Some Real "Heavy Revy"

The majority of those who read Dew have been on the heavenly bound road for some time. Most of you have not stayed in one camp the entire time you have been redeemed (or have learned of your redemption). Spiritually speaking, most have gone into the outer court, walked into the Holy Place, and have learned not to be afraid of places where there is no "natural" light.

In the Holy Place, we love the bread, light and worship. (Table of Shewbread, Candlestick or Menorah, and Alter of Incense) We love learning about what the Priesthood business is all about. Everything in this place is so different and new that we become like little children in a candy store.

Revelation knowledge is wonderful. It sure beats the knowledge of the carnal mind. Baking little cakes sure beats slaughtering lambs, bulls, and goats. (I hope I am getting through and not sounding like a madman. If you do not understand the meaning of the symbols in the tabernacles, write and I will send a list of material that will be helpful.) The Holy Place realm is so much higher than the outer court. We can spend years here looking around and eating, eating, eating, and more eating and yet miss it just as badly or more than in the natural light realm. The bottom line in all the realms is "Who are you ultimately doing the baking, eating, looking, and incense thing for?" The writer of Hebrews expressed it this way in chapter 5, beginning with verse 14 in Barclay's translation: "On Melchizedek I have a great deal to say, and it is not easy for me to put it in a way that you will understand, for you have become dull of hearing. By this time you ought to be teaching others. But in point of fact you need someone to teach you all over again the elementary principles of God's message to you. It is milk you have come to need, not solid food. If a man is still being fed on milk, he is unable to take in instruction on the good life, for he is still a baby. Solid food is for mature men; it is for those whose faculties are disciplined by practice to distinguish between good and wrong."

I am going to make this teaching a tiny morsel. We could turn this thing into a huge banquet, but we won't. I want to focus on just a couple of extremely important points.

Just as in the natural, the amount one eats does not necessarily make one healthier, it might send one to the grave earlier. An overweight person has often eaten more than what God intended for them. It also slows down that individual's productivity and will ultimately lead to an untimely death. That excess food he ate could have fed a starving person. Spiritually speaking, a person who overeats in the spiritual sense, eats only for themselves. They gather tons of knowledge to show people how spiritual they are, but they don't learn it well enough to be able to teach it, to give it away. They learn it just well enough to become a stumbling block. A new sheep may listen to their presentation of a teaching and because it was presented improperly, the sheep may reject what should have been something precious. The problem was that the "teacher" was devouring huge quantities for himself to show others how much he knew. He was not eating properly; his motive for eating so much was all wrong. He ate for his ego, not for the sake of teaching others. The end result of this kind of "eating" is overweight Eli's (1 Samuel 4:15-22) and underfed sheep.

The true Priesthood realm is other centered! We do what we do for the sake of others. Yes, we must be properly clothed and fed, we are taken care of, but our business is to minister to those outside this realm. The writer of Hebrews says that his audience should have become teachers already, but needed to start all over again. They missed it!

I think part of what they missed is their focus of why they were invited into this realm in the first place. They became self-important, a very natural and easy thing for all of us to do. When we learn, see and experience this wonderful realm with a heart focused on others, then, and only then do we begin to understand what Priesthood is all about. It is more like Fatherhood. Our learning and seeing turns us into teachers.

I have gone through times, (and perhaps I am still there, only God knows) when I would just devour teachings from many different sources. It was wonderful! The revelation was true and it made the Bible such a wonderful experience. But I immediately wanted something else, more and more and more. I just couldn't get enough. This is the way it is in the natural world and things are no different in the spiritual world until we change our focus. It is natural for a child to be self-centered, but when we become fathers and mothers, we must begin to lay down our lives for the children. As in the natural, so also in the spirit.

When I began to learn with the purpose in mind to help others, my eating habits began to change. As I found myself becoming responsible for others, I became more careful of what I ate. I found myself not devouring the food like a pig. I became like a cow. I would chew and chew and chew. Then I would swallow it and take it to the first stomach and let it sit for a while. Then I would regurgitate it and chew it up again. Then I would swallow it again for further processing in the main stomach. In this way I would get the most value out of what I ate.

I liken the first stomach as the one for me and the second one for those to whom I should pass on my life. This slow way of eating gave me a familiarity with the subject, an intimacy, that would allow me to break it down well enough to be able to teach it.

I realize there are scriptures that talk about placing in the body apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. But this scripture in Hebrews is talking to all the Jewish believers, not just leaders and tells them by now they ought to be teachers! I am not interested in growing up to be an apostle, pastor, or teacher. I am interested in growing up into the Head of the body which is Christ Jesus. The realm of Melchizedek is not divided. There is not a single person to whom I am writing that is not to become a teacher. Jesus was the teacher and we are to conform to His image. ( I say this, being aware of the scripture that warns about becoming a teacher.)

In summary, then, I leave an exhortation. When reading Tentmaker material, stop, slow down, and let your mind receive like a cow, not like a pig. Read as if you were responsible to pass this on to the next generation. You have been given the responsibility to prepare those who go after you. Use both stomachs, one for yourself, but the final one for the strengthening and nourishment of the body. A cow is usually not in a hurry with anything including eating. A cow also has cloven hooves which make for a securer walk, better discernment.

In Old Testament times, the symbolism God used worked much better than today. A pig then was clearly an unclean animal. Today, churches have pig roasts, a favorite mascot is Disney's Mickey Mouse. In the Old Testament, pigs and mice were symbols of unclean animals. We are no longer under the Mosaic Law, but we should certainly learn what the symbols meant spiritually. It is a sad fact, but true, that most Christian teaching has actually destroyed the understanding of the symbols in the Bible.

I entitled this article Some real "heavy revy" to emphasize that more is not necessarily truly more. The Present Truth realm has been flooded with teachings which have not been properly prepared or ministered with the wrong motives. Too many of us swallow down huge quantities of teachings which not only do not serve any healthy purpose, but actually become harmful to ourselves and those we try to share those teachings with. Neither party is truly "built up" in a healthy way. We must learn it well enough to properly teach it and when we do, we must do it with the right motive . . .to build our brothers and sisters up in Christ, not our own egos.

Now please do not use this teaching to abuse overweight people in the natural. We each have our own thorns in the flesh to keep us humble. Keep this teaching where it was meant to be, in the spiritual realm. We do not need to judge our brothers and sisters if they are overweight according to our standards or our national standard, or the TV standard. The scriptures declare the "flesh profits little." Keep it spiritual and we will reap mightily. Bring it down to the natural and we will be judged as we judge.

Now please go over this article again. Chew on it for a while. Then apply the principles to the rest of this magazine and as God leads, become the teacher you are called to be, whether it be to one, to a few, or to many.