Deut 18:9-20
1 Cor 1:18-31
One recalls the scenes and events after the death two years ago of Diana, Princess of Wales. We probably can all still recall the almost frenetic and semi-religious emotion stirred at that time. One even recalls the 'prophecy' given that the laying of flowers en masse was a sign on up-and-coming revival. It was a tragic time; not least in the way it exposed and laid bare the spiritual hunger of the time and the almost obsessive seeking after experience. It was a time of almost palpable emotion which it was difficult not to get swept up into.
Yet that period in many ways highlighted a national obsession with the 'mystical'; a hunger and seeking of knowledge of the hidden meaning of life; the hidden facts of experience. It is a time, especially when we reflect when to a large degree the Church lost an opportunity to speak into a void. Our national obsession with the mystical shows that 'mysticism' is indeed one of our national idols
Probably since that time of Diana's death there has been a mushrooming and explosion of that interest. There is the general assumption that if we look in the right direction and train our minds and our emotions on the matters-in-hand then this hidden and complicated pattern of knowledge will be revealed. You'll see it revealed in almost any bookshop (secular ones that is) up and down the country.
We find this sense of the searching after the occult and hidden heightened as we reach the fin-de-siècle-even more so as we approach a new Millennium. And here again is a mega opportunity for the churches, and how well and how wisely are we going to take it?
One only has to be aware of the widespread interest that there is in the prophecies of Nostradamus. Nostradamus was a medieval mystic who claimed to have foresight into hidden things of the future. But so hidden were they that they had to be couched into cryptic verse which only the virtually initiated could hope to enquire. But the interest in Nostradamus is immense. Barry Smith has written a book called 'Better than Nostradamus' in which he shows that Christians can have a far clearer insight of those things which must happen before God winds history down. The thing is, these things have a fascination and its possible to become so obsessed with delving into the hidden things of the book of Revelation that this can itself become and idolatry.
But of course it's not just Nostradamus. It's all sorts of other
things- some of them quite laughable if they weren't so deadly serious and
deadly dangerous. One need only pause to think of some of the ways that have in
this day and age become idolatry.
-Feng Shui. The whole pattern of one's life and well-being can be revolutionised by carefully arranging the architecture and design of your living space. It has to be the right shape, the right colour and furnished with the right material
-Spiritualism. This one is as old as the hills. We can be told mysteries, let alone be comforted by those who have gone on before
-New Age. This is an easy and comforting way. It imposes no requirement on the follower but an honest 'seeking after the truth'. But underlying the New Age is the devilish philosophy that there is the divine within each one of us. There is the self-perfectible within each one of us. The New Ager may know of the word 'salvation'; but salvation lies within our own potential; we don't need to be saved from without but from within our own resources
-Astrology. It's all hidden within the stars. Do you remember the solar eclipse of last month and how some people read tremendous spiritual and life-revealing secrets with in this last absolute alignment of sun and earth in this millennium.
Another important element in the 'mystical' is meditation and
the whole gamut of Eastern religions; and how much of a mushrooming of interest
there has been in this area? There is, of course Christian meditation:: there
are Christian 'mystics'. But I suspect this is an area where we need to tread
carefully. Meditation depends on such things as 'centering-down': a term I've
never quite understood, and with which I|'ve felt ill-at-ease. But it's a
seeking after some inner enlightenment: it's the Quakers' 'inner light'.
But the whole process of meditation involves and emptying of the mind.
It involves a concentration; often the use of a 'mantra' 'Mmmmmmm' and such-like
or gazing at a candle. All these things have a large measure of a hypnotic
element. It involves letting 'something else' take over our minds. How do we
know what we will allow to enter our minds; from where the 'mystical truth' will
originate? What has it to do with Paul's injunction to let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly?
Meditation is basically our reaching-out;our
seeking; our finding. It's a man-centred activity. It depends on me; it's
putting self at centre. So, if that is our idol; it has definitely usurped God's
proper position. I could go on with this catalogue. and it's perhaps pertinent
to ask how much of this mysticism-idolatry has invaded the Church? It's
certainly not new to the Church. John
wrote his first epistle in the face of the gnostic heresy; a heresy that
claims insight into special 'insights' for the initiate. The Charismatic
Movement has reawakened the Church to the vital reality and power of the Holy
Spirit of God, but what other spirits have come in by the back door? There were
the 'prophets' of around 1990 who told us revival was just round the corner and
the advocates of Toronto and Brownsville who have told us "This is it". Have
they read Deuteronomy 18:20 that we had this morning:
A
prophet who presumes to speak in my Name anything that I have not
commanded to say, or a prophet who speaks
in the name of other Gods, let him be put to death God does not mince his
word on these matters. All manner; the whole gamut of the occult, the arcane:
witchcraft, spiritism: all these things are detestable to the Lord your God.
Against all this mysticism of today, which can be so 'involved'; so complex
and yet which captures the hearts of millions, the truth we proclaim is so
simple. We are not to be involved into reaching out to find extra-human
knowledge; some special way into the secrets of the universe; a way which will
be difficult and involved. That is NOT Christianity. That way is an offence to
God; it flies in the face of his provision. God is to be known through his Son;
salvation is in his Name alone. This is God's wisdom. What is our idol? Where
does our heart's loyalty lie? If we allow mystical thinking and longing to enter
us and capture our thinking, it will take over the throne of our lives.
But what God has entrusted us with is infinitely and infinitely
superior. It is so simple that many today scoff; they stumble over it, they are
offended by it. For God gives his wisdom to the foolish as 1 Corinthians reminds
us. He in Christ is our wisdom. His Cross alone can have saving power in our
lives. All he asks is that we entrust ourselves to the Crucified Lord and his
Way.