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10/26/2026

October 26, 2026
Strategic Discipleship, Chapter 2, Discipleship Basics

What Counts As “Fruit” and What Does Not (Part 1)

The simplest understanding of the functional role of Fruit is, “Fruit is proof of Life.” It manifests in the three forms we have just listed as who we are (character/transformation/salvation), what we do (good works), and in what kingdom we claim citizenship (sanctification from this world system)—i.e., being, doing, and serving. Why do we say that? Because Jesus told us in John 15:4-5 that He is the Source of fruit and without Him we can do nothing. Add to that concept the fact that when we abide in the Vine, fruit is always produced, and its presence constitutes proof of abiding. Romans 5:9-10 confirms that it is the Life of Christ as a transformation process that saves us, and that is the “Life more abundantly” that He promised by His coming (John 10:10). Of course, the Life we are addressing is spiritual Life, not physical, biological life. In the physical/biological life sense, a person can be alive and yet still be found to be healthy or unhealthy. In the spirit, the same healthy/unhealthy designations apply. Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing”; He did not say, “Without Me you cease to exist.” Obviously, those who do not even know Christ still do things in the sense of “having activity,” so Jesus’ meaning has to be “You can do nothing as you ought to do it to be valuable in and to the Kingdom.” He did also say, however, that there are good and bad trees, and some bad may be found where we expect the good to be and the bad trees not to be (Matthew 13:24-30). So, “You will know them by their fruit” simultaneously promotes the same message as Paul’s 1 Corinthian 11:19 statement, “For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.” “Those who are approved may be recognized” is tantamount to saying “You will know them by their fruits [i.e., “the fruit of their conduct of faith,” our paraphrase].” So, by the “Those Who Are Approved May Be Recognized Principle,” simultaneously, fruit is “Proof of Life.”

People, especially believers, are sometimes very keen to live in a fantasy world concerning their own “goodness” (i.e., Proverbs 20:6, “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?”). But the proof of actual Life (by the higher definition)—and especially, abundant Life—in the realm of Spirit is the presence or absence of Fruit of the Spirit in the form that God determines to be acceptable and useful. That means that the subset of “useful and genuine fruit” is smaller than is often claimed, either by the church or by the world in general. The foregoing overestimation of “goodness” and “fruitfulness” is “fudging” our behavior based on our intentions or deception, not our actual performance. But a believer cannot “fudge” real fruit. He/She can attempt to redefine what is “good” and “bad” fruit (Genesis 3:5), they can encourage and reinforce each other’s bad fruit by calling it good, they can claim that fruit doesn’t really matter, only “faith.” But however we attempt to twist and spin reality, fruit is proof of connection; and connection is proof of healthy relationship. First and foremost, connection is proof of invested trust. In Chapter 4, we will discuss our trust placed by a situation by situation, choice by choice act of our will as the connection point—“joint,” if you will—that anchors and maintains our Abid-ing in the Vine status. Not all that call Jesus “Lord, Lord” will enter into the Kingdom, only those known by Him (Matthew 7:21-23), and not all “crops” growing in His field are good plants from good seed (Matthew 13:24-30). By the same token/reference, not all that appears as religious fruit will count “in that Day” (the Day of Christ, or Judgment Seat of Christ) as reward credentials. False/Fake fruit abounds in religion, but not in the Kingdom—that is one of the primary designators between Real and apparent, activity and lasting effect, gold/silver/precious stones and chaff, perishable and lasting, knowing/being known and religious obscurity. Without fruit—the fruit He designates—there is no proof, only presumption; and presumption is another term for “You will be like God knowing good and evil” deception.

One of the staple features of a 1950s-1980s household as I was growing up was a large bowl of wax fruit on some table somewhere in the house, and the fake fruit was almost indistinguishable from the real thing! It was beautiful, decorative, pristine. But its real appeal was that it was non-spoiling, non-deteriorating, perpetually-perfect adornment for the perfect home. Purchased once, it never had to be refreshed or replaced. It was the appearance of fruit without the messy downsides. It is true that it did not decay, but neither would it sustain life, only the appearance of life. Fool’s gold has no value, but it sparkles and looks good. Wax fruit has frequently been mistaken for the real thing (not so much the plastic copy of fruit—that’s just weird!), but has only decorative, non-substantive value. Try to take even one bite and the coun-terfeit is exposed. The fake is often preferable to the real in some homes because it is low maintenance. Real ministry is often real-ly (pun intended) messy. In our usurped sovereignty, one of the delusions from which we suffer is that we have the prerogative to determine real and false, valuable and not valuable, “for me” or “not for me.” It is the same motivation working in King Saul when Samuel confronted him about his disobedience to the word of the Lord, and Saul was more concerned about his “street cred” than his under-performance. “OK, OK, Samuel, you got me. But at least allow me to save face in front of the people and keep up appearances.” (1 Samuel 15:24-25, my paraphrase). It is difficult to imagine that Saul could claim with a straight face to have obeyed (right to Samuel’s face, 1 Samuel 15:20). “I DID obey…but the people” was Saul’s compromised position, and he had to know that his fudging of God’s command conveyed through Samuel was not real obedience and was therefore not real fruit. It is equally difficult to imagine that somewhere down deep inside the “many” of Matthew 7:21-23 did not have an inkling that their ministry was off-target. But then, again, it is only “In [His] light that we see light” (Psalm 36:9), so when wandering in the darkness, and when all the religious agree on the “way church is done,” it is not difficult to miss that what you are producing by your religious activity is not the real thing. One of the stunning aspects of Matthew 7:21-23 is that the “many” petitioning Jesus “in that day” were completely taken off guard that their good works failed to meet His criterium of “known.” That is a very sobering statement that should be the point of focused assessment and for our own heart motivation. It is shocking to our system of belief when our production equals our definition of success, and yet both are “weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27).

10/22/2026

October 22, 2026
Overcoming Sovereign Self, Chapter 2, Discipleship Basics

Metaphor #1: Abiding in the Vine in a Separated World

Jesus’ language and metaphors are often strange to us when we actually focus and consider the words in the context of Truth and True Reality rather than just letting them pass through our ears without any intervening consideration. His “Abide in the Vine” is one of the strangest in Scripture: He is likening us to a vegetative plant! After all, He had previously called us His “sheep,” (a metonomy) so why not say, “Abide in the flock”? And as 21st century humans, we could much more easily have understood and related to, “Attach yourself to a church and stay there!” Knowing that He never did or said things in the same haphazard manner that we do (the “worship” song claim of “reckless love” notwithstanding!), what can we glean from the metaphor? Sheep in a flock keep their own “identity” but remain highly dependent on the shepherd, behave according to set barriers, and yet have a habit of going their own way and doing their own thing (Isaiah 53:6) even while flocking together in the same general area for periods of time. So, why not say, “Abide in the pasture and you’ll be fine.” In a nutshell: Sheep wander off and get lost. As far as why He didn’t say, “Join a Church and stay there,” well, in light of the “doing their own thing and going their own way” evaluation tool, that is pretty much Self-evident unless the business of the Church is just to host religious gatherings!

A second factor that makes a vine a superior metaphor of the abiding function is that when a branch loses its connection to the vine, its nature and future is changed entirely. It immediately becomes dry and begins to die. Its trajectory and life continuation prospects are dramatically altered! Think about it: There is no such thing as a live branch that did not originate in a vine sometime, somewhere; and biological functioning notwithstanding, there is no Life in us without first being sourced in Him (John 6:53-54). Though at one time a living structure defined by its generating “root” source, when detached it becomes a dry, dead, non-functioning stick that looks similar to its former attached estate but dramatically differs in fruit production ability. All branches are not the same size or in the same stage of development. But all living branches are basically an arrangement of cellulosic “tubes and tissue” as a conduit to distribute and convey the sap provided by the main vine, host the flowers that display the Husbandman/Creator’s beauty and genius, and to which leaves are attached to capture sunlight to feed photosynthesis. And since the sap makes possible the production of fruit, abiding therein enables important Kingdom functions: Reproduction and sustainment, feeding and growth. The analogy seems obvious. Having no efficacious “sap” (read: power) or even the ability to produce Agape Love on our own, we can only be the “tubes and tissues” to flow the power of the Spirit, the Love of the Father, and produce the flowers and fruit that are the blessing and essence of His Nature. We do not have to squint, squirm, break a sweat, or bear down. We simply remain attached, therefore viable in the Spirit, and fruit appears on our branch, ripe for consumption. But actually abiding is not as straightforward as we think because it is a skill to learn, not an effortless declaration to make, or an aisle to walk.

Recall that we have said that our favorite question to ask Papa is for insight: “What is really going on here, in this time, in this circumstance, in this experience, in this classroom lesson?” The answer to that question cuts through the fog of metaphors and other language tools and takes us to our “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” destination (Romans 11:8, Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 13:43). When we set out to answer our Spiritual Question #1, “What is really going on here?” ; and the follow-up Question #2, “What do we need to focus on with high priority to live in the True Reality of the answer to Question #1?”; we find that Abiding in the Vine is a first-level primary skill. In order to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) as Jesus commanded, we must first make disciples of ourselves, and that means learning and teaching the skill of Abiding in the Vine! That is not to say that we do not already talk about AitV (we do), and preach about AitV (we also do), but we do usually do not teach the skill development aspects. But that is what making a disciple is, and AitV is core curriculum. It is a focus on which all other spiritual skills/gifts converge and balance, and it does not happen by accident or fiat. Why is that? It is as Jesus declared to us in John 15:5, “…without Me you can do nothing.” But prior to that, He had already declared that without the Father, He Himself could do nothing (John 5:19, 5:30, 8:28). That is a complex relationship and reflects Jesus’ John 17:21’s, “You in Me…I in You…them in Us” Collective Oneness arrangement that results in attachment and fruitfulness. Jesus was not saying, “Without Me beside you, helping you, you can do nothing.” He was saying, “Without Oneness in Me, as Me, and in/as the Father you cannot even know what we are doing, much less do it.” It is the indispensable factor to understand the primary focus and skill: The only way a branch can be productive is the Vine and branches abiding in Oneness without separation; which factor completes the circuit of His “Oneness” prayer. His “Without Me you can do nothing” declaration, and the culture of the Eternal Kingdom are all entirely consistent, all cognitional, all ostensibly discernable, yet so little understood. The foregoing primary factor and primary focus/skill makes perfect sense when we apply what we know by observation of vines and branches in the natural world, and that is what makes it a good, instructive metaphor. But the empirical challenge of AitV in a world where separation, separated thinking, and independence are the assumed norm is the very “point of the spear” of our “overcoming” quest. If the branch never effectively attaches in Oneness or detaches itself (as we do by our carnal mind choices and love for this world’s system and things), it remains unfruitful. You may continue to produce religious activities/works, but the Fruit of the Spirit only grows on Jesus’ Vine and under the Father’s husbandry. And once separated from the vine, a branch is merely kindling for the fire!

John 15:1-10, 1 John 3:6 and 5:18 reveal the power position of “abiding in the Vine.” In-deed, John makes “abiding” a major topic with some 13 references in his gospel, 15 references of his first epistle, and adds two more references to the abiding “in Him” in his second epistle. The mechanism of power is the Nature of God, and the overwhelming “dynamos” that dispels any and all of the enemy’s puny (comparatively) power. When we are AitV, we are living in the midst of a repulsing force that is both offensive and defensive in its effect. John’s writing make this very clear: Sin does not and cannot happen in the abiding space because it cannot break through the perimeter formed by the Blood of Christ. But when we compare John’s message to our experience—or, at least, our perception of our experience—we perceive a disconnect and paradox that bewilders us.

We grasp and gratefully accept Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross to deliver us from the guilt of our sin. But much less understood—because it flies in the face of our perceived reality of independence—is that just as important as our delivery from sin was His repair of the breech of separation (Matthew 27:46). We agree with and often quote David’s Psalm 139 assertions about our unique individuality but seem completely bankrupt to hold the lessons of “no separation” in our consciousness. We fail to see that it is not our individuality/identity that is responsible for our separation illusion, it is our Self-based iniquity remnant that stains and deceives us. But it is possible—yeah, it is Papa’ design—that we can beat (overcome) the illusion! How do we know that? We know because a huge part of Jesus’ mission was to pay the price for our separation on the cross then bid us be Who He is, do what He did, and to follow Him home. And Who was He? He was the unique, One of a kind “Very Man of very Man, and very God of Very God.” That is pretty much as “individual” as is possible to attain. Yet He maintained “You in Me and Me in You” Oneness with the Father. That teaches us that individuality, Collective Oneness, and Identity are not in competition with one another; they are complementary in ways that it is difficult for us to fathom or imagine on this side of the veil of the flesh.

10/21/2026

October 21, 2026
Overcoming Sovereign Self, Chapter 5, "The Story of Redemption Depicted in the Events of History

The Story of Redemption Context of History (“His Story”) (Part 2)

There is a body of underlying “mystery” that God has hidden from all but His “kings” to search out. The hidden mystery, when searched out, answers some of the most daunting and intriguing questions that individuals and mankind have wrestled with since Creation; questions like, “Why are we here?” and “What is the meaning of life?” It is not impudence or presumptuousness to claim to know these things because of the authorization of God’s commission to us to discover them. The answers to such mysterious questions can only be discerned when the past events of Eternity and the future events of both T/S/M and Eternity are considered together to understand that all that we know as the symphony of this world’s historical events are serving as a correction and justice for the chaos initiated by Lucifer’s Rebellion in Eternity Past, before the Foundation of the World. Further, it is also clear that Papa’s two principal goals concerning the Church are to return a Kingdom to His Son and to call out, train, and prepare a Bride for Him. A third high-level purpose of God’s Program of Operation on earth is to bring an end to the chaos that began with Lucifer’s Rebellion by judging it, casting it altogether into the Lake of Fire, and purging all remnants from His people. That is the functional definition of Justice: You reap what you sow.

Understanding how man’s temporal experiences and choices made in this T/S/M created dimension relate to God’s overall Program helps us discern meaning for that which we call “life.” What is not helpful—rather is completely unhelpful—is to continue to languish in a meaning for life that features “me, my, mine.” In other words, we cannot effectively join in Papa’s Plan while making life all about me, if for no other reason than it is the primary motivation that powered Lucifer’s original and ongoing Rebellion; and to the degree we engage his motivation, we support his cause and provide aid and comfort to his opposition to the Son’s Kingdom. It is the classic “Kingdom divided against itself” when we share Satan’s impetus and stimulus while proclaiming an impossible “love” of God in us (1 John 2:15)! From this knowledge perspective it is unambiguously straightforward to perceive Jesus ‘meaning in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matthew 13:24-30). Our default when we read is, “Oh, He was speaking about someone else, not me.” But unless you have committed a total and comprehensive effort to deny Self and repudiate Self-based iniquity, and you count yourself a part of His “field” (read: “church”), then look in the mirror to see precisely who He was describing as “tares.” As believers we claim to have faith; but do we have the faith to lose our life for His sake? It takes more than mere words and declaration, it takes a strategic battle plan against our default nature in a world that reinforces the enemy’s Rebellion and values for every moment of every day.

If, then, we can discern high-level strategic meaning, we should be able to determine our own concurrent and cooperating strategies for our discipleship transformation and make daily tactical-level decisions that are in alignment with Papa’s intended goals for His people. By knowing what has happened, knowing what will happen, and observing what is happening currently, we should be able to filter our interpretation of events through understanding based on the Creator’s design. Once He has accomplished His training purposes for the Bride of Christ, and has dotted the last “i” and crossed the last “t” in His Story and Program—His History of Redemption—He will bundle all the enemy’s rebellion remnants and cast them into the Lake of Fire. And, His redeemed ones will pass through the fire of the Judgment Seat of Christ to burn away the chaff of Self and receive the reward of Kingdom responsibility determined by whatever gold, silver, and precious stones survive (1 Corinthians 3:9-13). Until then, all events serve His purposes, just as “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

We are not told of any history (if that is a valid concept for events outside of time) of any pre-Rebellion events in Eternity Past. Nor are we told much detail of what followed between The Rebellion and the Foundation of the World. Likewise, we are not told of future events past the advent of New Jerusalem recorded in Revelation 21-22. Those facts, taken together, imply an intriguing meaning, focus, gravity, and consequence of all that occurs because of The Rebellion, and for the whole narrative between the Foundation of the World (Kosmos) and the Advent of New Jerusalem. They strongly imply a cause-and-effect relationship, and provide the initiating cause and the God-imposed solution for Lucifer's egregious “I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14, Ezekiel 28:15) iniquity. The “bookend”—"first chapter, last chapter”—nature of the two events of Lucifer’s Rebellion and Descent of New Jerusalem implies their cosmological importance: They are the initiating and culminating events in The History of Redemption—the first and last chapters, if you will. They imply meaning way beyond “me” and my parochial interests and worldview. They imply that we should be diligent, not only to seek forgiveness from the sin and sin nature that resulted, but that we should be extraordinarily diligent to root out the cause of the “disease” by which we were infected in the Rebellion and events following. That root cause deep in the core of our being is the Self-interested, Self-centered, Self-exalting, Self-as-god motivation that first ruled Lucifer, and now rules us all from the first moment of our entry into the kingdom of this world, and even well before that. It is the echo of Lucifer’s “I will be like the Most High” arrogant, defiant declaration (Isaiah 14:15) reverberating through our being, beginning in our Precious Life, (heart, soul, and spirit) and metastasizing to every corner of our physical and spiritual body, until we diligently, intentionally devote targeted “buy from Me” medicine (Revelation 3:18) that shrinks the cancerous tumor of Self. Is it possible to be completely “Self-cancer-free” before we “shuffle off this mortal coil”? I do not know, but we know it is worth a colossal, courageous effort! We know that Paul understood the Grand Challenge perhaps better than anyone before or since; and, he confessed “Not that I have already attained, nor am already perfected” in his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 3:12). But kings are compelled to search for the cure, and to de-vote themselves to a much more than casual pursuit of His glory.

Papa does not tell us much about what happened before the Foundation of the World, and that is by His design. So, what He does tell us about that period must be important enough to have some subsequent impact in this T/S/M reality. The fact that Lucifer’s Rebellion and our being chosen “before the Foundation of the World” (Ephesians 1:4) are the only pre-Foundation of the World events clearly reported in Scripture (of which we are aware) implies that Lucifer’s act and our choice were of such repercussive aftermath that it required a redemptive response from God if the Son’s Kingdom was to be established. The act of “inferring” a logical conclusion, an “informed guess” from stated facts is the material pursuit of mystery exploration encouraged by Proverbs 25:2 and requires forming a set of working assumptions. Once formed, our assumptions can be confirmed or corrected by Holy Sirit revelation. Such an assumption set can best be established by examining the record as we have it and Papa’s “Heart” and Nature as we know it. That is the process of searching out the mysteries of God to which Proverbs 25:2 and other Scriptures refer:
• 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the LORD of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).
• 9 [A]nd to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the in-tent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our LORD (Ephesians 3:9-11).
• 25 [O]f which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:25-27).

The word translated “mystery” in the Greek language is “μυστήριον (mystērion),” meaning “a matter to the knowledge of which initiation is necessary; a secret which would remain such but for revelation; a concealed power or principle; a hidden meaning of a symbol” (Strong: G3466). Mysteries are hidden for a reason, and when Papa conceals a matter, it is to inspire a more-than-casual search for His kings to engage. And, the mystery of God's Program of Operation—His "His-tory of Redemption”—revealed across time through many coordinated events is the central discovery focus of this life and the "stuff" kings are driven to seek out (Proverbs 25:2). We find it intriguing and instructive that, of all the New Testament writers and speakers, “mystērion” is only used by three: Jesus (one reference), Paul (17 references in 6 letters), and John (four references in The Revelation). Given his frequency of use, is it any wonder that Paul’s declaration “great is the mystery of godliness” is a central feature of what he further declared to be his gospel (Ro-mans 2:16, 16:25, 2 Timothy 2:8)?

Jesus’ only recorded usage of the term “mystērion” is in Mark 4:10-12 as He explained to “those around Him with the twelve” disciples the Parable of the Sower:
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.’”

Jesus’ words prank with our theology and blow up the “whosoever will may come” theory; which, as the reader may recall, we have said is a gospel based on our ISS’s insistence that man is the one in control of the justification process by his “Free Will.” The fallacy is that we assume that, since it is all we can remember due to the veil of the flesh, our choice must have been the one we made in this lifetime. It is illogical and fallacious for us to assume that His message recorded in Mark was not for just anyone who “wanted” to believe but was for a specific subset of “hearers” (“those around Him with the twelve,” and “those who will believe in Me through their word” [John 17:20]) yet somehow, we believe that our declaration of the gospel is for “anyone within the sound of my voice.” That flies in the face of the Scriptural disclosure that Jesus waited until He was alone with the Twelve to disclose the meaning of the parable. Further, Jesus’ words and tone were not a neutral “whatever” or “whosoever” language, but indicate that His style—including veiling almost all His public messages in parable format—was intended to prevent un-believers from understanding, “lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them”! Why? Because it was not for them, and not their “mail to read.” We do love to force our square pegs of fantasy doctrine into the round holes of the Word of God.

Previously, we have asked the rhetorical question—based on the text of Proverbs 25:2— “Are they kings because they seek out a concealed matter (mystery), or are they kings first and so they are motivated to search out a concealed matter?” We confess that we do not definitively know the answer, but knowing from where the inspiration for a “Great is the mystery of godliness” (2 Timothy 2:16) search comes, we suspect it is the latter. But, this much is clear: If we are to be counted among those “to whom it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God,” we must be whole-hearted seekers of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which revelation includes not only the words themselves but also the meaning of the words in context. That is whole Truth in context!

10/20/2026

October 20, 2026
Overcoming Sovereign Self, Chapter 5, "The Story of Redemption Depicted in the Events of History

The Story of Redemption Context of History (“His Story”) (Part 1)

Every great story is constructed from narrative elements that bind it together and convey the meaning and context of the storyline. The Story of Redemption is much, much more than just a great story, though. It is the pinnacle of romance, action, drama, adventure, mystery, and documentary rolled into one. It even has a few comedic elements in lighter moments. One genre not represented is science fiction, however, since fiction has nothing to do with God’s word to us. Science fact, on the other hand, is a thing regardless of disbeliever’s claims of “foolishness.” Our Hero-King is the epitome—rather, the very founding definition—of heroic character through His courage, character, strength, humility, endurance through suffering, glory, honor, and selfless Love for His people. It has even been called “The Greatest Story Ever Told”; but that description in the way it is usually applied in print and video falls far short of its actual cardinal virtues by reason of the fact that the Life and story of Jesus are without beginning or ending (i.e., His Nativity and Ascension), and extend to Eternity Past before the world’s Creation and will be unceasing throughout Eternity future after the events of this inferior reality are consummated in the All in All. Until then, the prime elements of His Story are reminiscent of chapters in a book, and are elements that form an outline of sorts for the correction and expungement of the Luciferic actions that initiated and continue to mark events in this Kosmos.

We have no objective mechanism apart from faith for knowing the nature of True Reality in the condition we currently find ourselves—immured in a clay vessel, trapped behind enemy lines, and lost and wandering around a strange environment that is not our home and severely limited in our tools and skillsets for surviving spiritually, much less coping. How would it change our perception and purpose if we understood that this life as we experience it is by design essentially a living story, a screenplay written for the drama entitled The History of Redemption? When Scripture describes Jesus as Living Word (John 1:1-14, Hebrews 4:12), what if it is not a metaphor? What if it is describing some element of Eternal Reality that cannot effectively translate to this T/S/M world? What if Papa on purpose and by design obscured our world of origination so that we would need to be highly motivated to surpass our limitations and separation illusion to catch a glimpse of “home.” At this point we must declare that we are not claiming that “Jesus was an extraterrestrial,” because, frankly, the baggage attached to going there is not worth the fight. But we are definitely claiming that He was interdimensional, as we all are. If that strikes you as heretical, we would ask wha-t terms would you be comfortable using to describe a place we call “heaven,” that Jesus described as “not of this world” (John 18:36), and that we have to ostensibly leave this body to enter and experience it (1 Corinthians 15:50, 2 Corinthians 12:2-4)? The Truth is that Jesus’ “not of this world” declaration is all that is necessary to contextualize our faith without attaching pejorative imagination of “spacemen” and cartoonish Martians with ray guns. The truth is that when you made your profession of faith Jesus had already declared He was from another world, and that has not changed since you believed. It is more than a little curious that believers who unashamedly proclaim their belief and trust in miracles and the su-pernatural would shrink back at the prospect of admitting Jesus came from another “dimension.” It is very possible that Bugs Bunny cartoons from our childhood and War of the Worlds-style im-agery from movies do as much to hinder our faith as any direct attack from the enemy (assuming that there is a difference between the two!).

Add to the foregoing the “commonplace” feel of Star Trek and Star Wars, and we have an environment that essentially proclaims that there is nothing inherently special about inter-dimensional life because we can create the illusion on demand! What if it plays right into the enemy's hands when we insist on making our gospel “terrestrial,” "earth-bound" and "no non-sense"? Ask yourself these questions, and this time without the smirks, without the references to “tinfoil hats,” giving serious consideration to non-flesh mystery and the role it plays in what we experience:
• What if we could actually accurately perceive exactly how little we know?
• What if the virtual reality does not end when we take off of the artificial five senses aids like we would remove a VR headset when we are through with it? What if our natural five-senses equipment—designed by God—is the most advanced VR system in existence?
• What would change in our faith picture if we could understand that much/most of what we experience in this Kosmos world and what we call “my life” is an illusion, unreal and unknown in the True Reality of the Eternal Realm?
• How will our behavior and attitudes change when it dawns on us that this world is not real in the traditional sense that we usually use that word, through our lenses, filters, and biases?
• How would priorities be altered with the “warm-up band” understanding of this world’s stage? When it finally “dawns” on us, will to be too late to adapt?
• What if we became fully convinced that there exists a fuller, richer, permanent True Real-ity surrounding us at all times, in which we “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
• Is there any yet unknown fact/factor that, if you were to discover it, has the power to cause you to turn from His grace and “follow Him no more” (John 6:66)?

If we objectively examine our assumptions and attitudes about what is real and how we come to our conclusions, we believe that the only integrity position is that we have no idea beyond the faith with which He endows us, and that endowment is in itself strong objective evidence of believers’ “land of origin.” Deniers of this truth display the most extreme arrogance imaginable, first denying what they do not and cannot know (John3:3) and what they cannot see. It is, once again, strong evidence of the “Self-as-god” fantasy/illusion operating in the flesh and Kosmos system. It is the literal fulfilment of the serpent’s deception of Genesis 3:5, “You will be like God,” not only defining good and evil, but also Real and unreal. We can know both the King and the Kingdom and confidently claim that we love and maintain fierce loyalty to a King and His Kingdom, not only as we currently understand them, but knowing they are not of this world, and it matters not one whit to our faith and trust in Him. That is part of the meanings of 2 Corinthians 5:16: “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” We read the foregoing and immediately interpret it in metaphoric form that waters down its impact. But leaving the “according to the flesh” standard behind—that is, growing past its limitations—means unequivocally that His “came from God” (John 13:3) origin includes expansive possibilities that surely includes any, including that which we have yet to understand from our “behind the veil” and “in the flesh” filter.

God first created us with a narrative bias, then He gave us a marvelous story with which to occupy our thoughts. The Bible has been described as “The History of Redemption.” This description of the Scripture indicates a consistent theme spanning from Genesis to Revelation. Such a theme does exist, and it can be found and tracked through time by examining what God—through the Holy Spirit-inspired writing—tells us about primary events that determined direction, and therefore changed everything (or perhaps more accurately, revealed everything), as well as many event details that add richness and guide our interpretation of Papa’s mysteries. Clearly, Scripture is not a moment-by-moment or even an event-by-event sequential account of all that has happened or will happen from Eternity Past to Eternity Future. But, by examining the effect of benchmark events, by connecting the dots that Papa gives, and by the revelatory coaching of the Holy Spirit, we can begin to understand God’s Purpose and Program of Operation as it relates to mankind. This process is a literal and practical expression of the Proverbs 25:2 challenge: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search it out.”

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