Reminder: No Encryption Needed

They don’t take us seriously in the first place.

A fundamental element in this online parish, and of all the vast pile of stuff I write day after day, is that the heart is a sensory organ harnessed to a higher level of consciousness. We teach the science, and I keep a copy of some references on my FTP server. Not that we endorse everything in those documents, but they do carry some of the factual background that points back to our main contention about the heart as a separate “mind” in your chest.

So while we can probably get most of the world to nod at the scientific data, it’s quite a jump from that data to my contention that the Bible as a document of Hebrew culture, sitting as it did in the center of a much wider Ancient Near Eastern intellectual tradition, took quite literally the idea that your heart had a mind of its own. Further, I teach that the Bible assumes the heart as a “mind” is the only part of us capable of sensing directly the Spirit Realm. At any given time, in any given context, the vast majority of folks exposed to that idea will not be able to accept it. They can’t swallow the idea of a separate Spirit Realm and they can’t swallow the idea that the only possible way you can know God is with your intellect linked to your heart and letting your heart rule. They might tolerate the idea of “convictions” as stronger than reason, but they would choke on the idea that we can and should consciously cultivate a habit of listening to our convictions all the time.

What we say sounds pretty much like the New Age stuff (it ain’t) or some kind of Eastern Mysticism (it is). Because I say that we should not trust the intellect for very much, that it rightly bows the knee to the heart/convictions and that your Western morals are all wrong — that knocks us out of any serious attention. (And I don’t mean one kind of Western morals versus some other kind, but that all the Western moral traditions are inherently anti-Christian.)

I said the other day that our whole religious orientation here starts with an awareness that what everyone else does has failed, so if people don’t come here with that, we can’t help them. They have to sense a need and start looking for an answer. And then they have to be ready to hear our answer as the one they need. We aren’t even trying to persuade; we offer this as a friendly invitation to take a look. And we flatly deny any interest in politics except as entertainment or academic curiosity. Our kingdom is not of this world.

So we can chatter quite openly about our religion and faith and The Powers That Be are wholly unlikely to feel threatened. I suppose mainstream Christianity could see us a threat. I do bluntly say they are wrong and we hope their members come to us for a better answer, but I would never attempt to disrupt what churches are doing. That’s just human politics with Bible verses painted on the outside. I also would love to draw out the New Agers and pagans and Luciferians and just about everyone else — anyone who senses a need for what we have. Or you can stay in your organization and just come here to laugh or whatever.

We’ve had plenty of folks post comments here more or less attacking what I teach, or attacking me for what I teach. Most of the time my answers sort of end the conversation, largely because they were taking potshots in the first place. Only one persisted and I eventually got tired of his noise and told him his comments were blocked. That’s only because he was what Paul called a “disputatious man” wasting time with no honest intention of trying to understand (1 Corinthians 11:16). It was interfering with the ministry. He didn’t operate by the heart, so far as I could tell. I recall telling a few others to take a hike, but it was for outright senseless spite. Folks like that are very rare in the seven years or so I’ve had this blog.

Most of the time they ignore us, so I really don’t waste time with encryption. My emails, text messages and calls are all unencrypted. I don’t keep a list of members and most certainly receive no significant amount in donations except on rare occasions for something really special — and I can account for how every bit of it was spent on this ministry or kept me alive. Do you imagine that I couldn’t make more money doing something else? I live in relative poverty on purpose; it’s God’s calling on my life. And if the donations stopped at this point, it would likely change nothing. You have to understand: If people give, I use it, but that’s not why I write. I’d much rather you drop a note telling me you are praying for me. Or chat about something that needs my advice or my prayers. The personal touch is the real treasure for me.

We aren’t a target because we do nothing that matters to anyone else.