Writer Dylan Morrison

Rob

Lincoln’s High Street was buzzing yesterday as visitors and tourists alike enjoyed the sumptuous summer sunshine. Every street corner appeared to have police officers waiting nervously for the expected tide of Scottish Celtic soccer fans to invade the town. Ploughing through the Street’s masses of retail therapists, with my faithful pup Suki at my side, I noticed something unusual out of the side of  my eye.

A colorful sign erected on the sidewalk, boldly claiming ‘God Heals Today’, was surrounded by two gentlemen and a lady with matching tee-shirts backing up the sign’s message. The thing that really caught my prophetic attention though were the two accompanying empty chairs sitting invitingly towards the passing crowd. They seemed to proclaim, ‘Come to me , all you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest’ as the ignoring shoppers swept past to buy their next piece of kit.

Being a bit of a spiritual nosey Parker, I approached one of the two gentlemen manning the display. Rob was a salt of the Earth kind of 40+ guy, who’d only come back to Christianity a year before. As we swapped stories it emerged that he too had suffered at the hands of abusive religion in his youth. Having attended a boarding school he’d also suffered regular sexual abuse  by older boys for almost three years. Now settled in a ‘loving’ local church he’d a great heart to be an evangelist, wanting to go to a bible school and learn how to be one. Rob was also planning to take in a young recent convert as a lodger to get him away from the local drug culture. His wife, although not a believer, was happy for Rob to do his religious thing as it seemed to have improved his previously turbulent home life.  Rob, confessed to me that he swore at times and that his dear wife would remind him of his new faith. I encouraged him that St. Patrick, the hero of all Irishmen was prone to a few swear words himself and not to worry.I don’t think Rob needs to go to Bible College – they’d only clone him into their own evangelical image!

As Rob and I chatted on, with Suki’s attention thankfully absorbed by the passing sea of people, I noticed a lady taking one of the empty seats for prayer. Rob’s companions gently laid hands on her and prayed for some form of physical healing. After a few minutes she got up and paddled off back into the passing stream of humanity.

I suggested to Rob that he continue to be real with folk by not using religious language and to take care of his own fragile psyche as he sought to find an outlet for his new life. He listened carefully and respectfully to his new Irish friend  before being dragged away by a beer drinking youth, who’d  been a visitor to his church on a number of occasions.

The Presence spoke to me yesterday. The place where Divine Wisdom calls is the High Street, the place where people search for their next material or emotional fix. May God bless and protect Rob and his like as they try to draw people to Yeshua and His Abba God.

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What’s So Special About Yeshua?

Yeshua the Nazarene Prophet-Teacher has influenced human history more than any other human since time immemorial. He didn’t write a book, live in a palace, nor travel outside his national boundaries and yet became the central figure in world history under the Greek name: Jesus Christ. The image of his execution on a barbaric Roman scaffold is the icon to surpass all icons.

What was He all about and what the reason for His death? Was He God or man or both? If God in what way was He God and why?

Christian orthodoxy has formed belief systems over the millenia to place Yeshua in His Jesus box – the dying Saviour of the world! In what way is He Saviour and more importantly can millions of Christians be wrong?

Let’s start at the world of Yeshua’s time. An era of religious and political control with human mimetic desire repressed by Jewish religious law and Roman armed force. Reformist Jewish movements provided their own particular God view of liberation for the confused and largely disillusioned inhabitants of Galilee and Judaea. Some sought a political strategy to evict the pagan Roman occupiers and others proudly awaited the apocalyptic Kingdom of God in their ascetic desert communities.

Into such a world was born Yeshua Bar Yosef, destined to become the greatest spiritual leader of all time.

The most significant event for Yeshua, prior to His itinerant ministry, was His baptism by his preacher cousin John, in the Jordan river. It proved to be the key and inspiration for all that followed in the fledgling Prophet’s life. ‘You are my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ Had these words been previously whispered by the Divine to the archetypal man Adam in the idyllic prehistory Garden. I believe so! Yeshua, the Second Adam, rose out of the waters fully aware that He was now in total mimesis and harmony with Divine Presence. A new Man whose desire centre was perfectly aligned with the Divine will or delight. An intimate communion of God and Man that reflected the original creation – indeed a new creation. Yeshua encountered a born from above experience reflecting that of the first Adam as Holy Breath discovered its human dwelling.

As we view Yeshua in  light of  this experience, His message and mission take on a radical new meaning as we re-examine the Gospel narratives. Yeshua, a man in total imitative desire with the Divine is the messenger of a new Kingdom, a new Garden of Eden. Those surrounding Him are expecting a coming Kingdom steeped in the rivalry of religion ( Yahweh is our God) and of politics ( New Davidic style monarchy). Yeshua however wasn’t going to get involved in the mimetic game that set one against the other. His message was of a Spirit engineered realignment of our inner desire mechanism, set towards a Loving and non rivalous God known as Abba.No wonder folk didn’t understand Him – not even His closest friends  and family.

Throughout his three-year journey mimetic desire lay in  wait for Him in the most respectable of guises. His encounters with the professional clergy of His day were attempts by the Adversarial mimetic system to make him one of their own – a rivalous Rabbi, setting the boundaries for the ‘righteous’ and the ‘unrighteous’ . Yeshua didn’t play their game and it was a foregone conclusion where He would end up – scapegoated by the religious and political powers of His day.

In the Greek New Testament, the Greek word scandalon appears fairly frequently, usually in the mouth of Yeshua. It’s often translated as stumbling block or snare which masks its true meaning. Literally it’s something we trip over on our journey. Rene Girard believes this to be one of the most significant words in the New Testament. In his mimetic theory, scandalon refers to a person, a model-obstacle who blocks one’s spiritual  growth journey through desire rivalry.One of the most interesting cases where such a word is used is when Yeshua announces He’s going up to Jerusalem to die. Simon Peter, his most vociferous disciple, retaliates by declaring that such a course of action mustn’t be on the cards. Yeshua’s response is fascinating! He swings around and says to Peter ‘ Get behind me satan ( adversary), you are a scandalonto me!’ What a response to one of His closest friends and disciples. What did Yeshua mean? This is what I believe was going on: Three years previously Peter had left all to follow Yeshua on His road trip. Yeshua had drawn Peter into His desire for the Kingdom of God. Peter for all his flaws had begun to model Himself on Yeshua, but he still didn’t understand the Kingdom. He believed that the Yeshua entourage would end up ruling a politically and religiously restored, Roman- free Israel. Peter had got to a relational stage where his skewed mimetic desire had, in his eyes, turned him into a close advisor, indeed almost an equal partner of Yeshua’s. He’d done the groundwork and was now almost a model for Yeshua. The shocking and sudden revelation of Yeshua’s plans to walk straight into his enemies hands, forced Peter to reveal his rivalry with His Master. Hence Yeshua’s blunt response. Peter was playing the mimetic game and become adversarial in his seemingly devoted relationship to Yeshua. In that instance Peter was the embodiment of the adversarial mimetic system known as satan. Yeshua wasn’t rebuking a third party – He was looking straight at Peter! Peter had become a scandalon, a stumbling block, a model obstacle to Yeshua and His Abba’s desire. Peter’s gravitational desire for power and success was trying to hook Yeshua and reel Him in. Unknown to Peter, he was subconsciously trying to block Yeshua’s final mission of  exposing skewed mimetic desire  through His death. Yeshua’s words that Peter thought like a man and not God were spot on. Peter wasn’t in mimesis with Abba through his realigned mimesis with Yeshua. Instead His skewed mimesis was momentarily at work, despite his three years of discipleship with Yeshua.

I’ll talk more of this when I visit the whole idea of skewed mimesis within faith congregations in a future post.

As Yeshua entered Jerusalem the ritualistic forces of mimetic desire were stirring.Within the week the adoring festival goers had turned into part of the mob that condemned Yeshua. The Chief Priest Caiaphas declared the religious one liner: better for one to die than all – the scene was set for a religious lynching, an enactment of an ancient sacrificial theology born out of hyper mimetic desire and its accompanying violence. Even the loyal disciples were caught up in the scapegoating of the Man without desire. Through their fear and passivity they joined in the sacramental blood lust.

Even when facing death Yeshua refused to be drawn into the mimetic game by the Sanhedrin and His accusers – His desire was His Abba’s desire and He wouldn’t change His alignment even to save His own skin.On the Friday of His execution it looked like the old mimetic system had won again – that the satan was still deeply entrenched within all religious and political systems.

The object of Yeshua’s mimetic desire was strangely quiet over that haunting weekend – until Sunday morning that is – Mary and the other disciples realised that mimesis extends beyond the grave. The Abba responded to the Second Adam by forming a new reconstituted body for Him – a validation that shocked the whole skewed mimetic system. The Divine Source was in mimesis with the scapegoated victim, not the cultural powers that promised peace and stability – not the powers that claimed Him as part of their system.

Things would never be the same again – the Kingdom had come and all mankind were back in The Garden. Once again the Divine would whisper ‘ You are my Beloved in whom I am well pleased’. And what of Yeshua’s divinity? A man fully in harmony with the Divine delight – Yeshua Bar Alaha indeed – Yeshua Son of God , the Second Adam.

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Eden’s Desire

I’ve been thinking again about the old Jewish Creation story of the Garden of Eden. Richard Dawkins and the new atheists would laugh at us since Mr Darwin and his evolutionary descendents are the authors of a new true Genesis tale. Anyway I’m not concerned about biology too much – I wasn’t very good at it at school and the teacher didn’t like me as I sat at the back!

Anyway in light of my last post ‘Inner Peace’ I’d like to look at what this little Gardening story has to teach us about the human condition.

Firstly, the enjoyment of Unity and Oneness appears to be the reason we’re here! Apparently each primeval evening, Spirit would take an evening stroll through Eden in order to bump into and have a ‘yarn’ ( as we Irish would put it) with his human handiwork. It all sounds so pastoral to us city dwellers but it still sounds good to me. A regular date with God where we didn’t have to fear or grovel or even go to church,temple or mosque. Just a gentle stroll in Eden Park, round Paradise lake – not a sign of religion or self-sacrifice anywhere! The animals unanimously agreed with Adam on their chosen names and were only too happy not to eat him and his beautiful wife! Even the plants joined in the Divine unity, with not a dandelion weed in sight. Oneness yet variety to blow your mind – a Divine State indeed.

Secondly, something got into this heady mix of bliss. A big talking snake with desire! This poor old serpent has been identified with the God Nemesis ‘Satan’, ‘Lucifer’,the Devil etc,etc. Maybe that’s not fair on the snake or indeed Satan – let’s just say he was a big Serpent with an itchy urge. This out- of- nowhere figure possessed a dark desire to screw up the whole Divine Unity thing. Where did this desire come from? We’re not told in the story – maybe it’s not important nor none of our business! Anyway, one thing’s for sure – the desire spread from snake to mankind by means of a question. How amazing! A question was the transmitter of misalligned desire.It ignited a desirous spark within the otherwise happily ignorant human ancestry! The transfer of desire is at the heart of the human problem according to the tale’s Jewish author. What we consider our desires may actually have their origin in one of our ‘significant others’. A model whose being you want to possess. In infancy this role is played by our parents – their desires flow into our empty psyches and are hard to shift throughout life. A friend of mine has a religious addiction – her father was an alcoholic. Just a change of brand! Even as an adult the desire sponge is soaking up the desires of others. Beware!

Thirdly, what did our misguided ancestors desire? A big Golden Delicious or Cox’s Orange Pippin. I think not! The desire was aimed at being like the Divine. A crazy thing to attempt as they were already at One with the Garden stroller – the Spirit Breath that wafted around them in the cool of the day! They desired something they already enjoyed. Now that’s what I call a con-job! That snake was good, very very good! Somehow poor young A&E thought that they were missing out on something – Divinity or one of His amazing attributes. The story goes that a knowledge of good and evil was the object of their new craving. In other words, moral fragmentation – a sense of right and wrong. This shocks religious folk who think morality is a God thing.It’s not! It can be summed up as follows: our views are right ( and so God loves us) and yours are wrong ( and so God will send you evil doers to a gnashing of teeth place – forever!). What is this ‘big addiction’ that we’re all into – the Right and Wrong game! Prodigal Prophet, you’re right so ‘Come on Down’.Mr or Mrs X,  I’m afraid you’re wrong so kindly leave the building and take the first on your left to ‘hell’.

In my forty years of religious study and reading all I’ve ended up with is theological knowledge, a handy weapon to further fragment my little society of neighbours, friends and indeed all mankind.A great exercise for the brain but not for the human spirit!

Religious or spiritual knowledge doesn’t lead to Inner Peace but inner and outward fragmentation, judgement, condemnation and, in many cases, violence. The plague of mankind is our knowledge of good and evil and let’s face it religions of all varieties thrive on it.Indeed even the supposedly scientific new atheists thrive on it. It’s everywhere!  Has the Divine provided an escape route out of this desire for being right? Can we walk in Oneness again with Spirit and our fellow man, in the cool of our days? I believe so.

Yeshua, was the man outside of desire. The model man who had no desire to be right and no desire to exclude the other. To this extent his life and death can be seen as a drama acted out for our benefit. A scapegoated victim buried in a Garden tomb. The resurrection claims of His followers illustrate the rebirth of a new humanity – a reconciled and freed humanity back in the Garden, walking with Holy Breath in the cool of the day. I love gardens! Do you?

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Last Sunday morning I attended my first Mind Body Spirit Fair at Lincoln Showgrounds. I didn’t quite know what to expect but thought I’d pop along to see the alternative spiritualities on offer for modern men and women! I felt a bit like James Bond on a secret mission, dispatched by M, in order to infiltrate the ‘Enemy’s’ lair . At least it was in a large air-conditioned purpose-built conference centre and not some volcano, lying off the coast of Indonesia or some other exotic location. The old Christian programming was hard to shake off as I nervously entered the ‘psychic’s stronghold’. The first thing that struck me was that I’d to pay £4.50 to get in for the day! A bit like going to hear a famous Christian preacher then! My neighbouring little Parish Church at Burton village  would probably have paid me £4.50 to come to their spiritual feast that same morning.

Anyway, I must say there was a lot of color, sound and sweet smells floating around the family friendly venue. It reminded me of a street market in some faraway land where the people appear to live the colours they wear on their native dress. Yet it was a market, with plenty of items and services for sale. International mediums were selling their ‘contact’ with departed spirits for £20 and the faithful were queuing up. The mediums all seemed to have very spooky, sophisticated names and the look of used car salesmen or saleswomen. Not a George, nor a Hilda among the lot of them.The Tarot cards with their weird symbolism were being dealt casino-like once the cash was flashed , with the ‘spiritual’ croupiers all appearing slightly overweight. Channeling the cards’ messages must require quite a few extra calories! Trinkets of all kinds were on sale from colourful healing crystals and feathered- dream catchers to the latest must buy ‘autobiography’ recounting an angelic encounter. At the cafe end of the complex a group of graceful belly dancers of all shapes and sizes weaved the watching coffee drinkers into a false sense of security with their hypnotically swaying navels. It was certainly a bit more entertaining than the normal Christian event, although it strangely reminded me of the Greenbelt Christian festival held annually in Cheltenham, England.But more of that later.

I stumbled upon an interesting lady there called Alex. Manning a stall of surreal angel paintings and haunting images of Jesus’ face she explained her ‘gift’. Alex ‘channels’ these paintings from the spirit world on a regular basis having experienced a life changing angelic encounter  a number of years previously. A graphic designer by trade she’d gone on a spiritual retreat to a Sisters of Clare House in North Wales, despite being a totally non-religious individual. One morning, while sitting in her little room, an orb of light appeared at the corner of the ceiling, before growing to reveal the light filled image of an angelic being. Responding to the message of the angel, Alex took out an old camera from her handbag and snapped  twelve shots of  her surprise visitor. That day changed her life. Listening carefully to Alex, she must have sensed just a little skepticism in my facial expression. A free gift was graciously handed over – a little card with the image of  one of her angelic snap-shots, guaranteed untouched or doctored in any way. It was impressive if Alex is to be believed.I could even make out the pattern of feathered wings in the amazing photo.

After an hour, and totally bored by the sales pitches and ringing of tills, I began to beat a hasty retreat from the soothsayers plying their wares. Suddenly I caught sight of a large Celtic Cross standing beside a relatively subdued stall. Then it dawned on me – I was not alone! Clearly there was another unit of uncover operatives in the building. Hadn’t M been clever! Approaching as a disguised spiritual seeker I quickly blew the cover  of my fellow Yeshua followers by asking ‘Are you Christians?’ At first an embarressed look passed over my new friends faces, but then a heart-felt confession flowed like music to my ears  – ‘Yes we are’ I’d a great chat with Anglican Dave  and his fellow ‘prayer therapists’, respecting them for their courage in getting out of the ‘church’ box on a Sunday morning to mix with the ‘opposition’. A lady behind me was patiently waiting for ‘prayer’ so I hastily escaped to let Dave get on with the business. All power to him, I say.

Leaving the ‘vanity fare’ behind I marvelled at the spiritual hunger out there that the Christian Church is getting nowhere close to satisfying. The two day event pulled in thousands of attendees who probably wouldn’t be seen dead in a church and frankly who can blame them? I reckon though that many poor souls were just jumping from the frying pan into the fire. The Mind,Body, Spirit adherents with their emphasis on the feminine side of the Divine are as religious as their Christian opponents. Oneness is their guiding philosophy but in practice there was some unhealthy rivalry going on there – competition for recognition and for the sterling that they seemingly desire.

Has capitalism turned the search for spiritual encounter and reality into a new growth industry. I  believe so. Both Christianity and alternative beliefs seem to have been strangely beguiled. Can you serve God and mammon? Apparently so! Christian tithing and costly faith enhancing ‘resources’ versus the divination fees charged by many of the New Age practitioners.

Jumping into my car I was reminded of a saying of Yeshua:

‘Freely you have received, freely give”

Indeed.

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Divine Messages

Since pre-history mankind has desired to hear the Divine Voice. Our ancestors heard it in the thunder, wind and storms that buffeted them as they strove to survive.Milennnia later , all religions had developed their specialists who could hear the Voice for their local communities.In the evolution of Judaism a gifted ‘seer’ was known as a prophet or prophetess. Such terms conjure up an image of  a ‘wild’ maverick who dressed strangely,  scaring the living daylights out of their political and religious rulers. One of the most famous of these prophets was Elijah who discovered a great secret whilst possibly suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The Divine didn’t speak to him out of powerful natural phenomena like wind or fire but in a still small Voice.

Ancient prophets of all religions believed that beings from the spirit realm came upon or indeed, possessed them to communicate a relevant message from the gods whom they served. The Jewish ‘nabi’  believed that the Spirit of  their national god, Yahweh, came upon them especially in times of great political or religious crisis. In the early Christian era travelling prophets or ‘charismatists’, as they were then known,  travelled from place to place delivering Divine messages to Yeshua’s followers, claiming their source as Holy Breath or Spirit.

We’re told in conservative religion that such manifestations of Spirit have no longer any relevance for  the modern Yeshua follower, since God has popped all relevant information in the Judaeo-Christian Scriptures. This could be debated, as the Irish say, ‘ until the cows come home’ but such debate can be left for another day. Instead I wish to encourage the experiential side of the  spiritual life by discussing this ancient source of inspiration.

In my life prophecy has been both a blessing and a curse. I’ve received great inspiration from but have also been  turned off by what often passes as prophecy within the religious and spiritual worlds. Let’s have a look at the idea of Divinely inspired messages, given through a revelatory gifted person. Well try the question and answer method again to try to get some relevant truth surrounding this topic.

What is a prophecy?

It’s a Divinely inspired message that usually comes to you through another person.

How does it happen?

The Jewish word for prophecy has as its root meaning connotations of ‘ a bubbling up’ from within, particularly from the belly or abdomen, the Spirit residence in man.Something flows within the person chosen as the giver of the prophecy that has to come out vocally.

Does this person lose control while he/she is doing this?

Definitely not. The person’s conscious mind is still in control but the ‘prophecy’ seems to flow past it as it makes its journey outwards . I never take seriously a prophecy delivered by anyone who has ‘lost it’!

What is the purpose of such a prophecy?

Generally a prophecy’s role is to encourage and strengthen the recipient, usually reassuring them that Divine Love knows their situation, loves them unconditionally and wants to have an intimate communion with them.

Do some prophecies tell the future?

They can do, but generally address a situation which the recipient is presently going through.

Can anyone receive a prophetic or revelatory message for another person?

Definitely, although the ability to hear the Divine clearly usually comes with age and experience.

Do I have to use religious language to give a prophecy?

Preferably not as the recipient may be spooked by  strange religious buzz words.

How do I receive a prophecy?

A vision, particular word or phrase may come suddenly into your mind seemingly out of nowhere – you just instinctively ‘know’ that it’s for someone else.

How should I give the recipient the prophecy?

In a simple nonreligious way if possible. It can be mentioned quietly in deep conversation or sent in a little letter or note.

Are there any dangers in giving such ‘prophecies’?

Yes, I’m afraid there are but with a little wisdom and experience these dangers can be greatly reduced. Always remember that any revelation we received is only a little drop of Divine wisdom for the recipient. We don’t know all the details of their spiritual journey. We mustn’t be overly directive in our delivery of the ‘God thought’  or demand that the recipient receive it as from God. Our responsibility is to  sensitively pass on the message.

How should I receive a prophecy?

Listen carefully at a deep heart level but don’t throw out your discernment or common sense. I can usually tell after a few seconds if this message is really from God or the giver’s supercharged imagination. One good test is that the Spirit will be confirming something that He has already spoken to the recipient. In other words a genuine prophecy often confirms a previously held belief or sense of direction. One should never jump out on the whim of a so-called prophecy without a number of such confirmations.

Can you give me an example of where you received an incorrect prophecy?

Yes. Many years ago while with a little group of friends one of them claimed to have seen my wife and I with lots of children in our garden – the inference being that we were to have lots of kids. This has not come to pass and unless a miracle occurs of Marian proportions it is never going to happen at our age!  My friend had the right intentions for us but it was out of a vivid but well wishing imagination that the ‘prophecy’ originated.

Can you give me an example of a genuine prophecy that you’ve given or received?

Yes, here’s one that I’ve detailed in my book The Prodigal Prophet, received a number of years ago for Kennedy Chongo, a young Zambian orphan friend.

After our evening meal I’d a feeling that God wanted Carol and me to pray for Kennedy. He graciously accepted our invitation for us to lay our hands on him as we prayed. As soon as I closed my eyes I saw a prophetic vision. Kennedy was walking along an elevated path in the Zambian bush. His friends from the orphanage were waving goodbye to him. The path was straight and disappeared into the horizon. I prophesied that God had set him apart for a purpose different from that of his peers. He would quickly be taken to a faraway place for a special purpose. Kennedy was grateful for the revelation and shed a few tears. Two years later Kennedy was granted a soccer scholarship by an American Christian College and is presently finishing his studies in a suburb of Los Angeles. He plays semi-professional soccer and has just led a mission with fellow students back to his Zambian orphanage.

Why bother with this sort of  risky activity?

I believe that, despite the risks, Other always wants to encourage us in a deeply personal and intimate way. A revelation delivered through a fellow human can bring great comfort and a fresh realization of the Divine Presence on our journey home. Like a good wine though it is best received in moderation.

Finally let me encourage you to expect visions,dreams and prophecy from the Divine Source. Don’t ditch your conscious mind for religious hysteria but do give it a little rest from time to time. You might just be surprised at what manifests!

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I’m sitting on a ferry about to leave Stranraer, Scotland for a quick visit back to Northern Ireland. Here’s where my stream of consciousness is taking me today: the human need for authentication.

If something is authentic it’s the real deal, the genuine article. We humans yearn deep within for the reassurance that we’re OK, that we’re authentic persons. Authentic, empathic, unifying centres are necessary in for us sons and daughters of Adam to develop a true sense of self-worth.

Without such centres we carry much damaging baggage known asurvival sub-personalities into adulthood – the driven need to prove ourselves to others and more importantly to ourselves. Ideally our parents ought to have provided these authenticating empathic centres, but now and again they withdrew their empathy from us, replacing their unconditional love with a performance based acceptance.

Does the situation change when we have a spiritual encounter in later life? Not necessarily so – we can be ‘good’ Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus but still strive for acceptance from the newly discovered  Divinity and our fellow ‘believers’.

We search for authentication and empathy down the lanes of our religious life and devotion. Saving the world becomes an attempt to authenticate our wounded persona. This is where we become prone to the influence of seemingly powerful empathic unifying centres – gifted teachers or gurus or perhaps abusive religious movements.

These desire centers appear to promise what we need – authentication through empathy. I believe that Yeshua was a genuinely authentic, yet freeing, unifying center for his disciples, claiming to be the very image of the Divine Father.

Before his predictable death He claimed that He wouldn’t leave the disciples bereaved or in an orphaned state; in other words without a parental empathic authenticator. The Divine Spirit would somehow come and console (authenticate by empathy) Peter and the distraught group after his execution.

Western Christian teaching has always interpreted the root of the relevant Greek word as meaning ‘to stand alongside in a court of law’ thus emphasising the legal nature of justification by faith. I prefer to see  Spirit as the One who stands beside us with total empathy, the One who continually heals the damaged ‘selfhood’ within our wounded psyches.

We’ve now one beside, and amazingly within us to spark a new  Self-authentication; a guide to reveal how precious and valued we are to Divine Source . Once that awakening occurs the need for external religious validation disappears; guilt will be a thing of the past and no longer will any ‘man of God’ be able to pull our pietistic puppet strings.

At least that’s been my experience.

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‘I want to break free’

The famous rock star Freddie Mercury penned these words in one of Queen’s biggest hits. Freddie was revealing his soul’s inner anguish but sadly Christianity held no answers for him.

Is Christianity a religion of freedom or one of bondage?

Paradoxically both!

Let me explain.

Desire is the key factor in our loss of freedom. Desire says, “I will not be happy until I get ——-!” When desire targets an object, an attachment or bond is formed that is extremely strong, in fact a subtle form of addiction.

An attachment can be understood as a psychological dependency on something or someone. It may even be a metaphysical belief  that seeks an elusive state of happiness or wholeness, perhaps even God Himself.

Attachments can’t ultimately deliver what they promise to deliver, thus prompting a fresh search for a deeper and more potentially workable attachment. True freedom comes when we drop these imprisoning dependency attachments, painful as it can be.

Where does Christianity come into the picture?

In my experience, traveling through the traditional Christian paradigm can go one of two ways. After an exciting initial sense of freedom it can quickly become the major dependency and means of enslavement in our psyche or, more rarely, it can become the catalyst for the dropping of all attachments.

I believe that a true experience of Holy Breath is the Divine means of rewiring and freeing one’s sense of Self from the attachment game. Unfortunately, Christian faith is often presented as a commitment to a religious institution or, even more dangerously, to a religious leader/teacher/guru.

How often have you been asked, or indeed asked, ‘What Church are you attached to?’

A most telling question, one that reveals the subliminal attachment mentality of the enquirer.

Even one’s commitment to a pre determined orthodoxy can prove to be a prison for the psychologically dependent. Dogma insists on whole hearted devotion,presenting itself as the source of freedom, happiness and peace. It appears to the enthusiastic believer that Christ or God  cannot be experienced apart from such a dogma. Such a belief is, in my experience, false.

Contrary to popular religious opinion, a so called ‘backslider’ from Christian orthodoxy may, in fact, have set out on the beginning of a journey towards genuine freedom, a freedom where Spirit fulfills its role as the authenticator of our psychic Self.

Mankind, I would suggest, isn’t split into Christian and non Christian camps. Instead, I believe the human family comprises those awakened souls walking in awareness and freedom and those sleepwalkers who, like automatons, stumble their way through earthly existence.

‘If the Son makes you free you will be free indeed’

Surprisingly, that precious and most needed gift of freedom, offered by the Nazarene, may lie outside our present Christian paradigm.

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I had a strange experience this morning – just as I was getting out of bed the old Sunday School chorus ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ rushed into my consciousness from nowhere . The next thing I heard was me belting it out in my somewhat tenor voice as if I were a 5 year old.A peace enfolded me and Carol my wife joined in from downstairs. What a simple and childlike thing spirit is and yet we have turned it into a system of dogmatic theology trying to find peace there when there is no peace there!I’m off to look at the ducks on the lagoon beside us – maybe they will be my teachers today!

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Most followers of a religion believe that God or the gods are the originators of their belief system. In my more pensive moments I doubt them – by your fruit you shall know them and all that! Perhaps we can imagine what happened in prehistory! As early man formed communities, the rivalry within eventually manifested with everyone looking for ‘the other’ to blame. After a period of time the community centred this blame on one of the weakest or non conforming members of the group. This evil victim was then murdered as the violence of the community was unleashed. Following this blood thirsty ritual a new sense of unity peace and prosperity seemed to fall upon the community.’How come?’ they asked. Their only explanation was that their victim by his death had brought the peace. He was now recognized as a god, who dispensed peace – and so the dying god was born along with ‘sacrifice’ and its ability to appease the anger of the gods who were responsible for the regular crises ( famine ,drought,sickess etc.) within the community. I believe that all sacrificial religious thought evolved from such a mindset – a god who needs to be appeased by the death of a victim. Are we through our religious rituals,practices and disciplines, today continuing such an ancient myth. Was Jesus death such a death or was it radically different indeed dismantling such a belief system? Does Divine Love demand self sacrifice? Now there’s a question that could have many practical repercussions in the life of a Yeshua follower!

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