The Problem With Perfect Pitch, Artistic Sensitivity, A Substantive Personality, & Love of Christian Fellowship in the Holy Spirit
In The Republic, Plato wrote the allegory of The Cave, in which a trapped man escapes the ingrown, culturally-deprived, oppressive dankness of a subterranean cave and discovers a wonderful world of light and beauty outside and beyond.
This seeker-of-liberty, with great effort, frees himself from the ignorance, solipsism--and even persecution of his fellow prisoners--who will punish anyone attempting to leave the underground hole.
To share his excitement about the beauty of the outside world, he crawls back into the dark place only to be chained up again--and is permanently and irrevocably restrained.
The prophet will invariably be without honor in his home town--and will usually be stoned--in the rock-throwing sense.
A continually painful lesson from God's Word that I seem to have to re-learn several times a month--is that "There is no fellowship (in Christ's love) between (spiritual) light and (spiritual) darkness." There must be no unequal yoking--no marriage--or other intimate entanglements--if i understand scripture correctly--between a Christian and a Christ-rejector.
But I've often had to learn that same lesson over-and-over--even in the context of the Fresno area local churches(Sadly, the mega-churches are the worst!).
I've counseled with folks year-after-year who suffer from (my term) Koinonia Deprivation Syndrome (KDS)--and have no group of sincere and caring Christian friends to meet with, share concerns and needs with, pray for and pray with. (Of course, this is not church attendance, bell choir membership, or even going to Sunday school.)
Many a Christian couple and Christian family suffers from KDS--but, because of their secularization, are too embarrassed, aloof, or self-conscious to practice regular Bible study, and prayer-and-share together.
They will even turn (when KDS is the real issue) occasionally to pastoral or professional counselors--to salve wounds, heal relationships, or find inner peace--when regular fellowship together, sharing and participation in the Holy Spirit, and sincere couple and family prayer times together in Christ--would do all the restoration, reconciliation, and healing necessary. But their secularized mind-set keeps them out in the cold--spiritually, relationally, and emotionally.
With non-Christian ( Christ-rejecting--Cross-rejecting) unsaved friends, I want to show them Christ's love and the Holy Spirit's truth--but not expect fellowship in the Spirit. To aggressive American secular media, the Hollywood Star System, Christless politicians, unsaved psychologists, unregenerate businessmen, or worldling teachers--I can just say, "Hey--don't want any..'deja moo'...heard your bull before...ha!"
But it's more difficult, I believe, to confront professing Christians about their secularized thought-patterns, attitudes, and behaviors--or admit them to myself--or to suggest something as old-fashioned and quaint as Family Prayer Night--and then, in addition, a prayer-with-Christian-friends night.
With secularized believers this is regarded as idiotic and irrelevant.
Years ago, it was my privilege to visit L'Bri in Huemoz, Suisse, and enjoy meeting with the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer and many of the residents and staff. I discovered, in discussions, that there was apparently a friendly difference in philosophy between two scholars, Dr. Schaeffer and Dr. Os Guinness. I only talked with Dr. Schaeffer, but it seemed to me that while Dr. Schaeffer was concerned about Secularism (and its iconic windmills he was jousting against such as abortion, pornography, drugs, or crime--all important concerns, of course) Os Guinness was more concerned about the secularization of Christian minds.
I lean more toward the latter concerns which I inferred Guinness held. When professed (only christianized?) Christians allow themselves to regress into secularized thinking, paganized problem-solving, listening to the counsel of the ungodly (cf. Psalm 1), turning their backs on sincere Christian fellowship-- and become ineffective--they will suffer KDS.
When backsliders scoff at 'the mind of Christ' and resist 'the mind of the Spirit'--and consequently develop the sickness of KDS--it is no wonder The Church can seem to be a ninety-story orange juice machine that gives one cup a month--regardless of Mega-Church Row attendance, barns-full-of-strangers, and mega-tron power-point displays.
When a pastor, teacher, seminary professor, or a denomination which has a defective Pneumatology--preaches and teaches against the Gifts of the Holy Spirit being for Today--(perhaps fearful of emotionalism, excess, and wild fire)--they bite the hand that feeds them--and consequently lead their people into works-righteousness-by-default.
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Captives are set free, and sight is restored to the blind (cf.: Isaiah 61:1-3). Sinners fall to their knees in confession and repentance. Carnal Christians forgive and make amends. There is blessing and freedom in the Holy Spirit--and protection from secularization of mind and heart. And victory over Pharaoh, Jannes and Jambres, Nadab and Abihu, Cora, the Prophets of Baal, Simon the Sorcerer, Demas, Alexander the Coppersmith, and Diotrephes.
Cessationist preachers, teachers, churches, and religious denominations--hand out spiritual bootstraps via digitalized-Christian-living homilies--so their constituents can fake-it-till-they-make-it--and try bravely to do-God's-work-without-God's-power. Like an atheist at his own funeral, the graduate of this cessationist, Spirit-grieving propaganda is all-dressed-up-with-no-place-to-go...!
Somehow these poor sheeple are supposed to achieve self-help sanctification, do The Great Commission, and fight devils (cf. the seven sons of Sceva in Acts). People are given Schulerisms, Sheenisms, and Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) sermons, "Keep a stiff upper lip, old chap...be positive..!" (I love the quote,"I find Paul appealing...but I find Peale appalling..!")
Yet, in reality, the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (remember the movie?) recruits will only be going off to war to fight on the wrong side.
Wannabe ministerial voices will be singing castrata in the religious choir of Evangelicalism.
The Book of Acts illustrates an important truth: as the leaders go--so go the people.
Sadly, many Christian leaders (pastors, para-church leaders, missionaries) I've met around the United States--are not nice people--really not friendly, seem not to have the Holy Spirit's anointing, appear deficient in rapport-building skills, do not bond, are spiritually teflon, and even hostile--up close and personal. (Dr. Fritz Perls believed there are only two kinds of people in the world--nourishing and toxic. True..?) So it is to be expected that some ineffective leaders, in their aloofness, emotional coldness, and lack of empathy (despite their rhetorical platform performance) don't have a shepherd's heart, and thus can't model and teach their folks authentic fellowship-in Christ (not an ice cream social--ha!) with real concerned prayer and sharing together in the Holy Spirit.
A college friend of mine, gifted as a pianist and vocalist, won a scholarship to a major music conservatory on the East Coast. He had perfect pitch. I could ask him to sing an "A" and as he vocalized the "A" I would sound a tuning fork. He would always be on perfect pitch. Sometimes when we attended a concert or heard church music, he would have to get up and leave the room--because the instruments (or human voices) were not tuned to A-440, and the off-key dissonance was intolerable to his auditory gift. His gift of having perfect pitch held challenges for him.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit (which the Heavenly Father God promises to bestow authentically upon the seeker) opens the door to life's harmonies, melodies, and the privilege of being in tune and tuned-up with God's glory, and His nurturing, edifying presence--but also reveals the darkness of sin, the clash of healthy vs. unhealthy cultures (throwing babies to crocodiles, historically--ripping beating hearts out of virgins--or many, less-extreme, examples), dangerous world-views, devious political manipulation, and satanic ideological paradigms.
The moving of the Holy Spirit in drawing a responder to God, bringing a transforming-of-mind, power, deliverance, wisdom and love (2 Timothy 1:7; Zechariah 4:6; Acts 1:8, 2:4), however, may break a glass--or a crystal cathedral--ha!--and will separate the profane from the sacred, the trivial from the profound, the deep from the shallow, and the vulgar from that which is beautiful.
Cacophony (or any kind of 'phony' insincerity--ha!) will be revealed by the Bringer-of-God's-Truth (John 16). Any (not some one predestined-with-a-heaven-chip-to be-saved) responding person (not a card-signer!) transformed in Christ (Romans 12:1-2), will have an allergic (spiritual) reaction to false teaching, untruth, and evil: (occult mysticism, paganism, witchcraft, sin, lies, sinners, perversion, terrorism, criminality, and the spirit of anti-Christ) in the secular world system.
The baptismal fullness of the Holy Spirit in a Christian's life will guide, instruct, and bring God's fullness of joy in Christ. However, there may be (because of the Holy Spirit's alertness) sometimes a painful awareness of discord, a root of bitterness, knowledge of a spirit of disunity in the local fellowship. perhaps the cymbal-clashing violation of I Corinthians 13 agape and filial love in Christ. I believe that God, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead--is the healing and therapeutic Minister in the Trinity.
Can the Holy Spiirit heal Personality Disorders (AXIS II on the DSM IV-R)..? social Work, Counseling, Psychiatry--have all given up trying to treat Personality Disorders and Psychopathy.) Yes, I believe so--even disorders like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. (The Anti-Social Personality Disorder is just good a old-fashioned criminal version of Sinner-in-need-of Salvation-in-Christ.) But what about the Borderline Personality Disorder..? (I've learned that the disordered Borderline Personality does not miss people...interesting.
The Borderline is a truely teflon personality which does not bond. (cf.: the book, 'I Hate You--Don't Leave Me" about the Borderline Personality--seems to overlook this point.
A nourishing person can't really hang out with toxic people--unless perhaps he is on a mission and preaching the Gospel of Christ Jesus--but then that's not fellowship. That is Jonah going--even hesitantly--to Nineveh.
The Apostle Paul, even while in prison himself, was concerned and sensitive to the fellowship-threatening conflict between two women in the Church of Philippi.
I believe that once the sincere seeker-of-Christ has experienced authentic fellowship with the community of the redeemed and intimacy with the Heavenly Father in the Holy Spirit, he will never be satisfied with the plain vanilla relationally-teflon programs of churchianity.
Two years ago I realized how impoverished (and spiritually dry) I'd become regarding nourishing (home atmosphere) koinonia. I couldn't find anyone to have regular times of prayer-and-share with. I struck out across the USA looking for it--but really also trying to re-capture what I'd experienced in Fresno twenty years ago. So, perhaps this was a quixotic quest.
My early years in Fresno had been filled with rich fellowship in the Spirit, interesting conversation, a busy counseling practice, beautiful musical concerts, fruitfulness in the production of fine art, and ministry trips across America, to Colombia, South America, the U.K. and Europe--but somehow I lost my way...ran out of songs to play...and Oh Lord...stuck in Lodi again...I was suffering severe KDS.
The person who enjoys the opportunity to reflect profoundly and resonate with others who relish good conversation--or who has the good eye and taste to be an aficionado of fine art, good writing, good music, or poetry--will grow sick of continual idle banter, pop--cultural banality on radio or TV, or the rough crowd--non-substantive personalities. (Think of the proverb, "Shallow brooks are noisy.")
Likewise, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit (perfect pitch)--and sound Pneumatology--has its blessings--but also its challenges.
In pastors' support groups (one for ten years and another for four years) I tried to get the message of this Blog across and it wasn't understood. So don't feel bad if you don't get it either...ha!
(excerpt; unpublished work-in-progress):
'Perfect Pitch: Benefits & Challenges'
Copyright 2009 by Philip C. Brewer
All Rights Reserved
