Where did all those DOs & DON'Ts come from?

about the Holy Spirit and the Church 

As this reinterpretation emerged, it became, and remains, a mystery of what was missing from Jesus‘ first words as He left the empty tomb (John 20:22) It is truly amazing that He simply charged everyone to receive the Holy Spirit, and be open and receptive to Its gifts for them. Did He choose to lay out specific, undeniable instructions on how to have church? No. Did He indicate specifically what doctrines to teach? No. What about all of the dos and don'ts that crept into the modern church, did He indicate their necessity to live righteously? No, He did not do that! He did not give them any warnings about what to be sure not to do. 

Obviously, He knew all that one  

needs is to receive daily from Spirit—this must be the most important message for humanity. That message leaves the Holy Spirit as the new personal Master Teacher of the spiritual life—not the church and not some doctrine or set of rules and regulations. Thus, the Holy Spirit took its  rightful place of power on the Earth. 

In His glorified body, Jesus visited and sat with those who loved Him and cherished His words (Luke 24:36-49, Mark 16). As they sat in amazement and wonder of the resurrected Son of God, Jesus tells them to receive the Holy Ghost and that the sins of those that they forgive are forgiven, and those that they do not forgive, their sins are not forgiven. Jesus gave common man the power to forgive sins through the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

No longer did God solely hold the power to forgive sin. However, the power that they were to receive brought an amazing ability for them to escape death to live free of the world. The Holy Spirit was to be their Comforter, Healer, Teacher, Counselor, and the Giver of the gifts of Spirit. 

WE ARE ONE IN SPIRIT PODCAST: PART FOUR

 

Why Words Are So Powerful

Today is the fourth segment of my discussion with Minister Steve Brannon. We continue our interview by chatting about how words are used to manifest our reality.
To read more about leaving organized religion and this interview with Steve Brannon, click the links below. Or, you may listen to the interview, "Are You Spiritual.. or Religious?," here: http://bit.ly/JcOKFt
Part 1 -Don’t Rock the Boat Lest You Want to Leave the Church Fellowship
Part 2 - Why Religion is No Longer Working for Most People
Part 3 - Emergent Conversation about Christians Leaving the Church
Part 4 - Why Words Are So Powerful
Steve: I believe a lot of lessons are being set in motion for us on the global scene, just by the economic instability in countries and climate change all around the globe. Mother Earth is crying out to be treated correctly and have good stewards. We’re setting up a number of lessons on that level, but even right now in our country, we are wondering which way we are going to go. Are we going to show love and take care of one another, or are we going to be selfish and see ourselves as separate? Even on the personal level, so many people that I know are having a lot of health things come up, conflicts in relationships, the same lesson is coming over and over again. Are we going to see ourselves as united as one people, one energy; or are we going to continue in separation, which is not working? We won’t be able to get through this life without having a chance at learning that lesson, I don’t believe. Today it’s really coming to a head.
Yvonne: Yes that’s what we’re learning, that we are one in spirit. We are one with each other. We are one with the earth. We are one with the animals. All life is valuable. That is what Spirit is trying to teach us, Oneness.
Steve: I loved the visual I got while reading The Celestine Prophecy. The individuals praying over the plant, watching the plant respond—a beautiful picture of oneness to me.
Yvonne: Mr. Masaru Emoto demonstrated oneness with water. People prayed over or spoke/wrote words and put them on containers of water, and the crystals changed formation.
Steve: Our words are powerful. That’s how we manifest our reality. When our heart and our mind are settled on one thing, we speak it out, we confess it with our mouth. That’s phraseology. Things happen.
Yvonne: The word was with God from the beginning and is God. God spoke and things came into being. We have that same life force in us. Our words have power to manifest our reality. It all starts with a thought or word, and we add our emotion; the next thing we know we have a creation whether it’s what we wanted or not—it may be a negative thing, but we get what we believe we should have. Even if it is condemnation or judgment from others, a loss of job, loss of health or whatever, we’re creating with our words at all times. Words are powerful. We have to be careful what we say
Steve: Every even our thoughts are prayers. The universe immediately starts to line up with what we think about and what we intend, so we better think about our thought life! Yvonne: No wonder the Bible encourages us to guard our hearts diligently for in it is the issues of life. Guard those thoughts. Guard those emotions.
Steve: It encourages us to think on things that are of a good report—anything pure, honest, true, lovely—think on these things.
Yvonne: That’s been one of my favorite verses—especially for the past two weeks. Well, we’ve come to the end of our interview. Is there one thing that you might say to encourage us from our conversation today?
Steve: Leave room for mystery and questioning; don’t get locked down when you find a comfortable place in your belief/faith system. Don’t drive too many tent stakes. Be ready to move on to something new. Never stop growing. If one door gets closed, there’s always another one to open. The Holy Spirit is always teaching and you will always discover new truth.
Yvonne: True, so true. I learn more every day.
Steve: This is the day for it too. We need a lot of guidance. It’s time for us to get still, enter the silence, and come back with the guidance and answers that we need.
Yvonne: Be still and know God.

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WE ARE ONE IN SPIRIT PODCAST: PART THREE

Emergent Conversation about Christians Leaving the Church

Today is the third segment of my interview with Reverend Steve Brannon. We are continuing our discussion by introducing the Emergent Conversation.
Yvonne: Steve, I love the way your book gives us the freedom to explore. Over and over again you say to seek the spirit within you; ask the Holy Spirit for direction and guidance. The law is written on your heart, so go there and find it!
Steve: The most exciting thing for me is not for someone to sit down and tell me what they’ve gotten all excited about reading scripture or any kind of wisdom book. I love to have them tell me what the Holy Spirit taught them or guided them into. If a new revelation has come to you, or a new understanding has come to you, I want to hear it! Let’s talk about this stuff. Now that’s reality, a spiritual life is reality. This relative plane that we are living on is not the real world. There’s a solar vibrational level and a higher truth to be found when we enter the silence within. I love it when people come out of their silence and are bubbling over. They are excited and their faith is growing. They’ve got something to say and I want to hear it!
Yvonne: Absolutely. Talk to me about the Emergent Conversation. How does The Two Agreements fit into it?
Steve: The Emergent Conversation or the Emergent Movement started around 1998 with some youth ministers from main line churches who saw the trend regarding what’s going on in Christianity and a big exodus of youth. Kids who were raised in church get to their twenties and bail. Not only are they not going to church anymore, they have really turned against it. They will never go back and they have no intention of following the religion of their parents. These ministers wanted to know what they could do about this. After they began talking, they got pretty liberal with their questioning. They began looking at the traditional ordained church that Christ commissioned and they wanted to get closer to it. As they did, they saw that the many dogmas and doctrines that had found a place in modern-day Christianity were not present in the first church. They’ve just been put added over the years. The church today has become contaminated by programs, doctrines, dogmas.
These leaders put everything on the table. They questioned whether there is a literal hell or heaven. Everything teaching was open to discussion. Well you can imagine this made quite an earthquake so to speak. The clergy in the larger organizations and seminaries started speaking out, writing books against the Emergent Conversation, and warning people about it. But again, if your belief system is so rigid that it can’t take a question, that’s a red flag. The first church was chaotic. They didn’t have a guide book. The Emergent Conversation was comfortable with chaos and realized that thisis just what you go through when trying to get some answers and being open to Spirit. You try some things and they don’t always work. All is not lost. The Holy Spirit is there to protect us, to guide us, to teach us. So the question is: are you going to be reliant on what you say you believe and stick to it even when it’s not working? Or are you going to rely on spirit to lead you? or are you going to go by your own understanding? The life line of Emergent is the Internet. Australia, New Zealand, and the UK are some of the larger, stronger areas of the Emergent Conversation. The US is rather slow about catching on, but once it got started in local faith communities, many congregations would sell their church building, take the money, and go help meet the needs of the community: those who are homeless and hungry. They started to practice what they saw happening in the first church and knew what was expected of them, which was not to keep up huge cathedrals, but to meet needs and actual taking some social justice stances.
Yvonne: Like that radical rascal, Jesus, did. He wasn’t one who hung out with religious people. He ministered to the people who needed him—those who recognized their need for a healer or someone to show them a better way. He was not one to be enshrined in a temple and wrapped up in religious theology.
Steve: No not at all. To be honest, a lot of folks would be pretty leery of having Jesus as a neighbor with all the people hanging out on his front porch.
Yvonne: They definitely would. They wouldn’t even recognize him.
Steve: They would be nervous with all the unsavory types coming out the door over there. That’s what this conversation wanted to pursue. Get back real go back to the roots as best as possible. The Two Agreements says that it’s well and good to follow the true teachings of Jesus, but not to get bogged down into the institution. That’s not what Jesus wanted. I don’t see where he said that he wanted to start a new religion. He really wanted folks to understand one thing: when you see me, you see the father. I am the father are one and I am one with you.
What you can do while you’re here on the planet is enjoy life as you enter the kingdom. It’s already here. It’s in you. It’s all around you and that kingdom is peace, joy, exuberance, and the knowledge that you have right standing with the power that puts you here in the first place. So don’t live in fear. You are one in the same with that energy and you have right standing. You can stand boldly and proudly as a divine being. It’s a sad thing that our children are being taught that they are less than divine.
Yvonne: They are taught to fear the god we have made in our own image—a god that is quite brutal and abusive. Look at the God that has been created through Christianity and in some belief systems and you have to think “if I had that kind of parent I would never go see him. I would never have anything to do with him.” Why have we made God, who is love, out to be a horrible, mean, unloving, punishing parent? We as humans treat out children much better that the Judeo-Christian God treats his kids?
Steve: Psychiatrists have had a field day with that one over the years. Why do humans want to beat themselves up so bad? Why do they feel so guilty? There’s been many books written on that. Some of them, Escape from Freedom, is a title that jumps out. Guilt and fear are things we have to deal with. We need to be healed in our minds first. Then it will go to our hearts, and then it will go into our body. Our first healing is right here realizing, professing it, and affirming it. I really am into affirmations. I like affirming “I AM ONE with God. I am one with the one who put me here, my creator. I am one with the source. I am one with life force.” Affirm that and feel it down in your gut, feel it in your heart, and get some healing going there. Yvonne: That always generates joy and gratitude generates all the fruits of the spirit. We were talking about how Jesus was with the outcasts of society. He was not hanging out in the temples. You also minister to some less fortunate people.
Steve: He went to where there was a need.
Yvonne: There’s a need everywhere, but the people who can be helped are the people who realize they need help.
Steve: That’s a very good point. There’s not very much help for a person who seems to already have all the answers. In The Two Agreements the word “mystery” is used throughout. My belief system leaves room for mystery. To say, “I do not know” is a full, complete answer. I always allow room for the Holy Spirit to keep filling me up and giving me answers. I enjoy working with folks who are bound together with a common purpose to help one another be well and live well. Some are focused on getting a need met and are living in what I might call a “teachable moment” or being receptive. There are always new questions coming up.
Part of my ministry is with inspirational support groups for folks suffering from depression and other mood disorders. There’s always a need for healing, understanding, and support there. Depression is the number-one crippling illness in the country. It’s not heart disease or diabetes or cancer. The number one illness that puts folks on disability and causes the loss of career or job is depression. I decided to work with that population and create the inspiration support group. We are a plurality of faith systems. We have folks in the Jewish, Christian, Catholic, and other faiths, yet we have created an understanding family. There’s a lot of laughter and hugging; there’s a lot of joking and kindness going on. Folks would never believe that this is the room where the depressed people meet. They would say, “Wait a minute! Isn’t that supposed to be depressed people down there?” The janitorial service at one of the buildings where we were meeting actually asked that question.
There are two things that all of us want to believe and feel: that at least one other person on the planet loves us just like we are. The second thing that we need, not just something we want, but something we need is to feel that someone understands us, gets us, just the way we are, no matter what is going on with us. These folks need that.
Yvonne: Depression many times is a result of our seeing ourselves as separate from God or separate from others and feeling the emptiness that comes from a mindset of not being understood or accepted. So, it makes sense that when people who feel rejection learn about oneness and become part of a family that cares about them, they would laugh and rejoice. It’s a natural bi-product of being loved.
Steve: Exactly, exactly. If you removed the judgment and condemnation out of Christianity and present the love that Jesus said would identify them (they’ll know you by your love for one another) we’d be looking at a revolution.
Yvonne: I know we would. That is the soul reunion or coming back to God we are experiencing in the ascension process. Realizing that we never were separate means accepting that we brought all this suffering on ourselves. Religions and dogmas teach and emphasize the illusion of separation.

Podcast host: Yvonne Perry

As Natural As Breathing

Many people who believe in the Emergent Movement—myself included—are often considered “anti-religion”. This is the furthest thing from the truth. I am forever thankful for the incredible work that Christian organizations do to ease human suffering. Each day, millions of people around the world are fed, clothed and taught by Christian churches, schools, and hospitals. For centuries, Christians have made a positive difference, from healers like Mother Theresa and Padre Pio, to the individual who anonymously donates money to a poor family

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in their congregation. Furthermore, I still believe in church as a sacred place and would never do or say anything to belittle it.

That said, it is also my belief that the “faith-built” churches of today are not a continuation of the original church begun by Christ. Instead, over the past two millennia, man has created the Church in his image, rather than in God’s. The result is that there are some 39,000 separate and different expressions of Christianity around the earth that claim to hold the Truth.

    In a rather straightforward manner, I state in Chapter 7 of The Two Agreements, “As evidenced by the history of all religions, mankind seems to compulsively work to complicate the spiritual life of living in harmony with God, a relating that is as natural as breathing.” Indeed, the connecting to God has become so circuitous and convoluted as to be a life’s pursuit, instead of the place from which we live our lives. I am reminded of the story of the two cats. One is turning in circles chasing its tail. The second cat asks him why he is doing such a thing. “I was told that happiness abides in the tip of one’s tail. And I desperately want happiness.” To which the second cat replies, “I have learned that as I peacefully go on my way that happiness is with me and follows me wherever I go.” And, certainly, we need not seek something we already possess.

Indeed, upon examining church history, we find that the original church was not a formal institution, but small groups of people meeting in each other’s homes to spread Christ’s messages. The purpose of these meetings was twofold: first, to bring salvation to those who had been born under the first covenant with God and, secondly, to spread the story of Christ’s life and resurrection. The Church of today, however, is something altogether different. Sadly, it has become a tool to measure our “worthiness”, even one’s worthiness to hold public office and serve society.

Please note, Christ did not give a list of rules and regulations for doing church the “right way” in order to prove that we believe deeply enough or in the right way. He simply told us to accept the Holy Spirit. Ironically, the man who was persecuted for saying, “I and my Father are the same” is now believed to have been the only one so connected to Source, when in fact we all are. Now we are the blasphemers if we make this claim. Too often, instead of being encouraged to live our lives with God, we are encouraged to give our lives over to institutions that run similarly to the government and any other bureaucracy. These institutions are largely based on the premise that we are separate, not only from God, but from each other. Ultimately, that premise leads us into feelings of fear, guilt and shame, which make manipulation possible.

As evidenced by the thousands fleeing the Church each year, that premise is no longer working. I believe these folks are being called to be mystics—to directly plug into the Source instead of going through the “middle man” that the Church has become.

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Today, we need to have the Conversation more than ever.

 

I invite you to support a controversial conversation: the Emergent Conversation. Some religious leaders wish it to end; others believe it already has ended. I propose that the need for the Emergent Conversation has never been greater. People (especially the younger generations) are disillusioned with traditional Christianity; they hunger for God, yet they are “turned off” by the dogma, the rules, and the narrow version of salvation. By way of example, I recently heard a story about a young Christian woman who had lost her father to cancer. As his condition deteriorated, she became increasingly concerned about “where he was going to go” after he died. Her father had spoken of God, but he had not been a churchgoer, and she was not quite sure whether he believed the “right” things. As she put it, “being a good person is not enough to get you into Heaven.”

These beliefs only serve to cut us off from God, each other, and our spiritual selves. That’s why a central message of my reinterpretation is that there is no separation between man and God, except that which lives in our hearts and minds. This separation, which began with Adam and Eve (the “Lie”) has been perpetrated throughout history by the Christian establishment. It preaches that we are all inherently sinful. Any “sin” we commit (i.e. not following religious dogma) further separates us from God and excludes us from the kingdom of Heaven. Any questioning of this dogma is a sin in and of itself, for it indicates a “disbelief” in Jesus, God, and the Bible.

The Conversation, however, welcomes questions, for it is in this way that we come to God in love, not for fear that we will be banished to hell. There are several things not explained by the traditional interpretation of the Scriptures, that have left many of us feeling marginalized and unworthy for not believing strongly enough. For example:

· How is it Jesus did a perfect work and paid for all sins, yet humankind is still in danger of losing soul salvation, and therefore must continually ask forgiveness for these same sins?

· How is it that God expects us to sincerely love Him with all our heart while under the threat of eternal punishment if we fail to truly, sincerely love Him?

· Why does the phrase “plan of salvation” appear on gospel tracts, but cannot be found in the gospels of the New Testament?

· How is it that the church of today is not, neither can it ever become, a continuation of the church Jesus commissioned?

· Given that Christ's resurrected life brought victory and salvation, why is the cross, an instrument of death, the celebrated symbol of Christianity?

· How many times have we sat in church wondering why being with God must be so mechanical and boring?

· Jesus taught that all people are one with the Father, so why does the church teach that people are separate and removed from God?

The questions are only the beginning, but my answers to them go a long way to eliminating fear and bringing us closer to God. The aim of the Conversation is to rethink all aspects of Christianity. And I support the undertaking by writing the reinterpretation of the Good News story. This reinterpretation debunks the Lie of our separation from God and teaches us a simple yet often-buried Truth: that we are nothing more (and nothing less!) than aspects of the Creator.

Ironically, one of the most encouraging reactions to the Conversation has come from the Christian establishment; not in the form of acceptance, of course, but rather an attempt to repackage their own mainstream message. The current trend in Christian churches is the kinder, gentler version: more love, less judgment. Yet the basic message remains the same: believe as we do, or you will be forever separated from God and his Kingdom. This makes the Emergent Conversation, or Movement, even more necessary, if only to keep applying pressure.

On the other hand, there are many challenges to the Emergent Movement, not only from those outside it, but also from within. As with any “shiny new toy”, there is the threat of eventual disillusionment. For those seeking instant gratification, there is the very real chance of returning to conformist views or having no spiritual life at all. Therefore, my advice to those joining the Movement is to keep in mind that this is not a “quick fix”, but a long-term commitment to know God and oneself.

It is my sincere desire that it continues and remains a powerful influence on Christianity as the global community undergoes The Great Emergence. That’s why I have pledged to make myself available to congregations wanting to learn to create inspirational support networks and groups for them. For more information on my group work with a plurality of faiths, please visit: The Two Agreements FB page, thetwoagreements.blogspot.com, thetwoagreements.wordpress.com. Contact us: thetwoagreements@yahoo.com

A recent post on my The Two Agreements group on fb

Those of you presently reading my book know it was August 1988 that the reinterpretation of the Bible theme and good news came to me.  I spent hours in contemplation over the new perspectives, in the form of images and inner dialogue, of the old stories I heard as a child attending Sunday school. 

You see, I was not "raised in church" but the stories were so very fascinating to me that they found a permanent home in my mind and heart.  Following intuition, not only did I focus on the individual stories of the Bible, I took a huge step back to see the "big picture" and realized that there are two agreements that God made with humanity.  With these two agreements, God set out to win back the hearts and minds of humankind, once and for all. 

I get excited all over again recalling those early experiences in 1988 of listening and receiving these new understandings of the Gospel. It is great to talk to some of you each day about the wonder and excitement of a truly liberating Good News story for our time.

If anyone is having difficulty locating a place to purchase TTA, let me know.  I will make certain you find it.  In case you did not already know, the proceeds from the book go to a not-for-profit organization that provides free services to individuals suffering mental health challenges, their family and friends.  My "spiritual ministry" is fully invested in leading this work.  We are celebrating our 10th year in March 2012.  I greatly appreciate all of those that purchased my book these past weeks. Blessings . . .