Visit to Resurrection Fellowship

I decided to check out another mega church today which I found outside Loveland. It is called Resurrection Fellowship and has a very impressive website where they post all their sermons by video. Their rock band was quite good and supplied a heavy dose of Yin energy (my recording) which helped wake me up faster than if I went to a Buddhist service.

The sermon today was interesting and contained a mixed message that partly inspired me while also making me shake my head. It is the same dichotomy I usually experience in Christian churches where one faction of the congregation exemplifies the love of Christ they teach by practicing what they preach about complete freedom, while those in the other faction take their scriptures too literally and look at you weird when you talk about reading Carl Sagan, the Dalai Lama and appreciating Atheist thought. The sermon today did a good job at presenting both these sides, coexisting together as a paradox. I look at one side and I like what I see, but then I turn to the other and and it makes me cringe and worry about where they are going.

Every polarity seems to have one side that appears more good and forward thinking while the other side appears more deluded and backward thinking. I analyzed this phenomena extensively in a presentation I gave to my Buddhist sangha in 2010. The subject matter illustrating my points were taken from the movies, Avatar and Star Wars. I argued that the great polarity and the contrast between yin and yang, showed that both sides were bound together and contained the seed of their opposite. This is why they always go together. And we can see this beautifully illustrated by the military and electronics industrial complex. (Click this link to see the image below at full size).

The left coast symbolically appears more benign, forward thinking and leaning towards a spiritual reality of hidden depths that strives to unite humankind by working to enhance our inner potential. It is this side that seeks peace and has mastered the creation of machines that can educate humanity by the millions. On the other hand, the right coast symbolically appears more evil, backward thinking and leaning towards a material reality that sees humankind divided into factions based not on an internal reality, but through the illusion of surfaces that at first may appear more real than depths. It is this side that wages wars and has mastered the creation of machines that can kill humans by the millions.

The male and female gender are two other prime examples of the inseparable nature of the two sides, dividing our world into nearly two equal halves. And both sides need and give rise to their opposite. And even if one appears to have more goodness than the other, the reality shows that it is far from perfect. 

Apple with the big picture

The electronics industrial complex might have the big picture, but they still have problems like exploiting off shore workers and harvesting conflict minerals. And employees working for the electronics industrial complex ultimately support the right by paying taxes which get funneled into the military industrial complex. And workers of the military industrial complex buy smart phones and computers to support the left side. This yin and yang relationship between left and right is inseparable and its contrast finds expression in countless other places around us. We see Republican and Democrat power constantly ebbing and flowing. A Republican president is elected only to be replaced by a Democrat. And then the Democrat is eventually driven out by the Republicans. It's a never ending dance where one side is eventually eclipsed by the other.

The problems arise of course when one side believes they should always eclipse the other and doesn't understand the need for balance in the world. They may see their opposite as completely evil without any redeeming quality. This is how the concept of spiritual warfare comes about; when the side who is more materially oriented dictates the rules that seek complete control over access to the spiritual. And this control paints a picture of reality that has no tolerance or place for the truth of the opposite side which is ironically more in tune with the spiritual. What is needed to counter this frightening prospect that we see repeating throughout history, is wider acceptance of a new paradigm, that sees opposites coming together, not for war, but to enrich and find harmony towards a more perfect union. The right hand may be favored by some, but not so much as to neglect the place of the left at its side. And the left side may be favored by some, but not so much as to refuse the place of the right at its side.

From the start of Resurrection Fellowship's service, I noticed there is a subconscious awareness that the spirit is where all the power resides. The military industrial complex may appear the most powerful in a material sense on the outside, but it is the electronics industrial complex that wields the greatest power of spirit within; knowledge on the internet, moving images and music tap into internal realities that will hold the allegiance of any human stronger than those gained through external ones, with the fear of death or injury that the right side is capable of inflicting.

The sermon was presented by Pastor Todd Hudson, a visiting preacher. I recorded his talk and present a very interesting part here, where he elevates the power of spirit as being one and the same as the masculine Lord. Even though the spirit has feminine connotations, a male Christ is the one who wields its power. (click on quotes to hear the audio) "Second Corinthians three seventeen says, "The Lord is the Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Right? And I think that's what the church needs to be about. Not about programs, it's not about methods, it's not about ideology. It's about a demonstration of the spirit's power and it's very, very real, that draws people in to connect in a relationship with him."

It is interesting that Pastor Hudson equates God with the freedom of spirit, and then uses it's characteristics to negate the characteristics of religion; "programs," methods" and "ideology." What is important is a relationship with him, which really translates into a relationship with spirit. And in this relationship is perfect freedom. On one level, Pastor Hudson acknowledges this as it dictates a large portion of his theology. But the other half, exhibits characteristics of the other side of the spiritual / material polarity, that seeks to control and restrict the nature of this perfect freedom granted by the Holy Spirit. This is illustrated in a section of his sermon where he talks about the great evil enemy.

"I remember my first encounter with the Demonic. I was at a young man's house, him and his family, several us were broken up and were praying over him and over their house. They had seen kind of some strange things happening in the house. and all of a sudden I began to realize, we're up against something that's different here than I've ever seen before. And I realized there may have been something Demonic going on. So we asked the young man, can you say Jesus is the Lord? And his eyes rolled back in his head and his voice got real deep. and he said, "nice try." And In that moment I did the only thing I knew to do. I went into the hall and called the only Pentecostal pastor I knew, and said, how do I handle something like this? They never taught me how to handle this in the Bible college I went to. so I called and asked her, what I do with this? and she walked me through on how you do a deliverance. And we set that young man free that day. And that was the start of many, many opportunities I had to move in dealing with deliverances with people."

If the power of the Holy Spirit grants perfect freedom, why would Pastor Hudson ask the young man they were trying to deliver from evil, to restrict this freedom by declaring Jesus as Lord? Such a request, negates the very nature of freedom in spirit and the needed acknowledgement of the left and right side coexisting together. Is the perceived opposition to a request denying the opposite side, a sign of evil? Or perhaps it is a sign of refusing to acknowledge the other side of a polarity that holds a legitimate place with its opposite. And when this is the case, opposition may turn violent in response to violent opposition to the reality of freedom in spirit. A pastor who was acting in the freedom of spirit, may have experienced something much less disturbing than one whose world view dissects reality into a spiritual war against a great evil enemy. This kind of pastor would tell the young man, "The power of the Holy Spirit gives you freedom to declare Jesus as Lord, or to deny him. Both are OK. It is your choice and there is nothing wrong with choosing one over the other." Such a position rooted in true freedom, would prevent spiritual warfare; violent opposition to the material side controlling access and dictating the rules for finding access to the freedom in spirit.

I experienced a similar reaction to some of the Christian authority figures throughout my life, who would say things pushing my buttons and going against what I experienced in the freedom of spirit. The things they would tell me would often create violent opposition within myself, to the narrow and self destructive world view they were trying to perpetuate. I even once wrote a short screenplay about my experience, embellishing some of the details to improve the story, but staying true to the reality I perceived, where the so called "good side" is often responsible for spiritual warfare and creating the monster. The "Demonic" many Christians refer to, might simply be the violent resistance to what is perceived as a fascist request; the fear that you can't be who you are in the presence of these people because they will not accept that. This is the conflict they used to have between a right handed society trying to force left handed people to abandon their orientation and follow the mainstream.

Pastor Hudson's sermon continued to straddle the essence of both sides of the polarity, declaring God as perfect freedom and then contradicting it with restrictions to the freedom dictated by the limitations of a one sided theology. "He also wants us to bring freedom to those who are oppressed. There are so many people who are demonized and we have a responsibility to take back territory from the enemy." This part sounds great minus the part about an enemy. It's the side of Christianity I find no opposition to. But then Hudson's statements take the turn for the other side: "I want you to understand today that spiritual warfare is real. Demons are real. And we're called to help bring freedom to people who are facing that. And here's the good news today. We do not fight for victory. We fight from victory. We've already been given the victory. We've already been given the authority to advance the kingdom and to drive out Demons in Jesus name."

And in contrasting this statement, Hudson again changes course, focusing on the freedom of the spirit whose nature is love. "And our mission statement of the church is going to be very simple. It's this; "that we exist to help people experience freedom by demonstrating the love and the power of God. It's important for us to demonstrate the love of God. The Bible tells us in first Corinthians 13, that if we have all these other spiritual gifts, if we operate in miracles, in prophecy and tongues and all these other things but if we don't have love, we are a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Nothing else matters without love. So we need to demonstrate the love of Christ to a watching world."

In an internet age, the world wide web makes it possible now for the whole world to truly watch. My blog can be read by someone on the other side of the planet, that can watch and hear the side that matters most; that the love of God is all that matters (freedom). The other things, "miracles," "prophecy," "tongues" are examples of those things that don't matter when it comes to love.

Hammond appeals to this power of love and freedom describing it's opposition as "Satan." "It does not say anywhere that the armies of hell are going to attack the church and God's going to protect us from that. It's not what it says. What's it say? It says the church is going to be on the offensive and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against the kingdom of God. You see we're on the offensive, not the defensive. And Satan is cowering in fear because he knows that when a church operates in the freedom and the power of the Holy Spirit that he does not have a gate that's big enough and strong enough to stop us. (clapping)"

But who is Satanic? Some faceless entity in our world? Or are they Muslims? Hindus? Jews? Those who don't declare Jesus as Lord? Unless they have freedom to be who they are without worry, then the freedom and love is dead and this message is a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. But if this talk of the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit is taken seriously and granted to unbelievers, then love and true freedom are present.

Pastor Hammond spoke of his early skepticism of the fundamentalist world view dropping by the way side in the presence of charismatic Christians. What is interesting, is that charisma is defined as, "compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others." Someone who is charismatic brings to mind a suave personality that is magnetic. They will get you to say it's ok to believe in what you would otherwise say is wrong, simply because they make you feel good within their presence. This dynamic plays out in the world between people all the time. I have come into the presence of charismatic Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, atheists, etc. Each had a powerful magnetism that made you want to come over to their side and believe what they said was true, even if it went against what you had investigated and found out through experience on your own.

Pastor Hudson demonstrates the nature of this charisma in another part of his sermon, where he describes himself as a "kid in a candy shop." It is telling that he uses this description, because kids in candy shops usually go after as much candy as they can, without questioning or resisting their impulses. They only do things that make them feel good. Kids also blindly believe what their parents tell them, such as Santa Clause is real, etc. There is a part of me who also is a kid inside and I want to believe we live in a world where the miraculous is possible. And these stories go on all over the planet. There are Muslims who declare they have witnessed such miracles from Allah, Jews who have seen them from Yahweh, Buddhists that have been healed by the medicine Buddha. If these miracles are experienced, the praise is often given to whatever cultural God present in that location.

Pastor Hudson continued his sermon from a perspective void of any skeptical thought about another possibility that might be going on. "So, we're in this prayer meeting and this guy's praying over my wife. He's not touching her. He's got his hand over her head. And my wife goes down. And I'm thinking to myself, oh my goodness. I think my wife was just slain in the spirit and she doesn't even believe in that. I know that's not faith, I know that's real." "A couple weeks later I was down at the Rock at a pastor's meeting. (inaudible) is in town and he's praying over the pastor and guess what happens to me. I'm slain in the spirit. First time I go down. I experienced something I'd never experienced before."

From the side of my perspective, the phenomena of being slain in the spirit may just be a result of advanced human practitioners of Chi energy. Chinese Tai Chi masters have demonstrated the power to throw people down without even touching them. This is a human potentiality present in all cultures who learn its secrets. The difference between East and West, some evangelists will say it's an exclusive power only to them from God and if an Easterner displays the same power, it's Satanic. And from the perspective of the Easterner, this power isn't exclusive but available to all human beings learning to harness it, because everyone has Chi energy flowing through their body which is nothing special or unique only to their religion.

Pastor Hudson then spoke about the concern about the issues of healing experienced in ministries. "When we start talking about healing, one of the things I've experienced in the ministry over the years is that some people are very careful and concerned about healing. They become concerned about giving testimonies. Because they say, what about the person who didn't get healed? What about the person who didn't get the miracle that somebody else got? Are they going to be blown up by this? I want you to know today, we don't have to defend God. God's still sovereign and he's the one who ends up deciding who gets healed and who doesn't get healed. But we're called to be faithful. We are called to trust, we're called to anoint, we're called to pray and let God do the work that he can do. And you know sometimes it's our unbelief, it's our lack of faith that stands in the way. The Bible says even Jesus couldn't even do many miracles in his home town of Nazareth because of the unbelief."

Perhaps there is a better explanation here rather than God playing favorites, barriers of unbelief and demons terrorizing. I have a friend who has been a victim of religious abuse. She lost some of her fingers in a fire and had fanatical Christians praying over her for the lost fingers to grow back. When they failed to appear, they told her it was because of her lack of faith in scriptures. I have had similar experiences with Christians telling me my Lyme disease was caused by my unbelief.

The rest of what I captured from Pastor Hudson's speech, no longer threw up any red flags in my mind. It expressed the power and freedom of spirit that I am attracted to. And if Jesus is a symbol, representing all the good things in Hudson's sermon I agree with, then this Jesus should definitely be Lord. It would be hard to imagine any violent opposition or spiritual war resisting this kind of Jesus and the freedom and love offered. And in this way, Jesus as symbol of freedom and love in your life, is a savior. Because if you have this good component guiding your actions, then people are going to judge you as good. But where this symbol of love and freedom is absent, there is fanaticism and an effort to wage war on those who think and act different. And it is usually the fanatics who don't find salvation from the wrath of war by the opposition; a great enemy seeking to destroy them.

Here are some of the many parts of Hudson's sermon that I felt conveyed an accurate message of the freedom of spirit.

"One morning God woke me up with a vision statement for this church. And it really comes from Jesus. As he began his ministry, he stood up in the synagogue and he quoted one day from Isaiah the prophet, it's recorded for us in Luke chapter 4. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he's anointing me to proclaim good news for the poor. He's sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And when you begin to look at the ministry of Jesus as it plays out in the gospels, it's really just a fulfillment of this statement. This is his life's mission statement. And he fulfills it everywhere that he turns in his ministry and that's what he's called us to do as well. And as I thought through what this scripture is really all about, what this statement's all about. It's all about freedom."

"And he's called us to be generous with those who are the least of the lost, those who are on the margins of society; the widows and the orphans. You know in first John chapter two it says this, this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ lay down his life for us. And we ought lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brothers and sisters in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be on that person? And the answer is, it's not. Because if you really love God and you've really experienced his love in your life, you can't look at somebody else in need and not have pity upon them. You see authentic Christianity that people are drawn to, is a Christianity that's in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit brings us to have (inaudible) compassion on those who are in need and we've gotta have an aspect of our ministry that reaches out…"

"And Jesus says, I came to bring freedom. Freedom from anxiety and freedom from depression and anger and addictions and people (inaudible) abuse and greed and all these things that are on that list and that list can go on and on. He said, I came so that you can walk an emotional and relational and spiritual healing in freedom. I came here to bring freedom to the prisoners. He also said I came to bring freedom from disease. I want to give recovery of sight to the blind. You see he's called us to anoint people with oil and to believe and to trust and to pray over them and to declare healing and wholeness."

"For a church, that wasn't just a mission statement for Jesus. I think that's a mission statement that he's calling every single believer to operate in. To operate in freedom, to operate in freedom in the Spirit. To help bring freedom to people who are poor and who are oppressed and need the freedom of God spoken upon in their life."

When we don't see this perfect love and freedom of the Holy Spirit, we will find spiritual warfare, and violent opposition to what is perceived as fascism, slick marketing campaigns and being out of alignment with the good, true and beauty of spirit, accessible to all human beings in every culture. This idea is paralleled in the story of Christ as lamb (associated with gentleness, pure innocence and goodness) sent to Earth to appease his wrathful father who wants to destroy humankind for their wickedness. And this same lamb like nature is what people aspire towards to appease the wrath of others, who want to punish the wicked one sided vision found in religious intolerance. And when the lamb is the alpha, the lion becomes the omega, sent to defend the work and good intentions of the lamb.

And in looking at America as a whole, made up of the left and right coasts, it seems that this order has been reversed, putting the fate of our nation in question if judgement ever befalls us from the rest of the world. For it is not the lamb, who came here first. It is the imbalanced lion who has lost sight of the lamb, acting like a wrathful fanatic on the world stage, not fighting for the freedom of spirit, but for special interests of greed and the ego of religious dogma. And now that the lamb is taking shape on the left coast, it is calling to the lion to remember its mission; to rein itself in and defend the gentle side of America and take orders from those connected to freedom of spirit; the good, true and the beautiful. These are the ones who are able to tame the wrath of the lion, showing a new vision for our world that renews our purpose and revives our hope for a brighter future.

It is the lamb side of America I hope will be defended by the lion, not put on trial and executed as it has in the past. But with all the trouble the lion is getting itself and our country into by losing sight of the lamb, the fear is that history will repeat itself. That another attack on the U.S. by external enemies will cause the lion to continue its imbalanced course, scapegoating the lamb as an obstacle to its never ending wars and mission of dictating the rules that seek complete domination over access to the freedom of spirit for the rest of the planet. This is the Empire leading to Armageddon scenario we have to avoid for something much more desirable.

This is the intention I took in visiting Resurrection fellowship. After the service I got to meet the pastor Jonathan Wiggins, who I presented with my Resurrection / Reincarnation brochure as window into the ideas of the my other project; The Return. My goal is that this script may be turned into short 25 minute movie that becomes a vehicle for the message of two sides coming together for a more perfect union of peace. The hope in this search for this healing balm is to end unnecessary spiritual warfare and achieve what's good in our world without the detour towards evil and self destruction. Since I don't have all the resources to make this project happen on my own, I'm seeking out the enthusiasm and energy of others who share a vision of two sides of the polarity; the lamb and the lion joining together in the peace and freedom of spirit. Perhaps it will happen, and perhaps it won't. But I've got to give it a try and hopefully find the power beyond myself to make it real. And who knows where it might lead. Perhaps my dream of the left and right, east and west, Christians and Buddhists coming together may actually come to pass. And this short can be finished and entered into film festivals, propelling me to start and finish the rest of my dreams and other projects. And perhaps this can coincide with the awakening said to be already happening all around our planet, where threats of Empire and a World War III scenario can be thwarted. And maybe the apocalypse inside my body can come to an end as I find the resources to transform my chronic Lyme disease into good health. And just maybe our world will not end in a hellish nightmare, but be transformed by a beautiful dream, leading our species into a brighter future, greater wholeness and fulfillment without first experiencing a nightmare. This is my hope that the dream may be reborn.