heaven
Since I
am one of the least qualified people on this planet to address this topic,
it must be understood that these are just opinions. But I am capable
of pointing out some things that might be meaningful, to anonymous
recovery. First, let us take a look at what was written and
published, in the late
thirties, of the last century, in the bigbook, on page twenty five.
There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at out feet.
We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.
Today,
heaven to me simply means discipleship training. Nothing more, and
nothing less. When it was time for me to start reading the bible, it
use to make me wonder why there were lower and upper case letters, on the
first letter in the word heaven; heaven, and Heaven. That was very
confusing to me, at that time.
In
discipleship training, each process is customized, for each person's God
given talents, and their interests, so that they will not loose interest,
at any point during the process. More dangerous though, is when we
get to the end of the process, and things just simply seem torturous,
before everything is perfect, in the mind of God, so that we can be given
Heaven; paradise. Human traits do not die easily, from this scribe's
perspective. We are not given specific instructions on what
"our cross" is, we just have to keep believing, and submit
ourselves to the leading of the Spirit. And there is zero
liberalism, along this path, from my perspective. It is all, and
must be, ordained, from the Throne Room.
Don't
know if any of you all have heard the expression, His Second Coming,
frequently used around evangelical circles. Well, I do not have a
clue about what they have been taught to believe, and it is actually none
of my business, at all. But when I was making the circuit around the
evangelical circles, at about seventeen years into abstinence, mainly
because I did not have any money at all, and some "christian
facilities" would let me in, one theme keeps ringing in my ears,
"we are going to heaven." It may be that they think that
they are going to Heaven, and by-passing heaven. Again, don't have a
clue.
But let
us take a look at some amazing scriptures:
2 Corinthians 12:1-5 (NIV)
I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the
third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
Suspect
that most people, that have been in any religion, have heard the word
paradise. Have even heard people say, about how there day is going,
"Just another day in paradise." Wow, sure would like to be
doing what they are doing, considering what discipleship training is
about, waiting and learning how to be a "trusted servant,"
mentioned in one of the traditions, of the anonymous fellowship deal.
What we
are trying to bring to the consciousness of our readers is this
truth. Obedience is not an option. It is a requirement.
All defiance must be crucified, and perfect understanding of what the
spirit is leading us into must be adhered to, and acted upon, based on
faith.
There are
two reasons for this concept, meaning our opinion. Please keep in
mind that we have been working toward the beginning of the noahhite
fellowship for over a decade, but have been admonished, "It
will start when I want it to, not when you want it to start." Suppose
that all of you understand what the red text means. If you do not
know, maybe you need to discuss it with your sponsor. Or even
better, look for a spiritual advisor, and discuss it with that person.
First,
let us relate the experience that Moses had, when he was asked, by the
Lord, to go over and touch the rock, so that water could be given to the
Hebrews, that had been delivered from the land of Egypt. Moses, in
his arrogance, or pride, or what ever, went over and struck, rather than
touching, the rock twice, rather than the one time, that was commanded by
the Lord; go over and touch the rock.
For that
one act of disobedience, Moses was relieved of his duties as the leader of
the Hebrews, while they were in the wilderness, and Joshua replaced Moses
as their leader, to take the Israelites into the promised land, after God
retired Moses.
Now for
the second concept, pertinent to perfect obedience. Jesus is quoted
as saying that of all the men born of women, John the baptist is the
greatest. But then he states that the least, in the Kingdom of God,
shall be greater than John.
Our
concept is that if there is the least, in the Kingdom of God, then surely
there must be the greatest, or the most. To us, that means
additional privileges, or greater responsibilities, or being closer to
God, or what ever, for an eternity. So, most, to us, is better than least. We
never liked being at the bottom of the totem pole, if you get out drift,
on anything.
Now let
us close this web page with this concept. Remember reading in one
translation, this one statement, that was found in the Old Testament, as
well as the New Testament, and they are identical. "The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom."
Let us
not fear the Lord for what he might do to us, ever, but let us fear what
the Lord might withhold from us, that we are being taught to believe, if
we cannot, or will not be willing to submit to the process of obedience
training, to God's satisfaction. Mine has been long and arduous, but thank God, He
has not given up on me, yet! I am truly in the most
precarious position that I have ever been in, in my entire life, willingly
and obediently, might I add.
Told my
brother recently that I had rather take a beating, than accomplish a perspective, in a
computer aided design program; cad. Just to open the file, that
contains all of the information to perform the miraculous feat of the
computer generated perspective, takes up to two or three minutes. And then the
processing of that information some times takes up to an hour, or more.
But
things have changed. Remember talking to an architect/engineer, about six
years ago, when he stated that to make some structural changes on his
structural engineering plans for a project - about fifteen stories, caused by the engineering
department of a city hall, took forty five hours for the computer to
accomplish.
