Three short items this time.
One — Be aware that heart-led is not the same as spiritually awakened. So far as anyone can tell, the choice to use the sensory heart and connect your conscious awareness to the heart-mind is universal, a basic function of human existence. It does no require spiritual birth (AKA “born again”) to use it. What happens is that such people will tend to misinterpret their exposure to the moral realm. They won’t have the built-in spiritual awareness that only the Holy Spirit can give. This is why a lot of folks seem aware of operating principles and various portions of divine morality, but don’t have a consistent picture of it. They can see inside the sphere but don’t have a rooted grasp on what they perceive.
On the other hand, a great many people who are spiritually awakened in Christ do not use their heart-mind, which is a major concern for us. So far, the vast majority of folks drawn to our religion are these people. They are already believers, but lack the clear grasp of what to do with it. We can help this latter group of people find their way, but only God can change the spiritual condition in the former group. Nothing says we can’t be friends and witness the truth to everyone.
An awful lot of our ministry looks just like counseling, but counseling is mostly a special form or teaching ministry. We have to engage our hearts to sense what is broken and help them see and hear. The stuff we might tell them won’t work until we help them resolve the blockage between mind and heart. The single biggest problem is the mind rejecting or ignoring stuff.
Two — Everything starts with your location. That’s true on two levels, at least.
On the moral level, you really need to seek a sense of calling from God. Your actual calling is a moving target because life is all about change, but the issue is your sense of calling. It’s a matter of where you stand in God’s business on this earth — Why are you still here? For some, the process is a long one, bouncing a million things off their convictions until something sticks. The process itself is exceedingly valuable.
On the practical level of application, your geographic location can be wrong against the broad moral fabric for reasons that don’t make any sense at all. At any given moment, the power of God working in your body as Creator matches you to a setting that is your “home,” where the means to optimal life (shalom) are waiting. Your divine heritage is tied to a physical location. You are built to be somewhere, and it’s incumbent on you to sense the need to move to another place. You don’t have to know consciously all the details why, but you do need a wider awareness that you are in the wrong place for your calling and your needs. Creation itself can tell you that you need to move.
Three — Western culture gets most things wrong, and it is particularly bad about the relationship between perception and reality. There’s a sense in which Western Civilization is a very bad case of mass hypnosis. Everyone has been taught a fundamental approach on the issue and it’s very wrong, but since everyone agrees to it, the world seems to work just fine that way.
So get this: Your false perception by itself can kill you. Reality is fuzzy in the first place, and a great many people die from simply believing a lie so overwhelmingly powerful that their bodies doesn’t argue. Now extend that outwards and realize that demonic deception can make nonbelievers experience things differently from what a strong believer experiences in the precise same setting. And for all the difference it makes, both experiences are equally “real.”
Yes, reality is just that fungible. You will have to explore this for yourself. It’s not that heart-led believers can’t be fooled, but that demons have a lot tougher time fooling them. Demonic powers depend on perception far more than Westerners realize. The key is a powerful moral awareness of what God says ought to be.
“Demonic powers depend on perception far more than Westerners realize. The key is a powerful moral awareness of what God says ought to be.”
Hmmm. It strikes me that it’s the degree of fascination felt by the perceiver too.
Being aware of what demons can and will do in their attempt to attract our attention is one thing. Giving their antics our undivided attention, going looking for evidence of their existence on youtube etc., means they have us where they want us, doesn’t it?
Giving their antics our undivided attention, going looking for evidence of their existence on youtube etc., means they have us where they want us, doesn’t it?
Precisely, Christine. For example: Levitation? When it’s real, I’m still not impressed. The Bible is full of examples where it served God’s glory and blessed someone. At least one prophet knew how it worked (Elisha in 2 Kings 6); we aren’t told what kind of stick Elijah threw in the water or what difference it made. Honestly, I suspect it’s a latent human capability. I’m sure Adam and Eve thought nothing of it before the Fall, but what no one seems to notice is that it typically requires far more resources to levitate than it does to simply lift and move it manually outside the miracles. If nothing else, doing such “magic” consumes the person who performs it with demonic assistance. The issue is not the jaw-dropping inexplicable stuff God can do when it suits Him, but that accessing it any other way is destructive. What do I need to glorify the Father? I’ll always have it.
Let me add one more item: What John called “Lust of the Eyes” includes curiosity that exceeds the boundaries of one’s calling. Thus, one can make an idol of wanting to see and know things that can’t help you serve the Lord. When we allow our hearts to guide curiosity, we learn far more than we can use because God is so very generous.
“curiosity that exceeds the boundaries of one’s calling”
Yes!
Can we say that applies to more than just the activities of demons, but also to false perceptions of any kind?
Is that why humility is actually *helpful* to us? Knowing that we can’t possibly be certain about anything, that reality is so very fungible, then the only correct, or safe, course of action is in doing our best to understand what’s morally right in each situation, yes?
That’s just rewording what I wrote. 🙂 (And a very good one, at that.)
I had a philosophy professor–huge atheist, wonderful teacher and guy. In our conversations, more than once, he said (paraphrasing)…”I can’t believe religious belief is anything other than a miracle…since I can’t see believing any other way.”
Deep down I knew he was right but I always tried to explain it to him in the wrong terms. How inverted is that? 🙂
Thanks, Jay; good insight.