The Drama of Transformed Identity

Christmas time was always fun for me as a child. I remember people dressing up as Santa Claus and giving gifts to children in the shopping centre where we did our shopping. I also remember the story of the Baby Jesus in the manger being faithfully played in living colour by a Sabbath School class.

As I grew older, I saw movie stars dress up and play the role of a western or urban hero saving the day. My childhood and youth had been saturated with drama. The whole idea of one person assuming the identity of another person for the purpose of making a moral point became part of the fabric of my life. After hundreds of hours of watching people assume the identities of other people in order to tell a story of meaning, I was brainwashed with the notion that this is how the universe works. I was not taught this, but rather I caught it through my culture.

This habit of watching people assume other identities also became a window of escape through which I could imagine myself in a more powerful existence than what I currently occupied. Watching movies became an addiction by which I could assume another identity for the purpose of imagining myself gaining the respect and attention I desired.

As my childhood turned to youth and my childish ambitions became harder to realise, the window of assumed identity became a vital factor in maintaining the lie of self-reliance and independence. The secret was to merge my identity with the person that I desired to emulate. Through the grooming of my childhood first love, the window into power came by the surrender of my identity. I never realised that this process would cost my identity, because the only thing that mattered was power. The use of drama and movies formed a core part of the tempter’s methods of keeping me enslaved to the lie of self-reliance. It also completely blinded me to the idolatry of the Trinity.

The Trinity was the perfect expression of assumed identity for a moral purpose; three persons assuming the roles of Father, Son and Spirit for the purpose of making a highly moral statement about salvation. This fitted perfectly with my grooming through drama. Once again, the story resonated with me, because it was as natural as breathing.

Just as I never saw that an assumed identity causes the loss or confusion of who a person is, so I never saw that in believing that three divine persons assuming other identities actually caused the loss or confusion of who they were. This became the mystery of God! It all made perfect sense to my natural mind.

It should not be overlooked that the central lie spoken to Eve was presented through a being that had transformed himself into another completely different identity. Let us never forget that our human nature from Adam is stamped with a message of self-reliance conveyed through a medium of transformed identity.

This message was further stamped into my thinking by the watching of transformational super heroes such as Superman, Spiderman and others. These characters had inner powers that they could use when they transformed. These powers were usually used for moral purposes and for the good of the society. The key principle developed was to reach for inner strength through transformed identity. Over and over this lesson was repeated to me. Rather than falling on my knees and praying to my Heavenly Father, I was shown that real heroes called upon their inner powers by transforming themselves. Once again, I was imbibing a spirit of transformational self-reliance.

62 The Drama of Transformed identity

In my early teen years I was exposed to another method of transformational self-reliance. The Star Wars series written by George Lucas presented its best heroes as masters of meditation. Through the arts of concentration and following internal feelings, one could perform great feats in battle and win the praise of everyone who witnessed them. This was my subtle introduction to eastern mysticism.

So for all of these reasons I found myself often drawn to the television to engage in the practices of my childhood god and that was to foster the lie of self-reliance through a transformed identity. I would imagine myself as the central character of the movie and would feel the power that he displayed. As long as I continued to worship a god that engaged in self-reliant transformation, I could never truly lose my love of movies, sport and fictional stories.

Another dimension to my training from television was the philosophy that opposites attract. The whole black/white, yin/yang story played out through a love story, provided constant themes of opposites merging into one for greater power, pleasure and satisfaction. This training provided the perfect backdrop to merging the powerful, self- reliant heavenly Jesus with the submissive, humble and obedient earthly Jesus into one object of worship.

As I look back now I see that much of my exposure to society through my childhood formed a framework to prepare me to accept the Trinitarian god as something that was natural, obvious and unquestionable. The emphasis on looking within by a spirit of self- reliance matched perfectly the picture of these three great beings who transformed themselves into the characters of Father, Son and Spirit.

The character of my Beloved who trusted in His Father and always obeyed, trusted and looked to Him was merged and swallowed up by my multiple pictures of self-reliance, looking within and being transformed into the power of the Divine.

How simple things would have been if I could have understood these words:

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8.

Then again many things would have been simpler if I would have kept reading the Bible plainly. Yet once again, my upbringing and schooling placed scales over my eyes to prevent me from doing just that.

Mind Games

One day when playing with my friends at school, someone called out to me most earnestly, “Adrian! You have a split in your pants.” My heart began to race as I turned quickly to find where the split was. Then I heard a chorus of laughter with the words “Gotcha!” Welcome to the world of jest. Often my life became a game of dodging and firing these arrows of deceit.

As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, (19) So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? Proverbs 26:18-19.

It was embarrassing to be caught out and have a whole class of kids laughing at me. The peer class experience taught me never to be vulnerable, never trust anyone and most importantly, be careful not to take everything that people say seriously.

The most rudimental element of jest is stating the opposite of what is true and drawing the gullible, literal minded person into a state of confusion to gain a laugh. In my teen years, I was engulfed in this spirit of deception, confusion and entertainment by twisting words to mean something other than what they literally meant. However one of the first things my Beloved convicted me about after my conversion was the principle of saying what I meant.

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for

whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matthew

5:37.

These arrows of deceit played a part in trying to prevent my entrance via the wicket-gate1 into the Sanctuary courtyard. I really became convicted on this subject when I learned that jesting was a form of bearing false witness and therefore a violation of the ninth commandment.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16.

I also learned one of the things that the followers of Jesus would stop

doing was practicing guile.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (22) Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 1 Peter 2:21-22.

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (5) And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. Revelation 14:4-5.

Guile is defined:

to decoy; compare G1185); a trick (bait), that is, (figuratively) wile: - craft, deceit, guile, subtilty.

What is very interesting to me is that the place where I experienced this spirit the most was in my seminary training for the ministry. I found it a constant battle not to be drawn into a spirit of laughter through the arts of jest. I had to pray earnestly for help not to engage in this practice. Whenever I would indicate my inclination to read a Bible passage in its plain meaning, laughter and scorn would often greet my ears.

1. “A little distance from this gate there is erected a strong castle, of which Beelzebub is the captain: from thence both he and they that are with him, shoot arrows at those that come up to this gate, if haply they may die before they can enter in. Then said Christian, I rejoice and tremble.” Pilgrim’s Progress Second Stage.

The tempter’s indoctrination of jest taught me not to take words seriously and to look for a hidden meaning. Jest facilitated my appreciation of the key principles of the Alexandrian allegorical method of Bible study. The real meaning of words is not in the literal reading. Jest was only one mind game that affected my reading of the Bible and the true identity of my Beloved.

The simple story telling methods of television taught me the concept of parallel realities. At different times in my life I was exposed to television programs that depicted families doing fairly typical things. These programs were serial programs, meaning they would have weekly or daily episodes. Within a short period of time, I became familiar with the characters and began to identify with them. These characters became so much a part of my life that I would often imagine myself amongst them, become concerned about the things they were dealing with and sometimes would even dream about them as part of my world.

These serial programs allowed me to mentally step into a different reality from my own. Yet at any time I could step out of that reality. For instance, when watching something that was frightening, I would tell myself, “It’s only a movie.” This practice allowed me to experience all the feelings of a parallel reality, and yet I could jump out of it when it became uncomfortable. While this process was most powerful in serial programs, it was the same for any movie. The use of visuals and sounds of people engaged in real life activities created a virtual world that drew me out of my own.

Regardless of the content, the process of living in a parallel or virtual reality affected the way I read the Bible. It laid a perfect framework for allowing Jesus to move into a parallel reality as a man on earth. What He performed on earth was not really who He was. He was not a dependant, trusting Son in reality, He had simply stepped into this alternate reality for the purpose of making a moral statement. This was the same as the movies I watched. Many of them tried to make some kind of moral statement through a parallel reality to my own.

One of the most common expressions of this parallel reality has been “This was only during the incarnation.” The diabolical combination of parallel reality and identity transformation made this type of thinking very easy. I could read Bible expressions like the following and place them in a parallel reality that was essentially fiction.

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. John 5:19.

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; John 5:26.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (4) Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 1:1-4.

Whenever my mind became convicted that these verses should be read literally, my understanding that Jesus was equal with the Father by His self-reliant power would place these texts into a parallel fictional reality for the purpose of making a moral statement. I did it automatically without even realising it. My mind had been programmed this way for years, and all this training worked perfectly to prevent my escape from the three-in-one god called the Trinity.

Any time that we watch a movie or serial story of any type, regardless of the content, we are being programmed for parallel reality that can be accessed or abandoned at any time. Even true stories presented in a movie format can create this effect, because the movement of actors and the interaction observed automatically creates this parallel reality and allows us to enter into it.

This is very different from reading Bible stories and allowing the Spirit of God to impress us as to what they mean. When we are taught to read the Bible literally and not to go beyond the bounds of Scripture, we can draw lessons from the stories, but we do not enter into a parallel reality that causes us to leave our own. Many times after watching a movie, the tell-tale sign that I had entered a different

reality was that I would often have a period of confusion as to where

I was, what time it was, and what I should be doing next.

I remember one movie in particular that left me in that state for nearly three days. I just kept living the parallel reality and could not get out of it. The scenes would play over and over in my mind, and

I would go through all the emotions again and again. This process is very different from reading the Bible plainly and simply. Never do we lose track of our current reality and circumstances. Our mind is not being bombarded with twenty-five to thirty images a second, causing an overload of information and forcing the mind to let go of everything else around it. This is the work of the destroyer.

Those who can’t break away from the desire for movies, TV soaps, serial programs and so called reality TV will find it almost impossible to read the Bible in a literal way without becoming subjected to parallel realities. The worst of these movies are those depicting Jesus Himself. The level of confusion created from this type of parallel reality, let alone the error that is revealed in the scripts and the often sensual lifestyles of the actors, is incalculable.

You would think that these factors alone would be enough, but I also encountered this parallel reality phenomenon with various computer games such as treasure hunting, quest or task based games and especially car racing games that involved passing through levels which would bring me into a parallel reality similar to the way movies did. After spending hours playing games, I would get that brief feeling of confusion as to what was reality. I remember well the feeling after conquering a game and completing all its levels. I experienced a feeling of elation which then gave way to a kind of sadness that it was over. The principles of jest,2 combined with the indoctrination of movies, games and television based stories drew me out of my existing reality into another.

These became key tools in aiding the great Deceiver in keeping me out of the Most Holy Place experience with my Beloved. All of these things were designed to turn the realities of the gospel into a house of cards built on a foundation of sand. Each part of my upbringing had been carefully calculated to program my thinking away from what my Beloved was urgently trying to tell me in the Bible.

2. These principles being where the literal meaning of words are scorned and often

an opposite meaning is favoured.

A House of Cards

I remember one of the first times the light came on in my mind, and I started to see how theologians could make such absurd statements. For years it puzzled me how people who professed the Bible could deny a literal six day creation, deny the Sabbath or believe that people went straight to heaven when they died. Worse still, were the statements from scholars denying the work of Jesus in the Most Holy Place and the cleansing from sin before He came back to

Earth.

I was sitting in a lecture on the books of Daniel and Revelation. It was not stated as a fact but was only suggested that what Daniel saw in vision in chapter 7 was a metaphor. A metaphor means:

a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicablein order to suggest a resemblance,…1

As I picked up this thought of the imagery of Daniel 7 being a metaphor, I sensed the ground opening up, and the entire judgement event in Daniel was being swept away. The suggestion was that Daniel and Revelation were full of symbols and that what Daniel saw concerning

1. www.dictionary.reference.com

the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days was also a symbol. There was logic to this argument. It sounded reasonable, but from the research I had done, this would turn the doctrine of the judgement and its connected teachings (to use a metaphor) into a deck of cards on a sandy foundation right next to a fault line.

The use of metaphor exists in many places in the Bible. The question is when do we consider something as a metaphor where the meaning is not to be literally taken, and when do we read the text plainly with a literal meaning?

If we are to accept the Bible as the Word of God then we should accept what it says literally if it makes good sense as it stands and does no violence to the simple laws of nature otherwise it should be understood symbolically. For instance, When Jesus says “I am the door.” This is obviously a symbol meaning that needs intepretation. A door is understood as the point of access to something and so we discern the meaning of the symbol.

A metaphor only has power when it is attached to a literal reality. If you take the foundation and apply a figurative understanding to it, then the whole system will collapse, because there is nothing solid for the metaphor to build on. The Bible method to accept the literal wording first if it does no violence to the simple laws of nature is our safeguard against turning our foundations to sand.

The natural effect of applying a metaphor to something that can be literally understood is an opposite meaning. This little device of applying metaphors to literally understood passages ignited all my childhood enjoyment for jesting and training in opposites attracting. These deadly metaphors provided a door for me to enter parallel realities with opposite meanings. I recall one lecturer describing how the Bible came alive when he understood the power of metaphor.

One of the simplest examples of how a metaphor can be used to make something appear opposite from what is stated concerns the Sabbath.

The Bible says:

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8.

If we take the word Sabbath and give it the meaning of rest, we can

show how Jesus gives us rest by quoting:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and

I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28.

The conclusion is presented that as Jesus is our rest, He fulfils the requirement to rest. We rest in Christ, and as we rest in Him we are fulfilling this command spiritually. This process turns the literal word Sabbath into a metaphor for resting in the salvation of Jesus. Yet if we use the method for literal interpretation first we find it makes perfect sense as written, so we prevent the metaphorical meaning that would make the statement appear to be saying the opposite of what was commanded.

If we turn to Daniel 7 we are introduced to many symbols. Instead of speculating about the meaning of these symbols, there is another important rule and that is the Scripture must be its own interpreter. If we are to receive the Word of God as our teacher then we must be subject to it rather than it being subject to our desires to have it read a certain way.

In Daniel 7, there is no need to speculate about the meaning of the lion, the bear, the leopard and beast, the Bible tells us what they mean.

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. Daniel 7:17.

At the centre of this vision given to Daniel is the observation of a great judgment and two key figures described as the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man. Here is the narrative:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (10) A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. (11) I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. (12) As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. (13) I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man

came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (14) And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:9-14.

The descriptions of the beasts and little horn are clearly symbols and find their explanation in other parts of this chapter as well as the rest of Daniel. Everything else in this story can be read literally without any violence being done to the laws of nature.

This judgment scene involving the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man is the foundational narrative of the judgment scene in Daniel 7 that takes place at the end of the 2300 days and before the Second Coming. While sitting in a Bible lecture, the suggestion that Daniel’s vision was only a symbol of God’s justice and reflected His ability to bring sin to an end, made the entire narrative state the opposite of what is meant. The failure to first apply the rule for literal interpretation, allows the foundational reality of the Son of Man actually coming to the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom turn to dust. Why? Because it didn’t actually take place; it is just a symbol. This is the result of ignoring the rule for literal interpretation first.

It is on this very point that I was seduced concerning the Bible teaching of the Father and His Son. I am amazed at how I could believe that Jesus was God’s Son and yet believe in the Trinity at the same time. This process becomes very easy when you present the terms Father and Son as metaphors for the love of God to the universe.

If we understand that the bedrock reality of the whole universe revolves around God and His Son and then these terms are turned into metaphors, the entire Christian economy becomes a house of cards on shifting sand.

Once the terms Father and Son are no longer literal, the backbone of Scripture can be twisted and shaped according to whatever we wish it to be. It becomes a simple thing to make God in our image. The whole notion of God taking on roles using terms Father and Son as symbols presents to us the idea that God has made Himself into man’s image. God, as it were, enters a parallel reality to make a moral statement. The true meaning of all the statements revealing the

love of the Father for His Son are not to be literally taken, because according to the Church, Jesus is not actually the Son of God; this is a role He assumed for salvational purposes.2

As I look back over my life and I see the convergence of all the jesting, movies, parallel realities, transformed identities and deadly use of metaphors, I also see that these things were aimed at one key objective, and that was to destroy my ability to enter into a sweet fellowship with God and His Son in the Most Holy Place in heaven. Until I could begin to understand these deceptions and move away from them, it would be impossible for me to find entrance into the Most Holy Place and be with my Beloved. The Most Holy Place is where the marriage takes place, and it would be impossible for me to be part of the bride if I really did not know my prospective Husband.

The only possible way to have continued sweet fellowship is to know

the truth about who God and His Son really are.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:3.

I wanted this fellowship with the Father and Son so badly, and yet my knowledge of Jesus was confused by the voice and training of the tempter. My training in movies, jest and metaphorical theology allowed me to let these two separate lovers walk with me as one person. The principles of self-reliance, transformed identities and winning respect through achievement were subtly being worshipped in a parallel reality to the meek and lowly Saviour of the world. My Beloved could not let me into the secret place of the Most High while I still had affection for my childhood lover. There had to be a way of escape from this war in my mind.

2. Many Christian creeds given the impression that Jesus is the Son of God, but the three persons in One Being formula destroys the true distinction between Father and Son. Secondly some Christians only see Jesus as a Son while on earth. The key point is that the Son was not actually distinctly begotten from the Father in eternity and is not a distinct being from the Father thus confusing and mystifying His Sonship

Interlude III

Song of Solomon 5:7-9 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. (8) I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. (9) What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

Romans 7:21-24 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Revelation 3:17-20 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (20) Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 648