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Originally Posted by InOmnibusCaritas
Oh the sleepless nights. The greatest worry of them all was this: WHAT IF I AM WRONG?? 1000 YEARS OF OUTER DARKNESS, ANYONE??
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Fear is certainly a stronghold. It's probably the flip side of pleasing people (e.g. 1 Thess 2:4, Gal 1:10). You always have the risk of displeasing people. And then they convince you that since they are the surrogate God ("deputy authority"), if you run afoul of them God will punish you horribly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by InOmnibusCaritas
So I think we need to come up with a strategy on how to help others make the exodus instead of enraging them just because we need to vent our anger (I know, we are all angry). How do we show them love?
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Certainly there is an angry streak in my writing. I can tell. So I try to acknowledge it, and apologize, and bear with others in their occasional anger as well.
One thing that removed me from anger was when I began to get perspective. That came with time. I began to see patterns. This brought some objectivity. (Stress the word "some").
Here is an example: Captivity. Big subject. The OT, with The Babylonian Incursion circa 7th century BC, formed the backdrop for books like Daniel, Ezekiel, Lamentations, Jeremiah. And the visions of God's restored promises were seen. In Ezekiel 40-48, for example, the Restored City and Temple were held up to the people to inspire and encourage and strengthen them. Then, I noticed a similar theme at the end of the Bible. John, in captivity, sees a vision of the New Jerusalem, and sends it to the Seven Churches in Asia, who are also arguably in captivity. Not just political (Rome obviously) but also spiritual darkness sits upon them. You have a prophet, in captivity, writing to those in captivity, and holding forth promise to the faithful ones. If you endure God will rescue you.
Here was my possible insight: with the Boxer rebellion of the late 19th & early 20th centuries, there was a backdrop of seething political resentment in China driving the rise of the Little Flock movement. The "foreign devils" were imposing Western ecclesiastical models upon the Chinese, and Nee's proposed indigenous church was at least partly a response. Likewise, in the NT, Jesus was seen as a political figure to rescue the Jews from the hated Idumean Herod and the Roman Caesars. When Philip told Nathaniel, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph", he was probably thinking in political terms. Look at Acts 1:6 --
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” and the cries when Jesus entered Jerusalem (Mark 1:10)
"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!"
As I saw patterns emerge and thereby gain perspective, I (hopefully) could step away from my own unresolved issues and not displace my anger on others. Perhaps I fixate on the oppression of others, because I'm unwilling to look at my own slavery to fear. Little by little, over time, I began to get some perspective. And I shared those perspectives not so much to persuade others but because I needed to hear myself think. And hopefully if I do that others will be encouraged to think, as well. Fear keeps us from thinking: we just react automatically: in anger (hysteria), or we're immobilized by the shock of overwhelming trauma (1000 years in darkness! All is lost!).
I guess my point is that if you just react to the oppression of others (Babylonian/Roman captivity, Western imperialism, Witness Lee the snake oil salesman), you remain stuck. You don't see what God sees, only what you see. And your actions are merely the reactions of your own fallen soul, perhaps dressed up with a few verses. We need to go beyond that. It is time.