Spirit of Man, Part 5 Teaching

The Wash and Rinse Cycles of Spiritual Maturity

WELCOME PRAYER SONG SILENCE Okay, so I want to take the Four L’s and the Four Traits – and break them up into two cycles worth considering and as a way to fortify yourself against the Spirit of Man and its inordinate influence on your lives. And I liken these two cycles to a washing machine for the soul. Imagine that your body mind will and emotion are like clothing and they need maintenance and care. And one day, after years of trial and error you look down and realize from your heart, that your soul is not all that it is cracked up to be – like maybe when you were younger. Instead it’s soaked in stains, even remnants of things, ideas and actions that are harmful to you and others. And you can see that these soul components need to be washed because they are caked with misinformation, abuse, overuse, misuse, and mistakes and you come to that initial place of . . . humility. And from your heart you want a fresh start or new view of life - and if it is through the faith what you are doing is Psalm Topical The Spirit of Man Part V The Wash and Rinse Cycles September 21st 2025 (25 years ago moved into Park City House on this very day. The van hadn’t arrived with anything and we heard a storm was coming so took the mattresses out of our trailer and slept on the floor of the living room which overlooked Jeremy Ranch. As night fell a Massive lighting storm hit – just amazing. Without our knowledge my older brother was in the midst of losing his grip on life and would be dead before dawn. This was also the night in history when the founder of Mormonism said revealed to him the fact of the Gold plates. In magic folk-fore it is a day known as the Autumnal Equinox, when the heavens are closest to reveal hidden treasures.

The Wash Cycle of Spiritual Maturity

you are looking to wash them in living waters and true light and truth – Him. Let’s work it out from here:

By the Spirit of Christ within each

• KNOW the Truth and the Truth will set you free. person. He calls. We know. We accept or decline. Circumstances. Preferences. Choice. Trials. I am spiritually sinful and ignorant. (SELF-REALIZATION) I seek Light. I am Free! An eternal view Light more than dark There is a God (I think/hope/wonder) My will or His

Faith to Knowledge TRANSFERENCE (LIBERATION) I choose Love. (HIS SPIRIT) (HUMILITY) I will Learn. (FAITH)

• Faith comes Seeing to believing by hearing TRANSFERENCE

• Renewing mind.

• Parable of the Sower

• If you continue in my word,

WARNINGS!

• His will

• Selfless

• Sacrificial

• Insufferable

• Bears . . .

• Believes . . .

• Hope . . .

• Endures . . . “All things”

Faith to Action TRANSFERANCE you are my disciples in deed, and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Spirit of Christ vs. Spirit of Man

• WHO IS YOUR KING? The one whose orders we follow in the way He say to do them. NOT

• “FALSE LIGHT THAT NEVER WARMS, SANITIZES OR HEALS”

• SANDTRAPS/”OFF THE PATH BUILDING”

• PRIDE / JUDGEMENT / ARROGANCE from LEARNING teleological, deontological to Him alone.

SPIRIT OF CHRIST SPIRIT OF MAN Light Some measure of Dark (Teleological) Learning Some form of Ignorance/Limitation Love Some expression of Self-will/Self Liberty Always some form of Bondage

In summary, the first wash cycle it looks like this by comparison to the results from the Spirit of Man - GRAPHIC All of that first cycle exists and thrives from information found in the biblical text. There is nothing about it that anyone needs to get or learn from organized religion. Nothing. It is FREE to you to get for yourself. Religions can help teach and even enforce some

Philosophy of the Christian Faith

of these things but they will always add laws, and teleological ethics to get the job done. In our estimation religion is an idol and intermediary – men impose between God and Man which God sent His Son to destroy. And besides, religions often mask themselves as having the ability to clean your soul clothing but it can only led a horse to water, it cannot make the horse drink.

No, desire for light can’t come unless the individual chooses it. No learning is gonna happen in the heart unless the individual heart is willing and able to hear and really learn what the fact of them are and what they contextually said about things in the through line of the text. Additionally, no real lovable action will occur from the hands of an individual unless they choose to take actions directed by the Spirit of Christ and decide to act in accordance with it and this is usually against our natural mind, will and emotion and our teleologically based decisions. Finally, the real personal liberty that results from the four traits arrives over and over again, building on itself as the individual experiences more light, learns more truth, is equipped to love better, and becomes more and more liberated from the confines of this world Spirit and all that it demands. This is not religion. This is the first wash cycle of spiritual relationship authored by God for human beings and remember, it is an ongoing, life long process – if you want it. You choose to continue to stop anywhere along the way and like seeds cast on the different grounds, you will bear the fruit of love accordingly. Anyone can embrace the four L’s on their own and according to their

Four L's of Spiritual Maturity

desires, anyone can follow it freely without religious intervention and everyone can die in the faith as fruit bearing disciples of Christ through the principles. Remember the thief on the cross – He only hit the first two elements involved, choosing humility before the King and desiring more of Him who said He was the Light of the World. He didn’t learn anything more – the tutor to people on the cross wasn’t available that day – and he never was able to actuate love or really live in liberty, but he was qualified to enter heaven. Remember, the Four L’s help establish spiritual maturity in the face of the Spirit of this World. Finally, everyone can just live by the first cycle when it comes to maturing in the Spirit of Christ and have it DOWN, right? We can memorize the scripture, we can know the through line, we can establish all of our findings and beliefs by it and this is good. But are we done? IF YOU WANT TO BE. IT IS BETWEEN YOU AND GOD. Why? Okay – so we are really going to get out there, you guys.

The Wash and Rinse Cycles

What I am going to teach today and for the next few weeks is a PHILOSOPHY of the Christian faith. It is theory to which I want to share with you on the basis that you see it as a preference to me personally, something I have done, something that has helped me grow and is fully resting upon the principles found in the wash cycle. Because I maintain there is another cycle to consider. It is far more philosophical but is there if or should someone come to a place where the repeated wash cycle needs a change in approach, a change in soul cleansing methods, and here it is we are going to take the through line and make some determinations. Where the wash cycle renews our minds, will and emotions as a means to mature us so we can comport ourselves to His will and walk in real faith and love, the Rinse Cycle works on our respective heart-strength to God, our devotion to Him, and can help to realign our hearts before Him AFTER we have sought His light,

The Rinse Cycle: A Religious Philosophy

Sought to learn of Him, did His will and have chosen to love as He commands and have therefore experienced His liberty. What could be left? Again, what I am calling the Rinse Cycle, a religious philosophy that takes biblical principles and orchestrates them into a process that might be of value to some.

The Rinse Cycle I also call, “the Four Traits” which may be of value to those who have first had their souls washed in the four L’s – it may also be too much and if so, stay in the wash cycle because it works to mature us. What I am about to share is understood by Delaney but is not understood by Grady other than his seeing that I have the right to pursue it and God will use it for His purposes in the end. I mention this to help you see that we do not agree on all things as Yeshuans but we do agree to stand firm in the freedom to think as we want and take the command to love each other along the way. So, again, consider this second cycle an option in your walk – but it is an option I see as extremely valuable in the maturation of a soul especially with regard to our “heart for God.” How and when does it come into being? (TAKE A LOOK)

The "Wash Cycle" of Spiritual Maturity

Explain the “X” When all we have believed we know fails us. When God does not seem to do what seems good and right. Personal Liberation Choose to Love Humility Seek His Light Learn of Him. Now, most people, most believers experience these X moments in life. And most will respond by rewashing their souls via the four L’s. That looks like this, Personal Liberation Choose to Love Humility Seek His Light Learn of Him.

Challenges and Understanding

These X moments, these times of utter incomprehensibility in the face of all we have learned and experienced through the Four L cycle, challenge our every view of God IRRESPECTIVE of, IN SPITE OF, IN CONTRAST TO the Four L’s we have garnered, experienced, and believed. Typically, and in the face of unexplainable challenges, seekers become more humble, (always a good thing) they seek more light,(always a good thing) they learn more (always a good thing), and due to the trial they love more (a great thing) and then experience more liberty (which is an amazing confirming reality for us, right?) HOWEVER – and this is the hard part - this does not mean that another unexplainable, out of the blue X-factor will not rear its incomprehensible head in our lives nor does it mean WE CAN REALLY UNDERSTAND IT – even in the face our all of our matured learning and understanding.

And here is where some thinkers step into the ring and have helped me dive deep into who and what we really believe and think about God. In reality what this second cycle is is a Philosophical Rinse Cycle because in effect – in effect – not in reality – but in effect, we elect to rinse ALL that we have learned and experienced in the four L cycle and admit that we do not understand or really know anything about God at all – relative to ourselves, His ways, and all the rest. See, in the four L’s, we have used our reason and our limited understanding of the text, and our own subjective experiences, and we to establish within ourselves a set of beliefs upon which we stand. Because we walk by faith these beliefs, even when confirmed by the Spirit of Christ to us, our beliefs are a product of our reasoning and are never exhaustively and perfectly right or true – they are only true in the face of all other things – until they are not. What I am suggesting might be seen in a famous line someone once

The Concept of Faith and Understanding

said that I think hold true to my point that that is “Our RELIGIOUS FACTS are nothing but raw materials.” And this suggests that in the fabric of God’s knowledge, ways, wisdom and being our reason and understanding is a single fiber in a tapestry as big as the universe. Listen – Our subjective beliefs are our subjective beliefs, and if we acquire them through the four L’s they are what we individually believe and have based “our” faith upon – but if they actually amount to our standing before God and saying, “because I understand you this way, I will believe in you,” we indirectly make Him comport to our assessments of Him instead of our comporting our faith in total to Him. This faith, based on our limited beliefs and understanding, and as human beings (who see through a glass darkly, who do walk by faith, who do exist in faith and trust in all things by faith) but LISTEN carefully - we do not really KNOW anything for CERTAIN or in full– we only have our beliefs. I am not suggesting that in this life we abandon our personal beliefs but what I am suggesting is that in our hearts toward the living God we make a leap of faith that does not try to put Him in the box we’ve built around how what we believe on Him – remember, facts are nothing more than raw materials.

The Leap of Faith

So in the face of some X event in our lives, instead of repeating the four L’s cycles, some may choose to put their hearts – not their mind, will and emotions – but their hearts through the rinse cycle where they literally take all that they have believed and logically concluded God to be, and all that they have subjectively and personally believed Him to be – and they rinse it away from their heart of hearts and make what Kierkegaard called, “the leap of faith.” Which means a leap to God not based on anything we have reasoned and believed about Him, but because He is God and we are not. Years ago I came to some of these conclusions before I became a student of scripture but I must, because it is philosophically based, give credit to those from whom I have gleaned the key components that helped me incorporate them into this philosophical heart-centered believers may take.

Influential Thinkers

Specifically, there are sixteen people who have collectively taught these ideals going all the way back to the nascent ideas of Tertullian (155-220) Ignore the Myths about Him – look at his views on God/Athens. William of Ockham (1287-1347) Forerunner for Fiedism Martin Luther (1483-1546) Leader protestant Reformation Johann Georg Hamann (1730 – 1788) was a German Lutheran philosopher, who was one of the leading figures of post Kantian philosophy. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), a Danish philosopher and theologian, is widely considered the first existentialist. Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881), a Russian novelist, explored complex psychological and philosophical themes. Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), a Norwegian playwright, is often called the father of modern drama. William James (1842-1910) psychologist/Religious Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), a German philosopher and cultural critic, was one of the most influential thinkers of the modern era. Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), a Russian playwright and short-story writer, was a master of the modern short story. Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), a German philosopher, founded the school of phenomenology. Lev Shestov (1866–1938), a Russian existentialist philosopher, was a critic of rationalism. Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948), a Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialist, emphasized the spiritual significance of freedom. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), a German philosopher, was a seminal thinker in the continental tradition Simone Weil (1909-1943) The first Christian matriarch of the Fulfilled Faith. All of these souls, truly Christian in their views of God but not necessarily in denomination or culture, rejected what is known as “systematic rationalism” and placed an emphasis on the individual's subjective experience with God in life by faith alone. To be fair, systematic rationalism is what

The Role of Rationalism in Faith

The four L’s create in us as nascent and even matured believers. It is what most humans do with the biblical text in some degree or another – they read it, systematize it into reasonable forms, and then live and teach what those rational forms are to others. Some with more certainty than others. It can be described as “God through human reason” and it works, right? The four L’s work and are pleasing to God when pursued by His humble human creations. But in the end they can amount to an individual almost declaring, “I trust and believe in God because of MY reason of the things that I see, and that I trust, and then ultimately, “I am right,” and therefore, “come here, God, I am ready to follow you. I know. Even to a really unhealthy level of certainty.” Get it? The sixteen, especially Kierkegaard and Shestov, came to see systematic rationalism in the faith as a human being imposing their understanding of things, through their reason, and their subjective or collective views ONTO God, meriting for the rational and reasons He is worthy of their time and talents. When we think about it, what the four L’s do for us is help us create a rational basis for believing on Him – we have to admit this. I absolutely believe God has gifted human beings with this approach and approves of it. It works for most of his human creations without religion.

The Challenge of X Factors

However, the X factors in the life of a believer may immediately challenge this standard and those who can see this might, instead of taking another trip around the Four L process, they might be ready to run themselves through the Christian existential rinse Cycle. See, Kierkegaard and Shestov maintain, in the face of inexplicable X factors around us, a matured soul must admit that they frankly know nothing definitively and it is in this state where we all choose to actually make “a leap of faith” or “a leap into the arms of God” based solely on faith that He is God and we are not, and that our rational reasonable, Four L’d faith constructs, while beneficial to us humans here and now, cannot rightly be the basis for trusting in Him – because He does things way outside our understanding. We only have facts as raw materials. Again, this is not for all souls, but neither is the end of material religion, fulfilled eschatology, or other items that we use to give us help through life. So you may be very comfortable with your reasoned beliefs and feel they are enough to get you through life and especially X factor moments of utter nonsense. But for those who are confronted with events that they can admit defy all reason and logic in the human realm, you may, once you’ve washed your soul, want to consider the rinse cycle.

Examples of Faith Beyond Reason

The X are those things that happen in our lives that might transcend all of our understanding, faith or even trust in God and push us to the edge of all of our previously obtained light, learning, love and liberty and whisper, do you still believe, love me? This was the story of Job, Abraham and Isaac and of Christ Himself. Plain and simple, for some people there are events that cannot be readily understood or explained away with reason, with our raw material facts. Remember, I am NOT talking about personal beliefs. I am talking about our hearts before God in the face of things when we can admit that our beliefs do not make rational sense. Remember Abraham and Isaac? According to Kierkegaard, the command, God gave Abraham, even if Abraham believed (trusted, had faith) that God would keep His word to make a great nation out of his only son of promise, this request was utterly illogical, unreasonable and out of character with a Good God. Kierkegaard wrote an entire book on this event called, Fear and trembling – a worthy read if you are

Atrocities in Scripture

We might see other events as X factor events in the scripture, like when God – God commands or carries out the annihilation of entire populations, including women and children, often as punishment for the people's sins. These atrocities from a human perspective include – God instructing the Israelites to utterly destroy the inhabitants of Canaan, including the inhabitants of cities like Jericho and Ai. God commanding King Saul to destroy every man, woman, child, and animal of the Amalekites. Or arbitrary punishment like the death of Uzzah (which made David a man after God’s own heart angry at him) because God struck Uzzah dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant to prevent it from falling, an act that appears to be an innocent effort to help. Of course, we believe this was a picture for the Law and its merciless ways, but what if you were Uzzah’s wife or mother? What about when God sends two bears to maul 42 youths who mocked the prophet Elisha for being bald (2 Kings 2:23–25).

Cruel Laws and Punishments

Then there are what seem like His cruel laws and punishments. For instance, the law in Deuteronomy 21:18–21 commands that a chronically rebellious son be stoned to death by the community. According to Deuteronomy 22:28–29, a man who rapes a virgin is required to pay her father a fine and marry her, with the law forbidding him from ever divorcing her. We all have our beliefs and our responses as a means to “get through” some of these things in our minds, and we appeal to them like His 1 His Divine justice and judgment, 2 the Literary and historical context making the record symbolic and not literal, 3 Progressive revelation, or the idea of God’s complete nature was progressively revealed over time including His good side in His Son. And then there is what is called, Divine accommodation where God communicates in ways that are understandable to a particular people at a specific point in their historical and cultural development but not always to modern audiences. Then finally we embrace forms of theodicy, where we take our beliefs in an all-good, all-powerful God and balance them with the reality of evil and suffering and His overall aims.

Faith Beyond Understanding

Kierkegaard says these things are fine for our understanding and personal beliefs and when the need to fill in all the gaps is present but the reality is, our beliefs and understanding are limited, and that because God is God and is said to be incomprehensible, to go to Him with our reason and logic and deem Him worthy of such is our imposing our raw material facts on Him and these fall short of genuine faith. See, according to Kierkegaard and Shestov, when most of us go to God we lead with our notions of who He is and what He will do, then based on our logic and our reason decide to trust Him based on these parameters. But these beliefs begin to really fade fast when our assumptions are challenged, when our logic is tested, when our beliefs really do not stand up to the events around us. I personally have a very hard time understanding a great deal about this life in connection to the extent of my faith in God. I want to say that I would trust Him as good in the face of holding a screaming child dying of cancer but I have come to see that I want to make a leap of faith ahead of that moment and strip my reasoning – my limited logic and reason and grasp on the facts and trust whatever He ultimately proves himself to be when all the raw material has been refined. My lack of understanding is meaningless in the face of Him and this forces me to see if this situation existed in His Son – and it did. In the most profound expression imaginable. See, we learn that unlike us He was without sin. We learn that He was

The Leap of Faith

Frankly tempted in all things, but did not sin. That He only sought and only did the will of His Father – without fail. We learn that He kept the law given to His brethren, that He blessed others, forgave those who abused Him – I mean, He had every logical and reasonable basis to go to God and say, “I know you, how you work and what you do and why, right?” But we cannot overlook the moment when even He asked His God, “why have you forsaken me?” “Why?” Suggests to me that Christ did not understand something about God in that moment. Something that the light of the world, the most learned one ever, the most loving one ever, the most liberated one ever – had to make a leap of faith and jump, unknowingly, into the arms of a God whom He did not completely know and understand, in His flesh, everything about. Christ could have said, “I know that everything you do is for our good so thank you God for allowing me to suffer like this” – relying on His Western logic and understanding – but even He asked, Why?

Moments of Incomprehension

See, He was at a place in His existence where something did NOT make sense to Him. And it is in these moments we all have – when incomprehensible, utterly cruel and meaningless insensibilities surround us in every extreme shape and form, bombard our logic and wisdom and reason – and we too can choose to either dig in and fortify our logic with more learning, more active loving and more liberty because of such – or, we can say, from our heart of hearts – “Why have you forsaken me? What don’t I understand about you?” At in this moment of personal despair, choose to make a leap of irrational unreasonable faith into His arms.

Rinsing the Soul

This a point, says Shestov, where we are literally rinsing our soul from all of our knowing, all of our certainty, all of our dogma that I have boxed Him up in, and I have taken my reason, my logic, my pain, my ignorance – and rise it all down the drain of brokenness letting Him know from our hearts that we do trust and we have no idols between Him and us and that He is God and I am not. This approach has, after all the years of living the four L’s to be in my heart toward Him fully without a parachute, trusting in whomever, or whatever He is does or will do. If He is as Calvin says, “I leap.” If he is as The Mormons, the Buddhists, or Baptists say, I leap. Because He is God, I am not and all things are, in fact, possible. (Beat) We will continue on with what the four traits look like next week for those who might be interested in considering them. Question Comments Prayer