This post is the part two of a critique on The Nearness. If you have not read post one, then you should before reading this post.
Below are 4 very brief videos; 3 are one-minute in length and the 4th is 25 minutes long.
Video one: a video short of John MacArthur explaining the difference between ‘religion’ and biblical Christianity.
Video two: explains The Nearness, from their YouTube site
Video three: talks about a session that will occur at The Nearness
Video four: R C Sproul explaining what it is to encounter the God of the Bible. He uses scripture and personal experience to explain that. In the process, he discusses the realms of ‘the secular/profane’ and the sacred. He explains these ideas in a very understandable manner…. These are the very ideas that were being discussed in the part one of this mini-series, though they were not identified in those terms.
Sproul’s lecture may help you understand what is missing from your Christian experience and possibly why that is so. He does not go into the sins of idolatry… that were covered in the last post.
Therein, the participants in The Nearness frequently spoke of a spiritual emptiness or lack of fulfillment concerning their former spiritual system / church…. Below, Dr. MacArthur explains ‘religion’ and why people seek out religious systems; his words are extremely relevant to this series:
Video Two:
video 3:
I have one divergent comment on the ‘ritual of release’ he mentioned above; in my posts on the Burning Man Festival, you will find that the burning was a spiritual release for them. To view a 6-minute video wherein the people at the festival are participating in grieving, when the ‘man’ is burned, click the following link:
See: https://sheeplywolves.com/burning-man-festival-part-b-grieving-mourning-to-whom-paganism-part-41/
Burning Man is a Pagan festival; the God of the Bible certainly approves of none of that ‘experience.’ There are two other Burning Man posts, each is found under the category of Paganism / Neo Paganism. One is Part 40; one is more recent. They each address different aspects of this Pagan festival.
The Bible speaks to that concept when it calls one to do something similar, for example, in the following two examples: Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
There are many such verses in the Bible, and God can back up His promises; fickle mankind in unable to do so; and has no power in the spirit realm.
Video 4:
Lecture HIGHLIGHTS:
Encountering God, fear and trembling, R C Sproul
[These highlights are only an outline of his lecture; he is a very captivating story teller, so hearing him convey the following would be very interesting to say the least; worth the time is this topic is of interest to you]
- How is it that the glory of God fills the earth and all I see is traffic jams, other problems
- Yes, I experience God’s presence in prayer, in church; but very weighty experiences of His presence I have rarely known
- During his conversion experience at college was a weighty experience – he described that
- A year after his conversion experience he had another similar experience which he explained:
- Couldn’t sleep; had an desire to go for a walk around midnight, to think; ended up in the college chapel which was vacant; got on his face
- Got on his face before the communion table and was overwhelmed with the presence of God, differently than at his conversion
- What had moved him to go for a walk and think was something he had heard in class that day: conveys a story about dreading a required Philosophy course (he was a Bible major), but that day the professor had spoken on Augustine of Hippo, his view of creation… and Sproul was moved by Augustine’s thoughts…
- Augustine’s words focused on the ‘how’ of creation
- After his conversion, Sproul had read through the whole Bible in two weeks, he couldn’t put it down; he had been greatly impacted by the God of the Old Testament, as he’d never heard of this God in church
- Augustine’s words reminded Sproul of Jesus’ stilling of the storm, raising of Lazarus via His words only
- He remembered other events also, like the shaking of the mountain at Sinai (Exodus 19); the opening of the earth when God judged Korah (Numbers 16)
- He didn’t understand what about his reading of the Bible caused him to be pacing the dorm halls at 3:00 a.m.; but now he can say that it was the holiness of God that was communicated to him by scripture; he was more deeply moved by experiencing that than other of God’s attributes such as His love or His mercy
- He told a story about visiting a seminary as part of that Philosophy class and not understanding the lecture; but at lunch, the Philosophy dept. head asked him which was more transcendent than immanent; R C spit out his soup because he was shocked at the question and didn’t know what either word meant
- The prof explained the terms, noting that God is transcendent, but became immanent in the incarnation of Christ and via His Spirits work in believers
- RC went to Genesis 28, the Jacob’s ladder story, his dream vision; Sproul also mentioned John 1:51 wherein Jesus cited Jacobs vision of the ladder when He was speaking with Nathaniel
- He read Genesis 28:15: Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
- Sproul then spoke of a sermon he preached for a congregation whose minister was deathly ill; how he prepared diligently and was anxious to do his best to minister to them in their time of crisis; but that he believed he failed miserably in delivering the sermon and meeting their needs
- But after the sermon, most people has glazed looks in their eyes but thanked him profusely, saying that they had never had such an experience of the presence of God
- Sproul was the only one who had no such experience
- He concluded two things from that experience: 1. That he would never again rely upon his feelings to determine whether God was present; and 2. That he was going to trust what God said in His word
- That it does not matter whether he feels God or not
- That he was no longer going to be a sensuous Christian
- [See 2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter had witnessed Christ’s transfiguration, but he calls believers to trust more in God’s word…]
- Sproul questioned his audience as to whether they had ever experienced God’s transcendence when entering into a church
- That is, when walking from the common to the uncommon; from the secular into the holy; from the profane into the sacred?
- That eerie feeling, causing one to express reverence, is God’s transcendence
- Back to the Jacob vision:
- Genesis 28:16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”[like the sermon Sproul had preached]
- Jacob called the place of his vision, Bethel, the house of God
- The fear that Jacob experienced at the majestic presence of God is the topic of our next class
- In scripture, everyone who met God experienced fear and trembling
- Why is it that in our day, we seem to have lost the capacity to tremble before God?
Encountering God: Fear and Trembling with R.C. Sproul; link to complete 6-part free series is below:
The following narrative and link accompanied the above video at Ligonier Ministries YouTube site:
17,095 views May 3, 2023
We may fear many things in life, from disease to natural disaster to political turmoil. But too often, we forget that God Himself should cause us to tremble. In this message, R.C. Sproul describes what happens when we encounter the One who is holy.
This message is from Dr. Sproul’s 6-part teaching series Fear and Trembling. Learn more: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series…
Featured Image: From the RNS article on The Nearness