Our Civil War: Fear Against Gratitude
The Deep State in the Time of Jesus
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him, we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Rom.8:15
“God is love. Perfect love drives out fear.” 1 Jn.4:16,18
“These are the beginnings of birth pains.” Mk.13:8
Our Civil War Today
Today we are in a civil war of fear and gratitude.
The 19th century civil war was based on race. For a while I had concluded for us in the 21st century the civil war is based on sex and gender. Some claim the 2016 Presidential election was between those who say it was a war on women and those who say it was a war on fathers and therefore family.
But then Donald Trump was elected President and there came a new development that we never would have seen had Hillary Clinton been elected. This is called the Deep State that represen in America s who has not been elected by the people, but who rules and would rule America.
Donald Trump has been the scapegoat for more fear in America than any president before him, except for Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln was elected half of America seceded from the union. When Trump was elected many states in the country seceded from the union based on differing opinions about immigration and sanctuary for immigrants. Some states simply decided to ignore federal laws.
From his inauguration Trump has been the focus of all sorts of strategies to impeach him. The level of fear projected on to him even has been given a name: “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Now as I am writing in March 18, 2020, we have a flu virus from China that has virtually shut down the world and is a godsend for the Deep State of Fear. Already the Deep State in monitoring our language reprimands those who call it the China Flu labeling those who do so as racists. Some in Europe hug those with the China flu as if they are Jews in Nazi Germany to let them know they are not alone. (These people might be braver than others if not a little stupid.)
The Deep State in Our Experiences
One of our first lessons at seminary was on how to interpret the Bible. We were told that “a text without a context is a pretext.” This means that a line of scripture, or a moment in our lives, must understand its context before you can tell whether your interpretation of the line of scripture, or your interpretation of your life is true or not.
The problem of fear is it prevents us from looking at the context of our lives, and we end up being run by our fears without considering where our fears will take us. We see a snake coiled and ready to kill us and we run away. Later, when not in fear, we find the snake coiled was a rope coiled, but the damage has been done.
When Jesus is saying that faith moves mountains it means that love drives and moves fear from a mountain to a mole hill; from a pandemic to a community concern; from a challenge to a matter of repentance. We could save 50,000 people from killing themselves on the highway by turning the speed limit to twenty- five miles per hour but no one would find it an advantage to ride a car. Eighty thousand people died of flu last year, but we never stopped the world.
The Left believes that any crisis of a fear is too good not to take advantage of it. This is right out of Marx’s Deep State manual for revolution, and still is for China as well.
Jesus Enters Occupied Country of the Deep State
The news wants us to believe their fears. The news and the headlines of catastrophe and plague is no different than the time which Jesus entered. Jesus warns us that
“nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines.” Mk.13
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Mk.13:12-13
But then look at how Jesus reads the headlines of the Deep State’s news: “These are the beginning of birth pains.” Mk.13:8
The news headlines “The End is Here.” The good news headlines “This is the Beginning.
He who stands firm will be saved.
Spiritual Warfare for Dummies
The evangelist John summarizes Jesus’ war principles for the civil war:
“God is love. Perfect love drives out fear.” 1 Jn.4:16,18
We discover several principles here:
1. God is love. Love is God. God and Love are both nouns and verbs, a state of being and a state of doing.
2. The opposite of love is not anger or hate, but fear.
3. Fear is not so much a thought or feeling created by my soul, but a demon with its own autonomous existence, which we call spiritual.
4. If I ignore a demon, the demon does not ignore me, but feeds on my fear and gets bigger.
5. The passage says love does not drive out sin, but it drives out fear. Many Christians who want their sins forgiven do not want their fears driven out because fear has its sort of benefits that we are more comfortable with than love.
The Apostle Peter with the help of Mark felt called to write the first Gospel for the Church. There was a second generation of Christians who had never met Jesus personally (This is the same problem the early church had with Paul as well who had never met Jesus in his earthly days, even as he claimed himself to be an original apostle.)
The central message of this Gospel is to assure the early disciples that they were not being persecuted because they were sinners, but because they were sinners who were not afraid of sin’s punishment and condemnation. It was this peace that infuriated the Deep State of Fear then as it does today.
Jesus Demonstrates His Secret Resistance
The Deep State in religion does not understand that long before Jesus is the Prince of Peace, he is a warrior entering the Deep State of Fear which has occupied our land.
He has come in a low profile, disguised as a lamb, in order not to rouse the Deep State’s attention. Who, after all, would be afraid of a lamb? Maybe a lion or a ram or an eagle, but a lamb?
His first synagogue he read the scripture and people were astonished that he read with authority not like the scribes. He read with gratitude not with fear. A long-time member objected to Jesus’ whole ministry right in the beginning. He sounded as if he were representing the whole congregation:
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!”
Had Jesus been a modern psychologist today he might have answered:
“I see you have some real feelings about me? Where does all this fear and paranoia come from? Do you want to talk about it more? Does anyone have the same sort of feelings?”
And then imagine the firestorm that that would have led to where one fear would inspire another fear like a deadly virus in a mob that now was greatly afraid.
Instead Jesus identified the voice of the man as a fear demon so instead of talking to the man, he spoke to the fear demon and said,
“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him.” The evil spirit (the fear demon) came out of him with a shriek.” Mk.1:25-26
Peter reports what is stated by the congregation:
“What is this? A new teaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits (fear demons) and they obey him.” Mk.1:27
But we may also guess what was not stated by the congregation:
“This guy really is a destroyer. I think the people that are really impressed ought to leave this synagogue. We have been doing fine until this trouble-maker came along.”
Peter reports simply,
“News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” Mk.1:26
Is this good news or bad news?
It depends whether you are living in the Deep State of Fear or the Kingdom of Gratitude.
Everyone a Warrior
When Nazi Germany started to bomb London, C.S Lewis was asked to do some BBC broadcasts over the radio of a theological nature to encourage the citizens who were dreadfully afraid. He came recommended for the BBC because of his first book on theology entitled “The Problem of Pain.” One commentator said it really should have been entitled “The Problem of Evil” but Lewis disagreed. Lewis realized his audience were mostly skeptics and had no theology to inform them. Lewis people did not understand concepts like “evil,” but they did understand experiences of “pain”.
What Lewis did for the experience of “pain”, I believe Jesus and Peter did for “fear” in the Gospel of Mark, and I would like to introduce Jesus through Peter’s point of view, to tell that story of good news about the victory of the civil war between fear and gratitude as if my voice was Peter’s voice.
If this sounds extremely presumptuous on my part, I think it is more presumptuous not to tell the story. It then simply abdicates Jesus’ authority to the Deep State.
Peter would be the first person to tell you he was not qualified to tell this story. He was both a coward and an unschooled, ordinary man. I have Peter’s fear in common but have a liability that Peter did not have. I was well schooled. My approach to the Bible and my understanding of Christ was taught to me by the Deep State of Religion, Politics, and most of all of Psychology, the real religion of the Deep State.
It took my first wife to dump me out of our house and our marriage of fourteen years along with serving four churches all over the country, that lead me to decide that fear was either going to destroy me or would become my new beginning. Like Jesus in Mark 13, the news was either going to be the end of me and end of the world, or birth pains. Jesus warned us of the headlines of then and now: “These are the beginning of birth pains.” Mk.13:8
Curiously four weeks before my wife announced that I was no longer her husband in a confession to our Pastor, God ordered me to preach about divorce as written in Mark 10:1-12. On a Thursday I was no longer living at my wife’s home with two children. On that Sunday God had ordered me to preach about Mark 10:1-12
It was my beginning exodus out of the Deep State of Fear through the wilderness of light and conflict to find finally the Promised Land, the Kingdom of Gratitude, of peace in light, also called “Beulah-land” in Hebrew which means “Married” (Isaiah 62:4).
Lose the Battle Which is Finally Won
My objective is to help the reader understand this foundational civil war in us all, especially in marriage, by simply identifying the central motifs of the Deep State of Fear and its challenge by what we shall call the Kingdom of Gratitude.
I agree with Dennis Prager who is both radio commentator and Jewish scholar, who says that the greatest threat today for liberals is not conservatives but the Left. “Everything the Left touches today, it destroys.”
I believe that if we start with our experiences of fear on the left to gratitude on the right, we would establish a continuum of health and peace, and most of all give us a context to judge the texts in the Bible and the texts of our own lives.
The discipline starts with the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom of Gratitude that must define the news of the Deep State of Fear, or otherwise we live in fear, with the deepest fear being of dying alone and abandonment.
We shall then begin to understand that the Deep State has nothing against the good news, it is simply that they do not believe anything new could be good. For the Deep State every day is Ground Hog Day, J.P. Sartre’s play “No Exit”.
Long before we experience gratitude we are born in fear. No baby needs to be taught how to cry, but every child must be taught how to say “thank-you.”
Fear is natural. Gratitude is supernatural.
Laughter is aggression robbed of its purpose. The Gospel is not a tragedy but a comedy. The Gospel is not a story of the Goat, but the story of the Lamb. If we get what we deserve, we all go to hell. The Gospel drives out fear. Fear loses. Gratitude rules. The good news trumps the news. This is not the end of time, but the beginning:
“These are the beginning of birth pains.” Mk.13:
When Chuck Colsen was sent to prison for his crimes during the Nixon Administration, he discovered the victory of this civil war of the Kingdom of Gratitude over the Deep State and finally concluded:
“It was better to lose at a battle that will ultimately be won, than win at a battle that will ultimately lose.”
This civil war between the Deep State of Fear and the Kingdom of Gratitude has already been won. Listen to Peter’s Gospel to tell of this account.
Encouragement for the Persecuted (Mk.1:1-20)
I was into my late fifties, when Mark came to me and said,
“Master Peter we have to write out the good news of Jesus’ life and ministry.”
“Why so Mark?”
“We are now getting into a second generation of Christians who never met Jesus first-hand and Nero has picked up his persecutions of Christians, and many of these young people believe they are being persecuted because they are sinners.”
“Hmmm. Maybe you are right. But I am not sure you want to start with me as a role model. I am a coward and sinner, you know.”
“Yes, precisely and you know that God and Christ still love you even more? But did Jesus ever persecute you knowing what he knew of you?
“No, that is a silly thought.”
“So who has ever persecuted you?”
“The Deep State of Fear persecuted me and continue to persecute me and you.”
“So what happened to your fear of being a coward and a sinner?”
“God’s love drove it out.”
Then I smiled as Mark had tricked me and I realized I finally got the joke. In my talking about the Good News of Gratitude my fears were driven out once again and I realized I was not being persecuted because of being a coward and sinner, but because I was no longer in fear of being thought of as a coward and a sinner.
Gratitude defines me, not fear.
“The stone the builder’s rejected has become the chief capstone.” (Peter’s sermon in Acts 4)
The part of my personality called “Simon” I rejected as “Simon the Coward” but that becomes my soul that I am now reconciled to but not ruled by. My testimony is not only the new real for my soul but inviting. In my first sermon at Pentecost, I did not create fear from the Jews, where they would have most likely thrown rocks at the Rock, but they “were cut to the heart” and asked us what they should do to be saved. Acts 2:37
Our young Christians need to realize that they are not being persecuted because they are sinners, but because they are sinners saved by grace. Their testimony, which needs to be developed, must preach good news in order to drive out fears, and not to create more fear by anger or depression of the new Christians.
The Deep State runs on fear and gives all authority to fear as we give all praise to Christ. They cannot allow Christians saved by grace because then they lose complete control of both the Religious State of Fear and the Political State of Fear.
We are free in a world enslaved by fear, and fear is obligated to try and destroy us by depending on fear. But we are no longer ruled by fear, but gratitude of what Christ has done for us, and will keep doing for us.
That makes us dangerous people in our world today.
“So where shall we begin our Gospel, Mark?
“Our lives began at our baptism. Why not begin with Jesus’ baptism. Let’s begin where Jesus was baptized and then had to combat his own fears in the wilderness.”
“At once the Spirt sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” Mk.1:12-13
“Yes, that is a good place to start. I remember Jesus telling me that every time an angel appeared to him, the angel had to tell Jesus ‘Fear not.’”
“And Jesus would look at me and say, ‘How did that angel know that I was in fear?’”
And we would smile.
It was that smile that said to me on the first day,
“Come, follow me. I will make you fishers of men.” (Mk.1:17)
that was when I was hooked for life.
The Deep State’s story is of tragedy. The Kingdom’s story is of comedy.
Jesus’ first action, “without delay” (Mk.1:20) was to call me into ministry, then Andrew, James and John the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus then took us to a synagogue which was ruled by fear. His impact surprised everyone because he “taught them as one who had authority” (Mk.1:22) which is to say that he lived in gratitude and not fear. He did not read scripture like some who act as if they were being punished. He read scripture as if he had received a love note of encouragement from his Father.
Immediately there was the opening war with the kingdom of fear.
“A man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit (fear), cried out,
‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!’ Mk.1:24
“Be quiet. Come out of him.” (Mk.1:25)
Jesus knew that as the fear demon owned the man, possessed the man, took all in-coming calls for the man, the man could not hear anything he was saying. So he talked to the fear and not the man. He talked to the symptom not the man. He talked to the sin, not the sinner. He talked sternly to the fear, but graciously to the sinner.
The Deep State of Fear loves fear but hates those in fear. The Kingdom of Gratitude hates fear but loves those in fear.
The reason we say the whole congregation was ruled by fear is that this man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil fear spirit had worshiped with the synagogue for a long time unnoticed. Some even thought he was initially speaking for the whole congregation because the congregation’s reaction to Jesus was to be surprised that anyone could have authority over fear:
“What is this? A new preaching-and with authority! He even gives orders to (fear) demons and they obey him.” Mk.1:27
My Scary Mother-in-Law (Mk.1:29-34)
Jesus’ next act of spiritual warfare was to take on my scary mother-in-law. Mark said it was a fever. Jesus went to help her up. The fever left her, and she began to wait on him.
I was amazed because my mother-in-law never waited on anyone. She had this huge sense of entitlement. She was a bully and I usually tried to avoid her.
I could not fully explain what happened but in Luke’s gospel, he says Jesus “bent over (my mother-in-law) and rebuked the fever and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.” Lk.4:5
I think Luke got it right and I didn’t. My mother-in-law scared me and considered me a coward. How could I become leader of the church if I couldn’t be the leader of my own family?
The Deep State promotes equality through matriarchy by enabling the children to act out fears. The Kingdom of Gratitude promotes hierarchy through the anointing of the father to teach the children gratitude.
Jesus had to rebuke the fear demon in my own household to demonstrate the nature of his whole ministry.
From my own household there was exorcism that extended to the whole town who was gathered at our door (Mk.1:33).
Curiously Jesus would not allow the fear demons to speak because they knew who he was.
Jesus knew that the Deep State wants to give fear both a voice and a vote. Pilate does this with the crowd who releases Barabbas instead of Jesus. But in the Kingdom fear is made dumb. Think what the angel does to Zechariah when he doubts on how Elizabeth and he can have a child in old age.
Everyone is welcome in the Deep State except those who live in gratitude. Everyone is welcome in the Kingdom except those who live in fear.
Solitary Places (Mk.1:35-39)
From that moment I was impressed and the whole town got impressed. Everyone was looking for Jesus.
“That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and (fear)-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many (fears), but he would not let the (fears) speak because they knew who he was.” Mk.1:32-34
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place (Mk.1:35) which is quite different than a lonely place.
If I had any fears that Jesus was not the star that I was to hitch my wagon to, then the reaction of the whole town allayed my fears.
But then I looked for Jesus and he wasn’t there. With all sorts of clutching people, I started to get scared that they would suck me dry.
When I found him, I was frustrated, angry, and in a bad mood I found myself irritated at Jesus and said to him,
“Everyone is looking for you.” Mk.11:37
Jesus was not apologetic to me like I thought he should have been. It was my house. It was my mother-in-law, and it was my reputation which was at stake. He simply smiled at me and said,
“Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mk.1:38
This was a new teaching for me. Jesus had got tired and was fearful. When you are in fear, you are in stupid. And Jesus did not practice stupid like most of us did. When you take away other people’s sin, you absorb it in and upon yourself. When you take away other people’s fear, you absorb that fear upon yourself.
His soul and body had worn down and he was sensitive to what his body was telling him. His spirit mind was not sending out perfect love. His body was under attack. His soul was filled with a sense of abandonment. He needed his spirit to be replenished by the Father’s Spirit so his own fears could be driven out within him. He knew he had to go to a solitary place early in the morning to rekindle his flagging spirit. He had to take his heart to the Father to have it filled to overflowing once again.
Teaching moment for me: Listen to your body and soul but do not let it rule you. When empty, fill up until you are overflowing. Isolate yourself to God. My practice and habit as a fisherman was to ignore my body’s pain and my soul’s fear of failing as a fisherman. But Jesus was teaching me that that non-attachment was not going to be of help when fishing for men.
Jesus never did anything out of fear. He always waited and served the Lord with praise for the Father’s gift love to get back in a spirit of gratitude. It was one reason he waited two days when Lazarus had died. He was still in fear and realized he would be of no help to anyone if he was still in fear. Even at that Martha was still angry at him for being late!
The Deep State promotes the lonely. The Kingdom promotes the solitary. In the Deep State the group is more important than the individual. In the Kingdom the individual is more important than the group.[1]
The Unambitious Leper (Mk.1:40-45)
A man of leprosy came to Jesus and begged him:
“If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Mk.1:40
Filled with compassion, while I was filled with fear, Jesus reached out to the man and said,
“I am willing. Be clean.” (Mk.1:43).
Immediately the man was cured of leprosy, but he wasn’t cured of disobedience. Jesus then told the man
“don’t tell this to anyone but show yourself to the priest and offer sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them.” Mk.1:43
Even though Jesus called us to be lights on a hill, he initially was cautious that newly healed people would awaken the Deep State of Fear. Our advance against the Deep State was still new and unsuspected by the Deep State. While developing an army, we still had to do this quietly and secretly.
But the leper was healed of his leprosy but not of his disobedience to Christ’s order not to tell anyone except his priest. Not only was the leper not healed of his disobedience, but he missed being healed in his spirit and soul as well.
“Instead (the leper) went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news.” Mk.1:45
The leper would naturally be bitter and angry at God and priests for God’s law to shun lepers. The leper would naturally be bitter and angry at people who shunned him and now want to be his friend. So the leper was healed in his body of leprosy but not of the leprosy in his spirit and soul.
The Deep State is quite willing to heal and feed your body if you are willing to give them your soul and spirit.
So Jesus had to leave that town, and found lonely places to do ministry.
The Fear of Forgiveness and Healing (Mk.2:1-12)
I never realized until Jesus that people are more fearful of forgiveness and healing than they are of being guilty and of being sick.[2] The body mind’s fear of abandonment interpreted by the soul as a desire to be punished, creates that mentality of fallen man.[3]
This is not a self-evident truth and the reader must pause to take this truth in:
“We are more fearful of forgiveness and healing than we are of living in shame, the deep fear that we were created badly.”
We are not so aware of the terrible consequences of fear until we step outside of the possession of fear by love’s respite from fear. Our body mind adapts to fear long before our souls and spirits adept to love. We are all pagans at birth feeling like prey in a predator’s world. No wonder God becomes lamb for us long before He becomes man. The body mind is always preparing for an attack when there is no attack, creating an enemy when there is no enemy, seeking revenge on an enemy that must be created to validate the fear that drives it all.
The Deep State uses scapegoats to increase fear. The Kingdom uses the Lamb to absorb fear.
Born in fear we unconsciously assume fear’s rules.
The body mind is ruled by the Law of Consumption: we are who we eat, or else they will eat us (“Rescue me from the mouth of the lions” Ps.22:21). I am, think of the baby, either getting love or getting the fear of abandonment. I either take in love, food, affection or I take in the fear of dying alone, or of being eaten. No self-respecting cannibal would eat a coward for fear of being a coward.
The soul mind is ruled by the soul’s Law of Compensation that maintains that we all get what we deserve. If my body mind is experiencing abandonment, the fear of dying alone, then I must be what others consider as an evil person who deserves what he gets. What we sow, we reap. What we put in, we get out. If we tell a lie, we develop a debt to God, our neighbor, and ourselves. If we like the lie, it is a bigger debt. If we live in the lie, we become cut off from God, neighbor, and self. This is the very definition of sin: the spirit in fear is a spirit that is cut off and disconnected from God, neighbor, and self. Sin is an anti-fellowship spirit, just like fear.
But due to our fallen nature as sinners and our punishment with death, we never get out of debt, and we inevitably conclude like Paul concluded,
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Our only options after that is either suicide or repentance, fellowship in the Deep State or the Kingdom.
Born into a kingdom of fear, we are morally obligated to die in fear by both the rules of body and of soul.
The Deep State has its rules. The Kingdom of Gratitude has its own rules. Those who hate rules are ruled by the Deep State.
This explains why healing and forgiveness of sins goes against the very laws of body and soul. You do not kill the Messiah because the Messiah is a misguided philosopher. You kill the human Messiah who claims to be God and wants to heal and forgive sins.
“Now some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He is a blasphemer! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mk.2:8
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit/heart[4] that this was what they were thinking.
“Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….”
He said to the paralytic,
‘I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them.
This amazed everyone and they praised God saying,
“We have never seen anything like this.” Mk.2:12
The Deep State often objected to Jesus healing on the Sabbath, but their deeper objection is that he healed at all. The rationale of the Deep State says, “If you take away the fear of sin, the fear of fear, what incentive will people have to be righteous?”
It did not occur to any in the Deep State that gratitude might be a better motivator than fear. Or it did occur to them and they had to make gratitude the enemy of the State.
The Kingdom runs by the Law of Jubilee (the law of the spirit mind) where all debts are forgiven[5], and no one is a slave to either fear or debt. The Deep State runs by the Law of Consumption (the law of the body mind) and depends on envy[6], theft, and unforgiveness to rule.
A New Pattern of Prestige (Mk.2:13-17)
For a man people liked to call the Prince of Peace, Jesus always found a way to pick a fight.
Jesus was very sharp to pick me to be his disciple, but to pick Levi or Matthew, the Jewish tax collector? Matthew worked for the Deep State of Politics, and then used that power to work those in the Deep State of Religion.
That point of view which I hated, was a point of view which shaped Matthew’s gospel. Matthew was clear about how the Old Covenant of the Jews implied the New Covenant with Jesus.
When the teachers of the law who were with the Pharisees of the Deep State of Religion, were so dumbfounded at Jesus eating with Matthew that they turned to us disciples, we were as disproving as they were.
Trying to keep Jesus out of this discussion was as possible as keeping God out of this discussion! So Jesus answered us all,
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mk.2:17
I laughed quietly to myself. Busted! Jesus told more jokes that sailed over the heads of those living in the Deep State because they believed that they were healthy and did not need Jesus. Jesus was going to let them live in their own righteousness. But after he finished that observation, he looked at me and smiled. Ouch! Busted. I could not forgive Matthew for his sin, but I could forget my fears. Jesus’ humor and spirit both forgave and forgot my fears.
He was teaching me how to move from fear to gratitude.
Without my prejudices towards Matthew, I found my debts forgiven. I was gratified to accept another sinner saved by grace.
The Deep State wants to root out sinners. The Kingdom wants to root out the righteous.
Ferment (Mk.2:18-22)
Some people around us observed that John the Baptist's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, but we weren’t, and asked:
“How is it that John’s disciples and the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” Mk.2:18
I did not know but Jesus did, and I was interested to learn why.
First, he said it is like being at a wedding. No one fasts when the bridegroom is with them. But when you take away that groom, then you will fast for a while.
Traditionally fasting is to go without food or water so the soul is put on alert that things are not right.
Fasting is a self-induced crisis like a snake’s venom in small doses makes one immune to the snake’s deadly poison (See Mk.16:18).
The first day in the wilderness, Israel does not want to fast. She wants to return to Egypt so she would not die of thirst or hunger. When the body mind is not getting food, it is getting the fear of abandonment. But man must not live on bread alone for the body, but also bread for the soul, and bread for the spirit.
The problem of the Deep State, however, is perpetual crises to keep people in fear.
I think the story of new wineskins came along side of the question of fasting because Israel in the wilderness confused promising and the Promised Land. They had a rigid and fixed idea of where God wanted to take us. They were happy for an oasis and did not want to move on to the Promised Land. I had this fixed idea that when Jesus told us to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon us, I was still depressed and fearful on how a disembodied Spirit could replace the Spirit become flesh, for example.
The Kingdom functions on a need to know basis. The Deep State functions on a need to know it all basis, promoting another sort of fear: the paralysis of analysis.
I was like the man who sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment to make a container to hold grape juice which was becoming wine, expanding, fermenting, becoming intoxicating. Our souls create concepts to hold the truth like a wineskin. But our spirit cannot be contained by fixed and rigid concepts. This explains why Jesus told us to feed daily on “daily bread” which is translated as “transfigured bread”. Every day it is different bread. Every day it is different wine.
Today’s joy is quite different than yesterday’s joy or tomorrow’s joy. How many people refuse today’s joy because it was not like yesterday’s joy? Better have a wineskin made of Lamb skin!
Lord of the Sabbath (Mk.2:23-28)
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields and we picked some heads of grain because we were hungry and were scolded by the Pharisees for doing this on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by quoting from scripture on what David did with his companions when he entered the house of God and ate consecrated bread which is lawful only for priests to eat.
The Deep State panders to the consumer. The Kingdom celebrates those who are the food for others.[7]
Jesus is Lord even of the Sabbath, not the Deep State. End of discussion!
That They Might Kill Jesus (Mk.3:1-6)
When I recall some of the stories of Jesus healing on the Sabbath in the context of such ingratitude and anger, I am amazed I am even writing about good news.
Jesus goes to a synagogue and sees a man with a shriveled hand. He knows he is being watched to see if he will heal on the Sabbath. Jesus does not flinch from the man and order him to
“Stand up in front of everyone.”
He then turns to this hostile crowd and asks,
“Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
The Deep State remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger, and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored. Then the Deep State of the Pharisees in collusion with the Herodians who they hated, “began to plot how they might kill Jesus.”
If nothing else I am glad to see Jesus was not some sort of Stoic who doesn’t get angry nor deeply distressed.
I just don’t know how he got so angry and was so deeply distressed and still healed people.
That was the fear that still lingered in me. But I at least treasured that fear in my heart, so it could grow and become gratitude. I still had to learn life from a butterfly’s point of view not a caterpillar. I would gain my wings at Pentecost, so it was not only a matter of metanoia (change your mind) but also of metamorphosis (change your body).
The Deep State dismisses what they cannot understand. The Kingdom treasures up[8] what they cannot understand.
Popularity as Fear (Mk.3:7-12)
One person who understood popularity as fear was Jesus. He knew how people were so afraid of being unloved and in dying alone that they would do anything to be popular and liked.
The crowds were getting bigger. I now began to realize Jesus’ concern about crowds that I had once coveted. I saw the desperate looks in people who were plagued with disease and it did not take much of an imagination to figure out if they were not satisfied in getting what they wanted from Jesus what they would do to Jesus in revenge.
So Jesus told us to get a small boat to keep the crowd from crowding him. Many were healed of their diseases so many were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the fear demons saw Jesus, they fell down to worship him and cried out,
“You are the Son of God.”
But he gave strict orders to the fear demons not to tell anyone who he was.
Way beyond his critics Jesus understood how fear can easily be confused by fearful people posing as religious people.
I started to become depressed. What could we do before such deep needs, such deep fears? And if we could do something could we keep ourselves from the bitterness of the Deep State?
The Deep State understands human nature which it calls good. The Kingdom understands God’s nature in human nature, the good in the evil.
Appointing of the Anointing Ones (Mk.3:13-19)
Jesus sensed our fears. He went up on a mountain and called to those he wanted, and we came to him.
Jesus appointed twelve of us disciples. He called us “apostles” or “one’s sent”. That we
“might be with him and that he might send (us) to preach (Greek evangelizo) and to have authority to drive out demons.” (Mk.3:14)
It was very simple. There are two commands: preach the good news and drive out demons. But in truth there is only one. As you are good news with perfect love flowing out of you, then you are driving out your own demons and those around you. Fear is a virus. But love drives out this virus for everyone.
Now we began to see that the Deep State of Fear now has more to worry about. It was bad enough that Jesus had the power to forgive which is also the power to heal, but now through our appointing of his anointing, so did we.
Gulp!
I didn’t even love myself. How could I love others, especially those who are very unlovely?
The Deep State is an organization[9] to serve itself. The Kingdom is an organism to serve God.
The Family of Fear (Mk.3:20-35)
Just because you have a family it does not mean you have to give authority to the familiar. In the family fear is more familiar than gratitude.
Jesus’ family, along with the familiar jealousy towards Jesus in the family, thought he was “out of his mind” (Mk.3:21) The teachers of the Law thought “he was possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” (Mk.3:22)
One side effect of fear is that soul cannot be rational because it takes its marching orders from the body mind’s fear of abandonment. It then must find a scapegoat to justify this irrational fear but that can only double the fear because now the person in fear projects his fear on to the scapegoat.
Jesus becomes the black sheep or scapegoat in a dysfunctional family and is therefore seen as a threat to the group, in this case Jesus’ own family and the teachers of the law.
The Deep State’s goal is enlightenment.[10] The Kingdom’s goal is fellowship with the Light.
If I am possessed by Beelzebub and driving out demons, then the Deep State is destroyed. The devil might be evil, but he is not stupid. But those living in fear are. The possession by fear is also a possession by stupid while masked as “enlightened.”
They all were saying of Jesus that “he has an evil spirit” because they felt his ministry was too divisive to the familiar of both families.
Of course, Jesus’ Spirit was divisive: “He separated the light and the darkness.” Gen.1:4
Jesus understood the logic of fear. Fear feeds on fear. The Deep State is an eternal self-serving system symbolized as a serpent[11] in a circle with its mouth on its own anus. It creates fear and feeds off its own fear. Fear opens our eyes but breaks fellowship with God in the process. That is what the fall in Genesis 3 tells us. It is run by the logic of the body mind who must get love, who must digest other people’s souls, who must seek revenge to feed one’s own body.
“How can Satan drive out Satan?”
Those who do not want to drive out Satan have made their Lord “Fear”.
The family run by fear is fearful of a family run by freedom and gratitude. The family run by fear keeps getting smaller which increases the fear of survival, and the whole thing is circular, self-defeating, and self-devouring. In the end the Accuser is in a fury because his time is short (Rev.12). The Deep State is mortal. The Kingdom is immortal.
The Deep State believes all life and order come out fear and chaos. The Kingdom believes all life and order come out of God and gratitude.
Jesus says all sins can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This blasphemy simply does not care to be forgiven. The impact of this abuse by fear produces a sort of static guilt that cannot even remember what happened to it. Feeding on fear satiates the soul and replaces the soul’s need and hunger for righteousness and memory. God first appeared to Moses as a burning bush that could not be put out and he reminded Moses of reasons for his gratitude:
“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Ex.3:6
Living eighty years in fear, what was Moses’ response to this revelation from God?
At this Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” Ex.3:6
Jesus brought the world a new definition of family. A family unit is not by blood, but by the blood of Jesus, the blood of the Lamb:
“Those who do God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mk.3:34
Never Perceiving, Never Understanding (Mk.4:1-20)
This bit of the gospel was especially for the new disciples who had never met Jesus. They had to be prepared to understand there were four ways of receiving the Word of God through one’s spirit mind, and three were bad.
The body perceives. The soul conceives. The spirit first receives and then believes. When you begin as body and soul, your answer is fear. When you begin as spirit out of grace, your answer is gratitude.
John preached “repent of your sins.” Jesus preached “repent” period.
John did not understand the importance of a new spirit mind. He assumed that the body mind could perceive of the world by the five senses of the body. He assumed the soul mind could conceive, or understand, or imagine a world made intelligent by reason, and therefore assumed that the natural, perishable, soul body person could repent of their sins. He did not realize that the natural, perishable soul body person starts off life possessed and diminished by fear. It never occurred to him how fear can repent of fear?
But Jesus’ gospel was more radical.
Jesus was not born in fear like we were. He was born from above by the Father into grace and gratitude. He brought us the “mind of Christ” as a spirit mind that would govern our soul and body minds. “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit.” Jn.3:16
The body can only see with its eyes. The soul can only imagine. But the spirit mind can receive from above and beyond understanding. Metanoia for Jesus means to change your mind from your soul body point of view to your spirit mind’s point of view. Instead of thinking like man, we are to think like God. (Remember my failure to do that initially got me rebuked by Jesus as Satan!)
Jesus was preaching metanoia, not paranoia. John was preaching old wineskins. Jesus was preaching new wineskins. John was the best as far as those born of a mother, but even the least in the Kingdom is greater than John, said Jesus (Lk.7:28).
When we looked dazed after Jesus told us the parable of the Sower, Jesus had to give us a break and explain the insider’s view of the Kingdom. Quoting Isaiah, he explained our advantage over others so that,
“’They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.” Mk.4:12 quoting Is.6:9,10
The Deep State believes in tomorrow but not of God. The Kingdom believes in God but not of tomorrow.
Jesus wanted those in the battle between fear and gratitude to know there are four outcomes to those who would receive the Word of God in their spirit mind. Three are bad. One is good.
1. There are people who receive the Word of God, but Satan, the head fear demon, comes and takes away the seed. Adam and Eve hear God’s Word, but they obey Satan’s fear of doubt: “Did God really say?” The Word is taken from them. From that moment all the children born of the man and his wife are born in fear without the Word of God. The Word of God can never be self-evident through one’s body and soul minds alone.
2. There are people who receive the Word of God but are like rocky soil. Their joy is immediate but because their roots do not grow deep enough, the seed has no support from below to sustain their persecution. Jesus healed the man who was paralyzed for thirty-eight years, but weeks later he realized he still was not interested in who Jesus was and was warned by Jesus the second time: “See you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Jn.5:14
3. There are people who receive the Word of God but are like the seed received among the thorns. These people do not realize that only the fear of God is a healthy fear but not the fears of “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things (Mk.4:19).” These thorns choke the Word because these are things that our soul wants not our spirit, not the Father’s pleasure. “Whosoever finds his soul[12] will lose it, and whosoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.” Mt.10:39
4. Finally, there are others still,
“(who are) like seed sown on good soil, hear the Word of God, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what was sown.” Mk.4:20
All of us must be stewards of “our soil”. Adam is less a farmer but a priest of the garden who must keep the soil pure for the Word of God. It is a war against Satan who would steal the Word, a war against shallow roots of the Word, and a war against competing weeds which would strangle the Word.
But the Word is a very virile seed.
It multiplies beyond what we have sown into it. It is a thirty, sixty, or one hundred times the Word in us. This is less the Law of Compensation of the soul in which we get what we put in, but is more like the Law of Jubilee of the spirit in which we get way more than what was put in.
The Deep State believes the Word is neither virile nor virtue. The Kingdom believes the Word is both virile and virtue.[13]
Delighted (Mk.4:21-25)
Jesus is clear about our fellowship with him as the Light:
“Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed?” Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to brought into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Mk.4:21
We are not to be moons or mirrors that can only reflect the light. We are to be lamps that make the light.
When our first parents refused to receive God’s Word, they received fear and uncertainty from the serpent: “Did God really say?” Their natural reaction was to hide from each other, from God, and from their own selves because they now chose to live in fear as shame. And they ceased to be light, even as they had once lived in Eden which in Hebrew means “Delight”.
But we were not created to be hidden. We were not created to be concealed. We were meant to be brought out into the open because we are light.
And what happens when we are de-lighted?
Jesus cautions us,
“Listen carefully what you hear:
“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you-and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Mk.4:24-25
Both fear and light have this in common: the more you use them the more they increase.
We have already established that fear feeds on fear, what we have not established is light increases with light. The measure you use it, the more it is measured to you, and even more. That is why when Jesus asked us how much food we had to feed the 5,000, he did not want to know what we did not have (“That would take eight months of a man’s wages!” Mk.6:37) he wanted to know how much food we did have. Exercise the light you have and it will be increased, and even more!
The Deep State uses fear and it is increased. The Kingdom uses light and it is increased. De-fear or de-light?
Growing in Gratitude (Mk.4:26-29)
The Kingdom of Gratitude is like
“a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it; because the harvest has come.” Mk.4:26-29
The Deep State is as big as our understanding. We do not understand how the Kingdom of Gratitude grows, but it grows beyond and without our understanding.
The Smallest Seed (Mk.4:30-34)
And he said,
“The Kingdom of Gratitude is like a mustard seed which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” Mk.4:30-32
It was not only the parables that Jesus told to the citizens of the Deep State, but why. He left it up to people to ask what the meaning was because that question was a signal to Jesus that they really were ready to depart the Deep State. The guardians of the Deep State would not be suspicious of silly parables, but it would be a “code” for the faithful. Why would the mighty oak trees of Rome be worried about a tiny mustard seed? But what encouragement to the faithful to realize superiority of the Deep State would be short-lived, as well as the superiority of fear over the small mustard seed of gratitude.
The Deep State inflates and boasts. The Kingdom is quiet stealth.
Rebuked for Our Fear (Mk.35-41)
It is hard to believe that Jesus chewed us out for being afraid of drowning in the middle of the sea when our boat was “nearly swamped” (Mk. 4:37) when we were tossed around by a “furious squall (that) came up.” (Mk.4:34)
Isn’t it a natural thing to be afraid of a storm and of drowning?
Jesus understood that nature relates to our fallen nature which is driven by fear.
Here is a great illustration how the body mind that drives our instincts that informs our body to be on high alert and feeds our body with greater strength, is not always to be trusted.
Compare Jesus’ peace taking a nap and our fear of dying.
We assumed by our rational souls was that he simply did not care. We were present to the person of Jesus, but our spirit mind was turned off. Our body mind was running our personality. We were angry at Jesus for not caring, but the root of anger is fear.
First, we had to wake Jesus up.
Second, we yelled at him for not caring.
Third, we stood in awe as he first chewed out the storm and said,
“Quiet! Be still!”
Fourth we stood in greater awe of Jesus who then turned on us and chewed us out,
“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mk.4:40
Fifth, we found out that the fear of God goes more deeply than simple respect of God. When Isaiah saw the Lord seated on his throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple, his reaction was:
“Woe to me! I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Is.6:1-4
We found at this moment that we were more terrified of Jesus than we were of the storm. At that point we were just like the teachers of the law scared of Jesus because of his power over fear and assumed it was Jesus who was evil because he was not ruled by fear but created it.
“We were terrified, and asked each other,
‘Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him.’” Mk.4:41
The Deep State wants us to trust our fears. The Kingdom wants us to trust Jesus.
He Broke Iron Chains Apart (Mk.5:1-20)
I realized that Jesus walked into dark places where even angels fear to tread as he would expect us to do when he was finally ascended to live on the right side of the Father.
Cowards should not apply.
When we finally got to the other side of the lake, Jesus got out of the boat and a man with “an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.” Mk.5:3
He lived in the tombs. Doesn’t everyone who is ruled by fear? No one could bind him, not even with chains. No wonder people get addicted to anger, even as it is really fear. It is like a magic potion that gives us terrifying strength:
“He tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.” (Mk.5:4) “Night and day he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” (Mk.5:5)
When Jesus said to him,
“Come out of this man, you evil spirit” (Mk.5:8)
He treated him like the man at the whole synagogue in Capernaum. He didn’t speak to the man. He spoke to the symptoms. Jesus realized that the symptoms of fear are demons. They are not like feelings or thoughts of a fearful soul, but they are demons with their own autonomous existence. And these demons feed on fear as we should feed on Jesus instead.
Even though the man’s reaction seemed as if he were talking for himself, it was the Destroyer who tortures who was talking,
“What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most-High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me?” Mk.5:7
This is the genius of spiritual warfare and forgiveness of sins.
The sin of the sinner is only the symptom of the sinner. Unless you remove the symptom, you cannot begin to heal the diseased person. That is why it is so crucial to make the distinction between the sin which we should be angry at and the sinner who we should forgive.
This goes to the heart of Jesus’ genius. The reason the meek shall inherit the earth is because they are assertive and use their anger in the right way at the right time in the right proportion. We are to “be angry but sin not” as we understand our anger is at the sin not the sinner.
What was more interesting is that with Jesus commanding the fear to come out, the fear was not budging. Jesus had to go to plan B, and he asked the fear’s name. This is another clue on driving out fear. It is important to find name:
“What is your name?”
“My name is Legion for we are his many.”
What was even more pathetic, and here I am talking about a man who breaks iron, and terrorizes people, is that Legion begged Jesus “again and again” not to send him out of the area.
Fear is afraid of Jesus, but we are afraid of fear. Do you see why Jesus must teach us how to do this?
Then the fear demons, for they were many, begged Jesus:
“Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” Mk.5:11
Jesus complies and gave them permission and they went into about 2,000 pigs who all then rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
The pigs were like the Lamb of God: they took away the sins of Legion and died for him.
Nobody could make this up.
This is not the logic of a hero of Greek or Roman myth that seeks to destroy the enemy without realizing the real enemy is fear.
The Deep State must create fear. The Kingdom absorbs fear.
This is the reason the Lamb is stronger than the Ram or the Lion or the Eagle, even the Shepherd. They only intimidate the enemy. The Lamb removes the enemy.
But it gets more interesting.
Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside and the people went out to see what had happened:
“When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man-and told about the pigs as well. They the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” Mk.5:15-17
Let us make sure you hear this correctly.
First the people are afraid now when they find the man is in his right mind. But they were at peace when he was possessed.
Why?
Their peace is peace with darkness, peace without awareness. They had simply put the man out of their minds and sights. But the peace that Jesus brings is peace with light, peace with awareness.
Do you see how we are slaves to the Deep State of Fear? Do you see why no one wants Jesus in this region?
In the Deep State fear is life. In the Kingdom fear is death.
The people in this region are as afraid of gratitude as some are afraid of fear. The man in his right mind is further proof of this truth:
“As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said,
‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mk.5:19
The man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. Because of this Spirit of gratitude, the man not only stayed in his right mind but his whole family was changed from fear to gratitude as well.
Dead Girl, Bleeding Woman (Mk.5:21-43)
When we got to the other side of the lake, one of the rulers of the synagogue saw Jesus and fell to his feet and pleaded with him, saying,
“My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” Mk.5:23
His name was Jairus. He was not going to be deterred by fear of his reputation being ruined by going to Jesus. He was already anticipating Jesus healing his dying daughter. He is already grateful that Jesus is there. And one cannot be driven by fear if one is guided by gratitude.
Jesus went with him, as did a whole crowd.
There was a woman in this crowd who been a subject of bleeding for twelve years:
“She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.” Mk.5:26
“Under the care of many doctors”? Had “care” become another word for “fear”? Of course.
What she had in common with Jairus is that both believed that one touch with Jesus would heal her just like one touch would heal the dying girl who was as old as the time she had been a bleeder, 12 years.
Without doubt the woman who had been a bleeder had a body mind that had convinced her soul mind that she was no good and did not deserve to be healed, nevertheless her spirit mind in seeing Jesus was awakened and so she thought to herself,
“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Mk.5:28
Immediately (my favorite word) her bleeding stopped. She felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering, but her soul still felt guilty for wanting something she did not deserve which was another legacy of the doctors who “cared” for her: “If we can’t heal you, you are too evil to be healed and must be punished by God.”
At the same time, Jesus realized that power had gone out of him. The power is Greek for dunamis, and it is a finite resource even in Jesus, and when it had left him, he felt weaker. We were all surprised with all the crowd pressing in on Jesus, that Jesus bellowed out loud,
“Who touched my clothes?” Mk.5:30
The Deep State wants to get love. The Kingdom wants to give love.
We tried to explain to Jesus patiently that that was a silly question because the whole crowd had been pressing in on him and touching him.
First, we did not understand that when Jesus referred to his clothes, he was not referring to the garments he was wearing but the anointing of his spirit body.
Secondly, Jesus was not complaining. Jesus knew a powerful transaction had occurred between himself and someone else in the crowd. His gift love had been given and received by someone and he wanted to follow up with that person.
Third, Jesus was telling us that his power, his love, is also a commodity that he had and then he did not have. Suddenly he was weaker and felt it keenly.
Fourth, when you are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, then you are a person who absorbs fear which it takes it out of people in upon yourself. And that is debilitating even for Jesus.
But Jesus was not deterred from our ignorant advice and kept looking around to see the culprit, “to see who had done it” like a detective in search of a culpable criminal.
The woman who was healed fell at his feet “trembling with fear” and ‘fessed up’ and told him the whole truth.” Mk.5:34
The Deep State expects its people to be naked and ashamed because “they have its people most in mind.” The Kingdom teaches people how to receive one’s covering.
One symptom of abuse of the body, is one feels guilty about gifts of love, because there is an assumption that one must be a bad person to be punished for twelve years with bleeding that made her punishment just. She was shocked that Jesus was not mad, but was pleased, so pleased with her, and said,
“Daughter, your faith[14] (in me) has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Immediately, the crowd went from fear to gratitude. All the fear had been absorbed by Jesus. Everyone was happier without understanding why but then came the challenge to that blessing.
Some men came to Jairus and said,
“Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore.” Mk.5:35
Ignoring what they said, Jesus did something quite similar as he did to us when we were in boat sinking in the storm, he told the synagogue ruler,
“Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
It seemed like an impossible command, “Don’t be afraid” but then he replaced that impossible command to what seemed like a possible command:
“just believe.” Just believe in me. Look at me and when you look at me you are not looking at fear any longer.
But the whole command was not simply to believe in belief, but to believe in Jesus, have fellowship in Jesus, trust in Jesus even if he is your only friend in the world.
Jesus was commanding Jairus like he commanded me, “Drop your nets and start your fellowship with Me.” “Drop all pre-conceptions of life ruled by fear and follow me.”
Fellowship with Jesus is a bigger world than the world we conceive of by fear, especially the fear of dying alone. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” (Ps.23:1) Remember that fear of dying alone is as old as the first time your mother was late in feeding you.
Then Jesus stopped the rest of the crowd from following. He only let James, John the brother of James, and me follow him. This was going to be a delicate operation of resurrection and he did not want any untrained fearful person to infect this operation. The fear virus is the greatest killer.
This was very wise.
When he arrived at the house of Jairus, there was a great “commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.”
Like he spoke to the storm, he spoke to the storm inside the synagogue leader’s home:
“Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” Mk.5:39
There is laughter from God which robs aggression of its purpose and then there is laughter from fear which accepts aggression’s purpose. The latter laughter was the condition in the house:
“But they laughed at him.” Mk.5:40
Jesus put them all out and then took the child’s father and mother and the rest of us his disciples who were with him and went in where the child was.
He took her by the hand. Again note, he touched her with his hand and her hand with his hand. She was dead in my eyes, but not in Jesus’ eyes. (Would I ever learn to see as Jesus sees?) He said to her,
“Talitha koum!” which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Mk.5:41
Immediately (there that word is again) the girl stood up and walked around (she was 12-years old). At this they were completely astonished.
“Astonishment” is a clear signal that the world of God’s love has invaded the world of fear and overcome it. Preparation for Jesus is preparation for astonishment.
And then Jesus did something usual in my eyes. I wanted everyone to know about this miracle. But Jesus was still building his networks and if people were only interested in miracles without fellowship with Him, then fear would continue to rule.
Miracles do not produce faith, but faith and fellowship with Jesus does. What the public would never know if this resurrection experience were known, is that the turning point miracle was the synagogue leader ignoring the fear of excommunication by other Jewish leaders for a relationship with Jesus.
The turning point for me in my life was after I denied Jesus three times and had to deal with the part of me who was a coward, as he predicted I would be, I finally was put back together to be His rock to build His church (Lk.22:31-32).
That was as much a miracle as it was to raise this little girl from death.
The Deep State wants to make belief impossible. The Kingdom wants to make fear impossible.
No Faith at Home (Mk.6:1-6)
As we are born of a mother, we start with a body mind that feeds on fear, and our whole life is defined by that fear.
When we are born from above of the Father, we develop a spirit mind that gives love that drives out the fear familiar in the experiences of our original body mind.
The battleground in the family is like the battle for the soul in the individual personality. Shall the soul be more excited in giving love or getting love? Which mind does the soul follow? What if the soul is “just not feeling it”? The spirit can change moods and demons. Soul can only reflect one’s feelings. Jesus says in Gethsemane “my soul is sorrowful unto death, but nevertheless not my will but yours be done.”
Deep State would teach us that you can have a family without a Father as God is our Father but not the Kingdom:
“For this reason, I kneel before the Father (Greek pater), from whom his whole family (Greek patria) in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Eph.3:14
Human families are inevitably run by familiar fears and pre-judgments shaped more by mother than father, more by peace in darkness than peace in light.
Mothers guard the innocence of her children as an appeal to the body mind. She knows that consciousness is traumatic.
Jesus went home to the synagogue in Nazareth. Some were amazed, but most were offended:
“Where did this man get these things? What’s this wisdom (Greek sophia) that has been given him, that he even does miracles? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” Mk.6:2-3
Joseph is not mentioned. Is he dead? Is he forgotten? Could Jesus have become a carpenter without a father? No one seems bothered, including all the other gospels.
Our understanding is a smaller world than the world of our faith. Jesus found he could do no miracles in his hometown because they knew him as Mary’s son, and not as God the Father’s Son.
“And he was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mk.6,
but not surprised.
Authority Over Fear (Mk.6:7-13)
Jesus went teaching from village to village. Then he called the Twelve of us to him and sent us out two by two and gave us “authority over (fear) spirits.” Mk.6:7
These were his instructions:
“Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” Mk.6:8-11
Now it was our turn. And were we afraid. We felt like the people of Israel who have just crossed the Red Sea, but we did not dare to complain about it to Jesus like they had done to Moses. Jesus was not asking for volunteers but commanded us only to give love to communities we knew nothing about. He also was under no illusions that everyone would welcome us but warned us if we were not welcomed we should not get angry or more determined to shove the gospel down their throat, but only “shake the dust off our feet” as a testimony against them, not a fear of failure against us.
The Deep State’s operation is as natural as crying. The Kingdom’s operation is an unnatural as saying “thanks” especially when you do not feel thankful.
We were surprised at our authority. We preached that people should change their mind (metanoia) rather than live in fear (paranoia). We drove out many fear demons and anointed many sick people and healed them.
Coupled off we raised our efforts not wanting to let our partner down (which is also the genius of marriage between a man and a woman).
[1] This is the key moral question in the movie, “Saving Private Ryan”. The Deep State of Nazi Germany teaches a mother of 3 children should be honored to give a fourth child to die for Germany. But the Kingdom teaches us to bring home the fourth child. If one man believes in the Kingdom like Moses, he wins over the Deep State of Egypt. It is the same thing with Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King, Jr. in America. [2] Pharmacists tell us that 80% of people who get a prescription for some illness neither pick up the medicine or do not follow the instructions which is written on the bottle of the medicine. People are more comfortable with national disease than national health care. [3] Our modern analysis of healing sexually abused people or soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress all have in common of an inability to receive forgiveness and a belief that they should be punished. The research on trauma has discovered that the typical top down healing practice of psycho-therapy (From spirit to soul to body) does not work. Instead healing must happen from body up. The abused or traumatized person has a body mind that never shuts down its alarm systems, unlike people without that trauma. These people are always seeing threat even when there is no threat. This also explains what some in the media call “Trump Derangement Syndrome” [4] The spirit mind is also referred to as the heart in other parts of the Bible. “Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” In French the heart is translated as “coeur” which is the root for “courage”. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jn.16:33 There is one scientific group that has studied the actual organ of the heart to discover that it sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart. They would have us believe that the heart is more than simply a pump for blood. When Peter and John have had their spirit mind’s anointed by the Holy Spirit, they exhibit a significant display of courage: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 Finally in the list of those who are banned from heaven, the first on the list is the cowards: “He who overcomes will inherit this…but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderer, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Rev.21:7-8 [5] In Leviticus 25 there is an economic tradition called the Year of Jubilee, of the Year of Favor, where all debts are forgiven, all mortgages forgiven. The Jews remembered from their experiences in slavery that debt is a form of slavery. As long as you have debt you are owned by the debtor, the one who holds your debt. In Isaiah 61:1,2 we see that one thing the Messiah will do when he comes is “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” When Jesus preaches his ordination sermon at his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, he reads from this passage in Isaiah, and then hands the scroll to an attendant (Luke 4:14-21) and says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Immediately everyone spoke well of him. But then it occurs to the Deep State in them, this would destroy the whole banking world, and suddenly well- wishing turns to fury in order “to throw him down the cliff.” Lk.4:29. What makes the human brain (the spirit mind) different from the serpent’s brain (the body mind) and the horse’s brain (the soul mind) is forgiveness and gratitude. Brain research says we have three brains: a human brain, a horse’s brain, and the brain of a reptile. This is science’s late discovery of what Paul had always known of spirit, soul, and body minds (I Thess. 5:23). [6] Genesis 26:12-15 [7] “If there is a natural body (psychsoma/soulbody), there is also a spiritual body (pneumasoma/spirit body). So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became living being.’; the last Adam , a life giving spirit.” The King James Version translates “life-giving spirit” as a quickening spirit. The Apostle’s Creed says Jesus will come to judge the “quick and the dead” and these are the food and the consumers. [8] When the shepherds in the field come and tell Mary what they have heard and seen from the angels of the Kingdom, she does not understand what they are saying, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Lk.2:19 [9] The archetypal organization is the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The archetypal organism is the Church born at Pentecost in Acts 2. [10] The Deep State patterns its revolution after the French Revolution and the Enlightenment where only the State is sacred. The American Revolution was pattered after the Kingdom where God and the Law that comes from the Bible is considered sacred. [11] This figure is called the Uroboros. We see this figure in all religions and cultures. My grocery story, Publix, had this symbol in its natural food section. It is on the cover to Erich Neumann’s study of “spiritual evolution” entitled “The History and Origin of Consciousness.” This is the basis for Evolution: all order comes out of chaos, not God, nor Intelligent Design. The Uroboros in the Babylonian Creation story is Mother Tiamat, the Uroboros who was in the beginning and always existed. She is demoted by the Jews in Genesis 1:2: “The Spirit of God was moving the face of the deep (Hebrew tehom, the noun from the proper noun Tiamat.) [12] The NIV Bible translates from the Greek word “psyche” the word “life” but it really should be “soul”. The soul conceives or creates the truth. The spirit is the Lord’s will and truth. The soul is like a thermometer that reflects the temperature. The spirit is like a thermostat that changes the temperature. For example in Gethsemane Jesus will say, “My soul is sorrowful unto death, but nevertheless not my will but yours be done.” If we are motivated by what the soul wants, and not what the spirit wants, what the will wants, then the Word is strangled by competing fears masquerading as wants. St. Augustine called this an ordinate sense of love: to love what is most important and ignore that which is less important. [13] The Latin word for “man” is “vir” which is the root for virile and virtue. [14] In Elaine Pagel’s book, “Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas” sets up a straw man on what is belief. She says it means “a set of beliefs” p.5 “What matters in religious experience involves much more than what we believe.” Belief is not a matter of what but of who. Jesus says to the woman, “Your faith in me” not your faith in a belief system. There is no “Beyond Belief” because belief is a relationship with Jesus that passes understanding. Belief might be non-rational, but it is not irrational. The woman has a broader understanding in her soul that she ever did before. The Jesus in “The Secret Gospel of Thomas” is not threatening to the Deep State, but a curious philosopher. Compare what Peter says in Thomas’ Gospel: “Simon Peter said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us for females are not worthy of life.” Line 114 to the big place she has in Mark 16.
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