"A Secret Society?"

  •  By Tony Harriman  

Usually, when you think of the term "Secret Society," your mind conjures up images of Masonic rituals,  Coven sacrifices, the Illuminati, the Ku Klux Klan or other such mysterious or dangerous congregations.  You don't normally think of Christians as belonging to a "secret" club.  Unfortunately, though, in some parts of the world it is still dangerous to publicly express religious interest.  In the Middle East, China or some parts of Asia a Christian is not a welcomed member of society.  In those societies, the Christian must wisely remain somewhat hidden.

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The following thought has agitated me recently, and I'd like to give it wings.  I have wondered how the world might look if every member of the Christian Community across denominational lines were given the gifts with which the original first-century disciples were endowed; You know: healing, resurrection, exorcism, preaching, teaching, etc.  That might be a hard package to keep hidden, don't you think?  And if you had such gifts, would you even WANT to keep them to yourself?  Can you imagine ever again living a hum-drum life?

"But hold on," you say, "Are you thinking that if you could do that, and anyone gets sick, you're just gonna take the next train out to heal them?"

Well, maybe.  But if every church member had the gift, don't you think that you could find someone a little closer at hand to take care of the job?

Right now Christians are not so easy to spot in a crowd.  Granted, some members are stuck in a clothing style from another century, but they pretty much look like everyone else: two arms, legs … you get the idea.  Someone in the cheap seats pipes up and says, "You can identify them by the things they don't do."  Perhaps.  But let me suggest this, if any single one of those Christians in the crowd had the gifts listed above, you'd be able to recognize that person, not by the things he or she didn't do, but by the things they DID do.  Wouldn't you agree?

"So we're just going to get the gift, then go out and heal all the sick people.  Is that what you're saying?  Someone dies and we just show up to bring 'em back?"  

Well, if I had the gift of healing, I'd probably find it difficult to park myself on the couch with beer and crackers watching Jerry Springer, don't you think?  Can you imagine ever again having trouble getting out of bed in the morning?

"But if we lived in a world with no sickness, no death, we wouldn't long for Heaven."  

Really?  Is that all you need to keep you here in this broken-down world?  No need for a health system or undertakers?  You'll turn a blind eye to all the vice and heartbreak going on behind closed doors.  All you want is a bit of money in the bank, a job, a home, three meals a day and two weeks' vacation a year, and you'll be settled for eternity.  Well, good luck with that.  You sound a bit like the person singing the song in "My Fair Lady:"

"All I want is a place somewhere — far away from the cold night air — a place that we can share — oh, wouldn't it be luverly."

It seems to me that if human beings truly were created in the image of God — lightning rods for His Spirit — then it won't matter what religious software is running between our ears.  A willingness to be a channel for God appears to be the only handwriting left off of the Baptismal Certificate, and is probably the only ink actually needed to explain the job description.  I imagine it must take a lot of restraint on the part of God to resist the desire to burst out of a person and fix something awful.

"Tony, you sound far too simplistic for my liking."

Well, I apologize for that.  But like I said above, the missing ingredient of the gifts of the Spirit agitates me.  Perhaps I've seen more than I care to of the pain and heartbreak of this world — not just in my own life, but in the life of everyone I know and beyond.  Perhaps I'm fearful of the world awaiting my kids.  Yes, I'm familiar with the text which indicates that perfect love casts out fear.  But I don't yet have that perfect love, so here I am looking forward to a better world while I take care where I put my feet in this one.

This is going to sound heretical, and in another century I would have been hung for suggesting such a notion, but I imagine that people with the above-mentioned gifts of the Spirit would have little time — or, perhaps, need — for attending church.  These people would be too busy walking beside their own local "Pool of Bethesda" searching for people to restore.  Hmm, you're right, it is a strange notion; perhaps I'll just leave it out of the writing.

Oh … Secret Societies — get back on track, Tony.  It does seem to me like Christianity shouldn't be something you have to ask a person about, as if you were asking what he or she prefers for breakfast or lunch.  It seems to me that a person full of the Spirit would be easily identifiable to any other person filled with the same Spirit.  Just like when you go to Europe and get around a tour group visiting Paris, London or Rome; German-speaking people eventually gravitate toward each other, as do the French, the English, Italians, etc.  As soon as they open their mouths, it becomes clear how you can communicate with them.  A Spirit-filled individual will have a speech and a presence about them that might be completely unobserved by the general populace.  It's likely that Jesus would have been lost in a crowd … until He stopped … and started speaking.  Though, interestingly enough, even the Roman guards (likely not full of the Spirit), who were well used to people trying to stir up the population, could tell that this Man was not like the rest of the crowd.  That observation is worth parking on for more than a moment.

Secret Societies seem to live on the fringes of society; JUUUUST inside the law, but only just.  Secret Societies don't want just anyone in their services observing their rituals.  Secret Societies are tolerated only as long as they aren't out stringing up the Catholics or the Jews or the Africans.  We have learned to be disgusted by these behaviors — at least most of us have.  As long as we remember that these people were once here, we can somewhat assure that they don't return to power.

My Christian walk has been an interesting one.  I have met people in the congregation whose only purpose in life is not to heal, but to tell the rest of the world how right they are about what they believe, and how wrong everyone else is.  This kind of person is of the sort that if you share the same belief as he or she does, then they believe it and understand it better than you do.  This kind of person cares little for the feelings of others, especially those sharing the same church roof.  I have met people who have spent hours every day studying the Scriptures and books about the Scriptures; but some of these people possess the nastiest of dispositions, all you want to do is keep away from them.  There have also been some of the sweetest people I have ever met, who are usually not so familiar with Book/Verse and side of the page this or that particular text resides.

A knowledge of the Scriptures can be a very useful tool in your armory — but that knowledge is not the armory, any more than a shotgun is an arsenal.  It appears that Jesus was less interested in how well His disciples understood the Scriptures than He was in their willingness to go out and willingly share that which they had been freely given.  Doesn't that strike you as interesting?  It does me.

Once or twice in the Scriptures is a record of Jesus performing a miracle of healing, and telling all the witnesses to be quiet about it.  I'm afraid that request would be a tough one for me to obey.  If one of MY children should die and be restored to life, I think that would have to go on the "Praise List."  And if I should be delivered from leprosy, you can put money on me being found in the congregation — any congregation — the following Sabbath.  When Jesus' disciples were filled with His Spirit there was no way that fact was going to be kept secret.

"But the pouring out of the Spirit of God was only temporary.  The Spirit is not in the world today.  We must wait for the promise of the Latter Rain."

Yes, I've heard that.  And I honestly believe that notion should bother you, like it bothers me.   What portion of Scripture shall we extract to prop up our reality?  I have attended countless "annointings" of sick people who didn't get better.  Those of us in the room called upon God to heal each unfortunate soul.  We quoted the Scripture which asserts that "the prayer of a righteous man availeth much."  And the sick still didn't get better.  It took me a while to realize that there isn't a man (or woman) on the planet that is able (or ever has been able) to fulfill THAT requirement.  The only Person that can fill the shoes of the "righteous man" is the same Man that was the only individual qualified to cast that first stone at the adulteress.  But occasionally it seems that prayers are answered; the sick do get better.  Why didn't they have to "wait for the promise of the Latter Rain"?  What uncommon privilege was theirs?  Were they healed by chance?  Did their deliverance come as a surprise to God?  Did it have nothing to do with God — at all?  Why did the Spirit work here and not there?

Well, of course, we don't know — exactly.  Some things we'll just have to wait and have them explained to us.

The Spirit of God does appear, for the time being, to be somewhat of a well-kept secret, but I have a notion that this condition of things is about to change.

As a closing thought, perhaps we should consider that one of the best evidences we have that Jesus is not on the planet today is the fact that YOU don't know where He is.  You might more easily keep secret the whereabouts of Jesus than you could keep hidden a blaze in a fireworks factory.

On the other hand, though not here in person Himself, there appears to me to be nothing secret about the Society of Jesus.

And that's just my take on it ….

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"Walls to Climb — Fences to Sit On"

By Tony Harriman  •

In a world without fences would be an interesting place to live, and I suppose we should include walls in the thought.  There are probably many more, but I can think of two sizable walls in our world: Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain, and the Great Wall of China.  The best theory put forth for the purpose of what was known as Hadrian's Wall was to keep out the barbarians — the Scots.  The Wall spans the entire width of the northern portion of England, and much of it survives to this day.  The vast Great Wall of China, so historians tell us, was designed to keep out various nomadic and warlike peoples seeking trouble wherever they went, most notably: the Mongolians.  Those who have been there tell us that the Great Wall of China can be seen from outer space; I'll have to take their word for that, but I'll be happy to check it out … as long as I don't have to pay the bill.

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Some walls, like the Berlin Wall, were designed to keep people in.  Although the Wall was constructed around free West Berlin, in effect the Wall prevented citizens of Soviet-controlled East Berlin and beyond from defecting into the West.  The Wall kept the people inside the Communist world behind the Iron Curtain.

Some fences keep bad dogs out; some keep bad dogs in.  And we're happy for both — mostly.  Some fences, like those found in zoos, keep the wild animals from tearing up the visiting public; while others are placed to protect the wildlife from poachers.  Most barriers have a purpose.

Walls and fences are constructed around prisons and detention centers to prevent inmates getting out and causing havoc among the rest of society.  I have sometimes found myself guilty of wishing there were walls and fences like these around some of the nations that spawn and engender hate groups bent on the destruction of anyone not believing the way they do.  But I have a hard time defending the concept, since there are many other people living in those nations that don't wish evil upon the rest of us in the free world.

Throughout all of Great Britain are dry stone walls made up of the rocks gathered from the land on which the walls themselves were built; they were built to keep valuable livestock from getting lost and wandering onto a neighbor's property.  The walls did a pretty decent job of keeping animals in, but did nothing to keep predators out, so if a wolf (once incredibly prevalent in Britain) or a fox got in among the sheep, the prey had no way of escape.  An interesting tidbit here is that a large number of the fields surrounded by the walls have a public right-of-way going through them, so that members of the public may enjoy almost all of the British countryside.  This concept is foreign to Americans, but very much missed by English people living in the USA.

In my short Christian walk, I have occasionally landed on the concept of the Law of God being a "hedge," or "wall" around those people who honor and keep that Law; a wall which keeps those within the wall safe from harm.  I'd like to take a moment and peel back some of the layers of that thought.

To dive right in, what harm might this "wall" or "hedge" keep someone safe from?  Surely the reference cannot be to anything physical.  The original "keepers" of the Law, the Israelites, suffered constant abuse at the hands of their oppressors.  "Only when they were disobedient," you say.  Really?  How will you demonstrate that?  Are we to believe that there were none in days of old who chose to honor the Law of God?  No Moses?  No Brother Job?  No nice young Joseph?  No Elijah?  All of these appeared to have been very special to God, wouldn't you say?  Half of the four were taken to Holy Heaven.  And shall we say that no physical harm befell them?  Even when the Israelites WERE obedient, shall we imagine that no one ever got sick, or died of old age?  Surely when Jesus was here it could have  been argued that if anyone could keep the Law properly, it was Him — No?  And did no evil befall the Son of God?  "He had to be sacrificed," you say.  Yes, but was it necessary for him to be slapped so hard that he should cry out, "If I've done evil, bear witness of that evil"?

Take a quick trip through the pages of time and see many of the faithful who have been fed to lions; burnt at the stake; crucified; slaughtered and burned in the Nazi ovens.  Will you be so self-righteous as to say that these had not the faith that "I" have.

So what shall we say that this Holy Law keeps us safe from?  Well, try this: it keeps us safe from self-inflicted pain; pain that comes from stealing, unfaithfulness, lying, cheating.  Add to the list that which perhaps brings the deepest heartache that a man can experience; that of trying to charge our batteries from a power source for which we are not fitted.  We were designed to be energized by the Breath of God — His Spirit.  This Spirit appears to be unlike any AC or DC we can imagine.  Trying to live any other way would be like trying to live solely on multi-vitamins.  This Spirit, which has neither name nor apparent origin, seems akin to that energy which emanates constantly from the sun; the same sun that is chased across the sky by mindless vegetation which has been programmed to feed off the free solar energy pouring down from the heavens.

No matter how much you dwell behind this wall, or fence, one day you are going to physically die.  Even now you are wasting away little by little.  Every year sees the loss of cell integrity throughout your physical frame, from your head to your feet.  But remember this: God cares less for your body than He does for your soul.  yes, you need your physical body to develop your soul, but in the world of the spirit, there is not so much need for a temple like the one you have now.

It seems, then, that the Law of God is designed to keep your soul safe behind the wall; but the wall will not keep you safe "physically" from your enemies.

Stories of God's protection are abundant on the lips of those who survive.  But what else do you expect?  What shall we say of the hundreds of thousands whose voices are silent, having been washed away by the tsunami?  What testimony has been borne by those buried and perished beneath the rubble of the Twin Towers?  Are we to believe that these many souls had not the faith to be saved?  Those who survive rarely attribute the saving of their lives to some act of faith on their part, and are often bewildered as to why they should have been spared in the first place.  The many records of those who did go down in faith have been sealed by their executioners, and shall we be brazen enough to suggest that such a fate awaits not my life?  There are people living today who have seen such inhumanity on the planet they believed they would never see.  Just because the pain hasn't yet come by your door is no cause for you to believe that it never will.

A little side turn here — sort of.  In past posts to this Blog I have mentioned one of our dogs, Lucy, who was a wanderer and a thief.  This was the dog that would return home from who-knows-where with a boot, a fluffy toy, a used diaper, a dead chicken — whatever.  We had no idea how far she wandered; certainly further than our immediate neighbors, because I tried on occasion to return the things she had stolen, without success.  Well, a week ago she returned home with a gunshot wound; it could have been something else, but to us it looked like what it was.  The wound was bad enough that it would have cost hundreds of dollars just to go through the first layer to find out what the real internal damage was.  The option we chose was to have her put to sleep.  Though the decision was painful, it was reasonable; patching her up would not have been a fix for her nature.  Lucy didn't care about fences; she could go over or under any obstacle in her quest to steal something that was not hers.  Sure, we could spend a fortune and build a fence that could keep in ANY animal, and keep out ANY predator, but Lucy's heart was always pining for that greener stuff on the other side.  We miss her, and try to think only of the things we loved about her.  But living outside the fence ultimately caused her death.

It doesn't appear to me that the Law of God is something designed to keep ANYTHING in or out.  A man or woman is free at any time to pass right through this invisible fence, either way.  The only thing the wall does is keep safe the soul of anyone WILLINGLY behind it.  That which cannot be seen or handled — our souls — will never be harmed by those who have no respect for the wall.  And don't be surprised when you see an intruder behind the fence.  Someone once said that churches are full of intruders, only seen properly when the light shines.

Though I really don't like them, I tolerate walls and fences — for now.  But I must admit, I am looking forward to a world which has no need for such divisions.  Bring it on.

And that's just my take on it ….

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