we all hear repeated over and over again. I'm talking about being in daily fellowship with one another, watching over and encouraging each other. That's what real ministry within the body of Christ means. That's what a family is.

It's, for the most part, not some individual ministry that stands alone and ministers to a bunch of disconnected people. It comes forth out of living unto Christ and one another on a daily basis. From there our various giftings and service come forth spiritually and in a natural way. (Natural not meaning carnal, but in a way that flows out of us like a river of living water because of our fellowship with one another.)

To live royal lives like this, we must embrace and receive the working of the cross in our lives, or we'll never survive and thrive in this wonderful life provided and offered us by Jesus Christ.

This is why I call the cross a crown, as those willing to embrace or take up the cross on a daily basis, will in fact, not only be crowned some day in heaven, but will receive the wondrous sharing of the life given us by Jesus Christ Himself while we're alive on this earth.

Jesus taught us to pray that we that His kingdom would come and will be done in earth as it is in heaven. All of this isn't just for the afterlife, it's for whosoever will - now.

So if the thought of organic church, or a redeemed people sharing life together on a daily basis sounds attractive or appealing to you, you must get past that to the fact that we are all called to die if it is to ever accomplish the purpose of Christ in the earth.

It's similar to marriage. All of it looks great until you live with one another for a while and discover you must die to yourself if it's ever going to be something beautiful you have together.

With the church as Christ meant it to be, it's the same. The honeymoon period quickly is over for those who have unrealistic and pumped up expectations, as we're all human and flawed, and even in the most committed group of believers we'll have to die to ourselves in order for the life of Christ to be able to be shared effectively with one another; which purpose is that we all come to the full knowledge of Christ, being conformed to His image.

That's the end, and sharing the live together daily with one another is the means. We'll be iron sharpening iron in order to smooth out and get rid of the rough edges.

Only those 100 percent committed to Christ and His people in this endeavor, and those taking up their cross daily will ever be able to make it in this magnificent journey together.

Finding Christ in the Quiet

Probably never in history have we needed to focus on and grasp again, the concept and practice of learning to live in quiet before and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to invoke a couple of historical individuals to show how importantly they viewed their inability to hear and see as key components of their success.

One was a deist, Thomas Edison, the inventor and businessman, and the other a beloved Christian sister: Fanny Crosby, who was known to have written thousands of hymns during her lifetime.

Both of them had the tenacity to perform their respective roles over and over again to attain their desired results. Both of them attributed that tenacity to their inability to hear, in the case of Thomas Edison, and see, in the case of Fanny Crosby.

When technology started to catch up with the challenges of being deaf, Edison was asked if he wanted to be treated in order to hear better. His answer was a resounding "no." Edison said that if he started to be able to hear he wouldn't be able to concentrate as he had in the past; one of the major reasons behind his success in his view.

Fanny Crosby said something similar:

It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were of­fered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.

So Edison didn't want to be interrupted be being able to hear, and Fanny Crosby didn't want to be interrupted by what she would be able to see.

The point in all of this is when we learn to practice the presence of Jesus Christ in a quiet manner, we gain access to something similar that Edison and Crosby did: the ability to focus sharply and long on the goals they had before them without interruption. That was a huge part of their success.

As it applied to walking effectively in Christ, that is the goal of learning to quiet ourselves before the Lord in order to enjoy His presence without distraction, and also to hear and see clearly what it is He may want to do with us at any one time.

We must get back to this practice on a daily basis, eventually attaining the goal of walking in His presence without interruption. The fact that most don't even consider this a thing to be attained, or that could be attained, testifies to the age we live in, where Christians believe more will be attained for Christ by hard work and endless strategies.

It is impossible to know, see and hear Christ when our souls are active. It's as simple as that. The lesson from Edison and Crosby is we must learn to quiet out God-given senses in order to fellowship with and hear the Lord clearly from the quiet of our spirits deep within our beings. There is no other way.

We must learn to allow the Lord Jesus Christ to shut down our soulish activity in order to be able to tune into the activity of the Lord deep within our beings.

In this article we're not going to touch much on the practicals of that (and learning this is very practical), but rather on setting out the fact that this is something that must be done, as it's a major part of the eternal purpose of God in Jesus Christ.

There is a seeking and a hunger we must ask Christ to give us for Him, as he's always wooing us to be quiet before Him in order to be able to shut out the world and its distractions in order to be close to one another.

It's out of that closeness that the rest will come. But if there is no quiet, there simply is no practical and real closeness with the Lord, and consequently, it's out of that innermost being where rivers of living water will flow out into this world while we're alive.

If we aren't quiet before the Lord, the Spirit of God will still be within us, but He will be locked in without a way to get out because of the way we are distracted by all that is around us.

Speaking from experience, I can testify to the fact that once you learn to live in the presence of the Lord without ever leaving that presence, the rest of the responsibilities of life are eased significantly by the Lord, who has called us to walk in this manner.

The way this can be achieved is by the willful shutting down of our senses while we wait on the Lord in a restful place. Continuing to practice that allows for that time of quiet to slowly extend, not only to times when we're alone with Him, but to all areas of life we are involved in.

This isn't an intellectual endeavor, but a spiritual one hidden deep in our inner man or spirit. That allows us to walk and talk and participate in life without ever leaving the presence of God. And it has absolutely nothing, in general, to do with feelings. It's completely an experience and walk of faith.

Using Crosby and Edison of examples are for the purpose of showing how they were able to live productive lives in light of the loss of hearing and sight. Picture what it would be like if we were to willingly allow the Lord to shut down those aspects of our lives without having to actually lose those faculties. It would be extraordinary the lives we could live on a daily basis when not taking in all the external stimuli around us.

I don't mean by that that we can't enjoy the beautiful creation of God, but what I mean is that is simply a part of a picture of who Jesus Christ is. He is far beyond this pointers to who He is; being the only reality there ever will be. That's why He Himself stated that He is the reality.

The place to begin with all of this is to recognize that we're not able to do this on our own. We must ask Jesus Christ to enable us to walk in this way of life. Only the Spirit of God within us can empower us to walk in this way.

And once you start to learn to successfully walk in this manner, from there it can be expanded to other brothers and sisters, who together can learn and share the inner and hidden things of Jesus Christ residing in our spirits and confirmed by the Holy Scriptures.

The creation is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God, and imagine what it will be like when an untold number of Christian brothers and sisters learn to walk this way together in this world.

Ask Christ to show you a glimpse of what that could and will be like. It will be a great impetus to not only start your quiet journey to know the Lord as deeply as He wants you to know Him, but also to continue on that journey for the rest of your life on this earth, and on into the ages of ages.


One Caveat
One caveat on this story. I mentioned that Thomas Edison was a deist for no other reason than it was how he believed. I don't in any way agree with that, but the purpose of including him in the article was to show how he benefited from the loss of memory in being able to focus in a way he would not have otherwise been able to.

It's the asking of Christ to help us to quiet ourselves before Him so we can fellowship with Him without distractions that is the point, not anything else related to Edison's beliefs or person.

Battle for Fellowship with Christ

Don't underestimate the battle we must go through on a daily basis to ensure our fellowship with Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus stated there is nothing that matters more than that, and even said to Martha when confronting Jesus about Mary not helping her, that Mary chose the one thing only matters, and He wasn't going to take that away from her.

But the battle we face every day is in not only continuing to believe what Jesus said, but to continue living it in the midst of endless pressures, interruptions and needs.

Jesus also said in Matthew 6:25: "Take no thought for your life." If we are to take no thought for our lives, how much thought for our lives does that leave us? That's right - zero.

Let's not get flaky with what Jesus said, He didn't mean we don't focus on what we need to do in the moment, he's talking, again, how people worry and so choke off the value and fruit of what fellowship with Jesus Christ brings about in us; assuming we maintain our focus on Him and not on the outward circumstances around us.

Usually distractions come from pressures from needs; things like paying bills, money, food, clothing, and a host of other things that fight to be kept in our thoughts and vision.

Deceitfulness of riches, cares of this world; Jesus says to be anxious for nothing. I believe Him, and so should all of us. The reason is there will always be some type of need or circumstance we're worried about at any one time if we allow ourselves to look at it.

That's why Jesus said "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." In other words, there's enough to take care of in the day you face, don't add to it by looking ahead to the future which is in God's hands.

Think of all these things like a dessert always trying to slowly expand and claim fertile land, making land basically useless for anything.

This is what happens when we take thought of the future which isn't even here yet, and takes us away from the simplicity of devotion to Christ, which was what the original temptation was all about.

Jesus said that worry changes nothing, and so when we look toward the future in the sense of things that will, could, or might happen, there is absolutely nothing we can do to change it. And if we attempt to, usually we'll make matters worse, and still be taken off of our fellowship with Christ.

One temptation to watch in all of this, especially when we attempt to apply reasoning, common sense and logic to this, is to start to think Jesus can't relate to us in this way. The truth is we're taught that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, and yet He said He only did what He saw the Father doing or would only speak what the Father was speaking. That means He refused to allow what was unknown ahead distract Him from that which only mattered.

Even more, He knew He had come into the world to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins in order to bring us back into relationship with the Godhead, yet He didn't sit there dwelling on that inevitable reality until the time when He needed to, and the Father told Him to.

Don't let the desert of worries and concerns move you off of the very purpose Jesus created us: to be in constant fellowship with Him through faith in Him. Anything else truly doesn't matter.

Quiet and Peaceful Lives

Every wind of doctrine



The idea of running after every wind of doctrine is a sympton of not growing up in the Lord, and of the lack of foundational planting in our lives.

Every wind of doctrine must be understood as not just strange or weird teachings about Christ, but also many of the obsessive meanderings the world always pursues and partakes in; most of the time expressed in the endless number of causes always brought up as vital to the continued existence of the human race, or other such drivel.

You know, things like the global warming or climate change hoax, saving the whales, or the evil of capitalism, etc.; none of which the eternal purpose of God has anything to do with.

Anyway, the reason I included this video is to show the principle behind living quiet and peaceable lives and not looking to be someone in this world.



I like the fact that this young man anonymously played this song, which as of this writing has enjoyed being viewed over 61,000,000 times on YouTube.

You don't get the feeling when watchin him play that he's doing it for the purpose of showing off or trying to garner attention, rather he's simply expressing something of what he has and sharing it with the rest of us.

He was so anonymous that the New York Times attempted to find him at one time, and it took their people and resources 8 months to do it. This young man didn't do this for the purpose of being found or discovered.

The point is we in our lives in the Lord also must come to the place of simply living from and unto Jesus Christ. There is no other purpose we were made for, and anything that distracts from that should be considered something that must be dealt with.

Don't be deceived by the endless do-gooders that claim the thing they're promoting is a must if we want to survive, or needs to be done or millions will perish.

Many times, if not most the time in history, those attempting to do good end up doing more harm because of their intervention, having no idea about cause and effect, and destroy in some cases, millions of lives.

What we must embrace and understand is that Jesus Christ isn't moved by need, and He wants our undivided and devoted attention as we walk daily in the everyday aspects of our lives in Him.

For the most part Christ isn't interested in our becoming known in this world, rather He's interested in us responding to Him in the little things of life, and considering them as vitally important to Him, whether anyone else in the world is aware of it or not.

That's why I brought up this young man in the video. He's touched millions of lives with his music without attempting to be known or without a known purpose other than sharing it with those watching it.

Whether anyone sees us or not in our fellowship with Christ and the little things we daily do unto Him doesn't matter, we just continue on faithfully serving and living from and unto Him regardless.

We're simply called to be ordinary people fellowshipping with an extraordinary Jesus Christ.

Every wind of doctrine

God's Eternal Purpose: Jesus Christ

The Father's focus from before time, during time, and after time, is Jesus Christ. He has been the purpose of the Father all along.

What does this mean? The Father has poured everything He is into Christ. All that the Father ever had to say has been said in Christ. All He's ever wanted to do has already been done in Christ.

So what does that have to do with the people of God? To be a believer is to have Christ within us. So everything Christ is from the Father, is now living within us.

That's what it means when we are told He is working toward being all in all. He's accomplished that with the cooperation of Jesus Christ, now He's working on extending that into His people.

We've heard that Jesus is the pattern Son, and He is all that, but it's not referring to some outward systematic pattern, but an organic pattern coming forth from who the Father is in Christ.

Let's look for a moment at what it means for God to be all in all as the end passion of the Father's eternal purpose.

We know that God is everywhere, as He fills the created universe and heaven as well. But that's a very general presence, and doesn't have much meaning to His purpose. That's just part of the fact that nothing can contain God ... or so it seems.

But, when God indwells His people, His filling isn't like the way His general presence in the created realms is. His presence there is full of purpose, and that is that everything will gravitate toward and change into the image of His son, whom He's already accomplished His filling in.

What we're talking about here is transformation; a process throughout our lifetimes on the earth where He brings us through many crosses, pressures and situations where He is able to weaken our self-life in order that His life can be worked into us in a way that changes us into His image.

He wants to more than weaken our self life, He wants to obliterate it. But because it'a a process, that takes time. For Christ to be Lord, it means we are to set aside our wishes and desires and let Him fill us with His.

We can do nothing pleasing unto God if we're not doing things from Him. To do things from Him, we must be willing to lose our self-centeredness and become Christ-centered.

We can't be concerned with whether others are doing this, we must be accountable to Christ; it's our responsibility in that.

So the eternal purpose of God is completely worked within Christ, coming from the life of the Father Himself. Now Christ, through the Holy Spirit is doing the same thing, filling us with His life in order to have us be bearers of His image. This is why we're supposed to be lights to this world, as we are to live from the one true light: Jesus Christ.

This can only happen in those who are willing to come to Christ and say there are no holds barred (We give Him permission to do what is needed to be done to accomplish His purpose). In reality, if we have the right start to our lives in Christ, this is in essence what we're saying to Him.

The problem is once He starts working in our lives, we draw back and look more toward outward things because the inner way of Christ isn't an easy one, as our terrible selfishness and self-life comes forth when He works in us, and many fall by the wayside because of what they see.

Consequently they misinterpret what it is Christ is trying to do. They think He's beating them over the head with a big stick, rather than Christ drawing them more toward the center of His light where everything is exposed.

Understand that. God isn't trying to embarrass, humiliate or mock you, He's simply taking His rightful place on the throne of your spirit and soul, and to do that He must eliminate within you that which stands in His way. It's just that at times it's not a pretty process, and you can come to the place where you want to quit. Don't! You're getting close to what He's working on in your life when those times come, so don't give up when you reach the depths of despair. He's got you right where He wants you!

Just surrender to Him over and over again and trust His love for you. You won't make it if you don't. Everything comes from the hand of God, as He allows it all, being completely in control. Just ask the simple question of what He is doing in your life, not so you can understand in the early stages, but so you can cooperate with Him and not fight against the grace of God working in you. Understanding comes later when the process is over, so you can help others that will go through similar things.

Anyhow, that's a small sketch of what it is God had in His heart from before time and creation. He is one who wants to fill all things with Himself, so who He is is seen throughout all the created realms throughout eternity. That's what we're called to. That is to be our purpose as well.

Let me give you one more illustration to help you see this.

What if 10,000 years from now we were still here in the universe, and man started colonizing the planets?

Let's say 100 people are sent as the seed of a new planet to colonize, but none of them are believers. Would the presence of God be on that planet? Would it be part of the eternal purpose of God?

No. The eternal purpose of God through His presence can only happen when a people internalize Him in an intimate fellowship that results in them being changed into His image through a lifetime of transformation.

So while the general presence of God is already everywhere in the created physical universe, the kingdom and will of God isn't, which is what it is He is working toward in a people.

If the kingdom and will of God isn't in a people, then it isn't part of wherever man is, not matter how many bodies are present in a specific place.

That kingom and will of God are only present where His image bearers are. Where they are, there He is. If they aren't, His presence as dictated by His eternal purpose doesn't exist.

Meditate on that as it applies to His people and His church. Think of it in terms of "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He's talking very specific, not general as mentioned above.

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.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life - 2

Adam and Eve
One important thing to consider when looking at the beginning of things, as far as creation goes, was the pinnacle of creation: man. So when we look at Adam and Eve at the beginning, we see the representatives of all of mankind.

What's important to know about them, before sin, is while they were made in the image of God, their makeup wasn't in the proper order yet. One thing had to be done before that would be accomplished.

Before we get into that, let's look at Adam and Eve first. At this point of their existence, they're unique to human history, there never will be two human beings like them again; but neither was there ever meant to be.

Adam and Eve were sinless, but incomplete. They were innocent, but not harmless. They had a future, but that future hadn't yet been decided yet. In other words, even though they were sinless, they hadn't taken action yet that would perpetuate that sinlessness and enter into intimate fellowship with God.

They had fellowship with Him, but it wasn't anywhere near to the closeness they could have; it was only an outward fellowship, even though they saw Him with their natural eyes and talked with Him.

Another thing to consider is they not only saw God, but they saw the heavenly realms themselves, as Eden was a place where Heaven and Earth met. They saw the angelic hosts, as well as everything that heaven was.

The problem for Adam and Eve was they hadn't internalized God yet, their spirits hadn't been made alive, and so at this point their soul was predominant, even though there was no sin in the world or in them. God had meant that our spirits would be the predominant feature of our makeup, with our souls submitted and listening to Christ within, while our bodies then responded to the practical outworking of that fellowship.

At this time Adam and Eve were sinless, but the proper order within man hadn't been established. Until that happened, they wouldn't be able to successfully respond to the things God had required or expected of them.

Why did God create mankind this way? Why didn't He create them with His life in them from the beginning? The answer is that the life they were to internalize wasn't created life, so creation was separate from it, and man had to willingly partake of that life and internalize it.

That life was eternal and had existed forever; with no beginning or end. It couldn't be part of creation because it was uncreated, had always been, and was eternal. That life was God Himself.

So while man was created originally in the image of God, the order of God could only happen when man participated in the inner life of God by internalizing that life. To do that, Adam and Eve had to eat of the tree of life. They never took that step. They chose another life instead.

Next post we'll get more into what it was they chose and why.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
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A Place Where Christians and Christianity Must Go!

When the church has seen the Lord and responded to Him outside of any system or in an organized manner, they never think of themselves as being named anything ... as far as many Christians today would think in terms of some type of denominational tie, or an independently named group.

Some may think of this as trivial, but in reality it's an extremely important part of seeing the Lord and who He is. God can't and shouldn't be separated from Himself by people creating names as their corporate identity, rather than simply bearing the name of the Lord; meaning there is no such thing as a name other than believers, Christians or brethren.

Those churches that have existed organically throughout the centuries weren't the ones who named themselves, rather their detractors have named them, and many times it was meant to be a derogatory statement about them. Even when the believers at Antioch were first called Christians, it wasn't meant to be a compliment, it was a cut against them for how committed they were to Christ; although those naming them such considered it an insult.

While this is no new call or understanding, it is something that Christianity has been challenged with before, and yet most continue to disobey and separate themselves through denominational or independent names.

What needs to happen, is that all Christians and Christian workers would abandon denominations and names, and start to fellowship in Christ alone. That by itself would revolutionize Christianity, and an extraordinary result would take place.

Of course most won't heed this ongoing call, as they want to remain in the status quo of their comfort zone. Don't let that stop you from seeing this though.

People that always say they're bible believing Christians continue to disobey Paul's admonition to the Corinthians concerning a party spirit, which dealt with dissension and denominating among themselves, or as it's known today: division.

Naming a body of believers as something is direct disobedience to what Paul had to say. As soon as you name yourselves something, you immediately attempt to draw up what makes you different from others, which ensures the divisive spirit and practices will continue on.

God's people need to have a work within them that destroys this idea of separation from other believers. Believers naming themselves something is just the inevitable outworking of that carnality that separates and divides believers.

Imagine a Christian world that take up no other name than Christ, and which people fellowship together solely based on Him and His life within one another.

It may not happen across the whole world, but it could happen with you. This is one more vital are we need to reclaim and live out in Christ.

That the Lord would bring us into this reality again, where only He and He alone is the purpose for our existence and fellowship together.

Where the heart of Christ Leads to

Knowing Jesus is more of a desire of the heart than anything else. Even there we can't even desire that on our own, as without Him we can do nothing.

About all we can do is ask Him to open our hearts unto Him on a continuous basis. There's really not much else to it.

Having said that, there will eventually emerge a way for you that, for whatever reason, works the best. If we don't start with the heart's desire for Him, we will simply have another legalistic, dead burden to perform in life, as we struggle and strain to know Him because we have to, or because someone else pressures us to.

While it's a good thing to encourage one another to continually keep our hearts open to Him, it still must be something He does and we respond to.

When it comes down to it, Jesus doesn't want much more than to have us open our hearts to Him continually, and allow Him to live His life in us; with our permission and cooperation. Jesus never forces Himself upon us - that's His nature. But when we give Him free rein to live fully within us, He's more than willing to comply.

Of course once we do that, there's that thing called the cross, which works in us so His image can more fully be seen and expressed in us.

One of His great desires is to have it done individually, and from there expressed through a corporate people. I have seen Him working for this throughout my whole life. He will never stop working for it either.

In only say individually above because if we don't have it to start with, the corporate is almost impossible to emerge. Of course we need both to be a healthy people of God.

What happens when we start to seek out the corporate side, is we're faced with the sad reality that it can't happen within the existing practices of the Church. The practices disallow a people emerging centered in the life of Christ, as the next thing that happens is everyone wants to share that life together. Picture that in a building with a professional clergy talking all the time.

To search for a deeper walk with Christ will always lead to wanting to share that walk with others. It's there that the challenge emerges, and you start to discover the problem you have. You either quietly go about doing things as usual, or you start to want to see things change. Many people are tired of being bystanders of an age-old system created about 17 hundred years ago at the time of Constantine, and have entered into a journey outside the existing structures of the institutional church.

That's where the path leads to all those that want to share a corporate, organic experience of Jesus Christ together.

It's all about a Tree

I want to talk about something here that I am not sure I've heard talked about among us outside the religious system. It is my intention that after you read it, you can never be the same again.

What I am talking about is those of you outside the religious system and one of the great dangers that exist which can destroy everything that God intended to do.

What is it? Let's take a look at the first couple of chapters in the book of Genesis.
Here of course you have the creation of all things. You have all of this stuff happening for a period of six days. During this time, you see the dividing of things: such as the waters. You have the emergence of land and eventually: trees and all green things that grow.

In other words there is this fantastic environment that now exists there; waiting. 
Now, you have the creation of man. After he is created God puts him in Eden. He puts Him in the eastern part where God Himself had planted a garden.

Adam names the animals and he finds that he is missing something and so God takes Eve out of his side.

So here we have Adam and Eve in the most fantastic environment that existed on the earth. Actually it was the blending of heaven and earth. A paradise.

God had revealed something fantastic in showing Adam that it wasn't good that he would be alone.

Still here we have him no longer alone; living in the most beautiful place in the universe.

Here is one of the most amazing insights you will ever receive about the simplicity of Christ.

Adam and Eve had everything at this moment of time, and yet they truly had nothing at all!

You see, there were two trees in that Garden that stood before the human race. Two trees that will continually be eaten of until a time in the future.

Now what is the point of all of this? For those of us outside the religious system, we can have all the trappings of paradise, and yet not have anything at all.

You can have all the closeness, unity, fellowship, friendship, and joy together that it may be possible to have on this earth, and still completely miss the whole thing. You can still completely miss the whole reason for your existence.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is all about a tree! Everything was ready to go in Eden. God had revealed His will to Adam and only gave him one restriction, which was of course to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Still, before they rebelled against God's command, there was the potential. 
What is the significance of this moment before their sin? They had everything. Or rather almost everything that could be possibly desired given to them by God.

So do those of us who see that God has always had something much deeper and profound than we are currently seeing in the religious system.

The problem we face is that we can enter into the fellowship of the saints outside the system, have everything that Adam and Eve had, and still never do the most important thing that must be done.

Even though Adam and Eve were temporarily sinless before God, and living in the most bountiful environment that has ever existed, they lacked the only thing that really mattered.

So can we who are outside the system be potentially completed misled about what is truly important to God. Really it is the only thing that is important.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Martha was complaining to Jesus about Mary not helping her serve. Jesus response was that Mary had chosen the only thing that really mattered and He wasn't going to take that away from her.

It is similar to when Paul writes to one of the churches and tells them that he is concerned that in the same way that Adam and Eve were deceived into rejecting the simplicity of being devoted to Christ, they also would be led astray from that same, pure, devotion.

In another place we are told that the disciples were called to be "with" Him.
Jesus also reveals that eternal life is the intimate union, or knowing of the Father and the Son.

Again Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches.

This issue caused almost everyone to leave Christ while He was on the earth.
When He told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, they would no longer walk with Him.

We can be outside the religious system, seem to be doing what the will of the Father is, and still miss the whole thing.

You can look around in your present environment and believe that this is what makes things work. This is the ultimate deception.

Just like Adam and Eve, we can be dwelling in Eden, and yet not do the most important thing, and the truly only necessary thing that is needed.

You see brothers and sisters: it's all about eating from a tree! We just need to be sure it's the right tree!

What is Mysticism?

One of the problems of talking about what has become called “Mysticism” is that people tend to immediately assume that it concerns something that cannot be known by the everyday believer in Christ. The word itself implies something that is hidden and almost impossible to comprehend. While I think that the word is an unfortunate one in reference to what we are going to discuss, it is the one that has been used throughout the centuries, so we will use it for our purposes and bring the mystery out of it.  

What has been called mysticism is nothing more than believers throughout history that have been dissatisfied with their walk with the Lord, and as a result begin a pursuit of Him that brings them into deeper union and closeness and intimacy with their Lord.  

While this is simplicity in itself, it also leads into the endless depths that exist in Jesus Christ.  

The great purpose of God is that He wanted to share the fellowship of the Godhead with man that He created in His image. That was the great motivating factor that resulted in creation of man. Because God is love, it was impossible to keep His greatness and love to Himself. The problem is that most Christians have no idea that we can enter into this fellowship on a consistent, non-stop basis.

This is the great goal of what has been labeled mysticism; to learn to dwell in the presence of God endlessly no matter where you are or what you are doing in life. 

It is here that everything dims before the majesty and unspeakable greatness of Christ. It is here that all things melt before His presence as we walk in fellowship with Him.  

And as we dwell in His presence, we truly learn to grow from glory to glory, changed as we simply center our beings in Him and as Jesus gave us by example: to do what the Father did and speak what the Father spoke and share in that together.  

When we truly hunger after this privilege we have been offered from God, we will realize that heaven truly has come to the earth in the presence of Christ; both individiually and corporately. 

Moravians - Centered in Christ

There was a time when the group of people history has called the “Moravians,” solely lived for Christ. Everything they did was done for the purpose that all would depend upon Christ.  

Before getting into the practicals of this, I want to say that it is what is behind the practicals that matters, much more than what is seen.

Nonetheless, from what was unseen and desired was born a response that for a season of time brought tremendous results.  

So in talking of these things, let’s remember why things were done the way they were, rather than what was done. Again the reason these things were done was for simple devotion to Christ.  

A lot of what is remembered about the Moravians was the well publicized period of 100 years that they unceasingly prayed and went in many places of the world spreading the gospel. What is less well-known is their emphasis upon spiritual growth concerning the body of believers; especially intimacy with Christ.  

One of the ways that they encouraged this to happen was to establish what they called, “choirs.”

Choirs were people of the same gender, age group, and marital status. They would live together communally. This happened as early as 18 months old, all the way to a time when people were widowed.  

All aspects of a person’s life took place within these arrangements. For example, when a child was approximately 18 months old, they were put within a choir of all the children of similar ages, until the age of 4. At that time they were separated until marriage from the opposite sex, as far as living arrangements and work was concerned.  

There was a series of these choirs throughout their lives. At around 12 they would go into another choir of older children of the same gender. Then at around 20 they would go into single brothers and single sisters’ choirs. If and when they married they would be in the choir of those who were married. When one was widowed they would be in the choir of those who were widowed. If they were remarried they would go back into the choir of those who were married.

The major reason this was done was to encourage intimate union with Christ.  
The practical reason was that those in the same age groups, gender, and life circumstances, would be in similar spiritual junctures. Thus they could support and encourage one another in their journey.  

Another very important reason for this was to deemphasize blood ties so that fellowship with Christ was first in their lives. The history of this practical outworking was that when there was counsel sought, the various brethren would direct them to Christ, not to themselves.  

The overall separation of genders was also for the sole purpose that there would be a total dependency upon Christ rather than a soulish dependency upon another human being.  

This doesn’t mean that they didn’t live close together; they did. They simply lived in different lodgings and worked separately, with differing responsibilities.  

The reason I mentioned at the beginning of the article concerning why these things were done is what’s important. Someone could easily copy these things and get terrible results. The point that was made was that they saw the most important thing in life: the simple devotion to Christ. Everything else was to pale in comparison to that. The practical steps they took were in response to that understanding.  

We need to center into the eternal aspect of these things, while looking to see if some of the practical can apply for us today.  

Centered in Christ

One of the most important characteristics of the early church was their life being centered in Christ. You cannot read the New Testament without encountering this reality over and over again.
 
When the believers were first called “Christians” it was done as an attack upon their way of life. Of course the word Christian basically means that those who it was directed at were Christ centered. Those who first applied it to the believers at Antioch did so for the purpose of mocking them.  Their lives so lived for and from Christ that those who did not believe scoffed at their passion for Christ. This is not a problem that exists among believers too much in our day.  

There is an absolute call to return to this fervor for Christ again. When I say the word fervor, I am not referring to some emotional high that goes up and down with the events of life. No I am referring to a daily, moment by moment fellowship with Christ that depends upon Him for all things.  

Since all things have been summed up in Christ, when we are in Him, we have all things. While all who believe are in Him, I am talking about the practical, daily outworking of this reality. When we truly believe, we have all of Him, not just a bit and a piece here and there.  

When you read the account of the early church, you get a glimpse of the practical reality of being centered in Christ. You see the outworking of the spirit through Christ’s body, giving and sharing Christ with one another, building one another up in love.  Their entire lives existed for Christ and Christ alone. Oh it included the many aspects of everyday life as Paul reveals in his letters to the churches. For example he speaks of work, marriage, children, loving one another, among many things.  

The point is that none of this existed outside of the person of Jesus Christ. It was showing forth who Christ is to the world. They saw Christ as the resurrected, living Lord and then responded to one another as a result of this reality. Christ was their truth, He was their reality. There was no other truth or reality.  

This is the most needed thing that any believer throughout history will ever need. Nothing can be right if a person isn’t living a life that is absolutely centered in the person of Jesus Christ. You can do all sorts of external things and look good to man, but you will never be able to enter fully into that great eternal purpose that has existed from before creation to live a live that is totally in Christ Himself.  

When you commit yourself and ask God for this privilege, He will more than answer your hearts request and bring into all that the Father has prepared for you before the foundation of the earth.  

What real body life is!

We have heard this term before under this name and also under the phrase of 'priesthood of all believers.'

These types of words or phrases hardly exist among institutional Christianity. Why? Words follow ways of living. The reason that you don't find one-man ministries called 'pastor' in the New Testament story is because they didn't exist. You can't talk about something that isn't a part of your everyday life. That's why a physical structure being a 'church' isn't biblical. It didn't exist in the practice of the first believers. It was made up about 250 years later. 

So how did the early church experience Christ in their lives? What is body life?
 
As with everything concerning our walk, it is all centered in Christ Himself.
 
Now we’ll look at the end result of body life so that we can examine its purpose. We are told several things concerning Christ in Eph. 4 that shows where we are going.
 
We are to grow up into Him in all things. We are to mature to the point of reaching His stature; becoming like Him - expressing the fullness of Christ. This is a corporate thing here; together we will express who Christ is and mature into being like Him.
 
When Paul starts talking about these things he begins with all of us being one. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.

He begins the talk about the body this way because there were times when the individual parts of the body started to develop certain uniqueness and diversity. This at times put a strain upon the oneness of who we are.

So Paul begins with how we are all one in spite of our diversity. This all comes from the Godhead of course where we know that He is three and yet one. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have diverse operations yet are completely one. The church in following the Lord is the same.
 
Again Paul tells us some of this in I Cor. 12 where we are shown that we are one body but have many parts. From there he reveals to us that this is what Christ is like.
 
He again goes on to tell us that we are baptized into one body by one Spirit, and drink from that one Spirit. Yet we are tremendously diverse in our oneness.
 
That’s the beauty of this diversity; we see a portion of Christ in others that we lack, and from that other brother or sister, we grow more into being like Christ.
 
The whole key to this is that we are to build one another up in love. Each of us has something that the other needs to be matured, unto the measure of the fullness of Christ.

To experience this in its fullness means that we can no longer embrace the religious system that started to be developed during the compromise with Constantine.
 
You know, that system where people sit in some type of ‘special’ building and listen to a ‘professional’ deliver speeches for the rest of our lives. We have seen the result of 1700 years of that nonsense.

Body life is nothing less than growing up into Him in all things. It can only happen with a group of believers living together and meeting together under the headship of Jesus Christ alone.
 
This is the fulfillment of the priesthood of all believers. Only as we hold to the Head and give Christ and Christ only to one another, will we grow into the end of being conformed into His image.
 
That is part of the eternal purpose that has been in the Godhead from before time.

Hunger for Jesus

Two of the prerequisites for knowing God are: a burning, passionate hunger to fellowship with and know Him, and secondly, a realization of how impoverished we are without Him. If we don’t have these two realities working within us, all of the rest that we will talk about will be irrelevant.  We can never know Christ in any depth without these attitudes within. We must ask Him to create that in us.
 
Now one of the things we know about God is that He is everywhere. That means, of course, that no matter where we are He is there.

But union with Christ is talking about something more than that. It is talking of an inner fellowship with Him that is as close as possible to be in.

It is now our privilege, with His help, to steadily, continually, fellowship with Him daily.  

The very purpose of God is that He has a passion to share the fellowship of the Godhead that existed before time with mankind that He created.

To be hungry for God and know that without Him we have nothing, is an understanding of the statement by Jesus that without Him we can do nothing.  

This implies that there is to be a moment by moment union with Him that testifies to the above expectation. In other words there is no way we could walk, breath, work, play, or eat without His presence. Yet we continually live life as if we can do these things without Him. The truth is that we can’t.  

The point is that we must learn and practice the “art” of continual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. This has always been His passionate purpose throughout the ages.  

If we believe in Jesus Christ then He is within us in a way that is closer than we can possibly imagine. It is His desire that we search out this closeness with Him and come into experiential union with Him.  

We don’t want to succumb to the temptation to make this some type of doctrine that is to be debated over. We have had enough of that throughout the ages. We are to be consumed with this Christ that woos us and calls us to be in close union with Him. He will be satisfied with nothing less.  

Are you up for the call? Then don’t disconnect from the reality that God has called us to. Don’t just read about it in the scriptures, rather respond and enter into this magnificent life that awaits anyone that is willing to pursue it. Jesus is calling and waiting for you.

Gary

A Song Of Peace

Sharing the Life of Christ Together

Do you ever wonder what it was that Jesus was doing with the twelve disciples that eventually he sent out as workers for Him?

When you look at a lot of what he talked about, it was nothing else than teaching them how to be together centered around Him.

First, of course, He had to help them to see who He was and believe in Him. Not a head belief, but to cast their entire being onto Him in trust.

But from there, it was always about how to be brethren together. What do you think the 12 were? Some guys Jesus simply gave a title to? Not at all. This was a new Israel Jesus was giving birth to. That's why there were 12 of them. It was full of significance that he was now introducing the true Israel, the Spiritual Israel - the Israel that would have Jesus live within them by the Spirit. That is the true Israel of God.

Within that thought is not what was most important though. He was teaching them how to live together centered around Him. That's why He would tell them things like if they wanted to be the greatest, then they must be a servant of all. That's why he served them when they last ate together before He died, as an example to how they should live amongst one another.

All the things that they had learned how to do together, is what they would eventually pass on to those they would live in community with together. It was togetherness centered in Christ that was what was learned, and what would be passed on. One of the last things Jesus said to them was that they should love one another like He had loved them; that they should lay down their lives for one another.

You can only do that be being together; by living close together. That's how the church was birthed through Christ. All of them living and laying down their lives for one another centered around nothing but loving Jesus Christ their husband as His bride.

What more could a people want then to share the life of Christ together on a daily basis? When it comes down to it, it's all that He wants!