Apostasy (Part 3) The Exclusivity of the Apostasy

The Exclusivity of the Apostasy

That was the true Light, which lighteth every human that cometh into the world. [John 1]

 

The root cause of the falling away is a basic confusion as to what constitutes the authoritative divine word.  The Bible as a written, printed document states within its own pages that one must have a spirit of revelation to grasp its knowledge!  That is, by its own testimony, it cannot be understood apart from a spirit of revelation and of wisdom. [Ephesians 2]  When spiritually quickened, genuinely made alive; then it can be the living word of God to a person or meeting. But, to state that the printed book equals the divine word is a fatal departure from the primitive faith.

 

The antichrist spirit is further demonstrated in its restricted, elitist doctrine by its denial of a fundamental fact of genuine spirituality: that the Light is within every person in the world.  To miss this fact is to miss the foundation of true religion.  To say that only a subset of humanity (my kind of people?) have the Light is a critical error.  It is to depart at the most basic level from genuinely walking in the spirit.  If we misapprehend the divine goodness and witness at this critical juncture, then we will end up wandering very far from real faith.  We make ourselves susceptible to preachers of hate and division.

The Teaching of Immanence: Now Published

Have we missed the point?  After all, Jesus did repeatedly encourage those "who have ears" to really "listen deeply."  We speak almost glibly of God.  And of what God wants. And yet we seem unaware that it is within this Presence that "we live and move and have our being."  What a shame to miss out on having lived...


The book The Teaching of Immanence as found in Koheleth and Jesus is now available.  The essential teaching passages of Jesus are featured, but the first portion of the book is from Koheleth. This combination of Koheleth and Jesus, in fresh translation, may help the reader to grasp the power of Immanence in our lives.  In subsequent posts, we'll look at a few passages from The Teaching of Immanence as found in Koheleth and Jesus.

John 1 The Theology of Apostasy (part two)

The Theology of Apostasy

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[John 1]

 

From the Gospel of John to the Revelation of John, the phrase ‘Word of God’ is identified with a person.  The ‘word of God’, the divine logos in the verse above became flesh in the anointed one, Jesus.  But, throughout the biblical record, the ‘word of God’ is a broader concept: the person and presence of the Spirit speaking to those who are listening. To grasp this, is to understand the primary theological root of our 21^st century apostasy from the faith.  The cause of our following after ‘the doctrine of devils’ is a basic category confusion.  We do not know who the word of God is.  When we hear the phrase, “Word of God”, do we think biblically?  Or do we already have the seed of antichrist beginning to grow?

To be as clear as possible: the beginning of our corporate departure from the faith is to be found in identifying the ‘word of God’ with the Bible.  The impulse to speak of ‘the Word of God’ as precisely equal to the written biblical corpus is to start down the road to complete apostasy. 

The irony is obvious.  Those who speak of apostasy most often are those who claim that only the Bible is the Word of God…meaning pragmatically: their interpretations of a printed document.  There simply must be no confusion on this point: the word of God is primarily the light of the world. The ‘word of God’, though a phrase, is theologically speaking, a verb!  When we listen to the Spirit, as we sense the light within, as we center down into the divine presence, then God’s Message is quickened, made alive to us, the living and powerful Word.