As Iron Man sharpens War Machine, so one die-hard disciple of Jesus sharpens another

Proverbs 27:17 says

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

I experienced this today.

I just came back from 4 hours with Jesse at Second Cup where we engaged in a time of mutual sharing, encouragement, strategizing, and dreaming together about how things could be in Toronto.

It's so refreshing to be with another brother who is so passionate, radical, and willing to not only die for Christ but live for Christ. God has given us similar passions, similar experiences growing up in the same Christian sub-culture of Toronto CBC spirituality, similar experiences living an extended time out of Toronto to learn more about the world as well as about Toronto by being outside of it. God has given both of us a heart for Toronto. While we're not sure whether or not he's gonna be in Toronto soon, it was refreshing just to dream with a fellow spiritual Jack Bauer.

Spiritually refreshing. emotionally motivating, intellectually stimulating, strategically innovating. Invigorating on multiple dimensions. I really appreciate this brother of mine.

It's not that I don't know any other passionate Christians in Toronto my age, I do. But I don't know too many who have the same commonalities in the following respects:

1)from personal experience, being somewhat disillusioned with "traditional North American church"
2)who have lived outside of Ontario for a long period of time
3)who are convinced that spiritual formation (understood biblically) can change the world
4)who are initiative taking/proactive "Jack Bauers" for Christ

This brother is, and I was greatly blessed catching up with him today. I really hope I get to work with him in the future. It would be a dream of mine to collaborate with him. He's gifted in ways that I'm not. He's experienced in ways that I lack. He can see potential blindspots in idealistic dreams. He's not afraid to straightforwardly challenge my ideas/thinking/strategy when he sees potential implications of my train of thought.

There is a certain type of brotherhood that one can only experience when one is in the trenches together with a fellow soldier, where both are fighting and sacrificing for a cause that is greater than themselves. Although I do not know this brother too well, I feel this way when the Lord blesses me with opportunities to go to war against the enemy with him.

Because Jesse has "been in the game" longer than I have, I feel like he's iron man, and I'm war machine.

He has had experience "putting" and "being strong" in the full armour of God to struggle against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world, and using the power of various portions of God's spiritual armour to engage in the invisible warfare against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:10-12)

I would be privileged to collaborate with him like the following scene with iron man and war machine and to take a stand with him for Christ "when the day of evil comes" (Ephesians 6:13). When it comes to the spiritual armour of God, intentions aren't enough. One cannot just have good intentions, put on the armour of God and passively sit there without training oneself how to use it. One has to be trained how to use the armour, and to proactively "be on guard, stand firm, and be strong with courage" like what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:13. For example in meditating on the Word of God, there is a world of a difference in mechanically saying verses like a spell Harry Potter style and expecting that in and of itself to expel demons compared to using creative/novel/deep ways of actively meditating in the Spirit on certain verses in certain ways in certain contexts to ward demons off.



God has given me a vision to raise up a spiritual army of soldiers of Christ to combat evil, hate, destruction, with Christ's power of love. Spiritual warriors well trained in the experiential use of God's spiritual armour. God has given me the passion to raise up a generation of spiritual "iron mans" for Christ who put on armour that enables them to engage in spiritual warfare in ways that would be impossible without it, just like how it would be impossible for iron man to fight the bad guy in iron man 2 without his iron man body suit. Just like iron man, we soldiers of Christ must not passively put on the suit and do nothing, but learn how to work with the suit to fight evil. The suit of armour is grace. God has given it to us, and we do not deserve it. Nevertheless, we must learn with hands-on experience how to navigate, work with, and control each part of the suit until it feels like each part of the armour is like part of our body itself. I have a desire to be trained in as well as train others how to consistently have the armour of God with us, so that when the day of evil comes unexpectedly, we may be able to take a stand our ground against the enemy, not by our own ability, but by proactively working with the grace of God's armour and his mighty power. Demons can attack us at any moment. They come and assault unexpectedly like thieves. And when they come, we have to have the armour of God with us on hand and fight.

With the belt of truth, we can do more than just "memorize and recite to ourselves what is true". We can also take lies in our head (it is important to get what I want right now) and extend those lies all the way out to their logical conclusions in our imaginations to show their utter absurdity (I don't know what's best for myself and I have regretted what I wanted a lot in the past, and God in "birds eye view" knows what's best for me and looking out for me, so I don't have to look out for myself).

With the breastplate of righteousness, we don't just merely remind ourselves that "Jesus makes me righteous" (although that's true). But we create habits of righteousness with our bodies (Romans 6:13) so that our physical bodies end up with embedded righteous habits and rid themselves of destructive habits [such as holding our tongues {our tongues are so powerfully influential on our whole being like what James says in James 3:5-6} when someone disses/insults us rather than naturally just responding back in direct or indirect retaliation with it, and blessing those who curse us by natural instinct due to bodily training of the tongue].

With the Gospel of peace, we do not merely intellectually remind ourselves of the gospel, but we walk, jog, and run according to the rhythm and "spirit" of Good News that makes us more agile in battle, since we take ourselves lightly and live in an attitude free of self-condemnation due to deleting the "negative emotional programming" of getting down on oneself when one fails, and in turn installing the "positive emotional programming" of not putting one's hope for success in one's own efforts/abilities, but in God's providence. This gives one spiritual agility.

With the shield of faith we, on the subconscious level, learn to live with an interpretive framework that makes sense of all of life's events in light of Romans 8:28 (and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose) and use our imagination to imagine how the huge rocks that Satan throws at us to prevent us from crossing an uncrossable river get caught by the hand of God, and placed in front of us as the next stepping stone to cross on.

With the helmet of salvation we learn to live all of life in the psychological context of eternal life, which defined in John 17:3 by Jesus himself as knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent. We recognize that the "knowing" that Jesus himself is talking about here is not intellectually acknowledging the existence of God like Judas, Pharisees, and demons also did, but actively engaging in interactive relationship with God every moment of life. With training in putting on the helmet of salvation, our minds are protected from the dangerous tendencies to encounter life's events without acknowledging the concrete/social/immediate presence of God with us in whatever circumstance that we're in and instead we have the attitude of "wherever we go, God will be right beside us to experience everything with me inside of me."

With the sword of the Spirit, we learn to meditate on the word of God in creative ways appropriate to different circumstances that require flexibly prescribed methods that change hour to hour. Just like playing different piano keys at different times on the piano according to the "will" of the song's notes at certain times, we meditate on different scriptural verses of the Bible at different times according to God's specific "will", or "chapter"/"mood"/"spiritual weather" at the time. The Word of God is living and active. If something is living and active it is organic/dynamic/spontaneous to a certain degree. This is far from being like Harry Potter's wand.

We also learn to pray in the Spirit. There are probably over a thousand ways of praying. A lot of us western churches only regularly practice 2-3 methods.

So learning how to apply the God's gracious tools of spiritual armour and becoming familiar with how to use them in active combat, we will be able to deal with unexpected spiritual terrorist attacks when they come at us without warning by having the armour of God with us wherever we go. So when the day of spiritual terrorism arrives, we will be able to stand our ground, and after we have done everything, to stand (Ephesians 6:13)



Just imagine a whole generation of spiritual iron mans who can do this!







***






Since I want to become a cop, I've been trying to equip myself in multiple ways which I think would come in handy if I do get hired as one. Therefore, I've been researching and applying ways to read people's microexpressions (what emotion psychologist Paul Ekman is known for researching and specializing in [i.e. the book "emotions revealed") more in social situations. I've also applied some of the stuff I've read about body language in Joe Navarro's book "what every body is saying".

The results are shocking (assuming that I'm applying the instructions properly). It's like I can (sometimes but not always) see more through people's smokescreens of false/artificial facial expressions (especially false smiles). What subtle giveaway signs of masked emotions that used to escape my awareness are starting to register on my "social emotion radar" and its shocking! What a deceitful world we live in!

The Kingdom of God is like Batman begins to Chris

I've lost count how many times I've rewatched my favourite clips of Batman begins on my laptop. I think out of all the movie characters I relate to most, Bruce Wayne (in the newest batman series) is the one I relate to the most. It's crazy how much I identify with his character in Batman begins. So many parallels between his life and my spiritual journey the past couple of years ever since I went on my 2-year trip to East Asia.



In Batman begins, bruce wayne is fed up with Gotham and just wants to leave it, go to the East for a while, and fight crime there. He goes around, studying the world of crime and comes upon a school of crime fighting masters, who train him how to fight crime effectively.

"You know how to fight six men. We can teach you how to engage six hundred." *swords clash*

The spiritual version is:

"You know how to fight six demons. We can teach you how to engage six hundred." *swords clash*

After he's done training (for 7 years! I was only gone for 2), he boards the plane back. On the runway Alfred greets him with the words "Master Wayne, you've been gone for a long time." Bruce replies "Yes I have." and boards it.

On the plane ride back, Alfred asks him "Are you coming back to Gotham for long sir?"
Mr. Wayne replies "As long as it takes. I want to show the people of Gotham that their city doesn't belong to criminals and the corrupt." He also adds later on that "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy."


This is more or less what I've been going through spiritually the last 2 years or so. I was fed up with the spiritual state of the church in the West, Canada, and Toronto. It seemed so apathetic. In the spiritual realm, it seemed ruled by spiritual criminals (that break God's spiritual laws) and the spiritually corrupt (Go against God's Kingdom and his governing). I wanted to go where the spiritual action was, in East Asia. I sort of unexpectedly came across Christian spiritual formation masters that taught me the ways of the spiritual realm, how the spiritual world worked, and how to fight "spiritual crime". My spirit was trained, not so much with intellectual facts, but with hands-on engagement of spiritual sparring with sparring equipment.I learned how to use the sword of God. I learned that it's not good enough to just hold the sword of God (the Bible), but one must know how to wield it effectively in live battle (meditate on it skillfully and prudently during heated situations/circumstances). I was taught timeless principles of spiritual warfare not through second-hand downloads of armchair theological books, but through first-hand experience.

After I felt I had enough training, my heart wanted to go back to Toronto, to contribute towards the spiritual revival of a sleeping city that's been in a spiritual slumber way too long (we even have a company called sleep country Canada). I believe God, the storywriter, is the one who has returned this burden for Toronto in my heart, to see spiritual revival here, just like how Christopher Nolan returned a burden to redeem Gotham in the character of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.



When Bruce Wayne first reappeared in Gotham, he had compassion on the people in it, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. But he didn't just impulsively go in right away and start the action (this is something crucial that I'm learning right now). He started to plan his courses of action, design equipment, and strategize how to strike. He understood his culture well. He understood specific conditions of his city as he gathered intelligence about how things were going. And he started to design his Batman equipment in a way that would allow his principles of crime fighting that he learned in the East to be effectively applied to his own Western city. He took time and effort to do this.

I feel like I'm in this stage right now. I'm learning (sometimes the hard way) that I can't just impulsively jump into things without any thought and planning right away. I need to figure out the conditions of this city more. The state of spiritual allies and enemies and the status quo here. I need to design my "equipment" that will help me to apply the timeless spiritual principles effectively when things start rolling. Just as how Bruce Wayne used scientific gadgets and technology to help him navigate and strike in the physical realm and work with the physical laws (e.g. gravity) and not against it, right now, I am trying to learn about the "psychological realm" of our age in the West, understand neutral laws of psychology and construct and equip myself with psychological tools to effectively and relevantly apply these timeless spiritual formation principles in spiritual warfare here. I should not rush this. Practically, this includes how the process of digesting concepts and ideas affect the human, how images have a subtle yet strong effect on the mind, the power of analogies in how they help the mind organize and arrange seemingly mutually irrelevant data, the power of connotations from carefully chosen words, the power of hidden assumptions in images etc. I feel like I am renovating my "psychological batcave" right now.

I also thank God for mentors that act as my "spiritual Alfreds" as well as various resources that resource me like "Lucius Foxes".

I sense a few things happening in the future that happened to Bruce in his journey of returning to Gotham and fighting crime in it.

I feel that I will fall down many times in the future (like Bruce) and will need Alfreds to pick me back up.

There was a part in the movie where Bruce Wayne felt like he failed to save Gotham.

“I wanted to save Gotham… I failed” - Bruce

“Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up” - Alfred

“You still haven’t given up on me?” - Bruce

“Never” - Alfred

I already kinda felt that I fell down a few times.

Also, just like how Batman has some people that don't like him as well as another bunch who do like him. He gives a mixed impression, and is portrayed as a controversial figure. Some ppl support him. Some ppl are against what he does. He doesn't abide by the human-made laws just for the sake of abiding by the human-made laws. He doesn't purposefully go against them just to be a jerk, but when he sees higher principles that supersede human-made laws, he sticks with the higher principles, and by doing so, offends the traditional cops who "go by the book" in every single case just because that's the way how they've been doing it in the past. He sees flaws in the human-system of crime fighting so he doesn't wait for the traditional law enforcement guys to do their thing. He starts his own "unauthorized" crime fighting. He is a vigilante not for the sake of going against the cops and doesn't try to stop what the cops are doing. He doesn't disrespect the cops for pleasure. He just sees more effective ways of doing things and therefore does his own thing.

In some ways, I can identify with Bruce in this respect as well. I know (and am starting to prepare myself) that not everyone who wants to see spiritual crime abolished in Toronto will agree with my non-traditional means, but I will continue to start a grass-roots spiritual crime fighting movement. I know I will encounter opposition from others on the "same team" as me in the future. I think it would be naive to believe otherwise. I should just psychologically prepare myself for it.

I find so much inspiration from this Batman begins movie that I find myself rewatching my favourite motivational clips from it about once a month (at least). It's crazy how many spiritual parallels I find with Bruce Wayne. Or perhaps maybe it's becoming more of a self-fulfilling prophecy ever since these parallels entered my mind a little over a year ago.

I feel God speaking to me sometimes as I watch this movie. Of course the analogies are not all perfect with lots of flaws, but nevertheless it really concretizes a lot of things I feel in my soul as I journey in this chapter of my life.

Plus, I believe that God speaks to his people not outside the cultural symbols of the person's own culture, but within them. In the Gospels, Jesus always used cultural symbols inside of the culture of the person he was talking to illustrate Kingdom principles in a very relevant/real/immediate way. He did not use Chinese illustrations to a Jewish audience. Nor did he use African analogies to the Romans. He used cultural symbols originating from the Jewish culture to communicate Gospel truths to the Jews. He used Roman terminology to illustrate Kingdom truths to the Romans.

I strongly believe that if Jesus were living in the West today, he would use symbols within the Western culture to illustrate the unchanging truths of the Kingdom of God. He would totally say stuff like "The Kingdom of God is like McDonalds because..." or "The Kingdom of God is like the White House..." or "The Kingdom of God is like the TV show American Idol...". With his wisdom, he could take any everyday object in his sight and illustrate profound spiritual truths from it, like an SUV, or a bowling ball, or a 747 in our culture.

With that in mind, I feel God speaking to me a lot in modern day movies. By that I don't mean that he tells me new apostolic truths through them. But I mean that he really fleshes out abstract principles that appear far away from my soul in a really in-your-face realism through modern day movies that contain modern day symbols/analogies. Of course the truths being fleshed out are (or should be) in line with the truths and the general direction of the truth laid out in the Good Book.

Yes, the Kingdom of God is like Batman begins.

Oh yea. And I do plan to work with "Commissioner Gordons" (people who feel called to remain working "within" the traditional system to continue capitalizing on the strengths of it in ways vigilantes can't) in the future. Batman can't crime fight without Commissioner Gordons that work with him. I don't feel that it's an either/or distinction of God redeeming Toronto EITHER through non-traditional grassroots spiritual movements OR traditional systems. He can, and I feel like he will use both to team up with each other, each with their own calling.


*The final action scene where the bad guys want to poison the entire Gotham hydro system by sending a train full of poison into the main city's water supply*

“The narrows is tearing itself to pieces” - Commissioner Gordon

“This is just the beginning. If they hit the whole city, there’s nothing to stop Gotham from tearing itself apart from mass panic” - Batman

“How they gonna do that?” - Commissioner Gordon

“They’re going to use the train. The monorail follows the water mains to the central hub beneath Wayne Tower. If the machine gets to the station, it’ll cause a chain reaction that’ll vaporize the city’s water supply. “ - Batman

“Covering Gotham in this poison” - Commissioner Gordon

“I’m gonna stop him from loading that train, but I may need your help” - Batman

“What do you need?” - Commissioner Gordon

“Do you drive stick?” - Batman