As Written By His Beloved

Author Ted Dekker writes a fascinating series called "The Circle". In it he portrays two realities. One is the world as we know it, and the other is a world where good and evil are tangible instead of abstract concepts.

In his fantasy he draws beautiful and powerful analogies of the relationship Christians are meant to have with their Father "Elyon". The story is a wonderful depiction of the fall of man, the rule of darkness over the world and redemption by the One who "Woos us, pursues us, rescues us, and lavishes."

In this story, in the alternate reality which takes place 2000 years in the future, there are "Books of Histories" that are recorded history of all of mankind. Every minute detail of anything that happened in our world was recorded. What I find particularly striking, is that in this story there are the blank books of history that have yet to be written in.

In his metaphor, Dekker refers to the Bible as "The Book of History as recorded by His Beloved."

As I let analogy and metaphor in this story sink into my psyche a light shines in a place that I never expected, revealing a truth that I believe has been long forgotten and buried by men who sought to dominate and control and hijack the Bible, the religion, and the very teachings of Christ.

Not Jesus, nor anyone in the Bible ever remotely mentions a cap being put on the written scriptures. No one mentions a canonization that ends all inspired writings and limits them to a 66 book volume we call the Bible. There are no prophecies, no warnings, no teachings that ever suggest that one day inspired writings of the Holy Spirit will end and anything after that is heretical.

I am treading on dangerous territory here and will probably be branded as a heretic by some, and probably be hunted down and burned at the stake, but I dare to venture to say that Gods word is not finished being written. There is no formal canonization that puts a cap on all that is inspired (God breathed) to be written by His chosen people.

I take a good look at what the letters of Paul say about us. They talk about how we, ourselves are a priesthood having all authority as the Church. The Church is the pillar of truth now. We are ambassadors of Christ in this world having everything in power and authority that He had.

So what happened? What went wrong? Our view of church has changed from the natural, life-giving and life-sharing organic priesthood of all believers, to an image of elite men in power funding building projects and recruitment programs. All of a sudden there was a subtle shift of who has authority and who doesn't.

When we enter a church building there is an unspoken rule that is assumed but never overtly stated. The rule is that the man behind the pulpit has authority and we don't. The other rule is that somehow Paul, Peter, James and John had a special authority that no one else in the world during their time and since have had. They were somehow special elite people who had the capital on Gods word that we don't have.

Truth be told that everyone who partakes of Christ, who has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who listen to and live from their hearts have just as much access to God and the living word inside of them as Peter and Paul did. Furthermore they have just as much power and authority and their word is as much of a decree as the words of the apostles.

This is potent. It will frighten all who head a conventional church gathering. All of a sudden authority and power is equally distributed among every single believer. All of a sudden, I have the ability to speak and write my own scripture that is just as valid as Peters and Paul's.

In Dekkers fourth book in the series, two women write their own "books of histories" about their personal experiences with the alternate world and Elyon. They wrote them and kept them under lock and key in hopes one day that their writings would be just as powerful as the ones that already existed.

When one thinks of this analogy and its implications it changes the way we view sacred scriptures and holy writings. We are living gospels. We carry the Word within our hearts. As the writers of our Bible were so vibrantly connected to that living and active Word and wrote about it, we are also invited to be the same. The Word of God didn't stop 1600 years ago. God didn't shut up never to speak to us again. The Word is living and active and breathing, why? Because we are. We are organic and growing and so is the Word. The Word is ingrained into our very heart, into our spiritual genetic makeup if you will.

And of course the skeptic and the religious critic alike would say I am begging the question "what of false teachings?" My answer is that we deal with them the way the first century church did. They knew God. He lived in them vibrantly and passionately. And they were quick and deliberate to dispel myths and poison doctrines. It has been noted that false doctrines are rampant in the current organized church system as it stands because the average Christian is unaware of their own authority and power in the matter.

We as believers know the love of our Father. We know what is of His spirit and what isn't. We know what love is and what love isn't. We also know a lie when we hear it. We know that love and our freedom are the very heartbeat of our Father God. With that plumb-line, error is easily discernible. When the Christians are silent and forced to sit in pews and not allowed to challenge and question the man behind the pulpit is when error and heresy take deep roots in the Church. When the church is free, wild, and organic, it is hard to deceive the people as they are taught to hear from God for themselves.

So dear reader, would you care to venture to write a "Book of History" of your own? What chapter would you write into the living, active, organic Word? What is God breathed and inspired into your own soul? What do you have to offer?