Dec 11
21
The 4th Dimension, The Question, Remember? (Chapter Twenty-Nine)
“How can this be? With all the differences and arguments in the world, how can nine men with such diverse religious belief systems have such unity?”
That was the question I felt directed to deal with in chapter 28, but publisher Ryan Bruce suggested otherwise …now I have already admitted that I confirmed for myself that his suggestion was from our SPIRIT-PARENT and, therefore, it was the correct detour to make.
Brad's motto for everything.
What has been interesting to me is that the side-step (of a very different than intended #28) has provoked e-mail comment from literally all over the world.
From “very good, a needed bit of very clear teaching” …and “amazing, I need to read this over and over again” …these two at one end of the of the “critics’ remarks” spectrum – all the way to a couple of examples at the other end.
One comment that used the term “muddy” which meant the very opposite of the “clear teaching” at the other end …and another which I took to mean that the chapter in question was disorganized.
This latter one, Ryan basically told me not to sulk over, but to pray to see if Dad didn’t have something to say to that particular individual. I did and simply felt led to not comment. I really did not feel like sulking though – well let’s go copy exactly what Ryan said:
Before you go off and pout, please ask Daddy if _____’s opinion can help you communicate what he wants you to share.
So, admittedly belatedly, I did and immediately had the realization of two things:
1) I’ve spent too many years writing from a position of NEVER organizing anything ahead of time and just trying to follow our SPIRIT-PARENT’s direction – while, hopefully, usually careful to admit that my interpretation may be a bit skewed – to worry much about praise or criticism from readers.
My writing is what it is, take it or leave it. I generally do, however, send a note of thanks to those whom share their confirmation that I was on the mark and a terse, but funny (for my warped taste) note of sarcasm to the critics, which is probably what Ryan was exhorting me to stop in this particular instance.
What's wrong with this generation?
2) I always take Ryan seriously when he asks me to pray and do so. But I also wonder at his thinking I was going to spend time sulking …oops, pouting over somebody in a response to an article saying I wasn’t clear. It does amaze me at how often the same article evokes such contradictory reactions …it shouldn’t be surprising; after all, we only need to look at all the different religious sects there are …all claiming to have the very same source (not capitalized on purpose, here) and yet all finding the need to argue, some even to the point of violence.*
What’s my response to all of this? These words ring loudly in my ears: “What’s that to you? YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME.”
*This reminder: A few days ago I received an e-mail from a man who emphasized that he was a “devout Christian” and who felt the need to upbraid me on “going easy on Islam” because, HE SAID, NOT I, “it isn’t really a religion” and asked why was I ashamed to admit that I am a Christian. I asked our SPIRIT-PARENT what if anything I was to do with this reminder about this particular e-mail.
What came back loudly and clearly was to BE CLEAR. It took me several minutes to break into clarity, but here it is for anyone who has the ears to ear – and seems to me to be organized too! Three things should be considered – I felt definitely that I was not supposed to share with the sender of the e-mail – a rare occurrence as I usually respond directly to the senders of ALL e-mails: I didn’t even acknowledge receiving it.
Okay the “organization” …these three things in response, even if not directly to the sender …if you’re still with us, you know who you are …and I feel compelled to apologize for sermonizing to others based upon what you said …but it is what it is:
Your Idol didn't even fight back, how emberasing.
1. If I did admit to being a Christian I would be quite ashamed of it. As I have said repeatedly, I refuse to allow myself to be called a Christian on the simple basis that Christianity (this is admittedly a “broad brush”), by and large, indulges in practices which Jesus said he hates.
2. The sender reminded me that Muslims practice Jihad. Yes, some radical adherents of Islam pervert the pacifist teachings of Muhammad just as some Christians are just as radical and insist upon waging “righteous” wars …for an historical perspective; do we really forget the “Christian” crusades? I am compelled by the publisher to go all the way to the “No Bull Zone,” ready? GIVE ME A BREAK!
3. I find it hard to believe that I actually heard somebody, just recently, say that our problem is that we have forgotten the “Scriptural principle of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’” Yes, that is Scriptural and Jesus quoted it thusly: “It was said of old, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ BUT I SAY TO YOU: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, TREAT THOSE WHO ABUSE YOU WITH KINDNESS!”
Okay …and, now then, back to the question, remember? “How did we nine men from such diverse religious backgrounds have such spiritual unity?”
I believe the following story is conveyed somewhere on the website sometime over the last twenty months.
The nine of us are driving along muddy roads out in the “bush” of that part of the huge African “Rift Valley” area that takes up a significant part of Uganda geography.
We were probably one hundred miles from any densely populated area.
I noticed that every time we passed a group of people walking along or standing by the side of the road that they were staring and, while seeming, to me, at the very least, guardedly curious at this high-profile (expensive) SUV filled with us nine men; I also felt that the stares were not absent a degree of hostility.
A warm smile would definitely help relax me around this fellow.
At first I thought it was because of Beenunula Eyenunula Nunumisa, the Governor of the Free Trade Zone, riding with us, but then I reasoned that, while he was well known and publicized in the populated areas, they certainly couldn’t all know him out here in the bush …no electricity to their thatched huts so no TV and the closest place to purchase a newspaper was twenty miles away . . . we’re talking remote here; they raised their own food and even had to carry drinking water for quite a distance.
Well then, since it most likely couldn’t be him perhaps it was me, the sight of my whiteness …not only was I the only white person in the car, but the only muzunga (I’m not sure of the spelling any longer, but that’s a decent English phonics representation for the Lugandan language, the primary dialect in the Kampala area, for “white man”) for hundreds of square miles.
But no, that didn’t seem to be it either, because they seemed to be casting their (again, to me, seeming suspicious) looks at every one of us.
Wait a minute, since we were all agreed that we wanted the best for all of these people …and the fact that our mere presence seemed to be antagonizing them, “how can we reduce their negative reactions?” This question I was silently directing toward our SPIRIT-PARENT.
The answer came immediately – and I shocked the other eight with what I did next. We were driving quite slowly as we passed any person or group so that we wouldn’t be splattering them with mud.
As we passed I smiled broadly and animatedly and demonstrably waved at each little group. They all grinned and waved back, excitedly calling out friendly greetings.
Beenunula immediately picked up on it and copied what I was doing …now all nine of us were smiling and waving and it immediately changed the atmosphere. We all expressed gratitude for what we had just been shown and were more than a little excited about it.
As I pointed out in chapter 27, Beenunula was an animist and also an avid reader and supporter of my website at the time, “ministryofspirit.com,” and I have to say, without any equivocation, deeply spiritual, and committed to our SPIRIT-PARENT (BWOTON) – he was openly enthusiastic about what he felt he had learned from this little exercise and spoke of it later to a large gathering of people at a political rally.
The nine of us had been serious and stern-faced business and professional men – and getting our serious, unfriendly countenances mirrored back at us. The bush people weren’t suspicious and hostile, what I’d been shown was that we nine were appearing to be suspicious and hostile and thus we were creating the negative seeming atmosphere!
Just now I was resisting saying something here on the basis that it was obvious. What was pointed out to me that wasn’t obvious was the preparation that brought me to the place of relating the above true story.
What was obvious to me may not be obvious to many; remember the many and varied e-mail responses to chapter 28 …I didn’t count them all, probably in the neighborhood of twenty-five, but thankfully most were “positive” …but it does point up that I need to be cognizant of the fact that apparently the way I write doesn’t always clearly convey to everyone what I have interpreted as our SPIRIT-PARENT’s intentions.
The power of the 4th Dimension, again, as I am using the term, was brought to bear on 3rd Dimension activity by asking what to do about the situation there in the Rift Valley – not about why it was occurring. Yet the why became self-evident as a result of being led as to what to do.
Further, I was just reminded that, just moments before I began to write this chapter, I felt distracted, dull and hardly prepared to write anything of any value. I resorted to my oft-employed act of desperation: Knocking and demanding that I would sense more of our SPIRIT-PARENT’s presence and power and kept at it UNTIL I was overwhelmed by HER/HIS/ITS presence and power.
Really, why are you reading this?
Does this work for everyone? May I suggest that if what I’m writing doesn’t “resonate” with you, that you ask what you should be doing instead of reading my stuff. It just might be that you are supposed to be doing something else.
I remember (I’m about to do some name dropping here) I was at the headquarters of the largest missionary organization in the world, in Kona-Kailua on the Big Island of Hawaii, Youth with a Mission (YWAM), visiting with Loren Cunningham, its president, and enjoying a simple lunch prepared by him in his private office.
The way Loren handled an interruption taught me a lesson I have never forgotten:
A very intense young man burst into Loren’s office unannounced. He was argumentative and verbally abusive in his protest about how something was being mishandled by a certain leader, which he named, on the campus there. Loren remained calm and listened carefully and lovingly.
“What is obvious to me,” he said, after the fellow finally finished his rather detailed complaint, “is that God is calling you to do something about this. If you will prayerfully write all these things out and get some insight as to a plan to implement what Spirit is showing you needs to be done, by you, I’ll make sure we help get you the support to launch you into what you’re being called to do.”
It became clear how Loren had been so successful in building such a far flung and many-faceted organization of all the various parts of YWAM. When somebody was upset about the status quo, it just meant that they were being called to do something about it and Loren saw that it was his job to empower them to do it.
Screw the rest, "What" is definitely the most important...sez Brad.
What I learned and was reminded of by Ryan is, that it is silly for me to be defensive because somebody sees something differently than I do …just go to the SOURCE for more clarity about WHAT to do and not be concerned about the why …the why will unfold automatically.
The key to bringing 4th Dimension power into 3rd Dimension living, for me, is not understanding the WHY of anything, but asking WHAT to do in any situation. Whether that key is for you, is for you to ask and then, again, for me, is to demand clarity until I break through into it, which is the 4th Dimension.
Is this for you? May I suggest that you won’t know until you get clarity from the SOURCE for you!