Manariwa

Organic has various meanings, depending on the subject matter or the context. Generally, however, it means: derived from living matter, living, animate, biological or natural, that is, in the sense that it is not human-made. It could also refer to something that is chemical-free or nonchemical, hence, unprocessed or unaltered. The opposite word, inorganic, means: not living, lifeless, inert, dead and could refer to something human-made or infused with chemicals, artificial substances or, in all possibility, artificial life or intelligence.

For our purposes, anything organic is living, natural, pure or as-originally-designed. As an extension, it also means the thing exists, is used or functions according to what it was supposed to accomplish. Not being an invention of humans, its usefulness satisfies the needs of or benefits the individual, foremost, and not any particular body, organization or institution set up for some agenda, especially those that do not conform to organic purposes. Hence, as applied to spiritual or eternal matters, organic simply means something has no history of development, deconstruction or decay – it merely is or exists as it is. What you see or get is what was in the beginning and for all times, untouched by human invention or intervention.

Such is Organic Faith. Is there such a thing then?

If we were to apply our organic definition (reduced to its original essence, that is), such a thing hardly exists today, although it is not impossible to achieve it. And that is what we aim to discover: How to attain Organic Faith.

This early, some may construe Organic Faith to mean or to be synonymous to biblically- or scripturally-based faith. However, it goes much deeper than the modern accepted idea of “scripture-based” knowledge as hinging upon some peculiar theological (dogmatic, doctrinal, teleological, philosophical, etc.) interpretations which are generally personalized or individualized interpretations of the written Word. Anything that is organic and has retained its life, essence and meaning as it is, requires no interpretation or explanation of its meaning other than what the Source of the message has originally intended it to be. (II Pet. 1:19-21)

When the Holy Spirit revealed the Word to the apostles, the message and the meaning were both delivered as one, not separately. One Source, One Message, One Meaning. It is not subject to human interpretation. One may clarify it in terms of social or cultural realities; but the basic cell or germ of the message is One and The Same. The letter of Jude refers to it as the message “delivered once for all” to the saints. Hence, it has remained in the same condition as when it had been delivered – intact, complete, functioning, effective and powerful. Lazada may have a better batting average than many denominations!

The problem today is that people assume there are many possible meanings as a result of their having received interpretations and not the organic or original message from the Only Source, the Holy Spirit. (II Pet. 1:19-21, I John 2:20-26) It is funny how Peter confidently assumes that the early disciples “know all things” and yet no preacher today could do so today. They would soon lose their purpose and their job! Beware, therefore, of those who use such words as reformed, revived, restored or reestablished. Think of recycled products or reconstituted food – definitely not organic.

Sure, we may claim to read the Scriptures and, therefore, hear what the Holy Spirit spoke to the apostles. But do we really? Let us answer that by dealing with physical food.

Do you prefer organic food? Organically-grown vegetables, organic meat and hormone-free eggs from cage-free chickens? Do you even know what that means and what that entails to produce? It means freeing yourself of artificial and unnatural substances and methods of planting or production. Many today use the word organic loosely even though the reality is far from it.

Much of the food available is unorganic (something derived from a living thing but infused with chemicals — as opposed to inorganic which is inanimate). Faith, likewise, has become just as devitalized or multi-processed as food that has lost its organic or natural flavor and nutrients. Bread products are often infused with essences and flavors to make them smell and taste delicious but are rarely truly nutritious. The cabbage or potato we eat today is commonly fortified in growth with chemicals or substances that are in themselves processed from other substances several times over that the food we eat are nowhere near the quality of the food our ancestors ate a thousand or a hundred years ago. We are, in effect, “canned” flesh and blood and no longer as organic as we want to be. And it shows in the health conditions of many of us today.

We may think of ourselves as no different from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the apostles and from the early millennial believers in physical essence. Although we might be less prone to plagues or diseases that killed thousands in ancient times, we could be weaker in terms of mental, muscular, emotional or even moral strength. Their times and environment allowed them to endure greater stresses that provided them better opportunities to develop those qualities than we do today. Hence, in many aspects and not just the physical, we are essentially not similar to them and, therefore, not as “organic” as our ancestors. In short, we are washed-down versions of our forefathers just as the veggies and fruits we eat today are not as truly organic or genuinely abundant in nutrients as they were in ancient times. As it is said: The food we eat makes us what we are — and that is true physically and biologically.

But so it is with our faith. As proof, how many of us would have lasted for even 2, 4 or 8, let alone, 40 years, wandering in the desert around Mt. Sinai? The fact that we live only up to at most 80 or 90 today and not to 950, as in the case of Noah, or even 175, as in the case of Abraham, shows how unorganic we have become. We are pathetically unperpetual.

True, the genetic code that makes us humans may have remained the same. After all, we still have one head, two eyes, two ears, two hands and two legs as Adam and Eve had from the beginning. And our brains and our souls still function and, in the process, also react the same way to the message or Word of God as the ancient people – in faith or unbelief. The point is: The Word of God has remained One and The Same – just as God remains unchanging for eternity. The seed of the Word will still produce the same kind of fruits He designed it to produce. The Gospel will still function to save sinners and to prepare them for the eternal habitations as it had done so for millennia. The Reproduction Law was set on Day 3 and remains inviolable. (Gen. 1:11)

Nevertheless, the advent of Genetic Engineering has offered a window for humans to somehow subvert the purity of God’s Creation and His Word. If scientists can tweak the genetic code to suit whatever humans may desire to pursue, including dismiss the whole idea of the divine (or “spiritual organic”) origin of humans or to replace everything with a humanistic or even a satanic program that intentionally erases all vestiges of the spiritual nature of humans, then we should not be surprised as to why we ever even became less organic than our ancestors in the first place. If you have read about the Nephilim, then you know that that road to rebellion began early in the history of humans, one that Moses recorded but generally unnoticed or neglected by many believers. (Gen. 6:1-4) The pollution of human life with unorganic angelic life caused a celestial warfare that continues to rage today and has caught humans in the crossfire. (Jude 6) Many, in fact, fight for those fallen angels who feed them with an unorganic message they, in turn, spread. (I Tim. 4:1-4)

Our task then involves understanding how we can derive an organic (leave for a while denomination or church-espoused biblical, scriptural, theological or politically-correct faith and let us think of pure or undefiled or unstained) faith in God. Where do we begin? Is it at all possible at this time in history? Are people as eager to become healthy in body and spirit again and begin eating and believing organic no matter what the cost? From experience and from the great conspiracy to thwart organic living (we know why and who is doing this), this task is an uphill climb.

The rise in the number of hospitals alone marks the predominance of people still living unorganic lives. Dependence on medicines and not organic and natural foods that prevent most diseases, along with unhealthful unorganic lifestyles, produces this modern condition we have described. We pop pills to cure symptoms instead of eating and living properly to stay healthy. You cannot be more unorganic than that! Ironically though, many strive to be organic by, well, popping pills! At least, we come closer to returning fully to the original ways and things. It will take time.

And so, faith today has also become a one-day-a-week/one-hour-gospel-hearing-a-week kind of food we take to nourish our faith and hope it will keep us strong and healthy believers able to weather all the great tribulations of life, such as 2-hour traffic jams, flooded streets, low-income-long-hour jobs, high prices of goods, polluted roads and rivers, forest fires, thunderstorms, earthquakes, wars and terroristic attacks. Well, the traffic jams have become so run-of-the-mill we have learned to pack up our phones with enough music and FB friends that we can easily endure the down-time. But what about the bigger troubles in life? Are we organically-prepared enough to overcome them? Or are the troubles we go through also unorganically programmed so that our unorganic diets are well-suited to allow us to coast along lazily? Are we unmindful sheep led to march in circles, feeding on unorganic grass in order to clothe and feed the corporate masters?

Does being a believer require only the minimum amount of struggle that what we feed ourselves is also kept to the minimum? It seems that way. Hence, many think that the task of preaching the Gospel is best left only to the seminar-educated and pulpit-trained professionals and being there during “worship service” already satisfies the entire obligation of a believer to make him or her be deserving of the Crown of Life. Not that everyone must take formal studies to be a worthy disciple but that searching and understanding the Word of God equips the believer for every good work. And that training oneself to endure through all kinds of trials simply means applying the power of the Spirit to work daily in our lives. But it all begins with having that Organic Word being planted in one’s heart in order to produce Organic Faith.

The calling requires believing and enduring to the end. Organic matters do not easily give in to the simplest tests of infestations, heat, flooding, drought or diseases. This is what one actually learns in Organic Farming. Insects do not attack healthful (mineral-rich) plants. Droughts and floods do not easily destroy organically-grown crops. And even animals, such as hogs raised organically, do not smell foul or easily get sick. They are, in fact, stouter, happier and well-behaved. Why is this so? Because being whole or being satisfied with the good, complete and right stuff makes them wholesome. And it is also true for humans. Until we admit things are not what they used to be (organic) and unless we know what they should be (organic), we will follow the slope down to further deterioration and decay (that is, inorganic – dead).

What did God require the Hebrews when they reached the Promised Land? He commanded them to love God with all their heart, soul, might and strength. (Deut. 6:5) Was not God talking about human organs or life-giving-parts to worship Him: heart, soul, spirit, mind and the muscles of our organs? Yes, the spirit and soul are essentially intrinsic organs that make us what we are and even serve as the very facilities that provide us with life and being. Hence, the Hebrews tied the literal Word of God to their foreheads and their arms pointed to their hearts – close to primary organs that require our attention and care when we do God’s great tasks.

Organic Faith is literally and spiritually tied to our body organs – God meant it to be that way. Some may say it is not biblical or scriptural because we cannot find it literally or letter-for-letter. Well, even the words “biblical” or “scriptural” are not anywhere to be found in the Bible. Spiritual would be a more appropriate word to tie with organic. As Paul puts is: “. . . things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (1 Cor. 2:13-16 NASB) The written or literal word does not possess life or meaning but the spiritual thought or message (from the Spirit). For what gives the heart, the brain, the liver, the eyes, the stomach and the whole body to live and function if not the spirit? So, when we say organic, we refer to the natural internal functions of the human parts as they were given motor, mental and spiritual abilities to respond to God, to His Word and His entire Creation. It further ties to Paul’s admonition to “offer our bodies (including the organs that make up that body, definitely) as a living (as given life, power and will by the spirit/Spirit) sacrifice”. (Rom. 12:1) How more organic can the Bible ever be than that?!

How many times then did Jesus and the prophets use organs to bring out the Truths about His Gospel and the Kingdom? The eye is the lamp of the body, talking about light (physical and spiritual) as the source of life itself. We now know that sunlight produces the food we eat through photosynthesis and that light itself sustains our health through the mitochondria in our eyes, heart and brain, among others. Without these billions of tiny powerhouses, we would not be alive. Yet, all of the energy these organelles harness for the body comes from the Sun, the Moon and the stars, not from the unorganic, non-native emf or artificial light we use in our homes and our gadgets. On the contrary, those artificial light-sources cause us to become impoverished, weak and sick. Our body lamp constantly takes in unorganic light and so our bodies are now full of darkness and diseases. Do we really see? Organically as well?   

It is more organic and more healthful to greet the new day and end the old day by watching the sunlight and catching the energizing rays of the Sun than watching the morning and evening news with all the unorganic emf-radiation we absorb, not to mention the negative vibes from all the bad news. In like manner, it is more organic and more wholesome to read the Word of God by yourself and thereby hear directly the organic message from the Sole Organic Teacher, the Holy Spirit, than to hear it from unorganic sources with all their unorganic doctrines, interpretations and theological absurdities, not to mention all their devitalized, washed-down and useless traditions they impose upon people.

A broken spirit dries up the bones; but a joyful heart is good medicine, as the proverb says. (Prov. 17:22) The organs are integrally tied up to the spiritual condition of humans and vice versa. Yes, laughter is good medicine! And it is best because it is free! Yet, we pop a pill through most headaches instead of laughing off what is perhaps a simple lack of oxygen in the brain. Ha ha ha!

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, Isaiah says. Is He talking about feet alone used for walking the dusty roads of the ancient world? Or is he also talking about the Way that those disciples had to keep in mind and follow as they traveled and preached the coming Kingdom? Is he not talking about the fact that those who bear the Word of God carry the very revelation or Word of the Holy Spirit Who empowered those teachers to remember the proper principles and combinations of word and meaning, as Christ had intended them to impart later on? Those people carried the Truth using their limbs given physical and spiritual power and motivation by their submitted heart, mind, soul and strength. Do we say then today: How beautiful is the Ford SUV or the Porsche Convertible of those who bring the Gospel? It all depends on how organic are our hearts and the message we carry. Besides, the approval and blessing will come from Yahuwah, ultimately.  

Finally, Christ taught that what we eat (with the mouth, teeth, tongue, esophagus, stomach and intestines) goes out of the body (anus) even without mentioning these biological parts. So, are these words unscriptural then based on our foolproof Hermeneutics? Obviously, they are organic! Can we now finally see how Organic Faith negates our myopic view of the Bible, of faith and of worship, in general? Yes, because He meant to say that what causes us to sin or to be in error is not what enters the body physically (or what we literally read or preach letter-for-letter, as the ancient Yehudi sought to do) but what we accept and teach to be “true” in relation to the Truth that Christ offers. Our unorganic “truth” makes us unorganic before God.

Lies and false teachings cause us to develop unorganic faith and unorganic worship. Whether like Cain or like Abel, we offer to God what we believe is acceptable to Him. Many today fail, a few succeed. Why was Cain’s offering rejected? Not because his plants were not organically-grown but because his faith and worship did not include his whole heart at all. It was that way in the beginning; it is still so today. Without a whole heart, you cannot have Organic Faith. 

Moreover, Organic Faith involves the whole heart, the whole mind, the whole soul and the whole spirit and not merely a part of them, not one or two of them but all of them within one whole body. This is pleasing Living, Organic, Body Sacrifice acceptable to God.

The best way to learn Organic Faith is to read the very words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). Those 3 chapters contain Pure Organic Truth in order for us to live an Organic Life of Faith. The teach us to be “perfect just as the Father is perfect”. (Matt. 5:48) Yes, being organic makes us perfect! After doing that, observe how He served and worshiped God outside of and without the Temple. By the way, He even went so far as to destroy the Temple, the pride of the Jews then and now, in order to teach us Organic Worship in spirit and in truth. You only need two vital organs (the spirit and the heart), not a temple or building to do that. All the rest are tools we use to convey the Truth, not the container or vessel that exclusively proves or determines the Truth. For even our own imperfect bodies will rot. What remains will be what God requires to dress with a new, perfect body.

Yes, it may be hard for many people today so used to practicing faith and worship in buildings, churches, cathedrals and mega-assemblies to grasp and practice this. Well, not surprising because people today find it hard to believe that they can be much healthier than they are by gaining strong immunity through organic nutrition and medical protocols. Why? Because today the practice is to treat the organ or deal with the symptoms  alone through unorganic means and products and not the whole body, soul and spirit and what causes the symptoms to manifest themselves organically and wholly. For God deals with each part of our body as He deals with the whole person. (Matt. 5:29) Well, if He could make Adam’s whole body out of dust and give it life, as well as create Eve out of a small rib, how could He not deal with us organically and wholly today as long as we truly comprehend what He has done and what He is doing — and not to forget, along with what Satan has done and what he is doing.

The whole world has become a gigantic unorganic place. We are made up of six-feet of DNA strands that contain, perhaps, the only remaining organic part of our bodies, if at all. If it were not for DNA’s super-ability to adapt to unorganic conditions and foods we digest, we would all be looking like mutants whom God Himself would not even recognize. Tells you how wise God really is. But talking about Truth and Faith: Do we wonder why He got often upset – read: angry – over people who did not follow His organic program and His organic methods? Those were set or established way before He created the Universe – so, it is said. His anger even once caused Him to destroy all human flesh and allowed only a single, pure, organic stock in Noah’s family to repopulate the world. Hence, His plan to dissolve all the elements must be in keeping with His projection that humans – or, so many of them – would not keep His plans. Thus, He has set up another clean-up plan that would deal with the hard-headed unorganics. DNA will not save us this time; only the Truth will.

Remember, it is the Holy Spirit Who reveals the Organic Truth, not any person, apostle, preacher, theologian, priest or evangelist. These are mere messengers; and today many of them teach unorganic teachings. To be totally safe, go straight to the Original Source (I John 2:20-24).

The Bible seems such an easy and simple book to read at first glance. At times, it is so hard and complicated. Why? Because we need two things to understand life fully: our spirit and the Spirit of God. Without the two, we are dead, period. With the spirit alone, we are biologically alive. But with both, we can be organically and wholly alive, if we have the fullness of the Spirit living in our surrendered spirits and bodies. In the next part, we will deal with how the Holy Spirit communicates the Organic Truth (remember our definition) in order to produce Organic Faith.