I've finished reading 2000 years of Charismatic Christianity by Eddie Hyatt and started reading his second on on Christian Revival Heritage. Both books are very good to read to understand why as Christian Believers we have the different denominations we have and very different viewpoints on what the Holy Spirit does in today's society, and it stems from a lot of things that took place in the Early Church period.
One thing that has remained through out the centuries has been the Power and the workings of the Holy Spirit, even though there are denominations that believe that the gifts have ceased.
After reading the first book, I learned several different things about the Christian faith that I didn't understand fully. There were groups of people in the early church that were sent off to be in monasteries mainly because the church at the time didn't have a problem with healings, and tongues and but the church also didn't believe it belonged there and that is how the monks were first established. The acts of intense praying, healing and tongues and such belonged there, and not in the church.
Today you have people like James Goll, Ian Clayton, John Crowder and others that are putting that which had been hidden for so long in the forefront of Christianity. Some call it "Mystic" as it is almost as if its the best term for what is still part of the Charismatic Movement.
The church is moving in a new era, and its moving quickly. However as I've been reading its part of an era that has been going on for centuries.
Okay in simple terms its like this. The Bible hasn't changed. Its still the same. However when you read it again and again, you see so much more then you did the time before. Its the same as living a life in Christ, which is as if we were living in the Kingdom. He has never changed, but the more you get to know Him and His Character, the more you change, but He stays the same.
There is a verse in the Bible that says "My people perish for lack of knowledge" and when we choose to not search His word for the answers to our every day activities, we do perish as we use the world's techniques.
As I'm reading in another book called "Sacred Romance" by Bret Curtis and John Eldridge, It showed me some things that I hadn't really thought of before but in this journey of learning of prayer that has been guiding me into a Kingdom Lifestyle, I was intrigued to read the section on The message of the Arrows.
Arrows are those times in life that happen when our dreams of a Sacred Romance is shattered. Those times when we are trying to give comfort to those that need it, yet we get slapped in the face for it, when we attempt to do good but our attempt gets rejected.
Add the arrows of the times when we've hurt others by words and actions and when learned how to develop a Sacred Romance, we will get rejected at several times at first because our motives have changed, because we have been able to remove the Arrow, but the lack of trust has to be regained.
This all is tying together. We lack the knowledge from past pains and suffering because of the Arrows. We don't know how to act in the Sacred Romance because the Arrows are too deep. The Arrows are those times when we've trusted in the world way of handling situations because at times using the Sacred Romance failed us at some time in our lives. We end up using "the message of the Arrows" and teaching them to our children who then never learn what it means to walk in the Sacred Romance or for that matter the Kingdom as God has fully intended.
I was watching a program last night and as the people were using the terms in the fictional show as I've started using them for living in the Kingdom I was dishearten because I could see how "The Message of the Arrows" is what so many cults and such use which is a false translation of the Sacred Romance. This is where back in the 80's when Jonestown occurred, Waco and other cults where minds are controlled where the Arrows were mistaken for the Romance. And its a suffering of a lack of knowledge, and through that lack of knowledge many people suffered.
The Kingdom of God is a Sacred Romance. It is a beautiful thing, and its a desire of God that we all are with Him. Yes cults use the same terminology, but they are using the Message of the Arrow. The Sacred Romance is truly based on the Word of God. The Word stays the same and never changes. His Kingdom is grand and beautiful and wonderful. The Message of the Arrows are removed, not added on in His Kingdom. Its a genuine lifestyle of learning to love as the Master loves, and caring for those that the Master cares about.
There is still so much to learn about the Kingdom, and I hope as we learn together what it means to live in the Kingdom here on Earth to debunk the lies that satan tries to tell us. We've been lied to far to long and we need to be getting back on the road that God has intended so very long ago.
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