Parable: Something that is similar to something else. Something that resembles another thing.
One day, some years ago now, God started to speak to my mind about Alice in Wonderland.
Not with words, but just with thoughts that He placed in my mind that opened up secrets about the story, and about His hidden ways.
Now I know most people think it's crazy to say that God is speaking something specific into your mind. It's not something you hear people say every day. Some people don't even believe in God. But it doesn't matter to me. Because I know that God talks into people's minds, yours and mine, all the time, all day long, in various ways and degrees. He talks through thoughts, words, ideas, visions and dreams, through life situations and other people, through songs and poems, and in so many other ways too. Only, people are usually completely unaware of this. But there's really nothing extraordinary about it at all. Because God talks to people all the time.
The thing that God showed me about Alice in Wonderland was something that really blew my mind. You know the feeling of satisfaction when you find a missing puzzle piece in a puzzle you've been working on for so long, thinking you'll never complete it? You've had this puzzle in front of you forever now, with a crucial piece missing from it, and suddenly you find the piece, and know it's the right one, and the piece just slides in perfectly and locks into place. That's what it feels like when God talks to you. Everything just FITS.
What happened was, suddenly I started getting all these strange thoughts into my mind about how Wonderland was like the Kingdom of God, or a parable of it. I forget now in what order the events unfolded, what came first, what after, but it started when I stumbled on a random You Tube video, called White Rabbit, made by a German guy, a media student, whom I've never met. As I watched the video, it triggered an avalanche of thoughts, with one thought quickly following the next. The whole thing kept unraveling and expanding in my head, until my mind started blooming and burst open all in flowers. I was like a cactus in a desert that had enjoyed its first rain shower in years. Suddenly I was covered in flowers all over, and it all made so much sense to me what was communicated to me. It made PERFECT sense. Especially, since it explained to me the experience that I'd had in my childhood, where I'd felt God's presence communicate to me that I was Alice in Wonderland, which back then, didn't make any sense at all.
That's what it's like when God speaks His truths into your mind. They're always tailor-made just for you, and fit your life story. It's like a special order from Heaven, made just for you.
Now I don't know if what I tell you about Wonderland will excite you the way it excited me, because this message was custom-made for me, and spoke to me through my own knowledge about the Bible and my experience of being a Christian. But I will share this message with you, because I know something else.
And this part is very important, and really, the whole point of all of this:
When I share the messages that God has given to me, it will trigger in you something. When I stand in my truth, and bravely share it, it will open you up to the messages that God has given to you, messages that are hiding inside of you. That's how it works. Always has, and always will. And those messages inside of you will make sense to you, and they will excite you. God has something to tell you, you see. Something unique that will blow your mind, something that I know nothing about. Something that only you can tell me. But in order for you to tell me your message, you must fall into the rabbit hole first. You must go looking for the truth.
Can you hear the call of the white rabbit? He's there, you know. Are you ready to fall? Through the scary unknown? Don't worry, God will catch you and you'll be fine.
Ready? Here's my message about Wonderland. It's long, but bare with me, it's all relevant.
I'll start by putting the story of Alice in Wonderland in a nutshell:
Alice, who's a curious child, follows a mysterious White Rabbit. She falls down a rabbit hole and discovers the entrance to a peculiar world called Wonderland. Driven by her intense curiosity and desire to meet the White Rabbit (who keeps escaping her) Alice begins a journey into a strange world. A world where normal rules don’t apply… Along the way she meets all sorts of weird characters, including the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen. In this strange new world Alice experiences the adventure of a lifetime…
And that’s the story in a nutshell.
(Note: If you've never read the story or watched it as a movie, you should. Especially if you want to understand how it compares to the Bible and is God inspired. Here's a little longer, yet compact, plot summary, please read it and come back.)
Now, let me break down the basic story elements in a different way. From a Biblical point of view. Let me show you how it becomes a parable of the Kingdom of God:
Alice: This is the child of God. The one who seeks Him. In other words, Alice is anyone, who seeks to hear and follow God's voice and ways, His Kingdom, which is the Kingdom of God.
This Kingdom, this place I call Wonderland, is found within you.
The reason why Alice represents the child of God, is because she has all the characteristics of a child of God. First off, she IS a child -- quite literally. In the Bible Jesus teaches us to become like the little children -- innocent. Alice is also very hungry for answers. She’s pursuing these answers with everything she has. She’s open minded and curious, because she's very bored and unhappy with her present reality. Because of this boredom and unhappiness, she's exactly like someone, whom the Bible describes as poor in spirit. She wants more. More life within. (Find the qualities of a child of God in the Beautitudes in the Book of Matthew, ch 5. where Jesus begins His teaching with "Blessed are the poor in spirit...")
God sees the void in Alice, and responds by sending the White Rabbit, because He knows that Alice will follow.
The White Rabbit: This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus and Truth. It's our guide and God's bait that causes us to follow.
Our spirits are drawn to the Truth. The Holy Spirit is like a fishing bait, “the hook”, or "the lure" that intrigues people and causes them to follow Him. God knows that people won’t come to Him easily. There are many obstacles and resistance within them. So He must convince people that it’s in their best interest to come. He must draw them in. People have a natural fear toward the unknown that sleeps within them. They're afraid of the path that leads to the truth, because it's covered with stones and thorns.
There are evil, spiritual forces (the devil and his helpers, i.e. demons), all around us, all day long, messing with our minds, whispering negative thoughts into our heads that we mistake as our own. These are the stones and the thorns on our paths. This is the resistance. These negative spiritual forces lie to us about God, His character and purposes and what it means to follow Him. They also lie about who WE are. They minimize us, mock us, and discourage us. They throw sticks in our wheels, trying to delay, distract, threaten and confuse us. They will do whatever they can to keep us from answering God's call and venturing on the journey into the truth.
But God has His ways to make people come. He knows what He’s dealing with, and that He has to “lure people in”. He has to send white rabbits to intrigue us. He has to catch people like one catches timid fish.
That's why Jesus said to His disciples; “I will make you fishers of men."
Speaking of fishing. Currently, the internet serves as one of God's fishing nets. And here we all are! Inside that big net.
How clever of Him.
The Holy Spirit is like a white rabbit. Or a fishing bait. Or a dangling carrot in front of a stubborn donkey.
They all do the same, have the same function, all symbolizing the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to put movement into our lazy bodies. To push us forward, towards God.
When the Holy Spirit/white rabbit passes us by, we're all like Alice. We have to follow.
Because we just can't help ourselves.
***
Wonderland: This is the Kingdom of God. It’s a world, or reality, which in many ways functions like the physical world we live in, but in many ways is also completely opposite to it. From the perspective of the physical world Wonderland’s rules make no sense at all. They're simply – foolish. They're completely mad!
This is because the natural, physical world can never fully understand the things of the sprit. They seem foolish to it, because its wisdom is out of its grasp, its system of thinking. This is how Wonderland is a parable to the Kingdom of God:
"For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." (1 Cor. 1:21)
Many things in Wonderland seem very foolish in comparison to the worldly perspective. Wonderland simply doesn't operate the same way as the natural world does. Flowers talk, cats have floating heads, unbirthdays are celebrated... This is a place where nonsense rules and rational thinking must take the back seat.
"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad." "But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do I know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." (From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
When the spirit of God first approaches you, you don't know what to think. It seems crazy, people will say you've gone mad. But the pull is too strong to resist. Like Alice, you choose to enter Wonderland and embrace its madness, because NOT doing it, is no longer an option. You're simply too hungry for more.
And so, deeper and deeper into the nonsense you dive, just like Alice, to quench that hunger, because like Alice, you're on a quest for your true identity.
It's all about identity, you see. The truth of who you really are. This journey to Wonderland/ the Kingdom of God.
This is the point, the relationship between the two -- this mad quest for our truth and identity.
And that's the parable in a nutshell.
And so, how it works with Alice, is how it works with the children of God. On the outside, through rational eyes, faith and the things of the spirit will always sound a little crazy. The paths that lead to inner freedom are strange and unknown to the natural mind. But there's an inner logic that moves the children of God forward on their journey towards their final destination. There is deep wisdom in the seemingly foolish path a believer takes.
It may look silly, and even scary sometimes. But it's the only way for Alice to find her way where she needs to go.
Now, finding the entrance to this topsy-turvy Wonderland is a mysterious thing. You can only find it by following the White Rabbit. When he passes you by, no one knows. Jesus said, “the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Jesus also said it in another way: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
And this is completely true.
Because the transformation into a child of God is a miracle that comes from God's Hand alone. No one can take credit for it. No can make it happen.
No one knows when it’s their time to fall into the rabbit hole and find Wonderland. But when you do, it's like jumping from a three-dimensional reality into a four-dimensional one. Or a ten-dimensional one. A new perspective enters your mind, and you'll never be the same again.
You are born again, into the spirit, into the Kingdom of Heaven. You've found Wonderland.
It takes a bit of madness. A bit of letting go. You must take a courageous jump into the unknown. You must put your own ideas aside and follow the rabbit wherever he takes you.
And don't worry, he won't harm you. Wherever he takes you will be good for you. It will bring healing and growth. And when you find the truth within you, you'll know it's right, because it just fits.
The reason you'll know is because the answer will come from within you. Because the kingdom of God is within you. And when you've made that mad jump, when you've taken the risk, and found out for yourself, then you'll truly know from deep within - what it means to be born again.
***
Wonderland/the Kingdom of God exists in the spirit realm. And almost like a mirror image of the physical world. This is because the spirit realm, although invisible, is the actual real world, and much more real than the one we see around us. Everything that's created and exists in the physical world has first been created in the spirit realm.
In some ways the physical world is like a negative image of the Kingdom of God. It has its problems. It's like looking through night vision goggles, where black becomes white and white becomes black. Here many things are backwards, or up-side-down compared to the Kingdom of God. Of course here we think it’s the right-side-up, because we're used to our earthly perspective. We were brought up in a world where our minds often point down to earth, and not up, towards Heaven, towards Him.
What I mean is for example this: Something that in our world is usually considered important, might mean nothing in the Kingdom of God. Something that many consider great improvement here, might in the Kingdom of God actually have the opposite effect. It might make you backslide in your spiritual growth. Something valuable here might have little or no value at all in the Kingdom of God.
Like owning the world’s biggest art collection. Or gaining certain people’s respect. Or getting invited to all the best parties. Or getting that job position that everyone admires. Or looking really good in a bikini...
None of these things are in themselves necessarily bad. God can certainly make all of these things happen. And He does - when it's right. After all, He does want you to be happy and He does want to bless you. And He'd love nothing more than to give you things that make you happy, because it makes Him happy to make you happy...
But He does NOT want these things for you, if they're your first priority and your happiness depend on them. If they're your sun, moon and stars, your everything, what your whole world revolves around, and what you’re seeking to find in life, if they're more important to you than Him.
Because if these things replace God for you in one way or another, and there's no room for Him in the equation, and He's no longer your center, but sitting somewhere in the side closet of your mind, and you'll only take Him out when you think it fits you, maybe as a nice conversation piece, or during a Sunday church service when you think you have the time - I'm telling you, you've got problems. Whether you see it or not. Because when all these other things have become your goals, they have become your idols. And idols make your love shrink and your soul shift into unhealthy places.
It's like making a cake with too much flour or egg in it. It won't work. It'll look like a mess and no one wants to eat it. That's what it's like when God is missing from the batter of your soul, or pushed aside by some other ingredient in your life. It messes you up, and the harmony is gone, and you'll make a really bad cake.
That’s why God forbids idols. Because idols are poison to your body, soul and spirit.
Jesus said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I'll repeat that: All the Law and the Prophets that the Bible is based on hang on these two commandments. This is the core point of all the teachings of the Bible. That you
1. learn to love God with all your heart, soul and mind
and
2. your neighbor as yourself.
And that's the entire message of the Bible in a nutshell:
Learn how to LOVE.
Many of the priorities of life in Wonderland are quite different from earthly priorities. Playfulness and imagination rule, and everything childlike. Calculated, rational and stiff thinking, often seen as "adult" thinking must be set aside. This is because Wonderland is a place of innocence.
It's the same way with the Kingdom of God, when you compare it to the earth. The two often have very opposite and competing sets of rules and values. And like Wonderland, the Kingdom of God is for the innocent.
"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Mt 10:16)
In the Kingdom of God the most important thing to pursue - is love.
And I’m not talking about romantic love here (which of course has it's purpose, time and place - when it's right), but just the unconditional love you have for others and God. That’s the valuable pearl, the price, the thing to go after. It's the base of everything else in you. Everything good in you grows forth from that base.
So you need to go after it, because it makes you - you.
Do you know yourself? Do you like the person in the mirror? Follow the White Rabbit, and he'll introduce you to yourself in ways you wouldn't believe.
It's because God's love is worth finding. It really is. And when you get the hang of it, you'll know what I'm talking about. And you'll come and tell me yourself. Because you'll love what it does to you, you'll love the transformation within.
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Just don't forget: Sometimes the path to finding His love is hard. It's because in order for your love to grow bigger, you must become smaller. You must become humble.
And becoming humble isn't usually a comfortable process. For example, that admirable position you seek, that makes everyone want to shake your hand and ask for your autograph, because they think you’re so wonderful, smart, charming, great, important, and beautiful... doesn’t usually help your love grow much... A lot of times it just makes your ego grow. And in Wonderland a big ego is like a ball of chain attached to your leg, which makes exploring Wonderland very difficult. So get rid of the ego. The sooner the better. And don't worry if you don't know how. The White Rabbit will teach you, if you continue to follow Him.
What happens, you see, when you get serious about following God, is that God quickly registers you to the Get-Rid-of-That-Ego-Academy, and soon some very strange things start happening to you. I guarantee it. For a moment you might even think, "why did I ever want to come to this place?!"
But you'll change your mind later. When the jewels appear, those hidden treasures buried in your soul, the rewards you worked and fought so hard for. They'll start showing up, these gifts. And now they're yours and no one can take them away from you.
They won't come easy though, it's hard labor, this Academy of God. So you got to do some shoveling, you got to sink your shovel in some dirt, because that ego of yours is a stiff opponent.
Just take it from me. I've battled with my own ego all my life, and I've been a student at this Academy for years and years, and I don't know if I'll ever graduate. But here I am. And you'll be too, if you want to follow God.
You don't even need to do anything to find opportunities to humble yourself, because those opportunities will come looking for you. The White Rabbit will see to it. If you obey Him. If you follow God's directions (found in the Bible among other places, but mostly inside of you) and really try to do what He says.
Entrance to Wonderland: This is what happens after Alice has fallen into the rabbit hole:
She follows the White Rabbit down a long hall, and soon finds herself in front of a tiny door. There's a golden key that opens the door, but she herself is too big to fit through. She can only peak in through the doorway, and see a lovely garden on the other side. But she can't get to the garden, because she's too big. Luckily she finds a mysterious little bottle on a table next to her. There's a label on the bottle, which says: DRINK ME. So she drinks the liquid inside the bottle, and immediately starts shrinking in size. But after having become small enough to fit through the door, she realizes she has left the key to the door on the table where she found the bottle. And now she can't get the key, because she's too small to reach it! This is when her eyes fall on a tiny glass box lying under the table. On the box it says EAT ME. Alice decides to taste the little cake inside the box to see if it will help her. Soon she starts growing in size, which makes it possible for her to retrieve the key.
In other words. For Alice to get into Wonderland she has to first adjust her size by eating and drinking something. This is the only way for her to fit through the magical door that leads to Wonderland.
How this this whole eating and drinking and fitting through the door fits in with the parable of the Kingdom of God goes like this:
Just like it's difficult for Alice to fit through the door that leads to Wonderland, it's also difficult for us to get into the Kingdom of God. Our humanity prevents it, our sinful nature, our weaknesses. Just like Alice, we're not quite fit to enter in, we just can't do it in our natural size.
In the book of Luke, the Bible describes an event where Jesus is approached by a rich man, who asks Jesus what good things he should do to receive eternal life. Jesus tells him to go and give all his worldly possessions to the poor and afterwards come and follow him. This causes the rich man to leave, crushed. Jesus then states to his disciples that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. When the horrified disciples ask who then actually can be saved, Jesus replies, "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." In other words, God will find a way to “squeeze that rich man through the eye of the needle”.
God will make the impossible possible.
I've seen it happen in my own life, and I'm here to testify of it.
I am that rich man.
And actually, in one way or another, we all are. Don't believe me? Then go study the Bible with all its scriptures and laws and see if not at some point, you too, will hit a massive brick wall and discover that you just can't do it. You won't measure up, it's just too much, it's too hard, you're too weak, God is too good, and you're not, and no matter how hard you try, you just can't meet the requirements, and be perfect.
Don't worry.
This is why Jesus came.
He came, because no matter how hard we try we'll never make through that door on our own. Never without Him. He's our key to the Kingdom of God. He became that key when He died on the cross for us. He became our bridge over uncrossable waters. Somehow, through His sacrifice on the cross He did this, He changed something in the spirit that undid what happened in the fall of man, during the original sin (and don't ask me about the details of this, because I don't understand all these details, this tremendously important event in the history of mankind, no one does, I don't care who they think they are) All I know is that He took our sins upon Himself and bought us free from them. And anyone who believes in Him can walk in to God's Presence in His footsteps, sort of hidden behind His back, using Him as a shield. That's how God set it up, because we couldn't do it on our own. God had to step in to help us, to give us the tools for our personal transformation so we could follow Him. (Ro. 8:1-4, Heb. 9:15)
Jesus is the door to the Kingdom of God, to Wonderland.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Mt 7:7-8)
And just like Alice found things to eat and drink to transform her the right size there's something for us to eat and drink too.
What I'm talking about is the Communion, the bread and the wine, these are the things for us to eat and drink. Because the bread represents the body of Christ, His flesh, which was sacrificed. And the wine is the blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross for humankind. Jesus told us to eat these in remembrance of Him at the last supper, before He was crucified. (1Co 11:23, Mk 14:22)
He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."
The bread and the wine is what takes you through the door to Wonderland.
The Castle: Soon after reaching Wonderland Alice starts heading towards the Castle, because that’s where the White Rabbit is heading. So that’s where she’s heading too.
The Castle represents the Throne of God (being close to the Throne means being real close to the Father), and reaching close to it is the ultimate goal for a child of God. As you know, castles are places where kings and queens live, and places where a coronation would generally take place. Jesus, is of course, the King of this Castle, and the soon to be queen is the Bride of Christ. But before the coronation can take place another king and queen must be removed first.
For the child of God to get close to the Throne of God means *she's entering the inner courts of Heaven, the most sacred places. And to get there, so close to our Heavenly Father, means to become the Bride of Christ.
*Side note: I use the pronoun "she" for the child of God, although it could just as well be "he."
Becoming the Bride of Christ means she'll soon marry God. There's a wedding on its way. When the child of God marries God, it means she has won the war of her soul. She has allowed God to purify her through the trials of life and now she's safe at home. All the hardships He took her through when she followed His chosen path for her. She didn't take the easy road, the wide road. She took the narrow one, the one full of stones and tears and hardships. But she took it, because she wanted to follow the white rabbit. And now she can marry God and live with Him forever.
Now she can finally wipe all her tears. Now God can completely fill her, completely dwell inside of her. Not just inside her spirit, but her soul and body too. And when He fills her like that, she'll radiate with joy, like a beacon of light and hope for others. Now all the promises God has made her can be fulfilled. And now she'll be free from sin, body, soul and spirit. The happiness of that union is likened in the Bible to a wedding feast.
When she marries God she receives the crown of life. She has crucified her body and soul on the cross with Jesus, and now her resurrection has come. Now she will reign with Him, by His side, as His queen, and He will no longer call her His disciple. He will call her friend...
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (Jas 1:12)
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (Jn.15:14-15)
It's because falling down the rabbit hole and finding Wonderland (or being born again) is just the beginning. That’s when the real journey begins, the journey to fullness of God. Sometimes Christians (especially new ones) miss this point. As soon as the white rabbit has lured a child of God into Wonderland His next mission is to get her to the Castle. And the journey to the Castle is a difficult journey, a journey of growth in love. Alice's love grows when she becomes smaller. Every time she lets go a little more of that ego and pride, and all those other sins and illusions that keep her in a prison, she grows in love, and God can become bigger inside of her. And the closer she is to the Throne, the closer she is to her fullness in God, her true home, her final destination.
So the smaller your ego is, the bigger your love is. And the bigger your love is, the bigger God can be inside of you. And the bigger God can be inside of you, the closer you are to the Castle, where you've finally finished your journey, your race.
As she walks through Wonderland Alice meets a lot of strange characters on her path. Some of them are friendly, some are not, and some are something in between.
(For a more thorough list of characters, study them here.)
These are the key characters God spoke to my mind about:
Hookah the Smoking Caterpillar has a discussion with Alice about her apparent identity crisis. When Alice meets him she no longer has a clear idea of who she is. This is a very normal reaction for anyone who is either in the process of entering, or has just entered Wonderland.
"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar. This was not an encouraging opening conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I - I hardly know, Sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then." "What do you mean by that?" said the Caterpillar, sternly. "Explain yourself!" "I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, Sir," said Alice, "because I'm not myself, you see." (From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll)
Hookah is like a sign post. He is someone, who points Alice in the right direction on her path. He provides Alice with the information she needs in order to continue her journey in Wonderland. Is he a friend? Maybe not exactly a friend, but not a foe either, because he's helping her. He's just the right person at the right time. So really, sent to her by God. When Alice arrives at the mushroom, thanks to Hookah's advice, she'll now know exactly what to do. She'll know which side of the mushroom to eat to make her grow larger or smaller. This helps her move along on her path.
The Mad Hatter and his friends: The events at The Mad Tea Party demonstrate to Alice how little sense Wonderland makes in comparison to what she's been used to in the real world. For awhile this causes great confusion and discouragement for Alice, and she's about ready to quit on Wonderland altogether. Is the Mad Hatter a friend? I don't know, to be honest. This is because in the original Disney Movie Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland I don't think he is. Especially because he and his friends testify against Alice in the trial, as if they were her foes. It also doesn't seem like Hatter is a friend in the original book. But the way Hatter is portrayed in the more modern movie version of Alice in Wonderland, played by Johnny Depp, he's definitely a friend. And I believe these modern versions of Alice in Wonderland are also God inspired. So this part I can't say too much about. But as the Mad Hatter is portrayed in the original Disney movie I see that his function can be represented by those Christians that are not lead by the spirit of truth. The sin in them has misled them, and caused them to become a stumbling block to Alice, the true believer, and their harsh treatment of her reveal this condition to the bystander.
As Alice hurries out from the Mad Tea Party and continues looking for the White Rabbit, it is clear she has had enough:
"At any rate I'll never go there again! said Alice, as she picked her way through the wood. "It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!" (78, Carroll)
Cheshire Cat: What led Alice to the Mad Tea Party in the first place was the advice of the strange Cheshire Cat, whom she met in the woods. One might suggest that she shouldn't have listened to his advice at all.
But actually Alice is completely right to follow his advice.
It would be easy to confuse Cheshire Cat with an enemy, since there are some strange things going on with him on the surface. For example, sometimes his head starts floating next to his body. His laughter is quite crazy too, and some, if not most of his comments. But appearances are deceiving, because from a Christian viewpoint the Cheshire Cat represents a friend.
What I look at is the function of the character in order to judge who's a friend and who's an enemy. The reason why the Cheshire Cat is a friend is because he does three very useful things for Alice (In the Disney 1951 movie version): First of all he teaches to Alice how things work in Wonderland, second, he warns Alice of the Red Queen, and third, he shows Alice the way, out of the forest, and straight to the castle where she's heading.
The lesson with Cheshire Cat is to never judge a book by its covers.
The same lesson applies to the people the child of God meets on her Path to God. Just because someone doesn't look like her first pick for a friend doesn't mean that someone couldn't provide her with some important lessons. Just because the person looks or sounds a little weird, doesn't mean they might not become valuable players in the life of the child of God. This person might actually turn out to be instrumental in the long run for her spiritual growth. The child of God must learn to discern everything and everyone correctly, and to be careful, because there are wolves in sheep's clothing too.
In Wonderland that wolf is the Red Queen.
The Red Queen represents the devil or the false church. All those things that are enemies to the will of God. Although the Red Queen dwells in the Castle this is just a bluff, because she has no business being there.
And this, too, is a parable to the Kingdom of God.
A very similar wolf to the Red Queen roams around in churches too, where people go look for God. This wolf is a spirit. A spirit of the antichrist, or the devil, who finds people, like puppets, to do his will. When this evil spirit finds a good candidate, he slides in and becomes his/her puppeteer, and uses him/her for his advantage.
And just like the Red Queen has no business in the Castle, the devil and his helpers have no business in churches. But that's where you'll find him again and again. As a matter of fact, the more serious a person is about listening to God's voice, the more they'll run into the spirit of the devil. It's a pattern in the life of a true believer, a war that must be fought, a persecution that must be endured. It happened to Jesus and all His disciples too, and so many other believers throughout history. Just like the high priest and the pharisees came after Jesus and His disciples with the power of the devil, so the Red Queen and her minions will come after Alice.
Take note of another parable: Both enemies (wolves) in Wonderland and the Kingdom of Heaven operate the same way and have the same characteristics: Both dwell in high places and claim to be the ones who rule. Both are mean, proud and judgmental, and use fear and control to get their way. And both are equally pretentious and vain.
Just look at the red Queen as the perfect prototype of that. She always wants to win.
Take also note of the little king, who follows her around. He's another interesting and noteworthy character. Obviously he's no king at all, after all, a king's job is to rule, but this little king does no ruling at all. Instead he lets the Red Queen rule and decide everything. She's really the one who's the boss and wears the pants in this relationship.
So who does the little king represent, this little push-over, this lap dog belonging to the Red Queen, who's obviously not very nice to others? Can't be a true king, since a king would never let the Red Queen boss him and others around, because a true king, like Jesus, is fair and just. And Jesus, according to this Christian parable, is the true King of the Castle.
So what this little king in this parable represents, is the fake jesus of the churches of today. A fake jesus, who will not correct injustice in his house, his churches. (And yes, there's some corrections needed in the Christian Churches of today) So this little king's job is to allow the Red Queen (the spirit of the antichrist) to continue to rule. That is his only job. He's only a puppet. And just like the Red Queen is the real boss in the relationship, so the devil is the one who controls this fake jesus in the Christian churches of today.
Both the Red Queen and the king are only cheap copies of the real thing. But their days in the Castle are numbered.
Of course, the Red Queen hates Alice with a passion, and doesn't want her anywhere near the Castle/Throne of God, because she knows that as soon as Alice arrives, she'll be dethroned. This is because Alice is the true queen, the Bride of Christ. Therefore, the Red Queen will persecute and interrogate Alice, and finally take her to court. There she'll make her question her innocent quest for truth (God) with bogus charges. The trial, led by the false king and the Red Queen will be a mockery of justice, and the evidence brought against Alice completely illogical, based on lies, and proving nothing. Nevertheless, since the false king serves as judge, the Red Queen is allowed to drop her absurd, final judgment: “Off with her head!”
This too is a parable of the Kingdom of Heaven. Because what happens with Alice in the trial also happens with the true children of God.
It's all part of the path of God. At some point the persecution always comes. As Jesus said: "'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also."
The Playing Card Soldiers: The Red queen controls the access to the castle with an army of playing card soldiers. The playing card soldiers represent weak people, who have no substance and are not led by the spirit of truth. They let the Red Queen shuffle them around. They don’t think for themselves, but blindly obey senseless orders and persecute the innocent and pure, thinking they serve a higher call. This army is organized and numerous, and completely dedicated to its cause. Of course there is no true power in this army. In truth it's nothing but a flimsy deck of cards, dealt by the Red Queen, who wants to play her games using others to do her dirty job. All the playing card soldiers can do is try to intimidate and create temporary stumbling blocks for Alice.
But they can't stop her. And neither can the Red Queen. Because Alice is the true queen and she won't stop until she's arrived where she belongs. At the Castle.
She won't stop, she can't stop, because she's been eating and drinking from God's table and is simply hungry for more. She's been feeding her head. That's what happens at Wonderland. The deeper in you get, the more hungry you'll be for more.
And she's only had a taste, a little nibble to know what she's been missing all her life, and now she's unstoppable, she won't stop until she gets her fill. That's what happens when you start getting answers to your questions, when the White Rabbit starts leading you down His path. He'll lead you to places that'll seem uncomfortable for you. That's what it's like at the Mad Tea Party, a little overwhelming for you, a little uncomfortable sometimes. Sometimes it can get so bad you just want to scream: "Take me out of this maddening place!" But don't get mad, don't lose hope, don't give up. The White Rabbit has good reason for everything He does. He only wants to fill you more, you see, and to do that, He has to make you hungrier and thirstier than you'll ever been in your life. Because He knows that if you hunger and thirst for Him, you'll seek Him, and if you seek Him you'll find Him.
Can you hear the White Rabbit calling you already? What are you waiting for? Go look for Him! Go feed your head with your questions! And go seek the answers to your questions from inside of you, because that's where they're hidden. Inside of you! Because that's where the entrance to Wonderland has been hidden, so close to you that you missed it.
“The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is’, or ‘There it is’, because the kingdom of God is within you”. (Luke 17:20)
Can you hear His voice?
I think I can. I think I can hear the white rabbit, calling me all day and all night from Wonderland, with a voice full of longing, asking, when, when will you come? Can you hear that voice too? I hear what it says, I hear what it's hoping for. It says: "I wish you were here!"
New! Comments
What are your thoughts about what you just read? Leave me a comment in the box below.