I have a good friend named Dani’el Garvin. Dani’El is a Miq’maq elder, believer, and follower of Jesus/Yahshua and he is also a missionary and author. He wrote a poem called The Three Levels of Spirituality that intrigued me. It is, of course, much more than a poem. I think it capsulizes and explains this subject better than anything I have read. The fact is that you cannot deny that there are levels of spirituality. Coming up in a traditional Christian church I was always taught that there was God and the devil, period. But if you read the Holy Bible objectively you will find it speaks of three levels of spirituality. What are these three levels? Perhaps knowing what the three levels are will help you evaluate what level you are on and help you decide where you need to be. I wrote this with respect for all sincere seekers of truth and hope it will challenge and cause all to examine their spirituality with a sincere and open mind. This is a subject I write about quite often and have even written a couple of books on.
LEVEL ONE: OCCULT
This level is the occult like Wicca, sorcery, witchcraft, satanism, tarot cards, animal magic, sacrifice, mind control, and a belief that the practitioner has a dominance of power, believing they can manipulate dark spirits, demons, principalities, and powers. Shamanism falls into this level. Shamanism has become a very generic term in the New Age but originally its origins were Siberian, claiming to control forces of the dark side. Druid “New agers” declare the god within. This level is where some pagans and New Agers throw in things like trolls, fairies, and little people. In this world, herbs, chants, and fantasies abide.
LEVEL TWO: ORGANIZED RELIGION
This level is the church as an organized religious institution controlled by man NOT the true church referenced by Christ where two or three gather together in His name (Matthew 18:20) and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against (Matthew 16:18). It is religion, rules, and attempts to reach God. It is basically man creating God in his own image, a god they can control and manipulate that isn’t even God at all. Religion historically has been used to control people. Jesus did not come to Earth to start another religion, he came to set us free and connect us back to a relationship with the Creator whom he called Father. Beware even of the origins of the term ‘God’. It originated from the Germanic word “gad” for gadfly, which was a sensual term. Does that mean we shouldn’t use the term ‘God’ for the true and living God? Not necessarily but it does explain why the term can be so randomly thrown about and used comfortably for everything from Baal to whatever you want to call God. In other words, beware that every religion and belief system that uses the term ‘God’ may not be referring to the holy God YHWH Jehovah of the Bible. This level includes Christianity as a religion. The Roman emperor Constantine tried to rework the Christian “Jesus” into a western Greek/Roman/Constantinian pagan rebirth of the church in his image. This was the birth of Catholicism which spread and grew into a powerful political influence. It was Catholicism that Infiltrated through explorers into the new world, that brought the atrocities that were afflicted and forced on the Native Americans. Queen Isabel commissioned Columbus to slaughter the Tiano Indians and to conquer in Jesus’ name. The Catholic Church missionaries slaughtered many Native American tribes rounding up native children in gunboats. Indian children were taken from their parents to be assimilated into boarding schools to strip them of their culture, language, regalia, and family ties.
Level two also includes other religions; Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and the like. It also includes Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons. It includes ungodly forms of meditation, chakras, and chants, Ramah in the Ramayana and Reincarnation. It also includes the dualistic mixture of yin and yang, good and evil, light and darkness.
LEVEL THREE: TRUE SPIRITUALITY
Level three is where God wants us to be. This level is about a personal relationship with God the Father, Creator, the one and only true God. It is about a relationship restored by his son Yeshua, also known commonly as Jesus, born to the Jews, he wrought miracles on Earth, taught us and connected us to him, the only way, truth, and life, and made it possible for us to be restored into right relationship with the Father because of the sacrifice he made by giving his very own life on a Roman cross and rose again from the dead and sent his Holy Spirit to dwell within us and lead us into all truth. He was and is the one and only God-man; Messiah, the source of all love, giving dignity to women, the poor, and the downcast. His name means, “Yahweh is salvation” named after His loving heavenly Father. He can only be known and dispensed by Roark HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, the Great Spirit, a person of the godhead and power combined with love. It is he who speaks a “Rhema” personal word. It is he who is our created purpose and destiny challenging us to come up higher, unlimited. He bids us to come, taste, and see. This alone is true spirituality. All the other levels are deceptions and lies.
As my friend Dani’El puts it: “I appreciate that you believe in the supernatural and that you would like more supernatural empowerment in your life. However, if you become trapped or fixated on lower-level supernatural systems, your life might become more aligned with the dark side, which will really work against your desires and daily life.
“As a Native American, I do believe in caretaking Mother Earth, and that all things have life. I talk to animals, pray over trees, and believe in the teachings of the medicine wheel. In sweat lodge, I frequently have visions and dreams, and connect with the spirit world and our ancestors directly.
“Therefore, I highly recommend that you come up to a higher level of supernatural empowerment, and not get stuck in levels one and two. Most people stuck in the self-effort of religion don’t really believe or experience the real supernatural realm. Those who are into pagan pursuits, believe like us Indians, however experience great costs associated with trying to manipulate dark-side forces with chants and spells
“I challenge you to come up higher into the light where the real action is and leave behind these other inferior ways of empowerment. When one decides to come up higher, it is essential to come through the gatekeeper Creator’s Son Yahshua, who opens this higher realm where one can soar with angels and other supernatural beings through the power of the Great Spirit.
“At the gate, one must come humbly, and confess that they cannot manage or control their lives through self-effort and that they need empowerment from the Creator to come alive spiritually. He gives you the invitation with open arms, “Come back home into my heart of love, from where you originated.” When you pass through the gate, you enter a new dimension spiritually where unbelievable miracles happen.”
Jesus did no less than this when he spoke his words in Matthew 5:17. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Jesus had great respect for all religions as do I and I read and ponder many great quotes and sayings by many people. Jesus made the respect he had very clear when he said this. I think it explains a lot! Think about it. He wasn’t just speaking of Judaism and the Mosaic Law. He was saying, ‘Hey Earth, you have made a big mess out of spirituality, you have created religions and rules so difficult you can’t even live up to them yourself and I have come with good news! Your every belief system, no matter what it is, is fulfilled in me. I am the way, the truth, and the life that your spiritual longings have been searching for. You have distanced yourself farther and farther from God and true spirituality year after year after year with all your systems. Some of you have meant well but I’m here to tell you that you have made it too difficult and too complicated. I am here to straighten all that out, to give you clarity and I have good news for you: no matter how evil or religious you are I have come to bring truth and forgiveness and a chance to start fresh and new.” This was not a con job or the start of another religion. It was a line drawn in the sands of eternity. The truth would no longer be a relative thing. What is good and what is evil would no longer be in the hands of humans to decide. It never really was; it was just a grand illusion that was perpetrated in the Garden of Eden and just grew and became more complex through time. Jesus was saying the truth was not a code or set of rules or even facts; it was a person, Jesus himself. God the Creator took on a form of flesh that we humans could relate to. He reminded us and declared that he was, is, and always will be the truth. How could the truth be anything else than the Creator? He was, is, and will always be the only one with all the knowledge, all the power, and the only one good enough. He was the only one who was perfectly love, perfectly unbiased, and perfectly objective enough to be so.
Jesus alone FULFILLED all the prophets and religions and declared that HE was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6); not just another way, truth or life. He alone could claim this because he was not just a man but God/Creator became man. Till we accept that the TRUTH became flesh and dwelt among us EVERYTHING else is just a powerless substitute. ALL people need a savior. We cannot save ourselves. Only one figure in history was completely impartial and willing to die for all: Jesus. Religion is nothing more than MAN creating God into an image that suits them and approves of their selfishness and prejudice. Anytime people try to create a system of serving God they fall out of relationship and intimacy with God. Those who are in a TRUE relationship with their Creator know they are loved and accepted and do not need a religion or a prophet’s approval. Relationships and Truth are about giving. Only TAKERS need a religion to justify their evil. People that live in harmony with all things know everything they do is a prayer. We need to rid our consciousness of ALL religions and trade it for a RELATIONSHIP with God, people, and all creation.
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