Jack

Most of the time coffee shops are set up so that people can ignore each other. But there is a table at a coffee shop I go to regularly that is big enough so that it isn't awkward to sit next to a stranger, but small enough to be able to start a conversation.

One day I sat down at this table, and there was an odd-looking guy, probably in his forties, who was close up to his laptop apparently using google-talk. As I listened, I gathered that this man was talking with a prostitute, coordinating a time and place to meet later that night. I soon realized that he had some sort of mental problem, the sort of problem which disables people from being able to discern and balance their social context and their volume.

He loudly finished up his awkward conversation and slammed his computer shut, looked at me, and said, "Hotel!"

"What's that?" I said, pretending I had not been following his conversation.

"Need a hotel man... where is one at?"

"Not sure man. But I bet there are a few around mall 205."

"I don't know where that is."

I explained where mall 205 was. Without a segue, this guy began telling me his life story, which at this point did not take me by surprise. The guy wasn't the type to discern his social context.

"I'm a love machine, man!" He said. "Playas always hatin' on me and I don't give 'em nothin but love!"

"Great. That's what you have to do." I said.

At first I was annoyed, but at this point I became interested in the guy - this would be a good break from writing my paper.

"Name's Jack!" He said, extending his hand.

"Jesse. Good to meet you, Jack!"

"I ain't perfect you know. I tell you that. I seen some messed up stuff though, brotha. But I got myself, stick true to me, and I got my Lord."

He kept on describing his life in such general clichés. As soon as I had the chance to get a word in I said, "You mentioned your Lord?"

"That's right! Got my Lord. He's always there for me."

"That's cool, dude. I have a Lord too. Is your Lord Jesus?"

"Jesus! Love that guy. That's my Lord, man."

I was certain Jack didn't know the same Jesus that I did, considering his affiliation with prostitution and such. I decided I would keep prodding until it was clear that his Jesus was some fluffy, fake version of my Savior.

"Cool, man. When did you meet Jesus?"

He had had a "conversion" experience in '92, he told me.

"I'm a a knucklehead man!" He said slamming both hands down on the table, and leaning over towards me so I could smell his breath. "But Jesus still loves me. He has brought me through so much since then, and he's made me a good man. But I got so much ugly stuff at the same time. I get so confused, Jesse. I am two people in this body. Got a devil and an angel on my shoulders."

"Yeah man, I hear ya. You know, I think we're actually more similar than you might think. You mentioned ugly stuff, what's going on in your life?"

At this he cringed, and leaned back down into his seat, putting his hands in his hair. "Man... I got so much. I mean, look at my knuckles!" He showed me his bruised knuckles. "I just fought with some fool a few days ago, man. I steal too. Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat. You know?"

"Yeah, that's a hard spot, I understand. But you know, Jesus can help you, even when your situation is impossible. He wants the best for you. He wants you to be saved from this stuff, Jack. If you trust him and obey him he will provide for you. He is calling you out of that lifestyle, buddy."

"I'm glad I met you, Jesse."

"I'm glad we met too."

I prayed for him.

After we prayed, he looked up holding my hand with both of his and said, "Brother, I'll see you someday, even if it's not in this life!"

"Absolutely. And he has promised us that when we get there we will be totally freed from our sin."

"Oh, I can't wait, brother!" Jack really meant it. He fought with his flesh daily. He knew Jesus. He loved Jesus. He had held onto Jesus for 20 years. And he was a wicked sinner. But his righteousness and mine were both found in the man Jesus Christ. I knew he was my brother.

He stood up to leave and set his backpack on the table, which had a baseball bat sized club in it. He noticed that I saw and said. "Ah man. See? This is how screwed up I am. I carry this thing around. Ain't that nasty?"

"Yeah." I said. "You know, you can always throw that away..."

"What? I can't throw that away." He smiled at the sheer ridiculousness of my statement. "I gotta be watchin' my back, man!"

I laughed at his response, which was a meaningful symbol of a hundred idols I am yet to throw away.

Longboarding, Metaphors, Sigur Ros, and Jesus

There are parallels in this life that absolutely intrigue me.

Here is an example.

Longboarding down a hill for the first time is intimidating. You have no idea what to expect - no knowledge of the bumps, the slope, the pavement, etc. But once you have gone down the hill several times you become familiar with it, and the ride loses its intimidation.

Meeting somebody for the first time can be intimidating for the same sort of reasons. But once we have become acquainted with their personality we feel comfortable around them.

These two scenarios are parallel. They express the idea of the unknown and the familiar. They are essentially the same.

These sorts of parallels are so prevalent that we weave them into our everyday conversations (as in the sentence I just used). We say things like "I just blew right through that book" or "he nailed that note" without even considering the parallels we are appealing to. Hammering a nail into a board is apparently so much like singing the right note that we can say "he nailed that note" with confidence that we are speaking precisely and truly.

It is as if both of these things speak of the same abstract platonic reality which exists in a different realm.

... Or maybe Justin Martyr was right. Perhaps Plato was plagiarizing Moses. Justin argued that the Torah is filled with earthly instructions and realities (e.g. tabernacle) that are symbolic of heavenly realities. Often Justin's comment is dismissed as a pragmatic apologetic. But regardless of whether or not Plato was intentionally plagiarizing Moses, it is certainly true that the Hebrew Bible has always recognized that the heavens and earth speak of a greater spiritual reality (a reality in a different realm, hence the connection with Plato).

Psalm 19

1The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

This universe is revealing knowledge of God.

I think these are the sorts of passages the apostle Paul was thinking of when he says "his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made" (Romans 1:20).

God's attributions make up the created world. In other words, there is nothing in existence which is not representative of an attribute of God.

Jonathan Edwards says "creation is as full of images of divine things as a language is full of words".

Plato describes a philosophical system that recognizes a realm separate from this metaphysical realm that contains "ideals" which this physical realm represents.

Justin Martyr's argument is that this idea is actually a deeply biblical concept. I think he's right, actually.

Returning to the original example of longboarding and meeting a person, we can recognize that scenarios point to other scenarios... which point to other scenarios. Longboarding is like meeting a person, which is like driving for the first time (something you must become familiar with to overcome the initial intimidation). And there is an infinite chain of these parallels. We call these metaphors, or illustrations.

Everything is about everything else. This is why we can sympathize with stories like Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat". Even if we have never been in jeopardy out at sea, we have all had weeks that seem as though the waves of everyday life will drown us, and the only joy we can find is among sympathetic friends.

Everything is about everything else. But ultimately everything is about Jesus. Everything is a metaphor for Christ. Christ is the only thing that is not a metaphor for other things.

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16).

This world is about Jesus. Everything that you enjoy is pleasant only because it is like Christ. Food is only satisfying and sustaining because Christ satisfies and sustains. A pure, faithful, loving, joy-filled marriage is only beautiful because Christ will marry the church (and no earthly marriage compares to this joy). A good father is a good father because he is imitating the Father.

And this is why Sigur Ros' song "Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur" is about Jesus, the coming King, and the joy that will fill our hearts when we see him. It is not possible to write songs that aren't ultimately about Jesus. Though the artist may try his best, in the end this is Jesus' world, and everything he uses - chords, instruments, buildups, breakdowns, beats, time signatures, poetry - are all about Jesus. "The devil has no stories," says Peter Leithart.

Spiritual Warfare

"The primary manifestation of satanic influence and of the evil of This Age is religious; it is blindness with reference to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How often we fail to understand satanic devices! A man may be a cultured, ethical and even religious person and yet be in demonic darkness. Satan's basic desire is to keep men from Christ. His primary concern is not to corrupt morals nor to make atheists nor to produce enemies of religion. Indeed religion which rests upon the assumption of human adequacy and sufficiency is an enemy of the light. This is the character of the Age of this world: darkness."

- George Eldon Ladd

Ladd is right; "how often we fail to understand satanic devices."

I am a little bit disappointed by the way spiritual warfare has been emphasized on campus. I am not disappointed because i think the topic has been overemphasized, as if we need to balance out the spiritual side of things (demons, Holy Spirit, Satan, prayer, speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, etc) with the practical side of things (academics, thinking, career, family, etc). I am disappointed precisely because the work of the Holy Spirit has been belittled; his work has been - in my judgment (and in others') - somewhat restricted to the realm of paranormal activity.

I am aware that the work of Satan manifests itself in such activity, in the physically inexplainable, and that the Holy Spirit provides redemption through healing, exorcism, and other miraculous events. I am thankful for my brothers and sisters who labor in holy warfare against this manifestation of the work of Satan. But I am frustrated when terms like "the work of Satan" and "spiritual warfare" and "the Holy Spirit" are used in reference to paranormal activity alone.

Here is why.

1) The Father and the Son

God, the loving Father, is revealed in the Beloved Son. The eternal existence of Jesus Christ as the Beloved Son proves that God is who he is most essentially, namely, a loving Father. If Jesus Christ the Beloved Son at any point did not exist as a fundamental part of who God is, then God would cease to be a loving Father. Therefore, God the loving Father is revealed in his Son, the Beloved Son Jesus Christ.

"No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known" (John 1:18)

2) The Holy Spirit

Jesus says, "He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14).

The Spirit's sword is the Word, and Jesus is the Word (Ephesians 6:17). If one is hesitant to understand this sword to be Jesus, then simply understand that the Bible is the witness to Jesus (John 5:39), and this witness is the Spirit's sword. Either way, the sword of the Spirit is the proclamation of Jesus.

The work of the Spirit is witnessing and proclaiming Jesus, who reveals the heart of the loving Father. Whether the Church's work is fighting sex-trafficking, praying, preaching, exegesis, social justice, etc., the ultimate goal is the proclamation of Jesus by the power of the Spirit. And the revelation of the Beloved Son reveals the loving Father.

3) Satan and Demons

The work of Satan and his demons in false-prophecy, witchcraft, antichrists, sorcery, corrupt doctrine, insecurity, pornography, sex-trafficking, drug-abuse, or any of these things is ultimately the work to hide the truth of the heart of the Father, to hide the revelation of Jesus Christ the Son, and to extinguish the flame of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the Word of God the Father, and Satan's work is rooted in the sentence "did God really say?" Demonic oppression is simply an extension of that work; he is still trying to cause human beings to not believe the Word who is Jesus.

4) Sin

Therefore, sin is most fundamentally not believing the Word. Humanity has rejected the Word, the Beloved Son, and as a result blasphemed the character of God the Father.

In the Pentateuch God is revealed as the Father of humanity (Gen 5:1-3), and the disobedience of Israel is summed up in Moses statement to them in Deuteronomy 32:6

"Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your Father, who created you,
who made you and established you?"

Malachi puts it the same:

"Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?" (Malachi 2:10)

No matter how sin has manifested itself in a person's life, the most fundamental problem is that this person does not truly believe that God is a Father who loves them. This is the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. And if any person fully believed this truth they would be free from sin, from Satan and demons.

5) Demonic oppression

Furthermore - as Ladd has explained - a man who is a good husband and a good father, who works hard, and who is absolutely convinced that he does not need the Truth of Jesus Christ, is in demonic darkness, and is as much in need of the freedom of the Holy Spirit as a "demon possessed" man.

It is easy to recognize demonic activity when a person is cursing the name of Jesus. But do we not symbolically curse the name of Jesus when we indulge in prideful thoughts throughout our day, as if these were a happy alternative to the joy of being assured of the love of the Father? I am arguing that this is demonic activity.

And so the work of the Holy Spirit which relates to every moment of every human being's life has been belittled because "demonic activity" and "spiritual warfare" have been emphasized as relating to paranormal activity alone.

I believe that Satan is happy when the Church focuses on his work as only relating to paranormal activity and physical, tangible manifestations of demons. He is happy because we neglect the fact that his work is permeating the lives of soccer moms, hipster baristas, rockstars, as well as witches. When a man is "possessed by a demon" it is obvious, and the Church will pray. But when a man thinks he does not need Jesus because he has a good job, it is a more subtle and dangerous work of Satan.

I am not concerned with balancing Spirit and Truth, that is, balancing crazy spirituality with solid doctrine. I am concerned to redefine the work of the Spirit as ultimately proclaiming Jesus, who reveals the heart of the Father. I want to be consumed with this Spirit. I long for his freedom, for his proclamation of the victory of Jesus over Satan and demons. I am quite convinced that the way "spiritual warfare" has been emphasized has missed this. I am not alone in this sentiment.

At the end of the day, I am just another voice at the table, and my opinion is my opinion. This post is an effort to do theology and think of truth in community. I am thankful that God's Spirit is indeed moving and shaping our community. The past school-year has made it obvious that he does indeed want us to have a more clear definition of "spiritual warfare".