Mystic Christians

To one degree or another, mysticism has taken root and sprouted abundantly in the contemporary church and religions. Following are some notes and brief commentary on the subject,definetly not exhaustive or complete. There’s more than enough fodder in which to write a book on the subject. Your comments are most welcome.

Mysticism is an intuitive, instinctive, emotional, spiritual connection to some higher being, authority or entity. Mysticism is void of intellect. In fact, mysticism often comes with the belief that things such as reasoning, logic and philosophy are nothing more than snares of Satan.

The connection can be with God, the universe or any other entity considered greater than self.

Those claiming not to be religious but “spiritual” are mystics. When asked, “To what spirit are you spiritually connected to?” a typical response would be to some vague, non-specific, higher power, including the entire universe. To be a mystic and spiritual does not require connection to anything or anyone specific. The connection can be to everything.

The connection gives a general sense of reverence, admiration, power and smallness relative to self. The feeling/perception is interpreted as, “knowing” or “knowledge”, but it is not based on fact, reason, logic or intellect.

We have an emotionally charged, intellectually weak congregation that responds energetically to music and dance but become stoic and none responsive with the actual word of God.

Ever noticed the Bibles emphasis on the word both written and spoken and not music? We even have an entire book in the Bible dedicated to songs (Psalms), but there is no music in that book, only words.

But many religions and churches practice this form of mysticism to one degree or another. It is demonstrated by the active Christian who has not read the entire Bible nor studies the Bible at all, including commentary, hermeneutics, or exegesis. Mystics espouse and expound a great many Christian buzz words, phrases and concepts, but for the most part, is little more than, “vain jangling”.

Mystic Christians typically participate in feelings and outbursts of song, dance, clapping, shouting, Holy Ghost possession and speaking in tongues. What you do not find a mystic Christian engaging in are Bible studies/reading or studying Bible commentary, hermeneutics, or exegesis. The mystic connection and spiritual possession is prized over discovery, learning and reasoning. This is exactly why many atheist are able to win discussions in an attempt to disprove God and the Bible. The mystic has no knowledge, although getting knowledge and understanding is a basic tenet of the Bible.

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth” (Proverbs 4:5).

Intellect and Reasoning

Intellect and reasoning are gifts from God.

God made man in His image. He is rational and reasonable and encourages us to be likewise. For example in Isaiah 1:18 God says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord”.

God, speaking to man is motivating man to prove, decide, judge, rebuke, reprove, and correct what he has been told. God wants man to think, deduce and understand. And what does he want him to reason with? The word of God!

In the Book of Acts we learn that the Bereans were, “more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

What did the Bereans do with the word of God? Did they just sit back and accept it on faith? No. They heard the word of God and proceeded to investigate, examine, enquire into, scrutinize, sift through, and yes, question it. The applied logic, intellect and reasoning to deduce and conclude that the truth word they heard was from God and was the truth.

Reason vs Revelation

Man’s ability to reason, his intellect, logic and ability to deduce are gifts from God. They are also attributes of God. Man has the ability to think and choose. God encourages us to use the power of the mind.

Revelation knowledge is also a gift from God. But revelation is given by God at times, places and of a substance of His choosing. Man can’t create or cause revelation. Revelation knowledge can only be given by God.

Mystic Christians consider revelation knowledge as the only true knowledge. Mystics believe (to one extent or another) that since the fall of man his intellect has been tainted. Therefore, the only pure and true knowledge can only come through direct revelation by God and not through the thinking process of man. This leads us back to the idea that educating self through Bible study and such is not necessary. Once again, we find ourselves with spirit filled mystic Christians with no real knowledge of what they are spiritual about or even what Christianity is all about.

Day of Pentecost

Mystic Christians perpetually want to emulate, if not recreate the Day of Pentecost (See Acts 2). This in many ways is the highest level one can achieve within the mystic realm. Their desire is to be Holy Ghost filled, imbued with the power to speak in tongues, heal human maladies and to prophesy and foretell of future events. It is spiritual gifts and powers that the mystic strives for, not presence and relationship with the one true God.

Music is usually a big part of the Mystic Christian service. The music portion of the service is often times longer than the actual service itself.

Doctrine and dogma aren’t really part of the mystic’s world. Spiritual connection and feelings are. There is no way to substantiate a spirit or an emotion of the mystic. There is no way to study for these things. One must except that their reality and experiences are real, pure and true. In this regards mystics are very similar to Gnostics in that only a few are recognized to possess such a power.

-End Notes

Bill Hitchcock