MIND IS SPIRIT AND A Look At Christmas by Mary Jane Sears LIVING EPISTLES MINISTRIES P. O. BOX 562 PT. JEFF. STA., NY 11776-0562 U.S.A. E-mail: livingem@aol.com URL: http://www.webinc.com/lvng D E D I C A T I O N _________ TO: The Lord, Who Does All Things Well When I was a child my father would continuously tell me to stop and think. I resented it then, but as I look back, I see that this learning skill which he passed on to me is a special blessing. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (1 Cor 13:11). Mind Is Spirit The Lord has allowed me the time to look up various words in Strong's Concordance in the Hebrew and in the Greek as I studied the bible today. I noticed an underlying theme in the various words that I looked into. They all seemed to be speaking about different aspects of our mind. I've become more and more convinced that the Lord is rarely speaking about these physical bodies, or the geographical areas of the earth and planets, or even of the animals upon the earth. I have repeatedly stated that this fallen creation is not the handiwork of our Heavenly Father. His original creation was visible, but spiritual and incomplete, when stolen by the serpent at the time of the fall. This visible and very physical creation came into existence through the power of the god of this world. We are born in the serpent's image, and the bible calls us devils who have a carnal mind, and Satan as our unconscious mind. This world is the abode of the dead because of our separation from the only source of spiritual Life, and it is called hell. We are the living dead because we do not have the mind of God. In a sense we are brain dead spiritually. As I looked up the various words such as glory, cherubims, goodness, etc. it seemed as though puzzle pieces were coming together to make sense out of the odd terms. I began to realize that my mind was being enlightened. Proverbs 25:2 says: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. The word glory in this scripture refers to the specific purpose in the mind of God to keep His secrets hidden until such time as He chooses, to give enlightment to one He is preparing as a son. A son must have the mind of Christ formed and maturing in him, while humbly confessing any sin that is exposed in him. He must war against his own carnal mind by commanding Leviathan, the name of the carnal mind in man, to be unwoven. Minds are three thread woven cords that are not easily broken, and are referred to as garments in the scriptures. Minds are also sharp warring weapons. An expression in the world is that someone has a sharp mind. It is a two edged sword. I can remember the Lord speaking a very sharp word of correction to me right in my own kitchen. It felt as though I had been pierced by lightning. In that instance it was the mind of God. Remember that the spoken word comes directed from a mind, or perhaps I should say, the spirit in that mind. The battle for truth is between our flesh minds and the mind of Christ. As we lay our weak carnal minds down before the Living God, He will strengthen us with His truth and understanding, by piercing through the layers of deceptive walls that keep us in darkness. I'm reminded of a saying that I heard long ago, that some people have minds like cement. They are all mixed up and permanently set. It makes me think of stony hearts, or minds set against God. Our minds are like fallow ground which has to be broken, or pierced, by the mind of God to receive His truth. Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (mind). Again and again it was obvious that God is constantly dealing with mind, as I continued to look into the word glory. The word speaks of the experiences of the mind, such as being grieved, burdened, sorrowful, or of having a great weight upon the mind. It speaks of the intentions of the mind as it prayed, willed or wished for something. The Lord says in Isaiah, come let us reason together. One of the meanings of the word glory is to think, reason, understand, and specifically comprehend the heights and the depths of the mind of God. It is glory to meditate upon the thoughts, ways and purposes of the mind of God. Receiving His enlightment upon a scripture, situation or something in your own mind that He is dealing with, is glorious. It is the mountain top and valley experiences, and all the high and low places we go through in between. One of the translations coming from glory is the word liver. Our liver is a necessary cleansing organ in our body and that speaks of the purifying process our mind must go through. Some translations for cherubims is an imaginary figure; to take off; or to sweep away. It made me think that it is the imaginations of our carnal mind that are to be taken off as a garment, and swept away. The glory that man receives from God is obviously the mind of Christ. He is the garment, the mantel, the covering, the image of God revealed in us. Luke 2:14 says, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. That says to me that the mind of the Father, or God's will, has come in Jesus to establish peace between man and God, by forming the mind of Christ in us. Christ is the anointed mind of God functioning in human flesh. The god of this world (of our own carnal mind) is doing everything in his power to keep us blinded to the truths that our Heavenly Father desires to give us, as we are ready to receive them. The light or illumination coming from the mind of God exposes darkness, and the evil things in our minds are revealed as they really are. The scriptures refer to our mind as a garden growing in various types of soil, which represent prepared or unprepared minds. We are the plantings of the Lord and are described as grass, trees, vines, flowers and fruit. It is our Heavenly Father's desire that we bear His fruit. That is to say, that a prepared mind is a spiritual reproductive, fertile ground, or womb, awaiting His seed, to bring forth fruit which is the mind of Christ. This is the spiritual application of a virgin, or pure mind, being prepared to bring forth the manchild in the book of Revelation. To be prepared in our minds, we must be watered by the word of God, fertilized, pruned, constantly watched over so that the weeds don't overtake us. We must also be nurtured by basking in the presence of the Son, meditating or soaking in all that He pours into our minds. It is a long slow process to be seasoned by the Lord. Another aspect of the mind is that it is the source of the various animal natures that contribute to our behavior and emotional responses. We are stubborn as mules, wild as untrained horses neighing after anything that the wind brings along, gentle and submissive as sheep, able to ascend over our circumstances as the eagle, as plentiful as the fish of the sea, which represent the whole of humanity that is existing in a watery grave, because of our stinking thinking. Another way the scriptures speak about us is the way we are driven as a ship out of control heading for destruction, because we are off course. Only Jesus can show us the way and calm the waters for us. I think you get the idea. The various parts of our physical bodies are mentioned in the scriptures. Our tongues, for instance, get us into many difficulties. A tongue can only speak what the conscious or unconscious mind thinks. James says it can start a fire that quickly gets out of control and utterly destroys. The bible is a literal "think tank" experience. Jesus developed many picture stories, or parables, that we could identify with to cause us to start thinking for ourselves, and break out of the mind set that keeps us tied to this world system. He meets us where we are at in our mind, so to speak. I have a whole different understanding of the phrase mind over matter at this point in my walk with God. It is obvious that anything that we see about us had to exist in the mind or imagination of some spirit before it existed in its physical form. It required a certain mind power to come into being. Nothing exists unless it is first conceived in someone's mind first. The hand, in obedience to the mind directing it, will manifest the thought in the form that is intended by the mind. Am I right? Think about it. Remember, too, that mind is spirit. I'm not talking about our organic brain that the mind operates through. When someone dies, their brain remains in their dead body, but there is no response because the spirit no longer is there in the form of a mind. Do you understand what I am saying? In this day and age we are seeing many examples of higher mind control, or mind power, than we have ever experienced in the past. Most of it operates out of the fear in men's minds, and its ultimate end is destruction. The bible calls it witchcraft power. We see it in many forms, such as the flood of psychic phone lines, New Age Movements, the various cult groups, and we find witchcraft in the fundamental Christian groups, as well. One of the obvious examples that comes to my mind is the laughing phenomena that has been sweeping the churches recently. The mind of God, in contrast, operates out of love, and its ultimate end is abundant spiritual life in its fullest sense, not just the good life of this existence. When I see something on television, I just can't help making a mental evaluation almost immediately. The evil that men do is just so indictive of the mind that is operating in them. We are the devils that Satan, our unconscious mind, uses to do his dirty work. Of course there are varying degrees of evil, but, at our best, we fail miserably, until the Living God begins to move in our lives on our behalf. Even then, it is an uphill battle for a long time. I had to laugh at a TV commercial for a computer that had all the answers. The question What is the meaning of life was asked. The reply was next question please. Without the mind of Christ, there is no possible answer. The meaning of life, is that it is the will of our Heavenly Father to bring us forth in His image, or mind, and then we shall truly begin to see the manifestation of the glory of God as He unfolds it. Let God be true and every man exposed as a liar, if he does not line up with the Spirit of the word of God, coming out of the mind of God. Here's hoping we all having a meeting of the mind with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the real catching up that the bible is referring to. Our crowning glory is not some diamond studded crown or tiara, but the mind of Christ permanently imparted to us. Such glory!!! A Look At Christmas Most of us who have been walking with the Lord for any length of time, know that December 25th is not the birthday of Jesus Christ. December 25th is the pagan day for the worship of Tammuz, and it was celebrated for hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. It began after the flood, when a grandson of Noah named Nimrod married Semiramis. Nimrod was the founder and builder of Babylon, a name which means confusion. Nimrod and Semiramis were called the King and Queen of Babylon. After Nimrod's death Semiramis, finding herself pregnant, declared that her unborn child, was to be worshipped as the Sun-God. She then gave birth to her illegitimate son, whom she named Tammuz, the God-child, and claimed he was Nimrod reborn by supernatural conception. She set herself up as the Queen of Heaven and ordered her God-child to be worshipped on the 25th of December. In addition to this, Semiramis claimed that overnight an evergreen tree sprang up from a dead tree trunk stump, with gifts under it. The new evergreen tree supposedly symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in the person of her son, suggesting that Tammuz was conceived by Nimrod's dead, departed spirit. From that time on, the evergreen tree became part of the idolatry and scheme of deception that continues to this day in the form of Christmas. Even the balls that decorate the Christmas trees symbolize the sun and represent the worship of Nimrod, who was supposed to be the god of the sun. Lights on the trees originally were candles that were burned to the god of lights, Februa, but today, electric lights are used to decorate the trees. Jeremiah chapter 10, verses 1 through 5, are interesting scriptures for you to consider: Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, o house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. In time, the yule log, holly and mistletoe became part of the pagan fertility rituals of Christmas, as used by the Druids in their worship of Satan. Then Santa Claus came along as having the qualities of God, such as being omni-present by being everyplace the same night, all-knowing as to whether children are good or bad all year long and, of course, bringing with him the false teaching that you have to work for these so called gifts. A gift is supposed to be unmerited favor, given for no other reason than love. This system lends itself to deep rejection and low self esteem in a child, when the gift that they feel they deserve is not obtainable. It also interferes with understanding the scriptural principle that faith is a free gift of God, and is not given because of our good works. Children don't come to expect, or respect, truth. Another interesting scripture verse which speaks about the exchange of gifts, is in Revelation 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. The truth coming from the prophets of God hurts and brings torment. For some it is a judgment unto correction and leads to Life. Several years ago the Lord began teaching me about Christmas. While driving home behind a car with a bumper sticker that said Santa Claus, the words Satan's Claws, jumped out at me in big bold letters. I was immediately alerted that God was saying something to me. Arriving home I received a request from our postmaster asking me to reply to Santa Claus' letters from children in our town. If the Lord hadn't forewarned me, I don't think I would have been able to refuse to go along with his request. I was in the process of being taught that others may do this, but I was not permitted to. Other things began to alert me also. For instance, as I looked at the word Christmas, I saw Christ mass. Raised as a Catholic, I knew that the mass was not of God and, somehow, understood that the Catholic Church was involved with these same doctrines of demons. Much later I was to find out that the word Christmas was of Roman Catholic origin, meaning a mass said for Christ. Last year, during the Christmas season, I complained to the Lord that I was grieved with Christmas and all it represented, and that I felt the same way about birthdays, as well. With that the Lord said to me, being born in the image of the serpent is nothing to celebrate about. It all became so clear as the shock wore off. These bodies of ours are not in the image of God, but are fathered by the devil, and in the image of the serpent. Our Heavenly Father is Spirit, not flesh as we are. That's why we have need of adoption by our Heavenly Father, and must be born again, not of flesh but via the Spirit of God. We are warned not to love the world and the things that are in it, because it is not the creation of our Heavenly Father. This is a world brought about by the fall from the visible spiritual creation that God originally planned. Everything here is a deceptive illusion including the celebration of Christmas. In vain do you worship me says the Lord. A few centuries back it was forbidden to even celebrate Christmas in this country. There were no questions concerning its origin. It was a known fact that it was a pagan practice to be shunned. Shop owners would be penalized if they didn't conduct their business, as usual, and they did not close their stores on December 25th to celebrate the day. The Lord is gradually bringing me to the understanding that we must break all ungodly soul ties to this world, because it keeps us from receiving the truth He desires to give us, to set us free from the bondage we have to this world. If we can't come to the place where we are willing to surrender and submit to His ways, we will never be set free. Only the Son of God can set us free. He is the only Way, the only Truth and He alone has Life to impart to us in this realm of death. It is my understanding that God is Spirit and mind. Therefore the glory of God is His mind and all that His mind thinks, reveals, produces or creates. Paul tells us in the scriptures, that the crown of glory that we are to seek and need to apprehend, is the mind of Christ. I understand the word Christ to mean the anointed mind of God functioning in human flesh. Therefore, for us to be in the image of God, we must have the mind of Christ. From the very beginning it was the purpose of our Heavenly Father to create a spiritual, but visible creation, a man in His image having His mind. We know that before God completed weaving the three thread cord mind that scripture refers to as a garment, the serpent stole the creation and caused us to fall down into this trapped physical realm of existence. Scripture calls it death and hell. But that's another whole story. I said all that to quote the scripture, let God be true and every man a liar. Christmas in no shape or form is giving any glory to God, because it was never in His mind in the first place. I'm laughing about a car bumper sticker that said Keep Christ in Christmas. The truth is that He never was in Christmas. We do know that Jesus was born between the 15th of September and the 15th of October, because of computer calculations that are able to estimate the time that Zacharias performed his priestly duties at the temple. It was at that time, that Zacharias was told that his wife, in her old age, would bear a son who would prepare the way for the Messiah. That son was John the Baptist, a second cousin of Jesus, who was six months older than him. We also know that it couldn't have been the cold, snowy month of December that Jesus was born, because the animals were still out in the fields. Furthermore the scriptures don't say He was born in a stable. They simply state that Jesus was placed in a manger after His birth. It was sort of a feeding, or window box, attached to the side of a house, to hold straw for the animals. Traveling in those days was slow and difficult, and accomplished on foot with the help of pack animals. The wise men did not see Jesus until He was about two years old and living in a house with His mother and Joseph. When the wise men did not return to tell Herod of the whereabouts of the child, King Herod had all the boys under the age of two murdered, in a vain attempt to kill the Messiah. This is the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophesy in chapter 31, verse 15. It was never in the plan of God for this world to be created. All it represents is an abomination to the Living God. This is the creation of the serpent who stole the substance of God to bring it forth. Each of us is the devil, who is in the image of the serpent, and Satan is our unconscious mind. Christmas came out of that unconscious mind that is a part of all of us. It's purpose is to show a form of worship to cover up the truth that it was never God's will for any of us to be formed in these physical bodies, or live in this physical world. We were supposed to be a spiritual creation. When the scriptures speak of glory to God in the highest, it is not speaking of the physical form of the baby Jesus, but of the seed of the mind of God that was in Jesus that would develop into the mature mind of Christ. Christmas is a literal smokescreen to cover over the truth about the whole plan of God. Catholics venerate Mary, calling her the Mother of God, and worship her as a god, because they pray to her to intercede on their behalf to her god child. In countries where Catholicism doesn't hold full sway, the ancient system of Baal worship just worships the woman and child under different names. Sort of changing the label on the outside, but it still contains the same can of worms. In Egypt, they are called Isis and Osiris. In India, Isi and Iswara. In other parts of Asia, Cybele and Deoius. In China she is called Shing Mo, and is portrayed with a light of glory around her, while holding the child in her lap. There is much more in the pagan rituals coming down from the worship of Nimrod that led to the reindeer, Santa Claus, and it just kept snowballing. Even the Christmas ham and the Christmas goose go back to the pagan festivities. Whole pigs were roasted and eaten to commemorate their gods. In Egypt, a favorite offering to Osiris was a goose. It was believed that if she was offended, she could only be pacified by a large goose and a thin cake. The thin cake has become the wafer used in the Roman Catholic sacrament. Scripture purposely does not mention the exact date of His physical birth or of His growing up years, because that was not the theme of God's plan of salvation. Thirty speaks of maturity in the scriptures and does speak about the maturing of the mind of Christ in the man Jesus, as He came up out of the waters of baptism, when the Father said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The Father was pleased with the mind that was matured, submitted and obedient to Him. That was what pleased the Father. These carnal minds that we have in us are of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we are as the leaves of that tree. Any goodness in us at all comes from God joining Himself to the good side of our two-sided nature. Scripture says that our own righteousness is as filthy or menstruous rags. This means that the spiritual life of God cannot appear in us in our double-minded condition, no matter how hard we try. Only a sovereign move of God, which adds Himself to us, is able to bring about our change. We are the literal pots of death which shall be healed when the flour, which typifies Christ Jesus, is added to us, as spoken of in 2 Kings chapter 4:40. For peace to exist on earth, we would have to have the Prince of Peace residing in our physical temples, as our mind. The very character of God is love. The very character of our nature is just the opposite -- fear, self preservation, lust for power, money, etc. It is our nature to desire to have God serve us in meeting our needs, desires and that which we believe to be in our best interest. It is common knowledge that the Christmas season is the biggest money making time of the year for the merchants. The love of money is the root of all evil according to scripture. We don't want to serve God, especially when we find out that His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, which is to say, that His mind is not our mind, and that His mind is gloriously superior. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments. He also said, we worship Him in vain believing and keeping the doctrines of demons. The Christmas spirit is not the Spirit of God. We are instructed in the scriptures to test the spirits to see if they are of God. Since Christmas has nothing to do with the Living God, I suggest to you that it comes from the god of this dying world, who is Satan. The evil things which proceed out of the minds of man are what defile him, because his unconscious mind is Satan. I pray that you will humbly and prayerfully ask the Lord for His truth in every area of your life. You will not be refused, if you truly seek Him. The following article and pictures are taken from Is Christmas Christian? by Sheldon Emry, published by Lord's Covenant Church, Inc., America's Promise Radio, PO Box 5334, Phoenix, Arizona 85010