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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NIV | | Stuff Rick Wrote - August 2005 Letter to a Friend | | August 2005 Letter to a friend was written to a customer with whom I had recently had some interesting interactions. | (Name withheld),
I really enjoyed our "long" phone conversation, but let's not do it again anytime real soon... too busy... ha!
Seriously, it is nice to take a break from the daily routine once in awhile and gab with friends. The past few years I've kind of been out of the habit of doing a lot of talking. During the 80's in particular, I spent so much time talking, it seemed like that's all I did. I was always in people's home educating and talking about financial stuff or business opportunities. And in the office, holding meetings, educating and teaching agents, etc. I also taught insurance licensing schools for WV and Ohio. On top of that, some occasional teaching at church... whew....
In some ways, the past few years of not being in front of people has been a blessing. It's been nice not being in 3-piece suits and ties as I used to be seemingly all the time. I think shorts, sandals and old shirts have almost become a part of my skin. It might be tough to "get back in the groove" if I once again find myself in some teaching situations. I suspect that at some point in the future, that is exactly what may happen.
A week or so ago, you wrote to me about "laying your cards on the table". In that letter, you said...
"I am not a religious person, I do not attend church. I do not read the Bible and I do not pray. However, I have great respect for those who do and am becoming increasingly convinced that the farther we stray from a biblically ordered society, the more corrupt, chaotic, crime-ridden and unlivable our society becomes. I guess you could say I am feeling the tug of the faith".
I think that you are "hearing" instead of "feeling". Let me briefly explain (with a general overview) of what I believe you are "hearing". I believe you are hearing the voice of your "Sspirit". Your Sspirit is speaking and trying to get your attention, tying to get your "heart" to pay attention.
I call it the "double S" spirit. I spell "Sspirit" that way to represent the truth that the "real you", the spirit that you are, which came from God and will return to God, is "already" One with God. The indwelling "S"pirit of God in the "s"pirit of man.... one and the same since 2000 years ago when God came into this earthly realm in the flesh, as a man, to live a life and pay a price for our redemption from the Law of Sin and Death.
Even above that, if you can hear what I'm saying, our being one with God has been true forever, from before the beginning of time. God sees the end from the beginning and within Himself, what he planned was already an accomplished fact even though mankind had to wait as time played out to see it. (God believes in his heart that whatsoever things he saith shall come to pass. - (a liberally paraphrased rendering of Mk 11:23)
I may of course be wrong, but my belief is that the heart of man is the arena of our being where we do our "deciding" about what we do and do not believe. It is not our soul, or our mind, or our will, or our emotions. It is not our intellect and it certainly is not part of our body. I believe it is a major component of mankind that differentiates us from the animal kingdom. It is that part of us that receives "the input" from all "the voices" within ourselves.
Those voices are our mind, our will, our emotions, our five physical senses. These "mind processes" are the product of our intellect, our reasoning, our education, our life experiences, etc. These voices are also what our physical senses tell us. We believe we know what we see ("seeing is believing"), what we hear ("I heard it with my own ears"), what we can touch, what we can taste or smell. We judge what condition we think we are in based on what our body tells us it feels like, etc. It's all... just more "input".
The voices are also from our emotional being... sometimes wildly varying voices based on how we feel or what our mental "attitude" is at any given time. It may be dependant on how our hormones may or may not be raging at any given time. All these "voices" go on within us all the time vying for our heart's attention. It is always up to the heart as the "final decider" to make the decisions regarding what is really truth, what is really lies, what is important, what is not. These voices are usually loud and ever present "in our face".
There is another "voice" within us that (I'm sad to say) many do not listen to very well. That may be because it is usually not screaming at us for attention, instead preferring to be a still, small voice heard by those whose heart's choose to listen. That is the voice of our Sspirit. Because this Sspirit it is one with God, it is exactly the same as the voice of God. The "Trinity" (if you will), God the Father, God the Son (Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One), God the Holy Spirit is One and we are One with Him (them).
Our Sspirt never lies. It never wavers. It never misleads us. It is always the light that shows us the right path. It is always the voice of true Wisdom. If we learn to listen to our Sspirit (and follow it) instead of all these other "voices", then it is impossible for anyone or anything to lead us astray.
The reason this is so important is because while any of our "other" voices may be truthful at any given time, there is zero guarantee that they are and it's extremely likely that they are passing us false information that is contrary to the true realities as God has revealed them. The only single voice within us that is 100% reliable at all times is the voice of our Sspirit.
How does this "heart decider" come into play in our lives? Like this... the Bible declares that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". Another place it says "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". We spoke about this principle a little bit in our phone conversation. In Mark 11:23 it explains how man has the ability to speak with faith, believing that those things which he says shall come to pass, then he shall have those things he says. Bottom line, what we believe in our heart, we say. What we say and believe, we get. What we believe and say we are, is what we are.
We believe and say we are recipients of God's love toward us as members of His family, we are. We believe and say we are not, then for all practical purposes, we are not. We believe and say the devil is after us, he probably is. We say poverty, sickness and disease is our lot in life, it probably is. We believe and say God is in control and that we are overcomers regardless of appearances and present circumstances, we are.
Contrary to what many churches teach, the "devil" is not God's enemy. He is not a fallen angel good guy who decided to go bad. An All Powerful God and a nearly all powerful Satan are not at war with each other with mankind hanging in the balance. He is a mere creature albeit with a special and particular job description. His role is of being a source of opposition to us. Like a dog on a chain, he does his work with those who allow him to.
I say allow because that is exactly what it is. Mankind is in charge of believing what he will and will not believe. Each individual decides (intentionally or not) to use the creative power of God within us to live a live in harmony and cooperation with God, or a life of death in disharmony and opposition to God. Satan has zero control over those whose lives are given to the truth that God is in control and refuse to allow Satan to influence them.
The Bible declares that there is an enemy of God. What is God's enemy is the carnal mind of man. That is man deciding what man thinks and doing what man decides man wants to do. That is man believing that man knows better about anything and everything better than any supposed creator God... and (again sad to say) even believing, dedicated Christians who are bound by the false teachings of many religious organizations.
There are two men on the planet. Adam and Christ. The first Adam and the last Adam. In Adam, all die. In Christ shall all be made alive. Each and every one of us is living as if we are Adam or living as if we are Christ. There is no other choice. If we live our lives as Adam with our soulish realm (mind, will and emotions) in control, then we live a life made up of death.
But, if we choose to live our lives by acknowledging that God is in control, and by inviting and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew us, to make us over, to teach us, to mature us, then our soulish nature little by little, bit by bit, here a little, there a little is becoming conformed to the image of His Son. True life begins to manifest itself even in our mind, our will and our emotions.
The bible indicates that our soul (mind, will and emotions) can be put in submission (become as our Sspirit) and operate in Oneness with God. I believe at the point where true maturity in Christ is come, where life has conquered death in our carnal mind (that there is no more carnal mind), that life will also manifest itself in our physical bodies and it will not die.
Man (Adam) is not in control, but man thinks man is in control. Man thinks the inventions of man's mind and the wits and wisdom of man has the answer and the solution to man's life. Not so. What is the "666, antichirst, mark of the beast" in the bible about. Six is the biblical number of man. It is the fullness of man. Man at his best (while really at his worst). It is man, man, man and more man. It is man in control of man. It is the religious world of man telling what God says, instead of what God really says. It is everything about man that is outside of being submitted to the recognition of God.
When God gave mankind His Laws and commandments, they were given for one main purpose, so that it should become abundantly clear to all mankind, that it is impossible to win God's favor by our obedience to them regardless of how we might try. The Word says that if one violates even one of God's laws, it is the same as if he is guilty of all. There is no way "to overcome" and be righteous in God's eyes if one lives this life trying to do good things and obey the laws of God as their motivation.
With that payment for the sins of all mankind, "it is finished" and sealed by His resurrection and ascension. There is NO MORE price to pay by anybody. The Law of Sin and "Death" is abolished and in it's place is the Law of "Life" in Christ Jesus. There is no amount of good things one might do to gain favor with God. It is already an accomplished fact that we (you just as well as me) are members of the family of God. As our Father, He already has shown His love toward us and made it perfectly clear that His thoughts toward us are for our good and not for evil. Even earthly fathers do not (normally) wish ill toward their offspring.
If one chooses to not acknowledge themselves as a part of God's family, then every day of life is really death by degrees. We appear to be alive but are dying. In Christ, one is already living his eternal life. Each day of life is a maturing process that here a little, there a little, bit by bit, the "death" that may appear to be in our lives is dying itself and is coming under submission to the "life" that we are. Life swallows up death so that death exists no more.
That "tagline" in my emails that so inflamed (name withheld), really says it all. Jesus is Lord of All whether any particular person believes that or not. (Name withheld), He has already made you right with God whether you are fully aware of it or not. He already is your best friend whether you realize it yet or not. He has already made you to be numbered among the Sons of God whether you understand that or not. It truly boils down to our understanding of who we are and what we "choose" to acknowledge and believe in our heart.
If we "believe in our hearts" as the world and most of the "church system" has taught us... that we "are sinners", then that is in fact the life we have. Children of the King and Heirs of God, yet acting like common paupers, trying to do something or not do something else, so that perhaps we might be eventually forgiven and accepted into "heaven" when our body lies down and dies.
The only problem with that is that it simply IS NOT TRUE! Jesus did not teach that. The apostles did not teach that. The New Testament does not teach that. The entire word of God proclaims that HE KNEW "YOU" BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORLD WERE LAID. "You" were who He had in mind when He put in motion all the things necessary to produce a family whose members are just like Him and One with Him.
HE DID IT ALL.... FOR YOU.
When I started this letter, I meant to only write perhaps a paragraph. The rest "just came". I have no idea if this is that which I mentioned previously to you. And that was that I knew I would be hearing "something" within myself that I would want to share with my friend (Name withheld). Perhaps this is that. Perhaps there will be more, perhaps not. Who knows? I'm simply another sojourner in this existence trying to listen to the voice of my Sspirit and follow it's guiding.
Just before clicking send, I reread what I wrote and kind of like it :) I think I'll put it on the Truth Seekers section on the website (with personal reference removed of course).
In case you have never visited the Truth Seekers section, see it here.....
http://www.stereomanuals.com/seekers/index.htm
Best regards,
Rick
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Our mistaken self-identity may cause us to not believe it or act like it,
but Jesus is still... The Lord!
(Want an explanation? See *Mistaken Identity* link on this page)
http://www.stereomanuals.com/seekers/otherswrote.htm
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