Nobody is more anxious to avoid creating yet-one-more church denomination than me. The last thing I want is a personal empire, a little kingdom over which to reign. With all my ranting about how wrong it is to do things according to Western fashion, it would be the height of hypocrisy to build a Western organization around the idea itself.
The underlying need is developing biblical literacy on the Bible’s own terms. I typically use the academic term ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) as a general label to provide a contrast to Western (modern American and European). Once people pass through that gateway of understanding, there is still an awful lot of work to do. Typing or saying those labels gets to be extra work we can all agree is unnecessary, provided we are on the same sheet of music.
Yes, this means we become fully aware we must live two lives, a foot in both worlds. This is hardly less dramatic than what it required of the First Century Church. We become strangers to this world even while we spend the remainder of our lives in it. Because of the dissonance between our new, higher natures and this fallen existence below, we often seek the soothing of our ragged nerves by withdrawing into the comfort of that social network which anchors on the higher spiritual plane. The language, thoughts, and whole orientation is divine, and we can relax somewhat because we are among our own kind.
Anything we can do to reduce the tensions and very human barriers within this other-worldly atmosphere is obviously going to help us make the most of our time left on this earth. The very nature of a spiritual congregation means not only are we not there yet, so to speak, nor can we ever be “there” in this fallen world, but sometimes we run into experiences which can pull us backward. These are entirely normal, central to the spiritual existence in conflict with a fallen world, so we have enough to do that we don’t need to struggle with anything which adds unnecessary complications. Most of Paul’s letters address the very human tendency to create even smaller, more tightly knit sub-communities, creating fractures within the divine assembly. A very fundamental element in our new divine life is removing the barriers of fellowship built into the Fall.
Part of the question also includes finding ways to both exclude the world of the spiritually dead, even as we hold forth the invitation for them to join. We hope to maximize the drawing power of living and doing what God says we should here, while keeping enough distance to avoid mixing in all those hindrances outsiders bear as part of their very nature. It’s not simply being winsome in the larger world around us, but letting them see how winsome we are when together. The tension between the need to withdraw where it’s safe to be our real redeemed selves versus the need to demonstrate a redeemed community publicly, requires a nimble soul ever watching for what God wants to emphasize at the moment, what is the best course of action in the given context.
Somewhere between the ways of this world and the ways of the Spirit we must remain connected even as we are jarring in our disconnection. Human words and procedures are necessary, but they must be ruled by the divine imperatives. Each of us must make our own best choices, utterly free within the context of needing to work together. This is challenging enough when the community of faith is tangible and local, but the game changes when we seek to make a virtual community by taking advantage of the Internet.
On the one hand, given the esoteric nature of my teaching, no one should be surprised there are no large supporting organizations of any sort in meat space. We live in a world highly distracted, as well as highly jaded by the vast number of fakes which sound, smell and look like what I suggest is the real deal. And Satan has had centuries during which he built up a vast world of resistance to this teaching. Moving into the Land Without Words is so naturally repugnant to humanity at large, it is truly a miracle any of us got here. Frankly, we need to have an online connection to give us enough critical mass to realize it can be done, given the bulk of my outreach almost has to be via the Internet, at least for now.
I’m praying earnestly for the Lord to reveal His own excellent planning for this. I’m willing to make any changes necessary in my own habits here in order to obey this urging call. The burning desire to teach a better understanding of the Bible, and to consider all the implications of that understanding, won’t let me rest until I make those changes. I don’t pretend to decide for others what they must do; it’s all I can handle making me behave properly. This thing I am doing must run on its own, or it will be only me. This readiness to be conformed to whatever it takes includes any part of the mechanism by which I communicate with anyone else who embraces the essence of what draws me forward. It’s the teaching and the spiritual life, and I can’t pretend to run the show, nor control the mechanisms. We have to discover in concert what God has in mind, because we come into it knowing our instincts have suffered much from the world’s perversions.
So this blog will change. I’ll continue to post thought pieces and teachings on my other blog, and this one will be more about practical matters. I can’t pretend to know right now all the things I’ll do tomorrow, but for now I predict there won’t be any more Linux and Unix posts. Those articles draw the most traffic here — success by the world’s standards — but aren’t what really matter to me. Last night I installed Windows on my main system, and on my laptop the day before, simply because I sensed the Spirit needed me to focus time and effort in other directions. I still have openSUSE 11.3 on another hard drive in the desktop machine, but I don’t expect I’ll dual boot that much. And if I sense His hand leading in yet another direction tomorrow, I’ll change it all again. I can’t say what difference it will all make in days ahead, but computer technology is merely the means, not the goal. This blog itself isn’t a goal, just a tool, and is wholly subject to what I can understand as God’s wishes.
I only know what burden rests upon me today. That burden is to prepare myself to teach, to reach out to others with a more single-minded devotion than before. I sense the time is upon us for things to shift in may ways we cannot begin to imagine. Since planning for such things is above my pay grade in the Kingdom, I am simply carrying out the orders I can understand. Yes, I could be deceived entirely, but it’s the best I know. I’m not in charge of the results.
That something big is coming should be obvious to anyone who shares this spiritual teaching with me. For our part, I believe we should consider ways to build and enhance an online community, to organize enough to commune in our ANE understanding of the world. That seems to call for a forum of some sort, a virtual place to meet and fellowship. This is not my baby, but I’m ready to contribute what I have to the process. If you are moved, pray with us.
(Great minds think alike, Brother Benjamin!)
