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That Holy Thing
by
Captain Stephen Court
Back in the
day we dabbled with that holy thing. In the 90s hundreds of
teens would gather at SoulBusting events in which we tried to
expose them to profound holiness preaching by older salvo
leaders still floating around. So, loud bands set the stage
for guys like Commissioner Arthur Pitcher. And I gave Pitcher
the subject ‘That Holy Thing’ to preach.
This man was crowding 80 but he rose to the occasion. He
dropped a Luke 1:35 bomb on this rabid crowd, and in King
James, at that:
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Do you get it? That holy thing is all about Jesus.
But the angel Gabriel explained the process here. Holy Spirit
comes on you. He overshadows you. And there is fruit (that’s
our Jesus- ‘that holy thing’).
You Knew All Along?
Too easy.
You know the story, don’t you? Mary, teenaged virgin fiancée,
gets a surprise visit from an archangel who twice asserts that
she is highly favoured. God likes her a lot! So, we’re
guessing that Holy Spirit feels comfortable ‘overshadowing’
people that He likes a lot. We suspect that He likes those who
like Him…
The language here is pretty sanitized. I mean, it’s like when
Catherine Booth complains,
Many more of God’s people might have (this experience)...
but they are not willing to be wrapped in His arms; they are
not willing to be pressed to His bosom; they are not willing
to know Him in a Scriptural sense; they are not willing
to be given up and consumed by God.
Now, Catherine sounds conventional until you realize she’s
using a little King James lingo when she grumbles that we
aren’t willing to know God in a Scriptural sense. You may
remember the Old Testament observation, “Adam knew
Eve, his wife, and she conceived” (Genesis 4:1 AV).
Get it, now? Adam ‘knew’ Eve, and she got pregnant. And Holy
Spirit ‘overshadowed’ Mary, and she got pregnant. And
Catherine exhorts us to get wrapped up in His arms, to ‘know’
Him, and get pregnant.
Scandalous.
That holy thing is a scandalous issue.
Too many Christians, people like you, meander aimlessly
through a sinfully boring existence, because they aren’t up to
some supernatural intimacy. Or, if they do engage in it:
• there are spiritual condoms involved (it’s all about your
pleasure; you don’t want to produce any fruit or exchange any
fluids!),
or
• masturbation (get yourself all worked up for your own
pleasure. Again, no fruit),
or
• it’s all homospirituality (only Christians involved.
In this instance, heterospirituality is just as bad -
all independents [those who don’t yet depend on Jesus]. So it
is best to be BI when we’re talking spirituality here). Or, as
John Wesley said so much more eloquently, “The Gospel of
Christ knows… no holiness but social holiness.”
Take off the condom. Embrace your Partner. Go BI.
There will be fruit. That holy thing will be conceived in your
life. And that will infect a lot of other people’s lives.
Not Your Grandmother’s Holiness.
I hope you’re convinced by now that this is not your
grandmother’s holiness we’re pitching here. This is not a
bunch of impositions and limitations. You can go to movies.
You can dance. All of that. And we’re convinced, that holy
thing is ridiculously contagious once you catch it yourself.
We’re exhorting you to embrace the outrageous.
We started this thing off in the 90s at SoulBusting, dabbling
with that holy thing. The tragedy is that we just dabbled.
There were some good times, warm fuzzies, scores of people
bawling at mercy seats. But the fruit was puny. There was not
enough condom-free ‘knowing’ God to transform this decade. But
now it is your turn for a kick at the can. Don’t dabble.
Plunge.
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