My faith in a God that for His own sake needed to be satisfied by blood because of his holiness, is far gone! Yes, Christ died for our sins, but not because God needed this. But because we needed a revelation of Love and a pathway to help us become transformed through Love in the experience of our sins and weaknesses.
The revelation of Love tells us: “Let’s be done with scapegoating and sacrifice. Let’s be done with it once and for all. Be free to love yourself, the Divine Creator and others. “I am” is the final sacrifice not so God can love us, but so we can love ourselves.
More than dying for our sins, Christ died “because” of our sins and because of our human need for revenge, scapegoating and quid pro qou. Christ is the final scapegoat!
The All-loving Divine is telling us: “Please look upon the final sacrifice and receive it in your inner being. Now your sacrifice is needed no more, neither do you need to let anyone else pay for your sins. Actually, a sacrifice of blood has never been needed for Me to see you, love you and accept you! “I am” accepted you when you were created and you were blessed from the beginning.
And further: “Christ dying and resurrecting is both an incident in time, and an “incident” in the Eternal Now, happening again, again and forever.
And finally: “You have always been loved, blessed and forgiven! Christ died to set you free, to help you forgive yourself, so that forgiveness and love can help you to become transformed in your inner being.
He died and rose again to free you to live life abundantly! Do you get it? Do you get it?”
Is this bad theology or the Great Truth and The Truly Good News?
I believe in a Truth that says: You are eternally accepted by Love, the beloved loved by The Beloved.
Sadness within
Takes you low
Irritation from small things
What is hiding deep below the surface
Sorrow within
Takes you low
Feelings of uncertainty
What is hiding deep below the surface
Despair within
Takes you low
A hunger for eyes to have seen
What was barely beneath the surface
I am asking myself and you today: Are (some) Pentecostals afraid of the Spirit (some times)? This question has come to my mind lately, and it was so pressing that I wanted to write a short blog post about it.
Looking back upon my own growing up in the Pentecostal church I have realised that some of the preaching and teaching heard and read was more fearbased than lovebased. Or you might say there was a lack of trust in your own ability to do the right thinking and even some times the critical mind was condemned and rejected.
What makes me wonder is why Pentecostals that so strongly believe in the Holy Spirit and the possibility of being filled with this Spirit at the same time can be in the danger of rejecting the listening to this same Spirit?
Jesus talked about the letter of the law that would kill the spiritual life. And this makes me wonder if the “sola scriptura”-focus (aka literal Bible interpretation) has been a hindering for seeing and trusting the Spirit’s work among the members of the church.
When the message is believe God’s Word, and God’s Word (clearly) says this, and this, and that, we may have lost the ability to trust the promptings of the Spirit within ourselves. Was Pentecost only an outpouring of the Spirit on the outside, or was it not also a filling of the Spirit within?
Another common teaching among Pentecostals is “don’t trust your feelings, rather trust the Word of God (in the Bible, and in the Bible only!)”. I wonder why Christians want to send the message that your feelings are not so important and often should be disregarded?
One thing I have learned is that the greatest a person can experience is a sense of love and freedom on the inside. I believe this love AND freedom is what God created us to experience as the Spirit keep revealing the divine and eternal truths to us. This freedom from within is what creates a profound joy in our lives. Yes, the feeling of true joy!
Jesus said he had to leave in order for the Spirit to come. The Spirit was going to teach us, each and everyone of us. Also the Spirt would grow fruits in our lives, as joy, patience, meekness and more. I believe Jesus also was serious when He said “Fear not”. God sent His Spirit to be with us, around us, AND also within. A Spirit to be trusted.
So in my opinion I think there is a lot of fear stopping people and even “Spirit-filled” Pentecostals to trust in the inner promptings of the Spirit in their hearts. Many are so afraid of mixing up man with God, and can’t trust the Spirit within because they think they make themselves gods or God! This is one of the greatest misunderstandings I think. This is also why many believe mystics are on the wrong path. That’s until they too experience that the scales are removed from their eyes, and they finally see what a Spirit God has blessed us with and filled us with!
Please, if you have read this far, I pray that you kindly ask yourself: Am I afraid of the Spirit in my life? The promptings and the intuition, the Still Small Voice, calling me not only through the whole of creation but also from within my very soul? Is my faith more fearbased than trustbased? Can I trust myself, and the Spirit God has given me to teach me? Do I long for more freedom and joy in my life? Have teachings I grew up with stopped me from trusting that God is with me in all my processes in life, and that He wants me to grow in freedom and joy?
Grace and peace to you!
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His life showed us the way of love and restoration
The road of life is often down before it is up
In His suffering and death He embraced the suffering of men and the Earth
We also need to surrender, trust and drink our cup
In his resurrection He shouted out that Love always wins
Let His Love be our life
Note: This poem is about life in general and does not advice people to accept abusive or criminal behaviour.
The longing pains me. Is it new life growing or a desire for wholeness? I thirst for His love and grace to color my life and surroundings. Fill my empty, bottomless cup. I pray and yearn, day and night. Come, heal my inner man.
Let my eyes dwell on Your goodness. I long for your touch, to drink your lifegiving water. It is painful, this hunger, it truly is. May Your Spirit quench my thirst.
Your Life within me, is my strength forever and ever. Your Love upholds me and lifts my soul. Your Grace heals my inner man and restores my broken heart. In You I find truth and rest for my soul.
Keep me Lord, surround me, embrace me in my sorrow and woundedness. Help me to be a giver of what You have given. Help me drink the cup and take the steps You ask of me. You want the whole world to know, The Christ that moves and upholds.
Christ be my life, Christ be my all. Let me see with Your eyes, each created thing and being, yes, the whole of Your creation. When everything else is burned away, be You still, the Flame burning in my heart.
“Christ is all in all” (Colossians 3,11)
I am reading the latest news and finding information that a contemplative Pentecostal brother is being evicted from the site of his religious community. Having grown up in the Pentecostal movement this saddens me greatly. All the thumbs up for this from fellow Christians scare and sadden me even more. The Pentecostal movement in Sweden and Norway is in great need of ecumenical work and broader perspectives. This is a huge step back. And a step back sadly supported by many.
I believe this is a great mistake, but it is also understandable why this is happening. When religious practice seems strange and foreign it can be very easy to dismiss, yes, even name it the devil’s work. Someone actually commented on this brother’s practice as the work of the devil. That’s how far it goes.
But when something is a bit strange and foreign to the classic Pentecostal believer it does not mean the teaching or practice is evil. We must realize that we understand some of the things that are related to and connected to our background and upbringing, while many other things are probably far better understood by others. Sometimes we need to listen, listen and listen before we discern and distinguish, but never judge or condemn. The shadow is great in many people’s lives, and many is stuck in first-half-of-life-thinking (read Rohrs book “Falling Upward”).
This is what it is about, I think, it’s a clash of first- and second-half-of-life-thinking. It is a clash of black and white thinking and the contemplative mind and heart. I’ve tried to comment on this case on Facebook among a lot of judgmental messengers. It’s seems it is in vain, so I just had to write a blog post about this.
Now, I silently pray, God lead us into your unity of grace and love. God, lead us into the love of all brothers and sisters, the insiders and the outsiders, those we do not understand. Help us, Gracious Lord, to embrace our own shadow, and see that what we fear from and in others is what we need to embrace in ourselves. Lead us, Pentecostals and this brother in and through the darkness. Peace.
Longing for true life
in relation to real people
Broken friendships and loss
Especially difficult
in times like these
Longing to truly give to others
what my heart has deeply received
Letting it rest
Especially difficult
in times like these
From longing to looking ahead
to days of new paths
Hungering for brighter days
Especially easy
in times like these
Bluebells ringing in the morning sun
The day passing slowly
The evening coming so deep and blue
Everything said that can be said
The Earth has nourished you for a long time
Stars mirrored in the sea
Now say goodbye, to everything you know
Now it is you, who are dying
The boat is on the riverbank
The ferryman is ready
Look back no more
The Light is all you have
This poem was written by a very good, mystic friend, Dag Knapstad 🙂 Posted with the poet’s permission.
Norwegian original:
Siste sang
Blåklokker ringer i morgensol
Dagen drar langsomt forbi
Kvelden den kommer så dyp og blå
Alt er nå sagt som kan sies
Jorden har næret deg lenge nå
Stjernene speilet i sjø
Ta nå farvel med alt du vet
Nå er det du som skal dø
Båten den ligger ved elvens bredd
Ferjemannen er klar
Se deg ikke tilbake mer
Lyset er alt du har
The Contemplative Life 