Greater Emmanuel International - Serious Seminal Samplings

The following spiritual ditty came to my attention recently and it deeply concerned me in that I have become aware of a certain ancient, fine-sounding perception of reality encroaching upon the thinking of dear ones who, doubtlessly, have been called forth out of the confines of the prison of pseudo-orthodoxy by our Shepherd-King to be lead into lush pastures of spiritual grazing. It comes in contemporary clothing, but it is still the same old nonsense.

We all have confessed that, at times, we have certainly, in varying degrees, been subject to the gravest of theological errors, but the very basic error of thinking ourselves to have arrived at a place of being immune to such from now on particularly has raised its head among truth-seeking brethren in this hour.

I must testify to the fact that new levels maturation in the things of the Lord in my own life have often been precipitated by the realization that I had been embracing certain concepts that amounted to spiritual insanity. So I write to you as one who is completely dependent on the grace of God to keep me open to being corrected by the Spirit of Truth as He unfolds the precious revelation of Jesus Christ to my heart. I expect that servants of the Lord shall be used by Him to continue to shake me from time to time in order to reduce me to that which is unshakeable, freeing me from those vain imaginations that appear as messages from the one who "appears as an angel of light."

So I, also, dare to suggest that the Lord will do some shaking through me to others in what will follow. The "ditty" I refer to is immediately below and will be followed by my comments. I've bracketed the offensive philosophical drivel so that it will be clear that it represents what I adamantly oppose as a minister of Christ. It is as follows:

[* = whatever word the reader prefers.
As long as 'Son and Father' we see...
we shall stay trapped... in duality.
There is just Father*. Only I*, be.
As long as 'Branch and Vine' we still see... we shall stay trapped... in duality.

There is only Vine*. Only I*, be.
As long as 'Wave and Ocean' we see...
we shall stay trapped... in duality.
There is just Ocean*. Only I*, be.]

OK, John here, with my take on the above: How is it that we can be so easily seduced to forgetting that it is of the essence of the administration of God in the ages for Deity to reproduce Itself in the ages which were framed by the divine Word, so that the Deity, while possessing an intrinsic Oneness of Being, passionately desires to bring into being others that are constituted by the Being in which we all live and move and have our being?

Must we, once again, belabor the truth that there is within the Deity, both Oneness and Otherness, Singularity and Plurality? Must we (I suppose we must) go over the same ground again and again, reminding some that God is not a simple, monistic person, but is Being itself that eternally unfolds as Family within which all true Personhood proceeds. Look, dear ones, at what Jesus said EXACTLY: I'm referring to His words that more than any others have prompted us to deeply reflect on the nature of relationship with God, namely: "I and the Father are One."

Get it; "I AND the Father are One." It's clear, so clear that a wayfaring fool need not err therein. I AND the Father. I AND the Father. Out of the loins of God, having His eternal DNA, came forth the eternal Son, so that by that eternal begetting, the I AM became Father and Son, and within that Son were many sons. The Being in which we all have being, decided to unfold Itself---according (of course) to Its intrinsic nature---as Family, THE Family from which every family in heaven and earth is named (natured).

Deity is reproductive by nature. It is relational by nature. It delights in that Otherness that retains all that is in the Oneness from which it proceeds and which constitutes all things. God is a Lover. God is Father/Mother. God is Bridegroom/Bride. When you contemplate the Oneness of God, you must think in terms that include UNION. Biblical union involves the coming together of that which is perfectly compatible because it has its roots in The Ground of Being Tallishh), the Being that is fully revealed as "myriads of Himself," as the literal Greek puts it.

Paul gave us a peek into the ultimate state of being when he wrote of Christ delivering up the kingdom to the Father, so that God might be all in all. Now think. Worship the Lord with your mind, along with your heart, soul and strength: "...so that God might be all in all." God has brought forth and continues to bring forth an all in which He can be all. Did you get the thing about the two alls. God, all in all. Not just God as all, but God as all in all. There is an all that God has both birthed and created out of the all of Himself, so that in relationship with that all, he could be our All.

Now this is a case in point regarding those things, that when revealed to us in Spirit-given illumination and we seek an understanding of their full implications, are accompanied by what I have called "an almost intolerable intellectual tension." That's the problem with many believers, they want to bypass the intellectual tension. They want to take the easy way out---or on. They just want to say, "its just One, that's all, just One, there's nothing else but One."

NO, you're categorically wrong. The One has become the many and the many---though having fallen from the realization of their union with God---when the Lord returns them to whence they primally came, they come back as many who are One. Many who are One. Many who are One. You must affirm both dimensions if you are to hear the heartbeat of God clearly. Can it be that you have missed or forgotten the undeniable thread in Paul's teaching about "the many?"

I have no doubt that there is a measure of light in the eastern mysticism that I am confronting, for Christ is the light that lighteth every man coming into the world. But that light, taken by men and reduced to cutesy philosophical mind-games, becomes that dangerous mixture of truth and error which is the essence of Babylon the Great.

Allow me, please, to make you aware of a psychological syndrome that lies at the heart of men's flights of fancy in their view of God: Your outer man, the man that God does not recognize as the true you that you are in Christ, but which you are personally required to bear as it serves the purpose of you returning to your true identity; that man or woman is very insecure. Yes, you, you---you're no exception---have been made to endure that futility with all of creation which is groaning to see the revealing of the sons of God, and that futility is particularly marked by pathetic insecurity which hides under all kinds of psychological survival mechanisms.

One thing that it hides behind is theological one-upmanship. It's running rampant today. You try to deal with the insecurity by allowing yourself to believe that you're always on the cutting-edge of truth. Others just don't understand oneness like you do. You just dropped out of the sky as God's gift to the church independent of those who've gone before you.

I generally, but not exclusively, minister among brethren known as people of the Kingdom/Sonship message, and I've become aware of the danger of doctrinal in-breeding. Many are cut off from what God is saying beyond their little loop of fellowship. It's spiritual incest, is what it is, and all movements are vulnerable to it, and it breeds idiots. Don't say, "Well WE'RE not a movement, WE'RE the elect." Uh huh; where have I heard that before and then saw "the elect" become a religious mutual admiration society.

Be careful. Keep loving the Lord, the Lord who is in union with you, but is still THE Lord, distinctly Himself, though one with you. If you don't watch it, you'll end up just in love with yourself. And, by the way, is anyone else out there bothered by the fact that folks, in the name of understanding oneness, are calling themselves God. Listen, dumdum. You're not God. God is God. If you're saying that, in your rush to get the ultimate revelation, you've rushed over a cliff. You've made shipwreck of the faith.

It's been a long, winding journey, these past 51 years walking with the Lord. I can't say I've seen it all, but I've seen a whole bunch of mindlessness parading around as the spiritual best of the best and it really gets irritating at times. I have to remind myself that the sovereignty of God wraps itself around it all, making it all serve His purpose, and that the throne of God is not tilting because of the present madness. Well, I guess, as they say, I've vented, but I do believe I've given cause for some to slow down and re-examine some conclusions they've come to or are close to coming to. I do love ya'all, even if right now, I don't sound like it

Greater Emmanuel International

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All in All

John R Gavazzoni