Interactions with God #22
Houston itself was a big interaction with God. It was not a pleasant one, but it was an interaction none the less. The whole experience only lasted from March of 1985 to August of 1987, but the ramifications will last for the rest of my days. God sent me there just like the military sends a man to boot camp. He sent me there to train.
So, what happened. Ray Meyer was the name of the pastor of the House of Israel Church. It was not a church like the ones on the corner of many streets. No, it was more of what is called a para-church ministry. Ray had no oversight, well not at first. Ray was not ordained by any group or denomination. Well, not at first. Ray was just a guy calling himself pastor and doing a work to reach teen prostitutes in a bad part of Houston. Ray had a foul mouth and was not always very honest, but I did believe he loved God. To me, that was what was most important. Ray also seemed to be used of God in a prophetic way. How is that? Well, he seemed to know things, things people were struggling with and things that were going to happen. He was by no means perfect, but then neither was I so I extended him grace. His story, or testimony as it is called in churchy circles, was what interested me the most and really the reason I became deceived.
Ray was a survivor of a group called the Children of God. To explain, if you don't already know. The Children of God was started by a Californian man called David Berg. He somehow believed he was a big shot before God and frankly lost his mind. David Berg, started a church group with a bunch of hippies and eventually changed his name to Moses David. He then began to preach sex as a means of reaching people for Christ. Yes, basically prostitutes for God. Sound bizarre? Yes, I would have to agree. Ray came out of that group. He said he was once a leader in it in fact.
Ray claimed to have been called out of this cult by God himself. After going through a series of attacks by the devil, he came face to face with Jesus Christ, who then told him he would lead a team of very important people through the last days of his plan on this earth. Here is the lure...I was going to be one of those important people.
Deception, I have said for years, has three important truths. 1. If you are deceived, you don't know it...thus the definition of being deceived. 2. You got deceived because of something you wanted to believe. 3. The only way to come out of deception is to humble yourself and admit you are wrong...this is why so many can't come out of it. They don't want to admit they are wrong. It is simply because of pride. Pride gets you in, pride keeps you in, and Pride won't let you leave.
I wanted to believe that Ray was close to God, so I could get close to God. I wanted to believe that I was part of a team of God's special commandos. I wanted it so much so that I began to ignore whole chapters and sections of the bible. These sections, if I read them, would challenge my own deceptive view. We couldn't have than now, could we?
Here is a warning for anyone who will listen...if you find yourself avoiding truths in the bible either by ignoring them completely or by “interpreting” them so much so that the words no longer mean what they say, then you are in the middle of a deception. So, you have a choice. Either you want to know God as he IS or you want to create God in your own comfortable image. If you create your own image, then you are not worshiping God at all and you are heading down a road that can end very badly.
God, in his grace, opened my eyes after two years by using a second dream to the “Snake in the Lake” dream that he gave me in Austin. He dragged me out of the deception, humbling me in the process. He taught me the meaning of the passage in Palms 118:8 “It is better to put your trust in God, than to put your trust in man”. I began to see man with skeptical eyes. Never again was I going to put a man between God and myself. I don't care if they have a thousand degrees, glow in the dark or speak with the power of angels, they are still nothing but men, and men are stupid...just like me.
This understanding has put me at odds with many men since then. Men, who for some reason, believe they are better than others. Men who believe that discipleship means lesser men following them because they are so impressive. No, discipleship is more like what Christ did as written in Philippians chapter 2: Though he was God, he did not cling to it, but left it to become a man. A servant, even to man, by humbling himself on a cross. He went willingly to the lowest place just to raise up the low...people like me.
That is HIS example. That is how discipleship should be done...the servant is the greatest of all.