INFERENTIAL LEAPS

"Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away." Mark 4: 24-25

After teaching the multitudes, Jesus took His disciples aside to instruct them on the Kingdom. Having already been challenged on His lack of adherence to the traditions of men, He cautioned His disciples on what they hear.

World-views and mind-sets are both the gateways and the limitations to our thinking. The boundaries of our thinking determine the extent to what we do in making a difference. It all pivots on the hearing and discerning between pertinent revelation and what can be distorted or premature glimpses of reality.

Jesus' admonition is even more pertinent today, a time of not only information overload, but of information distortion. More than any other time in history, we need to take heed what we hear.

Strategies of Deception
Among the enemy's primary stratagems is deception. Hitler employed the concept of the "big lie" as a key part of his modus operandi. The "big lie" strategy is based on: "the more preposterous a claim; the more likely it is to be believed." Hitler put the free world at the brink with his ploys of manipulation, confusion and lies.

More recently, in an address to the United Nations, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an array of outlandish claims. They included:
* The recent floods in Pakistan being the result of a US military project that controls such things as earthquakes, tsunamis and floods;
* The US invading Iraq not only for its oil, but to harvest a lucrative trade of organs from dead Iraqis;
* The culprits in the recent Times Square bombing not being Muslims, but an American think-tank; and
* 9/11 really being an inside American job.

The Perception and Reality
Laughable? Conspiracy theories seem to boomerang around as frequently as the wind whistles through the trees. Not unlike Hitler's big lies, these claims represent a grand strategy of the evil one.

In a recent Wall Street Journal column (9/28/10), Bret Stephens cites The University of Maryland's World Public Opinion survey results that just 2% of Pakistanis believe al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, whereas 27% believe it was the U.S. government. Among Egyptians, 43% say Israel is the culprit, while another 12% blame the U.S. Just 16% of Egyptians think al Qaeda did it. In Turkey, opinion is evenly split: 39% blame al Qaeda, another 39% blame the U.S. or Israel. Even in Europe fifteen percent of Italians and 23% of Germans finger the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks. Take heed what you hear.

While the storm clouds amass and distort the reality held by large population groups across the world, what is even more alarming are the deceptions embraced by large segments of the Body. Conspiracy theories and big lies have an audience not only outside the parameters of the believing community, but within. Paul described it to the Romans as zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2).

Shutting the Gates Spiritually
In Matthew 23, Jesus depicted the characteristics of those whose actions shut out the ones genuinely seeking the Kingdom. He referred to them as blind guides and blind fools (v 16, 17). From that stance, He illustrated examples of practices of the bind-guides that are short-sided; that miss the forest for the trees.

He then summarized (v 33) by saying that over the generations, it has been from within the ranks of God's own that spiritual myopia has manifested, pulling down those who have been the ones truly anointed and called. Despite the rage of the nations (Psalm 2), the catalysts to undermining genuine advances of the Spirit have come from within.

In Revelations, the church at Thyatira, known to be growing and seeking God, was admonished for being influenced by the teachings of Jezebel. The judgment for those seduced by her influence was severe. It punctuates "taking heed what we hear," as we scrutinize both the teaching and revelation that we receive.

Avoiding Distorted Influences
So, after teaching the multitudes, when Jesus was alone with His disciples explaining more fully the secrets to the Kingdom; He admonished them "to take heed what you hear." One translation reads "consider carefully what you hear."

In John 14:12 Jesus noted we would do greater works than He, because of Him going to the Father. Hebrews speaks of Jesus entering within the veil, as a forerunner for us. Yet, we stumble on the very thing Jesus pointed to in Mark 7 in ignoring the words of God for the traditions and whispers of men.

The prophetic rightfully has regained the place in every believer in hearing God on the decisions of life. Yet, amid a world filled with distortion and deception is the need to "consider carefully what we hear."

The example to be followed in validating claims of truth was the Bereans in Acts 17, who searched the scriptures to verify what they heard. The means to confirming revelation will come not only by avoiding the seductive, impulsive influences of information overload and distortion, but by checking the subtleties of our hearts. Proverbs suggests that the one who trusts in his own heart is a fool (Prov 28:26). Avoiding seductive influences will come from nothing short of spending time with the Lord and entering the maturity that discerns between soul and spirit; and the heart-whispers of men.

The Dividing Asunder
The way of the Kingdom is opposite to that of the world. It is the dividing asunder between soul and spirit. James 3 explains the source of our conflicts: those things that press against our souls impelling behavior that undermines God's best by giving entrance to disorder and every evil work.
"If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." James 3:14-16 NASB

Jealousy is the catalyst giving entrance to disorder and every evil thing. Jealousy works together with selfish ambition, which has as its root, competition. Just as jealousy in its extreme seeks to eliminate the righteous efforts of another, so it is that competition out-of-control aspires to undermine the efforts of those it targets.

Having fallen short of God's approval, it was jealousy and competition that marked Cain's response to Abel's oneness with God. This vile mix is the seedbed of every power struggle. It is the source of anti-Semitism. It is behind the high-handed ways, disguised as righteousness, wiggling their way into undermining viable works of God.

James further describes the role of slander, which is the subtle art of discrediting or of making ill-conceived judgments about others. Jealousy, arrogance and slander lie against the truth. They are relational manifestations of demonic power designed to bring destruction. They short circuit the way of the Kingdom by giving entrance to disorder and every kind of evil.

Jesus warned His followers to be wary of those who betray. Betrayal is when one who should warrant trust proves faithless or treacherous. Betrayal encroaches on the freedom released through trust. It encompasses words or actions that in short desert one who depends on the betrayer, especially in a time of need.

Soul-Dominant Hearing
Soul-dominant hearing is enticed by the whispers of men and blind spots.

Whispers of men, from within the circles of God's own, bring adverse influence and premature conclusions. Premature conclusions result in that which is birthed in the spirit being worked out in the flesh.

Blind spots occur from falling in love with our emotional and soulish impulses. Spiritualizing and pampering the soulish gives rise to becoming double-minded. James tied it to maturity and said the double-minded one would become unstable in all their ways (James 1:8).

There is no short-cut to maturity. Maturity is a result of the process of individual transformation that comes to discern between soul and spirit. Immaturity emerges from religious spirits, which bring the allure of the Spirit without the cost, by depending on the soul.

Take heed what you hear. The whispers of men and blind spots pander to egos and ambitions which gives entrance to the disorder and embedded evil noted by James. They neutralize inferential leaps, essential to sound wisdom and decision-making; and lead to invalid conclusions that lie against the truth.

Inferential Leaps
Inferential leaps are a means of thinking that have a key bearing on decision-making and innovation. Inferential leaps enable conclusions, based not on the next logical proposition, but rather on an association or other means of inference. Inferential leaps provide us the ability to break the mold by leaping beyond the constraints of the obvious.

Spiritually, the result of inferential leaps depends on whether spiritual input is distorted or truth. Distortion always includes an element of truth. However, the balance between soul and spirit is marred by the traditions of men, short-sided revelation and soul-dominant hearing.

It is often a fine line whereby the leap misses the reality to which it seeks to connect. Within the prophetic, the "miss" will be due to the subtle difference between fact and feeling; confidence and cockiness; humility and upmanship, imparting life and put-downs; honesty and coarseness; extending righteousness and the need to be right. The right side of the fine line is distinguished by the maturity that only comes by means of the Kingdom path.
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever." 1 Cor 1:19

Before us lies the fulfillment of the words Paul wrote the Ephesians of coming into maturity and the full knowledge of the Lord. Those who rule their own spirits are mightier than those who can take a city (Prov 16:32). Through the coming of His Kingdom, His will is going to be done. God's Kingdom will be seen by the world through community, as the world sees a people demonstrating His reality and truth. Community as designed by God operates with trust as its foundation.

So Jesus imparted the significance of taking heed what we hear before acting, since it will be as we give it out that it will be measured back to us. For those who grasp His Kingdom and demonstrate its reality, more will be given. It's the measure of His Kingdom. Reality, trust and increase are interwoven. However, those who heed the whispers of men and are diverted into the wide path will have even what they have taken away.

The best intentions, based on wrong input, will yield results ranging from questionable consequence to the opposite of the intention. Inferential leaps either close the gap leading into the Kingdom path or they shut the door to it. It pivots on what we hear.
"We do not want you to become slack, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." Heb 6:12

Inferential Leaps (c) Morris Ruddick