The 4th Dimension, Talk About a “Trip” (Chapter Seventeen)

What if we never again stop asking “what if” questions? What if we grab hold of the concept that there really is nothing impossible if we believe enough? Further, what if the entryway to believing enough is simply asking what if this or that (whatever “this” or “that” may be) could be true?

He didn't die, he chose to ascend.

In the 3rd Dimension of this spatial, physical realm, with its dead-end limits, we are subject to the “god,” or archangel whom Jesus said is the owner, the ruler over it. This is the “god” that controls all the “goings on” behind the scenes.

Here is a concept that Christianity, as a whole, simply hasn’t grasped: Jesus said we could overcome all the forces this “god” has arrayed against us if we do just one simple thing: Believe ENOUGH!

Why do I continue to bring up what Jesus purportedly said in this quasi-scientific discussion of the 4th Dimension and beyond? …Because that is what I am called to do. Isn’t this supposed to be a series/book about an avenue to success?

How to Convert 4th Dimension Power Into Practical and Successful Living

(A Brand New, Brad Cullen “How To” Series) is how the publisher touted it on the cover of the book and introduced it on the website.

How dare I bandy the name of Jesus around in a book about “success” in human endeavor, including the arts, business, religion, science, sports and so on! Yeah? Well, why in the hell not?

Unfortunately the name of Jesus is a religious icon and Christians aren’t the only ones giving lip service to his name. Some Muslims refer to him as a great prophet on a somewhat equal footing with Muhammad.

Some Hindus refer to Jesus as an “ascended master” one of the great Teachers and perhaps it is fair to say that the majority of the world’s population refers to Jesus in locked formation with the title “Christ” without giving any thought to its meaning.

Over and over again, until you get it.

Let me give you some clues to my thinking here and, from my perspective I think decidedly not religious, ready? The guy, whom the third Gospel, Luke, is attributed, quoted Jesus as saying: “What is the point of calling me ‘Lord,’ if you don’t do what I tell you to do?” Then he went on to graphically illustrate that there is no point whatever.

Then building on that foundation we have another writer of a Gospel, John, quoting Jesus as proclaiming a destiny for any individual who believes enough to not just do what Jesus did, but to actually be Jesus! Rather astounding on the face of it.

Then in yet another Gospel, the one according to Matthew, he quotes Jesus as saying nothing will be impossible for any individual who believes enough – this one, in context, with being able to overcome the effects of a spirit-agent causing seizures in a small boy.

Then back to Luke again, who wrote the fifth book of the New Testament, “The Acts” in the first chapter quoting Jesus as telling just how this identity shift takes place – the challenge here is that of mistranslation.*

Another writer of much of the New Testament, a self-proclaimed “Apostle,” Paul, coined the term, “It is no longer ‘I’, but Christ!” What are we missing? Well, if we belong to any of a number of Christian denominations, we’re missing any number of things Jesus said NOT to do by doing them. Want a list? I’m on a roll, I’ll be glad to e-mail you such a list. We’re also missing any number of things we could do if only we’d believe enough!

Christians are the missing link.

* Somebody just posted an old (written about 12 years ago) article of mine on a new website under the category “Blasts from Brad” … here in its entirety:

NOTE: When you recover from reading this (get over the jet lag from the “trip”) you’ll surely be ready for chapter 18 – in which we’ll be going in a quite different direction.

Forget “Witnessing”

(The word in the original language means something FAR different)

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:1-8)

This one passage can provide power and freedom in your life if you will openly receive the truth… First of all, Jesus told them not to depart from where they were until they received a baptism in (of, with, -all inclusive IN-) the Holy Spirit. Then, after a few questions and answers, Jesus told them what this baptism in the Holy Spirit would mean to them… verse eight

“…But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

If you will get a reliable Greek-English interlinear New Testament you will discover something amazing. The word power in the foregoing passage comes from the word in Greek from which we get dynamite. It means, literally, miracle-working ability. Think of this now… Jesus is saying to this group of people that when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit they would receive the ability to perform miracles! A fulfillment of his earlier promise recorded in John 14:12… which so clearly says in the original… that anyone that truly believes in him will perform the same miracles that he performed and even greater miracles.

One of the things that make this passage (in Acts) so interesting is the division in doctrine between two major groups in Christendom. The group largely defined as Pentecostal and/or “Full Gospel” and/or “Charismatic” believes and preaches that this Holy Spirit baptism produces, as its main consequence, the ability to speak in languages that one has not learned in the natural sense, but in the supernatural. Another group holds the view that the main effect of this Holy Spirit baptism is the ability to talk to others about Jesus Christ. A case can actually be made for both… but either emphasis is a watering down of the real impact of this passage.

To remove all suspense from what’s coming, I will show you how to prove the following statement… the words, “…and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” properly translated in today’s American English is, “And you will lose your own identity and others, from now to the end of time, will see (witness) my (Jesus’) presence.”

Here’s the promised proof… the word translated as “witnesses”… is a word pronounced mar-toose (in English rendered “martus”) – it is the root word of the English “martyr.” As we all know, “martyr” refers to somebody who is so committed to a cause, that person is willing to die for it. But that is not this word pronounced “martoose.” Martus literally means losing one’s own identity and being taken over by another. In other words, “When Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will have the ability to perform miracles and others will no longer see you, but will see Jesus Christ.”

One of the grave difficulties in receiving the truth of this passage is not only due to the mistranslation, but the religious traditions it has fostered. Additionally, the religious people of Jesus’ day could not accept him because he did not fit their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah was supposed to be like. Let’s look at Jesus for a moment and realize that when he walked on this planet in human form, he made scathing attacks on the religious leaders of his day. Going so far as to even calling them such things as thieves, painted over markers of death and the children of snakes! He told them that their worship was literally and totally without value… because they had supplanted the word of God with their many traditions …hardly the meek and mild view of Jesus that so many religious of today hold.

What I am saying today… a bit more gently than Jesus, I might add, is that many professing Christians cannot see Jesus Christ in a Holy Spirit-baptized person because they think Jesus Christ is supposed to meet their preconceived idea that Jesus Christ was always polite and gentle. The Scriptures reveal that view is a palpable fraud! Of course the other reason that Christians cannot see Jesus Christ in a Holy Spirit-baptized person is because the person does not realize that he or she is no longer the same person – but has actually become Jesus Christ! Think about this. Jesus said that Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. ASK NOW! Holy Spirit is this the truth? (or should I listen to traditions made by men?)

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