I heard a couple of factually wrong, if insignificant things from the pulpit. I thought that was pretty funny (because I assumed that everyone in the story was highly literate in Bible stories), so I mentioned those, rather than answer the question about whether I enjoyed the convention. It was a smug question based on a prideful assumption, of course, and I was dodging it, of course. So, I brought up something quite amusing — I thought. Then, I was told, well I could ask about my confusion. WHAT?!?!?!? Wow! Now I was completely exasperated and still trying to “make nice.”
Seriously, how likely is it that I could, even if I had wanted to, ask about something preached in a sermon? Especially a mistake? Right. (All chuckle together.)
But wait, there was more. The sermon under question, actually was about not being able to discuss, argue, or even talk about it. Now, the speaker might deny it, but only uselessly, because while it did wander wide and long, and get tied up with a mention of the first point, I actually did hear it. I understood it. Not just pretending. I heard the offhand comment that “Jesus penned letters to the churches and sent them by angelic messengers.” And I also heard and understood the main body and various points. You see, revelation is pnuemenal, we were told, and so really, we must always forget everything we knew, and…. follow along blindly, without questioning . We all know all this patter so well we are asleep, I know. Maybe this is why no one actually hears what is said? This time, the innovation was to use the words phenomenal (meaning in the world of sense) and pnuemenal (in the world of spirit). Well, perhaps I was the one in the room who had been over this ground before, so let me let you in on it. Yes, spiritual experience is pnuemenal. And application is and always must be phenomenal. But talking about revelation… well, in order to be communicated in human language (a phenomenal event)… then revelation must be communicated in propositional form. Truth is propositional. (Very big, discussion of this in seminaries and graduate schools for a very long time. This whole dodge of saying, well since experience is pnuemenal, then revelation is, and therefore you can’t argue with me… has been done before. No, if you are a human communicating to other humans, you have to talk language, and therefore you are constrained to be logical — assuming you want to communicate. However, if you want to dodge things like questions (and heavens challenges! unthinkable!!!!), then you might just try the old big word trick and try to get beyond propositional truth. That was exactly what was going on.
So, no, I could not ask. That was the point of what was preached.
Even though, we should ask. Each of us is required to ask. The Bible says so. But all of us know and have known for decades that blind obedience to ever changing direction is exactly the only thing that will be tolerated.
So, maybe my sweet interlocutor just could not hear what was said, or didn’t understand it. And clearly the speaker could not see the clock, for at one point he peered, hard, to see what time it was. But, I don’t think there was any clock in that direction. Never mind about that agreement, or that gosh we would have like to have heard who was supposed to be next. But I heard, and I knew the point was : we were not permitted to ask, such an elite…. aaaaaa right (not).
Now, all of this would just be funny…. except in context it shows the degradation and bankruptcy, if not the debauchery of what still flickers of The Move of God. Ten years ago, there were embers. Today, only the last flickers of those embers remain. There is still hope that their lieutenants who left long ago will come back. I even heard a mention that maybe someone “out there” would want to come to ask how something could be done. The hope is progress, no matter how ridiculously unlikely.
My aim is not to ridicule, not at all. My aim is to bring some Truth, some life; and therefore necessary repentance. Only because my love is great. My tears are real. I dearly wish the embers could be stirred, life could be brought back, and some salvage made. However, I worked for that ten years ago, maybe too quietly, but at every turn I saw poor decisions, poor choices. Choices for comfort, for power, and now… for nothing short of insanity.
While there is today, there is repentance. Please make better choices.
