Editor’s Note
by Editor(s)

Drawing on five of Norman’s books, this issue of The Intercessor is a collection of articles that illuminate the staggering, overarching concept that there is only one Person in the universe—and its implications for us as Christians.

The lead article, "The Total Truth," from Norman’s last book Yes, I Am, is his most succinct teaching on this topic. "We start with our Total, God Himself, in ultimate fact the only Person in the universe….All that exists is that unity of which He is the Center and everything manifests Him, on one level or another." In greater detail, "Ultimate Reality" describes the paradigm shift Norman experienced when his searchings led him to apprehend the exclusiveness of God. Seeking through the scriptures to meet his need for more of God’s love and power for service, Norman discovered these were not "things" God could give him but qualities of a Person, only one Person, God Himself. But that led to a new dilemma–if God and only God is the life, love, power—what about me? 

Similarly, "Life’s Supreme Secret" speaks to Christians who, as Norman did, seek God’s highest, demonstrating from the Bible that eternal life is not an abstract thing but the qualities of a Person: "I am the Life," Jesus said. And His life can only be manifested in relationship with others. Tucked in this article is also a strikingly clear description of God existing and functioning as the Trinity.

"God’s Fixed Nature" addresses the underlying questions about the nature of God: If He is all and in all, what kind of God is He? How do we know? In other words, what kind of universe do we live in? Addressing the latter, "Modern Man and the Ultimate Question" combines recent scientific discoveries that point to spirit as the true reality and the revelation in scripture of God as the Universal Spirit who manifests Himself through His creation.

Also looking into the spirit-realm, "There is Another Dimension" takes those supernatural happenings in scripture that appear to contradict material laws to show how spirit, not matter, is what is real—and we, joined to the God who is Spirit  "operate right in the midst of this matter world; and we discover ourselves to be spirit people."

Several articles touch on the answer to the "What about me?" implications of our deepened understanding of the nature and totality of God. "Not Two Powers—Only One" describes how the Spirit who indwells us as Christians flows out of us as we begin by simple faith to see with a single eye—"from seeing God personal to God universal" and from there to believing in "a total God—a God with no possibility of a hole in Him." 

"God: All in All" is Norman’s cogent analysis of finding his "total God,"—a brilliantly-written, exhilarating description of God’s love-nature in action: God poured out for the complete liberation and fulfillment of mankind in the person of Christ and our true Life and perfect fulfillment found in union in Christ.

"Imperfection Points to Perfection" further unveils the implications of knowing God as all-in-all as we view life in its fallen state as "a great finger pointing the way from the imperfect human to the perfect divine." Particularly insightful is Norman’s detailed description of how God in Christ effected the reconciliation of all things to Himself—going the way of the Cross, which is also His way in His intercessors today.  As a fitting conclusion, the second half of this article, "Need is the Evidence of Supply" brings us full circle to unfold the Grace of God by which he "must restore the rebel negatives to their predestined estate of submission to their positives." This article provides a strong rebuttal to those who condemn the chastisements and judgments of God on sin as cruel or harsh, or talk of the "permissive will of God" to explain away the consequences and judgments brought on us by our willful sin. Having foreseen the fall with its tragic consequences, God "has always intended, planned and provided total supply for every human need—and the supply has always been there."