Fleshbook Weekly

Pete*, a regular customer and friend from my coffee shop, has had some life-shifting God encounters recently. I will be sharing his stories once Papa gives me the green light, so I won't go into detail now. However, he and I had a conversation yesterday that provides an added layer of relevance to both this edition of Fleshbook Weekly, and Pete's growing list of encounters.

"You told me God was going to reveal Himself to me in ways I could never imagine," Pete told me as I sat down.

A hive kept by Craig Adams, whose bee keeping practices
are as Spirit inspired as his Facebooking. (click for more)

"Now that you mention it, I remember saying something along those lines," I replied. I'd said it during a conversation we'd shared with Winter, which was the first of several of its kind to come after it. The discussion was full of stories and prayer, so the particular sentence that stuck with Pete hadn't really stuck with me. Funny how God speaks to and through us without our awareness sometimes.            

"Right, well I'm not quoting you perfectly accurate, but that's the gist of it. And I laughed then, but that's exactly what's happening." We both laughed. Pete's disbelief was not unmerited; his history with religion is a painful one, and the claims Winter and I made were bold at the least. I remember telling God afterward, look Papa, we spoke way too boldly for you not to back us up.

"I bought a Bible," Pete continued. "I've even been reading it. I feel like I owe you guys that much."

"Is it any different this time around?" I asked.

"Not really, to be honest. Still pretty boring. But I'm doing it because I feel like I should."

And here's where things get interesting. I've come to a conclusion about the Bible's truth. That it is true, wholly and completely. It is also not the end of truth. God is not confined to the Bible, and speaks to us outside of it constantly. 

He can speak to us through the Word. He does frequently. There are passages I've read ten times before, but that eleventh time when Holy Spirit interprets, the words come alive with new meaning and revelation. But we don't have to be sitting with our Bibles open, fulfilling our daily study quota, to hear Him. Personally, I tend to hear Him most frequently through other people, books, movies, my dog. Generally, the Word confirms what he's already telling me which is cool, but as I grow more confident in our relationship, that confirmation grows less necessary. 

Before this heresy stirs the hive into a doctrinal frenzy, let me say I did not do a great job explaining this point of view to Pete, nor of writing it here. Perhaps, though, a seed was planted. And lucky for me, Fleshbook provides a source of community with believers who are eloquent and profound, and receiving from the same Spirit I am. 

Pete and I shared our conversation on Thursday. Craig Adams, a Fleshbook friend and spiritual guide, posted The Bible Isn't Enough ~ or ~ A Very Lonely Heresy  (click to read) on Thursday as well. I expect this coincidence won't be lost on Pete. 

*Name has been changed for the purpose of privacy




**It occurred to me that the note linked above can only be viewed by people signed up for Facebook, and possibly on by FB friends of Craig Adams. Here is the original text, though if you have the capability to view the link, the comments are absolutely worth the endeavor.

The Bible Isn't Enough ~ or ~ A Very Lonely Heresy 

Sola scriptura (Latin ablative, "by scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains all the truth you need; if something spiritual isn’t in the Bible, it isn’t valid.

It’s true that all that is in the Bible is true.

But it's not true that all is in the Bible…not even all truth is in the Bible. When one is afraid of ‘getting it wrong’ or being deceived it is easy to find comfort in believing that one won’t be deceived if they only believe what is written in scripture.

Gamaliel, one of the most respected teachers of scripture in history took that position, and taught it to his young disciple Saul.

The problem was that his understanding of what scripture means was based on millennia of tradition.

HE didn’t trust anything that wasn’t explicitly stated in scripture.

Rejecting anything Holy Spirit might say if it hadn’t been done/said in scripture before took him into grave deception.

 It simply does not work in practice.

His young disciple from Tarsus was expert in the word of God.

He had scripture to support everything that he did.

And he became one of the most infamous persecutors of God’s people, slaying whole families.

The Bread of the word is very important.

 It can bring and nourish life.

Given by inspiration of God, it’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

 Jesus said,

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every ῥῆμα that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

That word “ῥῆμα” (pronounced “rhema”) is in present continuous tense.

He wasn’t talking about words that *preceded* and were written down, but the word *PROceeding*, right now, from his mouth; “ῥῆμα” is not used for written words, but for utterance.

God often reveals things no one has ever heard of before in this way.

Because no one has ever seen those things before many can’t imagine that they are true.

But they are, and scripture told us that there are such things:

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”

Paul probably had those words from Isaiah in mind when he wrote,

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

To fear that Deception is more able to make himself heard when God’s child asks Him for wisdom and insight than God is able to make himself heard is to elevate Deception to a position stronger than God.

Certainly Saul of Tarsus had a good deal of scripture to validate his persecution of Christ.

He was a sincere young man, zealous to do what pleased God, as is evidenced by his response when they met on the Damascus road.

But because of the bias he had --  based on the tradition that influenced him every time he read the word -- he didn’t hear God trying to tell him he was wrong until he knocked him over and he was blinded.

He rejected God’s word, when He spoke “rhema” to him directly trying to avoid both the slaughter Paul was involved in and the confrontation on the road to Damascus that followed.

He had made an idol of scripture, and was deafened to the voice of God by his misunderstanding of it.

I know scripture doesn’t say God spoke to him before the Damascus Road encounter.

But I also know God, and that He is good, and that it would be much out of character for Him not to immediately try to communicate “Stop! No! Don’t!” to Saul when he began killing whole families of the children He loves.

After all, God is good.

And loving.

And a *Father!*

So don’t think that mere love letters written centuries ago are sufficient to sustain an understanding and relationship with your Beloved now, eh?

Or the thousands of years of religious tradition that have developed since they were written might deceive you as much as the traditions of Saul’s day did him.

After all, he was a Word guy too.