Love Refused

An appeasement theology was the foundation of every pagan religion, an angry god must need to be appeased. Therefore, Yahweh starts his conversation with Israel right there. Something like this, “all right, Abraham, if that's where you are, then that's where we'll start”, but brace yourself this is not where the conversation will ultimately end up.

I know this because God was willing to begin a conversation with me in my legalism, but love refused to allow the conversation to stop there. Psalm 51:16-17, “You do not delight in sacrifice. You take no pleasure in burnt offering.”

New Creation Status

The regenerated man becomes both a principal witness as well as a force of provocation to the cosmos, thus compelling, by way of the man's own new creature status, the whole of the cosmos to enter fully into her new creation status. From here, a mystery begins to unfold. Let me explain. The Bible, and more specifically, Isaiah, teaches us what this new creation will begin to look like, as well as what the new creation will ultimately become.

Lion lays down with lamb, etc. The full and epic picture of this ultimate restoration now serves as a principal witness as well as provocation for the man as to what mankind's full restoration should look like. Notice the beauty of this back and forth dance between the creation and the sons of Abba, each provoking and summoning the other to become all that each has been designed to be. Not an ordinary man or a stale cosmos, but a living, dancing, glorious, and dare I say, tandem regeneration. The sons are learning not just how to live in the circle dance of perichoresis, but from that sacred and holy, positional inheritance. The sons are saying to the cosmos… May I have this dance?

And in that circle, both the sons as well as the whole of the created order are finally being liberated from their slavery to decay.

In the State I Ought to Be

To say I am the righteousness of God in Christ is in essence to say I am, Dikeiosane, meaning in the state I ought to be. Let me say it again. In the state I ought to be. Notice. This is intended to be a state of being, not a regiment of doing. The doing will always follow the being, whether we want it to or not.

The teleological will always follow the ontological. Being whole will produce a manifestation of whole behavior. But to insist by way of the religious spirit ruling the Western Church that people change their way of doing without appropriately teaching them the significance of their way of being is to lay once again the trap of trying to attain righteousness by way of self effort rather than liberating the sons of God to be glorious and operate in their superior identity.

This identity? Is one of the image bearers reflecting the radiance of the glory of Yeshua.

Inheritance of Likeness

The key to everything from environmental reforms to seeing the end of the tragedy of war is not a people who simply understand the doctrine of adoption and believe in their theoretical sonship, but rather the key is a people who are so convinced that they are beloved that as a result they enter into a measure of union that manifests something far more significant than a doctrine of sonship, but actually releases the inheritance of likeness.

Not just conceptually believing we are sons, but actually looking just like our eldest brother, Yeshua, who is, after all, the exact image of the Father. From here the groaning creation awakens to her glorious intention. You and I becoming glorious is about so much more than great church services with altars filled with people who want to go to heaven when they die.

No, no, no. We have had it all wrong. We are not escaping to glory, we are being invited to become glorious here and now. You and I finally and fully entering into our glorious status as sons and daughters will indeed set creation free. And from that sacred and thus far anyway, elusive state that I am terming likeness and indeed oneness, everything, and yes, I mean everything is indeed changing.

Recovering a Pure Undiluted Gospel

 My intention is not so much trying to get you to determine where it is that you stand on the Orthodox doctrine of theosis, but much more importantly to me, is to cause us to recognize how far this impoverished, Western, fundamental evangelicalism has carried us away from the patristic mind. We have not progressed, but rather we have digressed and it’s irresponsible, lazy, and cowardly just to keep preaching a deluded gospel and then be hateful to the unbelieving world around us for not desiring to be like us.

No, we are recovering a pure, undiluted gospel of the finished work of Jesus that doesn't require nor even permit the supplementation of legalistic leaven that is so pervasive in the church of the Western world, and more specifically, a legalistic leaven that is pervasive in the American church. 

I rather desire to stand along with St. Paul declaring that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. To announce in harmony with Jesus, the Word of God, that if the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed. This is the good news of the Gospel, and anything less is simply, and frankly, not enough.

Sweep the Leaven of Legalism

Your hunger and thirst for more is quite likely the very thing that would not enable you to fit in the western, and more specifically American version, and or system of religion. Now you will have to allow grace, assisted by the spirit of revelation, to sweep the leaven of legalism out of those corners of your thinking that would cause you to assume you will get to the more you desire by doubling down on the familiar (fundamentalism). More of the same can only produce more of what the same has already produced. We are now being invited into the unfamiliar where what “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” is waiting to reveal itself to you and me.

A New Way

We must intentionally engage with that which is only available through grace. Recognize that once grace indicates supernatural transformation is imminent, you and I are infused by grace with the ability to reorder our existence around that which grace has signaled is now accessible. The outpouring of the Spirit is not only a blessing but also a signal that a new way of doing life has dawned. Acts 2 is intended to indeed be an announcement that everything has and is changing. This movement was not intended simply to bless and accessorize the way we were living up to that point, but rather to introduce not just a new way of doing life but more importantly a new way of being human… Theosis!

Invitation into Union

My personal consensus is that the Romans 8 declaration that “creation is waiting with eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God” is not principally about people having an intellectual understanding of their status as sons of God, but rather more specifically it is about people awakening to their invitation into a measure of union that manifests likeness. The earth is not just waiting for you to know that you are a son, no, creation needs you to look like a son, a son predestined to be conformed into the image of the Son.

Exchanging Decay for Regeneration

My ultimate aim is not to see you liberated from the legalism that was trafficked into your life by way of religion. As crucial a step as that is, it is just one of the first steps on a long and glorious journey towards theosis and Abba’s ultimate and intended commitment of a liberated cosmos. We are now being permitted, by way of the lordship of the Holy Spirit, to engage with the next step in this epic and trinitarian dance. The next step is a bit further than just being away from the torment of religion; it’s now a step away from religion’s intention for both mankind as well as creation. What is that intention? DECAY…. For the adversary intended to do far more than bring bondage into the garden, no, he ultimately intended to bring death. A death brought on by the lie that Eve must do something in order to be something, and from that day all the way to this day, the script has not changed. The assumption of separation became the first step towards futility and futility has always had one unchanging offspring…decay. Therefore, if we can continue the journey away from assumed separation, recognizing by way of the Lordship of the Spirit, that the alienation has always been a lie residing in our minds, then from there our liberated hearts begin to finally cry “Abba, our beloved Father.” The fruit of this Spirit cry is that we are liberated to draw so near that we are “pros” (face to face), and from there we begin to exchange decay for regeneration. 

We must be emancipated from religion; however, THAT IS NOT THE STOPPING POINT. Ultimately, we are being emancipated from the lie that the regenerated man is still somehow subject to decay. It’s absolutely imperative that we remember, “as He is, so are we in this world.” Emancipation from our agreement and subsequent partnership with our slavery to decay is a crucial revelation required for us as we manifest heaven’s design for a victorious and indeed glorious eschatology. We can no longer reconcile being in His image while remaining slaves to decay. Change is in the “pneuma” and we are moving from decay into renewal as we finish the journey of religion into revival. The conclusion of that leg of the journey is being inherited by a small but extremely valuable community of beloved ones living in apostolic outposts in different parts of the cosmos. From here, we are liberated to change the subject away from “how not to go to hell when you die” and into “how to no longer be a slave to decay” as we manifest a new definition of what it means to be alive; a definition that Yeshuah Himself termed as life “zoe” and life “zoe” more abundantly. Isaiah 65 will not become a present reality through organic evolution but through intentional engagement with the Spirit that quickens our mortal bodies. Lies make slaves and slavery produces decay, and decay when it is fully mature breeds death. Therefore, you and I are required to allow the lordship of the Holy Spirit to instigate the thorough and necessary metanoia as it relates to our “faith for decay”, so that we can step into the full inheritance reserved for those that will not exchange the finished work of Christ for the exhausting and never finished work of religion. Remember “as He is so are we in this world.” Happy travels!

Life was the Light

In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined forth in darkness and the darkness could not extinguish it. How many years have eroded beneath us as we have through a systemic religious paradigm strived to manufacture light? A light that when we, have had any even impoverished measures of success, have foolishly applauded ourselves and then invited others to join our humanistic endeavors. Man made illumination has fundamentally failed as it relates to achieving the desired results within our culture. We are not shifting the culture, but rather we are now virtually indistinguishable from the darkness we have been called to shine upon.

One of the first things we learn through John’s glorious love letter is that Yeshua had a manifestation of life that as a very natural secondary consequence unleashed a measure of light that was both incomprehensible and inextinguishable. What if we have had the divine order reversed? What if the production of light was never actually to be the aim but rather the organic byproduct of a superior aim? Life was light not the other way around.

Results in the life of the believer were not intended to produce the fulfillment and the subsequent lifestyle, no, the lifestyle was to be so essentially peculiar that it -the lifestyle- was to become its very own authentic and radiant light source. Not another gimmick or program in hopes of manufacturing light, but a radical authentic headfirst dive into historic and authentic biblical Christianity. The man who yields to this singular pursuit emits a radiant light that is purely impossible to ignore in a culture filled with manufacturers of inferior light sources. In short, the radiant church can only exist in her predesigned state as a consequence of sons on fire experiencing historic measures of what Yeshua called life and life more abundantly.

Transcending Fellowship

We are from the light returning to the light in order to be the light. This is why circles are important. We are naturally from, or better said, of the light -- created in the image and likeness. Let Us make man in Our image and likeness -- notice the plural pronouns. We are of the light, with or without faith and union; however, there is an intended measure of light reserved exclusively for the individual that says “yes” to mystical and transcending fellowship.

This particular individual is not just light in the sense of the way one is created, no, this mystical one understands that beholding is indeed the means of becoming and our status as those created like the light is a place to start, a foundation, as it were, that we launch from. We are to move from that initial created state into the pilgrimage we were sovereignly designed for.

We were born for union, and not just any union, but a union with the holy and transcendent yet mystically imminent triune God, and this union is the mother of fusion and that fusion manifests a fire, the fire of the beloved burning bride, and that fire brings a light both to us and through us that cannot and will not be hidden under a basket, but will be put on a lamp stand so that all may experience the illumination they are so desperately longing for.

The Lens of Theosis

We must receive grace to both perceive and understand our own journeys through the lens of theosis. This is about so much more than what you are called to do, but more importantly this journey is about who you are called to become. You are not primarily being prepared to do a task, but rather you are principally being prepared to become a pattern. An image bearer amidst a culture that has forgotten the rock that begat her.

What if, just what if, all the journey’s challenges and struggles have been preparing you for this specific hour, the hour where you begin to step into the “more” that you and I have cried out for as well as the “more” we have been predestined to become? If you long for nothing more than to be a converted lost sinner that is rescued from eternal judgment, than this message is probably not for you and the messages in most western churches will suit you just fine. But if you, like me, believe we are called to represent Jesus in the same way Jesus was called to represent Abba (that is John 17) then I am convinced we are recovering a patristic Christology that will indeed reform our ideas about what it actually means to be saved. Not simply what we have been saved from, but far more significant is He whom we have been saved for.

Salvation will either mean for you a future entrance into heaven or an immediate access into union. Which way we choose to travel at this great fork in the road will have enormous impact on the state of a cosmos in disarray. We are indeed standing at a crossroads and I can hear the Holy Spirit beckoning us through the words of Jeremiah, “choose the ancient path, the Olam Path and it will go well with you” and may I add that according to Romans 8 it will also go well for the whole of the created order as well. What we choose to do right here right now feels historically and cosmically significant.

Choose well…

The Kingdom Man

True success is not achieved.

True success is received.

Worldly men have faith in their work.

Kingdom men work out their faith.

Worldly men cause others to know their methods.

Kingdom men cause others to know their God.

The success of worldly men can be defined in certain observable methods-

methods that can be cataloged, emulated, and sold for profit.

The success of Kingdom men is attributed to only one thing:

that one thing is obedience to the spoken word of Yahweh.

And while that obedience may be manifested in observable acts,

emulation of those acts by others will never bring the hoped-for success.

Therefore, the Kingdom man’s success does not produce much in the way of a product

that can be marketed at great prices, bringing great wealth to the man.

But the Kingdom man’s success does cause glory to be given to Yahweh.

Worldly men base their success upon information-

information that can be cleverly edited to smooth away the rough edges-

cleverly packaged, advertised, and marketed in order to bring great wealth to its author.

Kingdom men know that their success is based upon

uncompromised obedience to a revelation from Yahweh.

True revelation is biting, sharp, provocative, challenging-

an ever-present threat to the status quo.

Therefore, Kingdom men are almost always

misunderstood, lonely, and rejected in their time-

most often remaining a voice crying in the desert.

They are recognized, honored, even revered-

but always by another generation, never their own.

Therefore, Kingdom men are content to be leaders of a remnant,

the keepers of the flame, the preservers of the seed,

the protectors of tomorrow’s Abrahams, Isaacs, Moseses,

John the Baptists, and yes, even the Christ.

No wonder that heaven and earth together cry out for

the manifesting of the sons of Yahweh.

A New Holiness Based on Beloved Identity

I’m convinced that the next dimension of beloved identity will be the revelation of exclusivity. 

Not holiness that is attained, but holiness that can’t be denied. In times past, holiness was mentioned as a “standard” to uphold or a certain “lifestyle” of abstinence that would generate hunger from the outside discipline to an inward righteousness. 

But what do you do when righteousness isn’t an aim, but rather an endowment? What happens to holiness when the standard has been accomplished in Jesus? This is the hindrance to those who still see holiness on the merit system and not as the evidence of singularity.  

There is a vast difference in the man who tries to be holy for the fear of rejection and the longing that comes from the man or women has been pierced by the unquenchable fiery love coming from love. 

It’s not discipline that will deal with duplicity. The only thing that can deal with duplicity is exclusivity. Yielded is the only way you become a burning man that has no room for a “grace to sin”. If there is room to be something who he’s not capable of being, then you have yet to let his jealousy consume your inconsistencies. This isn’t works based, this is belief based, because each of us deal with the statement, “Lord I do believe, but help my unbelief.” Belief burns with longing and engages with a love that convinces even the most dysfunctional heart to know a greater flame than the selfish one. 

Holiness isn’t a brand to be maintained, but the result of conquered affections. There’s no room for sin, not because of perfection but from surrender. This isn’t a holiness that learns what to say or how to dress. This is a holiness that asks, “what pleases my beloved?” There is no form of holiness that bypasses the heart of transformation. That’s why this holiness carries no fear of punishment, because punishment to the burning heart is doing anything that is incompatible to the witness of his love. There is no fear of being right or wrong. There’s only a witness of near and far. A holy man has a one thing and obsession with no inward desire to break that union even for a moment. This type of longing measures by fire, not fear. 

Although a holy man is a cloud walker who is navigating by the wind of the whisper of His Spirit, he’s never carried by the counter winds of instability. There is no panic to get right, only to get near. The greatest storm a holy man will face is the one looking for his peace. This man given to exclusivity will face things that shake, but it never leads him to an unsettling. For a man convinced that he’s not only loved but in love, he will find a pillow in a storm and not a striving to survive. 

The gage for our lifestyle is His pleasure. We don’t manage a lifestyle for our pleasure. We give ourselves for his and it ends up being ours together. What I want, He wants more and what I don’t know that want, He freely gives. When you are in that degree of love, the archaic measurement of holiness being an exterior standard is a mirage at best. The real image of being engulfed in a holy love is not neatly packaged, it’s wildly unpredictable but completely dependable. 

I see a holiness that’s highlighted by laughter and fully convinced by peace. I see people that are not trying to escape, but discovering the path to remain. There is no desire to live incongruent to our life union with Jesus. These consumed ones declare, “if it doesn’t come from the fire of His eyes, it doesn’t get entrance to the tenderness of my heart.” There is no fear here, only trust. 

This form of holiness is offensive to the the religiously stagnated and is light to the misidentified who are looking for the way home. There is an embrace that comes with holiness, not a critique.  It’s a sacred embrace that will remind you of what your interior man truly longs for. This lifestyle is an oasis for the thirsty and a mirage for the imposter.  The man of mixture will only see holiness as a face to put on and not a face to become. We are those drawn into the Face to become apart of the Face that images beauty to the world. 

You are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden! 

Prophecy to Alabama

Given by a Missionary to Israel

Ruth Ward Heflin In Ashland, VA – November 1996

Come and go with me to Alabama. For I shall make the state a beautiful way. I shall raise her up, and the wind of God shall blow upon her and through her and many shall come alive with my love – and I, the Lord, shall be a blazing fire running through Alabama. Many shall come from many places just to see what God shall do – for Alabama shall change in the power of this day.

 Alabama, know ye this – that even now, beginning now – the winds of God that blow upon thee shall be the power of God that sets many free. For I, the Lord, shall run through you, run with my power, run with my joy and run with strength and bring people out – and they shall come out in the strength and witness of my glory and the blessing and fire of my Spirit – and it shall spread and cause many to walk in the spirit – and they will say what they couldn’t say before – and do what they couldn’t do before – and be who they’ve never been before – and they shall be naturally supernatural and work the works of the impossible and turn the heads of the children of men.

Listen to me – keep your eyes upon Alabama – for I say she shall be one that will make the news, and many shall come from far and wide – and they shall come in cars and planes and trains to see what God is doing. I say she shall be as a banjo upon my knee – and I will play a song in her that shall reach around the world. Come and go with me and see Alabama set men free.