lily rose – I think it is the work of the Holy Spirit that really starts to unravel the error of building a hierarchy in the church system. Building a hierarchy is the normal way humans do things – but that doesn’t mean it is God’s way. "The greatest among you will be your servant." When you honestly start feeling God’s compassion for others, the last thing on your mind is controlling their lives. You are excited to see what will happen if God touches their lives and releases the unique thing He created them to be. We as humans have no power to bring about a nature change in another – only God can do that. I think that is why Jesus picked the disciples he did – ignorant and unlearned men who later turned the world upside down. Their only credential was that they had been with Jesus. We all have the same hope and access. There is only one Door – and it’s not a self-appointed church leader as in the case of TLWF. Very often they are the ones blocking the way. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”
Groups like TLWF teach that the way to God is one of human initiative expressed by discipleship towards those who would take God’s place. This is supposed to gradually lead them into higher and higher levels – both spiritually and in the system - until there is this great breakthrough. Unfortunately, that breakthrough never comes and the only ones that benefit are those that claim to have a special place in God from which they can hand out access - that they don’t even have themselves - to others. The reason Jesus said to call no man leader, teacher, or father is that his teaching becomes toxic when someone else takes his place. "You have one teacher, the Christ" are words that should be shouted from the rooftops! Serving the servant Jesus is very liberating and so life giving. It can only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit – it’s humanly impossible otherwise – and meant to be that way.
Instead of the kingdom being some carrot that is never reached, as is demonstrated in TLWF, it is God becoming part of our everyday lives right now. Jesus teaching was never meant to be only applied when we get to heaven - we will not need it then. The most menial tasks take on spiritual meaning when we allow God to enter our everyday lives, instead of fantasying that He is way out there somewhere, just beyond our reach. I love what Romans 12 says in "The Message": “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” The safest place to find out what He wants from you is to read the red letters in the Gospels – not the teaching of the thieves and robbers that only produce chaff.
Groups like TLWF teach that the way to God is one of human initiative expressed by discipleship towards those who would take God’s place. This is supposed to gradually lead them into higher and higher levels – both spiritually and in the system - until there is this great breakthrough. Unfortunately, that breakthrough never comes and the only ones that benefit are those that claim to have a special place in God from which they can hand out access - that they don’t even have themselves - to others. The reason Jesus said to call no man leader, teacher, or father is that his teaching becomes toxic when someone else takes his place. "You have one teacher, the Christ" are words that should be shouted from the rooftops! Serving the servant Jesus is very liberating and so life giving. It can only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit – it’s humanly impossible otherwise – and meant to be that way.
Instead of the kingdom being some carrot that is never reached, as is demonstrated in TLWF, it is God becoming part of our everyday lives right now. Jesus teaching was never meant to be only applied when we get to heaven - we will not need it then. The most menial tasks take on spiritual meaning when we allow God to enter our everyday lives, instead of fantasying that He is way out there somewhere, just beyond our reach. I love what Romans 12 says in "The Message": “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” The safest place to find out what He wants from you is to read the red letters in the Gospels – not the teaching of the thieves and robbers that only produce chaff.
