Below is an article from this past Sunday’s newspaper, responding to a previous article I had written. My comments will follow:

A place where the heart rulesIn regards to Mike Lumpkin’s letter of Feb. 13, the world is already condemned because of the conditioning of the mind with negative beliefs that inspire hate and greed – and for which inspires the pursuit of pleasure because these mind-inspired actions are too awful to feel all the time. This has always been so. The mind is self-serving and controlling, rarely recognizing that all humans are brothers and sisters in spirit. It conditions human offspring with its fears and negative beliefs (example: We are all sinners ) and it can be near impossible to unravel it all to find love.

The messages that Jesus brought were clear indications of how to come to a place where the heart rules, not the mind. However, it is simplistic to think that only a belief in Jesus will save man from his inequities knowing that the majority of the Earth’s inhabitants subscribe to other religions. All religions have produced enlightened beings. We are inherently good because the spirit of God, who created all people, lives within us, and one needs the eyes to see, the ears to hear and the heart to feel in order to experience the blessings of it. When the mind rules, the heart is veiled and the ego keeps us in illusion, ever pursuing behaviors that are not synchronous with the frequencies of love that emanate from our inner spirit. It is only a quiet mind that is revolutionary enough to discover this. While Jesus says he is the only way, I would agree because in my experience, this way is the path of love. Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed also taught these principles. Man can follow these principles without blind allegiance to religious dogma and be set free.

Barry Langford

West Fork

To make this relatively brief and simple, I’ll just go line by line with the letter to prove that this letter is representative of the very point I made in my article in the paper, which can be read HERE.

First of all, Mr. Langford’s first point is absolutely contrary to scripture. John 3:18 states plainly that people are condemned due to their disbelief that Jesus is who He says He is, the Son of God. Here, Mr. Langford clearly sets himself as the standard for truth as opposed to scripture. He continues by saying that it is merely the beliefs of men that establish condemning and negative thought, particularly the one about us all being sinners (Rom.3:23). This certainly proves the point that if the Word of God is not our standard for truth, then we set ourselves up to be just that, and we, therefore, become “god”.

Secondly, Mr. Langford then pursues a very thin line of thinking establishing that what we need is our hearts to rule, as opposed to our minds. Aside from the fact that scripture clearly says that the heart is “deceitful above all things” (Jer.17:9), we are actually called to love God with hearts AND minds, as well as soul and strength (Deut.6:5; Matt.22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). Along with this he states very boldly that we are inherently “good” and, once again, clearly defying scripture (Rom.3). This is where man in his self-justifying, self-righteous ambition, loves to dwell: In a place where the only absolute is his reason; the only judge is His logic; and the only need for a savior is found in others too weak-minded / hearted to trust in the human spirit as being all-sufficient.

I write this so that the body of UBC may know that what we teach and preach is very real and applicable to life. This is a REAL person with REAL beliefs and is basing his REAL life on shifting sand. We must know what we believe, why we believe it and practice it faithfully. That should be our REAL life. Ultimately, Mr. Langford needs a new mind and a new heart, which can only be found in forsaking sin and confessing a REAL Christ, trusting in all that He has been, and is, for us.

Ephesians 4:17-24 (ESV)17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.