VOX POPULI.. META_Analysis of our present dire circumstances. Commentary from Michael.

a reply to: glend

Thank you, I'm very open to reading the work of Christian mystics. Yes, I believe I have experienced that bliss - it is at once richly complex & yet the simplest thing in the world.

I find this state of mind/heart when I worship God, as He frequently comes very close in such times - the manifest presence of God is a wonderful thing, removing our focus on ourselves & centering our focus on Him. It requires complete surrender & trust in the will of God to move in our hearts to produce the peace which passes understanding, and the growth which enables us to stand under the influence of His presence (rather than faint under it, which is the natural response when we first begin to be contacted by God in this way - this is when people are 'slain in the Spirit'..) Worship is the place I feel most comfortable, where I know that I am known & fully understood, loved despite my failings, secure for eternity under the shadow of His wings.

Anyone who wants to understand bliss, needs to understand reverence, wonder, and the heart-response of coming into close contact with His presence in the Spirit. I adjure anyone reading to ask God to reveal this state of consciousness to you, so that you too can be absolutely assured of His good nature, His nature as everlasting & infinite light, love, purity, beauty & power, rooted in grace & offering the forgiveness of sin.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4: 7-8

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

I am happy for you FlyInTheOintment.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Thank you.

I just want to add that no matter how I try, describing what one experiences during a worship encounter in the Spirit is almost impossible to accomplish with the appropriate reverence, grandeur, magnificence, glory, and so on - but I will try to expand a bit on what I wrote in my previous post. It is not that we are being subsumed into the presence of God, as irrelevant little sparks of light - because He loves us sufficiently that even in our supposedly primitive ego state we are valued by Him, valuable to Him, as individuals bound by space & time, however limited that perspective may ultimately prove to have been once we attain to the wonders of Heaven.

I wish I were able to describe the crystal clarity of the glorious emotional tenor of the experience, the awe-inspiring power, and yet the infitessimal care for the preservation of one's sense of security, comfort & peace in the midst of the encounter. He loves us deeply, and meets us where we are at, so to speak. He manages to grow us, even while we are made aware of His infinite scope & power, so much so that we do not feel like insignificant, sinful 'things', but rather as a cherished child**,a son or daughter who is valued as one unique & beautiful individual amongst billions, perhaps trillions, gifted by Him for some singular purpose which enables us to be a carrier of grace, or comfort, or peace, or strength & support, or clarity, communication, construction, musical capability or artistic flair, whatever it might be that we can accomplish that would edify & show grace to our contemporaries, even leaving behind us works which will continue to speak down through the ages - the greatest of which is the growth & edification of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth, the 'universal church of Christ' in which all of us are enrolled, no matter our place or denomination. The grand communion of all believers. It extends beyond the boundaries that we ourselves impose, and so a Cathar, a Roman Catholic & an Anglican could all be considered equals - and so could a faithful man or woman doing their best to live authentic spiritual life in any of the world's traditions. Man looks at the external circumstances, but God looks at the heart - so a Muslim man may be more godly than a Baptist woman, even though it would seem to us that she is more likely to be closer to the Son of God due to her proximity to authentic teaching within a church of Christ.

** This feature of being held to be unique, cherished children of God expresses clearly why I disbelieve in the impersonal, cold, nihilistic belief of the Buddhists - they teach that the destruction of the ego is necessary to overcome the wheel of illusion/samsara, our collective reality which from their limited perspective allegedly does nothing but cause suffering. However, their observations cease before they attain to a realisation of the knowledge of God. They have observed the realm of nature, and the mind of Man, but they never received the direct revelation of the nature of God & His relationship to the Human race - that was reserved initially for the Jews, later to be adopted by Christians who were able to move in the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit, where previously only law had been revealed (except to the priests, prophets & some others in limited manner). And so many of the Jews remained stuck in the past, unable to believe that their Messiah hadn't been a mighty warrior, instead having been a disruptive force for magnificant goodness, virtue & healing amongst the common people. They had instead conjured up for themselves an image of the all-conquering king who would liberate them from their worldly struggles with persecution by political rulers. Yet they had been gifted with such a massive amount of divine wisdom, grace, the revelation of the 'Great I AM', YHWH Adonai, ultimately speaking of Jesus the Christ, Immanuel, God with us. And so here we are, a broken civilisation yet built upon the greatest precepts the world has ever known.

That is why Western civilisation became pre-eminent in the world after the ascension of Christ - because He was with us, and His promises were made manifest to those who believed & followed His commands, each with blessings which spread out into society like the root system of interconnected great trees, Redwoods perhaps, sprouting new trunks & branches all over the world, each of which flowed with the life & light of Christ..

And now, following the necessary technological leaps of the enlightenment, the church largely matured despite the onset of sudden division at the outset of that maturation, and the Protestant communion now contains over 8,000 denominations. All believe essentially the exact same thing, they are unified on points of essential doctrine - but their style of worship & teaching, and the exact customs/ traditions they observe differ very slightly in some of the details. The fact that the Protestant communion is so very unified, despite possessing such a vast number of member denominations, by definition expresses a picture of the love of God for Mankind, in that He makes it eminently easy to find a place in which we can place our trust in Him & move forward in a constructive environment that suits us perfectly, which appropriately teaches on the nature of God, provides the opportunity to meet with Him in worship, and prepares the ground for phenomenal miracles of healing, grace & redemption, the development of wisdom & the maturing of spiritual gifts as a means to edify & support members of the church across diverse communities spread out in the world, each with a unique history stretching back in time to some origin story of faithful people planting a seed with trust in God's miraculous love, combined with the conscientious teaching of pure truth.

God is highly to be praised for the works He has revealed both in nature & in the hearts of men & women who have placed their lives in His hands, who follow His commandments, seeking to love their neighbour as themselves, loving God with every fibre & molecule of their being. I could write for a thousand years to express "..the wonders of His love", but I will leave it here for now. Seek Him in worship, find the greatest revelation/ blessing/ spiritual gift/ promise for the future - greater than anything that you could ever even begin to imagine...

None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.…

I Corinthians 2: 9

Amen.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Eh brother, you have nothing to prove to me.

We are all at own unique places along the way. I enjoy seeing your perspective, and it is always inspiring when others express faith in the hopes of a better future. It takes guts to put yourself out there like this, your passion for writing and sharing the spirit is apparent. I doubt I am alone in sharing that perspective.

I admire your memory, and your experiences. My memory and my mind is sort of scrambled at the best of times. Sometimes I wonder if it is better this way. Others have been through more difficult journeys and had greater hardships then me, but that doesn’t mean the more traumatic experiences I have had are any less scarring. I’ve experienced psychosis multiple times, and even though others have tried to help me with my mental health, I still feel incredibly ambivalent about many aspects of myself to do with that. I often feel like my memory has been repeatedly wiped or what I gone through blocks out much looking back.

Fortunately those that love and care about me never give up. Sometimes I have often felt resentful or questioned the way things play out. More lately I just try to count my blessings and give thanks that they cared enough to try. I am as stubborn as they come, and when I realize later on what my loved ones were trying to get at, it tears at my heart. It can be very difficult trying to help or even love someone like me because my perspective is rather warped. I love my family and practice doing what I can to pay it forward, but am not able to share specific experiences as eloquently as you brother.

I appreciate you reminder about the importance of patience. My frustrations with the challenges life has thrown at me often made it easier to lash out, bottle up or medicate myself in attempts do dull the pain of a deep melancholy I have felt all too often. I met someone more recently who is patient and holds their silence when faced with adversity. I could not understand how that could work, but I tried it and was pleasantly surprised. I am the type that would rather stand up for myself, but all too often I did more damage then good hurting those that love me.

Thank you for sharing your experiences so detailed. It helps to understand the power of faith and see the positive force for the better it is. It is always helpful when we share our truths and it gives us all an opportunity to understand ourselves better. That understanding is what helps to the bridges needed to overcome in the face of adversity.

This thread gave me a chance to ask for insight to help others who may feel abandoned now and if the worst comes to pass. I feel the feedback and insight that has been shared has made a direct positive change for me personally. Thank you, again.

a reply to: dffrntkndfnml

You are most welcome for any & all help I may have been able to provide - sometimes I find myself in that glorious 'flow state', where everything just comes completely naturally, and I feel in marvellous control of the thoughts I'm seeking to express. At other times it takes a bit of force of will to punch through what blocks that flow, but either way God strcengthens me for whatever I do, whether out in the real world, or here within the virtual world of ATS, which I consider to be a home for my mind, but also partly a sort of diary system which has the marvellous feature of inviting feedback, from the amazing members who put everything into forming their replies, almost always seeking to support & encourage. Obviously there are some agitators, but the overwhelming majority have proven to be supportive, kind, understanding & tolerant of me & my sometimes weird posts.

It can be very difficult trying to help or even love someone like me because my perspective is rather warped. I love my family and practice doing what I can to pay it forward, but am not able to share specific experiences as eloquently as you brother.

Hang on a minute - where did you get the idea that you are in any way 'unloveable', or difficult to love..? I tell you right now that you are not difficult to love - you may be difficult to understand, but when you share your heart as you have done here, you stand as an equal brother before God, and so we love you all the way, be in no doubt over that. Jesus calls us brothers, equals, soldiers in the warfare that we face both individually, and collectively. Any time you feel that things aren't going your way, send me a message & I'll pray for you, happy to do so.

I believe I probably understand some aspects of your mental health struggles also, as I had a few episodes of my own - in my case it was driven by excessive use of cannabis when I was young, and again during a blip around the age of 30. Each time it was a psychosis, which ultimately led to the development of bipolar disorder (type 1). It's remarkably difficult to face the world knowing that in some way your equipment (your brain) can't quite be trusted - at first. For me, it felt that rather than being engineered in Germany, my own brain was engineered somewhere dodgy in the South China Sea, shipped out with the banana boat or whatever. It took time for me to recover from the episodes which I experienced, indeed the eight month period of depression which I described in a previous post in this thread was a part of that experience. These days the hyper-mania & depression swings & roundabouts are largely solved, I am balanced & calm almost all of the time, there are only the odd days where I feel malaise forming due to some unknown cause (a shifting in the alignment of the planets perhaps..) People may look at my claim to be Michael & see there a delusion which is too overwhelming for anything I say to be considered as sane - but I am lucid, clearheaded, confident in my assessment, trusting in the grace & clarity that God has supplied.

I will say one other thing which may seem a little out of left field - when I first read your latest post (to which I am replying), as I read that you are experiencing depression, I had an unusual experience of perception with the gift of discernment - I became aware of the loitering presence & attention of a particular spirit which I believe has been holding you bound up in some sort of limiting false belief system, perhaps concerning your potential for love as discussed earlier, perhaps something else entirely, I'm not sure. I was just aware that it was intelligent (so not a brute force blunt instrument demonic force), and that it was looking in my direction to see whether I would interfere with its activities. Incidentally, it has also apparently sent a couple of fiery darts my way since I started writing this post (I experienced disturbances in my 'aura' for want of a less New Age type of terminology..)

As a result of perceiving this threat to your welllbeing, I will pray for you carefully & repeatedly over the coming week, and we will see whether anything else is forthcoming that may be helpful in delivering a solution to your difficult trials of mental health, particularly this depression which catches you & holds you bound so often. I will exchange direct messages after each time of prayer so we can keep an eye on how the situation develops.

Again, thank you for being involved in this thread in a constructive manner, I look forward to speaking with you further.

God bless, FITO.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Our community here has been beyond wonderful and having a chance to express myself and invite feedback from everyone here has worked wonders for me on all levels.

Thank you for your kind words.

I express myself much better in writing most often then when I speak offline. The reason I say I feel that it is difficult to love me is because I sense a barrier often when those who care about me try to express their concerns when it comes to sensitive topics. With my direct family they fear they may anger me when I don’t feel angry.

Or people will use nuance that just flies over my head, like as in I am completely unconscious of what they are getting at. Then sometimes I realize what others have been trying to tell me, and find that it is indeed difficult to talk about. Or when I meet someone who is direct my ego still interferes. Even with all that, my loved ones do their best to reach out and communicate anyways. It is awe inspiring and I love them all the more.

I feel relatively confident with my understanding to do with my Bipolar Type 2 diagnosis. When I was younger I experienced many lows, and melancholy. That was on top of all the regular existential angst that pervades individuals mostly until their mid 30’s. The last ten years or so I have not felt down like that, even though I do get really tired of life sometimes. Some of my past experiences have been rather traumatic, but the mental health system could always improve. It also take two to tango. Fortunately the more sobering realizations about life I have had more lately, I’ve been able to handle better. Hopefully, others feel better too as they mature and earn their stripes.

As for your perceptions about a spirit. I feel good, and I have no threats in a spiritual sense or from any other direction to the best of my knowledge and intuition. No vampires or anything like that, no need to worry.

I am safe, and feel secure. I have a good support system and my stress levels are relatively low. Forgive me if I worried you, I am not shy about speaking my mind or asking for help. Most of the rough stuff is behind me, and my more recent challenges are resolved.

a reply to: dffrntkndfnml

As for your perceptions about a spirit. I feel good, and I have no threats in a spiritual sense or from any other direction to the best of my knowledge and intuition. No vampires or anything like that, no need to worry.

I am safe, and feel secure. I have a good support system and my stress levels are relatively low. Forgive me if I worried you, I am not shy about speaking my mind or asking for help. Most of the rough stuff is behind me, and my more recent challenges are resolved.

This is indeed good to hear, and I'm satisfied that I misinterpreted a sneaky little attack against myself, disguising itself as an attack against you. They love to sow discord & confusion, and I was quick to jump to conclusions rather than talking it out a bit more, as after reading your latest response I see that you were describing depressive episodes that were mainly in your past, rather than what is happening at the present time. I consider this to have been a deliberate act of attempted sabotage, trying to knock me off my feet in the context of the dramatic impact of this thread, in terms of what I have attempted to reveal concerning myself. Clearly they had a sit down & decided upon the best tactics to lead me down a false pathway, and it worked, I got it wrong. But that's okay, as long as we're talking these things through & reaching better understanding of where we're at & what we're trying to accomplish.

This is definitely clear evidence that as a man living in the world I remain imperfect, I make mistakes, though I hope to make less & less of them as time goes by. Apologies if my error caused any offence, I certainly wouldn't mean to imply anything by sharing in the manner I did. I will certainly learn the lesson of being too quick to come to a determination, when there is opportunity to seek out more information before making a decision about what has been encountered/ experienced, as there was in your case as with your most recent post describing how you've mainly overcome the problems faced in that regard formerly.

I should have been more cautious in my estimations, in light of the fact that I have taken a rather large step of faith, I should have expected the attack. Never mind, thankfully no harm done & a lesson learned.

God bless brother.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

No worries brother, I am naive but I have my senses operating on other levels too. I am 100% ok. Thank you for speaking up and voicing your concerns. I will like actually change my mood on my avatar when I remember if I am not feeling positive.

Bless you

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Thank you FlyInTheOintment for expressing your love. I believe that love dictates that we selfishly strive for God. For the sole purpose of sacrificing ourselves, as Jesus had done, to help others attain salvation. I certainly have a long long way to go. But that is my mission nonetheless. Safe journeys FlyInTheOintment.

“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world, speak the same language.”
― Meister Eckhart