From Evolution to Revolution: Scripture as Allegory

This may come as a surprise to many, but the Bible is not a science book! Even further than that, while it is a history book, of sorts, it is not a history of the world, as in the entire creation. It is a covenantal history of a peculiar ( particular ) people, one through whom the Creator God choose to reveal Himself to His Creation. I've said it before & I'll say it again, 'the Story of Scripture is the Story of Israel!' Much as we'd like to think it's all about us, it's not; it speaks to us, resonates with us, yes, but first & foremost, it's solely about a certain group of people in the Ancient Near East ( ANE ); furthermore, it's written in a way that is quite unfamiliar & fairly strange to our western mindset!

Strange as it may seem, Abraham, contrary to our reading of Genesis 22:1-19, need not necessarily have tried to kill his own son in order for the account to shadow the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, some millenia later. This is not to say the story in Genesis is not true & factual, only that stories like this have been fashioned to foreshadow the coming of the Messiah of Israel. There are many other such accounts, or occurrences, in Israel's history which serve to point to the Messiah, for example, the Law itself, as stated by the apostle Paul, 'was our tutor [ to bring us ] to Christ' ( Galatians 3:24 ). Here too, we must understand that Paul spoke, not to us, but to his fellow Israelites, in the 1st century!

It is without doubt & beyond question that this Creation, this universe ( multiverse? ), is the product of Intelligent Design! Much as many scientists would like to prove to the contrary, beauty & symbiosis like we witness on a daily basis does not just happen; it HAS to have been orchestrated & engineered by Someone or Something 'smarter than the average bear', so to speak! The theory of evolution as put forth most famously by Charles Darwin, the notion that mankind evolved from a single-celled organism & that the universe ( stars, planets & such ) is simply the manifestation of a random event known as 'The Big Bang' is not totally without merit. Though we know, as Darwin & others like him fail to ascribe to, that this was all the work of the Creator God, it is not outside the realm of genuine possibility that these are the means that were used to bring about all this beauty. Science has made great strides, in fact, toward this end, though maybe inadvertently!

The discovery of subatomic particles like the Higgs boson, the development of things like 'string theory', Quantum Mechanics & such have given scientists a boost in their search for understanding! Though many seek this knowledge in the vain hope of denying the Creator, many more, through these findings, have no doubt developed an even greater respect for the Master Builder.  The fact that all of these things work together to orchestrate the symphony of Life should be enough to convince even the most ignorant & stubborn of us yet falls on blind ears!

Even with such great leaps forward, mankind knows fairly little about how the universe ( or multiverse? ) was formed, much less, the intricacies of its clockworks, so to speak! By means of the Large Hadron Collider, a multi-million ( or is that 'billion'?? ) dollar project over in Switzerland, scientists have 'created' one of the subatomic particles they believe may be responsible for the 'Big Bang', or the formation of the universe.as we know it. It may very well be that this process, or one very like it, is indeed responsible for the glories of 'the heavens', but, as I would love to ask of any Darwinian Evolutionist, 'where did the particle come from?'

Was there an actual Man named Jesus who was in fact the Creator God incarnate? Did He indeed suffer on a literal cross for the sins of His People? We have faith that He did & now lives within us, leading us in the Way of Righteousness, to love the Creator God with all our heart, mind & strength, to love our neighbor as ourselves & to treat others as we would have others treat us! However, much of what we read in Scripture is related in such a way, through metaphor, similitude & allegory, as to represent a certain truth, a truth that might not be plainly accepted if plainly told. The Gospel accounts all serve to witness to the fact that the Creator God did indeed love His Creation so much that He sent His only ( begotten ) Son, that whoever belives in Him should never die, but have eternal life!

The Scriptures, as many Christians have begun to discover, were not written to us, though they are for us, being applicable to our own situations in many areas! Even reading the Bible with our Western mindset & particular point of view, humanity has made great leaps towards discovering the true nature of the Creator God & our relationship with & to Him/Her/It. As mankind continues to work out the implications of the fact that our Western thought-processes might not cut it, so to speak, we will continue to grow in the knowledge that we are indeed One with the Creator God, being of the same Essence!

May we ever use that Knowlege for good & not for evil,
Charles Haddon Shank

'Is There Anybody Out There?' or 'Realms of Glory'

The Hebrew Scriptures, the Psalms in particular, are very clear that the Creator God, 'Yahweh' to the Hebrews, makes His home in 'the heavens', or, more traditionally, 'Heaven'. When it comes to a description of 'Heaven', though, things get a bit cloudy, so to speak! Jesus' parabolic story of the rich man & Lazarus in Luke 16 describes it as a place of comfort: David & the other Psalm writers simply use the word 'heaven' or 'heavens'  ( 'Hebrew-shamayim-'lofty, the sky ) & speak of it as a 'place' that is higher, or more elevated than us. The closest we get to an actual description of 'Heaven', probably, in the entire Scriptures, is in the Revelation, where John offers us his very typological ( or is that 'anti-typical'? ) description of the throne room. The point is, our traditional notion of 'heaven', with 'a harp, a home, a crown', is not really supported by Scripture, but is almost pure speculation-no, I didn't forget the 'mansions' that Jesus promised in John 14, but as we've discussed in previous posts, these simply refer to those souls which have welcomed the knowledge of the Creator God!

The fulfillment of Scripture, in the past tense, anyway, seems to present modern Christianity with many problems, one of which is that if eschatology is indeed in the past & the Kingdom of God, or Heaven has come to Earth, then where DOES the Creator call home?! We have also explored previously in this blog, in a number of posts, that Jesus promised, also in John 14 ( 23 ), 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him'. The objection might well be made here, such as, 'Though God, in the Spirit, HAS made His home in our 'hearts', He is STILL omnipresent, dwelling in 'Heaven'!' As the case may be, the Creator God, although He/She/It, as promised, has made His/Her/Its Home with mankind, I'm certainly NOT saying that the Creator of the Universe has been relegated to one certain 'place', the 'hearts' of His/Her/Its People!

Is there an actual 'place' out there somewhere in the Universe, called 'Heaven', or is 'Heaven' or the realm of the Creator God ( some would call it simply 'Energy' ) in another dimension altogether, as has been  speculated about on this blog of late? I must say, I've heard it put forth by certain Christians that 'Heaven' is actually a certain physical location, somewhere in the Universe, where the Creator God dwells with His Son, Jesus the Christ, in His human form, no less, who sits at His right hand, 'whence He shall come............to judge the living and the dead'! This is actually the traditional Christian doctrine of 'Heaven', more or less & while it does agree with Scripture, also ends up denying what Jesus Himself promised!

What if 'Heaven' IS simply in another dimension? The words of Jesus, for example in John 18:36, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.', would seem to make some sense. It is true, some research will easily show that the 'world' of which Jesus spoke here ( Greek-kosmos ) was the 'world' of the 1st-century Jews, but we may infer that, since Jesus used  'kosmos' rather than 'oikoumenē', that the entire Creation, of which we are only a very small part, may be in view here!

Jesus' promise as recorded in John 14:23 does not state specifically where, in us, the Great Spirit would make Its Home, but, as we have loosely maintained that it is in our 'heart', I will leave it up to private speculation as to what might be meant by 'heart'-most certainly not the biological organ! The mind, or even brain, might more specifically indicate the dwelling-place of 'God in the Spirit', as this is primarily the seat of knowledge & might be called 'the physical manifestation of the spirit'.

Eschatologically speaking, Jesus promised that He would return in His Father's glory to the generation of people then living: though some died before that generation had passed away, many had not & to say that He did not is to deny this very important truth! Jesus also taught His disciples to pray, 'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as [ it is ] in heaven' & though it might well be interjected here that Jesus simply instructed them to pray that His Father's will be done on earth 'as [ it is ] in heaven', rather than that His Kingdom should come to earth, it has been almost universally accepted that it what Jesus meant!

The Glory of the Creator God is definitely NOT limited to this heavenly realm, or dimension, if you will; its all around us! Call it 'Energy', call it 'God', call it 'the Universe' ( even 'Mother Earth' ), it is obviously manifested in & through us, as well as the Creation that surrounds us. When we call upon our Heavenly Father, the Energy that makes up our very being, or the Universe itself, we pray, not so much to a Force outside us, but to One that is Within us as well; One that is a part of us, One that makes up our very existence!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Pneumatophoric Human, or, The Human Animal

What sets us, as human beings, apart from all the other animals, or created beings? Most people, probably more or less correctly, would immediately say something like, 'human beings have souls'. The human animal, one might say, unlike other animals, has learned to codify ( ? ) spoken language & to live morally, in civilization, but then, the tables could easily be turned, showing that many human beings act worse than any wild animal! There have been studies done that show that many so-called 'wild' animals seem to have more morality & live more civilized lives than many human beings.!

The phrase, 'all dogs go to heaven', though it has waned in popular use over the past decade or so, is still very much alive, in concept anyway! Ask most any pet owner nowadays, especially the older ones & they will tell you their pets are their 'kids'. In fact, some of them will tell you they like them better than most humans! In some sense, one can't really blame them! Over the past year or so, it has become popular when one's pet has died, to say that they have 'passed over the rainbow bridge' & will be waiting for them once they too, 'pass over the rainbow bridge'. No matter the case, whether or not these beloved pets will be reunited with their owners in some sort of after-life or not, one thing is abundantly clear to anyone who 'owns' one of these animals; they ARE possessed of some sort of spirit & while they might not possess the intelligence & abilities we, as human beings, do, it is evident they do communicate with each other!

Human beings, while in most cases a step or so above the other animals, have traditionally been regarded as special, largely because of a misunderstanding of the first chapters of Genesis! The misunderstanding is that the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2 is a record of the beginning of Time. The 'creation' of Adam & Eve has always been understood by the majority of Christians as the actual foundation of the human race. Science has proven beyond any reasonable doubt, however, that human beings roamed the planet long before the genesis of biblical history!

When Genesis 2:7 records that the Creator 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life', we should understand that, like in the prophet Ezekiel's vision ( Ezekiel 37:9 & 10 ), it was not biological life that came over Adam & Eve, but spiritual, or covenantal. It was awareness of the Creator that came upon them that 'day', awareness that the Architect of the universe was not a cold, faceless Being, but one that sought blessed relationship with those He ( She/It ) had created.

Human beings have doubtless been endowed with the Spirit of Life! While Scripture tells a Story of that Life being awakened within humanity, it also gives us what might be noted as a clue, a glimpse into the whole concept that even animals, as creations of the Great Architect, are not without the blessings of the Spirit of Life! Humankind could, in fact, learn many an important lesson from what we have traditionally called 'dumb' animals; some have noted these important lessons & embraced their more or less elevated status, while others have chose to remain ignorant & hopelessly flounder in what might be called 'the primordial ooze'!

The Human Animal, having been chosen, biblically speaking, as the engine through which the Creator would become One with His ( Her/Its ) Creation has a larger brain capacity than most domesticated animals, to be sure, but there are many yet in the wild who's brain capacity is much larger than ours! Although it cannot be proven, I believe that the brain is the physical manifestation of the spirit, so therefore, according to that reasoning, the bigger the brain, the higher intelligence manifested by the controlling spirit. This theory, of course, is not 'water-tight', but one has to wonder why some humans seem to have 'pea-', or even bird-brains', while some of these 'dumb animals', whether domesticated or yet wild, seem possessed of greater intelligence?

As a race, humans have enjoyed an ascendancy, especially with 'The Dawn of Civilization', over the other animals; indeed, Scripture itself tells the Story of how Adam & Eve were given dominion over the rest of the 'creation', including the animals. With the advent of such life-changing concepts as Covenant Creation & the notion that Adam & Eve were not the progenitors of the human  race, one might begin to wonder; 'if the animal mentioned throughout Scripture were not actually animals at all, but human beings of lesser intelligence, or awareness, then maybe we were not necessarily given the dominion over these 'dumb animals', as we thought, but rather, maybe we should understand that it's really just a Story about how Israel was the Creator God's tool whereby He brought all into subjection under Him!'

If we can get past the notion that wild or domesticated animals ( as opposed to the human animal ) are there only for our pleasure, maybe we can begin to to learn from them how to be truly civilized! Although human beings normally have a larger brain capacity than most domesticated animals, it is by no means a given that they use it to its full capacity; some animals, on the other hand, seem to exceed their brain capacity! We could learn a lot from what we call 'dumb animals' & while some have learned some life-altering lessons, others have failed to see this most important of truths, continuing to treat their fellows, whether human or 'mere' animal, as simply their next 'meal-ticket'!

Charles Haddon Shank

'( The ) Christ Lives in Me'!

'Why do you call Me good?^[f] No one [ is ] good but One, [ that is ], God.'

Matthew 19:17 -NKJV

With verses like Jeremiah 17:9 & Psalm 14:3, 'The heart [ is ] deceitful above all[ things ], and desperately wicked; who can know it?' & '[ There is ] none who does good, no, not one' ringing in their ears, it is no wonder that some Christians today feel that they themselves, even though they believe they house the Holy Spirit, are not good, even worthless! The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Church at Rome ( Romans 7:15 ), writes, 'For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do'. Although it may seem difficult, in this corrupted world that we inhabit, to say these verses no longer apply today; even among Christians, one would be hard-pressed to say this is no longer the case. The desires, the longings that all of us, if we're honest with ourselves, feel on a daily basis, make us feel that the words above apply to every human being ever born!

The funny thing about context is that it must be correctly understood, in order to correctly understand any certain verse! Both historically & covenantally speaking, context determines interpretation, so when we read in Scripture, '[ There is ] none who does good, no, not one', we can see, in context, that the Psalmist is saying that there is no such thing as a good fool, in particular, one who says, '[ There  is ] no God' ( Psalm 53:3 ) When the prophet Jeremiah seemingly denigrates the 'heart' of humanity, the context makes clear he is speaking of a specific people; In speaking of 'The sin of Judah', using similar language to that of the Psalmist, Jeremiah decries the fact that the heart of these people ( Psalm 53: 4 ) is 'deceitful above all[ things ], and desperately wicked'. This is not to say that every thought of our 'heart' is now completely pure ( in a puritanical sense), because, as we can all attest to, everyone has an 'impure' thought at least once a day, whether it's sexual in nature, or just wanting to take an unwarranted jab at someone!

Reading the words of Jesus, in Matthew 19:17 above, those who carry a more modern ( or ancient, as the case may be ) version of the Bible, rather than seeing Jesus denigrate His Humanity, might rather understand that He was reminding the rich young ruler that the Jewish Law told him how to be good: it was their own law that told them to love God & their neighbor as themselves! The apostle Paul, seemingly on the other hand, writes about what most deem his personal struggles in Romans 7:13-25; however, context again must determine our interpretation of his words! Paul, although like the rest of us understood his natural longings & desires, nevertheless was warning his contemporaries against their main adversaries, as he did in all his letters. It was not Roman, but Jewish Law that told them, 'You shall not covet'. As with the rich young ruler, Paul pointed out that it was their own law that condemned them, not their inherent nature. Previously, in the same passage, the apostle had given them this caveat; 'But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not [ in ] the oldness of the letter', much like he wrote later ( 8:1 ) to the same Body, '[ There is ] therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit'.

Because of the glorious fact that 'Christ lives in me' ( Galatians 2:20 ), the apostle Paul realized that, though the Body of Israel had become dead through their own law, those who walk 'according to the Spirit', were no longer under that law & thus its condemnation! In this day & age, one might argue, the corruption that the apostle mourns in his letter to the Romans is alive & well on planet earth. It would seem that they are right, because we bear witness to much depravity that is sounds very similar to what they witnessed in Paul's, even Jesus' own day! However, we understand through context, both historical and covenantal, that we, particularly as Christians, living in the 21st century, are not under that law. While common sense tells us still that to covet another's belongings will only get us in trouble, it is no longer the Law that condemns us, but we ourselves!

While Christians traditionally have well understood the glorious fact that we are not under the condemnation of the Law; it seems there are many who fail to realize the gravity of 'Christ lives in me'! Going back to Romans 7, Paul lamentingly states that 'I am carnal, sold under sin': as a representative of the Body of Israel, Paul realized that, even though they had the Spirit, the Comforter ( John 8 & 14 ), as long as they were under the thumb, so to speak, of the Jewish economy & while the Temple still stood, they were still in captivity, according to the flesh.  Once Jesus had been revealed as the very Son of God from Heaven & having ended the Jewish economy with their reign of terror, even that Law which had plagued the Body of Christ was taken out of the way, having proven to be contrary to the Israel of God ( Colossians 2:14 ). With, as I call it, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, we have become One with our Heavenly Father, not in the sense that we have become Him, as in the Creator, but as in marriage itself, wherein we are consumed by the same desire!

Although we still fail, to one degree or another, to fulfill the Law of Love, this is not to say that we have failed our humanity! Because the Spirit of Him who 'loved the world' ( John 3:16 ) lives in us, we have been empowered to do what is right; we WANT to do right, not that we always do. Even so, as the apostle wrote to the Church at Rome, 'now, [ it is ] no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me', he realized that, with the Revelation of Jesus as the Christ & the destruction of the Jewish economy, the dwelling of God was now with man ( John 14:23 ), no longer would sin dwell with him or his brethren!

Our desires, even as Christians, seem to often bring us in conflict with the Law of God! However, we must ask ourselves; 'do we really flout the Law of Love, or do we simply fail to live up to it, condemning ourselves in the process?' If the Law does not condemn us, even the Law of Love, then why should we? We are not fools, to deny the Creator & we do not, as Israel according to the flesh, persecute His people. Our failure to always love as we are Loved does not denigrate our humanity; rather, through our failure, we understand our weakness, our finiteness, our physicality!

As we strive, in our humanity, to love our God ( Creator, Father ) & our neighbor as ourselves, we can be sure, even as Paul was, that we serve in the Spirit, bet even more, we live, not in the old 'flesh', but in the new biology, one that relies, not on laws, but on the Spirit! With the apostle, let us live in the Spirit, for we do not live in the flesh; we never have!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Drowning of Atlantis, the Plagues of Egypt & the Exodus Theme of the Hebrew Scriptures

Many have noted the theme of exodus from oppression throughout the Scripture, but still, seemingly contrary to history, affix a literal & supernatural interpretation to the Exodus Story, as passed down to us in the book of the same name! This is not to say that the events laid out for us in the book did not actually happen, nor is it to say that there was nothing supernatural about the event; this is simply to say that the events need not happened, either chronologically or exactly as they are so colorfully & poetically described, in order for them to have taken place. As we can ascertain in the New Testament, in particular, this Exodus Theme is significant of the Gospel of Jesus, who was the Christ; as He was typified by the leader of the original exodus, Moses; Jesus figuratively & really led His people out of the bondage of Sin & Death, which had been typified by Egypt & in His own time, by Israel according to the flesh!

The funny thing about myths is that they are usually ( however loosely ) based in historical fact & so, I imagine, is Plato's reference to the mythical island of Atlantis! If Atlantis ever actually existed ( some say 'yes, while others say 'no'; it should be clear that such a place, though probably not literally accurate according to legend, probably did, at some point in time exist. Though it was most likely not call 'Atlantis'; it is probably fairly safe to speculate that Plato's reference was not original, as he claimed. Most modern critics theorize that 'Atlantis' was merely an allegory for some sort of utopia, a vision of 'the perfect society', while others have striven to prove that such a place did, at one time, exist, though maybe called by another name. Whether it did once exist or whether it IS just an allegory, Atlantis stands forevermore as a legend & an ideal to be sought after by those who believe in the innate goodness of humanity!

The fact that the magicians of the Pharaoh's court, as reported in the book of Exodus, were able to duplicate the first two plagues that Moses pronounced on the Egyptians, as well as turning their staffs into serpents, has always interested me, but with no obvious explanation presenting itself, has remained a mystery to me, though I have been known to speculate on the matter in the past! Why were the Pharaoh's magicians able, like Moses, to bring frogs upon the land, as well as turn the water to blood, but were not able to duplicate the lice ( 'lice' may be a faulty translation here, as it is translated very differently in Isaiah 51:6 ). After this, the magicians seem to have given up, since the Story does not record them striving anymore, though it does record them acknowledging, 'This [ is ] the finger of God' ( Exodus 8:18 ). No matter why they were able to generate the frogs & turn the waters into blood, but were not able to duplicate the 'lice' & following plagues, one thing is clear, these plagues all had one thing in common; they were all natural occurrences!

By claiming that the Plagues of Egypt could all be explained naturally, I am by no means saying there was no supernatural causation; this IS our Father's ( the Creator's ) world after all & all things naturally occurring do so only through His almighty governance! According to my research, a certain  ( volcanic ) island in the Mediterranean Sea erupted quite massively around the time of the purported Exodus. As this eruption put the much more recent Mount St. Helens eruption to shame, it also could account for every single one of the Plagues of Egypt, even the famous 'Parting of the Sea' ( usually called the Red Sea, but more correctly, 'The Sea of Reeds ), though not necessarily in the same chronological order as the author of the book of Exodus recorded them. The resulting ash cloud, being much greater in scope than the fairly recent eruption in Washington state, could easily account for the darkness that the inhabitants of Egypt experienced, as well ( 'dare I say it?' ) the 'deaths of the firstborn'. 'Now that,' one might protest, 'is going too far; that was obviously supernatural!'

Truly, the plagues recorded in the book of Exodus were naturally occurring phenomena, though not necessarily everyday occurrences! The frogs & flies, for instance, could easily be explained by the dead fish resulting from the waters of the river turning to 'blood', which, in turn, might be explained by the fore-mentioned ash cloud, or even ocean currents from as far north & west as the northern Mediterranean Sea. 'If all the Plagues of Egypt may be explained away naturally', one might wonder, 'wouldn't that mean that the Exodus might not have actually taken place, that it's all just a big Story?' Well, it IS a big Story & that's precisely what we must keep in mind here; the Exodus account, as all of Scripture, was written in such a way, not necessarily chronologically, as to reveal a greater, spiritual truth!

Minoan civilization, of which the island of Thera, also known as Santorini, has been found to have been far advanced over any other ancient civilisation, so it would not be surprising to learn that it may have been the origin of the 'Atlantis' myth, or legend. When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, the effects were felt as far east as the Dakotas; when Thera erupted, 3,000+ years previously, it affected most of the known world! With the explosive force of hundreds of atomic bombs, Thera's ( underwater ) volcano, as the Finger of God, had more than the capability to rain down down devastation, not only on Egypt, but anything or anyone else unfortunate enough to be in its path!

It is quite likely that the Minoan civilization on Thera, or Santorini, was the genesis of the Atlantean myth! At the time & even looking back on such a society as must have resulted from such advancement, the Minoan civilization must have seemed almost 'utopian'; it certainly would have struck certain philosophers as an ideal society. In fact, there are those of our day who seem to think that all of our political contrivances & technological advances will usher in the vaunted 'Age of Aquarius', but so far, all we have seen is the lengths that humanity will go to maintain its power over others!

The Typology of Scripture is without doubt! As mentioned previously, The Exodus from Egypt typified the True Exodus, that from the bondage of Sin & Death, so in that sense at least, need not necessarily have happened in the exact way it is recorded in order to meet the necessary requirements. The Exodus, the True Exodus did occur; that is also without doubt: Israel met its Messiah, who led them in a Spiritual Exodus! The details, far from being unimportant, were obviously of great import to the original audience, the Hebrew people & those who followed them out of Egypt, but to us, living in the 21st century, the importance lies in the blessed fact that we are the benefactors of thatSpiritual Exodus, though we in turn, are saddled with the responsibility of leading others out of darkness into the everlasting light!

Charles Haddon Shank

In Dreams We Soar

Deothora felt the wind rush against her face, in gentle remembrance of her mother's soothing touch when she had a fever. To her surprise, the landscape which opened beneath her was one which was almost totally foreign to her, yet, somehow, familiar! At first, she was startled by the fact that she was viewing this scene from such a great distance, but she felt no fear as her stable flight seemed to continue with no sign of ending. Dipping low over the mountain, Deothora tried flapping her arms in an effort to maneuver around the highest peaks, but she found that her arms were pinioned gently by her sides! Consciously taking more note of her immediate surroundings, Deothora found that, on both sides, she was firmly but gently being held by what appeared to be a large, furry, green paw ( or was it a hand? )! Craning her neck as far as she could, she followed the paw/hand back & upward till she found what she had sought for so long. The face she saw, except for the almost cartoonish goofiness, would almost have made one's heart skip a beat & indeed, hers almost did, that is, until she found herself gazing into the kindest, gentlest eyes she had ever seen. As Deothora hung there motionless, having forgotten for a time that she was hurtling at a gentle speed through the clouds, being held by some strange contrivance, she heard a gentle, but obviously powerful voice come out of that cartoonish, almost goofy face above her; 'oh good, you're awake'! When she finally found her voice, which seemed to have been removed from her, ever since she had awoken in such alarming, but peaceful surroundings, the first syllables Deothora was able to utter were, 'who are you? & 'where am I?' The gentle giant chuckled, one of those deep belly-laughs that dragons are famous for-yes this was an honest-to-goodness dragon; 'I am your dream come true' he roared-although it entered her ears as more of a comforting whisper. 'As to where you are,' the dragon continued, 'open your eyes & see!' 'It should be obvious where you are, for you have traversed this country many times!' Turning her wandering gaze downward once again & without even straining her eyes, Deothora discovered that she recognized many of her most favorite places! Having never seen them from this vantage point, though, they had not resonated in her memory, like they should have.

'You have always been so close to the ground', her furry friend said, 'you might not have noticed the beauty that was there all the time, just waiting for you to soar above it all!' Deothora found the view quite breath-taking as they continued to glide effortlessly through the clouds. Though she had experienced the wind in her face before, she had never imagined it could be this exhilarating, or......comfortable?! As high above the ground as they were & as swiftly as they were moving-although it felt like they were just out for a stroll-Deothora was amazed that she was not in the least bit cold! 'Of course', she thought, almost laughingly, 'I AM surrounded by fur!'

Deothora's heart had been captured by a dragon, which, if you know anything about dragons-or think you know-have gotten a bad rap! Dragons are pictured in many fairy-tales as almost the personification of evil. However, we who know, know that dragons are simply creatures like us! Okay, so they have wings to fly, but really, so do we! We can read a book, or even just sit with our eyes closed, listening to music & soar through the clouds of imagination. While our bodies are tethered to the ground-through the unseen force of gravity, or some such vain imagination-our spirits soar through the clouds, allowing us to rise above it all & appreciate the beauty that surrounds us, though too often it seems we can't see the forest for the trees!

Elothar-that was the dragon's name- had surprised Deothora in a dream one day, lifting her out of her slumber & giving her a view of her country that she had only ever imagined in her dreams! As they flew over the ever-changing landscape, Deothora began to relish the wind in here face; 'faster, faster!' she cried. Tilting his huge head down, her furry friend replied, 'if we go any faster, you won't enjoy the journey, my dear!' To prove his point, Elothar sped up his pace very minutely & THEN Deothora realized that she was beginning to feel the cold air they had been soaring through all along!  She had such a peaceful feeling, clutched in Elothar's giant paw,  that she had never before noticed the chill that was in the air, forming the very mists they were flying through!

Deothora had never experienced such bliss, though in her dreams she had always suspected that she had glimpsed it! Elothar had given Deothora more than just a glimpse, however; he had shown her how to rise above it all. He had shown her that, while in dreams we soar, even in our waking moments, we CAN rise above it all, see the beauty of the forest in which we live & enjoy the comfort & security which dragons may afford us. Soaring through the clouds, though, as Elothar & Deothora did that day, we must be ever careful to curb our speed, for if we try to go too fast, we may miss something along the way; as dragons know best, a slow, but steady, pace is best for both comfort & enjoyment!

As all good things must come to an end, as they say, so Deothora's flight of fancy came to an abrupt, but not uncomfortable conclusion! Elothar spoke to her in a tone that was both joyful & sad; 'our time together is over for now-do not say 'goodbye'-but never fear, always soar; I will see you in  your dreams!' As he spoke these parting words, Deothra felt the giant paws tighten about her in a kind of farewell hug & then, for what seemed like hours-though it couldn't have bee more than a minute or two-Deothora was soaring by herself, in a steady but gentle glide towards the country she had grown to love & the place she called Home. As her favorite bed rushed up to greet her, with its loving embrace, the gnawing realization finally hit her; 'WAIT, I remember you NOW!'

For Deborah,
Charles Haddon Shank

The Inner Sanctum

We have just celebrated the birth of Emmanuel, or 'God with us'; as Christians, of course, this is something we celebrate year 'round (let that sink in ), but how often do we really think about what that means; in other words, 'what does it mean to us that God is with us ( John 14:23 )?' As discussed in a previous post, 'sure, we have the Spirit indwelling us', but why are most Christians waiting for more, in other words, why do they continue to look for salvation outside themselves? The concept of looking within oneself for salvation will most likely sound heretical, even blasphemous to most, but given the twin facts that Israel was the receptor of the salvation we read of in the Scriptures & that the so-called Godhead, or Trinity now dwells with us, in our hearts, so to speak, it should really not be shocking to realize that it is within ourselves that we should look for the Strength to work ( out ) our own salvation!

The subject of 'Heaven' is quite a controversial one: whether it is an actual 'place' out there somewhere, in the heavens or whether it is a separate realm or dimension, one thing is clear; it is the Dwelling ( place ) of the Creator God, also known as our Heavenly Father! Jesus told the Pharisees, who were a bit confused about the Nature of the coming Kingdom, 'the kingdom of God is within you' ( Luke 17:21 ). Coupled with Jesus' words in John 14 ( 23 ), 'if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him', it should not be hard to understand that 'Heaven' is in our hearts. By saying 'in our hearts', of course I do not refer to the physical organ, nor to biology at all, but to our inmost being, our spirit. As the Kingdom of Heaven & the Kingdom of God seem to be interchangeable in Scripture, we may safely conjecture that they are the same & refer to the Realm of the Creator God!

The Creator, or 'God', if you will, though He has made His ( Her, Its ) Home with man, is not however confined to mankind: He ( She, It ) is still the Creator! One issue I have encountered when bringing up John 14:23 in conversation is the supposed omnipresence of the Creator God. I do not mean to say, along with the Deists, perhaps, that after everything had been finished, the Creator God stepped out of the picture & let it all go to hell, nor do I mean to imply that it is only with ( in ) His human Creation that He abides, or dwells. I mean simply to say that our Heavenly Father has awakened us, opened our eyes, so to speak, to the Reality that we can exist on two different planes, in two dimensions at once!

The fact that we are spirit beings having a physical experience is one that I have tried to make clear in my writings, as it has become more impressed upon my own mind of late. Along with this realization has come its own difficulties, leading to further study & consideration. The issue of gender, for instance, has been a rather hot topic lately! If, as I posited in a certain conversation recently, the body, not the spirit, determines gender, then may we rightly say that there are male & female spirits? Could this be one thing that the apostle Paul  referred to when he wrote, 'there is neither male nor female' ( Galatians 3:28 )? Another question that might arise is, 'do spirits dwell in the physical ( biological ) realm, or do they exist in the another dimension altogether, although right alongside the visible realm?' Is this not what the prophet's servant saw, as recorded in II Kings 6:17? Could this be the real import of what Jesus said in Luke 20:34-36?

Jesus, as recorded in John 6:63, said, 'It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [ they ] are life'. A bit out of context maybe, but couple this with the fact that in the beginning, the Creator God breathed into Adam 'the breath of life' ( Genesis 2:7 ) Along these same lines, the prophet's vision in Ezekiel 37 showed that it was not the physical, or biological body of Israel that needed to be resurrected, it was the spiritual body which was about to be raised to life once more.At the end of his famous diatribe on 'faith without works', in James 2:14-26, the apostle wrote 'the body without the spirit is dead' & in the same breath that 'faith without works is dead also'.

Believing in a Covenant Creation, as I & many others do, one might note a seeming inconsistency with this viewpoint, in that the body of Adam, as the Body of Israel in Ezekiel 37, had no life until 'the breath of life' entered the picture, because that would mean that Adam, or mankind, had no life in them previously. Well, that might pose a difficulty if it were not for the fact that Ezekiel 37 at least, is metaphorical of the fact that the body of Israel had become entangled in the lies of Sin & Death! With that aside, one might well note that it is the spirit, with or without the blessing of the Spirit of Life, that animates the body!

The spiritual dimension, though known & experienced by many since the dawn of time, has recently been opened to the eyes of even more. Some religions, but the Christian religion in particular, has traditionally taught that it is not until the spirit leaves the body that one enters this realm, also known as 'Eternity'. This could lead to another discussion entirely, but I believe that, since the Resurrection occurred in the first century, we inhabit that Realm! As human beings, yes, our biological 'self' is confined to this earthly ( physical ) realm, but as spiritual beings, we have ascended, or at least are ascending, in a manner of speaking, to the spiritual, or heavenly realm. Is this not what the writer to the Hebrews meant when he wrote 'you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn [ who are ] registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect' ( Hebrews 12:22 & 23 )?

The Creator God, we can truly attest to, operates without the confines of Time, which all human beings, biologically speaking, are liable to! Since the Kingdom of Heaven has been brought to earth, we, though not our 'flesh and blood' ( I Corinthians 15:50 ) have entered this Hidden Realm. One might wonder if the spirit had not always existed in that other dimension, but that might be another matter for another post. While in this body, we often feel as if we're in 'Hell', so to speak; it is with our spirit & strengthened by the Spirit, that we can choose to transcend this mere biological experience & make a home in 'Heaven'!

'Somewhere, out there.............' is a cry of hope that a host of dreamers have uttered for millenia! The traditional Christian hope of 'Heaven' is not a false hope ( 'Yes, Virginia, there IS a Heaven!' ); it is simply a misplaced one! Heaven is not some place that we will inhabit only in the after-life ( ? ), 'Heaven' is another dimension, another plane of existence, if you will, in which our spirituality leads our biological bodies to live in a way that's heavenly!

As we prepare to enter upon a New Year, in a timely manner, let us determine within ourselves to live beyond the mean, to realize that we are spiritually with our Lord, the Creator God, our Heavenly Father! Though these biological bodies will never enter this Realm, we may, through the Strength of the Spirit Within, transform our World into a recognizable 'Heaven', as the Spirit causes Life to flow through our fingertips, from one Realm into another!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Pattern of Prophecy & the Exodus Theme

The Story of Scripture, from Adam to Jesus, is the Story of Israel! If you follow my meanderings at all, this is not an unfamiliar notion to you. The concept that our first parents, Adam & Eve, were not the first human beings to traverse the planet is not a new one, though among most Christians, it is a fairly radical notion. Scientists, especially those who cling to the theory of evolution, have purported for ages that mankind has roamed the earth for tens of thousands of years. The notion that Adam & Eve were not the first humans to inhabit the region we know as the Near East is an idea whose time has come; the fact that they were simply the first ones through whom the Creator God deemed to enter into His Creation, is a radical one indeed, so radical, in fact, that it may just end up transforming our theological landscape!

The question has come before this blogger recently, of why we are reading the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, rather than learning about the life of the Buddha, or other Ancient Near Eastern 'gods' ( or their servants ). Why are we, here in America, studying the Bible rather than the Q'ran? As I discussed in one of my recent posts, it is because of 'The Resonance of the Story'! As I discussed, the Story of Israel is really the story of humanity. The Story of Scripture, though it tells about how the God of Creation chose to make His Purpose known through a special people, the children of Israel, or Jacob, actually mirrors humanity very well, as it records the rise & fall of many an individual, corporate body & empire!

Following the Story of Israel, from Adam's Fall in the Garden to the Fall of the Corporate Body of Israel, from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, we may note a pattern throughout that resonates within us, even here in America, so far removed from the original subject matter. From the first prophecy of a messiah ( Genesis 3:15 ), to when that longed-for Messiah came 'in the fullness of time', as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, we see a pattern throughout, prophecies which pointed to & were indicative of a time to come when the Creator God would dwell with His People, as pictured in the tabernacle & the Temple. We've covered this ground before, but as He walked with Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden ( the original Temple ), so He would again, through Jesus, walk among His People &; indeed, fashion them into His New Temple!

As we have been blessed, at Covenant Community Church, by the ministrations of our two teaching elders, we have become fairly familiar with the Exodus Theme that runs throughout Scripture. The Captivity of Israel, in its many iterations, was typical of the bondage that the human race has been embroiled in since its inception! The Fall of Adam & Eve in the Garden, especially when read with the understanding that it is apocalyptic literature & Ancient Near Eastern at that, should resonate with anyone who reads the account in Genesis 3. The following accounts of the murder of Abel, the Falls of Noah & Abraham, the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel & their fleshly struggles throughout those wanderings, the times of the Judges & Kings, all leading up to the Final Exodus of the Israel of God & the Birth of the Promised One in the midst of captivity & His ministry remind us all of our own struggles & search for salvation!

The Exodus, from Egypt, of the children of Israel, although traditionally understood as historical narrative, has come under critical fire in the past few decades, as there seems to be no evidence, aside from Scripture, that it ever occurred exactly as we read it in the biblical narrative! There can be found, with some speculation, records of similar events that happened around the same time, but the main weight, which we can ascertain from a cursory reading of the Greek Scriptures, is that the events of the first Exodus ( from Egypt ) served as a picture of the Final Exodus that Jesus ( who was the Great Anti-type ) led His People in, an Exodus from the Bondage of Sin & Death!

The Creator God not only walks with His People once again, He has made us His Temple, His Dwelling on Earth! The Pattern of Prophecy, as we have noted previously, pointed to this Reality & still today, as the Scriptures are carefully read, resonates within the hearts of true believers, reminding us of this Chief End of Man ( kind ). As the Israel of God, the True Temple where He now resides in His fullness & having been made aware of our true, spiritual nature, we serve as the purveyors of His Love. It is when we fail to share that Love that we notice problems such as are recorded in the pages of Scripture!

The Hebrew Scriptures, standing alone, would indeed paint a far different theological landscape than that which we admire today! Though much of our orthodox doctrines are still based on the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures, it is widely accepted that most of what was prophesied in them was fulfilled in the Christ. We, here in America follow the Scriptures rather than the Q'ran because of what I'll call 'The Fulfillment Factor'! 'The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed'. This is a true & noteworthy statement; Jesus, or the Messiah of Israel, being prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures, was truly & finally revealed in the Greek Scriptures. In the Q'ran, we see no such thing: like many Christians, we may note that the Blessed Hope of Islam lies primarily in the 'afterlife'. Unlike most Jews, these Christians believe that though the Messiah came as prophesied, He must come again to finish His work of Redemption. The Realization that He came as promised & prepared us as His Dwelling ( place ), His New Temple, helps us to understand that His work, to Redeem Israel, WAS finished; now we simply fulfill ( continue ) that work!

Charles Haddon Shank

Out of the Bag

'Mom.....Dad.....Y'all might wanna sit down for this.....'

Lynn should have known better; every parent dreads what comes next-okay, so sometimes it's not nearly as bad a their child thinks it is-but especially Lynn's folks; both were good upstanding members of a local congregation & her dad was even a deacon! Lynn Gaylord had always felt...............well, special; never quite fitting in with all the others-boys or girls-but somewhat of an affinity for both. She had, up to this point, led a fairly normal childhood, but now that she had hit puberty, full-force, so to speak, Lynn was beginning to hear 'The Call of the Wild' even more!

As her parent's blood began to warm their faces again, Lynn continued her confession; 'I always had this nagging feeling that I wasn't quite like all the rest-I'm sure you had your suspicions too-but as I've bee doing a lot of growing in the past several years, I've discovered that I prefer...................'Boyz II Men'. As soon as the words had left her mouth, both of Lynn's parents jumped to their feet, words rushing out of their mouth like water from a freshly un-kinked hose!

'Oh, honey, we're so relieved; we had noticed as you were growing up that you were a bit.....different, but this is such a load off our minds!

'But, mom..........dad..............', Lynn replied, as she picked her mouth up off the carpet, 'I said I like 'Boyz II Men', not boys in general; I'm both cissexual & cisgender, if that's what you were worried about!'

Well, of course, being old 'fuddie-duddies', Lynn's poor parents had never even heard the term ( s ) before, so back up went the blood pressure, almost immediately reaching the boiling point-for her dad, anyway!

'What the hell..........' her dad began to protest, as her mother quickly tried to calm the storm that was brewing. 'we love you anyway, dear, no matter what you choose to be..............' Lynn's mom had heard terms like 'transgender' & transsexual' before, so she knew enough about those kinds of things to know that they just weren't quite right. Lynn's dad, on the other hand, knew enough about these 'things' to know that no child of his was gonna have anything to do with such 'things'!

'I forbid..............', he tried again-more weakly this time-as Mom turned the full force of her 'death stare' on him! 'Dear', her mom asked, 'what exactly do you mean by 'cisgender' & 'cissexual'?' 'We've heard other similar terms, but these are new to us.' To tell you the truth, Lynn's mom was actually more worried about the 'sexual' part more than ''gender-her little baby daughter was only 15, for God's sake!

With a petulant, almost perturbed look on her face, Lynn gave her parents the definition of both cisgender & cissexual. 'Cissexual' , she replied as her eyes tried to roll up like some old window blinds, 'simply means, 'noting or relating to a person who is comfortable with having the physical characteristics of that person’s biological sex'; in other words, one who is not transsexual!'

Both Lynn's parents felt quick & obvious relief at this, though, now that her father had gotten past the first stages, he too felt a twinge at the word 'sexual'-both parents had grown up in a puritannical environment, so this was to be expected! Their daughter was simpy pulling one on them, they quickly realized, assuring them she was straight, while 'getting their goat' by using unfamiliar words like 'cissexual' & 'cisgender'!

Lynn was relieved; 'you're not mad about the 'Boyz II Men' thing?', she asked, somewhat incredulously! 'Oh, dear,' her mother replied-her father hadn't found his voice yet-he'd talk to HER later, 'we're just so relieved that you haven't made any..............strange, choices, we really didn't even pay much attention to the 'II Men' part; of course it's okay that you like them, but be careful who you tell though, those boy-groups ARE a bit....strange!'

This has just been a parable of sorts, but also a warning, a warning that one day your own son or daughter might face you-the parent-with such a confession! When he or she does, the best thing to do is.......'SHUT UP & LET ME FINISH!' They might be trying to tell you, in their own weird way that they're pretty normal, or, they might actually like 'boy-groups': then, my friends, you might have REAL cause for concern!

Charles Haddon Shank

Emmanuel-'God With Us'

Yes, it's that time of year again, the Season in which we traditionally celebrate the Birth of the Savior of the World! We know that Jesus was most likely born in a very different Season, but, as the story goes, religious leaders borrowed from pagan tradition & settled the day that we celebrate Jesus' Birth to coincide with the Winter Solstice, or the time when the days begin ( slowly ) to get longer: some call this 'the coming, or appearing of the light'. No matter its origins, the Christmas season has been one in which we lay aside our worries for a season & gather together as friends & family, whether to celebrate the Birth of Jesus, or just to have a jolly good time!

Seasonal Affectations aside, the Winter Season is harder on us then any other Season; especially living in any of the northern states, where it usually dumps a lot of snow & the temperatures often drop ( way ) below most people's comfort level, the Winter Season can be one of the hardest to survive while maintaining any degree of sanity. While there are many who work year-round, there are quite a few, particularly in the more rural areas, who work seasonally, in other words, as the conditions allow; hence, for those whose work is primarily done outdoors, the Winter season IS a time of Rest, but if not careful, it can be a time of hardship as well!

What does it mean to you that God, or the Creator is with us? Ask anybody, including most Christians & you'll probably receive a fairly 'pat' answer, something like 'His Spirit dwells in us!' True enough; His Spirit DOES indeed indwell His people, but, Scripturally speaking, nowhere does the Bible record those words; sure, a general misreading & misunderstanding of certain texts ( John 8 & 14 ) seem to IMPLY that He does ( or will ), but only one portion actually says ( outright ) that ANY part of the so-called 'God-head' will indwell us & the Spirit is not even mentioned ( by Name? ) there: 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him'. These are the words of Jesus, as recorded in John 14:23.

The Creator God, as far as we know, is a Spirit! It is universally accepted that this is so, yet still, we have most Christians saying that within the so-called 'God-head', we have the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit. I've asked this question before & it sounds almost so profoundly simple as to be somewhat ignorant, but 'does a Spirit have a spirit?' Such a concept might lead to other seemingly ignorant questions like, 'IS the Creator God a Spirit Being?' One might be lead to ask, 'is the Creator God human, like us?' 'Is that what it means when it says we were made in His Image?' Believe it or not, I've actually heard reasoning akin to this!

Whatever the case may be, when Jesus was born of the Virgin ( young woman ), He fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel' ( Isaiah 7:14 ) A natural objection might be, 'but Jesus was NEVER called Immanuel ( Hebrew? ), or Emmanuel ( Greek? )!' In Matthew's record of the Gospel, though, the Birth of Jesus IS recorded as fulfilling this hopeful prophecy & it is universally accepted that this Jesus was, as the hymn-writer put it, 'Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing'!

The Indwelling of the Spirit HAS made a world of difference! No more do we strive with 'the flesh', though at times it sure seems like it; no more must we wait for a time when our Messiah will come (unless we, like the Jews of Jesus' Day look for a political Savior )! Whether one trusts the biblical record or not, Jesus came as 'God in the flesh-God with us' & so brought to an end the reign of terror that the children of God had labored under since Adam fell!

With this Season of Rest comes hardship as well; for those who do not carefully prepare during the previous times ( seasons ), Winter can be the worst season, especially for those who can only work 6-8 months ( if that ) out of the year. You've no doubt heard the saying, 'make hay while the sun is shining'; those who make their living doing mostly seasonal work ( Spring through Fall ) know the meaning of this well-used phrase best! In order to make it through the Winter months, these must often scrimp & save to put aside during the months when certain kinds of work can be done.

The Celebration of Christmas, or the Mass of Christ, is a long-standing tradition, one that will probably never die! Though most who celebrate it realize that it is most likely the wrong season, not many realize, or acknowledge it's pagan roots. Like a good friend of mine recently said, though,'we have co-opted it'; in other words, we have made it our own! We do dot celebrate the birth of the Sun ( god ), we celebrate the Birth of the Son. We do not honor the false deity of the Roman god Saturn, we honor the Living God, who in the form of His Son, Jesus who was the Christ, came to dwell with us forever!

As 'God with us', Jesus brought to fruition the Promise of the Ages! He did not come simply to set His People free & then return to some far off 'Heaven' where He bides His time waiting to return & finish His Work; He came to indwell them so that they could continue His Work! The Dominion Mandate given to Adam so long ago is at the heart of this Season; through the Spirit Within, we have the Strength, not only to continue His Work, but to Rest, like He did, in an Eternal Seventh Day!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Lust of the Flesh, the Hope of the Resurrection & the True Nature of the Human Being

So, the question might rightly be asked, 'why do most people, maybe Christians especially, focus so much on this physicality, this biology?'

Well, not surprisingly, the Bible seems to tell us so! For whatever reason, most, Christians in particular, though this is not limited to Christianity, seem to cling, almost voraciously, to the fact that we were created in God's image. There has been some disagreement, among Christians, even, on what exactly this means, for instance, 'if man ( kind ) was created in God's image, does that mean that the Creator God is a human being?' One might well ask, on the other hand, 'does that mean we are spirit beings, as He/She/It is?' This may come as a shock to some; it may even seem heretical & blasphemous, but if man ( kind) was indeed, as a whole, created in the Image of the Creator God, then we must indeed be like Him/Her/It!

The Time of year when we ( Christians ) traditionally celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord is near! The Easter Season has already begun, starting with the Season of Lent, wherein many Christians traditionally give up something, meat, for example, in preparation for the Easter Season & the Hope of the Resurrection ( ours, not Jesus' ). The fact that the Resurrection of Jesus recorded in Scripture was primarily indicative of the Resurrection of Israel seems to have been 'lost in the translation' for many Christians; although we speak, somewhat wistfully of what most call 'the effects of the Fall' not affecting this biology anymore, in other words, having a 'perfect resurrection body'; the great hope of orthodox Christianity is that, like our Lord Jesus, we will one day be a able to walk through walls, so to speak ( Luke 24:36 ). This, of course, is loosely based on Scripture, but what most Christians seem to forget is that the post-resurrection body of Jesus was nothing but a sign for the first century Jews that He had triumphed over ( overcome ) Death!

What has been traditionally called 'the lust of the flesh' by modern Christianity is most often viewed as the result of 'the Fall' & although this paradigm is biblically defensible, the question might well be asked, 'is our definition of 'the lust of the flesh', in essence, our tendency to satisfy our fleshly desires, what the Bible is really talking about, or were the writers of Scripture referring to something else? Rather than referring to something which is innate in the human being, were they speaking of something pertaining to national physical Israel? The Story of Israel, as we have seen, is a kind of metaphor for the history of humanity & so 'the Fall' of Israel ( Adam & Eve ) is itself indicative, not so much of the fallen nature of humanity, but of their child-like propensity to do what they're told not to. The Fall of our first parents, as it is traditionally read in Genesis 3 is a metaphor, then, for those, even in this day & age, who separate themselves from the Creator God, through whatever means, because they consciously do what is wrong, or because they are told that what they're doing is wrong, even though it isn't!

In this day & age, especially among Christians, we are taught about the evils of lusting, or, to be more precise, longing for something that is forbidden. Longing for our neighbor's wife or indeed any of his possessions would definitely fall into the category 'the lusts of the flesh'! According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, the primary definition for 'lust' is 'pleasure, delight, personal inclination or wish'. Secondarily, it is defined as 'usually intense or unbridled sexual desire'; neither of these definitions necessarily bespeak a wrong, or evil desire!  Given the wrong object of that desire, lust does indeed become an evil emotion, especially when acted upon, but under the right circumstances, lust need not be viewed as wrong!

A husband & wife, according to the given definition, then, are most certainly doing no wrong, when in the throes of sexual ecstasy, they let loose their lusty flesh upon each other! Within certain parameters ( this is right, that is wrong ), lust is a good & healthy thing! Under the right circumstances, one might well lust for anything from a good steak for dinner, to the one preparing the steak. Lusting for flesh, as the children of Israel did in the wilderness ( Numbers 11 ( Psalm 106:14 ), was a punishable offense because they complained against Yahweh's provision. Lusting, in Scripture, is decried because of the reason for their lusting & for the object of their lust, not for the emotion of lusting!

The hope of & desire for a biological resurrection is one that has remained extant in the orthodox church for ages! Though the Scriptures, or more specifically the Bible, has been translated & understood, whether with or without bias, to teach a bodily ( biological ) resurrection, the bodily Resurrection of Jesus is most often seen as proof that, as He was physically raised, so will we. This has been a matter of contention, even division ( heresy ), throughout the Church for ages. Even in Jesus' own day, the Pharisees were reprimanded ( Matthew 22:29 ) when they questioned Him about the Resurrection, thinking that it pertained to biology. Though Jesus' biological body was raised to life ( re-animated ), when digested within the context of the Story of Israel, it is clear that the Resurrection Story did not pertain to biology, but to spirituality, 'to the spirits of just men made perfect' ( Hebrews 12:23b )!

Humanity, as we have begun to realize, is comprised of 'spirits having a bodily experience'! This is not to say, as we are often accused of, with the Gnostics, that 'the body is a prison-house for the soul'; we are not imprisoned within this biology: we ARE, however, given these biological wonders to house our spirits, in order that we might serve as the Hands & Feet of the Creator God! Our true, spiritual nature is one that many have realized over the ages, but for whatever reason, seems to have been pushed to the back burner, so to speak, or relegated to the after-life, though many believe that, even in this so-called 'after-life', we will inhabit this biology!

Since we are indeed, of the same Essence as the Creator God, we are, in ourselves, creators! It has been shown, on a much smaller scale, of course, that mankind has shown this creativity in manifold ways. There is nothing in nature that mankind has not recreated, usually to a much lesser degree & the miracle of birth may be seen as the culmination of one of the greatest act of creation that humanity can achieve. Though we, through the aid of Science & Technology have yet to achieve many great things in the manner of creation, those achievements will never come close to that of the Creator God, the One who is the Origin of the Universe!

Charles Haddon Shank

Nibiru, the Annunaki & the Broken Planet

'Is this Earth our home?'

Well, not if you ask most Christians, but if you ask pretty much anybody else, the answer is pretty obvious: we are born here & we die here, right? Taking into account, of course, the fact that we are spirit beings having a biological experience, it's not really that simple! Humanly speaking, since we ARE born here & we DO die here, this is without doubt our home. Exploration has been made & is still being advanced in search of other habitable planets, in the likely case that the Earth will again become uninhabitable as it once was, according to the Bible, 'without form and void'!

The ancient Sumerians, the forerunners of the Babylonians, so to speak, left behind a wealth of information for us to decipher (  if one believes that sort of thing ), telling us, among other things, that the human race was 'created', not by the Almighty, as the Scriptures tell us, but by an alien race of gods called the Annunaki. The Annunaki, according to these tales, were scientists who fashioned ( 'formed'? ) human beings in their own image to serve their own purposes on Earth; sound familiar? The planet that they called 'Home' is '
Nibiru', lately called 'Planet X'. Planet X is not native to our own solar system, but, as the story goes, invades it every 3600 years in a clock-wise ( apparently, everything else rotates in a counter-clockwise pattern ), elliptical orbit.

NASA, among other researchers, has noted seeming 'evidence' of claims that at one point, many millions of years ago, this 'Planet X', on one of its intrusions, struck one of the planets in our solar system, a planet called 'Tiamat'. Now, 'Tiamat' no longer exists, as such, anyway; now, she is known as 'Earth'! According to this tale, when 'Nibiru' struck, 'Tiamat' was cloven, forming what we now know as the asteroid belt ( between Mars & Jupiter ) and the planet that human beings now call 'home'. Looking at Earth from space ( ? ), one can see that most of her land mass is gathered on one side of the planet, in & around the Atlantic basin. Much of the landmass in the Pacific region is evidence of volcanic activity. Not only was this planet cloven in two, so to speak, but the impact moved it into a different course, somewhat closer to our Sun, a relatively small star as stars go!

If one believes this sort of thing, there was a time long ago that the landmass which is contained in the Atlantic basin was gathered together into one large 'super-continent' named 'Pangaea'. At some point, over a hundred million years ago, as the story goes, this 'super-continent' began to drift apart, forming the continents as we now know them.Again, looking at the relative shapes of the continents, both in the Atlantic basin as well as those few in the Pacific region, one can see that the various shapes do fit together, almost like a simple jig-saw puzzle. Though much of this information makes some sense, it goes against the grain of most Christians, as it seems to be in contradiction to the biblical Story of Creation!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [ was^[a] ] on the face of the deep. 

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

 Genesis 1:1 & 2 

Okay' there's 'proof' that everything you just read above is based on a bunch of hogwash! Right? Well, not necessarily, for a couple reasons. The most obvious, maybe, to those who know me & have read my 'blather', it should be clear that I, along with a relative host of others, believe that these words, including the rest of the Genesis Creation Account, speak, not of the Creation of the material universe, but of a more complex Covenant Creation. We do not deny that this same Creator God did call the Universe into existence, but as the Scriptures are the Story of Israel, it begins & ends, not with the physical creation, but with the institution & final revelation of the Israel of God!

Secondly & maybe not quite so clearly, the Creator uses means to accomplish His Purpose! This is not to say that He could not or did not speak the worlds into existence or create the material universe & everything it contains ( including human beings ) with the appearance of age ( as many Christians will tell you ), but who is to say that He/She/It did not use these lesser gods ( angels? ) to accomplish His Purposes? A famous writer of almost a century ago, J.R.R. Tolkien, in his 'Silmarilllian', advances much the same notion! If the Creator God did indeed use these Annunaki to engineer the human race, it would explain a lot, would it not? 

There is some question, in recent times, though it IS based on an ancient notion, whether Earth actually IS a globe! A flat Earth might destroy much of what I've written about here, rendering much of it moot, but if indeed, as the story goes, a planet from outside our solar system, with a contrary rotation, divided Tiamat & birthed the asteroid belt, Earth & her Moon, then much of what Science has revealed to us about, not only our origins ( human beings ) but the origins of Biology itself would make a lot of sense; as well, we might better understand the apparent retreat of Life from other planets, Mars, for instance!

One might should take these 'ancient' accounts with the proverbial grain of salt! As ancient writings go, there is a likelihood, even a probability that they were, to whatever extent, embellished & relayed in such a way as to conform to a certain type of literature; as we all know, even myths have a basis, however strong, in truth! 

Truth be told, however, does it really matter whether human beings were spoken into existence, along with the rest of Creation, with age or not, or whether the supremely wise Creator God divided His forces, so to speak, much as Moses did in the Wilderness, at the behest of his father-in-law & delegated responsibility to other beings? If Scripture does not tell the Story of Creation, but simply that of Israel, then what is so unbelievable or reprehensible about the notion that humans may have been formed in test-tubes by scientists that were set to the task by an Almighty but Wise Creator? The term 'alien' is used many times in the Hebrew Scriptures & simply refers to foreigners, whether those from other nations or to the Israelites themselves, so who is to say that the Annunaki were from another planet? Maybe they were from another realm, or dimension entirely!

While most Christians would immediately discredit such a notion, even vehemently deny such an explanation, in the grand scheme of things, one might note, it doesn't really amount to a hill of beans! 'What the hell......?', some might exclaim! How dare I suggest that what one purports to believe about the Origin of Life doesn't really matter all that much! But, don't get me wrong; I'm not saying it doesn't matter where we came from, or who we are, but when it comes down to brass tacks, where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, what really matters is how we live in this human experience: we may claim, even if it borders on nonsense, to believe everything that orthodoxy tells us, blindly accepting it as truth, but if we do not love our ( human ) neighbor as ourselves & treat them as we want to be treated, then our profession is suspect, to say the least!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Resonance of the Story

'The Holy Bible, or Scripture, is the Story of Israel!'

These words, in one form or another, have been swirling around lately, not leastly in my own head! So, one might ask, 'why then are we reading it as applicable to our time & place?' 'Good question', another might reply. One response could be & should be, is that, in what we call the Greek Scriptures, or the New Testament, the teachings of Jesus, Paul & the apostles are more or less universal, that is, they transcend time & place, being applicable to our Heavenly Father's children at all times & in all places. One must be careful here, of course, to discern between something like, 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place' & 'just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise' ( Matthew 24:34 & Luke 6:31 ) Even 'God so loved the world.....' must fall under this heading!`

The Hebrew Scriptures, or what we usually call 'The Old Testament', although based largely upon what some call 'the Mosaic Law' ( including the Ten Commandments ), are given for our learning & instruction as well! Much of what we read in the Law & Prophets was fulfilled in the Christ, or Messiah of Israel & so no longer bears the sword for us, but even though these prophecies came to their fulfillment in 'Immanuel', or 'God with us', in the truest sense of the word, it is being fulfilled through us, who might be termed 'little Christs', or Christians!

The earliest Scriptures should resonate with us as well, because we can therein read the history of humankind! This blogger believes, as do certain others, that, beginning with Adam ( who was NOT the first human to walk to & fro upon the earth ) the Story of Israel flows, meanders, really, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures & into the Greek Scriptures, where it finally reaches its End, or the ultimate Goal, that which had been prophesied. We, humans in all times & places, can herein relate to Israel's Story, because, in reality, it is our Story as well! The ups & downs that Israel experienced throughout her sordid history speak to us as well; this is one reason that most Christians today are still enamored with saying, along with the prophet Jeremiah, 'The heart [ is ] deceitful above all [  things ] and desperately wicked; w ho can know it?' ( Jeremiah 17:9 ) We can all relate, at one time or another & some more than others maybe, to the apostle Paul's words to the Church at Rome; 'For the good that I will [ to do ], I do not do; but the evil I will not [ to do ], that I practice' ( Romans 7:19 ).

However one reads the words of Scripture, we must understand first of all, that they were written, as Paul wrote to Timothy, 'for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness' ( II Timothy 3:16 ): they were, in that sense, written 'for' us, though not 'to' us! Another thing we must take into account is the wickedness, or wilfulness of humankind, in that, down through the ages, who is to say that what most Christians call 'The Word of God' has not become somewhat garbled, with certain meanings having been 'lost in translation'?! This is not to say that the words we read therein are ALL suspect, for certain of its teaching flow smoother than others & of course, we also have the Spirit Within that discerns which are veritable & which are not. Here again, because we can relate so well with the history of Israel, humanly speaking, much of what we read in its pages strikes a chord with each of us & otherwise bares a nerve which has been covered over!

Jesus WAS the Messiah of Israel & even though that famous passage quoted, John 3:16, did indeed refer primarily to the Roman 'world' of Paul's day, I believe that we can read it today as inclusive of the Creator's entire Creation! As Christians, or 'little Christs', we are faced with the very same prospect that Jesus, as the Christ, or Messiah of Israel faced, that of redeeming the Creation! Just as the prophets of old held Jesus up before the eyes of Israel under that first covenant, or Israel according to the flesh, so many Christians today feel that old familiar 'twinge' when they are called to stand up for what they believe in the midst of an almost 'hellish' world.

At this present time, we live in a New Era, in a New Covenant, so to speak, one in which the Fulfillment of 'God with us' 'is met in us' ( which we celebrate in the upcoming Christmas Season )! No longer does Israel look for & long for its Messiah; He came in the flesh on that Blessed Day so very long ago & far away, but in some sense, you might say, the world still looks for & longs for its Messiah! Sadly, many Christians think they are still waiting for their Messiah, not realizing that the Messiah of Israel, through the ages, HAS redeemed them to be the Messiah to the World!

The Story of Israel then, is OUR Story! We have overcome, through the Power of the Spirit Within, 'God with us' the sins that plagued Israel! Though, in our humanity, it often seems we must still utter the words of Paul & Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 17:9 & Romans 7:19 ), realizing our Spiritual Nature, which was the End the Creator had in mind for us, helps us ( daily ) to overcome our 'worldly desires' & the inherent 'evils' which seem to beset us all around Understanding the Story of Israel resonates with us because we can all relate to their struggles, we can feel their pain!

In the letter to the Hebrews, we read 'we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all [ points ] tempted as [ we are, yet ] without sin' ( Hebrews 4:15): if THAT does not resonate with us, it should!

Charles Haddon Shank

Blessed Union of Souls

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Thessalonians 5:23

'I just want to be held!' Well, no; that's not quite true, is it? As members of the Body of Christ, or Christians ( little Christs ), we have no 'wants' ( Psalm 23:1 ). As pneumataphoric human beings, though, even though we know that we ARE held ( John 10:28 & 29 ), we still have that inexorable & often inexpressible need for human companionship, that human touch! To be human is to feel: emotions are built into this biological structure; our brains, which might be called our Link with Divinity, are pre-programmed, you might say, to respond to certain sensations with appropriate reactions. For whatever reason & to whatever extent, we have re-programmed ourselves to stifle these emotions, particularly when it comes to those of a sensual or even sexual nature. Scripture DOES remind us that there IS a time & place for everything ( good ) under the sun ( Ecclesiastes 3 ), so, without doubt, there ARE times & places where we should let these emotions flow, but there is also a time & place when we should check them, or rein them in!

When the apostle Paul penned, or dictated rather, his first letter to the Church at Thessolonika, his concern was not the Church in the 21st century, although that was most definitely in the Mind of the One who Inspired him; no, Paul's benediction was aimed at the Church in the 1st century, the one Who was enduring persecution at the hands of the Judaizers. We, however, may understand Paul as viewing, as all or most good Hebrews did, our biological composition as three distinct parts, 'spirit, soul, and body'. This, by the way, is one of the 'strong' points of Trinitarian doctrine. Covenant Creation, or the notion that the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2 was not that of the material universe, but simply a record of the Creator's introduction of Covenant to the Creation, clearly shows us that we are comprised of at least two parts, our biological bodies & the 'breathe of life' ( Genesis 2:7 ), or that Divine Essence which gave us Life!

According to Scripture, marriage was ordained by the Creator as that mysterious union by which a man & woman become 'one flesh' ( Genesis 2:18-25 ); indeed, echoing this account, Solomon, king of Israel wrote, 'Two [ are ] better than one' ( Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 ). Whatever 'one flesh' might be construed as meaning, it is obviously metaphorical; those joined in union are STILL two separate & distinct human beings! A marriage is not only the joining of two human beings toward one purpose, one goal; it is, more importantly the blessed union of two souls, the merging of two distinct spiritual beings into one!

It might well be said that Moses was imbued with the same Spirit as Jesus; indeed, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we read examples of those prophets of old that were inspired by the Divine & thus accomplished things that no mere mortal could have! In other words even, it could as truly be said that these prophets of old possessed the 'spirit' of their predecessors ( II Kings 2:15 ( Luke 1:17 ), having the same strength of will & purpose. In much the same way, metaphorically speaking, it is said that husband & wife become 'one flesh'; they come together in their separate biologies in order to accomplish one purpose, to meet one ultimate goal.

The Spirit of Life, that which empowers us all to live in Blessed Communion with the Divine ( though sadly, not all do ), was given that day in the Scriptural Garden of Eden, not as a token of biological life ( that already existed ), but of spiritual life, awareness, if you will, of the Creator & the blessedness of right relationship with Him. The apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Galatia that the marriage of a man & woman was simply a picture of the Blessed Union of Christ ( the Creator God ) & His Church; as such, any biological union should mirror what has come to be called 'The Marriage of Heaven & Earth'. The sensual aspects of biological marriage should most definitely be preserved as they were ordained, but of utmost importance is the spiritual nature of marriage!

Human emotion is an important, integral & inseparable part of our makeup! Even though we are spiritual beings having a human, or biological experience, it is not just from our biology that these feelings come. Our brains, our Link to the Divine, if you will, are so integrated with our biology that we can motivate our several members to do things that are out of the ordinary, even 'supernatural'. We are told from early on that we should not let our emotions reign over us & while this is very true, the reaction by many Christians is to stifle them altogether, an overreaction, one might say. The wisdom of reining in one's emotions is without doubt; in order to enjoy the full blessings of marriage, we must exercise good judgment in the flow of our emotions & their immediate results, the actions which they stir up!

The need for the sensual is more evident in some than it is in others! For whatever reason, some have re-programmed themselves to such a point that they are able to exist without its comforts, others are able ( publicly, anyway ) to so completely stifle these emotions in order ( as they claim ) to better serve their God. Bad experience or 'spiritual' flagellation has caused or enabled many people to almost bypass their emotions, especially when it comes to the sensual, but from the Beginning, it was not so; when the Creator breathed into His Creation the Breath of Life, he endowed us with emotions & called His Creation 'good'!

Charles Haddon Shank