Good Morning,
I would like
to compare, for a moment or two, Star Trek's influence on me. I found good
moral-ending stories in most episodes of Star Trek from the original Star
Trek with Captain James T. Kirk, to The Next Generation with Captain
Jean-Luc Picard, to Deep Space Nine with Lt. Commander James Sisko, to
Voyager with Captain Katherine Janeway. I have not watched enough of the
newest installment of Star Trek-"Enterprise" to make any comments on.
I was always
intrigued with the way Gene Roddenberry placed moral issues in his creation.
In fact, in episode #12 of the original Star Trek's third season, THE
EMPATH, there were two inferences to the Bible directly.
At the
beginning of the episode where research scientist, Ozaba stated, "In His
hand are the deep places of the earth--Psalm 95-verse 4." and at the end of
the episode where Scotty stated, "Not to dispute your computer, Mr. Spock,
but from little what you've told me, I'd say (Gem) was a pearl of great
price.
Kirk
responded, "What, Scott?"
Scotty went on
to say, "You don't know the story of the merchant? The merchant. . .who,
when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and
bought it."
Kirk said,
"Yes, she was all that. And whether the Vians bought her or found her makes
little difference--she was of great value."
One of Star
Trek's infamous enemy aliens, the Borg, is comparable to one of our five
keys we use to find God's Will for our lives. I am writing about meditation
and assimilation of God's Word into our inner man. You see, when we were
born again, we were given by God the capacity to learn, the "want-to" to
dive deep into Our Father, His Son, and His Holy Spirit. Before we were
born again, we did not have the desire to even want to learn anything about
God. We may have "played" church, as I did for several years, not only
fooling my "so-called" friends for awhile, but also fooling myself into
thinking I was saved. Satan is such a deceiver! According to the Borg's
spokesman, in the form of an assimilated Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Borg
only wanted to "raise the quality of life" of the species they "assimilate."
"We are the Borg. . .You will be assimilated. . .Your biological and
technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. . .Resistance is
futile."
I looked at
what the Borg did to other species and actually the process I saw in them
assimilating these species is like, in a sense, how we can assimilate the
Word of God into our lives. While the Borg used nano probes to invade the
bodies of selected aliens to assimilate, The Holy Spirit uses divine
revelation from our praying in tongues when we read the Bible to assimilate
the very nature of Christ into our inner man. Eventually, the invaded
species lost their identity and became "Borg" with a collective mind from
the "Queen" who was the source of their existence. So it is with us as we
meditate and assimilate the Word into our inner man transforming
us--renewing our minds so that we lose our "old nature" and become one with
The Father and His Son. I guess I am stretching a bit here, and I'm not
advocating Star Trek as a Biblical source or even a spiritual teaching, I am
trying to point out that Star Trek, even in the days of Captain James T.
Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty, expounded on the moral and ethical questions
of our society and were being explored and discussed in a very unique way
that sparked interest in my "spacey thinking". I can't help it if I was
born in 1953, just a few years before man's first exploration, with the
launch of Alan Shepard into space. NASA's Space Program ignited a desire in
me that "boldly took me where no mind had gone before." Yes, I am a
Trekkie--I can't help myself.
"So, then
Mr. Trekkie, how do I assimilate the Word of God into my inner man?"
I'm glad you asked! For the next few moments, I will be only relating to
you what I know to do. I don't understand the process of how the Word of
God becomes a part of me, I just know, that through the great teachers I've
had, Pastor Charlie Rogers, Pastor David Lee, and their pastor, Dave
Roberson, I have been able to "copy" their technique and all I can say is:
IT WORKS! Care to join me for a journey and go where only a few have gone
before?
First of all,
we have to rid ourselves of all doubts and unbelief that tend to sway us
that The Word of God is not the Word of God. Many times in my recent past,
I doubted that God said all these nice things in the Bible. Oh, I read it,
I tried to understand it, but it was futile--I could not break through all
those mysteries. And now, here comes the Holy Ghost! Through Him, I am
able to read and understand portions of scripture I have never been able to
read through and understand before. I have found, through experience, that
reading a portion of scripture over and over and over and over and over
actually opens up portals to God that were previously closed to me. Pastor
Dave Roberson in one of his teachings, stated that we need to start with
Proverbs and read it over and over for at least fifty times. FIFTY
TIMES--my goodness when I heard that, I was stunned. I could not possibly
read something like Proverbs over and over for fifty times. IT HAD
THIRTY-ONE CHAPTERS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! But I wanted what my pastor had, I
wanted the revelation knowledge and mysteries of Christ open up to me as
well! I had to do it. Which is a very interesting point--We have to have
the "want to"--to want to! We have to commit to read these scriptures over
and over. In the past, I recognized the Bible as a text book and only
regarded it as such, but as time went on, I began to realize that unlike any
text book I have ever encountered, this book became ALIVE. It became new
and refreshing every time I read it. And, it became my daily bread! Praise
God! In other words, it took the Holy Spirit to teach me that this book was
inspired by God, written by the hands of men, but those hands were directed
by God himself.
I did it! It
took less than a month, but I read Proverbs 50 times. Guess what? It
wasn't until about the 20th to 25th time through that some revelation
knowledge started coming through. I saw things I had never seen before.
Even though Solomon had written the majority of Proverbs a long-long time
before Jesus, I found myself involved with the Word, how it was relating to
the world around me, and how to handle my neighbors, which by the way, is
part of God's plan and even a commandment for our lives. I was shown in a
moment of time how these words of wisdom applied to God's principles today
for my life and those around me. Now, I may not have memorized Proverbs,
but when a Proverb is said, I know pretty much where it is and the context
in which it was written. That's what Our Father wants to give each of His
children. He want them to be able to understand ALL the mysteries in His
Word!
After I
finished meditating Proverbs, I started taking on smaller books in the New
Testament. I started reading 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, and Jude. I am
doing the same thing I did in Proverbs. I am reading one verse at a time, I
will read that verse until I understand the literal meaning of it-(I will
not attempt to try to understand the "spiritual meaning" By doing this I am
allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me) As I said, I am reading these books
the same way as I did Proverbs but this time, I am going to read them over
and over and over for at least 100 times! Seriously, The Holy Spirit has
never revealed to me the mysteries of Christ through His Word on just the
first reading. If I need to go to the dictionary to understand a word in
the verse, I will. I will not allow any distractions to get to me while I
am reading and meditating His Word. I was keeping tally marks at the back
of the books to see how many times I read that particular book and if I can
recall, it was between 60 or 70 times through that the Holy Ghost started
showing me things in 1st John--Chapter 3 to be exact. I started noticing
things about the way the word Spirit was being used. I had come to the
conclusion that John was talking about our inward spirit more than he was
talking about the Holy Spirit and while it was the interpreters who
translated the words, it really wasn't their fault. The Greek word for
Spirit refers to The Holy Spirit and man's inner spirit. It was the Holy
Spirit's teaching which showed me the difference in John's writing. I did
confirm this with my Pastor Charlie Rogers and He agreed with me! Praise
God--The Holy Spirit had actually taught me something again and I'm glad I
can enter into His classroom--any time I want, just because I want!
I have
purposed it in my heart to meditate the Word of God, but that is not all I
want to read in God's Word--only those scriptures or books I'm meditating.
In fact, now I use the system I use to use when I was trying to read the
Bible through in a year. I use the calendar and read Proverbs now
daily--each chapter corresponding to the day it is. For example, today is
the 2nd of May. This morning I read the 2nd chapter of Proverbs. Last
month, I read Matthew using that same system. This month, I am reading
Mark, the same way. Last month, I read Revelations, this month, I am
reading 1st and 2nd Peter--of course, I am still meditating 1st John, 2nd
John, 3rd John, and Jude and I add that to my daily reading. I don't stop
there. I continue to read over and over, book by book those scriptures I am
meditating up and above the other scriptures I read. This is really a neat
way to stay in God's Word, day by day!
One more
thing--When we read a book or a chapter over and over, we do not have the
tendency to take God's Word out of context. Leaving the chapters and books
in whole portions while reading, it is more clear to me to see what God
intended. I mean, and this is stretching it a little, but I hope to get my
point across--scripture taken out of context could lead to drinking some
grape Flavor-ade! What do I mean? Ok, there is a scripture that says,
"Judas, then, hung himself. . . " and if I were going to try to get someone
to commit suicide using God's Word, then I would then refer to the
scripture--"Go and do likewise." We must never, never, never take scripture
out of context. My teachers have all said, "Don't break the cardinal rule
of taking God's Word out of context. In fact, my pastor, Charlie Rogers
told me this: "Pastor, if I hear you taking something out of context, I
will slap the fat out of your face!" Now, mind you, I would rather that not
happen. So, I always read whole books or whole chapters, keeping them in
context. Guess what? Our Teacher, The Holy Spirit can teach us things that
way--we become teachable and He is more than willing to let us in on a
little mystery of Christ!
Have a
Christ-filled, Spirit-led month,
Pastor C
Let's get with The Lord today! A
good way to do this is to click on
Charlie Roger's Website and listen to some wonderful teaching.
Also,
Gary Carpenter's Website is full of wisdom and truth. Here, in
these places we can take a few moments and let Him reveal more knowledge and
wisdom into our inner man!
