April 2020 – The Kingdom of the Heavens

An old dream about dirges, Sunday school classes, and the expectation to hide problems

Ian Johnson April 30, 2020 4 Comments

How a dream about the word “dirge” led me to recognize two of the major problems of modern Western churches: our insistence on hiding problems to preserve our “witness” rather than dealing with them in the Spirit (hypocrisy) and our one-way, “fact”-intensive teaching style.

Discipline or Correction, Emotions, End of the Churched Society, God Speaks to Us, Heresy, Historical Background, Human Rationality, Illness as a Consequence, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, The place of visions, Through others, Through the church, To live in unity

actor, Christian education, Christian witness, Common Good, Common Problems, Death, Dirge, Emotions, empathy, Fear of Death, Grief, how to teach, hypocrisy, hypocrite, Negative emotions, One Body, positive sales atmosphere, Sales, Sunday school, sympathy, witness

Friends, Angels, Perspectives and Overcoming my Prejudices

Ian Johnson April 29, 2020 2 Comments

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Hebrews 12:1-3. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves…
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Emotions, Events and Signs, God's rationality, His Friends, Islam and Christianity, Personal Background, Through others, Through the church, To be his ambassadors

Asian, Asperger Syndrome, Brazil, changing attitudes, Christianity and Islam, God, God at work, Hispanic, Iran, Jesus Christ, Linguistics, Love, Perspectives class, Prejudice, Spanish, Thailand, Voice of God, Xenophobia

Resuming my Gifts and Callings, which were Not to be Hidden under a Bushel

Ian Johnson April 28, 2020 1 Comment

The restoration of my callings, after the break to pursue my own pride, was started, ironically, by the Board’s expert psychologist at a Board of Law Examiners’ hearing in December 2006–near the beginning of the four year break. He testified that my condition had been under medical control for over 20 years, and there was no reason I shouldn’t be…
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Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Restoration of God's Image, Through the church, Trusting sight over God's words

autism, calling, Celebrate Recovery, darkness, divine calling, God, healing, let your light shine, light, light of the world, mental illness, Spiritual Gifts, teaching

The Period of High Creativity that Followed, 2000-2006

Ian Johnson April 27, 2020 2 Comments

He wants to talk us through doing his will, instructing us every step of the way, as we learn to trust him. He is the one with the whole picture. Learning to hear his voice and trust him is the whole point of our friendship (the word “relationship” is entirely too sterile) with him on the present earth. This is what restores his image in us. Accomplishing his work is only a by-product.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, God Speaks to Us, On speaking terms again, Personal Background, Prophecy, Restoration of God's Image, Social control and statecraft, The Bible, The place of visions, To be in his image, Trusting sight over God's words, What is God's Word

Asperger Syndrome, Creativity, Friendship with God, Futiity of Politics, Hearing God, Learning to Hear God, Trusting God, Worship

God’s Initial Response to my Strange Prayer for the Gift of Prophecy

Ian Johnson April 26, 2020 2 Comments

God said “yes” to my request in the year 2000 to exercise that gift. The prophecies I was given were intended to, and did, awe me into recognizing the seriousness of prophecy–and even more so as they seemingly have been fulfilled in the 20 years since.

God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, Language and Speech, Personal Background, Prophecy

Church, Clinton Administration, Common Good, Economy, Foretelling, Forthtelling, Holy Spirit, Idolatry, Poor, Prediction, Prophecy, Prophetic, Recession, Rich, Safety net, Year 2000

My Strangest Prayer and My Personal Experience with Prophecy

Ian Johnson April 26, 2020 3 Comments

My personal journey from a liberal church that had little belief in spiritual gifts, through local churches of various other flavors, to the point of praying for prophecy, as 1 Corinthians 14:1, 12 and 39 seemed to say was appropriate.

A God who Speaks, Conversation with God, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Personal Background, Prophecy, To be his ambassadors, Uncategorized, What is God's Word

Asperger Syndrome, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Glossolalia, Inward Light, Personal Biography, Personal Experience, Prophecy, Prophetic, Speaking in Tongues, Spiritual, Spiritual Gifts, Voice of God

Eternity and Invisible Time as a Creative Process

Ian Johnson April 23, 2020 8 Comments

Eternity is not defined by time. Time is defined by eternity, and the Eternal One who created it and has an existence outside of it. God brought time, as a creative process, into his Creation out of eternity. God’s eternity, watching over all time, renders time itself a creative process, a process his children can trust to work ultimately for our good. The time that has gone before us, our own time on Earth, and the time after us to Jesus’ coming, all of history, are all a part of the same creative process that started when God created the heavens and the earth. History in its completion is an aspect of Creation and a manifestation of God.

Eternity Present, Events and Signs, God's Existence and Nature, God's rationality, His Children, Restoration of God's Image, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, To be in his image, Trusting sight over God's words

Creation, Creator, Eternity, firstborn, futility, God, History, Jesus, Problem of Evil, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, time

The Existence of Invisible Things

Ian Johnson April 19, 2020 5 Comments

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise. To all life Thou givest, to both great and small; In all life Thou livest, the true life of all; We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, And wither and perish,…
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Eternity Present, Language and Speech, Rejecting God, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, Trusting sight over God's words

Creation, Creator, Eternity, Forms, God, Language, Provider, Provision, Reality, Self-existence, Shadows, Truth, Visible, Vision

Young children as mystics

Ian Johnson April 14, 2020 5 Comments

Confusion, and the need to find what I believed around people who did not believe precisely the same things I believed, has characterized a good deal of my faith journey in Christ. I have frequently associated with churches, not because of their formal doctrinal stance, but because of the people who were there–because I felt God had called me to…
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Conversation with God, God Speaks to Us, Personal Background

Biography, Cultural learning, Cultural truth, Culture, God, Mysticism, Spirit, Voice of God

The next step in a long process of understanding

Ian Johnson April 12, 2020 0 Comments

In this blog, I will be seeking comments on material I have written about a cluster of subjects that that involve generally the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. (Matthew 4:7 and 10:7). This cluster of subjects arises from my past writings and my recent reading and thought. It includes the practical aspects…
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Eternity Present, God was never our enemy, His Friends, Personal Background, Purpose of the Church

Biography, Christianity, Dallas Willard, History, Ian B Johnson, Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of the heavens, Theology, Unity

Monthly Archive: April 2020

An old dream about dirges, Sunday school classes, and the expectation to hide problems

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Friends, Angels, Perspectives and Overcoming my Prejudices

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Resuming my Gifts and Callings, which were Not to be Hidden under a Bushel

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The Period of High Creativity that Followed, 2000-2006

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God’s Initial Response to my Strange Prayer for the Gift of Prophecy

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My Strangest Prayer and My Personal Experience with Prophecy

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Eternity and Invisible Time as a Creative Process

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The Existence of Invisible Things

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Young children as mystics

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The next step in a long process of understanding

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Monthly Archive: April 2020

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