The Illusion (part one)

Battle of the Excluded Middle.

The Illusion

I find myself thinking back to a few things.

Illusions as a kid were generally fun things. I remember being very young the first time I saw heat waves coming up off the road, providing the illusion of water. As well as the many practical jokes, employing illusions to distract a person while “something else” is going on.

Do you remember the old shell game, which has been upgraded with the use of red Solo cups? A person keeps them moving while they keep talking to you. Making it hard to guess which cup actually holds the object in question.

This simple distraction/illusion is the very basis of many modern-day events, and I suspect news as well. It’s used on the battlefield, in boardrooms, and in ministries every day, to keep people’s eyes away from real events. In some ways, Trump seems to be a master of it to keep the news media occupied, while world events quietly play out with little fanfare.

A very recent example of this played out on the History Channel, the Skinwalker Ranch show. These people have slowly become very used to low-flying aircraft on the ranch, watching them. Many are military, circling, watching without any form of identification. Some aircraft “look” civilian, all the while they are not transmitting the required signals for identification, something required by law.

Recently, everyone was outside getting ready to run another experiment when a slow, low-flying single-engine prop plane came over the ranch very low. The craft had no markings and was painted a very, if not neon, yellow color. The whole setup was practically screaming, “Watch me, keep your eyes on the big yellow plane!”

When they returned to the ranch buildings, they discovered at the same moment that the yellow plane was overhead. Someone breached the air gap security systems. Hacked the computers and stole all the data in seconds. In, out, done, while everyone watched the yellow plane.

Amazed and dumbfounded, the arrogance of the lead scientists had led them to believe that an Air gap system was impenetrable and could not be hacked. The reality is that hackers had developed the technology to break Air Gap systems a couple of years ago in Europe at a diplomatic meeting.

Things work best when the person is confident (pride) in what they have or themselves. In a way, pride itself is a spiritual illusion that already clouds your vision, preventing you from seeing what's really going on.

I would submit that the last one hundred years have helped to prepare us to be deceived while we believed we were being prepared for greatness. The Holy Spirit has been moving in the Body. Drop by drop, wonders have happened to get us ready for working in signs and wonders like the Apostles of old. All the while, darkness moved its people into key positions in the pulpit and seminaries, corrupting thought and re-translating concepts and ideas.

In the last 40 years, key players enforce a stranglehold on various spiritual giftings. Totally gutting out biblical accountability to the point that to even suggest such a thing, you are now deemed the “accuser of the brethren.”

The illusion has been played well. On the other side of Christendom, non-Charismatic theology has been stripped of what is called “The Excluded Middle,” a term used by Dr. Paul Hiebert, a professor at Fuller Seminary who later became a professor at Trinity Evangelical (1932-2007)

The Excluded Middle.

Our Western worldview is broken. In most of the world, even the world of the Bible, there are generally three levels.

As westerners, we are taught to deal with the third level early in life, interacting with that level as needed, but keeping our distance. But we are taught to totally ignore the middle level as if it does not exist. This shift really started, according to Dr. Hiebert, between one hundred to two hundred years ago.

The few believers who believed in the power of God in past generations generally rejected such modern thinking as we have today. However, seminaries continued to teach a worldview that excluded the middle, hobbling students’ Christian effectiveness in the world.

This became evident from Dr. Hiebert's work in India when the locals considered the Christians to be hypocrites. This was because the Christian bible that they were being taught clearly demonstrated that healing and power encounters with darkness were for today. But none of the missionaries could heal anyone; therefore, the Christian message was deemed fake.

The reality is, if your worldview bends toward a two-level system, then how do you mentally account for spiritual attacks? Do you then attribute such things to “fate,” or to “this is just the way the world works?” Good karma, bad karma? If you do, then you are already getting deceived because things like fate or karma are actually occult concepts. Do you see the progression?

The Divide Grows.

Nowadays, the Divide between a two-level view and a three-level view continues to grow within the ranks of the Western Christian world. Many areas of bible believers, due to the teaching of people like John MacArthur, see the other side (Charismatic) as deceived, in error, and possibly demon-possessed. They push so hard away from the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they are in danger of creating a whole new theology that excludes the Holy Spirit altogether.

If this worldview/mindset continues to grow for a few more decades. Then a greater error will be sitting at their doorstep, awaiting its invitation. The error would be (as has been done at different times in history) removing the Holy Spirit from the Godhead, breaking the concept of the trinity. This would make such groups theologically more in common with cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses, because they themselves would now be a cult.

A two-level system can be absolutely devastating. As it can leave Christians and non-Christians open to greater spiritual issues. As an example, let me venture into the UFO/UAP/Ancient Civilizations topic that so few believers monitor. One of the best Christian researchers on this topic is a guy by the name of Timothy Alberino. He does outstanding work in this field and grounds much of it with scripture. However, one flaw I would say is that he is running with a modified version of the three-level system. In his view, the ONLY spiritual being is God himself. All others, including Angels and Demons, do not work in the spiritual realm but employ extremely advanced technology. Do you see the error? What deceptions and errors do you think will come out of his teachings down the road?

On the non-Christian side, the aforementioned Skinwalker ranch is playing with fire. The vast majority of scientists are fully working from a two-level system (or perhaps one level). These guys are now reporting health issues (putting at least 3 people in the hospital so far), noting that even after they leave the ranch and go home (sometimes many states away), spirits are following them home and causing health problems with their families and tormenting them in their sleep.

The reality is, if you kick the hornet's nest without protection, expect to get stung. And your protection is the wisdom of God and the Blood of His Son.

They attach various scientific terminology to these things in an attempt to explain what’s happening. But to anyone who has been in the Charismatic Christian world and has dealt with spirits. All these problems are well known to us, and we know the Holy Spirit has given us tools to make this nonsense stop.

When the illusion starts to break, so does the demonic hold over what you “think” is possible and what you “know” is possible shift. I've seen real healings in some of my travels. Prayed for many and only seen a very small number healed. I know I personally battle with what I think and what I know. Do you?

I mean, I would rather default to the safe shores of doing prophetic personal ministry rather than being put on the spot of healing someone. But really, this is THE BREAD OF THE CHILDREN of God, and we need not be scared of it.

A one or two-level system may seem logical to live by, while a three-level system may seem child-like or primitive. But the reality is the world is not as logical and clean-cut as some would believe. This may also be why true Christianity seems so foolish to so many people.

Part Two, next week.