Quotes & Insights from 100 Prison Meditations by Richard Wurmbrand

I have always had deep respect for the Jewish religion. As a Christian I consider the Israelites my precursors and their history is mine (my apologies to the Orthodox Jews for whom that is blasphemy). Upon reading 100 Prison Meditations I know that I must eventually get around to reading the Talmud.

The Hebrew language is magical to me. The fact that one word can have a multitude of meanings (some directly contradictory) and that the bible was originally written with absolutely no punctuation, opens a whole new box of possibilities to my conviction that the bible is an organic, mystical text with hidden powers. Meaning will change depending on where you breathe or pause whilst reading the text. To me this adds to the extra-dimensional quantum mystery that is the bible. Sound, language, song, and String Theory become increasingly interesting when I learn more about ancient Aramaic and Hebrew.

I also feel an odd sense of tingling when I speak in this language. 3 phrases that have really struck me:

"Talitha, koum!"
"Eli, eli, lama sabachthani"
"l'shanah haba'ah birushalayim"

I will not translate these phrases. They can be interpreted in different ways.

Quotes from Wurmbrand:

"The whole Bible is an inimitable symphony...Letters, syllables, and whole words could have been written in the Bible just for the splendor of the sound. Anyone whose ear is attuned will enjoy them. They cannot be translated."

"With men who remain in the sphere of words, discussions lead nowhere. Words are useful only if they lead out of the realm of mere chatting to the davar - to the reality-word."

"The atom, the nature, the individual - all are unities. Parts in a state of extreme tension achieve the miracle of oneness."

"Love is a sentiment shared by humans and superior animals. But is God merely a human sentiment? Because love was the highest thing the Greeks knew, John said 'God is love,' just as Livingstone said, 'God is unboi,' for those who knew no better."

"tachyons...Once man is able to handle them, mankind will be caught in a paradox. It will technically be possible to communicate so that answers will precede questions, which could mean the cessation of communication."

"A second is no longer defined as a fraction of time in which the earth accomplishes an orbit, but is the time that an electron near the outer edge of an atom of cesium wobbles: 9,192,631,770 times. This figure is a multiple of the sacred 7, which is the mathematical seal of God's creation."

And from the bible, this which was whispered to me personally: "for God is King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise." Sing. Make a joyful noise. Create. Embrace the power and the energy.

MY GOD VS YOUR GOD

So I blogged earlier about this mysterious organization called Voice of the Martyrs which I initially accidentally mistook for Sacrilegious S&M Porn -- anyway, against my reason I ended up ordering some books and thus far have read 2 of them and feel quite enriched! Impressed enough, in fact, that I am going to post some excerpts here.

100 Prison Meditations is a collection of thoughts by Richard Wurmbrand. He was a Jewish-Christian Romanian pastor who preached Christianity during the Stalin regime and as a result served a total of 14 years in prison camps, 3 of those years in solitary confinement.

Wurmbrand noted: "A person must be very daring to assert that he has the final objective truth in religion. Northern Europe is Lutheran; the Southwest is Catholic; the East, Orthodox; India, Hindu; and the Middle East, Moslem. Can truth be geographically conditioned? The most murderous influence in religious history has been the assumption of objective truth in religion. We have to live with relative truth, accepted by our minds as the result of long heritage, education, circumstances of life, and the interplay of historical events. As in other domains, we must rely largely on probability in some religious matters, too."

I will add to this what I've said before, that I think people get stuck in syntax when it comes to arguments over religion. I personally suspect we are all talking about the same God - it is one God who has revealed some mysteries of the Universe to Monks, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Scientologists and whatever other multitude of spiritually enlightened doctrines exist. The bible itself states in Mark 12:29, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one," and in 1 Corinthians 8:6, "there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came, and through whom we live." What we choose to name this God is I think where human beings go into battle.

Not one human being or religion has unlocked the secrets of the Universe, so to argue with hatred over who has the ultimate Truth, is useless and harmful. We're all just the proverbial monkeys trying to type out Paradise Lost, when it comes to understanding God.

The reason the bible is my study of choice is because I find it fascinating and astoundingly relevant to my personal life, millennia after the original writings. Whether one chooses to see the information it contains as myth, old wives' tales, metaphor, allegory or literal truth, you can't deny that it does contain elemental guidance for life in a world that is seriously confusing. And I do think it contains some Universal secrets we will probably never unlock. Still, it's fun (maybe even compelling) to explore.

As Wurmbrand states in 100 Prison Meditations, we may not get all the answers but it seems we can't help looking: "Woe to a faith that does not question. Reason questions almost everything it sees and hears. Only a reason undedicated to God does not question who He is and what He does and what His intentions are. The answers we receive are an inconclusive as those of science. If matter and its constituent particles, the atoms, are mysterious, the more so is God, their Creator. He has given us a revelation that would not be worthy of Him if it were not also enigmatic."

What is the Role of a Pastor, anyway?

"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit." - Romans 15:18

"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." - Romans 15:20

"Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand." - Romans 15:21

Two very important points for preachers to take from Romans 15:19-21. There are signs and miracles to be done. Even Christ Himself performed some dog & pony tricks to get people believing. Although the point of the miraculous healings and feedings was not their own end, no one would listen to Him if He just ran around talking, right?

In the OC I have seen too many pastors sitting preaching to the choir so to speak, like standup comedians, while so few sacrifice their own comfort to go gonzo in places like China, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran. (Incidentally it has not escaped my attention that the most atheist governments are also the most categorically inhumane to both people and animals.)

I do not wish to speak against men of God. In fact, many churches are doing good works for their communities and Christian organizations are often the first on the scene during disasters and times of need.

But having been to a lot of churches I can't help seeing how Pharisaic the leadership roles have become. There is great corruption of God's Truth by so-called Men of God. I have seen too many pastors who are weak, snivelling cowards whose faith is compromised by their fear. They want to live comfortably. They want to live happily with their wives and children, administering salve to other snivelling "Christians" whose greatest struggles are fighting their desire to screw with the neighbor's wife/son/daughter/dog, or trying to squeeze some joy from their crackerbox-cubicle lives, or whatever other pathetic 21st-century American malaise they can dream up.

Where are the miracles, where are the true Men of God whose very handkerchiefs will heal the sick?

In my BSF study of the Levitic priesthood I am seeing the progression from Aaron (chosen by God to intercede and to demonstrate the insufficiency of a faulty, mortal human mediator between God and man) - to Melchizedek, totally not from the Levitic line but chosen by God as a precursor to the new covenant of Grace over Law in Christ (I'm still not really clear on who this Melchizedek was exactly) - and finally to Christ, the last priest necessary, a Forever Priest who would never die and who could eternally act as an intercessor between God and man for man's mortal failings.

"The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless" - Hebrews 7:18

So, are pastors just wrong altogether? I already think Bishops and Popes and Cardinals are ridiculous. Aren't pastors similarly silly? After Christ there is no religious leader greater than his followers. He said it Himself and demonstrated it by washing His disciples' feet, then going to die for everyone.

Aren't we all Disciples ordained to follow after Christ if we accept His Sovereignty? And isn't it each of our roles to study Scripture, test it against other doctrines, see which is true by firsthand scrutiny and experiencing what happens in our lives as we ponder, compare and seek with open minds?

So, if a pastor has any true role for which he should be supported, it is to spend all his time becoming an expert not only on the Biblical Scriptures but also in weighing them against opposing religions, to see what proves true and consistently correct.

I have yet to see a pastor doing a series addressing the most common challenges from Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. Why do churches never invite them for an open panel discussion with analysis and prayer that Truth be revealed? Are we so scared our God will not come through?

George Carlin went on stage and asked God to strike him dead with lightning if He exists. Why didn't God do this? Did He want George to keep on living for another 40 years to give him a chance to acknowledge the truth before he died and went to Hell? Did George even go to Hell? Surely Christians have asked this same question and more, of God. I know I have.

Why don't pastors pick a question a week from an Atheist forum or even from within the church itself, and address it? That might incite me to go to church.

Scientific Breakthroughs for the Average Jane

"50 is the new ... 7, you know."

Sometimes I wonder if "technology" and "progress" are really so great for mankind. Sure we live longer - that means more of us scrabble for less resources in a dirtier world. What's so wrong with living in tents and caves and dying young? I'd rather live hard in clean wilderness and die at 30, than live like a slug in cancerous fumes and hang on uselessly til I'm 98.

Then again I can definitely see a future where we really don't age. Have you ever noticed that if you don't go out into the polluted atmosphere you don't really need to shower daily? And I know a couple of doctors who told me about how incredibly young some patients in psychiatric wards looked: 80 year-olds who looked 30. Makes me think about the characters in the OT who lived to be 900 and beyond.

I figure scientists will eventually invent some sort of molecular repellent that prevents molecules of dirt from hitting our bodies. They might even be able to use that technology to eliminate the need for umbrellas, sunscreen or scuba diving equipment.

Of course, we are already on the cusp of using our bodies as portable computer chips so we can plug in anywhere, be identified, use our personal electrical codes in place of keys and locks. If we can figure out how to harness our body fat into energy & fuel a la the Matrix we will have portable renewable resources as long as we are alive.

I'm waiting for holographic two-way communication so I can sit at a cafe in Malibu and have lunch with my buddies in Brooklyn or Hawaii, or watch my nephews skiing in Montana (whilst wearing a bikini since my body fat would have been converted into fuel for my solar vehicle and the molecular ultra-v repellent would keep me safe from malignant melanomas). That would be awesome.

And they're already working on cultured meat - flesh without the whole slaughtering-someone-with-eyeballs-who-is-screaming-in-pain part. That brings up some interesting ethical questions, including would I continue to be a vegetarian?

Hmm. Maybe this whole science tech thing does have some redeemable value...if we don't blow each other into a nuclear holocaust first.

i am not I AM

i am slow.

i am proud.

i am broken.

but i am Yours,

and that

is all.

Grateful Perspective

I love where I'm living right now. It is cozy but there is an underlying glamour to it, especially at night. It is really safe, I can walk to the ocean and the air smells like the sea.

When I look out my balcony I see palm trees outlined by bright blue skies and rustled by a loving breeze, or (at night) the soft twinkle of a multitude of lights from the little boats docked across the inlet. Peaceful yet thrilling.

In six months I may be roughing it in a hut in Zimbabwe or dodging bullets in Compton but right now...I'm enjoying some dreaminess.

Zeitgeist Response

Well alrighty! That was an interesting little movie, the only thing new I really learned was the whole thing about the Christ story having been told over and over again thousands of years before Christ was ever born.

How cool is that! One thing I'm learning in BSF is that the Old Testament is prophetically pointing to Jesus and how the lives of many people reflect His life over and over both before and after He came and left earth.

So the fact that even all these ancient pagan cultures knew of and told this story over and over, appropriating it into their religions and creating their own ideas of a god through it, only proves to me the Sovereignty and foreknowledge of God. The Coming was whispered and told throughout the centuries.

And they got the whole astrology thing backwards; the Christ story is not lifted from astrology. Doesn't it make sense that the Creator of the Universe would reflect and repeat and weave His complex tapestry into the very fabric of our existence? That's physics; "nature," math; you see the patterns constantly repeated. Again, I do not see why Zeitgeist chose to split God from the Nature He created. Duh.

The thing about that Christian's comment on the dinosaurs, if it was true then that man was misinformed. The Bible talks a lot about Leviathans and creatures that sound like dinosaurs. As well as sons of God versus sons of man - there's all kinds of stuff going on. Evolutionists may counter man's existence at the time of the dinosaurs or whatever but when you consider the spherical nature of time and infinite possibilities of dimension, well...God said it, with God nothing is impossible.

On the other topics, I wish someone would do a study of Revelation in conjunction with things like that universal microchip because I think it would be fascinating. I do think we may be headed for a one world government, and I think Revelation might give us some clues into how horrible that is going to be. It is going to make Hitler look like a mewling kitten.

I am inclined to believe that the Twin Towers were not destroyed by a single airplane or subsequent fires. I remember watching the Towers fall on 9/11/01 and although I am ignorant of construction demolition I remember clearly thinking to myself, "wow that is really really weird how they are collapsing like a deck of cards."

Furthermore I was in Manhattan the first time the Twin Towers were attacked - by bomb - in the basement. I think someone drove a van into the basement? That time there was no dispute about it being a bomb. My friend and I were trying to get out of the city and we were trapped at Port Authority for hours. The crush of people was amazing; not like rush hour traffic.

I was reading my journal a few years ago and I came across an odd entry. My brother had called me one night out of the blue, begging me not go to NYC the next day. He said he'd had a dream; dying gazelles in Central Park, people trapped in small shower stalls. He was fiercely adamant about it but I didn't listen. I went into the city, had a great day and wrote, "nothing scary in the city, just some guy with cute homeless puppies I bought food for. So much for [my brother's] portents of doom."

Then I saw the entry date. 9/11/00. He was off by one year.

And that is just one of many many many supernatural things in my life that have led me to believe that God does exist, He does plan stuff and the bible is a priceless key to knowledge that we had better use if we want any wisdom and truth.

God, Heaven, the Afterlife - it's been boiled down to a brainless fable by both Christians and Atheists.

But I have discovered that when you start walking down the path of truth with a TRULY open mind, it is indeed the proverbial rabbit hole...but just make sure you go ask Jesus, not Alice or Morpheus.