It's the story, of
a lovely Lady...
Before the
Church was born...
Back
to the previous page
When
the Church was young...
She
was hated...
And
so the murder went on...
But
she was not prepared
The
Stirrings...
The
counter plot... Feigned freedom
Hallelujah
she's starting to wake up...
There were a few mortals who knew God. But only a few. And they were usually...alone.
As for Israel. They had God's law but lacked the capacity of heart to fathom its intent. Like children romping through their parents closet; they played "dress up" in clothes that didn't fit.
God knew this arrangement was temporary. The old agreement was only a stop gap measure to demonstrate how deep our need was. Israel was a shadow of the nation that was to come. Their central purpose was to provide a context, a womb, to birth the Messiah and His Bride.
So, God unveiled His ancient plan. But this time He intended to use better stock. No more would He simply give written "instructions" to mere mortals; instructions that they were too weak to keep and too dull to understand. His requirements - His highest intentions—were much too high for our twisted and poisoned race to meet up too.
Instead, God pulled from His sleeve His ancient intention. There would be an interspecies adoption. He would take some of our race human beings—and make them His children. This was to be a full fledged adoption. He would give us His name, and He would seal the contract with His own blood.
Now, instead of giving us higher requirements or a new written code to live by, God gave us strands of His very own DNA. This was gene therapy of the highest order. But He knew, if we were to change, to really change, we would need new natures. Behavior modification wouldn't do; not in His house.
Everyone with eyes to see through earth's mutated existence, through this temporal half-life, was given the opportunity to exchange that life and become partakers of His Divine Nature. God would come - not to visit as He had done in the past, but now He would live inside of everyone who called on His Name.
A new entity was birthed inside of the old one. A new heart, a new mind and a motivational imperative were implanted into jars of clay. Every member of the human race was given the chance to be born again from the inside out; To become a vessel - a container - of the Life of God...
This new life, if nurtured properly, would envelop and swallow up the old self-centered shell of its host - creating a whole new species. They were mere humans no-longer. They were undergoing a restoration process making them closer to the original design - from before the mutation in the garden.
She was a family, close knit beyond belief. Everyone was a member of everyone else. One in heart and mind and purpose.
She was organic. Just as the hand is connected to the arm through living tissue... her members were connected in the very same way.
She had organization for sure. There were bones and ligaments and muscles and a blood stream... but She was ALIVE. Her "internal structure" was made of living tissue.
There were no artificial props holding her together. She didn't have an institutional bone in her body. The hand didn't "visit" the foot or "attend a service" with the foot or have the same belief system as the foot. They were connected; connected more deeply than mortals can fathom.
The earth trembled under her feet. She transcended culture, race, social status and every other human cubbyhole that sought to divide her. She had hundreds of mothers and brothers and sisters - as every member related to every other member on the closest and most intimate of personal heart levels.
She was the first true "counter culture" to human civilization since the creation of man. The culture of heaven itself had invaded earth for the first time in human history. And hell, caught off guard, was staggering in confusion. The ancient dragon dispatched every foul spirit in his domain as he sought to stem the tide and regain the upper hand. His dominion had finally been challenged.
She invaded the earth at every level of society, penetrating beneath the surface of the shallow cultures of men. She exposed the darkness lurking within the hearts of men, while offering a way of escape for those brave enough to risk and to trust. And for this...
Like Her pioneer before her, she was hated and oppressed. She was tortured, lied about, hunted down, rounded up, and thrown to lions. She was soaked in oil and made into torches. Even the human relatives of her members, those who by nature might feel bonds of compassionate, turned on her and had her killed.
So deeply had she separated from the fallen and darkened spirit of the age... that she was hated by all. She was especially hated by the dark forces behind the scenes. Lurking in places men can't see - or places they choose not to see.
Keep in mind that Rome was a tolerant culture. There were plenty of false gods to choose from. Take your pick, make yourself happy, do whatever feels good to you.
But... toleration has its limits. To serve the True and the Living God and to be changed into His image - from the inside out - this was not allowed. This was opposed. This was hated.
And
so the murder went on...
And then she was taken into captivity...
Then came the darkest period of her history. A period from which she has not yet fully recovered... though hope is on the way.
Secular historians phrase it this way. "First the Church conquered Rome, then Rome conquered the Church."
She was accustomed to being hated. The men and women who joined her ranks two thousand years ago were risking life and limb to do so. This danger had served as a filter to keep out pretenders.
But, with the support of the Emperor Constantine She now enjoyed an honorable and favored status. She was commended. Lauded. Praised... and prominent figures, and those wanting prominence wormed their way into her ranks.
Had she been on guard this would not have happened. Had she followed the specific instructions that were given to her about removing pretenders from her midst; had she remembered that she was only supposed to allow genuine believers into her body... she could have been spared this captivity.
It did not take long, for those new forces in her midst... equipped with mechanical tethers - not organic, and not part of her life force to begin to exert their control. As the writings forewarned: "The natural children always battle the supernatural children. It is the same now."
Her connectedness, once a product of living tissue was being severed and replaced by a union centered on ideas and belief systems.
Instead of being members of one another where everyone pursued each other "daily and from house to house;" now she began to set aside special days to "attend" "holy" meetings.
Instead of burrowing into each others lives every single day with teaching, and love, and help, and meals, and child rearing, and encouragement, and songs, and laundry, and trips to the market, and on and on. Now she was an audience listening to a speech.
Sometimes it was a good speech and she was encouraged. Sometimes it was a bad speech and she was discouraged or perhaps she would grow drowsy and fall asleep. But it didn't matter. The damage had been done. The dragon had put her to sleep and fastened her limbs in shackles.
And there she sat for hundreds and hundreds of years. Her muscles weakened. Her eyes dimmed. Over time, the speeches grew worse and worse... as did her memory of what life was like long ago.
Devotion to the Father & Son was replaced with smoke and magic water, and fairy tales, and statues, and rituals. While men in dresses and funny hats, the guardians of this sleeping child, grew drunk on their power and on the blood of those who tried to awaken her.
For well over a thousand years she has been trapped inside a well oiled and fiercely guarded machine - built specifically to keep her asleep.
But, every once in a while one of her members awakens and begin to shake free from the centuries of slumber. They look behind religions curtain and notice the corruption and degradation. They also notice the ancient chains on the battered wrists of an abused and emaciated young maiden and they raise their voices and SHOUT! It's the same shout that Moses used with Pharaoh, "Let my People go!"
And then...the machine turned its vicious energy toward them. Lies, threats, and murders pour forth as the guardians of the machine seek to imprison those annoying, exposing voices... much the same way they did at the beginning. For the beast of Nero's day is still alive... it just has its "Sunday" clothes on.
A few hundred years ago there were a few pioneers that broke free from the clutches of the main body of the machine. They tried to separate from the murderous harlot and find again that Holy Civilization. They escaped into the desert and they traveled as far as their weakened legs would carry them.
But oh... so much had been lost. They were only able to shed a tiny piece of the evil machine at a time. The tentacles were long... and they ran deep.
The counter plot... Feigned freedom
The evil beast began to grin an evil grin. Oh what brilliant luck is this. A brilliant plan indeed, the ancient creature thought to himself. He grabbed a stylus in his talons and began to draft a memorandum to his henchmen...
My loyal followers:
Those reformers, those men who risked life and limb to break free from our clutches; we intend to use them for our good. Despite their best efforts and noble intentions we can still use their efforts to further entrench our cause.
We need not run the world with only one machine. We'll establish other models... adapted with belief systems that suit our captives best. It's ok for them to hold "more correct opinions" about doctrine; as long as their lives stay the same.
...Why, yes of course we have a model in which your priests can marry... and if it'll make you feel better you can call them "pastors" instead of priest. We aim to please... Protestant "vicars" are just as good as the ones we've used for centuries.
As long as we keep shackles on her wrists, we don't care what "flavor" of speeches you preach to her. And it's ok if they motivate her to do a few good deeds, as long as we can channel it through a tax deductible "cause;" as long as it still fits on a calendar.
But here are the things that must not change:
1) Never allow each member to use the gift deposited within them to serve the other members at large. It's ok if they "talk" about the "priesthood of believers." Talk is fine. If you need to, you can even allow the "laity" to speak during meeting as long as it's in a specified time slot of course. But, under no circumstances should you allow them to function in each other's lives in an organic daily way.
2) Keep everything you can on a calendar. Our captive must she her self as a series of events to attend. She must not recapture the fact that she was meant to be a kingdom; especially the fact that she was a "neither here nor there kingdom."
She must think of herself as a meeting to be attended and not a holy civilization. Make your meeting peppy or if you would prefer you can make it somber and thoughtful. If you want to you can steep it in ritual, or make it open and "free." It does not matter to our cause. But, whatever you do make sure it happens at the same bat time, in the same bat place, with the same bat "order of worship."
This is in keeping with the spirit of the machine... we must always give deference to the machine. If "the script" calls the shots... then "the script" is her lord. Control. The issue is control. The one in control is lord. We must not allow her to gather under the lordship of her pioneer. Let her instead hold wonderful meetings in his honor.
3) Make sure all your leaders have titles. If you let everyone function simply on the basis of their current intimacy and gifting alone, you are headed for trouble. Pick your leaders anyway you like, and call them anything you like... but make sure they have titles and office. Special clothing is helpful, but not required. However, they must not, under any circumstances, come to understand that they have one master and that they are all brothers amongst brothers. Remember, they were instructed to stop calling those "in charge" by special names. They were told to call no man "father" or "teacher" or "pastor" or "reverend" or "priest." If they begin to take their master seriously on that point it could spell trouble for our cause. Make sure that SOMEONE is in charge and assigned "leader."
4) If your mission fails, and they do somehow come to reject the titles of men, then you must make sure that they reject authority in every form. If they reject the "external" authority of a title, it is imperative that they also reject the "internal" authority of a gift. If they begin to evaluate authority on the basis of the indwelling life... They will come to revere the Christ in each other... Oh, we fear they may rouse our sleeping trophy. It is just that sort of spiritual discernment that must be stifled at all cost.
5) Make sure they never get the leaven out of the batch. This was how we captured her in the first place. This is critical: We must be able to place our agents in her midst whenever we need to. We must be able to leaven her life, and keep her at bay and anemic. So, make sure anyone can "join" her ranks, just because they want too. Supernatural Life, and personal holiness, and revelation beyond flesh and blood can never become the measuring rod of membership. That's just the sort of foundation that true Church life is built on. I fear we will lose control completely if she is ever awakened to that fact.
There now, if you'll ingrain these elements into each of the denominational blueprints for the machines that will be sufficient to keep her from fulfilling her destiny. Sure, she may do some good. That problem is unfortunate but unavoidable. But, she must not be able to express a "kingdom come" in any sort of corporate way! We must avoid the demonstration of corporate "heaven life" - lived out practically - no matter what the cost. Remember the havoc she wreaked when she was young? I thought the gates of our fortress might collapse.
Now, If some whole-hearted person wants to live a life of complete devotion, then so be it. If they join one of our franchises we'll leaven them as much as we can. But if they don't... they'll only be a candle in the darkness anyway. Their songs might make someone cry, and their words or deeds might save a few. That's the price we've been forced to pay since the reformation. But, they must remain isolated individuals... scatter corporate life at all costs.
And so, our maiden's captors mass produced as many versions of the machine as the human mind (and some not so human minds) could fathom - each with its own unique perspective and doctrinal distinctives.
While our heroic reformers continued to take mighty swings at the branches of evil. We are indebted indeed to these brave men and yet, during their own lifetimes, they were only able to effect a few of the branches. The roots, with its deadly tentacles are still in tact.
Hallelujah she's starting to wake up...
So my comrade in arms... will you step into the fray? Will you stop playing the game? Or will you remain an attender of events? A hearer of speeches? A singer of pretty songs?
Will you become more than a hollow shell who makes radical comments during a "Bible class?" Or, will you unsheathe your sword and go for the root?
All over the world, your brothers and sisters are waking up and struggling against their two thousand year old chains. Some of them are breaking free. Some are still trapped in the machinery. They need bread. They need water. They need oil and wine.
They need your help! Dismantle the machine. Turn it off. Shut it down. Oppose it! Help your brothers and sisters break free. Even though the machine is full of wolves in sheep's clothing, there are some precious lambs - weak and dying - in their midst.
But remember: If you spend your life to save them, you will be persecuted. As Jesus said, "a student is not above his master. If they hated me they will they will hate you as well." Only those who have blended in with the spirit of this age will avoid the enemies fury. Hell only fights those who oppose it. If hell is not fighting against you, guess whose side your on.
On the day the great harlot is judged, will it be clear that you were not a part of her? Don't let yourself get lulled to sleep! Don't trick yourself into believing you're above it all - that you can remain loyal in heart while you blend in with the form. It's a trap.
Remember the admonition: "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
In the confusion of your dark hour, let love guide you. Love is tender and does not abandon the stranded. But, love is also fierce and will not compromise; nor stand by idly while lambs are abused or neglected.
Welcome to the battle my friend. Welcome to the conflict of the ages. Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven.
We have a grand banquet to attend just on the other side of the horizon. Until then, we must we must crush His enemies under our feet and turn them into a footstool for His feet.
BN