: #1 WHERE DID THE UNIVERSE COME FROM: CREATION
Intro:
This will be a series called The Transforming Story. It is about the Biblical Worldview and Worldviews generally. See below under 'Creation' for a definition of the term 'Worldview'.
In the last few months, I have been working on putting together a course on the Biblical Worldview called 'The Transforming Story'.
God's Transforming Story is Creation- Fall- Redemption-Consummation (Restoration)
CREATION:
First- A Definition of Worldview:
A Worldview is like a pair of glasses that we interpret the world through. The glasses represent our presuppositions, what we presuppose or assume reality is. We normally do not look AT our glasses; we look THROUGH them without thinking. So also, we look through the glasses of our assumptions to interpret reality often without thinking.
However, it is crucial that we understand the times in which we live, and therefore we need to understand two things:
First: The Biblical Worldview- Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation (Restoration)
Second: The competing Worldviews we have to live with in our everyday lives.
Spectrum of Worldviews:
If you picture a spectrum, there are Three main Worldviews that have characterised Western Culture for the most part- But for this spectrum, picture a diagonal line that travels downward beginning with Biblical Theism at the top. We will assess these in relation to a Key Question for each of the 4 chapters (Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation) of the Transforming Story.
Of course there are many other offshoots of these main Three worldviews but these Three are the major ones in the history of Western culture.
Taken from ‘Discipling Nations’ by Darrow Miller who studied under the late Francis Shaeffer.
Biblical Theism
Deism
Secularism
A Worldview has to be able to answer these 4 Questions:
Where did the Universe come from/What does it mean to be human? Creation
What is wrong with the world? Fall
What is the solution to what is wrong with the world? Redemption
Where is history going? Consummation
CHAPTER 1: Where does the Universe come from/What does it mean to be human?
These 4 Key Questions above are crucial because: Ideas have consequences.
A Worldview can also be likened to a Tree:
When you look at a tree, you observe the Trunk, the branches, the leaves and the fruit. But you cannot see the roots of the tree. A Worldview is similar to a tree.
The Roots= Beliefs
The Trunk= Values
The Branches= Behaviour
The Fruit= Consequences
Obviously if you plant apple seeds, you will eventually get an apple tree. The seeds or the roots are the beliefs that a person holds to in which to interpret the whole of reality.
There is a reason why the 3 main Worldviews in the history of Western culture travel downward.
Because only the Biblical Worldview of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation (Restoration) corresponds with ALL created Reality as it really is.
How does the Biblical Worldview on the above Spectrum answer the first of these 4 questions-which is a Twofold Question?
Where does the Universe come from/What does it mean to be Human?
The Gospel begins at Genesis 1v1- Creation
The Biblical Worldview begins with this categorical statement:
And it ends in Revelation 22 with a New heavens and a New Earth. This means that history is linear, and is moving toward its consummation, its end point.
God's arch enemy, aka Apollyon the devil also has his deceptive counterfeit 'end to history'. It has usually come in the form of tyrannical empires throughout history.
Right now, the worldview of Globalism combined with an ever increasing Technocracy ruled by an elite appears to be the contemporary 'Tower of Babel' that the enemy is working through. We must not only understand the times in which we live but we are to 'expose the works of darkness (Ephesians 5v11)
There are 3 words that are crucial in this first verse in Genesis 1v1 if we are to understand the whole scope of redemptive history from Creation to New Creation. This will be covered in the next Blog>
THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW: TRANSFORMING STORY #2
The unpacking of these 3 words comes from a series called ‘Dust to Glory’ by the late R C Sproul, the founder of Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida, USA.
1. Beginning
2. God
3. Created
In these Three words we have the central affirmations of Biblical Christianity-
These Three words sets the Biblical Worldview apart from all interpretations of reality including not only the other two Worldviews on the above Spectrum but ALL FORMS of Atheism, all forms of Naturalism, Secularism, Humanism, and all other isms that compete for the allegiance of people in our day.
It could be argued that this is the most controversial verse in all of Scripture.
The first of these crucial words is:
BEGINNING
Any physical object will obviously remain in a state of inertia until it is acted upon by an outside force. If a football is not acted upon by an outside force, it will remain indefinitely in a state of inertia. For the football to move and serve its purpose it needs to be acted upon by an outside force. It needs someone to literally kick the football or pick it up, then and only then will it move.
The Law of Inertia: Things that are static stay static unless acted upon by an outside force
The central point is: If there was a beginning then ‘HOW DID IT BEGIN’?
If the Universe was Eternal in a constant state of inertia like the football and the atoms and molecules (physical matter) came together in a ‘Big Bang’, the question/s then become:
· Where did the atoms and molecules come from?
· Where did the laws of physics come from that sustain the physical universe-like gravity?
· If there was a ‘Big Bang’ that exploded into a vast Universe, without a Creator you are left with Nothing as the Cause of the Big Bang.
· How then does ‘Nothing’ explode because Nothing has no Being?
· ‘How did Physical matter move? Why did physical matter move? This leads to another question: Why is there even a Universe at all?
· This idea that the Universe is Eternal is rooted in Greek philosophy and it means that everything goes around and around without a beginning and without an end.
· This is captured in the book of Ecclesiastes- that for example addresses the Pagan notion of Scepticism that is tied to this idea that the Universe is Eternal. This is a cyclical view of history (like reincarnation)
So the conclusion is that there is no purposeful beginning and no purposeful end point to existence hence ‘All is Vanity, a chasing after the wind’. So humanity is locked into an eternal cycle of going around in cycles and going nowhere (We’re on a Road to Nowhere’)
KEY POINT: In Western culture since the 17th-18th century, the Biblical Story changed to:
In the beginning Nothing- meaning Nothing by Chance produced the Universe through billions of years of evolution and therefore humanity comes from Nothing, is going to Nothing after death and so we must ‘be’ Nothing. This is the logical conclusion if NOTHING produced the entire Universe.
KEY POINT>
But at the very outset of Scripture there is the affirmation that there is a beginning-meaning that there was a time when the Universe did not exist.
In the Progress of the history of Redemption from Creation to the New Creation we are making an assertion that is radical for:
Our whole understanding of who we are as human beings &
What our lives mean and what our reason for being is meant to be about.
There is a radical difference then between all creaturely existence and it’s Creator
The statement in Genesis 1v1 states that History has a beginning point in time and that time itself has a beginning. We probably take this for granted but it must not be taken for granted in relation to competing worldviews in our culture today.
Each Worldview must be able to answer what was the Outside force that caused Physical matter to move and why.
The answer to this question will then answer the twofold question of:
‘Where did the Universe come from and ‘What does it mean to be human’?
· The answer to the question of Origins is inevitably connected to the other 3 crucial questions that all Worldviews must be able to answer in a way that corresponds with all reality-
· What is wrong with the world?
· What is the solution to what is wrong?
· Where is History going?
The Biblical Worldview's answer to the question: ‘What caused physical matter to move and why’ is stated in this propositional statement in Genesis 1v1 ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’.
For further information on the crucial issue of Intelligent Design in creation:
The second crucial word in Genesis 1v1 is:
GOD
This is why the Biblical Worldview does not stop by simply saying ‘In the beginning’. But ‘In the beginning…GOD.
So Scripture starts with a categorical proposition that God is the Creator and Author of everything in existence. That which has a beginning IN TIME must have a beginning PRECEDING IT.
To say IN THE BEGINNING…GOD, we are now talking about the beginning of SPACE AND TIME. For there to be a beginning to the created Universe there must be something that stands above and beyond the created Universe- something or Someone that has no beginning.
Something or Someone that in and of itself is Eternal and Self-Existent, something that has the very power of being in itself. This is the proclamation and affirmation of Scripture, the reality of the existence of God.
This is the answer that Biblical Theism gives to the first of our Twofold question. The personal infinite Creator Triune God created the entire Universe out of Nothing. He did not use pre-existing materials, for He created the pre-existing atoms and molecules.
See Genesis 1:1ff, Psalms 33:6, Psalms 148:5, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 11:3 for a more complete picture of how God created the world.
For further information: https://www.theopedia.com/creation-ex-nihilo https://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/reasonable-faith-podcast/creation-out-of-nothing
http://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library/topic_index Click on Topics, then click on Creation, then Revelation in Nature for an interesting talk on God’s revelation in creation.
Institute of Creation Research: https://www.icr.org/who-we-are
Genesis 1v1-3 and the Trinity
· Genesis 1 doesn’t yet indicate the full significance that the names "Word" and "Spirit" will have for the Trinity. The full significance of these names ‘Word and Spirit’ only comes with the appearance of the Word made flesh and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. (John 1v14; Acts 2)
· Nevertheless, by including God’s Word and Spirit within Genesis 1v1-3 Genesis 1 puts the first building block into place for the doctrine of the Trinity that is hidden in the Old Testament but more fully revealed in the New Testament.
· These points above are essential because when we refer to ‘God’ we cannot leave it there, because there are countless numbers of definitions of ‘God’ from countless numbers of different religions and philosophies. So we have to unpack who God is based on His revelation.
John 1v1 echoing Genesis 1v1 states ‘In the beginning was the Word (Logos) and the Word (Logos) was with God and the Word (Logos) was God’.
Logos means Word but it also means rationality-thus the rational structure of the Universe reflects the Mind of the Creator.
Genesis 1v1 states that God, who alone is uncreated and eternal, has formed and given existence to everything outside of Himself. He did this from nothing by the word of his power, and all of it was very good (Genesis 1v31)
For further information on the Role of the Trinity in Creation: https://www.icr.org/article/trinity-creation/
The Third Crucial Word in Genesis 1v1 is: Created
Scripture introduces God in Action, he is a God of Action- God is doing something and what He is doing is the greatest thing that has ever been done in terms of activity- which is the Creation of the Universe….out of Nothing
Everything that man creates is a mediated creativity meaning that man has to use materials that already exist. But the Scripture presents God as creating the Universe when there is no medium, there are no pre-existent materials to work with-He created out of Nothing- ex nihilo. God alone can bring life out of death and something out of nothing.
· Creation of the Universe out of Nothing is the Supreme work that is not just Natural but Supernatural. It takes us beyond the glorious theatre of Nature to not only the beginning of Nature but to the Author and Creator of Nature who creates out of nothing.
· The Bible does not give us a Scientific description of how God does it. All we are told is that God creates the Universe out of Nothing by the Speaking of His Word.
· The Eight Fold Rhythm of Genesis 1 simply means a divine transcendent majestic holy command- where He speaks into the Void and says simply ‘Let there Be’. The sheer power of One who has the Eternal power of being in and of Himself, a Universe begins.
The Triune Creator God is both Transcendent and Immanent
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ means that the one true personal infinite Creator God is both Transcendent and Immanent at the same time. This is so crucial to maintain both God’s Transcendence and Immanence, because if you disregard either, you will have departed from the one true God and have another ‘god’.
In the first Transforming Story #1 I mentioned at the end that right now, the worldview of Globalism combined with an ever increasing Technocracy ruled by an elite appears to be the contemporary 'Tower of Babel' that the enemy is working through.
In other words, Artificial Intellligence is the devil's 'Consummation' or the end point of humanity. Of course, this is the natural direction that the Worldview of Evolution would be moving in. (https://www.techhuman.org/resource-bank/john-wyatt-cambridge-paper-7rg2g)
The rationale being that AI is the natural next step of our evolutionary process. God has his 'eschatology', His end point, and it will be when Jesus Christ returns to inaugurate the New heavens and the New earth (Revelation chapter 19, 21 & 22). The devil always tries to counterfeit what God does, because he cannot create out of nothing like God can.
We must not only understand the times in which we live but we are to 'expose the works of darkness' (Ephesians 5v11). In addition, Western society has legislated that Transgender is the direction that it desires to move toward. Transgender some argue will lead to Transhumanism. There is an actual Transhumanist movement. (https://whatistranshumanism.org/)
This is really about an Unseen Cosmic War (Ephesians 6v12-18; Revelation 12) The Ekklesia, the Body of Christ has had several different battles to fight throughout its history.
The battle to maintain the two natures in the person of Jesus Christ in the Early Church. (Jesus as both fully God and fully human)
The battle of salvation in the Reformation period (God is sovereign in regeneration because we cannot cooperate with Grace in our fallenness)
The battle of how did the Universe begin in the 17th-19th century when Darwin's 'Origin of Species' resulted in belief in evolution and this is the story Western culture has been living in ever since.
It is crucial that we understand what the real battle is in our own time. And it is this:
What does it mean to be human? #3 will address this.
THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW: TRANSFORMING STORY #3
John Stonestreet, the President of the Colson Centre for Christian Worldview gave a lecture with the title:
'The Image Restored- The Gospel in a Culture of Identity Crisis'.
He made a statement that is profoundly relevant for the immediate crisis in Western Culture. He said that ‘The Number One Quest of our culture is:
‘What does it mean to be Human’.
At the end of the last Blog #2- I said that it is crucial that we understand what the real battle is in our own time
In this lecture, John Stonestreet provided some very helpful clarity about how ideas have consequences, and therefore why the number one Quest of Western culture is 'What it means to be human'.
When did you last hear a sermon on 'The Imago Deo' or the Image of God in humanity that also included the Biblical Worldview of:
Creation (Glory Bestowed)>
Fall (Glory tainted) >
Redemption (Glory Restored) >
Consummation (Glory consummated/perfected)?
Have you ever thought why this is so conspicuous by its absence in most sermons?
This is essential because if you leave out Creation, especially the creation of Male & Female in the Image and Likeness of the Triune God, it means that you don't really have a true Biblical Worldview. So here, I want to briefly focus on some implications for 'The Imago Deo' in human beings.
As Christians express the love of God in the world, one common thread holds it all together. The Biblical story has a mystery within it and it lies deep within every human being.
God spoke the Universe into existence out of nothing by His Word, but when He created man, he sculpted them by His hands and His breath unlike anything else in all creation.
Human beings are created in the Image of God according to His Likeness. It means we are His Masterpiece. We have the ability to create, worship, reason, communicate, choose, relate, think, feel, and are capable of love and are responsible for our actions (Genesis 1v26-28; 2v7,21-22; Psalm 8v5)
The Biblical story also includes that although Human beings were created for Intimacy with God and were created to Reflect God, but instead human beings Replaced God. This brought sin and destruction into the world and resulted in a profound 4 fold alienation (Genesis 3v7-24)
The entire Biblical Story unfolds this four-fold alienation between God and humans, alienation within ourselves, between each other individually and nationally and between humanity and creation/nature.
The Fall is not the end of the Story for God sent a Redeemer, the perfect Image of the Invisible God, to restore the broken Image and to reconcile and renew our relationship with Him.
The Image of God changes everything:
It shapes how we see the world and each other. It calls us to honour the Image of God in everyone.
Therefore
· Christians work to alleviate poverty, starvation and disease because even the poorest of the poor are created by God in the Image of God.
· Christians work to rescue abducted children, street children, abused children, because there is no such thing as a disposable human being that has been created by God and in the Image of God.
· Christians fight abortion because babies should not be terminated and thrown away.
· Christians uphold the dignity of the elderly and the disabled because all humans are fearfully and wonderfully made and are therefore dear to God.
· Christians work on the behalf of immigrants because they are created by God and in the Image of God. We should therefore welcome them even as we would welcome Christ.
· Christians work for Religious Liberty because the freedom to follow one’s conscience is part of what it means to be created by God and in the Image of God.
· Christians work for the flourishing of marriage because it has been created by God for man and woman created in the image of God. It is to be the essential building block of a flourishing society.
· Christians work for racial unity and reconciliation because all humans share something much deeper than skin colour or physical differences.
There has NEVER been a human being who was not created by God in the Image of God and this is what animates everything we do. This is the Common Thread that holds it all together.
God’s Image compels God’s children to love all people. The world is broken and we long for the Day when Christ will make all things new.
But meanwhile, we strive for dignity, for justice, liberty, human flourishing, because every human being bears the image of God and therefore matters to God and so should matter to us.
The Story we as followers of Jesus are living in is God's Bigger Story of:
Creation (Glory Bestowed)>
Fall (Glory tainted) >
Redemption (Glory Restored) >
Consummation (Glory consummated/perfected)?
What story are you living in? In #4 we will focus on 'The Creation Mandate' which was the original task for our being created in the Image and Likeness of the Triune God.
THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW: TRANSFORMING STORY #4
The Creation Mandate
The eight fold rhythm in Genesis 1 of ‘Let there be and it was and God saw that it was good' dramatically changes in v26 in order to grab our:
Just as the Eight creational ‘Let there be’s’ represent creational law for animals, vegetable and mineral>
The Creation Mandate is Four fold and represents creational law for Human society and culture.
1. Be Fruitful
2. Multiply and fill the earth
3. Subdue
4. Have Dominion
The creational distinctions between Male and Female as the Image and Likeness of the Triune God is foundational to the development of human civilisation to ‘be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth and have dominion.
God’s creational ordinances extend to the Structures of society, to the world of the family, church, education, art, business, commerce, government
· In short, in every field of human affairs there is a right and wrong way of doing things according to God's creational structural norms.
God's creational norms are not outside God’s plan for the Cosmos, but were built in from the beginning.
Creation is not static, God decreed Creation to unfold. Therefore the unfolding of culture and society are integral to creation and its development. The word 'Culture' from the Latin is 'cultus which means 'worship'. Therefore the development of human culture reflects what it means to be human as Genesis 1v26-28 reveals.
Any human culture will reveal therefore what it worships in terms of how it is oriented-As Romans 1v25 points out:
Because of the Fall of man, human nature is oriented either toward worship of the one true Creator God or worship of the creature/creation.
· Romans 1v25 shows that therefore there is NOTHING neutral in all of created life.
· What do you think modern Western culture worships today?
There is nothing in human life that does not belong to the created order. Everything is creational. There are many creational Structures but only 2 Directions-
This means that Human beings are either oriented TOWARD God through His Grace as shown in the Redemption of Jesus Christ in His Death and Resurrection.
Or they are oriented AWAY from God if they have not yet been reconciled to God through Christ's sacrificial atonement.
The ‘Let Us’ in Genesis 1v26-28 reveals that God is a relational, social, communal, Being. It means that God is a community of Three Persons in mutual love and harmony. The One does not lord it over the Many meaning the Father does not lord it over the Son, nor does the Son lord it over the Holy Spirit. There is Unity in Diversity within the Trinity.
As one theologian said ‘Because of the Trinity we are called to put on display a new way of being human’
Why?
Because God IS a relationship, and that is why relationships are intrinsic and central to all of human life, individually and nationally. It means that the Trinity is the foundation for our true humanity, for authentic community and even a whole culture.
Genesis 1v26-28 also answers the fundamental question ‘Who am I? This means that Human beings are made in the Image and Likeness of God and the implications of this for all people is something that must be put at the forefront of all missional endeavour.
The creation of mankind is in a class all by itself then, because the expression ‘Let Us make’ is not used of anything else in all of creation.
In Genesis 1 God is like a glorious artist as He paints the big picture of creation. In Genesis chapter 2, we look with a magnifying glass at one particular aspect of that big picture.
Everything now focuses on this one particular aspect, the highest part of God’s creation as the Creator of the Universe creates Male and Female in His own Image and likeness.
Michelangelo's Creation of Adam
He does this not by speaking them into existence, but moulding them with His own hands first from the Dust of the ground and then gives them Dominion over all the earth.
In the Story so far then, human beings begin as Dust and then are given Dominion because we have been made to reflect the Glory of God. In our Story we have gone From Dust to Dominion
Relationship is therefore fundamental to how we are to reflect who God is, but so is the word 'Rule' for God said to them 'Subdue and Have Dominion'.
Through the Fall, human beings did not rule well, for they Dominated creational life rather than nurture and develop it.
And this is related to the third Question that every Worldview has to be able to answer. 'What is wrong with the world'?
Need to Retrieve # 5
THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW: TRANSFORMING STORY #6: FOURFOLD ALIENATION-STRUCTURE & DIRECTION
In Blog #4 I mentioned that there is nothing in human life that does not belong to the created order. Everything is creational. There are many creational Structures but only 2 Directions-
This means that Human beings are either oriented TOWARD God through His Grace as shown in the Redemption of Jesus Christ in His Death and Resurrection.
Or they are oriented AWAY from God because of the fallen nature that they have inherited from Adam as Romans 5v12-21 shows.
And in Blog #5 I pointed out that the Four Fold Alienation that we need to grasp is the complex and profound meaning and the ramifications of this 4 fold alienation in Genesis 3v7-24.
Beyond the mere fact of this 4 fold alienation, a key point is the way these alienations interweave, interconnect, and mutually reinforce each other.
There are many Structures in Creation, but only 2 Directions as Romans 1v25 points out.
Romans 1v18-3v20 is the first section in Romans after the initial introduction in v1-17.
Chapter 1 is about the 'Wrath of Abandonment' where God says three times that 'He gave them over' in v24, 26 & 28 to face the consequences of the lusts of their hearts, which is basically idolatry.
The verse in 1v25 means that nothing is neutral in all creation, human beings either worship the Creator God or they worship the creature. The word 'Culture' from Latin means 'cultus' meaning worship.
Therefore the kind of culture that human beings build will reveal what or who they worship. In other words the culture will reveal in its Institutions especially, the reality of the truth of the one true Creator God or the particular idols that it worships.
By 'Exchanging the truth of God for the lie and worshipping the creature rather than the Creator' any culture will reveal its foundation of Paganism, which in turn will lead to cultural decay as Romans 1 shows clearly, in particular v29-32
Paganism basically rejects any belief in a Creator and defines Reality from Nature alone because there is no Creator God or a Transcendent realm. It also rejects the opposites that God has put into creation.
So in Paganism, there is no Creator and creation distinction, no heaven and earth distinction and no Male & Female distinction.
The physical world is all there is. Of course this means that the Secularism of Western culture is therefore a form of Paganism, because 'All of reality is only physical'.
You just need to observe the ways that Western Governments in particular has redefined God's creational structures of Male & Female as the Image of God, Marriage, and the Family.
Also a key question is whether the Church historically has been faithful to not only the Great Commission but also the Creation Mandate.
If Governments in Western culture have redefined God's creational structures for creation, in the laws that they pass, the inevitable Direction that the culture then moves in is AWAY from the one true Creator God into a form of Paganism/Humanism across the entire spectrum of its institutions.
The redefining of God’s creational structures such as the binary and complementary distinctions of Male/Female in particular, Marriage, Family, and also Government in terms of how it is called to function by the Creator are directly related to two major themes that run throughout the Scriptures: Identity and Idolatry.
These two themes are fundamental to the Second Question of what a Worldview must be able to answer:
What is wrong with the world?
For more information on the decline of Western Culture: The Four Horsemen Documentary is worth looking at.
Remember ever since Eden, fallen humanity defines ‘Good and Evil’ for themselves, including redefining God and therefore makes up Reality through his own interpretation of it. This is called Idolatry
The above documentary shows how the richest people known as the Global Elite covet 'Dominion' of the whole world and where it is heading.
In terms of the Direction that Western Culture is moving in the 21st century, Patrick Wood, a Christian whose main area of expertise of Technocracy reveals how this Global Elite by merging Science and Technology are moving in a very dark Direction indeed....toward a Technocracy and Transhumanism.
In his book 'Technocracy Rising, the Trojan Horse of Global transformation' he discusses the roots of Technocracy from the 1930s.
Alexander Solzhenitisyn a Russian Christian who suffered terribly during the Bolshevik Revolution under Stalin in the Russian Gulags, who lived in Exile in the West for many years in America, put the bottom line problem of Western culture very simply:
Globalism and the Great Reset
The world has been characterised by chaos and confusion since March 2020- Confusion reveals the spirit of Babylon because Babel means ‘confusion’. Ephesians 6v10-18 is a clear passage of the spiritual war we are in and reveals the satanic hierarchy-
The spirit and principality of Babylon is clearly at work in the world.
Key Point:
We must not be SILENT LIKE ADAM in Genesis 3v6b. We must move and speak into the confusion according to our conscience.
The serpent holds out to them the prize of knowledge. In other words, to take of this Tree is the path to knowledge-
The serpent was effectively saying ‘Be your own god’ by determining Good and Evil for yourselves. They came into agreement with the serpents lie of what was Good and what was Evil.
So immediately after the Fall, there is murder and from that point, humankind defines what is Good and what is Evil for itself.
The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:
In Genesis 9v25-27 Noah cursed Canaan because of what Ham had done to him. Canaan was the grandfather of Nimrod. It seems that deep resentment of this curse came down the family line and was reversed profoundly with Nimrod.
It was as if Nimrod said ‘Instead of receiving this curse of being a servant to other people, I will rule over all people’. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel.
At the Tower of Babel, God separated the nations into distinct nations with distinct languages. Globalism seeks to unite the nations under a World Government and a world leader and a one world Global religion.
Globalism is therefore antithetical and in rebellion to the Creator God. This is the spirit of Babylon.
In the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, 70 nations can be observed from the 3 sons of Noah- Shem, Ham and Japheth. Bible.org notes there are 30 nations from Ham, 26 from Shem and 14 from Japheth. Every nation on earth can trace their roots back to these 70 nations in Genesis 10.
Babel/Babylon means the forces of confusion. Forces that want to divide and tear apart the family, marriages, Governments, humanity, nations reveal the spirit of Babylon.
It is revealed in anything which DIS-INTEGRATES and results in chaos, in particular through the power of speech and language under the leadership of Nimrod.
All satanic occult religions can be traced back to Egypt and Babylon including Freemasonry which came out of the Jewish Kabbalah in Babylon
As noted above- this reveals that the confusion in the world since March 2020 is that the spirit of Babylon is at work.
Acts 17v26 And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands and territories.
In Genesis 11 Humanity tries to unite through the same language in rebellion against God.
This means that national boundaries are creational. Therefore a Globalist One World Government that does away with national boundaries and national sovereignty-is rebellion against the Creator God.
Then in Genesis 12 God focuses on one man and from him, every nation, tribe, tongue and people will be truly united in Christ through the Gospel.
Key point: This is the only way for humanity to be united- and that is by the blood of Christ.
Patrick Wood in his book ‘Technocracy Rising, the Trojan Horse of Global Transformation’ makes some interesting points in Appendix 1 at the end of the book entitled ‘Transforming Christianity’. In relation to the Tower of Babel he says
(QUOTE)
‘As they strategized on how to build a tower all the way to Heaven, they discovered a new technique for building tall structures. Whereas rocks and mud had been used previously, now uniformly fired bricks and tar would prove to be far superior.
Simplistic as this sounds, it was a new technology to them and one so exciting to them that they were deceived into thinking they could actually build that tower right into Heaven
He continues…My only point here is to point out the connection between technology and a common language that apparently enabled their rebellion.
The Trans-human dream is no less than to escape the laws of sin and death and to assume qualities reserved for God, such as omniscience, omnipotence, eternality etc…And the language used to construct this modern-day Tower of Babel? It is digital’ (UNQUOTE) 2
Digital language he says is the new common language spoken by those who would build a modern Tower of Babel (ie Transhumanism) to displace God in the same manner as the account in Genesis 11.
Key point:
New Technology as in Mass Surveillance, Drone technology, Digital language, digital technology and digital currency all relate to the modern Tower of Babel being pursued by the Global elite.
In Genesis 11v4 at the Tower of Babel, a united humanity declared ‘Come let us build a city for ourselves’. God said ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them or be impossible for them’. In v7 God says ‘Come Let Us’ go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech’.
A united humanity at the Tower of Babel declared ‘Come let us build’ and God responded with ‘Come Let Us go down….To judge and confuse and scatter them.
The leaders of the world since March 2020 have been declaring ‘Let us build back better’ and this can only result in God’s Judgment.
The following Quote is taken from TruthXchange- a Christian Think Tank in the United States.
Pam Frost is a researcher and speaker for TruthXchange and her main topic of research is Globalism.
She was interviewed earlier this year on the subject of ‘Globalism and the Great Reset’.
Pam Frost asks a Question:
'What does it mean that nothing will be impossible for them- because God is the only One who is Omnipotent and all powerful and all knowing?
She answers:
(QUOTE)
‘A united Pagan humanity working together as one on the earth, with no boundaries of the depth of evil to which they would go. It was an act of preservation and protection that God confused the languages. So God scattered them throughout the earth and drew boundaries around them as nations’
However, God’s purpose in the Gospel is that He would redeem a portion of humanity from every tribe, tongue, nation and people. ONLY IN CHRIST would humanity become One in Him, but he does not eliminate our cultural and language distinctions. So God separated the nations for a redemptive and protective purpose.
But Globalism seeks to undo all of the national distinctions and uniqueness of nations to reunite the nations under a One World Global Government with a one world leader.
Totalitarian, dictatorial, authoritarian, Communitarian under a one world united religion. This is Globalism in a nutshell’. (UNQUOTE) Pam Frost (www.truthxchange.com)
Communitarian is the merging of both the political Left and the political Right. It is also known as 'Hegel's Dialetic' or Problem- Reaction-Solution.
Thesis (Communism)
Anti-thesis (Capitalism)
Synthesis (Communitarian)
Click here Spreaker CMS then click 'Continue' for a podcast on 'Relevant Ideologies to Globalism' Scroll down and click Session 3.
Romans chapter 1- Humanity without God
Romans chapter 1 is one of the most, if not THE most penetrating and most accurate description of human beings without God.
1v21-22 shows how human beings came to be in this position.
‘For even though they knew God, they did not honour Him as God or give thanks, they became futile in their thinking (reasoning) and their foolish heart was darkened’.
The fall of man began IN THE MIND and this is where the downward spiral begins:
In the way people THINK without the Spirit of God.
When this passage speaks of human beings as foolish, it does not just mean they are foolish only in a religious sense. It means that all human beings including human cultures have interpreted all of reality in a way that is
Futile, Foolish and Dark.
Romans 1v18-32 applies to not just the original Fall of man in the Garden of Eden- It speaks of ANY period in human history when humanity knew the truth of the one true and living God and deliberately rejected it.
The Question then becomes:
‘What should our perspective be as we observe our own contemporary culture in light of Romans chapter 1?
There is only ONE perspective we can have of Western Culture today- which is not just a Post-Christian culture but an ANTI-Christian culture
Western Culture is under the wrath of God
For example, these are just 4 areas that have resulted in a Culture of Death.
1.Birth- The comprehensive practice of abortion- The death of babies- In the Bible the god of Molech which is also Baal, demands child sacrifice- the fallen angel Lucifer aka satan, apollyon the devil is obviously behind this idol called Molech. The
2.Male & Female as different biologically- Transgenderism-The death of Gender
3.Marriage- Same-sex marriage- The death of Procreation
4.Euthanasia- The death of the elderly and the inconvenient.
Romans 1v18-32 reveals one of the forms of God's Judgment on rebellious humanity. 3 times in this chapter, in v24; 26 and 28 God says He 'GAVE THEM OVER'. From the original Greek 'Depraved' means rejected. In other words, the final 'Giving Over' of the Wrath of Abandonment.
Romans 1v25 says they ‘Exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator’.
Humanism, Paganism, and a depraved mind.
This verse shows us that there is NOTHING NEUTRAL in all creation. Human beings will either worship the one true Creator God or they will worship the creation or something within creation.
By 'Exchanging the truth of God for the lie and worshipping the creature rather than the Creator' any human culture will reveal its foundation of Paganism.
This in turn will lead to cultural decay as Romans 1 shows clearly, in particular v29-32 because human rebellion against the one true Creator God always starts in the mind.
Paganised Humanism
After the Three-fold ‘God giving them over’ in v24, 26 and finally in v28 of Romans chapter 1- God gave them over to a depraved mind’. So in 1v29-32 God shows us the characteristics of a depraved or debased mind.
In other words, the MIND has been given over and this is where Western culture is at and has been for a long time.
When the minds of the leaders of human Government become depraved through rejecting the Word of God-and actually legislate to dismantle the creational norms that the Creator God has put into Creation which He declared to be ‘very good’ (Genesis 1v31)....
....The inevitable outcome is a culture of decay and a culture of death through the State becoming a fundamental form of both Totalitarianism and Paganised Humanism.
In other words, a Totalitarian Paganised Humanist State becomes deified. It replaces the Eternal God as the only source of ultimate authority on all of life.
Structure & Direction
There are many Structures in Creation, but only 2 Directions as Romans 1v25 points out.
For example, Male & Female as Image bearers of God, marriage, family, the Church, human Government, business, commerce, health, the arts, education, in short the whole realm of human affairs are all creational structures that have their own sphere sovereignty, because a State that understands boundaries will not have a tyrannical overreach into these spheres.
Toward or Away from God.
The 2 Directions that humanity moves in is very simply either toward the one true Creator God or away from Him and will define ‘Good and Evil’ for themselves which of course was the serpents deception in the Garden of Eden.
Joe Boot who Founded ‘The Ezra Institute of Contemporary Christianity ' based in Canada gave a lecture on ‘The Road from Eden’ and the meaning of culture. He points out that The word 'Culture' from the Latin is 'cultus which means 'worship'. www.ezrainstitute.ca 4 (Ctrl + click to follow link)
Therefore the development of human culture reflects not only what it means to be human as Genesis 1v26-28 reveals- but any human culture will reveal what it worships in terms of how it is oriented-
It is crucial to especially speak into the DIRECTION that Western culture in particular is moving in today in 2022.
The kind of culture that human beings build will reveal what or who they worship. In other words the culture will reveal in its Institutions especially, the reality of the truth of the one true Creator God or the particular idols that it worships.
The Almighty and Everlasting Creator God or idols? There is no neutral ground at all in all creation.
If Governments in Western culture have redefined God's creational structures for creation, in the laws that they pass, the inevitable Direction that the culture then moves in is AWAY from the one true Creator God into a form of Paganism/Humanism across the entire spectrum of its institutions as I have already highlighted.
The redefining of God’s creational structures such as the complementary distinctions of Male/Female in particular, Marriage, Family, and Government etc as noted above, in terms of how it is called to function by the Creator are directly related to two major themes that run throughout the Scriptures:
Identity and Idolatry.
Battles that the Church/Ekklesia has faced in history:
The Early Church: Christology- the Person of Jesus Christ and the union of His two natures as Fully God and Fully Human
The Reformation: Soteriology- Are we saved ONLY by the Grace of God alone or are we able to co-operate with the Grace of God by 'Choosing to give our lives to Christ'?
21st Century: Anthropology- What does it mean to be Human? This is the main fundamental battle that God's people are in today.
In a talk by John Stonestreet of the Colson Centre for a Christian Worldview with the title:
'The Image Restored- The Gospel in a Culture of Identity Crisis'.
said that the Number 1 Quest of our culture is 'What does it mean to be Human'?
Genesis 1v26-28- Clarify the disruption in the narrative of Genesis 1v26 after the 8x Let There Be's to create order and structure out of the Formlessness, Chaos and Darkness of Genesis 1v2
God spoke the Universe into existence out of nothing by His Word, but when He created man, he sculpted them by His hands and His breath unlike anything else in all creation.
Human beings are created in the Image of the Triune God according to His Likeness. It means we are His Masterpiece. We have the ability to create, worship, reason, communicate, choose, relate, think, feel, and are capable of love and are responsible for our actions (Genesis 1v26-28; 2v7,21-22; Psalm 8v5)
Globalism which we shall see is inseparable from Transhumanism and Technocracy is basically fallen mankind worshipping itself. It is the culmination and the ‘eschaton’ of Evolution where humans merge with machine to be immortal. This is the End Game of the Evil One.
Is Globalism connected to the Great Reset ?
See Blogpost on 'Globalism and the Great Reset' for more info.
The Three Journeys: Manhood
A guy called David Murrow, an author, speaker and pastor asked God a question one day. The question was 'God when you were on earth, how did you become a man'?
Now, that is a pretty sharp question. Anyway, God showed him Three Journeys that the Lord Jesus Christ as both Lamb and Lion took. The diagram above came out of what God showed him. The left side of the Mountain is the feminine side and the right side is the masculine side.
First Journey
It is from the book of Matthew. Chapter 1-7 the journey of Submission is the journey He took as the Lamb- for example in His Incarnation He comes to earth as a totally dependent and helpless baby and is hidden and silent for 30 years (apart from the incident at 12 years old in the Temple)
When He came into His public ministry He submits Himself to being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. He then taught the Sermon on the Mount. That was the journey of Submission as the Lamb
Second Journey
The Second Journey is in Matthew chapter 8-25. Now the Lamb of chapters 1-7 becomes a Lion. He comes down from the Mountain after His Sermon and begins to do battle with the powers of darkness, He begins to apply the core mission He specified in Luke 4v18-19 to:
'preach the Good News to the poor, set the captives free, bring recovery of sight to the blind, set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favourable year of the LORD'.
In chapters 8-25 the Lord is advancing His Kingdom and delivering those who have been oppressed by the devil. Although there is a lot of teaching in this section as well, like in the parables, but He is also equipping His disciples.
Chapter 8-25 show us that Jesus took the Journey of Strength as the Lion. The Journey of Strength is for others as we live sacrificially to bring healing, deliverance, freedom and power through the Gospel.
Third Journey
Then finally, Jesus takes the journey of Sacrifice and becomes the Lamb again as submits to the Father's will. He allows Himself to be arrested, to be put on trial in a false court with false witnesses. He is silent and does not open His mouth for the most part. He submits to the violence done to Him and surrenders to suffering to redeem others. He dies for the sins of His people- His Bride (the Ekklesia/Church)
David Murrow points out that this last journey of Sacrifice is quite rare. He says that Moses took this journey but David failed to walk the last journey.
Here he explains in more detail the Three Journeys also known as 'The Map' part 1.
In this talk, David Murrow explains that even before we begin to climb the 'Mountain of Manhood' we live in a feminine world. First, boys are in the womb and then bond to the Mother for the first 5 years.
But after 5 when boys go to school, we begin a journey toward the Masculine side of the Mountain.
During this period from 5 or 6 to our late teens, we have a very strong need to be much more masculine and do typical 'man stuff' usually to test ourselves. However, we don't realise what is really going on, unless we have health strong male role models.
So if the father is aware of the need for the boy to separate from the Mother and begin bonding to the father, then he will start to invest and engage very proactively from age 5-13 or thereabouts. This is a journey toward 'The Manly foothills' on the Masculine side of the Mountain of Manhood.
The 'Manly foothills' is like a miniature version of the Mountain. However these are 'macho foothills' and therefore it is when young boys or young men are all about being 'macho' so is very egotistical.
Moving on from the 'Macho foothills' is very important if we are to follow Jesus, but it is important for healthy masculine development generally. Many men get stuck in the 'Macho foothills' at the bottom of the Mountain of Manhood. Tragically there are men in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s who are still stuck in the 'Macho foothills'.
David Murrow began to wonder:
'How do you remain a healthy masculine male while also moving on from the 'Macho foothills'?
'How do you get from the Macho foothills to the top of the Mountain of Manhood'?
That is when he opened up his Bible and asked God to 'Show me how You became a man'. The Three Journeys in the diagram above from the book of Matthew was God's Answer.
Does this mean that this is the Journey that men are to take in order to develop a strong sacrificial manhood that is ultimately for others?
What are the potential problems in these 3 Journeys?
The First Journey that the Lord Jesus Christ took in Matthew chapters 1-7 as noted above is a journey of surrender, submission and moves toward the Feminine side of the Mountain. He is tender, gentle, loving, and exhibits more Feminine traits before He becomes the mighty Lion.
Repentance and Submission
To follow Jesus, the first thing that He calls us to is repentance, which means to move toward the feminine side of the Mountain. We have to humble ourselves before God, and God begins to break our deeply ingrained independence and flesh life. It's not unusual in this journey in submission and repentance for a man to weep and become more gentle. King David shed many tears but he was a fierce warrior- a bit like Jesus.
Now this is a good thing.....for a while. But if men then camp out on the feminine side of the Mountain, they will not then go on to take a journey of Strength for others. They will be 'Nice' guys but have no life giving energy. Unfortunately most churches are full of these 'Nice' guys.....but would you want to go to war with them?
However, the very real challenge is that if most men have been moving toward the 'Macho foothills' from a young boy of 5-6 until late teens then the last thing they would want to do is to move back toward a feminine environment or toward feminine characteristics. It will feel deeply emasculating . This of course applies to all men who are still camped out in the Macho foothills whatever their age.
This presents a challenge also in talking to men about the Gospel and especially the way we talk to men. Bearing in mind that the Church in the UK in particular is marked by a 65/35 gender split in favour of women according to the missionary organisation Tearfund-
So the Western Church is a more feminine environment than masculine. This is tough for many men. Think of men in the army, or traditionally masculine trades like the Building trade or Mechanics, or hardened criminals, or any predominantly masculine work place. This challenge applies to men in any 'Macho' expression of manhood. Gang culture, men in prison etc etc.
How do we address this?.
The crucial difference between a macho version of manhood and the journey of Strength is that the macho man is only oriented toward himself and his ego, he is self-centred and actually insecure because he has to prove himself all the time.
But a man who has been truly broken of his independence, self-sufficiency, and let go of the addictions and false selves can like David be a warrior-shepherd type of man that balances both the Lamb and the Lion qualities of the Lord Jesus.
Too much Lamb you get a weak passive man. Too much Lion you get a macho fool. Both are needed.
What approach would facilitate men?
That is what is discussed briefly in Part 2
In this 8 min Part 2 talk, he starts at 2:42 to discuss different ways that men get stuck in taking these Three Journeys and most importantly the clarity we need and how men can facilitate other men to move on from where they are.
This will be helpful- Check it out.
Men’s group for followers of Jesus Christ? MANHOOD
Authentic manhood
The heart of a king is a pro-visionary heart, that looks ahead, watches over, and provides order, mercy and justice. The heart of a warrior is a protective heart, the warrior shields, defends, stands between and guards. A warrior is a protector. Men stand tallest when they are protecting and defending.
The heart of a mentor is a teaching heart. The mentor knows. He wants others to know. He models, explains, and trains. He disciples-first his wife and kids, then others. He has a spiritual heart…he exercises the energy of initiation and transformation. The heart of a friend is a loving heart. It is a care-giving heart. Passionate, yes. But more. Compassionate (‘I will be with you’).
The friend in a man is a commitment maker. And a promise keeper. His is the ‘energy that connects men to others and to the world’. Sourced in Scripture, observed in history, and experienced personally, these four pillars bear the weight of authentic masculinity. They co-exist. They overlap. And when they come together in a man, you will know it. You will feel it. You will be touched by it. Like four strands of steel in a cable, they will hold you’. (Stu Weber, Tender Warrior p42-3) http://authenticmanhood.com/
I reckon there must be some Christian men out there who just don’t experience the camaraderie in church-that we long for.
Are we not as men wired for camaraderie, a true sense of brotherhood that transcends the usual wearing of a mask? The key word is intentional.
If men are not intentional about creating authentic brotherhood then it is not going to happen is it? Going through the motions in a once a week meeting doesn’t develop authenticity. There are guys out there who don’t jive with the church deal. There’s a big disconnect.
I would love to hear from passionate followers of Jesus who want to get down to the bone real and are prepared to be intentional about developing something more authentic than ‘singing, sermons and socialising’ on a Sunday morning.
If you’re in the trenches alone and the bullets are coming from all directions, what kind of guy would you want next to you? Middle class respectability does not cut it in the trenches- the real battle zones that we are trying to cope with.
Church for men
Here is a great website with many many links to men’s ministries, resources, ideas, although they are based mostly in the States, this site is full of practical information and men’s ministry ideas that can really help to get men engaged where they need to be….
At the local Community Hub I'm part of in West Worthing in West Sussex, we are running a course that will enable men to connect, pursue authenticity and a bigger cause than themselves. The Course will run from February 2022. Contact details at bottom
If you are interested in being intentional about a fellowship of the heart and pursuing authenticity, not that I am an expert. Reality not Religion, then email me: thebiggerstory1@gmail.com
My name is Nigel Mohammed 07909240248
What makes your heart come alive?
What makes your heart come alive? Then go and do that. Not everyone can answer that question though. Why? It depends largely, if not totally on the story we have lived in and are still living in.
A Poet once wrote:
'Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die,
life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go,
life is a barren field frozen with snow'
When i first read this short but penetrating poem, it was like a laser beam had cut right to the essence of my heart and of my story.
For I knew well that i had to have integrity to admit that I was like a broken winged bird that had tried to fly into a bigger story many times but was not able to.
I could relate so deeply to looking over the landscape of facing the pain that my life had been a barren field frozen with snow.
I was in a long season of disorientation. My whole being felt like I had fallen into a hole in the ground after nearly a year in Nepal working with a grassroots mission.
The hole was very dark, very silent, and suffocatingly small and I had no idea of how to climb out of this deep hole of lacerating disorientation.
A disturbing cacophony of voices churned and shouted within my inner being all claiming to be the voice of reality. It actually felt in my core that I was collapsing from within.
After a true shepherd and spiritual father climbed into the hole to help me climb out after about three years, I emerged.
Standing on what felt shaky shifting ground I felt summoned to an inner transformation, to cross over from one identity to another.
When the cold winds of crisis blow into our lives, these winds often call us to a new pathway in our spiritual journey to confront the false self or selves in order to find and live out of our authentic self.
In other words, the cold winds of crisis we realise is the voice of God calling us home to our true authentic identity in Christ. It is nothing external like family, or cultural norms or education or occupation or money, or status that transform us.
We have to take an inner journey to face the false self that has been shaped, even by those external 'norms' including the church.
What makes my heart come alive? I finally allowed that question to be like a surgeons scalpel in the hand's of the One who made me for Himself. I knew somewhere deep that I had to live the question.
I began a journey to go and find my truest self which was hidden in my deepest wounds, but there was a Wounded Healer who walked with me. Jesus.
For that is often where our deepest calling for others lays, hidden in our deepest pain. It is a fierce challenge, but worth the journey. I knew that I must not compromise the person being born, I had to take the Quest...A Life-Quest
The 345 Series: WORLDVIEW
So what exactly does number 4 mean and how on earth does it relate to the 'root problem of humanity'? Moreover, what do I mean that the answer to this root problem is number 3? If I left it there, some guys in white coats might need to pay me a visit. Stay with me. Whether you agree with this or not will depend on your worldview, your belief and interpretation of all reality.
The problem #4......
Firstly, Alienation from the Creator God (Genesis 3v1-9) led to three other kinds of alienation.
Secondly, Internal alienation within each person-alienation from oneself, for to know ourselves truly, we have to know God (Genesis 3v7-12, 16-19).
Thirdly, alienation between Humans (relational and national conflict) as well as the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3v15-16)
Fourthly, alienation from and within nature or creation (Genesis 3v17-19).
These are the spiritual, psychological, social and environmental alienations that afflict the whole human family and have done ever since Eden. All these divisions result from sin and all of them distort God's good purpose in creation.
We need to be able to grasp the complex and profound ramifications of this 4 fold alienation. Moreover, these 4 alienations interweave, interconnect and mutually reinforce each other. If we treat these 4 alienations separately, we miss God's comprehensive way of healing His entire Creation.
Therefore they all cry out for healing and reconciliation. Understanding the scope of the Fall of man in its cosmic scope will in turn clarify the true Church, the Ekklesia's mission. Faithful Christian Mission focuses on healing these 4 alienations or divisions as a result of the Fall.
It becomes crucial then to work on healing this profound alienation based on the provision of the Gospel which is fundamental to authentic mission.
This is the Good News that the Body of Christ have to offer a broken fallen and deeply alienated world. This 4 fold alienation in Genesis 3v7-24 reveals themes that remarkably interweave throughout the whole Bible in both Testaments and throughout human history.
But what does #3 mean? And how is this the solution to this profound 4 fold alienation?
What we believe we are does not happen in a vacuum independent of relationship
What we believe we are does not happen in a vacuum independent of the relationship. For we are all shaped by people, experiences, core beliefs, and values, especially our 'non-negotiables.
I was sitting on a comfortable chair in a corner of a large lounge, it was so quiet it could have been a retreat. I drank from this well of peace. The corner chair sat by the window and the sun poured in. I 'stumbled' across a statement almost by 'accident'.
...'How you picture God in your heart of hearts matters, really matters'.
Whoa. Words have the power to stop you in your tracks, grab you by the throat and force you to stop and think, really think of their message. The question then becomes 'Do I have ears to hear'? The alluring, captivating statement enticed and wooed me into asking God the question. 'How do I really picture you in my heart of hearts Father' I asked adding the word 'really' for emphasis.
'How you picture Me in your heart of hearts is what will determine HOW you walk through the unknown and the uncertain'. The trapeze artist has a moment when he is suspended in mid air and he must surrender, be still and trust that he will be caught, for if he flaps about anxiously it will be messy and painful. You are in that moment Nigel and feeling stretched by the unknown and the uncertain'.
Then He said 'I use the man who has nothing else to cling to but Me....what are you clinging to Nigel'? Finally, the Spirit of God said 'you can only fly by stepping out into the unknown'. Flying into the unknown is me starting a niche ministry that I have felt summoned to from the depths of my being. It has taken many years because I had to learn to live a 'dying life' and embrace brokenness and to realize that my life is meant to reflect the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
Questions: How do you picture God in your heart of hearts? Can you be still in your heart, deeply surrender and trust? Can I? What are you clinging to apart from God?
'Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures'. Han Suyin
What is non negotiable for you? CALLING
QUESTIONS
What compels you?
What Cause would you die for?
What makes your heart come alive ?
What are your deepest core desires?
What are YOUR non-negotiables?
What needs do you feel compelled to meet and why?
What burden do you carry in relation to the difference you long to make?
There are many more Questions we can ask in relation to your Calling and we will.
Life-Quest is a four week Online Course either through Zoom, the web based video tool or in person at the local Community Hub that I am part of. Of course it is better and more effective in person so this would be the preference, but I am open to whatever people may prefer.
I am compelled to facilitate men and women who may struggle to answer these key questions...because I had to work through this journey myself.
Some of the Themes of our Story are:
Themes, messages and Identity theft
Where to look for the Call
The Assault on our Glory
Being the Beloved of God
Our deepest desires
Different desires and how to interpret them
The turning points in our story-both painful and joyful
The key orientation points of your life story;
Penetrating questions that explore reasons why we get stuck in our lives.
The nature of seasons
With courage and honesty we can connect with who we are becoming by what we have had to overcome.
Interested?
My name is Nigel Mohammed
Email me at: thebiggerstory1@gmail.com and I will send you further details. The cost of this course is £75 for the entire 4 weeks. I also offer ongoing one to one mentoring either via Zoom, or in person.
I also facilitate and teach half day seminars on the topic of Worldview and run a 10 module course called The Transforming Story.
mobile: 07909240248
God's Question: CALLING
When a Paramedic attends to an injured person, they apparently ask them three questions to determine the person's level of consciousness. What is your name? What day is it? or who is the Prime Minister of Britain? Finally, where are you right now?
God asked a question in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve chose to believe the serpent's lie about the character of God and then disobeyed God. 'Where are you'? God asked. How penetrating this question is.
Where are you in your life? Where are you as a man or a woman? Where are you in relation to God? Where are you in relation to God's calling on your life? The story we are living in determines where we are. What story are you living in?
As a result of choosing to believe the serpent's lie about the character of God, humanity chose to define good and evil for themselves apart from God. Reality is something that human beings make up then if they don't let God be their ultimate reality.
The creator God will not be ignored though, so he left his mark on us by giving us a conscience knowing a sense of right and wrong. He made us as relational beings so that relationships are fundamental to human life. We all know this. Our deepest wounds come from broken relationships and our deepest joys also. To be human is to be relational. Without a sense of love and belonging, there is always suffering.
By using the Paramedic's three questions but using different words such as Story, Journey and Desire we can have some idea of answering God's question 'Where are you'? We are born into a broken world, so we all have imperfect blueprints from imperfect parents- if we had parents. Our story in the form of our childhood and life journey is shaped by factors like people, experiences, agreements with the messages we received and inner vows we make to self protect amongst other things.
Our story then determines the journey we take in life and who we become.
Turning points in our life journey also affect the direction we take. This all goes to form both our story which in turn forms our identity. As human beings we have desires.
If we are living out of a fragmented identity, our desire will be to self protect and numb our pain and of course this self protection and numbing out will continue to form our identity and dictate our journey, because we will be living out of a different 'script' written by someone else. Some of us know we are living out of of someone else's 'script', some of us do not.
To be fully conscious we need to be Alert & Oriented x 3 to our story, our journey and our core desires. At the heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart. We need a new heart.
This is where Jesus longs to be invited into our story, to transform, heal and liberate the script of our lives and bring us into his bigger Story. He enables us to absorb our pain into a larger sense of meaning that is bigger than ourselves.
Jesus died to transform our story. He is still asking 'Where are you'? Next time, I am going to talk about something called 'The Father's Embrace' that has the power to make our lives 'Alert & Oriented x 4. I thought you said 3? There is a fourth.....
LifeQuest Summary Statement
Story and Identity are inseparable, for we cannot know who we are outside of our story. LIFEQUEST is a four week course that takes an honest look at your story, the experiences and people that shaped you. It also looks at the key
and explores the story you are living in now, and what God’s Larger Story is about.
It is based on our Three Fold Calling as Human beings and as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ: The Call to Belong to God (Communion); the Call to Be the people of God (Community Building) and the Call to Do God’s work (Co-Creativity).