One of the favorite songs I get to share in this Christmas season is Mary Did You Know?
One line that I highlight before I sing the song are:
“Mary did you know… that when you kissed your little baby, that you kissed the face of God?”
Do you remember when you first came to realize that Jesus was God?
I was really shocked and amazed. Still am. And then, when I read that Jesus was the Creator, that put it over the top.
“In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.” John 1:1-4 NLT
Some other translations render it: “All things were created by him and for him” and a few others: “by him and in him”. I discovered the meaning of life when I read that verse.
I was created by Jesus for Jesus. You were created by Jesus for Jesus. Your and my life will only make sense and find fulfillment in connection to, and in relationship with this One who made us for himself. Yeshua (Jesus) which literally means “I AM Salvation”.
Pretty cool, huh?
Which brings us to the last, and probably often misunderstood, line in the song:
“…This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I AM.”
As many of you know “I AM” was the Name that God revealed himself as, particularly to Moses in the burning bush incident (Ex. 3:14). This is God’s eternal Name. (By the way, this is the same as Yahweh, Jehovah, YHWH, or Yehowah – we don’t really know how to say it since the scribes left out the vowels lest anyone blaspheme the name. In most Bibles I AM is rendered as LORD in all caps and appears over 6000 times.
I don’t pretend to grasp the full significance of His Name, I AM. I know that, as the LORD himself has said, “it is wonderfully beyond our comprehension”. And this is good news! No one you have ever met or heard about has God figured out. It is greater still than the most exhilarating revelation that you have ever had into his nature thus far. Isn’t that great?
And while his Name is wonderfully profound, it is also very practical as I have discovered. As the LORD progressively reveals himself throughout Scripture, He pairs his name I AM with things that he actually is for us. To Abraham he revealed himself as Jehovah Jirah “I AM your Provider/Provision”, to others…
A good friend asked me today what a Christian Mystic is. I laughed.
I told him, “You are going to be SO excited once you discover for yourself how adventurous and fun a relationship with Jesus Christ can be. Being a Christian Mystic means you are experiencing God for yourself. You get to enjoy the dynamic, adventurous, fun person of Jesus. Your very best friend.”
Being a Christian mystic is an experience of our union with God.
Paul writes: “I am struggling for you… that you may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:1-3
The Bible says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…”
The Bible just isn’t enough!
The reason I say that is because Jesus does! This Scripture used to describe me so well:
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.” John 5:39-40 NLT
I have now come to see, based on what Jesus says, that the Scriptures are far from complete. You need more.
“hmmm… are you sure you want to phrase it that way Daniel?”
“Uhhh… yea, I guess so.”
“Ok. I guess you like getting persecuted or something don’t you?”
My point is this:
“The Bible is the treasure map. Jesus is the treasure.”
Listen, the religious of Jesus day practically had the Bible memorized! Rob Bell points out in his talk “Dust”. In Jesus day, most Jewish boys by the age of 10 would have the Torah memorized. Genesis through Deuteronomy memorized. Those who showed promise as a good and bright student were accepted as disciples of a Rabbi. (Do yourself a favor and click the above link to Rob Bell’s talk). It was these exceptionally bright and promising students who had the entire Bible memorized who grew up and became the men who rejected their own Messiah and King and crucified him.
So yea, Jesus came to a culture well versed in Scripture yet they missed recognizing their own Messiah. They refused to come to, and submit to Jesus. They didn’t “know” him. How different are we?
Eternal life is found in relationship with the Living God. A real relationship with a real person. You are “saved” by knowing him.
Jesus will one day say to all those who didn’t know him: “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” ~ Jesus Matthew 7:21-23 NLT
After all, it is knowing Jesus that is the very definition of eternal life (John 17). God is a very relational God. It is ALL about relationship.
What does it mean in the above verse to “do the will of the Father?” What is the will of the Father?
Well, from my studies in Scripture, the Father’s will is found in believing and loving Jesus and equally important, to love others. And God tells us we can’t possibly hope to love God or others without first being loved, without first receiving His love. So receiving and basking in the love of God is the first step to our love bankrupt hearts toward the will of the Father. So essentially, the Father’s will is to love you.
I believe that above all else God is asking you, “will you let me love you?”
Will we have the courage to stand in his love or will we be cowards that run and avoid and evade him – for all the various insane reasons we choose to do that?
God himself is that supply of love by which we can do what he wills. There is no love apart from God, for God is love (1 John 4).
“God is love… in whom we live and move and have our being.” – Bible
This idea has completely transformed the way I view reality. A paradigm shift took place as I began to believe and meditate on this. All of life becomes a mystical God experience when we realize this and practice the presence of God.
WHY THE WORD MYSTIC?
Well, because “mystic” is a Christian word that describes our “knowing” – our experience of God. Time spent in conversation with God can be something of a magical exhilarating experience. It can get pretty wild and wonderful. And also, due mainly to our unbelief, it can be a very frightening experience.
In order to not be stricken with stark terror and have a psychological meltdown when coming into his Presence, I would advise you to believe the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus. He has already single handedly saved you and it’s not your fault. As one translation of a verse says,
Ephesians 2:7-10The Message (MSG)
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Yes, a brush with the Divine can be dangerous but you are bound to encounter him one day very soon anyway. Wouldn’t it be foolish not to get to know him now?
There is a quote from Narnia when one of the children asked if Aslan was safe:
“Safe? Who said anything about safe?
‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”
Yes, I went to a John Crowder Mystical School. After all, he came to Wisconsin just for me. Well, not really, but I’d like to think so.
I first heard about John Crowder from a friend of mine on the same day the Lord answered one of my craziest prayers in a unique way. I had prayed to time travel. He answered my prayer that same day and ten years before. Read all about it here.
My friend said, “It sounds to me like you’ve been on a Jesus Trip.” He then told me about John Crowder. When I got home I checked out John’s Jesus Trip videos on Youtube and was hooked. Here was a man with an incredible gift. He had such a firm grasp on the Gospel of Grace and the gift of intelligence and a sharp wit. His talk reminded me of the times I had watched Gilmore Girls with my wife. If you have ever heard the dialogue in that show, you get the picture. Succinct, witty, and VERY humorous. (And I’d warrant that this is likely the first time John Crowder has ever been compared to the Gilmore Girls.) Most people have to painstakingly edit their videos to get it to be as snappy and succinct as John Crowder was just naturally without any editing.
The best part about watching John’s “Jesus Trips” is that they are infused and just simply swimming in the joy of the Good News of Jesus. His talks are centered on Jesus Christ and the cross. He actually seems to think Jesus pulled something off, as if Jesus really actually accomplished something on the cross! What a novel idea. What a breath of fresh air when contrasted with the stagnant lifeless nature of some “do-it-yourself-religion” clubs I have witnessed over the years.
Over the past couple years, if I got depressed, I’d listen to John and be laughing once again. Giddy with the Joy of Jesus – the Joy that IS Jesus. John became a friend on the journey. I learned SO much about the finished work of the cross.
But along the way, a friend of mine, who I had poured out my heart and shared my story with, called John a false teacher. I told him that if he judged John, he was judging me. I defended John. Even though John has done a great deal to make himself an easy target for persecution (by having a bit of fun!), I defended him. Even though I may disagree with him on some points (because I still insist on being wrong about a few things – LOL), I defended him. Because I believe Jesus would have and does.
My friend had no evidence for his evil suspicion and rash judgement. He had absolutely nothing based on actual Scripture which tells us exactly what to look for in false teachers.
So John Crowder gets excited about the supernatural. Don’t you? And if not, why not? I picked up his earliest book all about the supernatural events in church history that often get overlooked or ignored or (and most often) swept under the rug. I have witnessed this myself how a Moody publication (Moody is where I went to Bible college) cut out the bit about holy laughter from a testimony of a famous saint in church history.
I’m not going to lie to you, I love my brother John Crowder. He has helped me immensely. This doesn’t mean I think he is without his flaws or weaknesses (Though Christ views him as perfect – because that’s what the cross was for – to render sinners perfect, and really isn’t his the only perspective that should matter?) and I don’t think you can build a solid life of following Jesus by limiting yourself to his teaching and guidance alone. We all need each other in the body of Christ. As the apostle Paul wrote about here:
“The body (of Christ) is a unit, though it is comprised of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.
14For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, 24whereas our presentable parts have no such need.
But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
So there you have it. We all serve a part and function and need one another. John Crowder is vital to the body. Joel Osteen is vital to the body. And the real stretch, even John McArther is vital to the body. I know, right?
And yet, Joel Osteen, another brother in Christ, was labeled as a false teacher as well! Can you believe it?!? And why? Was it because Joel doesn’t say “Jesus” enough in his sermons or doesn’t minister the way the “watchdogs for the faith” think he should? Yet here is what Joel Osteen declares on his website about the Lord Jesus:
“Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe that salvation is found by placing our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again.”
(More on this plague of heresy hunting in another post maybe).
My Mystical School Experience
First of all how can I sum up three days in one blog post? I can’t and won’t.
I’m not going to lie, I was really nervous about going. I loved John’s Jesus trip videos on Youtube which are all very lucid and amazing but then, I had also seen film of his meetings which looked very strange to me. In them, John was behaving like he was drunk and often said strange things like, “grab your neighbor by the earlobe and tell them…” or “slap your sweaty palm on someones head and…” The audience too seemed inebriated in these videos and laughed a great deal. “What kind of a circus is this?”
But then I’d ask myself, “When did I become a stodgy judgmental religious prick to judge them for an experience that I can’t yet relate to? ” I also remembered this quote:
“Those Who Hear Not the Music Think The Dancer is Mad”
So what is this music they are hearing? It certainly seems to make them happy. I could use some happy. Was I willing to join with these and risk being judged myself? Was I willing to hear the music or to metaphorically drink whatever they were drinking, myself?
I woke up Thursday morning the day before the conference and I heard God say clearly to me, “I don’t want you to go.” I argued with him all day Thursday and Friday and figured since he didn’t say, “I command you not to go”, I went anyway… with my guard WAY up.
(About hearing the voice of God. Isn’t it funny that we trust our own ability to hear God clearly? I mean what if this wasn’t God? It might not have been. I was pretty sure it was, but who knows? We have to be humble in recognizing that we don’t always hear clearly.)
I sat in the back and that whole first day had a knot in my stomach. The reason for that was because he was covering the material that I had read about in his book I already owned. Among other things, he talked about teleportation miracles throughout church history and even up to the present. Ok so John got a few details wrong about the Joshua Mills teleportation story, so what? This was the very topic that, when I brought it up in a blog post, caused the most trouble and garnered the most rejection I’ve ever had due to a blog post. It’s now my most popular blog post. Go figure.
I met a man who also attended the meeting who shared his testimony with us. He is an older saint who came to Jesus during the Jesus Movement of the 70’s in the most remarkable way. He was with a friend in a car driving somewhere to get drugs and suddenly he was teleported out of his car and into the heavenlies where he was directly confronted by God himself about how he was choosing to live his life. He experienced such a wonderous love in God’s presence that he gave his heart to Jesus. He came back into the vehicle to hear his friend, scared out of his mind, shouting, “Where did you go?” He says he has been a Jesus freak ever since. (I truly wish you could hear him tell his story for himself).
Well, that Friday night I prayed and asked God why he didn’t want me to go. That night God gave me a very vivid dream:
John had moved to town and was a do-it-all-himself carpenter and was building a house for my friends mom. She was anxious to move in but the place wasn’t ready. John needed help and asked me to consult and even be subcontracted. I walked though the house. The house was mostly built, and built well, but the part he could not get right were the stairs. It was a multilevel house and none of the levels were connected.
A spiral staircase lay sideways in the hall that you had to duck to get under. Parts of it were unstable and dangerous. Especially for children. As I walked through the house examining it, I couldn’t quite make sense of how to fit in the stairs either. I knew he needed to deconstruct some parts of it but I couldn’t help him. When my friends mom walked in and confronted him, he shrugged it off with a grin.
As I woke my thought was that the house represented a functional spiritual life as disciple of Jesus Christ. John alone was not the end-all-be-all and could never provide the whole package that people desperately need to live a functioning Christian life. We all need each other, remember? We need the five fold ministry at work in the body of Christ. We need Pastors (which John clearly says he isn’t), Teachers, Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets.
We need all the spiritual gifts operating in the body. Here is a bit on Spiritual Gifts from Wikepedia (the most accurate and trusted source for solid information on the web – because experts like you and me get to write it ourselves!):
“Kingly” gifts are those involving church administration or government. Others categorize them into “gifts of knowledge” (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, distinguishing between spirits), “gifts of speech” (tongues, interpretation, prophecy), and “gifts of power” (faith, healing, miracles).
Interesting.
Could it be true that most “Christian” ministers don’t actually even believe the Gospel? If the enemy was clever, wouldn’t he try to infiltrate the church and perhaps even set up a base of operations within the institution of the so-called ‘church’? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and his servants masquerade as ministers of righteousness? All of these things I don’t doubt. So then, is John then to be honored and celebrated as he roasts the sacred cows of a dead and putrid religion? A herald who announces to us and the world that the emperor has no clothes?
However, it would pain me, as someone who loves his brother John and largely respects his ministry, to then have John undermine his own ministry through a lack of humility or foolishness or greed. I want him to succeed. I want his ministry to flourish. I want the Gospel to continue to go forward through my brother John.
John has so many persecutors already that I could never stomach the thought of being another. So I won’t. Ok, so he continues to misquote a certain Scripture from Isaiah, no one gets everything right all the time. Everyone blunders in some small and even big ways. But on the whole, I have decided that for myself and for the people I care about (including you) that John is worth listening to. You will derive FAR more benefit than harm from his ministry. Of course this sort of honor and endorsement normally only occurs after someone dies… because we normally only choose to recognize someone’s value after their gone.
Enjoy this playlist of John Crowder’s Jesus Trip and be sure to subscribe to his channel:
One day I was walking down the street near the homeless shelter and I saw all of my wine paraphernalia on the side of the road. Yes, I used to make wine. I even made a label with a lion that read, “Danielion Wine – Wisconsin Country Wines”. Making wine wasn’t exactly the brightest idea I’ve ever had. As if alcohol can heal a broken heart. Over the years I have poured out far more gallons then I ever drank.
There was a 5 gallon bucket of dandelion wine brewing and a few single gallons of cider sitting in the grass between the sidewalk and the street. This is where you put things you want others to take off your hands. I continued walking down the street.
Later that evening I was walking past it again and I took two of the ciders which were ready to drink around to the back door and let some people know that they were there and that someone would take them if they left them there. “I know” one tall skinny man with extra melanin in his skin and black short curly hair and a mustache said. “You can have them. The guy who they belonged to doesn’t want them anymore.” As he walked with me back out to the street he lit a cigarette he told me, “He went to the hospital and now that he is back, this is all he does all day.” He demonstrated by lying down on the ground all sprawled out and restlessly tossed about… and then stood back up and casually took another drag on his cigarette.
“Well, I live far away. I’d have to come back with my car” I said as I set the gallon jugs back on the grass into the same circle indents they had made by being there for so long.
Immediately this man morphed into a lady I knew who had given some prophecies about a big church in the area named Christ the Rock. I told her that I had a dream I’d like to share with her about Christ the Rock. “Are you interested in hearing it?” I asked. One bystander told her, “You better want to hear it and listen up.”
I began:
“I was at a service at Christ the Rock. (Incidentally, we were facing South which is opposite of how it is now). I was sitting near the back and I observed two lines of people walking up to receive prayer from the elders.” I started crying. I was wishing my dream was true. That there was a church that honored the Holy Spirit here in Appleton that was willing to get messy and do real Jesus ministry. (Don’t judge me for my dream thoughts and no offense to any church that does this, I just haven’t found you or trust you yet). Between sobs I could barely get out the next sentences, “Everyone was being delivered from demons.” More crying. “I watched as one lady flailed about as the demons left her…” I started crying so hard I could not continue… and then, I woke up
I was telling her about a dream that I had about 6 months prior. This is how that dream ended:
The elders had a real tough time restraining people and they writhed about as the demons left them. They were getting a real workout. Finally I saw a very pregnant woman go up for prayer. She collapsed dead on the floor and some men carried her out the side door to the waiting ambulance.
One man stood up and asked, “Is there anyone here who has the faith to come with me to raise that woman and her baby from the dead?” I raised my hand along with a few others. We all piled into a car and drove off. Unfortunately, we did not know where the ambulance had taken her.
The man spoke up, “Alright, who believes that we can raise that baby from the dead right here, right now?” as we drove along.
We started praying. I began to hear a baby cry. Suddenly a blue baby blanket materialized out of thin air. Then the baby arrived alive and well right there into the moving cars back seat, right onto our laps.
God is good. Is there anything impossible for him?
More and more believers in Jesus are entering into and operating in the kingdom of God – the kingdom of love, as the Scriptures say – where dreams and visions, prophetic abilities, and supernatural powers from God are released into those who are childlike and fully abandoned to their loving heavenly Papa and committed to doing what Jesus commands… Loving others!
My First Lucid Dream was where I hijack an alien spacecraft and travel through 7 astral planes – one of which was only hypothetical so I felt my self breaking up – but somehow managed to save the universe from Imptreodod, the warlord from the Ulean Galaxy who is desperately trying to find ways to import his army into our dense 3 dimensional plane, though for the life of me I can’t figure out why. It was a very tough going when I was attacked by these locust like demonic swarm – they were the size of a German Shepherds! And finally, we all landed in a bowl of jello… the end.
Ok, so that was a bit of fiction if you couldn’t tell.
So here is my video where I learned something significant about why we are here:
The video explains why I am having the courage to share my experience. There will always be those who question my motives or what not. That’s fine. Ultimately I don’t answer to you. I have to give an account to God just like everyone else.
The Bible says “to the pure all things are pure”. Here is the full verse:
“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled” Titus 1:15
I am one who wants to be pure. I have spent too much of my past life being defiled and unbelieving. My goal now is to be childlike just like Jesus wants all of his kids to be. This means first and foremost to be completely dependent and trusting. Then we are free, as his kids, to be open and curious and full of adventure. May God give us pure hearts and an adventurous spirit!
Yet with any true adventure comes real danger. Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you, to protect you and guide you. Ok?
So yea, I mention I saw a grey alien. As soon as he saw me he turned and left. we are not alone. There are unseen inter-dimensional beings all around us. Good ones and bad ones. The good are those who submit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ (who is Love and Truth and the true Light) and others hate him (and you!) vehemently.
For the Love of God please surrender your heart to Jesus.
Partly why I am sharing this with you is to warn you guys, if you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, you are in grave danger. If he isn’t your Good Shepherd protecting you, you have little to no control in the lucid dreaming realms. What control do you even think you have in this plane of existence? Check out this you guys: http://www.exposingthenewage.com/astral-projection-exposed/
Daniel Lovett 