Batshit Crazy is Okay

They called Jesus a madman. We need to take up His Cross in order to follow Him. There is nothing reasonable about faith in Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to embrace this with some over-the-top performance in your daily mannerisms, though sometimes I do that for the sake of getting the message across. Still, you need to understand that the world will always think we are nuts. The heart-led way of faith will make you believe impossible things, and make you act on those impossible beliefs. If this doesn’t happen to you in some degree, I question your faith.

Let me summarize some thing so I can get the point of unloading my prophetic burden on you.

Spiritual birth is totally under the control of the Father. Nothing in the gospel message of Jesus Christ changes your eternal destiny. Your election stood from before Creation; it was waiting there for you when you were born. The point of the gospel is to hit you upside the head so you realize that you belong to God. It’s just a matter of recognition, of absorbing in your soul the truth that God chose you. That’s the most we can possibly do for folks when we present the gospel message: We put it where their souls can grasp it, providing their souls are able to grasp it.

We do not persuade people to be saved. We do persuade people to walk in the eternal salvation that already has their name on it. In that sense, the New Testament term “be saved” means walking the talk, not obtaining your fire insurance policy. There is an inherent emphasis on obedience to something only the spiritually reborn can do. The New Testament is full of Law — not as the “law” of the Talmud, but the Law of Grace.

There is nothing in this world that can possibly compare with obedience to Christ. As I often say, Biblical Law is its own reward. Sure, I can list the benefits of walking in Christ, but if I have to do that to get your interest, then you can’t have it in the first place. It is an instinct for those who belong to Him to obey Him. We are at war with the flesh. The flesh isn’t too happy with that, but the heart knows just how sweet it is.

Thus, a major element in all of this is emphasizing the heart-led way. Sure, you can be heart-led without spiritual birth. And it’s pretty safe to say the majority of those spiritually reborn are not heart-led. That’s a major element in what we do. We are breaking down the lie that faith is rational, that the fleshly reason can handle the task. It cannot; it never has and it never will.

We do not rely on human reason to move people to the heart-led path of faith. We do things that are designed to break through the barriers of fleshly logic so the heart can come in and seize control from the brain. The truth of Jesus Christ is not knowledge in the mind, but a commitment from the heart.

Truth is never propositional; it is forever provisional. It always rests on the personal connection we have with God and His Creation. It is utterly impossible for the flesh to actually know anything. The intellect believes it knows, and tends to be quite arrogant about it’s imaginary ability to handle reality. However, it’s a lie.

That’s because the fallen world in which we live is a lie. It’s shadows and mists with only the appearance of solidity. We aren’t trying to help people see better facts; we want the facts to fall at the feet of Christ’s Person. It’s not a question of what we can know, but how we should proceed. We characterize; we tell parables. That’s the language of ultimate truth. That’s how we break through the barriers of human reason. That’s how we humble the flesh so that the heart can assume supremacy in the soul.

The world at large believes it relies on human reason, but even that is a lie. It relies on human lusts. The Bible lists three of them that seem to be the roots of everything about the Fall: Lust of the Flesh, Lust of Sensory Perception and Boastful Pride of Sentience (AKA reason). Yeah, I changed some of the words; it’s a better translation of what the author was getting at.

I’m not going to tell you that our current realm of existence is alive; I’m going to tell you that you can’t make sense of it unless you treat it so. You have to characterize in your mind that Reality is a living entity, a person who treats each of us just a little differently. It’s almost the same as saying we are living in a simulation. What you experience is not Ultimate Reality. That’s something we cannot encounter in our present fleshly form. Rather, I’m telling you that what you’ll experience is best understood if you tune your perception of things to include the notion that reality is alive, sentient and willful. Furthermore, our individual experiences and perceptions of reality will vary because reality itself is variable.

By now I’ve already trashed mainstream Christian religion, along with the mainstream secular viewpoint. Mainstream Christian believers will consider us nuts, as does the rest of secular world, just for different reasons.

This is not the time to hide our madness. Now I’m not saying you can’t infiltrate and pretend to be normal when the mission requires it. Divine wisdom includes tactical guidance on when to keep a lid on it, waiting for those teachable moments when the Lord is ready to reveal Himself to someone. We operate on multiple levels and sometimes you shouldn’t throw pearls before swine. But make no mistake, by common definition, the truth of Jesus Christ is complete madness.

We aren’t appealing to people’s reason; we are speaking to their hearts. The language of the heart is parable, symbolism, characterizations. That’s how we operate in the fleshly realm to break through the flesh to awaken something eternal. If there’s nothing spiritually alive in them, then it will drive people away. Jesus did that very thing quite intentionally when He spoke of the Bread of Life to the milling circus crowds and they left. Divine revelation polarizes. We have no say in who is drawn and who is driven away, but if you don’t make an honest effort to express the divine truth, you have lied.

Not all of us will use words. This is where I remind you that building shalom in your life is your witness. Whether that means words, artistry, or just sweeping the sidewalk doesn’t make any difference. When you exhibit shalom both as way of life and the rewards for that life, you have slapped aside human reason and hammered home to the heart that you have the peace everyone else longs to find.

This is the background for what comes in the next post.