like a mist
Timothy Sutter
"anthropomorphize" God,
no, we 'deomorphize' human beings,
that is, we reckon that human beings
have characteristic -potentials- 'like'
God and that -these- are the traits
which are to be magnified.
so, if we suggest to you that God has form
this need not be considered as abstracting
an Image of God from humanity, and neither
will we be found demoting God to a lessened
image of the Creation and neither will we
be found relegating God exclusively to some
amorphous aetherial quality that simply
hangs on the air like a mist.
where God, may, in part, have all such
qualities and attributes, which, when
taken by themselves, would not be a
complete portrait of God.
that is, God may very well be said to have
form and fully 'resemble' -things- which
we can, in fact, see and hear and taste
and smell and touch.
and that God -can- and -does-
see and hear and taste and
smell and touch.
God is aware
God is aware if God
God is -aware- of all things
including that which is -not- God
God is not just some pipeline
of amenities in to which you
may tap, even if God -is- a
pipeline of amenities into
which you -must- tap.
just remember Jesus, and how he felt
a 'virtue'[dunamis] flow from him when
a woman who was beleaguered by a discharge
touched his garment. [Luke 8:43-48]
[a dunamis is a sort of ability capability
power influence type of thing that is
translated as 'virtue' in some instances]
in that instance, that woman used a
belief to tap in to a 'virtue' that was
operating thru Jesus, the man, but that
Jesus stopped and pursued her so as
to reckon the personal identification
of the source of that 'virtue'
she saw that she had been noticed and
came trembling to Jesus and he made
very certain that she knew exactly
what happened and how it happened.
and in certain respects, you may be able
to tap into God's 'virtues' but you can
be sure that God's Presence will not be
off in the distance oblivious to your existance.
and/or that you will be able to tap
into the Holy Spirit like Simon [Acts 8:9-25]
the sorcerer who wanted to buy it from
the apostles so as to use it in the
furtherance of his own ends.
point being, God may not necessarily
have to be the sole -directing- influence
of God's own 'virtues' in that, -you- have
access to that Faith which carries curative
emblems, but also, that you won't be able
to mock God by suggesting that God is impersonal.
---
Ezekiel 47:9
And it shall be that every living thing
that moves, wherever the rivers go, will
live. There will be a very great multitude
of fish, because these waters go there;
for they will be healed, and everything
will live wherever the river goes.
Isaiah 58:8
Then your light shall break forth like
the morning, Your healing shall spring
forth speedily, And your righteousness
shall go before you; The glory of YHWH
shall be your rear guard.
Psalm 67:1-3
God be merciful unto us, and bless us;
and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
That thy way may be known upon earth, thy
saving health among all nations. Let the
people praise thee, O God; let all
the people praise thee.
---
# just remember, we don't
# "anthropomorphize" God,
# no, we 'deomorphize' human beings,
# that is, we reckon that human beings
# have characteristic potentials 'like'
# God and that these are the traits
# which are to be magnified.
aside from the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit, one is not
a "christian" at all.
the indwelling -is- that substantial
Faith which is Christ's own Faith which
is given to human beings, and is not
simply some academic exercise nor
the product of man's own accomplishings.
the "charisms" are the
"gifts" of the Holy Spirit.
based on two things,
which are these...;
"Jesus ascended into the
heavenly places and gave
gifts to human beings"
and
[Jesus speaking]
"I will not leave you without comfort"
...one may examine themself and determine
whether they are, indeed, a "christian"
as i said, the charisms are the gifts,
and the gifts are given by Christ.
and the gifts provide the essential
knowledge of God which is comforting
so that you can be assured in your own
mind that God is present in your midst
and is actively concerned with your life.
alright, then there's the notion of
"evidence" and this evidence is twofold,
the 'ethereal' and the tangible and substantial.
it's funny, because the charisms play
a sort of intermediary role between
the intangible Comfort of the Holy Spirit
and the substantial fruit bearing
offspring of the Presence.
ok, so fine, here are a few of the manners
that human beings are born with naturally,
having inherited them directly from our
progenitors, 'Adam and Eve.'
and by the way, these things are at
enmity to God, and can be likened
as "fruit" of the 'sin consciousness'
and the 'self in want'
here's a few;
quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness,
slander, gossip, conceit, disorder,
fornication, impurity, licentiousness,
idolatry, drug abuse, enmity, strife,
dissension, party spirit, envy,
drunkenness, carousing and the like.
this sort of behavior and attitude
applies to all human beings living
aside of God's Presence, and as no
human being, aside from Jesus, is
born the first time from their mother
as also "begotten of God" we can say
that this applies to all human beings.
[right here is where the bits with the
diagrams about Adam and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil some of those
related texts and the bits about Jesus
and YHWH would fit in case those questions
re-arise and it seems as if i haven't
addressed them here and now]
anyway;
two things: just saying to yourself,
"my conscience does not bother me about
them" and "oh, that's not me" won't
make them go away, but they do stand
in your way to a clear vision of God,
and so, -if- you -want- to draw nearer
to God and gain and maintain a clear
vision of God, these must decrease
while the following bits must increase,
and so, as we draw nearer to God and God
draws nearer to us, we replace that stuff
which doesn't profit, with attitudes and
actions that were God's intention for us
to walk in in the first place.
may take some time, so, the sooner
you get started, the better as the
more ingrained -that- stuff becomes,
the more difficult it wil be to clean
it away.
miracles happen, but you're likely to
carry around memories of the old man
and you may just give up because
things hurt, and so, if you get
on your way early you can use that
gungho youthful exuberance to get
yourself off to a flying start,
Christ willing and Christ is willing.
i may look at this little
detail, in more depth, later,
if i haven't already.
anyway;
the 'fruit' of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control;
against -these- behaviors and attitudes,
there is no law, and when it comes down
to it, as far as character traits are
concerned, -these- are by far the
Superior traits and to be desired.
those other attitudes -are- the easy
way out and lead you directly to ruin.
alright, so now we've taken up our cross
and put away that tired old man who was
born at enmity to God thru Adam, and
replaced him with a new creature in Christ.
now we can start to unwrap and make use
of some of the Presents that the Presence
has offered to me.
and here is a listing of gifts of the Spirit.
the utterance of wisdom,
the utterance of knowledge
faith by the same Spirit,
gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
working of miracles,
prophecy, speaking the truth
the ability to distinguish between spirits,
various kinds of tongues,
the interpretation of tongues.
and these are the charisms.
and they most certainly are an outward
substantial show of an inexplicable
supernatural inward affair.
trust in Christ to bring the good work
that Christ began to fruition, and
Christ will not let you down.
here's a few scrittures;
[yes, scrittures]
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Galatians 5:13-26
1 Corinthians 2:12-14
Hebrews 2:4