House Church Talk - Visualizing Christ

[Phillip Cohen]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the beautiful flow of heartfelt words. 

Sounds like you were in a denomination that was cousin to the one I came
from. We were the Spiritual Elite (even though we didn't believe in
spirits), and we could prove it by our ability to bash anyone who didn't
agree with us--with Bible verses.

I don't have a lot to prove any more, since I realized that my Father
unconditionally loves doctrinally imperfect people. Let him who is
without doctrinal imperfection throw the first Bible--just make sure it's
the right version--ha ha.

If someone doesn't agree with me theologically, that's OK. As long as
they're honestly looking to Jesus, He'll see to it that life's
circumstances and Biblical complexities will back him into a corner so
that his theology doesn't work anymore. That is, if he's humble enough to
admit it. Otherwise, God will continue hammering on him (or me).

I had been pondering the verse in John that says we shouldn't let anyone
in the house that doesn't bring "this doctrine." Which doctrine. I asked
God, "Are you talking about Jehovah's Witnesses?" No response. A few
weeks later some Jehovah's witnesses came to the door. I thought about
that Scripture, but didn't sense the Holy Spirit telling me that verse
fit that situation.

So I invited them in. They were shocked. The man said, "We have someone
waiting in the car." 

"Well, go tell her to come in."

"That's OK," he said, "We're just sharing some literature."

"No thanks," I replied. "I mostly stay with the Bible."

Then I said, "You know, if Jesus was here, and a Jehovah's Witness, or a
Catholic, or a Baptist came running to Him, He'd receive them. It's not
as important where you're at as where you're running to."

"We've gotta go, he said, as they moved for the door. 

"Run to Jesus," I told them. 

See, I didn't need to bash them. I only needed to show them kindness and
respect, and bring Jesus on the scene. 

I hope they think about their visit here.

So God lets us lovers of God (just call me Theophilus) all float in and
out of Wierdsville, and eventually somehow He pieces it all together to
work for our salvation and perfection.

More later. Gotta go.

Phillip
spiritfilledhome at juno.com
In quietness and confidence is my strength. Isaiah 30:15


On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 12:35:32 -0500 "Scott Dowlen" <scottdowlen at cox.net>
writes:
> Hi, Phillip.
> 
> Your email hit right at the moment I decided to take a short break, 
> so it
> must be a sign that I need to respond!! ;-)
> 
> First, thanks for passing along the advice. I am finding more and 
> more that
> such advice would sure keep my own foot out of my mouth.
> 
> I know that part of the problem was the hot-button word 
> 'visualization'. Can
> I share a bit of my story, because I think it's relevant. Since you 
> can't
> answer, I'll go ahead and tell my tale...
> 
> <Begin Story>
> I grew up in a denomination that had very strongly held beliefs - 
> not a bad
> thing necessarily but our group was (still is) wound a bit too 
> tight, if you
> get my meaning. They had "Book, Chapter, and Verse" for almost every 
> single
> belief, or so they thought. We thought our understanding was so 
> right, that
> we had ceased to be (or never had been) a denomination, but were the 
> true
> and pure Bride, waiting for the return of the Groom.  That view 
> included the
> cessation of spiritual gifts, and pretty much anything related to 
> the Holy
> Spirit was put aside. We had so many hot-button issues that one of 
> our great
> traditions was debate. We took pride in our knowledge of scripture, 
> and our
> ability to pound anybody into a bloody pulp with it. It was more 
> important
> to be right than to be loving. It was more important to have 
> conformity of
> belief than uniformity of heart. And all those folks out in 'the
> denominations' were going to hell because they wanted to shop for a
> comfortable Jesus instead of listening to "The Truth (tm)" of which 
> we were
> the sole possessors and guardians. We liked being right, even when 
> we
> weren't. And our zeal was so maniacal that we couldn't even see the
> possibility that we might be wrong - because being wrong meant being 
> damned
> to hell.
> <End Story>
> 
> By making the Holy Spirit and His ministry and gifts a hot-button 
> topic, we
> missed out on so much of what Father had planned for us. We missed a 
> lot of
> the joy and peace. We missed healing. We missed energy and 
> spontaneity. We
> never really understood the rest of full forgiveness. Only after 
> leaving
> that group did I start to experience those things. And now I have a 
> new
> sense of Father's love. It isn't about _what_ I know - It's _who_ I 
> know,
> and who I trust to get me home. I finally got to the point that I 
> didn't
> have convulsions and spasms when somebody started talking about 
> speaking in
> tongues, or being healed. When I quit trying to "prove" my point, 
> God was
> able to make His. I stopped feeling like I had a personal stake in 
> being
> right, and proving everybody else wrong. Now, error in others is 
> something
> to be healed instead of a reason to hack them into pieces. Error in 
> myself
> is something I can forgive, too. If our Daddy can forgive, and 
> patiently
> love, and continually woo us, why do we have so much trouble doing 
> that with
> each other?  It's because our flesh would rather be right than 
> happy. It
> stops being about Father and starts being about me. If you are 
> different,
> you must be wrong, because I know I'm right. And anybody who's wrong 
> is not
> in The Family.
> 
> How hard it is to follow scripture -- When you see someone in error
> _restore_ them in _love_.  Wow, how much would change in the 
> community of
> faith if we could just keep that one scripture. That is the vision I 
> want to
> hold before me and strive to attain.
> 
> And that, I think, is the difference between 'vision' and 
> 'visualization' --
> vision is a result of an expectant hope, while visualization (as 
> used by
> cults and many self-help groups) is an escape mechanism.  
> Visualizing the
> outcome of living who I really am in Christ can help me see what is 
> in my
> life right now that interferes with the truth of who I am. 
> Visualizing some
> escapist scene, or some warm-fuzzy un-reality of what I want to be 
> won't
> accomplish much. The vision of a Godly man informs his steps and 
> helps him
> choose the good and discard the evil. Christ had a vision of joys 
> that would
> result from His suffering that helped Him in some way. At least 
> that's how I
> understand the scripture. Without that kind of vision, what do we 
> hold on to
> when suffering starts? How can we keep hope alive, or endure, if we 
> don't
> have a vision and a hope that is more real to us than the suffering 
> we are
> going through?
> 
> 
> 
> OK, my break is gone and I've not yet done what my break was for... 
> I must
> need to stop now...
> 
> 
> Love to you all!
> 
> Scott
> 
> 
spiritfilledhome at juno.com
In quietness and confidence is my strength. Isaiah 30:15