MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES ARE NOT THE ROCK

MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES ARE NOT THE ROCK

Monday, November 20, 2017

   Matthew [ESV] 7:24-27 [Jesus explained] "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

   1Corinthians 2:14 [Paul exhorted] The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

   1Corinthians 3:11-13  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

  On April 15, 2013, the small town of WEST, Texas, suffered a horrific explosion that was roughly 5 times greater than the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Ammonium nitrate fertilizer was involved in both disasters. The West occurrence killed 15, injured 252, destroyed 500 buildings, and tossed debris as far as 2.5 miles.

  Reading the lengthy detailed Omaha World-Herald feature THE ROAD BACK AFTER BLAST yesterday I noted the personal accounts of mystical happenings. It set me to thinking of my own experiences and of face to face testimonies I’ve heard without doubt. Believing them I do not however base my salvation or spiritual well-being upon my or their experiences. The Word living (Jn.1:1) and written (Heb.4:12) is my foundation as well it must and can only be; God’s Word tells us that salvation and Christ-likeness is achieved only by trusting Lord Jesus Christ and mortifying self—not by mystical experiences however startling they may be—and that spiritual truth is discerned through the intellect as guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit, He living in all believers. Indeed such mystical experiences may stimulate us in endeavor to love God and others, but they should never be relied upon for salvation or well-being.

  For the clarity of this truth I thank God.

EBB4

PS. I invite you to provide your mystical experiences and promise to publish them later this week.