When most of us say that we want change, what we really mean is that we want our relative ranking within the existing hierarchy to change so that the results of pulling or pushing the various levers (inputs) are more favorable to us.
That's understandable, because most of us live in the material (natural) world … exclusively. We learn how to push or pull the various levers available to us to dispense the goodies we want in life. It oftentimes goes like this: Follow the rules our parents made when we were children. Follow the rules our teachers made from elementary school on upward. Follow the rules the colleges made if we went there. Follow the rules our bosses made when we went to work. Follow the rules "the authorities" made when we deal with them.
We do this in part because there are rewards for following the rules, and penalties for not following the rules. Occasionally, we follow the rules but the expected result does not occur. We are then told to follow the rules more closely: We did not get the expected outcome because we did not provide the expected input.
Somewhere during our childhood, if we are fortunate, we are introduced to the Bible. This introduction may occur in a church Sunday school, from a friend, sometimes a relative, during a holiday visit to a church, or perhaps even in a book or a movie. In the Bible, we learn – if we read it carefully – that the inputs we have been taught that operate the levers of success in the world have been … incompletely taught to us.
If we carefully read the Bible, especially the events that have affected the entire world, we find repeated reference to a supernatural God, one who uses levers different than the ones we have been taught to operate in the world.
For want of a better word, I refer to these as the supernatural levers that we can learn to push or pull to obtain results in the supernatural world, but that also appear in the natural world. Sometimes the levers are large and powerful and have great effect upon the natural world, and those often require assistance for us to operate. For these big, tough jobs we learn that the supernatural Creator-God can be called upon to help us or operate the levers entirely upon our behalf.
That's not the reading most of us take away from a session with the Bible, but for those willing to pursue God's Word, especially in the Old Testament, it is pretty much indisputable. God is a supernatural God, and He acts within both the supernatural and natural realms to effect a result He wants.
If we spend enough time in the Bible, the supernatural realm becomes more natural to us, because we realize that much of what God accomplished in the natural realm actually began in the supernatural (spiritual) realm. It's hard to read the account of Creation in Genesis and arrive at any other conclusion.
Many of those who dwell in the natural world reject this explanation for Creation. Their explanation of Creation is a Big Bang (explosion), which caused the entire natural world to come into being. Various theories have been put forward as fact (and taught in school that way), but they all seem to remove God from the explanation. Perhaps the presence of an eternally existent being without beginning or ending is more than the natural world can comprehend. It is certainly more than they can accept!
The Bible doesn't stop there, however. It explains that humanity is made in God's own image. God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are body, soul and spirit – except to the natural world, which sees us as matter than can be manipulated, and perhaps even merged with silicon chips and a stranger's computer coding. Not coincidentally, this silicon invasion could lead to the death of our supernatural selves, as the cost of a silicon-limited existence and complete control by others.
The supernatural part of ourselves is bound up within God. Those of us who have trusted Jesus as our savior are gifted with God's Holy Spirit. Put another way, that means that a part of God lives inside of us, has instant communication – emotionally and spiritually – with God our Father. This is a part of humanity's dual natural/supernatural existence that baffles most scientists, even as some try to replicate it with silicon wafers.
Interestingly enough, God dwelling inside of us also makes many churches uncomfortable. "What will happen if the Holy Spirit begins speaking to a multitude of people during the singing? Or even worse, the sermon? It would be chaos!" It is far easier to pretend that such communication doesn't exist. I can't say that I know, but I do believe that we are on the cusp of finding out what will happen. Exciting times!
It's much easier to deal with humanity as if our time on earth is a time in the natural world. After we die, if we know Jesus as savior, we go to a spiritual place called heaven. Everything there is perfect, because God runs it.
But what if this view is all wrong? What if heaven is almost entirely spiritual, on one side of the continuum, and earth is almost entirely natural, on the other side of the continuum? What if the Holy Spirit and His Presence inside of us makes it possible for us to operate in either mode, depending upon where we reside? What if God has given us tools to operate within the spiritual (supernatural) realm, even while we reside on the earth (natural realm)?
Well, now … my denomination says, and another denomination says, and on and on it goes. After listening to enough sermons, most of us understand our denomination well enough, but we may understand the Bible rather poorly. Put another way, we may view the Bible through the eyes of our denominational teaching. The things our denomination (or our neighbor's denomination) like or don't like can easily be swept under the carpet. The pastor never teaches on them, so for the majority of attendees, they don't exist. One of those things is that God works from the supernatural world first, but the results of His efforts effect changes in the natural world, too. But that only occurs if we actually read and think about the Bible ourselves, absent our denominational filters.
As we do that, we may find that the things soon to come on this earth will not be such a surprise to us, but are things we actually expect a supernatural God to do. Things that are dark, frightening and hopeless to us become an opportunity for God to educate us about how he still works in the world today. Go, God!
My view of Armageddon (start with Reconnaissance, Vol. 1) will take you deep into the supernatural realm in which God operates – and wants us to do as well.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
The post What do you know about God's 'supernatural levers'? appeared first on WND.
