Tag: Spiritual experiences

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You must be Born from Above

In John 3, Yeshua (Jesus) told Nicodemus that he must be born from above (born-again) in order to see the Kingdom of God (Yahweh). That is, Yeshua said that if Nicodemus really wanted to enter Yahweh’s Kingdom, and experience it in his daily life, here on the earth (see it in operation), he had to be born from above.

Nicodemus lived in Israel, which was the Kingdom of Yahweh operating on the earth. The problem with this arrangement was that fallen men governed the earthly Kingdom of Yahweh, and made up their own rules and regulations in order to exalt and enrich themselves. And Nicodemus was one of these fallen men.

Nicodemus’ man-made religion, which was a perverted form of the Abrahamic faith, deceived him into believing he was already in Yahweh’s Kingdom, but he was not. Nicodemus was a citizen of the Devil’s kingdom, and he was Hell bound.

Nicodemus sought God, as he understood Him, but the problem was that he did not understand Yahweh and what He required. Nicodemus surrendered his will and life to God as he understood Him. He prayed, and meditated. He did a lot of religious things. Nicodemus even did a lot of good things that helped other people.

Doing religious things and helping others did not make Nicodemus right with Yahweh, however. The only thing that Nicodemus could have done to please Yahweh, and be right with Him was to believe Him, and act on what he believed.

So why did Yeshua tell Nicodemus that he had to be born from above in order to see Yahweh’s Kingdom? Well, to under this, we have to go back to the garden.

Yahweh created the animals. Then, Yahweh created Adam and breathed the breath of life into him. This means that Yahweh put His Spirit in Adam. This means that Adam was in a class of his own, he was above the animals because his spirit was infused with Yahweh’s Spirit. Adam reflected the image of Yahweh, and hence, Adam had the capacity to fellowship with Yahweh in a meaningful way.

Yahweh placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, which was His earthly Kingdom. Yahweh presented Adam with a choice. Adam could choose to manifest Yahweh’s will and life on the earth (eat of the Tree of Life), or manifest the Serpent’s will and life on the earth (eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil).

Unfortunately, Adam choose to manifest the Serpent’s will and life on the earth.

As Adam made this choice, his spirit disconnected from Yahweh’s spirit, and the spirit of disobedience (the Devil’s spirit), took him captive. After this, Yahweh honored Adam’s choice and kicked him out of His earthly Kingdom. Then, Adam took on the Devil’s nature, and began to build the Devil’s kingdom on the earth.

Yahweh assigned Cherubims with flaming swords to guard the Tree of Life, so that Adam could not eat of it. Why did Yahweh take such a drastic action? The Tree of Life would sanctify Adam perfectly and permanently, that is, it would enable him to perfectly manifest the will and life of Yahweh on the earth, but now that Adam had taken on the Devil’s nature, Yahweh could not allow him to eat of it, because he would possess two conflicting natures, and be unstable in all his ways.

Yahweh hates mixtures of holiness and wickedness. Yahweh would rather us be holy or wicked, instead of being lukewarm. Yahweh’s Spirit cannot mix with the Devil’s spirit and share the throne in a man’s body. No man can serve two masters, because one day he will hate one master, and love the other, and the next day, he will love the master that he hated, and hate the master that he loved. Hence, in order to restore a human being, Yahweh had to devise a way to legally evict the Devil’s spirit from a human being’s body so that His Spirit could move in to it.

Once Yahweh evicts the spirit of disobedience from a human body and His Spirit moves into it, He establishes His Kingdom in that human body. Since, Yahweh establishes His Kingdom inside a person, no religious ruler can control and manipulate that person and deprive him of the kingdom’s resources. All a believer has to do is to walk in the peace and joy that comes with the kingdom. Then, the believer needs to learn how to operate in the kingdom so that he can take possession of everything else that he needs to fulfill his kingdom purpose.

When we hear the Gospel and bow our knee to Yeshua, His Spirit comes to live in our body. Yeshua’s Spirit unites with our spirit, and we become one with Him. At that moment, everything Yeshua is, we are. Since Yeshua died on the execution stake, we died on the execution stake. That is, our old man, who was indwelt and driven by the spirit of disobedience, died on the execution stake with Yeshua. Since Yeshua was resurrected, we were resurrected. Since, Yeshua is righteous and holy, we are righteous and holy. This is what it means to be born from above.

We must be born from above before we can enter and experience the Kingdom of God. Why? Well, Yahweh’s Spirit has to legally (in accordance with man’s will) evict Satan’s spirit from man’s body so that He can establish His Kingdom in us. When we enter the Kingdom and experience its reality in our daily lives, we walk in peace and joy, and the Kingdom meets all of our need. When the reality that we experience on the earth doesn’t meet our expectations, and people hurt us or let us down, we don’t look to alcohol or drugs, we seek comfort from the Kingdom.

Real recovery begins when we leave Satan’s kingdom and enter Yahweh’s. Real recovery is entering the Kingdom of God and learning how to operate in it.

Nicodemus thought that he was in the Kingdom of God because his religion told him he was in it. In fact, Nicodemus was in the Devil’s kingdom, and being ruled by him. Like Nicodemus’ religion, A.A. tells people they can be right with God and have a relationship with Him by working the Steps. Like Nicodemus, the people in A.A. think they have entered God’s Kingdom, and are experiencing it in their lives.

Like Nicodemus, you can go to A.A., and seek a God of your own understanding. You can pray and mediate. You can do the religious works that A.A. demands. You can even help other people. Doing these things will not make you right with Yahweh, however. The only thing that will make you right with Yahweh is faith. Faith is believing and acting on Yahweh’s Word. Faith is being born from above.

Faith says that nothing can ransom you out of the Devil’s kingdom except the Blood of Yeshua. Faith says that nothing can bring you into Yahweh’s Kingdom except the Holy Spirit. Faith says that nothing can teach you how to operate in the Kingdom of Yahweh except the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures (the Word). Faith says that there is only one way to have a spiritual awakening and walk with God.

A.A.’s literature does not mention the Cross, or the Blood of Messiah. It mentions “the Spirit”, but this “Spirit” is not the Holy Spirit, it is the New Age “Spirit” that the philosophical fathers of A.A. (Carl Jung and William James) wrote about.

A few ecumenical “Christians” massaged A.A’s literature in order to give it a semi-Christian appearance that would appeal to Christians. Consequently, A.A.’s literature leads a person to believe that he or she can enter the Kingdom of God and operate in it (walk hand-in-hand with God), by working the 12 Steps and attending meetings to help others. A.A’s literature says we can work the 12 Steps and have a series of spiritual experiences that will result in a spiritual awakening.

Saying the 3rd Step prayer will not bring you into Yahweh’s Kingdom. Working the 12 Steps will not bring you into Yahweh’s Kingdom. Seeking a God of your own understanding and spiritual experiences, might awaken you to the fact that there is a spiritual realm, but it will not Breath Life into your spirit, and make you alive to Yahweh. Why? Because you are dead in your trespasses and sins.

Some people try to get around this unpleasant reality by saying, “Go to church to save your soul, come to A.A. to save your ass.” But here’s the problem with this saying. When you go to church and believe the Gospel, the Holy Spirit brings you into Yahweh’s Kingdom. If the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom are not able to save you from alcohol or drugs, what makes you think they can save you from Hell?

The people, who repeat this old saying in A.A. meetings, promote the idea that A.A. and the Church have two different non-overlapping teleological missions (two distinct objectives). The underlying philosophy is that the Church exists to save souls from Hell, and A.A./N.A. exists to save people from alcohol/drugs. This man-made philosophy sounds good, but it opposes the Scriptures.

The Scriptures teach that salvation is temporal and eternal. The Scriptures teach that Salvation is experienced in this life, before it is experienced in eternity. The Scriptures teach that temporal salvation is the evidence of eternal salvation. This is why the Scriptures tell us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Does Yahweh work through His Son’s Church to bring about eternal deliverance, but work through A.A. to bring about temporal deliverance? No! Yahweh works through His Son’s Church to bring about temporal and eternal salvation. So, is A.A. an extension and outreach of Yeshua’s Church? Certainly not! Is it possible for a person to obtain a narrow and very specific temporal deliverance in A.A.? Yes. Is it possible for a person to obtain eternal deliverance in A.A.? No.

So here’s the bottom line: A.A tries to make you comfortable in the Devil’s kingdom because it cannot take you out of it, and put you in Yahweh’s Kingdom.

Want to experience real recovery? You must be born from above.

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A.A.’s 2nd Step…..Welcome to the Pantheon

Marcus grew up in the Roman Empire. Marcus had a tough life. When Marcus was eight years old, his parents were killed in a horrible accident. After this, Marcus lived on the filthy streets of Rome, and begged for food. Each day as the sun began to set, Marcus began a pilgrimage to the outskirts of Rome where he found a safe place to sleep.

When Marcus was fourteen years old, a vile old man found his safe spot, and raped him. After this demeaning event, Marcus refused to beg for food, because begging for food put him in a vulnerable position. Instead, Marcus began to rob people, because robbing people enabled him to dominate them, which meant that they could not hurt him.

Marcus got into a lot of fights. One night, a man stabbed Marcus in the leg, and he nearly bled to death. After this, he walked with a limp that was very painful. To kill the pain, he started drinking, and robbing more people to support his habit. Marcus grew increasingly violent, and one night, he killed a man. Marcus, now had to drink to numb his leg and his conscience.

Marcus was a mess, and his life was a living Hell.

One evening, as Marcus walked to the outskirts of Rome, he was feeling especially defeated. Marcus was 40 years old, cold, dirty, tired, hungry, and tormented by his conscience. Marcus was out of wine, and the authorities were closing in on him. Marcus was on the brink of losing his sanity. It was obvious to Marcus that he was powerless, and his life was unmanageable, and he accepted this unpleasant reality in his heart.

In desperation, Marcus stepped into Rome’s Pantheon. A Roman priest welcomed Marcus into the Pantheon, and he looked at the images of the powerful supernatural gods in the Pantheon, and, he suddenly realized that he needed a power greater than himself to restore him to sanity.

Essentially, Marcus had just taken A.A.’s 2nd Step, which says, “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”

After Marcus came to this conclusion, was he any closer to Yahweh? No, the Romans did not have an image of Yahweh in the Pantheon. See, when the Romans defeated a nation, they kidnapped the images of their gods, and put them into Rome’s Pantheon. After that, the subjugated people would have to submit to the Roman high priest to worship their gods. But since Yahweh did not allow Israel to make images of Him, when the Romans defeated Israel, there were no images of Him for them to kidnap.

Yahweh was not in Rome’s Pantheon. The only gods that were in the Pantheon were the gods that the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had embraced. In other words, the Pantheon was full of demons who were pretending to be gods.

The Bible says that Yahweh is God, and there is no other. Yahweh could not be found in the Roman Pantheon because He is holy. Yahweh refused to stand in line with a bunch of demons and wait for Marcus to decide who it was that he was going to follow. Yahweh refused to join the Pantheon, so Marcus did not find Him there.

After he took this Step, Marcus felt peace because he had accepted the fact that he was powerless and his life was unmanageable. Yahweh did not give Marcus this peace, however. The peace came from a psychological force that Marcus released as he eliminated the cognitive dissonance that he was creating by denying reality. In other words, the peace was a result of Marcus stepping out of the darkness of denial into the light of reality.

Moreover, Marcus came to realize that he was the problem, and that he needed a power greater than himself to restore him to sanity. This took the burden of change off his shoulders and put it on some stronger ones. Marcus now had a reason to hope. Marcus hoped that a power greater than him would restore him to sanity. Marcus was turning away from himself and his sufficiency, and this released the psychological force of hope.

Marcus felt better because hope and peace refreshed him, and energized him. Nevertheless, Marcus was still estranged from Yahweh, and on his way to Hell.

How does Marcus’ plight relate to us?

A.A. is a modern-day pantheon. It is an institution that embraces people from all religious traditions. This ecumenical institution embraces Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, Spiritist, Witches, New Agers, Atheists and all others.

Like Marcus, we find it difficult to live in a fallen world, where people hurt us, so we turn to alcohol to numb the pain. Our drinking makes our life unmanageable, and we realize that we are powerless to stop drinking. Then, one day we feel especially defeated and step into the pantheon of A.A. In the pantheon, we can choose any god that we want, but we usually gravitate to an image of the god that is commonly accepted in our culture.

It doesn’t matter which god we ask for help, any god will suffice. We can even choose not to ask one of the supernatural gods for help, and ask a natural object for help. It doesn’t matter who or what we believe to be a power greater than ourselves…all that is really important is that we ask something or someone outside of ourselves for help.

How can A.A.’s 2nd Step be effective if we ask the “wrong” supernatural god for help? How can it be effective if we do not ask a supernatural being for help, and, instead, ask a natural object, such as the group or a doorknob, for help?

It doesn’t matter, who, or what, a person asks for help, because, as he comes out of denial, and decides to ask for help, he unleashes the psychological forces of peace and hope. The peace and hope, even if it is false peace and hope, energizes and refreshes a person and changes their outlook on life (for a while). This step prepares a person for the next step, which is a big one that has far-reaching effects and consequences.

What about Yeshua (Jesus)? Does Yeshua hang out in a pantheon, and line up with all the demons, who pretend to be the gods of the nations? No!

Around 321A.D., a Roman Emperor realized that a large percentage of the people in his empire were accepting Yeshua as their Lord. So the Roman Emperor tried to kidnap Yeshua and bring Him into the Roman Pantheon. Yeshua cannot be kidnapped or held hostage, however. So the Roman Emperor did the next-best thing, he carved an image of Yeshua that he could use to control the people in his empire.

The Roman Emperor had an image of Yeshua hanging on a cross in his Pantheon, but the Yeshua in the Roman Pantheon was not the Yeshua of the Scriptures. Hence, when the people of the Roman Empire came into the Pantheon to submit to Yeshua, they submitted to the wrong Yeshua, that is, they submitted to a demon, who was pretending to be the Yeshua of the Scriptures!

The same is true of the modern-day Pantheon of A.A. The Yeshua, who lines up with the demons, who are pretending to be gods, in A.A.’s pantheon, is not the Yeshua of the Scriptures. Thus, a person will not find the Yeshua of the Scriptures in A.A., they will find an image of a demon, who pretends to be Him.

Some real Christians go to A.A., and tell people about the real Yeshua. These iconoclasts attemp to shatter the false image of Yeshua that is promoted by A.A. because that Yeshua cannot deliver or save anyone.

These Christians must walk a fine line because Paul warned us not to put up with anyone who preaches a Gospel that is different from his, or promotes a Yeshua, who is different from his, or embraces a spirit that he did not embrace. (2 Corinthians 11:4) If we believe another gospel, then we will accept another Yeshua, and he will give us another spirit!

The pantheon is a confusing and scary place where demons masquerade as gods. If we are brave enough to step inside the pantheon and take the 2nd Step, we will feel peace and hope that will prepare us for the all-important 3rd Step. The priests in A.A.’s pantheon will tell us that the peace and hope we feel is a spiritual experience that lets us know we have asked the correct entity for help. These priests will say that this spiritual experience validates truth, and hence we are on the right path.

Spiritual experiences do not validate truth. The Scriptures validate truth, and they say that the path we must travel to know God is narrow, and only a few will find it. So, what is this wide path that allows everyone to know “God” by bowing to an image of a demon? It is the path that leads to Hell!

Welcome to the pantheon.

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