PRÉCIS ON THE INCANDESCENT LIFE OF A TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST

SCRIPTURE. “And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins.” – EPHESIANS 2:1, AMP

KEY TERM: “MADE ALIVE!” ‘Zóopoieó’ [ζῳοποιέω]: “To vitalize, give life; i.e., to make that which was dead to live, cause to live, quicken; to bring ardor, fervent mind, zeal [for Christ and Truth]; an excitement of the spirit; a longing after [the Kingdom of God]; diligence, forwardness, boldness, courage; God’s self-existent, all-powerful life that overcomes all the deadly effects of sin; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state.”

QUOTATION. “The moment the Spirit has Quickened us to life in Regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to God and ‘leaps us in joyous recognition!’ That is the Heavenly Birth without which we cannot see the Kingdom of God.” ― A.W. TOZER,The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine, 1948; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘And you hath He quickened’ – The words ‘hath He quickened,’ or ‘made to live,’ are supplied, but not improperly, by our translators. The object of the Apostle is to show the great power which God had evinced toward the people Ephesians 1:19; and to show that this was put forth in connection with the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and His exaltation to the right hand of God in Heaven; see the notes at Romans 6:4-11; compare Colossians 2:12-13; Colossians 3:1. The words ‘hath He quickened’ mean, hath he made alive, or made to live; John 5:21; Romans 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:36.

‘Who were dead in trespasses and sins’ – On the meaning of the word ‘dead,’ see the notes at Romans 5:12; Romans 6:2, note. It is affirmed here of those to whom Paul wrote at Ephesus, that before they were converted, they were ‘dead in sins.’ There is not anywhere a more explicit proof of Depravity than this, and no stronger language can be used. They were ‘dead’ in relation to that to which they afterward became alive – i.e., to Holiness. Of course, this does not mean that they were in all respects dead. It does not mean that they had no animal life, or that they did not breathe, and walk, and act. Nor can it mean that they had no living intellect or mental powers, which would not have been true. Nor does it settle any question as to their ability or power while in that state. It simply affirms a fact – that in relation to real spiritual life they were, in consequence of sin, like a dead man in regard to the objects which are around him.

‘A corpse is insensible.’ – It sees not, and hears not, and feels not. The sound of music, and the voice of friendship and of alarm, do not arouse it. The rose and the lily breathe forth their fragrance around it, but the corpse perceives it not. The world is busy and active around it, but it is unconscious of it all. It sees no beauty in the landscape; hears not the voice of a friend; looks not upon the glorious sun and stars; and is unaffected by the running stream and the rolling ocean. So with the sinner in regard to the Spiritual and Eternal World. He sees no beauty in Religion; he hears not the call of God; he is unaffected by the dying love of the Saviour; and he has no interest in Eternal Realities. In all these he feels no more concern, and sees no more beauty, than a dead man does in the world around him. Such is, in ‘fact,’ the condition of a sinful world. There is, indeed, life, and energy, and motion. There are vast plans and projects, and the world is intensely active. But in regard to Religion, all is dead. The sinner sees no beauty there; and no human power can arouse him to act for God, anymore than human power can rouse the sleeping dead, or open the sightless eyeballs on the light of day. The same Power is needed in the conversion of a sinner which is needed in raising the dead; and one and the other alike demonstrate the Omnipotence of him who can do it.” – ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1834, 1884; edited

THREE QUICKENINGS. Over the course of my nearly 80 years on this planet, there have been at least Three Encounters with God that have dramatically impacted the course my life would ultimately take. Each one would build upon the previous one as the Holy Spirit refined me for the Purpose and Mission He had planned for me.

• REBIRTH. On the morning of October 30, 1979, in Stockton, California, one day before my planned Halloween Suicide, I walked into the office of Pastor Eugene Kraft’s little Lincoln Neighborhood (Assemblies of God) Church and turned over my life to Jesus Christ as a desperate last move to survive. The Change in me was both gradual yet dramatic, with subtle miracles taking place almost immediately.

• IGNITION. Sometime around March 2, 1981, after praying about it for some months, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in a rather powerful way, oddly enough, while jogging on a warm spring day not far from my apartment. In fact, since I doubted the first ‘Quickening,’ the Lord filled me again at my request to confirm that it was ‘Him’ and not some other spirit. This would literally ‘Ignite’ my life and ministry in countless ways as a Teacher to the Body of Christ.

• RECONSTRUCTION. Beginning in March 2016 after being fired by then Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. for refusing to support Donald Trump, my life would nosedive for the next three years of catastrophic material and reputational losses. But in that painful Interim, the Lord would quite literally Reconstruct my Theology in such a way that I would come to see the massive Hypocrisy of the American Church in its blasphemous alliance with (or indifference to) Maga Christian Nationalism.

CODA. The Consequence of all these life-bending Encounters with the Spirit of God would finally lead to the present Circuit Ride Enterprise that operates fiercely independently of any Church denomination or de rigueur Religious requirements that remain clearly outside the Biblical Canon. It would also result in dozens of death threats from Christian Nationalists and wholesale ostracization from what I derisively call, ‘The Establishment Church’ of the United States of America.

In closing, I have never before experienced such an exhilarating sense of Joy and Freedom in Christ, exhuberant to rise in the morning for a new day of service to our King. The passages before fully define what God has done for me, for which and for Whom I shall remain eternally, profoundly grateful.

God’s Spiritual Algorithm for Change:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day … And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” – GENESIS 50;20; ROMANS 8:28, AMP

Beloved, this truly is the very Word of our Living God to all who would submit to His loving chastening in order to produce for us a Life Abundant and Fruitful, far beyond anything we could possibly have imagined or engineered on our own.