The Ecstatic : Late 2019 Issue | 1 News

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 1 News

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SWAT Team Busts up Crowder Meeting in Belarus Belarus, often called the “last dictatorship in Europe” sent a SWAT team Are You Subscribed to Our Free Weekly Videos? of nearly a dozen armed agents in ski masks, helmets, flak jackets and machine guns to break up our church event in May. They detained Are you subscribed to receive our free weekly videos: The Jesus Trip? John, searched and interrogated congregants at gunpoint for three Simply visit our homepage www.thenewmystics.com and enter your hours, confiscating video and sound equipment and locking the pastors email at the top of the page to subscribe. Make sure to add us to your in jail. SOT was able to bail them out after the arrest … but the violation approved sender list so we don’t end up in your email spam box! Our of human rights only stoked the zeal of Gospel drinkers as they begged YouTube has hit 3 million views, and you can also catch every episode John to keep preaching until midnight after the cops left! right on our New Mystics app for iPhone or Android. Some may be of- fended as we happily continue drinking grace straight, but the scandal of the finished work of the cross continues to spread! Thanks to our regular viewers who help us share and repost on social media each week as part of our grassroots “propaganda team!”

Russia Gospel Collusion: Grace Awakening is Here Something incredible is happening in Russia. We took a Sons of Thun- der team to Siberia in June and are returning in March. It’s not just that they love the Presence (they do!); it is the Gospel Message itself that is spreading like wildfire. Effortless union. Finished Work of the Cross. Register for Cana Seminary E-Course in March Our inclusion in the love life of the Trinity. People steeped in charismatic formulas exported from the West are realizing they never heard the real If you have ever considered studying theology, but want a Spirit-filled, Gospel. Pastors and bishops representing over a hundred churches Christ-centered course — consider becoming an online student of Cana have been begging us to come from all over the country. More invita- New Wine Seminary this fall and study at your own pace. Registration tions to speak are pouring in than we can handle. They’re getting it. opens March 26 for the early bird discount. Dive into the supernatural, One group has been running a 300-student online school based di- intoxicating Gospel as we release the word of Grace in an atmosphere rectly on our material translated into Russian. The intoxicating Glory of joy unspeakable! Teachers include John & Lily Crowder, Dr. C. Baxter and miraculous is so strong; we are nearly eaten alive by grandmas in Kruger, Matt Spinks, Francois Du Toit, Dr. Eric Wilding, Rod Williams the meetings. In one night alone on our last trip, tumors shrank, a lady’s and more. The full course runs two years, with one session per week for crumpled back straightened out, people supernaturally lost weight and an easy pace. Class begins Oct. 28. For more info, see story on page many more were healed. Bodies everywhere. Total chaos. They beg us 19 and visit: www.cana.co to preach for hours on end. Drinking in every word!

2 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue News

Telos & Theophany: Weeklong Events in UK and US We are hosting two special destination events in both the UK and the USA called Telos and Theophany. These unique, seven-day foundation courses are jam-packed, concentrated intensives that are both supernatural and theological. Our goal is to rework our entire understanding of the Gospel from the bottom up: reorienting everything we know through the lens of Christology and the finished work of the cross. This Nicaragua Mission Trip with John and Matt will be a no-holds-barred doctrinal detox in a life-giving atmosphere of Holy Spirit intoxication. Part micro-seminary. Part camp meeting. Ear- Experience the supernatural and release the glorious Gospel in the ly registration is recommended as space will be limited. See more on nations as part of a Sons of Thunder mission trip! We have one trip page 20-21 and visit www.thenewmystics.com/telos currently open for applicants coming up January 2021. Our Nicaragua Mission will be co-hosted with John Crowder and Matt Spinks. On this trip you will be on the team helping equip local churches in the Message of grace, healing the sick and participating in outreach to the slums and garbage dumps. For more information on the trip and sign up details, see story on page 21. Lock in your spot with a deposit by September 31, 2020. Find out more and apply to join the adventure at www.thenewmystics.com/nica

Theology & Bourbon: Kentucky Gentlemen’s Retreat Conversation. Worship. Whiskey ... If you are a gentleman who ap- Do You Have Our Free iPhone or Android App? preciates theology and fine bourbon, we are hosting a small, exclusive Make sure to update to the latest version of the “New Mystics” app which retreat to Louisville, Kentucky in October 2020. John Crowder and Dr. is on both iPhone and Android platforms. The app is now available as C. Baxter Kruger, together with worship leader Godfrey Birtill will spend a free download. Get all our Jesus Trip video archives in one spot, find three days of personal interaction, theological discussion and worship current events and read a digital version of The Ecstatic magazine on together, along with tours to local distilleries along the bourbon trail in your mobile device. Simply look for “New Mystics” at the iPhone app the heart of historic American whiskey country. Space is extremely lim- store to get the Apple version, or search for us on Google Play to get ited and thus reflected in the premium registration fee. Cost is $350 and the Android version. Be sure to allow notifications, and each week you’ll does not including lodging or airfare. This trip is strictly limited to the first get a friendly message from us alerting you to the latest free Jesus Trip 30 registrants. Visit www.thenewmystics.com/kentucky video as it gets posted.

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 3 News

Save $80: Get All Our Books & A Free T-Shirt We are currently running a special package box set of all eight books written by John and Lily Crowder, together with free USA shipping and discounted international postage. Plus while supplies last, we will include a free New Mystics T-shirt. Share deep insights on the supernatu- Brazil Outreach to Church, Slums, Drug Traffickers ral Gospel of Grace with your friends and loved ones, or just treat yourself. This package saves you more than $80 off retail. Books include: Although we were always warned to avoid the dangerous favela slums Mystical Union, Money. Sex. Beer. God., Cosmos Reborn, Chosen for of Rio de Janeiro, we disregarded any hesitation and plunged right in Paradise, Grace for the Contemplative Parent, The New Mystics, Sev- during our Sons of Thunder Brazil mission in August. Immediately the en Spirits Burning and The Ecstasy of Loving God. Check it out at our team saw drug traffickers stalking the streets with pistols and machine Web store: www.johncrowder.net/box guns drawn in broad daylight. There is no police presence as the drug dealers run the slums; one of them had just been killed the day before. People opened their homes freely and drug traffickers pocketed their pistols and readily received prayer and ministry. We also shared the Gospel in three local churches in the region, with John following up with ministry in Argentina while in South America.

SOT Mission Headed to Two Nations in Africa At the time of printing this publication, John Crowder is leading a Sons of Thunder ministry team to two nations in Africa: Ghana and Camer- Hawaii Marriage Retreat: Bring Your Spouse! oon. The team will be equipping churches, leaders and doing outreach Take time to pull aside and prioritize your marriage. Book a babysitter with orphans in November 2019. We are excited to see the message and splurge on your spouse. Schedule a vacation with us: come aside of pure grace taking root in hearts and minds around the world. We from the daily stress of life and career and venture to Maul, Hawaii value your support as we continue to bring the Gospel to the nations. in September 2020. This intimate getaway in paradise for couples is Although it is too late to join this trip, there is an opportunity to be part of designed for marital bliss. With John and Lily Crowder and Rick and the Sons of Thunder team next year in January 2021 as John Crowder Melissa Wood, this retreat is far from a religious self help program. Get and Matt Spinks bring a group to Nicaragua. Apply early to lock in a spot a glorious Gospel detox from the fears, insecurities, identity hangups as space is limited. For more information, visit and awkward communication gaps that blind or dull us to the delights of www.thenewmystics.com/nica marital joy. The honeymoon really can last forever! Visit www.thenewmystics.com/retreat 4 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue From the Publisher ... Contents It was a busy year in 2019 as I visited 45 nations and nine states in the USA. We brought Sons of Thunder teams to the seven “stan” nations of central Asia, including the volatile regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan 2 News: The Latest from Sons of Thunder where we hosted a massive evangelism campaign, gathering thousands. We were in the favela slums of Brazil, ministering to armed drug traffickers, 6 Pure Distillate of Christology and one of our meetings in Belarus was even invaded by a SWAT team where we were detained for hours and the pastors were jailed for illegal meetings. Needless to say, it has been a wild ride! 14 Find the Party: Sons of Thunder Itinerary

In 2020, we are strategically gearing for more unique “destination” oriented 15 Mission Report: Pakistan, Afghanistan, More! retreats and courses. Couples can pull aside for our Hawaii marriage retreat coming to Maui in September. For the gents, our exclusive men’s 18 Meditations of the Mystics retreats have sold out the past two years that we hosted them in Scotland. So, in 2020 we are bringing it stateside to the Bourbon Trail in Louisville, Kentucky with Baxter Kruger and Godfrey Birtill in October. Now American 19 Cana New Wine Seminary Online gentlemen can get a taste of the Glory, replete with distillery tours, worship and theology. 20 Telos & Theophany Seven-Day Intensives Foremost of all, our innovative weeklong course Telos blew up in 2019. 21 Upcoming Mission to Nicaragua Telos was so life-changing with its seven-day format, we are now bringing a European version to the table in Cornwall, England in July 2020 with God- frey leading worship. And in November 2020 we have a special Telos event called Theophany where attendees can spend an entire week together with myself and Baxter Kruger in Portland, Oregon. We highly recommend folks plan early to make a pilgrimage and catch Telos U.K. or Theophany in the U.S. (see page 20 and 21). Additionally, our mission trip junkies will be glad to learn we have a Nicaragua adventure in January 2021 with myself and Matt Spinks. Again, there is plenty of time to plan ahead to join us as part of the ministry team. We have a number of other Mystical Schools and special conference events planned for 2020 – not least of which is a three- day event in Switzerland focused solely on the Nicene Creed together with subscribe at www.thenewmystics.com myself and Baxter.

About this issue Join Sons of Thunder on Social Networking This issue has my longest ever single article for an issue of The Ecstatic. I address my favorite and most intoxicating topic: Christology. Highlighting the futility of our human ponderings about God, readers are encouraged to hone in on the most important thing of all: God’s own self disclosure in Jesus Christ! Follow our Public Profile page at: www.Facebook.com/RevJohnCrowder Visit the page and click Stay Subscribed to The Ecstatic “Like” in order to stay up to date with posts, exciting events, testimonies and more. In addition, we are Some select US addresses receive a print copy of the magazine, but we also on Twitter – you can follow John’s happenings at www.Twitter.com/TheNewMystics And if you now host a digital version online for readers around the globe. Be sure have an iPhone, you will want to download the “New Mystics” Application for free. Besides helping you you visit our homepage at www.TheNewMystics.Com/Ecstatic and enter keep tabs on the ministry, the iPhone app enables you to watch each week’s Jesus Trip video from the your email address to join our free newslist – this will ensure you receive convenience of your mobile device. each issue to your inbox twice a year, together with our regular free Jesus Trip teaching videos. You can also view the magazine on our free iPhone and Android “New Mystics” apps.

We value your support to keep the magazine and ministry running. Your generous contributions make the publication available to all and enable us to spread Good News to the ends of the globe.

What we’re all about We at Sons of Thunder produce The Ecstatic as a way to bring a cohesive voice to the growing interest in authentic, mystical Christianity – but a mysticism rooted in the grace message of Christ’s cross – not in human attempt at spiritual disciplines or mental ascent.

In a practical sense, The Ecstatic serves as an information gateway to the ministry of John & Lily Crowder. But moreover, it is a first fruit in publishing toward bridging several important themes that are converging at the moment: finished work theology, the miraculous, divine satisfaction and daily human existence in the divine life. All of these concepts are intrinsically woven together. A new, reformed Christ-centered mysticism is on the rise. It is bridging many streams. Relevant is its cultural approach. Radical is its charismatic fervor. Reformative is its theology of grace. These are guiding values of this publication and our own lives. It is a theological journal whose frequency is joy unspeakable.

Fully Satisfied … John Crowder Founder, Sons of Thunder Publications

the ecstatic is published bi-annually Copyright © 2019 Sons of Thunder Ministries & Publications, All rights reserved. Email: [email protected] Phone: 1-877-343-3245 Address: P.O. Box 40, Marylhurst, OR 97036 www.TheNewMystics.com the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 5 Pure Distillate of Christology The Divine Mystery Revealed in Flesh by John Crowder

How can we really know anything about God? tional Christian mysticism that is rooted in the curate than your God Contraption!” But there There are countless thousands of doctrinal intimacy of Jesus does not presuppose human really are no sides, because every camp is ideas thrown at the theological dart board. How ideas about God in order to sketch out a picture actually in the same camp: from fundamental- do we even begin to approach epistemology, of Him in any way “separate” from Jesus. The ists to postmodern progressives - everyone is that is, the study of “how” something can be thing about a mystic is that she doesn’t have a in the same pot because they begin from the known about God at all? fearful drive to connect all the dots - she is con- same foolish starting point: the human mind. tent in her personal relation with God, without It’s okay not to have everything figured out. the vain drive to explain everything away. Yet Despite their differences, the same thread Rest assured you don’t. But human pride and this is not to say every so called “mystic” gets among all Christian groups is their attempt at fear always tend to overstep the bounds of mys- the Gospel either. In fact, many disdain theol- building a God Apparatus, which is the sum tery. We want tidy doctrinal boxes that allow us ogy altogether. Theology is vitally important, of all their human ideas. Sure, they all may be to contain God within the safe framework of our but we must do it with a Christological lens if “biblical” ideas, but the common denominator own understanding. We overestimate our lim- we are to have an accurate picture of God. is that the starting point is always the limited, ited ability to know anything whatsoever about vain mental conjecturing about an “out there” God. God of our own understanding. The futile attempt at deciphering an unknowable God Yet God wants and has chosen to freely reveal Himself. It was never His will to leave us As fearful creatures, we much Yet standing over and against this man-made in the dark and has chosen to display His na- God Apparatus of metaphysical guesswork ked personality to mankind. He self-reveals not prefer a remote-control God and patchwork scripture quiltmaking is God by a cold, calculated list of doctrinal principles. Himself. All of these camps and denominations Rather, He discloses Himself personally and of our own fabrication. have a bottom-up approach that begins with relationally by coming in the Person of Christ. the human mind and arrogantly attempts to By becoming us and fully intertwining Himself work its way up Godward by arriving at a neat, to the human race. THE GOD CONTRAPTION clean set of theological answers. But standing opposed to the pride of human wisdom - stand- It is our sheer arrogance to think we could proj- Most often, the whole corpus of what we say ing against our theological assertions about ect theological ideas about God and present and know about God (our theological starting Him (whatever flavor of theology it may be) - an understanding of Him outside of Jesus. Yet point for talking about Him) begins with an ab- there is something else. And that something is that is exactly what we do. Of course, every stract set of principles. We so often talk about God. The eternal Mystery Who will never be Christian gives lip service to Jesus. Neverthe- God in terms of big metaphysical concepts we unfolded by the mind of man, but who has de- less, we move right along and construct tidy cobble together from scripture to describe Him: finitively revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. philosophical structures to explain Him, replete words like sovereignty, justice, power, holi- with all our metaphysical ideas about Him - as ness – or all the “omni” words: God is omnipo- Jesus represents something radically different if our four-pound brains can encompass the tent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc. etc. And than a bottom up approach to figuring God out. limits of what can be known about the Author we argue over all these things, breaking into He is the God-to-manward motion of God’s of the cosmos. camps that are liberal or conservative, Calvin- own self who has come down to reveal Himself ist or Pentecostal, denominationally unique or not in a convenient set of metaphysical ideas This is a project of fear: if God is relegated to supposedly different - each based on how we or scriptural life hacks ... but has revealed all a set of formulated concepts and ideas, He is choose to fashion together our own manmade there is to know about Himself in human flesh much easier for us to control, is He not? As God Contraption from all these conceptual phil- ... and therefore in “our” human flesh. God has fearful creatures, we much prefer a remote- osophical ideas. Then we take sides and battle come in person. control God of our own fabrication. But a rela- one another. “My God Contraption is more ac-

6 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue He throws a monkey wrench into all our ab- ther are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord socialism and capitalism – or Evangelicalism, stract ideas: For instance, how can you talk ab- (Isa. 55:8). Catholicism, etc.? Everyone constructs a God stractly about God’s sovereignty (as if He con- who endorses their agenda, or a socio-cultur- trols everything), and blame Him for evil and He is beyond description. You cannot reason ally conditioned Jesus who puts His stamp of sickness if Jesus comes healing the sick? How back into the being of God. You cannot project approval on their ideologies. How can we so can you talk abstractly about justice and holi- your ideas back into the nature of God and un- boastfully assume He endorses all our pet doc- ness, if Jesus comes forgiving sinners ... turn- derstand anything about Him. Only God knows trines or fits tidily within our own theological ing the law on its head? We must begin all our Himself. The creature/Creator distinction lies at camps and streams? We cannot grasp Him. talk and knowledge about God with the person the heart of our knowledge of God. Augustine of Jesus. Not with humanistic, logical concepts. said, “The finite cannot understand the infinite.” At the end of the book of Job, after God showed him the vastness of His intricate making of the THE INEFFABLE GOD The Lord says, “You thought I was all together cosmos, Job is forced to say, “behold these like you,” (Ps. 50:21) but in declaring God’s in- are but the outskirts of His ways - how small a None of the prophets or patriarchs of old could effability we confess that He evades and es- whisper we hear of Him” (Job 26:14). fully see God. Jesus affirms none of them even capes all our statements about Him. It is above knew God! They saw glimpses. And why could us. This sheer enormity of time and space – the they not see the big picture? Because you can- universe (perhaps universes with universes) not find God - you cannot understand God. He The Psalmist says His greatness is unsearch- – parallel universes or dimensions within di- is not discovered, He is revealed. Only He can able. “Who can utter the mighty deeds of God mensions … and to think this is only a shadow disclose Himself. One of the chief principles or declare His praises” (Ps. 106:2) and “None pointing to His immensity of being. It is a drop of God is His ineffability – His inability to be in the bucket to the eternal infinitude of God. comprehended. God is unsearchable, uncon- The thing about a mystic is that Like Job, it makes us want to put our hand over tainable; our finite minds have no capability our mouths and say nothing. of grasping Him. We can apprehend God like she doesn’t have a fearful drive to catching a football - but you cannot wrap your connect all the dots - she is con- Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirl- hand around that whole thing ... we can’t com- wind and said, “Who is this that darkens coun- prehend God - we do not fully wrap our heads tent in her personal relation with sel by words without knowledge?” (Job 29: 1-2) around Him. The ineffability of God is one of His chief and most beautiful aspects. God, without the vain drive to ex- Then Job answered the Lord ...“Therefore I plain everything away. have uttered what I did not understand, things God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of too wonderful for me, which I did not know” kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal can compare with you … His wonders are more (Job 42:3). and who lives in unapproachable light, whom than can be told” (Ps. 40). God’s deeds and no one has seen or can see … (1 Tim. 6:15- thoughts are unfathomable. Ironically, we are Wouldn’t it be brilliant if we just learned to shut 16). told to declare His praises, yet we are told that up? In the world of countless opinions and end- they are beyond declaring! The same can be less social media blather about God … what if Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and said of theology. We are instructed to learn and we just learned to close our traps and contem- knowledge of God! How unsearchable His speak about Him, yet we are told His ways are plate Him in silence for a change? The deeper I judgments, and His paths beyond tracing beyond finding out. He ways are unutterable go into ministry, the more I realize I know noth- out! (Rom. 11:33) – you cannot utter them. Incomparable – you ing. And the less I really want to talk. Apart from cannot compare them. Innumerable – more looking at Jesus, we are kids with a chemistry Who does great and unsearchable things, than can be numbered. Inexpressible – more set - we have no clue what we’re talking about. Wonders without number (Job 5:9). than can be articulated. Inexplicable – more Yet we slap onto ourselves doctorates and ti- than can be explained. tles like children playing dress up and ascribing Can you discover the depths of God? Can you self-importance in matters infinitely beyond our discover the limits of the Almighty? (Job 11:7) LEARNING SILENCE pay grade and expertise.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is He is outstanding among ten thousand. How So many Evangelicals reject the idea of mysti- too high, I cannot attain to it (Ps. 139:6). can we make all these flippant vapid state- cism, then run off half-cocked trying to explain ments about God - or squeeze Him into our away the inexplicable God. How flippantly “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nei- human paradigms of conservatism, liberalism, Continued on page 8 >

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 7 … Christology will always be the purest theology Continued from page 7 < do we throw our hands in the air and go com- visible image of the invisible God … well then preachers, gurus and snake oil salesmen from pletely silent in our unknowing. I am not talking we can make some bold statements. Jesus is churches, synagogues and Ted talks peddle about flippancy in just walking away from trying not just a chapter in a story about God’s dealing their pointless ponderings about the divine. But to understand anything. But there is a radically with creation. We see that Jesus Christ is the the glory of God is in how unsearchable and different way of doing theology. Not the bottom- Creator of all - before all worlds, very God of inexplicable He is. There is a vital need for up approach of figuring God out with the human very God as the Creed says. When is the last embracing mystery and giving space for the mind and using the Bible like an Ikea manual time you heard a sermon on Jesus Christ as unknown in our talk about God. But for many to piece together a flimsy God Contraption of the Creator? As the Lord and sustainer of all people, the inexplicable conjures up fear of the our own making. No. The only true theology will things? As David Fergusson states, “The world unknown … we want a tame, controlled God always be a “top-down” theology: for God has was made that Christ might be born.” who fits into our preconceived, manageable come down to fully reveal Himself by coming to paradigms. us in Jesus Christ. Christology will always be Instead of working up to God through abstract the purest theology. Jesus is God’s self-defini- theological principles, if instead we can think FELLOWSHIP WITH THE MYSTERY tion. Christology deals with the basic question about God starting with Jesus ... well what do of “Who do you say I am?” Who is Jesus Christ? we learn? For starters, we see that He wants Paul never says we will fully, intellectually grasp to be known. the Mystery. He says we have fellowship with the Mystery (Eph. 3:9). You may not have all the Despite their differences, the same We see that He speaks to us of His Father, and answers, but the Answer has you. The Mystery thread among all Christian groups He also sends us His Spirit ... and something is a Person with whom we forever interact. A begins to emerge in our understating that God Mystery whose very goal was to expose Him- is their attempt at building a God is not alone in His being, but that He is Trinity self – to be stripped bare and plainly published. Apparatus, which is the sum of all - that He is not a lone, solitary, aloof God who In fact, the apostle Paul uses the word muste- has always been alone, and doesn’t care two rion more than any other New Testament writer, their human ideas. cents whether or not He will always be alone. and almost exclusively in the sense that the But rather He is God in relation. He is foremost Mystery has been revealed. Here in Ephesians Father before Creator. And only a God in rela- 3:9, he wanted to “explain” or “make plain” and Because He has come in person, we see that tion would have interest in relating to humanity “bring to light for everyone what is the plan of God is personal. He is relational. He is loving by entering into their broken humanity. To bring the mystery hidden for ages in God who cre- and He is other-giving love. We cannot even a love to light that is not so much to be calculat- ated all things.” project our own ideas of love onto God, but ed and analyzed as to be received and enjoyed. rather Jesus Christ Himself defines what it re- The gospel of Jesus Christ is not complex, ally is to love. By beginning our understanding We see a goal emerging that has less to do shrouded or veiled in any sense of the imagi- of God with the person of Jesus, and working with rote obedience and servitude and more nation. Children are quickest to recognize it. from there, only then the foundation is in place to do with communion and family and an eter- Yet its simplicity does not truncate its eternal for everything else. nal party. And we learn most definitely some- depths. Easy enough for a child understand is thing about ourselves, that we are created in this Gospel which is searched out as the glory JESUS: THE GOD LENS Christ for the same love relationship that exists of kings. We grow in depth as we grow in sim- between Father, Son and Spirit - created for plicity. There most definitively is a solid way of doing adoption and family and union. And therefore theology when we start with Jesus. When Je- our relation in God is grounded foremost not One of the best phrases you can learn in theol- sus is the starting point and the lens and her- in knowing stuff about Him - but rather our pri- ogy is this: “I don’t know.” There is a humility meneutic of how we understand God - when we mary way of relating to Him is in contemplation to acknowledging His ways are higher than our see Him as the Logic, the Blueprint, the Logos ... an intimate participation of our whole being, ways. The Psalmist writes: “Lord, I am not high- of God - when He is the Word (i.e. not just a which is rooted foremost in silent reception than minded. I have no proud looks. I do not exercise messenger of God, but Jesus is the very Mes- in speaking; because it is only in closing our myself in great matters which are too high for sage and Purpose of all things Himself), when mouths and quieting our own human thoughts me” (Ps. 131:1-2). This does not mean we are we see that Jesus is God, that there is none about Him that we can truly listen to the Son of not called to declare the truth of the Gospel, nor beside Him - the very Alpha and Omega - the God. We become recipients of God - not His

8 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue originators. Not His marketers here to box Him distinction between viewing God from a com- Nor should he foster a distaste for knowledge, up in a nifty package. posite of abstract ideas versus knowing Him in simply because imperfect knowledge has run the relationality of His own inner being of Love. him up many a blind alley in days past. The fact Contemplation is the highest aim of theology. The Trinity is an eternal other-giving dance of is, we shall one day know fully. True Knowl- And should be its starting point. A Christian Love. It is consistent, therefore that He would edge is more than data – He is a Person. And mystic is one who can be at perfect peace with be moving out of Himself in other-giving love our life of discovery is a life of feasting as the mystery - with unanswered questions. Christian toward us. Only in looking to Jesus, and there- scales of unknowing are stripped away in ex- mysticism has often been accused of avoiding fore the Trinity, can we avoid an arbitrary whim- periential, face-to-face communion by the end all theology, dogma or rigid belief systems. And sy and a vain chasing after the wind. Jesus of Emmaus’ road. Jesus Christ is the knowl- granted, many mystics have had suspect theol- edge of the unknowable God. ogy to say the least. But it is really about putting theology in its place as the proper framework of JESUS IS GOD KNOWLEDGE contemplation. Knowing the One we enjoy. Not elevating human ideas as the ultimate blueprint God has spoken in His Son clearly, fully, fi- for mapping God out. Yet mysticism and the- nally and definitively. And He has acted in His ology intertwine in the true Person of Christ. Son – an all sufficient sacrifice - in such a way Contemplation is not a silencing of all thoughts that there is nothing left to be done. He has to the point we divorce our experience of God achieved a final and complete salvation. Jesus away from any thought or imagination of Him. the Son is the whole point and purpose of the Contemplation involves thoughts, but it is so matter. But even this is not just a call to ana- much more. Contemplation is infinitely beyond lytical knowledge about Jesus, rather an inti- mere thinking or reasoning about God. It is an mate knowing and abiding in Jesus. Neverthe- immersion of your complete being into the par- less, people even here are fond of saying “it’s ticipation or practice of His Presence. all about relationship” to the degree that they ignore the importance of theology altogether. CONTEMPLATING CHRIST Well, consider this. So many revolve their Christian life around trying to have a “personal True contemplation is not a mindless ponder- relationship” with God, straining to follow His ing of the unknowable, but a recognition that a voice in their life or attempting to discern His feast has already appeared in Jesus. The wed- purposes and plans for us. And yet if our focus ding supper of the Lamb. And contemplation, is constantly on trying to determine some di- like faith, is not an elusive thing we should aim rection, some destiny, some end goal - some to chase down in and of itself. It is merely the nebulous voice from some ethereal entity we description of a life lived enjoying this Feast call God – this “God Contraption” of our cob- ... It is the very act itself of consumption and bled-together accumulation of limited percep- drinking when the Lamb and Wine is set before tions of Him can still radically misguide us if it you. A Christ-less mysticism, just like humanis not be zeroed in on the finality of the Person istic theology, is yet another vain attempt at and single-handed work of Jesus Christ; and knowing God based on abstract metaphysics we have altogether missed the plot. rooted in human ascent - versus knowing God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because that Himself is the Rosetta Stone that unlocks to Theology is about rightly articulating Jesus. is Who Jesus reveals. And that is the crux of humanity the only accurate language and un- this argument. Is your hermeneutic based on derstanding of God. Outside of this, we are totally in the dark about a Person? God’s nature, His ways and His work outside of Mystery has been swallowed up in God’s self- a Christocentric focus. Jesus on the other hand We must work our way back from who Jesus revelation in His Son Jesus. So for all our bash- is the visible image of the invisible God ... out- has revealed His Father to be to us. This is the ing of bad theology, it is imperative that we gain side of that, we’re still trying to guess. See life starting point, and the only way we can know a clear understanding of God as revealed in is not just trying to discern what Jesus is telling anything about God. He is defined by this in- Jesus. The contemplative and the theologian you. He is the Message. He did not just come ner life of the Trinity, which has now been freely must be one interchangeable man. For the to tell you about God – He is the embodiment poured out to His creation. As Father, Son and contemplative – virtuous as he is for his refusal of God’s Word to you. He is not just a mouth- Holy Spirit relate to one another in love, this to settle for lifeless answers – need not stay piece – He is the content of what God is saying is what shapes who God is. This is a massive in a perpetual state of hunger and unknowing. Continued on page 10 >

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 9 … Jesus Christ is God in human language < Continued from page 9 GOD IN HUMAN LANGUAGE edge about God and speak about it. And yet to you and about you – very personally. Jesus since Christ knows the Father for us, and as is not just giving words – Jesus is the Word of In a world of self-professed religious experts us, we too have been plunged into a depth of God. The point. on the things of God, Jesus Christ emerged knowing (deeper than the mind, like a peace on the scene and John boldly declares that that surpasses understanding) which the an- He could not just send a prophet or an an- “No one has ever seen God … the only God, cients longed to look into … to see into our day. gel who would only know in part. God chose who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him And only because Christ is God, can He now to come in person in Christ to reveal Himself. known” (John 1:18). John tell us from the top reveal God to us. How then is He doing this Jesus is the relentless, unbending love of God of his gospel that Jesus is the one who both is today? By Holy Spirit – who is constantly testi- that is radically for you at all times forever more. God and who sits “pros” face to face with God. fying of Christ. One of my favorite verses that Jesus means that God will never abandon you. “No one has ever seen God, but the one and attests to the full divinity of Holy Spirit is this: Jesus means that nothing can separate you only Son, who is Himself God and is in clos- from the love of God. est relationship with the Father, has made Him But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor known.” ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what When we are anchored in this, we realize all God has prepared for those who love Him”— those other whimsical prophetic endeavors to these things God has revealed to us through try and hear another word, an additional word the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, - all the reading of the tea leaves and fortune even the depths of God. For who knows a cookies – can be a flustering waste of time. person’s thoughts except the spirit of that We were leaning on our own intuitive abilities person, which is in him? So also no one to make a relationship happen. Rather than comprehends the thoughts of God except learning to rest and trust in Christ Himself as the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:9-11). the ultimate and final content of everything God is saying to us. That He really is enough. More THE SPIRIT SAYS: JESUS than enough. You don’t need a word … you have the Word dwelling inside you. The Spirit knows God because He is God. And now He is revealing God to us. But how? The We are looking for answers in addition to the only way possible. What is the Spirit saying? Answer. But when we stop asking stupid ques- JESUS tions and just drink in what He has given – begin to explore the depths of our inheritance in Jesus said the Spirit “shall testify of Me” (John Him – everything effortlessly begins to make 15:26). The Spirit “shall glorify Me” (John sense. Not that we understand all things, but 16:14). He will “bring to remembrance” Christ’s there is a peace that surpasses understanding. own words (John 14:26). Does Holy Spirit In an absolute sense no one knows God but teach, guide, counsel, empower, convict, help So to start our talk about God from the Per- the Son, because He alone is God. Jesus on a personal level in our lives? Of course! The son of Christ (the Wisdom from above), rather Christ is the perfection of God’s self-expres- entire cosmos is sustained in Him! Holy Spirit than our own human understanding (mere hu- sion, self-revelation, self-communication. His is a multi-tasker. Holy Spirit is God in His own man wisdom) … this means we need to shuck very objective was always a full and intimate right and is worthy of worship. But the apostle the “trademarked” version of Jesus co-opted disclosure. In fact, far deeper than the mind, John most clearly gives a Christological frame by all the various sects and return to the an- He came to achieve a complete visceral union of reference for the work of Holy Spirit. Ulti- cient faith. To say that God is ineffable does with the human race. Our knowing is far deeper mately in all that He does He is pointing us to not mean He has refrained from communicat- than a futile intellectual comprehension - to un- Jesus. The entire cosmos is pointing to Jesus. ing Himself to us. Quite the contrary! It is to say derstand God in that way would be impossible Jesus Christ is what Holy Spirit has been say- that He has already concretely and definitively as a toddler memorizing an organic chemistry ing to the human race the entire time. There is shown Himself fully to us in one way and one textbook. We ask all the wrong questions - and no other God outside the one you see in Je- way alone – completely apart from our efforts we’re not even speaking the right language. sus. No act of God outside of Him. Every other at mental gymnastics. Or even by a so-called But Jesus Christ is God in human language. ancillary, side issue God is speaking to you “plain” reading of scripture that misses the fact about is ultimately to fix your eyes on Jesus that Christ is the very point and summation to We cannot claim to have exhaustive knowl- and what He’s done. This has been the goal of which all the scriptures were pointing.

10 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue your whole existence. One … even this is plural. The Hebrew most lit- Christ – the entire Trinity – in the first chap- erally reads, “Hear o’ Israel, the Lord our Gods, ter of Revelation (not to mention we see the And so the great Mystery of this grand paradox the Lord is One.” prominence of the Spirit in verses such as 1 is that the unknowable God has made Himself What is the “Light of Life” mentioned in John 1? Cor. 6:11, Rom. 8:11, 1 Cor. 12:4-6 and more). known. The Infinite became finite. The Om- Jesus is the Light of the world, yes. And in fact, We are the elect, “according to the foreknowl- nipotent became impotent. The Unsearchable He says we are now the light of the world. But edge of God the Father, through sanctification became tangible - seen and heard and handled most specifically at the top of John’s Gospel, of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of … and now we have been given His very Spirit the Light of Life is this special unbroken rela- the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and of Truth to explore the infinite wonder of who tionship that Jesus shares with His Father, into peace, be multiplied” (1 Peter 1:2). He is. which we have been grafted. There are many more triadic references. My To them God has chosen to make known There is a plethora of binary verses of scripture point is to highlight that God is Trinity, despite among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this that reveal Jesus and His Father are two dis- how many sideline or outright reject His triune mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of tinct Persons (2 Cor. 4:14, Gal. 1:1, Eph. 1:20, nature as some novel theological invention. glory (Col. 1:27). and 1 Tim. 1:2 just to list a few). To reject God’s triune nature is to miss who Jesus is altogether. The first thing we should Let us never be so presumptuously overfamil- That which we have seen and heard declare say when describing God are not metaphysical iar with this “God Apparatus” of our own inven- attributes (He’s holy, sovereign, creator, just, tion that we lose the awe and mystery of this righteous, etc.) but that He is Father, Son and unsearchable treasure which we are so graced We must begin all our Holy Spirit. to search out in the simplicity of Christ. Let us give up the game of claiming expertise on all talk and knowledge about PERICHORESIS things spiritual but instead fix our eyes on the one and only means wherein by knowing noth- God with the person of The early fathers of the post-apostolic age of ing else, we can as John tells us, somehow un- Jesus. Not with humanis- the church had numerous differences in their fathomably “know all things.” beliefs on many doctrines. Yet in giving us the tic, logical concepts. church’s Creed, they knew that the one un- But you have been anointed by the Holy One, compromising truth that must be handed down and you all have knowledge (1 John 2:20). we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship to future generations is the basic fact of Who with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Fa- God is. And therefore, the major concern was This is not mere reason. This is an intimate ther, and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John to hammer out a scriptural understanding both knowing. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds 1:3). of the Trinity and Christology. Who is the Trinity, up. We can know all of God when we know Je- and specifically, who is Jesus? sus. And we experience the Glory of God, but In addition to these and many more, we also only because Christ gave us to participate in see a myriad of triadic verses in scripture that Yet today, most teachers could hardly speak that same Glory that He and the Father shared show the threeness of the God’s Persons. more than 15 minutes on the Trinity. Just about in the beginning. Chief of all is the baptismal formula practiced every human analogy for explaining the Trinity from the very beginning of the church: in Sunday school is a heresy. We are told the GOD AS TRINITY triune God is like three parts of an egg. Three Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- slices of a pie. Today we are even told the Trin- To really look at the Christ of scripture tells us ing them in the name of the Father, and of the ity is like a fidget spinner! that the Trinity is not a manmade concept. Al- Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matt. 28:19). though the word “Trinity” may not appear on But each of the three Persons is not “part” of the page of scripture, yet it is everywhere. We At Christ’s own baptism, we see the Father the Trinity like slices of a pie, that when put to- are overwhelmingly drawn into this special re- speaking, the Spirit descending and Jesus gether make up the whole. To see any Person lationship of Father, Son and Spirit that exists Himself taking the plunge on behalf of human- of the Trinity is to see all of God, as One is as the being of the one God. The Bible begins ity. And we have Paul’s great Trinitarian bene- never without the Others. The Trinity travels in with plurality in Genesis 1: In the beginning diction in 2 Corinthians 13:14: May the grace of a pack. You do not get Jesus one day, then if God (Elohim: plural) created the heavens and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and you grunt and pray hard enough you get the the earth. He said, “Let us create man in our the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Spirit another day. Each Person of the entire image.” Even the mantra of Jewish monothe- Trinity fully interpenetrates the other! This is ism, the Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6: There is also John’s greeting from the Ancient the beautiful reality of perichoresis – the mutual Hear o’ Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is of Days, the sevenfold Spirit of God and Jesus indwelling, literally the dance of each member Continued on page 12 >

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 11 … no earthly analogy can fully explain the Trinity < Continued from page 11 club! This is the Mystery of the ages. There is The Father is not a single monarch over the of the Trinity fully present within One another. It no adequate analogy that exists on planet earth three. There is a monarchy of the entire Trin- is why Paul can say in Colossians 2:9 that the to describe the infinite wonder of the Trinity. Yet ity … this is the true Christian faith. Otherwise fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus Christ from scripture we are guarded from some cer- Jesus is not fully God. in bodily form. And therefore, Paul’s scandal- tain wrong ways of thinking about God that will ous conclusion in the next verse is that now, throw us back into the darkness of religion and Again, when we are talking about the Godness by your effortless union with Christ, you too are “separation thinking.” of God … He is one being. There are not three now full of the Godhead! Gods - that is tritheism. We can never deem- Neither Person of the Trinity is before or after phasize the unity of God (His oneness). Yet this This perichoresis is also why Jesus can say the other. The Trinity is not a hierarchy with the is always a triunity. God does not have three that “anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father at the top. That is wrong. The Son is separate wills or minds. There is distinction Father” (John 14:9). This does not mean Je- fully God. The Spirit is fully God. The Father is in God, but not division. Unity with distinction. sus is the Father. Sadly, we have a lot of basic, not a single monarch, from which the Son and God is one. And yet when we are talking about foundational teaching to do if the church is to Spirit came into being. Jesus never came into the Persons of God (the word is hypostases) rediscover Who God is. Fortunately we don’t being. He is not a created being who began on … He is Three. need to reinvent the wheel. Because Christ the first Christmas. He is the eternal Son from has definitively revealed the triunity of God, we So we must emphasize both the unity of God, have a solid, foundational understanding of the as well as the distinction of the Persons. The Trinity, which has been passed down by the fa- So many Evangelicals reject the Persons are not separate, rather they are dis- thers of the church and should be Christianity tinct. 101. So let us dive in: idea of mysticism, then run off NOT MODALISM There is one God in three Persons. half-cocked trying to explain Not three Gods. Not one Person. away the inexplicable God. Furthermore, we must always guard against The Son is not the Father. the age-old heresy of modalism, quite popu- The Father is not the Son. lar today amongst snake-handling “Oneness” The Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Pentecostals (but also subconsciously be- But the Son is God. before all ages. Jesus is not a little lesser than lieved by many Christians who don’t have a The Father is God. the Father. The Father did not abandon His clue about the Trinity). The Spirit is God. Son on the cross to pay off His own wrath, be- And yet there are not three Gods. cause the Father is a little higher or holier. We Modalism says that God is just one Person, There is one God. killed Jesus, not the Father. God was in Christ who alternates at any given time between three One God. Three Persons. reconciling the cosmos to Himself. There is modes. In other words, one day He is the Fa- never some “other” unknowable dark side of ther, another day He is the Son and then later THE TRINITY IS NOT A HIERACHY God hiding behind Jesus’ back. Jesus on the He becomes the Spirit. This line of thinking can cross fully displays the other-giving love of the play out in a number of ways. Some may say No creative rethinking is needed here. The entire Trinity. Jesus pre-existed as the Holy Spirit. Or Jesus church fathers, both East and West, painstak- is the Father. Or perhaps that after Jesus as- ingly handed this ultimate truth to us over count- Although the Father may rightly be named cended He became Holy Spirit. But all of this less generations of drinking and living from the “source” in His role in the Trinity, yet He was denies the vital relationality that exists within Gospel. When we speak of the “Godness” of never before the Son. The Son is eternally be- the being of God. God, He is one Being. When we talk about the gotten of the Father with no starting point. No distinction of the Persons, He is three. Apart origin. He has always been the Father’s radi- Again, God is one Being in three Persons. But from this unity with relationality, we will never ance. Yet He is defined as Son because He is modalism is so widespread today, that even the see that God truly is Love, nor understand that Son of the Father. Likewise, the Father is de- famous televangelist T.D. Jakes built a mas- the very plan of salvation was to adopt us into fined as Father because He is the Father of the sive worldwide ministry platform as a modal- the divine family. Son. God is defined by this relationship. There ist without even believing in the Trinity! Only in was never any “God” existing prior to the Son. recent years has he repented of such a horrific “But I don’t understand this!” Welcome to the lie and come to realize the truth of the Trinity. If

12 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue you have ever believed differently on some of manity and divinity were separate. At no point keeps us from relying on our own human striv- these things, do not kick yourself – you are not was He ever a man when He was also not si- ing through a clearer picture of Who God really alone. I would say most Western evangelicals multaneously God. This denies the incarnation. is and what He has actually pulled off on our are heretics on at least one of these points. But There was never a time when His humanity ex- behalf in Jesus. it may be time to put a little priority in life on isted apart from His divinity. He was eternally at least grasping the most foundational iden- God before the virgin birth. And He was God Understand this: almost every Christological tity of Who we worship: this one God in three and Man together from the very conception heresy is a failure to either recognize Jesus’ Persons. of the virgin birth, nine months before the first full divinity or His full humanity. Christmas. Before He was born in Bethlehem, Jesus did In the Western church, our biggest issue is not pre-exist as the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not I understand that charismatics generally think Greek dualism (separation thinking), which the Father. He was not praying to Himself. On of “heresy hunters” as lemon-sucking prudes, cannot stomach the idea of a perfect “holy” the cross, He did not commit His spirit into the because many of them wrongly reject any tan- God taking on broken human flesh. It’s the hands of Himself, but to His Father. When He gible interaction with Holy Spirit – often rejecting idea that the physical, material world is essen- spoke of sending Another … He wasn’t talking tially “bad” wherein the purely spiritual world is about Himself, but Holy Spirit. “good.” It posits a separation, so that God and man could not exist in the same place. Separa- And shall we say something about Holy Spirit? tion between God and man is where religion For all their supposed focus on Holy Spirit, builds an industry. If God and man are not fully most charismatics have it drastically wrong. united in Jesus, then you yourself can never be Holy Spirit is not “The Force” from Star Wars, united to God. wherein if we get more and more of our divine energy-meter up through fasting and prayer, NEO-ARIANISM we become some kind of Smith Wigglesworth/ Luke Skywalker. Holy Spirit does not come in The largest heresy ever to hit the church was portions; He comes in Person. Holy Spirit is a Arianism, which denied that Jesus is fully God Person of the Godhead. As the Creed most bib- – the very lie that the Nicene Creed was forged lically tells us, He is the Lord and Giver of Life to combat in the fourth century. For all our talk who together with Father and Son is worthy of about “progressive” Christianity, what we re- worship and adoration. Holy Spirit is God. ally need is “regressive” Christianity … we need to push this mother all the way back to God is not three parts. He is three Persons. the Nicene Creed and remember what it’s all Each fully God. None God without the Other. about! At one point Arianism had so infected To say Holy Spirit is a “Person” does not mean the church that there were likely more Arians He is flesh and blood (we don’t define “person” than actual Christians. Arians would say Jesus merely by having a physical body). was “Savior,” the “Son of God,” etc. – ironically they would even worship Him. But they didn’t DRINK STRAIGHT CHRISTOLOGY believe He was God. Essentially, they believed Jesus was merely the “highest of all creation” - Now with this overview of the Trinity in sight, not the Creator Himself. Unless He is fully God, let us turn more closely to Christology. Who is spiritual gifts, etc. Heresy hunters themselves then God does not save. And unless He is fully Jesus? It is here that we must have a straight, are usually blind to their own pet heresies. But man, then man has not been saved. Arius said pure drink of truth with no additives, if we are to in fact, it is quite important that we do indeed that “there was a time when Jesus was not.” know God. So let us dive deep … avoid the danger of heresy. I say this not in a He claimed that the Son had a beginning. If a sense of paranoia often engendered over the line was drawn between Creator and creation, Jesus did not become a God. He always was. topic of heresy. Let us humbly acknowledge we Jesus was clearly on the “creation” side of that Again, Jesus is not the Father. But nor is Jesus are all learning and growing: all of us probably line for the Arians. And therefore, the church in any way different than the Father. He is the have a little heresy in there somewhere. Root- fathers hammered out the core truth of our faith visible image of the invisible God. ing out heresy does not mean we should turn in the face of this error – boldly proclaiming that into angry, bitter critics. But proclaiming a her- Jesus Christ is “begotten of the Father before Jesus was not just some perfect man who one esy-free message of Christ and Him crucified all ages, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, day became God when He entered the River actually protects us from depressive, destruc- begotten, not made; of one being with the Fa- Jordan. This is the ancient heresy of adoption- tive, religious self-efforts at pleasing God, and ism. There was no point at which Jesus’ hu- ultimately saving ourselves, largely because it Continued on page 16 >

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 13 Itinerary Find the Party Near You! Schools, conferences & mission trips with John Crowder 2020 Oregon Joy Clinic January 10-11 The Dalles, OR

Detroit Mystical School January 17-19 Detroit, MI

Holland Mystical School January 24-27 Nijkerk, Netherlands

Redding Mystical School February 7-9 Live Monthly Web Conference: Interact With John Crowder Redding, CA Our interactive monthly Web seminar, Inner Sanctum, connects supernatural gospel grace drinkers all around the world on a regular basis. The live teaching and exclusive Harrisburg Mystical School February 21-23 online chat features have enabled us to bring fresh revelation to viewers right to their homes, churches and house groups. Each month, we answer your burning questions Harrisburg, PA and unpackage the glorious gospel in a fresh, intoxicating atmosphere of impartation and glory! If you’re diving into grace revelation and want to plug in deeper with life- Russia Gospel Tour March 6-14 changing messages, we invite you or your group to join as a member of our online community at Kaliningrad, Izhevsk, Nizhny Novgorod www.TheNewMystics.TV

Triggered! Omaha April 3-4 FRESH LIVE MATERIAL EACH MONTH Omaha, NE DIRECT ACCESS TO JOHN CROWDER PRIVATE RESOURCES FOR MEMBERS ONLY The Creed: Europe May 15-17 Bern, Switzerland Upcoming Broadcast Schedule: Ohio Mystical School May 29-31 January 5 February 16 Dayton, OH March 29 April 19 FUNdamentalism June 19-20 May 24 June 14 Pensacola, FL July 12 www.TheNewMystics.TV Telos U.K. - Europe July 25-31 All seminars are held on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific Cornwall, England

Southwest Tour August 14-22 Online Community ... Intoxicating Fun! Our ministry events are full of joy and impartation, but let’s face it ... you can’t make it Albuquerque, San Antonio, Phoenix, Tijuana to every conference in the world! Inner Sanctum is a way to plug you into a steady diet of gospel revelation right in your own home. Everywhere we travel, people are always Hawaii Marriage Retreat September 24-26 asking us, “How can we stay connected with the Message?” The Inner Sanctum is a great tool as you grow in grace. Lahaina, Maui Our Most Comprehensive Teaching Resource! Louisville Gentlemen’s Retreat October 15-17 Since we’ve launched Inner Sanctum at TheNewMystics.TV, we have posted more w/ Baxter Kruger & Godfrey Birtill than 160 hours of archived teachings – and as a member, you receive instant access to watch all of this footage, anytime! Your monthly membership contribution ($19.95) also helps support our ministry endeavors all around the world! Gather your family and Theophany USA November 1-7 friends to enjoy each month’s event together! Portland, OR w/ Baxter Kruger Each month, you can take part in our live, interactive seminars where John Crowder spends several hours engaging one-on-one with viewers right from his home study. Nicaragua Mission Jan. 8-14, 2021 Ask us your questions live for our real-time Q&A ... or just kick back and have a laugh w/ Matt Spinks as other members log in and join the fun. These are NOT recorded church meetings! Instead, John engages live-in-person with viewers, answering your questions and getting you activated in the gospel message. Join us as we savor the bliss of mystical Christianity and the supernatural realities of the new creation.

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14 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue Mission to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Beyond Gospel Miracle Outreach in Islamic Stan Nations of Central Asia In March, an adventurous Sons of Thunder team also held a feeding outreach to the poor and minis- trekked into the seven Islamic “stan” nations of tered to orphans in this hotbed of radical terrorism. Central Asia. Starting in Afghanistan, the team min- Pakistani intelligence officers were tracking our ev- istered at a heroin rehab facility, as 20 percent of ery move the whole time. the population in the war-torn country faces opiate addiction. Still an active war zone, explosions in Thanks to the support of all our partners for helping Kabul marked our departure. Then with almost no us take the Message to the ends of the earth! We connections at all, Holy Spirit began opening pow- value your financial partnership in our continued erful, spontaneous doors of ministry as we packed work; please pray about joining us as a monthly out underground church meetings in the predomi- partner at www.thenewmystics.com/partners nantly Muslim nations of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. We also traversed the secretive, If you missed these recent mission adventures, we hermit dictatorship of Turkmenistan. Knowing ab- have another opportunity for you to join us in the solutely no one in Uzbekistan the day before we nations. Although our upcoming teams to Africa and arrived, nearly 500 people gathered with only 24 Russia are completely full and now closed to ap- hours’ notice for a powerful Gospel Glory event. plicants, there is still one chance for you to travel Barely making our way into Pakistan due to bomb- with us to the mission field. John will bring a team ings and forced airspace closures, we finally en- to Nicaragua in January 2021 on a trip that will be tered with a security team and hosted a massive jointly hosted with Matt Spinks. Make plans early to miracle evangelism campaign, gathering thou- join the ministry team! See story on page 21 and for sands and releasing many supernatural healings more information on sign up, visit with the message of Christ and Him crucified. We www.thenewmystics.com/nica

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 15 … in His own Person Jesus exists as our Salvation

< Continued from page 13 docetism says Jesus was divine, but He was THE PERSON AND THE WORK ther, through whom all things were made.” not really flesh and bone. He was just a spec- tre or a ghost (like a hologram). Remember, Torrance also hammers home the vital reality A heresy as big as Arianism does not just go the dualistic mind thinks flesh or materiality is that the Person and saving work of Christ must away. It morphs and changes over time. In to- inherently evil. The pure God could not have be taken together as one whole. Salvation is day’s Evangelical world, people are still doing taken on a sullied, disgusting human body of not just something He did on the cross, but a disservice to Jesus’ “one being” with His Fa- physical matter. But John says any spirit that something that Jesus is in His very incarnation. ther by promulgating the greatest heresy of the claims Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh is modern Western church: the ridiculous idea of the antichrist (1 John 4:2-3). John takes this Paul resolved to know nothing but Christ and that the Father was abandoning Jesus on the further than saying God just became “human.” Him crucified. The person and the act. Every- cross. It puts Jesus down the “God ladder” a He says God became sarx … flesh! thing Christ said and did must be interpreted rung beneath the Father and denies His very in the framework of Who He is. Jesus is the divinity. It denies the very “one being” (homo- Jesus had body odor. He sat around the camp- embodiment of the God-Man union. In His ousion) Jesus shares with His Father. The fire and ate with the boys. Yes: Jesus farted. own being, He is the “place” of our union with Father never turned His back on the Son. The I’ll say it loud and proud. If you want a non- God. Salvation is not just a commodity that He Father does not do abandonment. No, on the human Jesus, then you are denying the very hands out to some or withholds from others. cross Jesus was entering into our human blind- Jesus Christ is Salvation. ness to the love of God, in order He sustains the cosmos that our own eyes may be open to in His incarnate being and see. somehow mystically did so “before” the incarnation Do not think that denying Jesus’ happened - the Lamb slain full Godhood is just a heresy re- before the foundation of the served for Mormons and Jeho- world. He is the permanent vah’s Witnesses. In a recent poll union of God and man. He among 3,000 confessing Evangel- is indivisible. He cannot be icals in Christianity Today, a whop- separated from His Father; ping 71 percent believed “Jesus is and He cannot be separat- the first and greatest being creed from our humanity. ated by God.” And yet ironically 97 percent say they believe in the There is no point in time in Trinity. Not to mention a massive which the incarnation will number also believe Holy Spirit is be reversed. Therefore, a force rather than a Person. How He could never remove His has the church fallen into such a state of utter incarnation that is your very salvation. Gregory Spirit from you without a reversal of His own apostasy, confusion and disrepair? Pastors are Nazianzen said, “The unassumed is the un- being. The incarnation is an entire new way of so busy giving life hacks and pep talks … no redeemed.” Jesus had to assume a complete doing business. Heaven and earth have been one even knows Who Jesus is anymore. and full humanity in order to fully redeem that completely rewired in the incarnation. There is humanity. Rejecting your humanity is not spiri- now no separation between God and man. The REAL GOD. REAL FLESH. tuality. Many try to run a spiritual race; they only “separation” exists in our stupid, crazed don’t know how to be part of the human race. thinking as a byproduct of our sin and shame. So Arianism rejected Jesus’ full divinity, calling And even this ridiculous darkened thinking is Him a creature. But what about the other side T.F. Torrance says, “The union of God and man what He came to obliterate. of the same coin? What about those who be- in Christ is the basic fact of the Christian faith. lieved Jesus to be God, but not really human? … the doctrine of the union of God and man in DISTINCT FROM CREATION This was the other of the largest early church Christ is the absolute heart of the gospel. … heresies, called gnostic docetism (I hate to say It tells that because Christ is the permanent God is not separate, but He is still distinct from “early church heresy” because all this stuff still union of God and man, His person is the in- His creation. In other words, we must avoid the circulates today in various forms). Gnostic divisible and living centre of our salvation for ridiculous pseudo-spiritual new age mumbo all time.” jumbo making fresh rounds again today ….

16 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue The idea that all of creation is just a part or an ty: there is no schizophrenia. Perfect cohesion one of whatever a person entails. extension of God. and togetherness. He is one. All of the God stuff. God and creation are distinct from one another, Jesus is also not part God, part man. He is not All of the man stuff. but not separate. There is unity with distinction. half-and-half like some demigod. He is fully In one package. So often today you hear people flippantly say, God and fully man simultaneously. “Aaahhh we’re all God man! We’re all a part of CHRIST’S EXCLUSIVE DIVINITY God!” No you’re not, space cadet. You are not Jesus is also not some “third thing” that results running the cosmos. You can’t even clean your from putting the two natures together. If you Furthermore, Jesus is not a guy who was own room. This is just a rehashed new age mix together Hydrogen and Oxygen you get uniquely “united” to God who proves a point pantheism borrowed from the errors of Eastern something altogether different: H2O (water). about us: how we can potentially connect with religions. But Jesus is not a commingling of the divinity God on our own. He does indeed prove a point and humanity in a way that loses the distinction about our own union with the divine – for Je- We are indeed united to God, but we are still of each nature (as if a + b = c). In Latin, that is sus reveals the true identity of the human race, distinct from God. Hold both sides of this equa- what’s called a tertium quid (it means a “third made in the divine image. Yet Jesus is doing tion together, and you’ll avoid the errors of both thing”). No Jesus is not some third composite much more than demonstrating. He likewise East and West. The West tells you we are “sep- makes our own union with God a reality. Jesus arate” from God. Wrong. The East tells you we is not a regular man united to God like we are. are “part of God.” Also wrong. We are not amal- The only true theology will always Jesus is God become flesh. No other man is gamated together with Him into “sameness.” God in this way. Jesus Christ has no beginning. be a “top-down” theology: for God As the unique and only begotten Son, all things We are not separate from God – we are united. has come to fully reveal Himself were made through Him (including us) long be- We are not the same as God – we are distinct. by coming to us in Jesus Christ. fore He took flesh from the virgin. With no distinction, without your own unique Christology will always be the pur- We are recipients of His divine nature, and in- individual being, there is no relationship. No deed gods (yet He holds a unique and exclu- love. Unity with distinction! Remember that, est theology. sive status as the Only Begotten, because He because in a higher but similar way, you see has no origin, no beginning). Jesus is “eternally this principle within the Trinity. You also see it thing that is not quite God, not quite man – but begotten,” meaning He has always existed within Jesus Himself (His two distinct natures something else. Jesus Christ is God without with and in and from the Father without a start- in one unified Person). reserve; He is man without reserve. Both na- ing point – before all worlds. He is unoriginate. tures being unmixed and unconfused. As the Only His “becoming flesh” two thousand years early church councils so clearly explained from ago had a starting point. The infinite Creator THE HYPOSTATIC UNION scripture, both natures of Christ maintain their entered into His finite creation. And this hypo- full distinction and integrity. Yet Jesus Christ is static union with created flesh was always His On this note, if we are talking about Christol- still one Person. By the word “person” we are eternal purpose and will have no ending point. ogy, we must address the hypostatic union: the not just talking about His human side … we are It is Fully God who became fully one of us. union of Jesus’ humanity and divinity. talking about His one whole complete nonfrac- tured identity. No one else will ever be God incarnate or die Christ has two natures in one person. for the sins of the world. Jesus is an exclusively We do not separate His two natures so that He unique Person, and He accomplished an ex- Christ has a human nature and a divine nature. is not one Person. And we do not combine His clusively unique work. Jesus’ humanity is still distinct from His divin- two natures in a way that they each lose their ity. But both together are still “Jesus” as one distinction. As creatures we have been “endowed” with Person. The name “Jesus” does not refer only this divinity, thanks to His incarnation and sav- to His human side. The title “Son of God” does And how do we define a “nature”? I don’t have ing act. Jesus was not a great guru who helps not refer only to His divine side. He is the Son a clue! The church fathers seemed to leave on our “spiritual journey” to teach us how to as- of God and the Son of Man in one package: that rather ambiguous for a reason. How are cend and become divine on our own. He is not Jesus. we going to define the nature of God anyway? merely an example. Jesus is without beginning We cannot even properly define what is thena - - He was not made. He is the eternal Son who He is one Person, wherein both the divine and ture of a human! All we know is that Jesus has stepped into creation. human are held together. And that is the beau- two of whatever the natures entail, and He has Continued on page 22 >

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 17 Meditations of the Mystics “The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything … I have waited for Your silence and Your peace to “I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup God is the ground, the substance, the teaching, the staunch and cleanse them, O my Lord. You will heal than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love teacher, the purpose, and the reward for which every me when You will, because I have trusted in You. of God.” soul labors.” I will not wound myself anymore with details with - Brennan Manning - Julian of Norwich which I have surrounded myself like thorns—a pen- ance that You do not desire of me.” “The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. “Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, - Thomas Merton It is the way we look at them - through faith or un- and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away belief - that makes them seem so. We must be con- the hunger.” “(Wisdom) is so bright and glorious that you cannot vinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He - Basil look at her face or her garments for the splendor with only permits trials to come our way for our own good. which she shines. For she is terrible with the terror of Let us occupy ourselves entirely in knowing God. “The self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension the avenging lightning, and gentle with the goodness The more we know Him, the more we will desire to - above, in creation; below, in the incarnation; in the of the bright sun; and both her terror and her gentle- know Him. As love increases with knowledge, the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout more we know God, the more we will truly the world. All things have been filled with the love Him. We will learn to love Him equally knowledge of God.” in times of distress or in times of great joy.” - Athanasius ― Brother Lawrence

“The incarnation has made mystics of us “… deeds are done which appear so evil to all.” us and people suffer such terrible evils that - Vincent Pizzuto it does not seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we consider this, “The mystic lives and looks; and speaks the sorrowing and grieving over it so that we disconcerting language of first-hand experi- cannot find peace in the blessed contempla- ence.” tion of God as we should do; and this is why: - Evelyn Underhill our reasoning powers are so blind now, so humble and so simple, that we cannot know “Theology without practice is the theology of the high, marvelous wisdom, the might and demons.” the goodness of the Holy Trinity. And this is - Maximus the Confessor what He means where He says, ‘You shall see for yourself that all manner of things “Love every person, regardless of his sinful shall be well’, as if He said, ‘Pay attention state. Sin is sin, but the basis of a human to this now, faithfully and confidently, and at being is one and only - the image of God.” the end of time you will truly see it in the - John of Kronstadt fullness of joy.’ ” ― Julian of Norwich “There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm “Let the water flow beneath the bridge; let for the patient acquisition of virtue.” men be men, that is to say, weak, vain, in- - Eugene Peterson constant, unjust, false, and presumptuous; ness are incomprehensible to humans. ... But she is let the world be the world still; you cannot prevent it. “... the passion for popularity brings such injury upon with everyone and in everyone, and so beautiful is Let every one follow his own inclination and habits; those it masters that it shipwrecks faith itself. Our her secret that no person can know the sweetness you cannot recast them, and the best course is, to let Lord confirms this when He says, ‘How can you have with which she sustains people, and spares them in them be as they are and bear with them. Do not think faith in Me when you receive honour from one an- inscrutable mercy.” it strange when you witness unreasonableness and other and do not seek for the honour that comes from - Hildegard of Bingen injustice; rest in peace in the bosom of God; He sees the only God?’” it all more clearly than you do, and yet permits it. Be - Gregory Palamas “For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of content to do quietly and gently what it becomes you friendship with God.” to do, and let everything else be to you as though it “All day I have waited for You with my faculties still - Theresa of Avila were not.” bleeding the poison of their suppressed activity. ― François Fénelon

18 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue Lose Your Religion at Cana Seminary Online Scandalous Grace, Joy Unspeakable: Study at Your Own Pace!

Cana is a two-year course, with two semesters per Two-Year E-Course Returns year. With an easy course load of only one session per week, students can enjoy the class at their own Earlybird registration opens in March for our online pace and connect on a live Q&A with John Crowder E-course kicking off in October 2020. Want to get each semester. There is a private discussion group brainwashed with new creation ways of thinking on Facebook, and we have an engaging recom- every week for two whole years of your life? Cana mended reading list. New Wine Seminary is oriented for more than the intellect, but also to experience your tangible ecstatic union with God. We call it a drunken seminary! Cana Online was created for folks who want to study from home at their own pace … but not just to ac- cumulate more information. Cana is specifically for those looking for tangible, supernatural substance Cana Speakers Include: and transformation in their way of perspective – not John Crowder just relaying irrelevant concepts. Cana speaks both to the head and the heart. Drenched in the wine of Lily Crowder divine love. Students have been so impacted by this life-changing school, that some have taken the en- Dr. C. Baxter Kruger tire course multiple times to keep drinking it all in. Francois Du Toit

Is This Seminary Just for Nerds? (Mirror Bible) Matt Spinks Cana is a course for anybody and everybody: not just preachers and academics. Whether you have a Dr. Eric Wilding degree or no formal education at all, you will fit right in, and we guarantee the concepts will be revolution- Rod Williams ary – even if you are a long-time pastor. Have you ever desired to plunge into theological study, but you lack patience to sift through dead, dry doctrine and lifeless intellectualism … or maybe you want to grow in your understanding of grace, but just can’t find the extra time to study? These were the very motivating Mark Your Calendar: factors for starting Cana. Our goal was to gather a Earlybird Registration Opens March 27 heavy hitting roster of non-religious, grace-based in- The online format allows us to offer Cana at a frac- structors who have a profound grasp of the finished tion of the cost of physically attending a campus. work of the cross – at an easy pace of study. No Earlybird registration starts at only $275 for the first time-wasting fluff or tedious homework. semester, or $650 for the entire first year. Sign up by September 30 in order to take advantage of this The goal of the course is not to memorize a bunch of discounted rate. rote, irrelevant doctrinal information. We want a living theology school that is experiential, mystical and For serious Gospel junkies, you can double up and on fire with the presence of God. Theology should take BOTH years of Cana simultaneously – finishing not be boring. The pure, unmixed message of grace the course in just one year. Check out the Double intoxicates us with divine love and produces real, Course Load option at our website. radical change and fruitfulness in our daily lives. But our belief systems are drastically important to how Find out more about Cana at we perceive God, ourselves and how we encounter www.cana.co life around us! We need some good news – theological Prozac!

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 19 TELOS: A WEEKLONG ECSTATIC GOSPEL INTENSIVE te·los (n. Greek: ultimate end, purpose, objective, aim) TELOS Course Curriculum Topics “It is finished … “ This simple but infinitely loaded statement spoken by Jesus on the cross Ecstatic Experience Trinity and the Creeds A biblical and historical grid for trances and Holy A walk through the early church creeds to reground spills from the Greek word telos. Christ in His Spirit infilling, covering the topic of “drinking in the our bearings. Returning to the grammar of the Trin- saving act accomplished all things single-hand- Spirit” from a lens of God’s goodness, divine union ity in our belief systems, and exposing the lies of edly. But even more, Christ in His very Person is and a life of joy unspeakable. Arianism that still pervade our thinking. the Telos: the consummation of all things. What does it really mean to discover our entire lives Supernatural Phenomena Christology are summed up in Him and His finished work? An extensive walk through supernatural church We have unwittingly diminished either the divinity history, sharing testimonies and examples of bizarre or humanity of Christ. Explore not just the act of What does it mean to reorient all our thoughts miracles, signs and wonders that are often clinically salvation, but in His very “being” as the God-Man, about God along these lines? removed from most seminaries. Christ Himself is our union with God.

This year we are hosting a unique course. A Faith & the New Birth Inner Healed jam-packed, concentrated deep dive to com- Most “born again” Christians have no grid for the Discussing thought structures, counseling, habit pletely rework our understanding of the Gospel. new birth. Catch a deeper understanding of regen- patterns and deliverance from a finished work Western Christianity is riddled with pagan my- eration, the effortless gift of faith and its supernatu- perspective. Explore how the concept of “process ral dynamics, apart from striving human willpower. sanctification” of the soul is a pagan concept. thology of separation from a distant, legal God whilst peddling religious formulas for solving the Open Heavens Q&A Sessions separation problem. We’re left dull, dry, bored Open heavens is an important topic, though often There will be several sessions of discussion, and powerless. We must re-evangelize the wrongly portrayed as something we must attain as well as time for personal prophecy. Limiting foundation of our beliefs from the ground up. through prayer, fasting or worship. Explore the reali- registration and keeping the Telos groups small will The Gospel is the end of man’s religious fears ties of the glory realm available as a gift. foster deeper dialogue and more interaction. and striving. In 2020 we are offering an entire Creative Miracles Song of Solomon overdosing week of Gospel intoxication and There is inheritance and authority in the New Cre- John will unpack his 15 years of study in the Can- religious detox on countless topics, renewing ation. With practical wisdom and a better under- ticles during a revelatory impartation session. The us to a happy, experiential revelation of union standing of identity and delegated power, flowing in favorite book of the mystics, the Song mystically and the finished work of Christ. For seven days, a miraculous lifestyle becomes normal. and experientially engages the heart. John Crowder will unleash a full arsenal that is not merely doctrinal but a hands-on, imparta- Finished Work of the Cross Apostolic, Prophetic & Fivefold Unpacking the foundational truth of the New Cre- A session discussing a healthy approach to the tional, supernatural smorgasbord of joyful com- ation in Christ and our spotless identity, empowering apostolic, walking in the prophetic in the New Cov- munion in the Presence and life of the Spirit. us to live completely free from the old nature in holi- enant and control-free church leadership models ness. Blasting the myth of the sinful nature. for those burned out on Pentecostalism. A Destination Event Prayer, Fasting & Fullness Hell and Inclusion Maybe you’ve attended a Mystical School, Reworking “transactional” Christian disciplines in An extensive look at the twin topics of the inclusion you’ve graduated Cana, or just new to the light of the New Covenant. The Fullness of God is of mankind in the vicarious humanity of Christ, and not a thing to be attained through asceticism or ef- the implications to the controversial doctrine of Hell ministry altogether. This fun, yet challenging fort, but a present reality we discover. from a Biblical and historic perspective. intensive has something for everyone. But it will only be held in two locations worldwide in Understanding Atonement Dualism: Money, Sex, Beer 2020 with extremely limited registration. This is Unwinding the lies of penal substitution and the See how gnostic Greek dualism ruins a healthy not just a localized regional meeting - this is a concept of a bloodthirsty God. What if the cross is connection between our spiritual and natural lives unique destination event: one for Europe/U.K. not about paying off the Father’s wrath? What if the by pitting them against one another through vari- church has radically missed the Trinity? and the other for North America. Telos U.K. will ous unbiblical lies of separation. feature worship with Godfrey Birtill in Cornwall, Election & Free Will Pneumatology England July 25-31. And for North America, we Does God harden some chosen for destruction? For those tired of steps and formulas to “get” Holy have Theophany - a special Telos event with Who is chosen? Is salvation our choice or God’s? Spirit, we will explore a Christocentric theology of John, but also featuring guest Baxter Kruger in How is all of humanity represented in Christ? See Holy Spirit as well explore the Seven Spirits of God Portland, Oregon (see page 21). Find out more Romans 9-11 in a new Christocentric light. with enriching stories and examples. and catch a video overview at: www.thenewmystics.com/telos

20 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue Theophany: A Week-Long USA Telos Event In November 2020 we are launching our second ever ahead and set aside time to fly in for this extended religion and intoxicates us to the core with an ever- extended seven-day event in North America called retreat. present reality of God’s closeness. This foundation Theophany. While following many of the same overall course threatens to upturn everything we have known topics in the Telos course (see page 20), Theophany A theophany is the “visible appearance or manifesta- about the Christian faith with a finished work perspec- will have a unique, distinct flavor of its own, because tion of God to humanity.” Prepare to be inundated by tive: bringing not only vital theological understanding, this event brings two voices to the table: both John the revelation of Christ – the embodied manifestation but also engaging in experiential activation and life Crowder and Dr. C. Baxter Kruger. Keep in mind that of God’s glory in flesh, now fully woven in union with transformation. Theophany is much more than a local meeting. Held us … Christ in us the hope of Glory! More than a time in Portland, Oregon, this it is an exclusive destination of encounter, this is an entire week exploring habita- Visit: www.thenewmystics.com/telos hub event for Gospel drinking pilgrims coming in from tion: unpackaging our unfettered access of unbroken all over North America. We encourage folks to plan union with God in Christ. The true Gospel terrorizes

Nicaragua Mission Trip: You can Join the Team!

Experience the supernatural and release the glorious Where Do I Begin? costs. Many folks end up finding friends or family who Gospel in the nations as part of a Sons of Thunder If you have a heart for missions, lean into the faith donate air miles, making the trip more affordable. To- mission trip! We have one trip currently open for ap- of Christ - taking the first simple step by sending in tal cost below includes all of your hotels, two meals plicants coming up January 2021. Our Nicaragua Mis- your initial application and deposit. It is normal to see per day and ground transportation. Email us with any sion will be co-hosted with John Crowder and Matt money miracles happen in fundraising for those who questions at [email protected] or visit the link Spinks. On this trip you will be on the team helping think they just can’t afford to go. Registration is now below: equip local churches in the Message of grace, healing open and the sign up deadline is Sept. 31 (registra- the sick and participating in outreach to the slums and tion may close earlier if the trip fills up). Keep in mind Nicaragua Mission garbage dumps. The team will minister at an event in you do not need your entire trip payment upfront. Only Managua and also travel to Esteli for ministry to the your initial application and deposit are needed to se- Total Cost: $1,750 poor. Our mission trips are literally life-changing expe- cure your spot, so take that faith plunge and apply Team Applications Due: SEPT. 31, 2020* riences - great for getting activated in the anointing early. You will have more time to raise the remainder Final Trip Payment Due: NOV. 15, 2020 and miracle-working power of the Gospel. of your funds up until the final trip payment date. This Trip Dates: JAN. 8-14, 2020 is a “make your own way trip,” which means we al- *Application window to close early if trip fills up. low you to purchase your own plane ticket to lower Registration: WWW.THENEWMYSTICS.COM/NICA

the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 21 … Jesus is God’s affirmation of the human race

< Continued from page 17 mind and will, together with His divine mind Jesus is not just a “woke” guy who realized His and will. He must be completely, fully human in THE HEALING OF DESIRE inner Christ consciousness … every way, in order to heal our humanity. There was an argument circulating that Jesus only In bearing a full human mind and will, here is and now we can likewise realize our own had “one energy” (monoenergism) and that He what is happening: Jesus is bending our bro- Christ consciousness by going through some- only had one “will” or “desire” (monothelitism). ken human minds and wills back to the Father. one’s online course. Absolutely Jesus shows But both of these were determined wrong ways “Not my will but yours be done” speaks not of us the pure divine image in which humanity of thinking about Christ. division but unity in the heart of the Trinity. The was made. He is the definition and blueprint true emancipation - your freedom from sin and of our authentic identity as divine sons and Jesus did not just have one energy; He had rebellion - is realized when we see that His will daughters. But alongside revealing our identity, two: a divine and human energy. And Jesus did is vicariously (in our place) the curbing and He did so much more! He is also the One who not have just one will/desire, He had two wills – healing of our own human desires. The whole singlehandedly regenerates, heals, adopts a human and a divine desire. kicker in this final church council at Constanti- and restores us. Even our own theosis - our nople was its agreement that the human and own divinization - is all a gift put into effect and Now on the surface are we saying Jesus is divine natures within Jesus were not in oppo- sustained by Him. This person Jesus Christ bipolar? Already so many teach a bipolar ver- sition to one another. The fathers are saying (fully God and fully man) is preeminent over all Jesus’ divine and natural will are in complete things. Not just an exemplar for us, but He is cohesion. Jesus has two wills totally reconciled the very sustainer of the cosmos. Jesus Himself is the Rosetta and compliant in unity. So therefore my human will is now vicariously and totally healed, recon- There is none like Him in that ultimate sense. Stone that unlocks to humanity ciled and made compliant to God! The struggle We are talking about the ineffable God of all is over! The Battle is over! creation. Jesus did not come merely to inspire the only accurate language and you to go improve your way toward divinity The divine and human in Christ must not be (which is religion). He destroyed religion. He is understanding of God. conceptualized in terms of separate parts, for the unifying agent. He both revealed our new one and the same is wholly both. The integ- nature and mystically regenerated and impart- sion of God as if Jesus and the Father have rity of Jesus’ humanity is not threatened by ed it to us. He united you to divinity. Not just by two separate wills. Quite often they point to the this union. The God nature does not just burn showing what you already are, but by calling drama of Gethsemane. As Jesus steps into the up, dissolve or eclipse the human nature. But you into being. full depth of becoming and bearing our sin in rather the one nature deifies, and the other is the Garden of Gethsemane, as He fully begins deified. There is no aspect of Jesus that does A HUMAN MIND AND WILL to empathetically bear our corruption in His not fully exist within this divine union. In this own body, it is such a weight and a burden that union He deifies our humanity. Jesus Christ was not just a human shell with He begins to sweat drops of blood. And here is a divine mind and will (a God mind and God where we get His dramatic statement in Luke He has two wills, but there is no act or will in spirit, but just wearing an outward skin suit on). 22:42: opposition to God in Christ. His human nature The early church councils were super clear on exists and wills in “perfect harmony in concur- the biblical importance of Jesus having a hu- “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from rence” with His divine will. Jesus entered into man mind, human will, human emotions - a hu- me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” the brokenness or dilapidated condition of our man soul in addition to His full divinity. Being fallen human will. Jesus stepped into our bro- fully man entails more than meat and bones – But this does not demonstrate two separate ken condition, and any twisted propensity we He assumed everything we are as mortal men. wills between Jesus and His Father. Why? Be- have to incline against our Creator. And He cause Jesus is clearly willing and choosing to beat back that twisted will into submission on The last binding ecumenical council was Con- do the Father’s will. So, if it is His desire to do our behalf. Torrance says: stantinople III ecumenical meaning all of the the Father’s desire … what is the difference? church fathers in both East and West came to One will! One desire! “Here the full humanity of Christ is of equal agreement). There they clarified it to be solid, importance with His deity. If Jesus is not God biblical orthodoxy that Jesus had both a human then it is not God that has saved us, but equal-

22 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue ly, if Jesus is not man then man has not been it happen. It has happened! Jesus made you own life and righteousness. Like Calvin, Tor- saved.” perfect. Therefore, let’s start living like it is real- rance emphasizes the whole human life of Je- ity. sus as being one of saving significance. And yet some would say, “But the hypostatic Christ is God’s positive affirmation of the hu- union isn’t relevant!!” Listen my friends, it is the As Paul said, Christ took on “the guise of sin- man race. As Karl Barth said, God has de- only thing relevant to your life. It is what gives ful humanity” yet Himself remained without sin. termined not to be God apart from humanity. meaning to anything at all! Christianity is not He took on the nature of Adam as it was af- There will forever be a human being seated in about drumming yourself into a frenzy or fer- ter the fall. I have been quoting heavily from the Trinity of God, and there we are, now mysti- vor at the next altar call. Not “getting your own T.F. Torrance whom I consider by far the best cally woven into the humanity of Jesus Christ. heart right” with the Lord. Jesus is not just God Christological theologian in the past century. Every breath we breathe is Trinitarian air. Ev- coming down to bring humans back to Himself. Robert T. Walker summarizes Torrance on this ery breath is Christological air. The humanity He is also the man in which this reconcilia- very topic: of God in Jesus Christ is vicariously our own tion is worked out for the whole human race. human plunge into the divine. And every fear- It is not even about “our” faith. Galatians 2:20 Sinless though He was, Jesus assumed sinful ful notion that the almighty power and glory of says, “I now live by the faith of the Son of God.” flesh and humanity, the whole fallen nature of God will destroy us is dethroned in the humble Christ is the real believer. And we are living out man, body, mind and soul. For Torrance, theol- recognition that He has united Himself to us in of His faith in the Father. Everything that He is ogy has no option but to say this since other- the humanity of Jesus. Furthermore, Holy Spirit in His humanity, He is vicariously for us. wise Jesus would not have reached us in our is not the destroyer but the Lord and Giver of actual condition. He took on Himself the sin of Life. Cyril of Alexandria said, “Just as the burn- Christ is both the subject and object of faith. ing bush was not consumed by the fiery pres- We could not trust God. So as man, He has ence of God, so the humanity of Christ is not trusted God vicariously for us, as us. We live by consumed by His deity.” And therefore, we are His faith. “Our faith” is only a participation in His vicariously brought into God’s Glory and pres- perfect trust. We can only “amen” His already ence in Jesus, so we likewise do not vanish given “yes” to us in Jesus. Our amen does not into smoke. You are on fire with God right now earn God’s approval of us; it agrees with it. and you may not even know it.

Torrance so strongly shows that the incarna- INCARNATION IS FOREVER tion is not just God acting for our salvation, but God acting as a man for us. In all our human And another crazy thing … God will always be responses of faith, repentance, obedience a human. The incarnation was not temporary. and sanctification. But how often do you hear God could have become a frog, a Martian or preachers even begin to touch on Christology? an angel. But He became man. We cannot be- On the hypostatic union? They do “come to Je- gin to realize the infinite honor of this - liter- sus” altar calls and miss the whole point. Jesus ally what a divine privilege for us to be human went to the altar. The Gospel is that Jesus has beings! The incarnation means God endorses already come to us. That’s an opposite mes- and honors humanity even more than we do. sage! Faith does not bridge the gap over to Je- Our own attempt at humanism is usually idola- sus. Faith is about realizing Jesus has already try, but God Himself is the true humanist! The bridged every gap and plopped God right into incarnation is God’s permanent identification the center of humanity. with the human race. Jesus did not return His body like a Hertz rental car on the Mount of BENDING OUR NATURE Ascent and evaporate into a cloud of pink e- vape smoke. The same nail-scarred feet that The advent (arrival) of God into mankind in the walked the soil of Nazareth are forever human incarnation, taking once and forever human feet. Incarnation is an eternal project. flesh from the virgin, signals a movement that is completely God-toward-man. It invalidates “For there is one God and one mediator be- all of man’s own futile religious attempts at ap- tween God and mankind, the man Christ Je- proaching God on our own merit, goodness or sus” (1 Tim. 2:5). philosophical comprehension. He’s here. God assumed not just the body of one man, but the world and as Paul says, God ‘made Him to Now yes, He is a glorified man ruling the cos- took all our human nature into His deity, in an be sin who knew no sin.’ While the climax of mos (after the resurrection Jesus was walking irreversible movement that has eternally united this, as referred to by Paul, was on the cross, through walls, transporting around and doing mankind to God. (it has its) beginning at Bethlehem … from the all sorts of crazy interdimensional stuff), so moment Jesus assumed flesh He began to pay don’t bother asking dumb questions like “If Je- This is not to say Jesus had a sinful nature (that the price for our liberation. Our redemption be- sus is still human, why can’t we spot Him float- is a more nuanced discussion to have). But He gan right away in the incarnation with Jesus’ ing around with the Hubble Space Telescope?” most definitely entered fallen human flesh and assumption of our sinful human nature. … Je- That is to limit Him to time and space. Never- experienced the lure of our perverse propen- sus sanctified fallen flesh – in taking on Himself theless, He has forever intersected time and sities, And He did so sinlessly, and brought it our fallen flesh, sinful as it was, Jesus did not space in His incarnation, life, death, resurrec- back into alignment with God. So that “in Je- sin, but sanctified our fallen humanity. He the tion and ascension and co-seated us together sus” my will is now vicariously and totally rec- second Adam took on Himself fallen Adamic with Himself at the right hand of the Father in onciled and compliant to God. I am free from humanity by His life of obedience in it undid its the fellowship of Holy Spirit. His humanity was sin. I am a new creation. The old is gone, the sin and restored it to fellowship with God. Liv- not discarded; it is still intact but was made im- new has come. Do not confuse this to mean ing in sinful human nature, Jesus wrestles with mortal. “In the incarnation we have the meet- “anything I ever desire to do is now the will of it ‘with strong crying and tears’ and through His ing of man and God in man’s place,” says God.” Nor does it mean “now I can do anything, life of prayer and unbroken obedience to the Torrance. “But in the ascension, we have the and nothing is defined as a sin anymore.” Father converts it back to Him. He grows up meeting of man and God in God’s place.” This in wisdom and knowledge of God, replacing means you have been fully glorified in Him … But objectively, you are perfect despite your the disobedience of Adam with His own human even if you haven’t seen it unpackaged yet. subjective experience. More accurately, you life of perfect righteousness. And in a life of in- are ontologically perfect (i.e. in your being) creasing solidarity with sinners, Jesus enters There will forever be eternal Mystery here to even if the truth of this doesn’t seem to have more and more into their condition, taking their explore … actualized or manifest yet in the outward par- sin and sickness on Himself in order to undo ticipation of your life. Knowing doesn’t make them by His purity and offer in exchange His the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 23 MONEY. SEX. BEER. GOD. NEW & CLASSIC BOOKS FROM JOHN & LILY CROWDER

Money. Sex. Beer. God. Chosen for Paradise Cosmos Reborn Grace for the Contemplative Parent In this Biblical companion to the The topic of election has confused Need a religious detox? Have a Based on the classic Practice of the happy life, learn how religious mind- theologians for centuries. Does God dose of happy theology on the new Presence of God, Lily gears this book sets of gnostic dualism slipped in harden hearts and choose some to creation! A grace-centered look at for real-time parents whose lives are over 2,000 years of church history fry forever in Hell? Explore the tough regeneration, the new creation and full of dirty diapers and soccer prac- and blinded us to the God-given passages of Romans 9-11 and gain the new birth. See the massive, cos- tice. Don’t have luxurious hours of joys and pleasures of this world. We new light on the debated doctrine. mic scope of the finished work of the quiet time like a 17th century monk? have often separated our spirituality God is not choosing one human over cross as John makes a scandalous You are not missing out. Be awak- from earthiness. But did Jesus really another. Jesus Christ is the chosen, case that the Father of Jesus Christ ened to the very real presence of condemn all enjoyment of this world? elect man on behalf of all humanity. is in a good mood. Get a gospel view Christ in your everyday, seemingly Ditch religion for the joy of incarna- And you are fully included in Him. of wrath, hell and dispel the myth of “mundane” state of affairs. Full of tion as John Crowder covers topics John’s shortest book aims to cheer a dark, schizophrenic god of religion. practical, down-to-earth examples your pastor is afraid to talk about. up theology’s biggest problem ever! One of our deepest books! and wisdom from a mother of four. B$26.95o nowo $19.95ks Hardback $14.95 Paperback $19.95 Hardback $14.95 Paperback Buy It At: JohnCrowder.Net Buy It At: JohnCrowder.Net Buy It At: JohnCrowder.Net Buy It At: JohnCrowder.Net

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John’s long-awaited Seven Spirits When you think of the cross, do you TwoTwo thousand years of miracle God has destined you to live in the Burning is an extensive, Biblical think of fun? Get ready for the gospel workers and seers crammed into joyful radiance of Himself, just as plunge into the nature and operation as you’ve never heard it. With clear one generation. The fiery bowls Adam was called to live in the realm of the sevenfold Spirit of God. This revelatory truths on the New Creation of heaven are being poured out of Eden. Ecstasy, or “extasis,” is the book unpackages a deep theological and the scandalous joys of the cross, through anan extreme extreme body body of spiritualof spiri- Greek term for trance, and is linked and Christocentric understanding of Mystical Union promises to be one tualforerunners. forerunners. Are youAre calledyou called to walk to with a pleasurable, God-given state the seven Spirits. John has taught of John’s most revolutionary, life- walkamong among them? them? Miracle Miracle W orkers,Work- of out-of body experience recorded for years on the seven Spirits, but changing works. The happy gospel ers,Reformers Reformers and andthe theNew New Mystics Mys- throughout the New Testament and not until now has he released this of grace is about uninterrupted union ticscontains contains more more than than 70 70 photos, the church age. In this book, John detailed compilation of his study and with the Divine. This book lays out illustrations,illustrations, and biographiesbiographies ofof takes us on a journey from Old and experience. This book could possibly our most core beliefs. It promises men and women whosewhose liveslives havehave New Testament ecstatic prophets to be the magnum opus of anything to wreck your theology and cheer demonstrateddemonstrated thethe phenomenalphenomenal the future ecstatics who will usher in written to date on the Spirit’s seven- you up with undeniable Biblical truths throughoutthroughout thethe age ages.s. Let Let their their stories sto- a massive wave of harvest Glory to fold nature. on the free gift of perfection. riesinspire inspire you you.to join their ranks as the streets in these last days. part of this revival generation. $19.95 + Shipping $19.95 + Shipping $15.95 + Shipping $19.95 + Shipping BuyHardback It At: JohnCrowder.Net New Release BuyHardback It At: JohnCrowder.Net New Release Buy$15.95 It At: + JohnCrowder.NetShipping Buy It At: JohnCrowder.Net 24 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue DVDs

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The Priesthood of Christ Miracle Healing Session The Relevance and Perfecting of the Office Healing Release & Impartation While priesthood seems an irrelevant topic John often says he has never done a whole in today’s culture of Instagram, Netflix and teaching solely on healing ... He just teaches backyard barbecues, all of humanity longs on the gospel and does healings. In this ses- inwardly for the role of a priest - one who will sion devoted completely to healing miracles atone for their sense of guilt and offer to God and impartation, John brings a finished work the perfect worship they can never muster perspective and grace focus to the subject up. How was Christ “perfected” as our High of bodily miracles. Get free from striving to Priest? “work up” faith for healing!

Killing the Sacred Cow Communion Books A Beginner’s Guide to Why we are so Offensive Participating in Sacramental Union John Crowder gives an overview of many In this teaching John Crowder covers the major concepts the Lord has downloaded to topic of communion. Is it a mere symbol him over the years. He walks through a jour- or a mystical sacrament? How do we view ney of various topics: from a focus on the su- communion from a perspective of the fin- pernatural, the wine of God’s presence, our ished work of the cross? John also explores union with God, the inclusion of humanity in the rich history of eucharistic miracles and the gospel, freedom from dualisms and much ancient communion celebrations that led to more. A good scandalous snapshot of our ex- modern revivalism. periential and theological journey.

Christology & Prolepsis Baptism The Incarnation as an Eternal Reality Understanding Water & Spirit Baptism “Prolepsis” is the foreshadowing, or anticipa- In this teaching John covers the role of water tion of the coming Christ that always existed baptism from a finished work perspective. in a hidden way throughout the course of hu- Not a superstitious act required to “purchase” man history. Jesus did not merely come onto salvation, nor a symbol pointing to your own *NEW* *NEW* the scene 2,000 years ago. In the beginning “personal faith,” baptism is a sacrament that was the Word and all things were created points to your death with Christ before you Seven Spirits Burning Mystical Union The New Mystics The Ecstasy of Loving God through Him. In this teaching, John explores ever even realized it! John also covers “spirit Learn about the sevenfold Spirit A scandalous message! Be part of a supernatural generation Trances, raptures & divine pleasures Christ as eternal sum of all things. baptism.” Do you get Holy Spirit in a separate act from your conversion? John’s long-awaited Seven Spirits When you think of the cross, do you Two thousand years of miracle God has destined you to live in the Burning is an extensive, Biblical think of fun? Get ready for the gospel workers and seers crammed into joyful radiance of Himself, just as plunge into the nature and operation as you’ve never heard it. With clear Adam was called to live in the realm Ephesians Euphoria of the sevenfold Spirit of God. This revelatory truths on the New Creation of heaven are being poured out of Eden. Ecstasy, or “extasis,” is the Abiding in the Wine Vine book unpackages a deep theological and the scandalous joys of the cross, through an extreme body of spiritual Greek term for trance, and is linked Four-part Series on the Cosmic Incarnation Sap Suckling & Fruit Bearing and Christocentric understanding of Mystical Union promises to be one forerunners. Are you called to walk with a pleasurable, God-given state Catch the grace of the gospel and the cos- “Abiding” is a passive work - not an active the seven Spirits. John has taught of John’s most revolutionary, life- among them? Miracle Workers, of out-of body experience recorded mic scheme of the incarnation in this four- one. We exist in Christ, and He bears fruit for years on the seven Spirits, but changing works. The happy gospel Reformers and the New Mystics throughout the New Testament and part series as John Crowder walks through through us. In this teaching, John Crowder not until now has he released this of grace is about uninterrupted union contains more than 70 photos, the church age. In this book, John the entire book of Ephesians, dispelling our expands on the fruit of the Spirit that is dualistic notions of separation from God and detailed compilation of his study and with the Divine. This book lays out illustrations, and biographies of takes us on a journey from Old and produced through our effortless union with encouraging a practical life lived out to the experience. This book could possibly our most core beliefs. It promises men and women whose lives have New Testament ecstatic prophets to Christ. This is a study and meditation on love, glory of God in the beauty of holiness. joy, patience, peace, kindness, goodness, be the magnum opus of anything to wreck your theology and cheer demonstrated the phenomenal the future ecstatics who will usher in gentleness, faithfulness and self-control from written to date on the Spirit’s seven- you up with undeniable Biblical truths throughout the ages. Let their stories a massive wave of harvest Glory to Galatians 5. fold nature. on the free gift of perfection. inspire you to join their ranks as the streets in these last days. part of this revival generation. $19.95 + Shipping $19.95 + Shipping $19.95 + Shipping Hardback New Release Hardback New Release $15.95 + Shipping the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 25 DVDs

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A Better Word Cruciformity The Bible: Infallible, Irrelevant or Holding a Secret? The Divine Nature of Self-Giving Love In this teaching John touches on the topic of Christ did not simply die for us as an action. the inspiration of scripture, offering a different But the crucifixion speaks of His nature as perspective on the controversial topic. What the cruciform God. It is “because” He is God do we do with tough passages like the flood, that Christ emptied Himself. God’s nature genocide and other scriptures that appear to is other-giving love. As we explore what it paint God as a moral monster? There is a means to have the divine nature - to em- Word within the Word - an underlying “Yes!” brace “theosis” or being God-like - the end hidden within the “No!” result is always self-emptying love.

God in the Unbeliever Losing Your Salvation Seeing Christ Hidden in Humanity Eliminating Fear of Divine Abandonment Modern evangelicalism has conditioned us A number of passages in scripture are mis- with an insider-outsider mentality. Jesus sup- handled in a way to instill the fear of losing posedly “jumps inside” a person when they our salvation. But salvation was never based make their salvation “decision.” But is this on our performance or even our ability to the message of the apostle Paul? If all of hu- drum up faith on our own. In this teaching, manity is included in the Last Adam, as Paul John Crowder tackles some tough passages clearly articulates, how does that play into offering a radical grace perspective. our understanding of our fellow man and the dynamics of being “in Christ?”

Woven into the Trinity John Crowder’s Joy Clinic Grafted Into the Incarnation Three-Part Extended Teaching Set Why is a revelation of the Trinity core to our Do you suffer from Religion, Burnout, Bore- understanding of the nature of God? Unlike the dom, Depression, Unbelief or Legalism? unitarian concept of God that is directly based Looking for a quick, easy remedy that seems on our human performance to please him, in- too good to be true? This is just what the stead we have been grafted into Jesus’ rela- doctor ordered! In this three-part series John tionship with the Father in the Spirit. Our rela- lays out a multi-dimensional gospel feast. tionship with God is fully mediated through the Covering new creation realities and the joy incarnate Son - our salvation rests completely of the glorious gospel, he addresses the on His faithfulness, His vicarious repentance on identity of the believer and dispels the theo- our behalf and His baptism into our death. God logical myth of an angry, schizophrenic God. is family. He is other-giving love.

Contemplating the Mystery Renewing the Mind The Divine Dance of Theology and Contemplation Gospel Joy Explosions to the Brain Contemplation is the practice of His pres- The renewal of the mind is a happy journey of ence. Christ is the object of our contempla- having our thought life infused with the joy of tion. Our intersection between the seen and our salvation and saturated with the revela- the unseen, the finite and the infinite. Con- tion of our true identity in Christ. Tired of stu- templation - as a mode of enjoyment - is nev- pid thinking that produces strife and tension? er an end in itself. It does not exist if it is de- As we stay plugged into the word of truth, we tatched from the Person who is contemplated “know the truth” and the truth sets us free. or enjoyed. And theology is not to become mere intellectualism. When Christ is given His place, the scriptures find their place.

Hearing God for Dummies Manifested Sons of God New Covenant Prophetic Insights Effortlessly Shine in the Supernatural Life Most charismatics think they know every- All of creation awaits the “revealing” of your thing about the prophetic. But much of the sonship. You were created for the super- prophetic movement has been derailed in old natural life. Manifesting our divine identity is covenant style future-telling. A new covenant as effortless as realizing who we really are people are emerging who can point back- – adopted heirs entrusted with authority in ward to the cross, releasing faith for what’s heaven and earth. John explores our miracu- already been given to us. Get practical tips lous inheritance in Romans 8 from a finished on hearing God! work perspective.

26 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue Raising Family in Grace The Election Series The Gospel at Home with John & Lily Seeing Romans 9-11 Through a New Lens John and Lily Crowder explore the topic of Romans 9-11 contains some of the most dif- marriage and family life in the grace and ficult and misunderstood concepts ... In this glory of God. The gospel radically liberates 5-part series, John Crowder shoots religious parents from the stress and fear of religious cows on every side of the debate - cheering performance, infusing children with iden- up your perspective of God, hell and predes- tity and life. This extended teaching features tination. Going beyond the Calvinist-Arminian- Q&A and practical tips on practicing the pres- Universalist debate John presents a strong ence at home. hope in Christ - the Vicarious Man, who is both Elector and Elected. This is one of our most stretching teaching sets.

Drunken Theology 101 Divine Creativity Extended Teaching on the Cross And the Graven Image of the Law Get new creation foundations for your bliss as Ever notice that religious folk are usually not John expands on the revelation of the gospel creative? Longing for the Spirit of Creativity - in this two-hour teaching session from Aus- the Spirit Himself - to manifest more through tralia. Tap into the mysticism of St. Paul, the your life? Often, what Christian artists deem glorious drink of divine union and the beautiful to be “creative” is really just a dead, copycat gift of perfection. This is a powerful summa- repetition of types and shadows. But now, tion of finished works theology that will cheer since you are restored to the true image of you up, infuse you with joy and transform your God in Christ, you can manifest a fresh ex- understanding of Christianity. pression of the divine.

Drink Grace Straight Mystical Union Audiobook Revelations of the Glory Read by John Crowder The knowledge of the Glory of God is filling the In this audiobook recording, listen as John earth in this hour. Ever wonder what the “knowl- Crowder reads his classic, Mystical Union. edge of the Glory” actually is? It is the pure The gospel is a mystical message, based revelation of the gospel. Grace has to be drunk on an instant and effortless union with God straight. Any mixture of law added to your pure achieved at Christ’s cross. There is a deli- drink of grace, and it ceases to be true grace. cious feast prepared for the believer. This Drink deep of the gospel revelation in this teach- book threatens to turn your Christianity up- ing! side down. Makes a great easy listening audio companion to the hardback book. The Joy Pod MP3 Player

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This Device Includes: 45 Full Length Audio Teachings by John Crowder 2 Full Length Audio Books (Mystical Union & Money. Sex. Beer. God.) Material Not Available on our Digital Download Store Earbuds included USB Charger Cable/Sync Cable Included Now Available: $125 Slim Design - Zinc Construction No Batteries Needed Save $65 just on teachings, plus you get the player! More Than 5 GB Additional Space for Extra Audio Files Built in Speaker Get Brainwashed in the Gospel Supports MP3, WMA and Other Lossless Audio Formats Available at JOHNCROWDER.NET Supports FM Radio, Voice Recording & Ebook Reading 24 Optional Languages, Manual Included the ecstatic : late 2019 issue | 27 28 | the ecstatic : late 2019 issue