MYSTICISM

[Psalm 51:17]

I've been thinking about this for awhile - for the most part, from what I understand, mysticism is where people claim to have a relationship with God or found one with God, but they do so WITHOUT the holy scriptures.

The 1828 Webster's has this to say...

http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/mysticism

mysticism

MYS'TICISM, n. Obscurity of doctrine.

1. The doctrine of the Mystics, who profess a pure, sublime and perfect devotion, wholly disinterested, and maintain that they hold immediate intercourse with the divine Spirit.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/obscurity

obscurity

OBSCU'RITY, n. [L. obscuritas.]

1. Darkness; want of light.
We wait for light, but behold obscurity. Is. 59.
2. A state of retirement from the world; a state of being unnoticed; privacy.
You are not for obscurity designed.
3. Darkness of meaning; unintelligibleness; as the obscurity of writings or of a particular passage.
4. Illegibleness; as the obscurity of letters or of an inscription.
5. A state of being unknown to fame; humble condition; as the obscurity of birth or parentage.


http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/disinterested

disinterested

DISINTERESTED, a.

1. Uninterested; indifferent; free from self-interest; having no personal interest or private advantage in a question or affair. It is important that a judge should be perfectly disinterested.
2. Not influenced or dictated by private advantage; as a disinterested decision. [This word is more generally used than uninterested.]

[Psalm 51:17]

Was reading this today...

Mark 4:1  And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
Mar 4:2  And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.


First off, look at verse 2 - the key word is DOCTRINE. When Jesus taught them many things by parables, he did so unto them in HIS DOCTRINE.

When you go to these modern-day church buildings nowdays, what do you see? Are the following in Jesus' DOCTRINE?

1) Singing hymns over 1/2 of the time - Doctrinal? NO

2) Allowing Freemasons to sit in the pews all they want - Doctrinal? NO

3) Passing around the offering plate - Doctrinal? NO

4) Preaching out of NIV bibles, whose translators were into necromancy themselves - Doctrinal? NO

5) Having Sunday Schools, and using these "materials" instead of bibles - Doctrinal? NO

6) Having church buildings - Doctrinal? NO

We can go through every check list, and it seems like a NO answer will pop up throughout 100% of it. So ultimately, what is not of doctrine, is NOT of Jesus Christ.

[FervorForFaith]

Was reading this today...

Mark 4:1  And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
Mar 4:2  And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.


First off, look at verse 2 - the key word is DOCTRINE. When Jesus taught them many things by parables, he did so unto them in HIS DOCTRINE.

When you go to these modern-day church buildings nowdays, what do you see? Are the following in Jesus' DOCTRINE?

1) Singing hymns over 1/2 of the time - Doctrinal? NO

2) Allowing Freemasons to sit in the pews all they want - Doctrinal? NO

3) Passing around the offering plate - Doctrinal? NO

4) Preaching out of NIV bibles, whose translators were into necromancy themselves - Doctrinal? NO

5) Having Sunday Schools, and using these "materials" instead of bibles - Doctrinal? NO

6) Having church buildings - Doctrinal? NO

We can go through every check list, and it seems like a NO answer will pop up throughout 100% of it. So ultimately, what is not of doctrine, is NOT of Jesus Christ.

See, I understand your view, and I understand that you are suspicious of church buildings. I am too, to a degree. I understand that the vast majority of churches today are corrupt more than you or I could ever know. They have obelisks on their roofs. They use perverted Bibles that you almost can't get saved out of, much less grow as a Christian. They have light, buttery sermons that teach you nothing and convict even less. And they beg for money more than a homeless man sitting on the street corner.

However, to say that having a place outside the home that the body of Christ can congregate and worship is doctrinally wrong? I think that's going a little too far.

[Kilika]

However, to say that having a place outside the home that the body of Christ can congregate and worship is doctrinally wrong? I think that's going a little too far.

By that statement, it appears as though you attend those churchianity services?

Your defensive response tells me yes, you do, and your trying to justify it. You will fail. There is no defending those false "churches". ALL of them are apostate. Period. Even the one you attend, the one Mark attends, the one BA attends. ALL of them.

BA didn't say we are not to gather. He never has said that, and neither do I. "not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together..."

We are to "gather". The problem is with people's interpretation of what constitutes gathering doctrinally.

Even scripture describes during Jesus' time in the flesh how there was at times huge crowds when they gathered. Other times, it's was just Jesus and the disciples in a house or outside in a camp somewhere. Jesus totally preached against organized religion. That was His main beef with the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Even when the disciples tried to show off the temple and it's buildings, Jesus was not impressed.

Jesus is not in buildings made with man's hands. "Church services" are a total invention of man, likely originating with the early founders of the Roman Catholic Cult. It's what the world does, regardless of the religion. They have rituals and traditions that have no basis in sound doctrine. When you walk into any of those places, your walking into a pagan temple. Think about that next time you "go to church".

"The kingdom of God is within you".

The following is a great explanation of why we gather, and what we do when we gather...

17 Now in this that I declare [unto you] I praise [you] not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, [this] is not to eat the Lord's supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before [other] his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise [you] not.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (KJB)

[Psalm 51:17]

Yeah, this is why I'm asking about mysticism...

From what it looks like - mysticism is VERY subtlely and deceptive. For example, there's a heretical book called "Jesus Calling" roaming around mainstream Churchianity circles that is just that. I haven't read it, but at the same time, the author might not be an occultist herself, and thinks she has good intentions. And the book might have _some_ good doctrine. But from what I understand, she claimed to get into contact with God by means that do NOT include reading scripture.(ie-she said how while she was closing her eyes, drinking coffee, etc, she saw the light upon her, etc)

Again, using this example b/c this is one instance where someone claiming she got saved and got into a relationship with God by OTHER means than scripture.

This is why I bring up the church building issue - have people gotten saved in these church buildings? Sure, with God all things are possible. But my point here is that I was just bringing up this as an example of whether it's of doctrine, or not of doctrine.

When Jesus did his 3.5 year ministry on earth, how many times did she stress doctrine? The more I'm learning about the meaning of mysticism, the more it looks like that anything that is not of doctrine is just that.(Yes, I understand that while we're in our weak, fleshly bodies, we're not going to understand every word in scripture - but nonetheless as a whole is what I'm trying to get at)

Here's another example - something that's been going on in Churchianity circles for quite a while is that the fruit of the Spirit(after we're saved) is that we have to live sin-less lives. I'm not kidding! There's "prominent" people in the SBC that actually push this junk! I would think this is a form of mysticism as well...

1John 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The reason why I bring this up b/c some of the proponents of this belief, one of them being Oswald Chambers(who was considered a "scholar" a century ago, and whose books and devotions sold millions of copies), say how God won't reveal things to you unless to start living a sin-less life. As we all know, this is a complete lie. And ultimately, this too would be a form of mysticism b/c he's giving out an UNBIBLICAL way to get into contact with God.

Same with the whole choir, singing hymns over 1/2 the time - instead of having the peace of God in fellowship, the feeling of quite the contrary replaces it. No surprises, as there's unbelievers and even Freemasons in the pews we're yoking together with.

Ultimately, it's always best to try everything by scripture - whether it's church buildings or how people pray or how self-professing Christians do things, etc, b/c a lot of these deceptions are very subtle. And a quick comment while we're talking about the church building issue - 3 years ago, there were KJB-only church buildings I tried to contact via email to ask them questions like are they 501c3, what are their takes on wolves like Graham/Warren, do they think we're living in the end times, etc, and guess what, not one of them responded back(ie-sounded like they were offended). So for the most part, it just seems like they aren't what they advertise themselves to be. Which is why I brought this up as an example b/c at least from my experiences, they aren't following doctrine.

1Tim 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1Ti 4:13  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.