Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Enochian Cycle



The Enochian Cycle
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr

Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. – Gen.5:24

And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. – Exd. 18:26

It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. – Acts 6:2

Odd, how one can live with themselves, grow old and yet not really know themselves, or at least on the up-side, they continue to learn about themselves with each passing year.

I always knew as a kid I was a bit different from everyone else; I marched to the beat of a different drum, as they say and I was proud and reveled in that fact of my individuality and uniqueness. But as a 40 something, I continue to learn more about myself that has helped me in my life and ministry.

For example, I just learned that I am an Enoch. Please do not get me wrong, I am not comparing myself to the greatness of Enoch. No, no, I can’t even begin to touch that. But I do desire to walk with GOD as he did. What I mean when I say I am like Enoch, is that if anyone has read the Apocryphal books that bear his name they will know that Enoch, though a leader of the people, would leave everyone and everything behind for long and extended periods of time to walk with GOD in the wilderness and during that time, GOD would “download” things into Enoch’s spirit, and when he was filled to capacity he would return and pour out upon the people, everything GOD poured into him. Then the cycle would start all over again; off to the wilderness Enoch would go, only to return months later and teach the people and then back into solitude he would go.

That’s like me. It took me a LONG time to understand and realize that fact about me. I use to feel so depressed and defeated after I expelled a massive load of teaching, I would feel drained and empty, aimless and listless, not knowing what to do with myself. Feeling I should pull away but afraid (vainly I might add) that everything would fall apart while I was gone. I found myself announcing quite often the need to “go on sabbatical” and wondered, “Am I that weak of a believer that I need to retreat so often!?” It only took a couple dozen times for the LORD to slap me upside the head and shove me in the direction of the wilderness before I finally got it through my thick skull what the Holy One was doing. I was not weak; He just created me to cycle the way Enoch did.

The writings do not say, but I surmise by my own experience that when Enoch was away it was not just a holy download fest, but that GOD did some serious refining on Enoch. Despite us elevating this man to a “holier-that-us” status, he was a man like us, tempted and plagued with a fallen nature like us, having character flaws and personal issues just like us. Want to know how I know; because that’s what happens to me when I am away. Not only does GOD download stuff into me to pour out upon my emergence from the wilderness, but while I am in solitude GOD rips off callouses, pokes and prods old, festering wounds and makes me walk through the refiner’s fire and sands off the rough edges. It is a painful (not fun by no means), but vitally necessary process. And want to know what else I discovered? That when I leave things in capable hands, everything DOES NOT fall apart while I am away. I discovered on one of my excursions to the wilderness that that feeling and attitude was hidden pride as well as a hidden wound of mistrust.

I am also not trying to say I am a great leader like Moses, but share a trait of him and Enoch, in that I am not a great pastoral Rabbi. I do not hang my shingle out in front of my front door and invite everyone to lie on my Freudian couch and unload their burdens. In other words, like Enoch, I let the residential leaders handle the small, everyday stuff. Like Moses I only take the big cases and let the other leaders handle the “small matters.” It’s by no means an, “I’m too good” thing, no, it’s a, “That is not how GOD created me or called me to do” thing. Like the Apostles, my gifts lay more in Teaching and Instruction and like Moses and Enoch; the revelatory and prophetic.

So If I do not return your emails right away, do not be offended. If you don’t see me for a while on social networks, or it has been weeks since I posted a video, podcast or blog you will know I’m walking the wilderness and as God is downloading the next course of teachings He is also purging and refining me. No need to worry, I’ll be back, just please lift up a prayer for me while I’m gone.

Thank you.