Teepee Church – Path Without End

20171227_125924 Is God the monster, or are we the monster? Jesus said to his disciples: “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.”

Please allow me to translate what Jesus just said here, “Look, I am sending you, my children, out into a world of monsters. Be careful, they will eat you alive. You are sheep, but they are wolves.” (Be careful of what goes bump in the night.)

We spoke of the Garden of Eden and how there was a monster in the garden, and the monster was not God. But man chose the monster over God, he embraced his destroyer over his Creator. And now we have this self-destructive nature within us.

We have also spoke of how Jesus shifted things from the “Temple” to “His Table”, a Table of Fellowship through His shed blood, the Lord’s Supper, but do you remember there was also a monster at that table? Jesus was not unaware of the monster sitting at the table. In Matthew 26:21, we read this: “While they were eating, he said, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

(verse 22) “Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”

I find it very interesting that each disciple realized their own potential to be the monster. That under the right circumstances, the sin nature in them might take over. “Am I the one, Lord?” Each of these in all sincerity asked honestly. But the real monster knew he was the one! And yet, still asked the question as if he did not know! This is the evil in the world God will judge! How do you plan a good man’s murder and act as if you are innocent? Who are these people? (Except for the grace of God, there go I.)

(Verse 25) “Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, ‘Rabbi, am I the one?’ “

(Verse 26) “And Jesus told him, ‘You have said it.’ “

This question of who is the monster has been taking me some very interesting places. I have found myself waking in the morning, and laying in bed for an hour pondering how to show in scripture why there is a place called hell, and the evil it is created for is so monstrous, that God is totally just in his judgement. It was not those asking sincerely that day, admitting there own human frailty, that Jesus pointed out as the monster. It was the one trying to hide it, trying to deceive and still carry out his plan to murder an innocent man for 30 pieces of silver. And of that man, Jesus said it would have been better for him had he never been born!

Who is this monster known as Satan, the devil, the serpent, so full of death, hate, and destruction, and yet we would love him? We would love darkness in which we cannot even see, and we stumble over things, even walking to our own death, over a world of light in which all can be seen clearly? We are all infected with this self-destructive virus and have become spiritual paupers! (First Beatitude.) But are we one who recognizes our own condition, or are we one who continues to embrace our sickness? Are we one who comes to God asking him to save us from our own evil heart, or are we full of darkness, self-righteous, like the Pharisees?

I think the last two chapters of Revelation sheds a great deal of light on this subject, but before we go to the end of the book, lets look at the beginning again. God creates a beautiful garden and gives it to Adam and Eve as a free gift! And then he warns Adam, you can enjoy all this garden, and have dominion over it, but only do not eat of that one tree. For if you do, there is a monster called death. God is always aware of the monsters. He points them out to us, just like he pointed out Judas, but do we listen?

The monster attacks Adam and Eve and all mankind suffers a great loss. But notice the difference between Adam and Eve, and the future actions of their son, Cain. We know Adam and Eve were ashamed, and sorry for what they had done. They also submitted to God’s judgement that came upon them. They may not have liked it, but they knew they were guilty, and they fessed up to it, even if they did try to pass the buck so to speak, still…in the end they fessed up.

However, fast forward a couple decades or so later, a son of Adam and Eve, CAIN, commits the first murder! The taking of a life! His own brother! Not only is it premeditated, but he never shows any remorse over his actions! He only shows regret for getting caught! Who are these people?! Is CAIN the father of them? Are they nothing but wolves? They have no heart of flesh and blood, but only of stone?

Assuming you know the basic story of Cain, and how he wanted to present his own works to God, (vegetables), and did not want to consider God’s reasons of why that was not acceptable. God makes this offer to him: “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” (Gen. 4:6-7)

Notice God offers Cain the path of acceptance, just like the father offered to the older brother, in the story of the Prodigal Son, he begged (it says), for the older brother to come in and join the celebration, but he did not! (I wonder if he later murdered his younger brother? Hhmmm.)

Notice the description of sin: crouching at the door, eager to control you. It sounds like a ravenous beast ready to devour Cain, and Cain chose the beast! He literally invites his brother out into the fields, knowing full well his plan is to murder him! He commits the murder, hides the body, and then tries to avoid admitting to the crime when God shows up! (Adam and Eve did not deny their actions.)

Once God passes judgement on Cain, “Cain replied to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great for me to bear!” (Notice who he is still thinking about? Himself!) You have made me homeless, and anyone who finds me will kill me! (My paraphrase.) (Oh, you mean they will try to do to you what you intentionally did to your brother?) Who are these monsters whose mind works in these ways?! What kind of evil is this?

These are the people who need to fear God, for there is a real hell waiting for them, and with great regret (Ezek. 33:11), God will cast them there! But surely you are not such a person as this? (I hope.) I mean, if you are, then this is real darkness, and you are a monster! There are no plans for you in God’s future, except a place called hell. If God were such a monster, he would cast himself there too. (I sincerely believe this.) But God is not the monster. Satan is, and all those who love his ways.

Now we could speak of the condition of mankind when God flooded the earth, stating that a fresh start was the only hope. We could look at Esau, or possibly Sodom and Gomorrah, and we might eventually, but I mentioned the last two chapters of Revelation. I really like the light these two chapters shine on this subject. That is where we will take up in Part III. I hope you’re enjoying this.

20171202_173614 Is God a monster, or are we the monster? Unless we become as little children, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. A child fears the lights being turned out at night. Why? Because they somehow believe there are monsters lurking in that darkness. Perhaps they are more right than we realize? Perhaps when we were children, we were more right in our childish fears than we know? But as adults we put away those fears, and some begin to believe it is the God of Light who is the monster.

We have much to consider on this subject. These are the kinds of things I want “Church of the White Path” to enter, and not be afraid of such questions. When Christ hung on that cross, was it a picture of God killing his own Son in our place, like child sacrifice, in order to satisfy his own vengeance on what we had become? Or is it more of a picture of God “IN” Christ taking on the monster like a little shepherd boy once faced a Goliath?

How can we have a Proper Table Setting with God if we still worry in the back of our minds, that he is not really LOVE as he claims to be, but some kind of a monster? I love the point Brian Zahnd makes of Christ shifting the paradigm from Temple to Table! It is a perfect picture of shifting from RELIGION to RELATIONSHIP, which has been the heart of God going all the way back to Adam! Does that sound like a monster to you?

When did Adam start his turning? When did Adam no longer believe a face to face with God was enough for him, and began to desire another? When did Adam begin to desire Eve’s will more than God’s, making her his first love? How long had the “table been set” for the snake that day, before it actually happened? Who was the monster in the garden, and how long had he been there? God was not the monster then, nor is he now.

Let me throw this thought in. (This first question is likely to need a 3 part series.) Never forget that hell was actually created for Satan and the fallen angels, not for man. We tend to forget this. I know this may not completely change your mind about God in this one point alone, but when pure light shows up, what happens to darkness? When pure love shows up, what happens to all forms of sin and hate?

This hell, this lake of fire, does it actually spring from the nature of Satan himself? Ever since reading in Ezekiel 28, verse 18, I have wondered about this. “You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.”

I believe Satan has always been his own worst enemy. He is ate up with the pride and evil living in him. He cannot help himself anymore, not since he rose up against his Creator that day. He became an abomination. He is SELF-DESTRUCTIVE, and unfortunately, we see that same nature in us. We are self-destructive. What causes us to rebel against our own Creator, and call him a monster, and yet we embrace our destroyer? Romans 7:21>…

“I have discovered this principal of life – – that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s laws with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh what a miserable person I am! (Monster?) Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NLT Version.)

Please understand, all sin is self-destructive. By its own selfish nature it ends up causing pain, loss, depression, guilt, stress, murders, wars, suicide, sickness, and death. It is the curse and it is death in every form. It is taking fire into our own soul. We know the fire will burn us. We know it is not good for us, or anyone around us, and yet we do it anyway. We have this monster in us. This self-destructive sin nature.

I want “Church of the White Path” to be about the “Fellowship of God’s Table”. I believe for that to happen, we have to dispel all fears that we are sharing it with a monster. Satan is the monster! He has caused all kinds if pain and destruction in his mad quest for ultimate power! His nature in us causes us to be self-destructive! But God is light! He comes into our room and we rejoice when he turns on the light, because the monsters have to flee! Unless…you hate the goodness of God…and you like being the monster…then you do indeed have a God to fear…scripture says the devils believe and tremble! They know this self-destructive fire burning in them. They know when pure love shows up, this fire ignites!

But for all us of whom light is our Father, perfect love cast out all fear. We know our Father loves us perfectly, and the only fear we have of him is that of a Father correcting us when we still reach for self-destructive ways. Would perfect love be expected to do anything less?

Christ Jesus has prepared a “Table of Fellowship” for all of us to sit at with the Father, in a great big room called planet earth, and all the lights are on in this room. Become the little child again who subconsciously knows all the real monsters are lurking in the darkness, but your Father is in the house, and he is here to defeat all the monsters. Like David facing Goliath in behalf of his brothers, God entered death and darkness to defeat it for all those who love the light.

If your one of those who believe God is the monster, please examine your own self-destructive ways, and ask yourself, why would anyone embrace their destroyer? Does that really make any sense? That’s the true monster in this earth, not the one whose very presence turns on the lights.

I hope to give a couple more articles to this before moving on. Child sacrifice was a common practice to the many false gods in the days of Abraham. But the one true God shows up and immediately begins to differentiate himself from those false gods. We must see that God truly is love, and if anyone, it is we who are the monsters. And believe me, there are monsters, and they will eventually know the lake of fire. A fire that is fed by the very evil that is in them. These people are there own worst enemy, and they are the enemy of God.