Tape Talk
by Norman Grubb

Tape Talk
by Gail Bedell
CD REVIEW:
The Uniqueness of Our Message
by Norman Grubb

This talk, recorded on the first night of a weekend retreat, is full of insight into the uniqueness of the Total Truth message and its scriptural underpinnings. After some personal comments, Norman describes what he has found in the scriptures to be God’s purpose: "Getting into men-expressing Himself in men throughout the ages." Norman points out that what he is sharing is unique-rarely written or spoken about today. Using his words: "We are in for a confrontation. It affects our very being. Everything is blown up if you come to Jesus… He explodes everything-your relationships, your cooperation. It is rare today to find a group or a person who represents a group to whom this is to them what it is to us. It is a relationship with the perfect Person-and we are perfect persons, an expression of the perfect Person. That’s the difficulty; perfection is the problem. The purpose of God is completed selves-as Jesus is perfect." The rest of Norman’s talk provides the explanation for these assertions.

Norman begins by laying the foundation: God is the only Person in the universe, all creation is an expression of Himself, and the choice between opposites is necessary to bring about consciousness. From the statement that "God cannot lie," we understand that God made the original choice (to speak in human terms) to confine Himself to being outpoured love. It is necessary in the choice between opposites that there is a death to one-a swallowing up of the one-for the manifestation of the opposite. Before time, God made the choice to express Himself as outpoured love and therefore "cannot lie" (be self-for-self). Norman points out that this is a seldom understood but fundamental uniqueness of Christianity. All other religions are about a relationship with God-but without the cross. Left to itself, any being is a self-forself. The opposite is the choice God made in begetting His Son as an expression of self-for- others-a "cross in the heart of God."

"There we start our uniqueness," Norman continues. All creation is God re-expressing Himself in various forms-trees, for example, at a lower level. God created Man like Himself in quantity-body, soul, spirit-to be His ultimate means of re-expression. But Man must face the same choice between opposites in order to become a conscious being. "We have to settle in to who we are-by a delusion-and to be delivered from it strongly." Norman describes the necessity of the temptation of Adam and Eve to make them aware of their personhood. The consequence of their disobedience was to take in the satanic nature and the lie that a person is a separate self from God. Once we have come to the Savior, we have to learn what a self is and how it functions-the same thing Jesus learned through obedience. Norman gives excellent detail on Satan’s self-delusion and how he lives out in us when we think of ourselves independently. "Just me" and "good me" are equally evil. "Abiding in you is the problem, not abiding in Christ."

This talk-available on audiocassette and soon to be available on CD-is a real gem. Norman so thoroughly explains the foundational truths upon which our union with Christ is understood. Having found these extremely challenging concepts to grasp, I was pleased with the many and varied examples Norman gave. Most meaningful to me was Norman’s description of the uniqueness of our Total Truth message, especially the radical impact of Christ on lives. He makes it plain why this is a message "only for the desperate."