Sowing Relationship - Matthew 13:1-23

Not that long ago, I tried to start a relationship with someone, but it was not to be. What I thought would be a time of food and fellowship, turned into an attempt to get me on board for a new "ministry". Although I was disappointed, I wasn't surprised. In Churchianity, we've mastered the art of relationship with an agenda. Either we get to know someone so we can get them involved in some ministry, or we use "relationship evangelism" to convert our neighbors. Jesus had a real problem with "agendaships", as evidenced by The Parable of the Sower.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."

Now what many will do is skip this next part, but they "cheat big, Dr. Jones" because they are stopping their ears.

The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

How did the disciples have the kingdom secrets when they had trouble deciphering Jesus' parables? Well, intrepid questioner, the secrets were not conveyed primarily through parables but through relationship. These guys will end up spending about three years with Jesus and will get to know Him pretty well, even if they don't always understand Him. The secrets could not be learned through mere words but had to be experienced in the context of relationship because the secrets are all about loving God and others. In fact, if one were to try to learn these "secrets" any other way, said person would be "ever hearing but never understanding".

Now for the Sower Parable explanation:

Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

When I've heard this section taught, the seed is being sowed through preaching or evangelism, but I submit to you that the message of the kingdom is sown in relationship. As we live out our life in God each day, opportunities to show God's love to others will present themselves. The only agenda we should have when we meet people along the way is to love. We do not control where that seed falls. Some people will think we're crazy or just not care and nothing will come of it. Some will see something different about us and may even get excited over it. However, when they try to love someone and it backfires, they'll give up because they didn't receive any instant reward. Others will receive our love but will get too caught up in everyday living to take any further action, or, worse, some may find a way to fake love to manipulate others for their personal gain. But there will be some that will both hear and understand, and, as a result, they will grow in relationship with God and others.

Our role is to love. God's role is to take that seed and make it grow, and sometimes He'll even have us work with Him to help it along. Sometimes those seeds we plant will turn into long-lasting relationships and other times nothing will come of it. But we aren't to worry about that for if we love, God will take care of the rest. Read more!

If You've Longed for Hurricane Ike Pictures, Have a Gander at These

My wife posted some fascinating hurricane Ike damage pics at her site, Fathom Deep. If you don't check it out, I'll make you play Chubby Bunny until your eyes pop out. Hey, I used "gander" in my title. Neat! Read more!

Defending The Shack: Black Madonna

The Shack has received its share of detractors for various reasons, but, outside of those directly involved in the book, I haven't seen many articles taking to task those who disagree. Now, I don’t believe God needs any help in defending Himself, and I have no problem agreeing to disagree but what I don't like is when others assume an author has a hidden agenda to promote something other than the God of the Bible using evidence with the consistency of Swiss cheese (it's full of holes). So, with a feeble attempt, I’m rendering aid to a brother, Paul Young, and hope that I’ll inspire others to do the same. Honestly, I’m not sure if this will be the only defense I write or if others will follow. It all depends on the Father. BTW, I don’t write this to change the mind of those who write such attacks for I don’t believe I can; I write this for those who read them and are influenced to consider The Shack as nothing but trash because nothing could be further from the truth.

In his article, “THE SHACK, ‘Elousia’, and the Black Madonna”, Pastor Larry DeBruyn claims Paul Young is promoting idolatrous goddess worship in The Shack. DeBruyn suggests that Young presents the First Person of the Trinity more as the Black Madonna than God the Father due to the appearance and actions of the character, Elousia. As I will demonstrate, this accusation is ridiculous and without merit. BTW, I could attack several things in his article such as his linkage to Paul Tillich, remarks on panentheism, and problems with using imagery (has he read the Bible?), but I’ll stick with the Black Virgin idiocy.

First of all, who or what is the Black Virgin/Madonna? Throughout Europe, many cathedrals contain statues of Mary which, by itself, is not unusual except they are black. What we know is they were crafted between the 11th-15th centuries when many cathedrals were built. What we don’t know is why. The earliest theory only dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, seven centuries after the fact, and there are several theories.

My own theory is Hermetic Philosophy began to merge with Christianity through Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Augustine of Hippo, and several others in the early "church" history through Platonism and Neoplatonism. And just what is Hermeticism? Well, that’s a bit complicated, so I’ll try to keep it simple. Hermeticism is made up of three areas of mysticism, Theurgy, Astrology, and Alchemy, that are interrelated and the precursors of modern science. Hermeticism is also what I call one of the three pillars of western civilization, which includes literature, art, and architecture; the other two being Greek/Roman mythology and the Bible. Interestingly, it tends to be the forgotten component of our culture, and, sadly, some of the imagery it uses is often crudely referred as phallic. The goal of Hermeticism is to become one with the Divine or become divine through perfection. In the alchemical branch, this is done through a series of colored stages, the first of which is black. It is the stage of putrefaction which is when all the negative or imperfect qualities of a person are burned away, usually by trial and suffering. Now, by the twelfth century, this mode of thought had already blended with Christianity (Catholicism) throughout Europe. But why combine the black stage of alchemy with Mary? Mary is the one who brought perfection (Christ) into the world through the pain (suffering) of childbirth (a symbol much used in alchemy). That’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it (my other theory is that it was done as a joke so others would speculate on it for centuries to come).

DeBruyn, in all his great researching ability, decides to base all his information on the Black Virgin on one Internet article, “The Return of the Black Madonna: A Sign of Our Times or How the Black Madonna is Shaking Us Up for the Twenty-First Century” by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox. But we’ll ignore the fact that Fox’s piece is a hodge-podge of mythologies, and pretend it’s authoritative. The first point DeBruyn mentions begins with quoting Fox, “’The Black Madonna invites us into the dark and therefore into our depths,’” and, “’This is where Divinity lies.’” He then reveals how Young associates darkness with the main character, Mack. Now while 1 John 1:5 is true in that there is no darkness in God, the same is not true of us. David says of God in 2 Samuel 22:29, “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.” Mack was already in the “dark night of the soul”, but the Father was trying to call him out, and at no time did He equate the darkness with any kind of divinity.

Next, DeBruyn starts his second point with another statement from Fox, “’The Black Madonna calls us to Grieve.’” He proceeds to point out the scene of Mack’s “emotional catharsis” as if there’s something wrong with it. Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” And here, dear readers, is where it’s important to keep things in context whether it be Scripture or any book. If you look at the section the above scene was yanked from, hopefully, you’ll see the Father is attempting to bring Mack to a place of forgiveness. The character’s grieving is a result of trying to reach that destination.

Thirdly, DeBruyn quotes Fox again, “’The Black Madonna calls us down to honor our lower charkas [sic],’” and here are the chakras, “’our relationship to the whole (first chakra, as I have explained elsewhere is about picking up the vibrations for sound from the whole cosmos), our sexuality (second chakra) and our anger and moral outrage (third chakra.’” It would seem that DeBruyn has a base level of understanding of the chakras; otherwise, he would see there’s some disagreement of where the second chakra is located. According to my research, it’s in the head, not the genitals. Thanks to astrology and alchemy, each chakra has a heavenly body and metal associated with it, such as Saturn and lead belong to the first chakra. As one masters each chakra, body, or metal, depending on the discipline employed, the practitioner moves closer to perfection and, ultimately, divinity. The Kabala is especially tough because it includes these seven chakras along with three other elements (that makes 10) and all the paths that connect them (22 paths) for a grand total of 32 levels you must master before reaching the divine. As a side not, this is where Freemasons get there 32 degrees from, in case you wanted to know (33rd degree is honorary). Anyway, the placement of the chakras is partially based on areas of the body that experience sensations after physical or emotional exertion. Basically, the chakras are a mix of real physical sensations and false mystical beliefs. So when Young is describing Mack as having a moment of total bliss felt physically, he’s relating something that has been encountered by countless others for millennia (in fact, it sounds like a description of love at first sight) and not a Hindu religious experience. Besides the end result of several religions is this physical sensation, but that’s clearly not the case here for Mack’s end in this story is a much improved relationship with the Father, to put it mildly.

Lastly, DeBruyn buys into Fox’s blabber about creativity and imagination birthing gods. He then ties it into a statement made by Sophia to Mack on page 160, “Your imagination . . . is not serving you well at this moment.” I’m sorry but any fool can see she’s commenting on Mack’s imagination running wild because he’s thinking how inadequate he is to judge someone else, and he’s about to panic. He’s most definitely not about to birth a god or become one.

DeBruyn’s attacks are shoddy and downright foolish. Unfortunately, this is the pattern of many heresy hunters. Sometimes they get it right, like with Todd Bentley, but other times they’re shooting themselves or each other in the foot.

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It's God's Fault - John 9:1-5

The recover effort in Louisiana has several naysayers. Some say its costs too much in time, manpower, and money to rebuild, and residents should go elsewhere. Others say it's not being handled correctly and people should wait to move back until certain parts of the infrastructure and public services have been renewed and retooled. And still a few claim it was an act of God and residents should put on sackcloth, pour ashes on their heads, and repent before another storm hits. Certainly many reasons exist to rebuild as can be seen here and here.

In John 9, Jesus and company run into a man blind from birth (actually, he probably ran into them since they could see). The disciples ponder the curious question, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Ah, the age old problem, "Why do bad things happen?" To answer that, we must answer this, "Who caused evil to enter the world?" But before we can do that, let's circle back to the text and look at Jesus' answer.

He says, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned . . . but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." First of all, Jesus is not saying the blind man or his parents never sinned; instead, their sin had nothing to do with his current condition. In fact, his blindness would give God an opportunity to demonstrate His love and grace in his life. What's interesting is Jesus makes it sound like God made the man optically-challenged so He could heal him later. I don't believe that's the correct understanding, but to understand what He's talking about we must take a trip in the Way Back Machine.

When God created Adam and Eve, He knew their hearts and what choices they would make given the circumstances. Although through the Adamic duo evil entered our world (which is the standard answer to why evil exists), God provided the means by planting a tree from which they weren't allowed to eat. So in reality, God allowed evil (sin, disease, disasters, the 70s) to exist, which ultimately led to the man in John 9 being born blind. Why would Father do such a thing? Why would He allow wickedness to enter our lives? Papa loves us. You see, we would never have accepted the Father's love at face value, just look at the Israelites. They were given their own land and laws, but they couldn't follow Him. Papa knew for us to receive His love, we had to see our need for it by living in a world that ignored it. And because the world ignores it, evil continues to thrive, which is why bad things still happen to those who love God (this is where Romans 8:28 helps).

So what does any of this have to do with the recovery in Louisiana? In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Father is revealing His grace to those affected. His body has gone into action to be the visible forms of Papa's love. Maybe the rebuilding isn't moving forward in the best possible way, but a more important process is taking place -- the rebuilding of people's hearts and lives. The hurricane did not come as a result of the Louisiana residents' transgressions, but its effects may lead people into a genuine relationship with the Father and a life free from sin. BTW, because evil is still in the world, believers aren't to the storm results, but Papa walks with them and will turn the evil into good.

P.S. As I'm typing this in, Gustav has made landfall, so my thoughts and prayers are with those in its path. I hope everyone is safe and will come back to all their belongings intact.

P.S.S. You'll notice I didn't call this The Jesus I Know. I've gotten tired of using this title; in fact, I plan on changing the names on the old posts with the exception of the first one.
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A New Chapter

The Father speaks in different ways to me, but by far His favorite is through Old Testament stories. For a while God has reminded me of when the Israelites quaked in fear between Pharaoh's formidable forces and the imposing Red Sea in Exodus 14. They worried that their end would come and wished they'd never left Egypt, but Moses told them to wait on God for He'd deliver them. My life has been stuck between the armies and the sea. I left my job per Papa's request to focus on other things as explained in a previous post and have known for some time a major change was dawning on the horizon. The time has arrived, and I'm shaking in my boots (actually, I don't wear boots - that's right, a Texan that doesn't wear boots) for another story has been brought to my attention.

About two weeks ago God brought Abraham's, Abram at the time, initial journey of faith into my focus. The Father tells him to pick up and leave his familiar surroundings in Genesis 12 for parts unknown. Now granted, God promised to make Abram into a great nation, but He gave no detailed plans and didn't instruct him to write a missions statement with charts of short and long-term goals. Bottom line, scared or not, Abram went.

You see, I traveled to St. Bernard Parish two weeks ago on a construction mission trip. Our team's primary goal was accomplished by putting up dry wall in a house. Now, I'm more handsome than handy, or at least I hope that's the case since handy and I aren't on speaking terms. In other words, I wasn't sure why I agreed to come to Louisiana. Of course, God had a sneaky plan. I learned while I was there that estimates put full recovery for St. Bernard Parish at 11 years and is considered a catastrophic zone. The appeal made during the week for the recovery effort pulled at my heartstrings like nothing else ever had. In my nightly conversations with Papa, I discovered He wanted me and the family in Louisiana to help in any way we could, and the thought of it absolutely terrified me.

I am fearful because my comfort zone is about a million miles away. After all, Texas is a whole other country, and anything outside it is foreign to me. Not that I haven't traveled outside my beloved state, but every time I've journeyed elsewhere, my appreciation for it has climbed higher and higher. Why not some mountains, God? I really love mountains. Instead, I'll be eight feet below sea level. BTW, whoever said everything is bigger in Texas hasn't been to Louisiana and met the mosquitoes and grasshoppers. Also we'll be 6 hours away from any family and friends, which may not sound like much, but with gas prices as they are it might as well be 60 hours from us.

I could go several pages listing the difficulties I have wrapping my brain around this, but no matter how long the list or how scared I am, I'm going, even if it hair lips the state of Texas, as my wife is fond of saying. Because my eyes see the problems we face, I know I can't do this myself. Papa is with me and guides me as I prepare for this new adventure (for some reason, the word perilous comes to mind).

So what will this endeavor entail? All I know is what God has placed in our hearts. Papa will work with us to build and heal relationships and help those in professional ministry any way we can. I am not sure how we'll be funded, but Papa has promised to take care of us financially. I've looked into setting up a non-profit ministry, but I'm not comfortable with it. So either Papa is steering me away from that, or it's just the fear of following through on God's plan. I know He will stir the hearts of the right people to give because, frankly, I don't think the vagueness of the third sentence above will fly with a lot of believers. As time marches on, I'm sure Papa will share more details, and I will share the relevant ones that I've made sure aren't my own clumsy ideas.

BTW, I believe we'll be in Louisiana in six months tops, but, who knows, Papa may want us there sooner. Watch out Laura, I'm coming and my blog is coming with me!
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