LESSON TEN: “Be Mindful of Priorities”

The moment you put one thing ahead of another on a list of things to do, be aware that you have been seduced into the only realm where time exists and which is set against your purpose.

I must be important, look how busy I am...

This kicked cognitive energy into high gear! In fact I almost jumped out of my chair to pace! “How can that be?” I wondered out loud …and realized that I had immediately focused on “lists” and had ignored “time.” Time is the predicate that drives us in this dimension – then I began to muse on the fact that the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, beginning with the list of things regarding an appropriate time to do something and an appropriate time to refrain from doing the same thing …the favorite passage of the late President (of the U.S.) Kennedy.  Then my memory cloud drifted over to a “Time Management” seminar I attended over a weekend which, upon reflection, may not have been the best way to manage that particular slot of time!  I was introduced to the concept of putting goals into a time frame and managing a calendar and appointments as a means to attain said goals. Shortly thereafter I was awakened to the fact that a calendar and appointment schedule had taken control over my life …it was managing me rather than vice versa!

Okay, so I have that frame of reference, is that what I’m supposed to see here?

Go back to priorities and see that it is a matter of judging things related to a system of “good” and “bad” which rules you unconsciously …and that “time” is incidental. It actually gets back to a review of being skeptical of the things you think you know. In other words a Bible reference is neither “good” nor “bad” until it rules over you to the point you shut out direct communication with I AM.

If I let go of my bible will I be free? Free to do what?

This is rather stunning to me – as it sums up what has been going through my mind for years related to others and what I began referring to as “Bible bondage” or any system based on “sacred” or “holy” writings including, but not limited to the Bible, the Qur’an (Koran), the Torah or the Vedas – all or none of which could instill both legalistic acquiescence and spiritual insight. I had a “blind spot” that it applied to me!

NOTE: It is here that I asked and just received the “green light” to share (in the sense of permission, as a means to personally reflect on something) that was given to me several years ago to teach a small Wednesday night, Bible study group at a church in Anchorage, Alaska:

I typed out the following on several one third page sheets and handed them out to the twenty-five or so present and asked them to read the passages prayerfully and said, “I will tell you what the quotes mean to me and then I would like to hear what  SPIRIT is saying to you today, right now.”

Please note, carefully, the words which are underlined and in bold typeface:

Can you win your rebellion?

1) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. . .” – 2) “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 3) “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 4) “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

What I said to the group, basically, is that if I am going to take this passage literally, that is, I am to listen to the Holy Spirit right now, this moment …and that to argue against doing it constitutes a rebellion against HIM …and that the 4^th quote in the list is not referring to the Bible, as so often thought, but to the Holy Spirit …in fact, a Greek New Testament which I had highlighted the words and passed it around and particularly made the point that the words translated in English as “the word” were from the Greek word (here in English characters) “Logos” the very same word as in the first three verses of the first chapter of the Gospel of John …the “Logos” WHO created the universe and everything in it and, in verse 14, became the man we refer to in the west as “Jesus” … NOT THE BIBLE – and that this word “Logos” means, literally, the complete expression of God and that the English “word” is a ridiculous transliteration [I realize that, going back to the first chapter of Genesis, that the Hebrew indicates that this SPIRIT-part of Let US-Elohiym – (“spoke” the creation into existence, but that is a different issue].

Is this where I learned "bible bondage"?

This group, again, of about twenty-five or so, had been getting used to several things I had challenged them with over a several week period …that we, as a church (of which I was “officially” designated by the Board of Directors as “co-pastor”), were engaged in, one, a rebellion of sorts and, two, the way we conducted “church” had no basis in Scripture – about three weeks later I realized I had created a church split! That is a different story for a different time …for the most part, the other designated “co-pastor” agreed with me.

We had watched the congregation grow – over a period of just a few months, from about eighty people, when we had first begun, to a regular attendance of from 250 to 300 on both Sunday mornings and evenings. The Board of Directors was comprised of older members some of whom were very supportive of what Don and I were doing and the others who wanted to go back to the old way of what Don referred to as “playing church.”

Final note: I feel this is unfinished, but as I shared with Ryan (publisher and webmaster), over the phone, it was as if, during the whole time I was writing all of the foregoing, I was riding on a cloud of SPIRIT …but if I were to continue there would be nothing holding me up, but a lot of hot air. To those who think that might be the case anyway …I would say, careful! Will this be continued? I kind of suspect so, but have no confirmation or leading to say it.

In Freedom,

Brad

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