Month: September 2020

Those of you that enjoy the MCU as much as I do, love picking out various RG’s.
Now, trigger for the death of Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. who is in my mind the quintessential Giver. Consider the following words from Coulson’s death.

“This was never going to work if they didn’t have something to….”-Agent Phil Coulson-

Fight for….those would have been his last words.

This was never going to work if they, the Avengers, didn’t have something to fight for.

That is a positive thing that you do, Giver tribe. Your death or your suffering may provide the impetus for the conception and birthing of a new thing G-d is doing in the earth. Keep doing what you do, gang. It’s not over yet.

Consider the following clips.

First, with the Exhorter Tony Stark in three clips, because the Exhorter does things in threes:

And in the presence of the Ruler, Thor, who is learning how to walk in a fathering role, after which he restores to the Prophet Jane Foster her equipment so she can continue her research.

When the Giver tribe walks by faith, they empower those around them to have the catalyst to create a new resource, or their presence causes new resources to come to the fore or be discovered, or for a new project to be risked on and others to put skin into the game after they have made the initial investment.

And then, in the ultimate sacrifice above. Givers, you may be called to put your life on the line, and your death may be the catalyst for the birth of something new.

A couple of thoughts here.

The L-rd said, no strong drinks for the priests.

The meta truth, the behind-the-truth idea He was conveying might have been, “do not engage with any behavior that could impair your judgment and capacity to weigh and decide”.

When we are walking in our offices of priest, pastor, whatever stands in the way of our exercising sound judgment and discernment is something that needs to be put away.

Whether or not we realize it, there is truth and applicable revelation to be had from the pages of the Law.

The L-rd intends us to move through the text and execute its truth for us.

There is a string of decisions made by leaders in the Charismatic Movement that happened because of impaired judgment.

Our responsibility and portion are to keep our wits about us and clothe ourselves with sobriety.

Am I saying we all teetotal are all times? Some may be given that as a permanent or seasonal assignment from G-d, and that is for each of you to work out, but no I am not being legalistic.

However, at the very least, when you are executing in the office of priest to the L-rd, you are in need of sober judgment.

And for those of you who pastor alcoholics or other addictive personalities, you might have to completely turn away from the use of alcohol. It depends on what the L-rd shows you.

I have a pastor friend who was challenged by the L-rd because of his need to be able to pastor alcoholics.

My counsel to you is, whatever you decide, be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and do what He tells you on this issue.

I say “more thoughts” because so believe I have written before on this topic, at least one time.

But these thoughts occurred to me a few minutes ago.

Track with me.

What if the L-rd’s issue with Nadab and Abihu, and the reason he struck them down is because they were interfering with the seven day process of cleansing, consecrating, and ordaining Aaron and them to serve as priests?

What if the events of Leviticus 10:1-2 are their interference and insertion of more action that was not needed into the complex process of preparing the men as priests? Indeed, the L-rd instructed that the men were not to leave the threshold of the tent (8:33).

What if the unauthorized fire they offered interrupted the process of remaining on the threshold of the tabernacle to finish the process the L-rd outlined?

I realize it seems like such a small thing to some, and “all they did was offer a little incense”, but that is missing the point. The point is when the L-rd spoke and gave them a fairly involved process, it was in their best interest to do what He said. Period.

Adding to or taking away from the process that was outlined was a disregard for the L-rd’s requests.

Translation: when the L-rd speaks to you and on those occasions where he spells out what you are to do, then do that.

If you interfere with the L-rd’s instructions, and add your own thing, and leave the threshold of your responsibility to perform some add-on that you thought would be a good thing, when He spells out specifically what He wants to you, then you will have to accept the consequences.

Sometimes the L-rd gives us a blank sheet on which to write, and sometimes he hands us a 37 page instruction manual.

It’s excellent when He speaks, and we must be flexible to dance between those times when He lays out a plan, as with the ten plagues, and times when he tells us to write the script, as at the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aqaba.

But when He prepares a full plan, let’s not edit it.

Just some thought, gang.

What does this have to do with my blog?

Simple, gang: the removal of religious liberties.

To be sure, TPH is first and foremost a scriptural exposition site. But closely-linked to this is the application and execution of those principles that are embodied in the life of our Messiah to real situations in life for the upbuilding of the Jesus-follower, that they may continue His work and mission of reconciling us and liberating us from the boot of the tyrant.

Truly, because of the Spirit of G-d, we are able to expand on and defend all that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent/praiseworthy.

Erin, who is a fellow Florida native, has done her work and fought for our liberties overseas for a season as a soldier, and still fights presently as an RN and BSN.

This is a well-written piece of personal testimony is reposted here with permission:

A few people have asked me to share my Delegation testimony, so here is it…

My name is Erin Marie Olszewski.
I am a mother of three little boys (Dylan, Drew, & Logan). Drew was severely injured by a vaccine.

I am an active registered nurse in the State of Florida and hold a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. I have nearly two decades of front-line clinical care experience including military training as a combat lifesaver.

That being said, I am also a Combat Wounded Veteran of the United States Army Special Operations Command. I fought to defend and uphold the Constitutional rights of American citizens and lost many friends who fought alongside me. I will not allow their sacrifice to our great country go in vain for 0.00000009% (nine-ten-millionths of one-percent) Florida measles rate.

Therefore, any unsupported legislative bill that threatens religious freedoms of any child or adult of our great nation once again deploys me as a soldier to protect those rights I swore by an oath to defend.

I met in-person with Senator Lauren Book a couple weeks ago to gain an understanding of her knowledge on this issue and found it extremely frightening that she was unable to answer basic biology questions that I asked her. I expected more from someone introducing public health legislation, including a response to the inquiry I sent to her via certified mail.

Although the burden of proof should be on the person who sponsors this legislation, she continues to avoid this responsibility.

Therefore, I would like to provide an accurate, unarguable substantiation that DOES protect citizens from the removal of their religious rights. This comes from a sworn under-oath affidavit made by Theresa Deisher, Ph.D., who holds a doctorate from Stanford University Molecular and Cellular Physiology along with a postdoctoral from the University of Washington.

“I am submitting the known scientific facts about fetal DNA contaminants in current vaccines. In the U.S., as of June 2018, according to the CDC, there are 13 manufactured vaccines containing human fetal cells (MRC-5 and WI-38). More are coming. Anyone who says that the fetal DNA contaminating our vaccines is harmless either does not know anything about immunity and toll-like receptors or they are not telling the truth. The beliefs held by many that the cells and DNA of aborted fetuses are used in vaccines are accurate and until that changes, there will likely be religious objections to vaccinations for this reason alone.”

…but none of this matters as the bill is not being heard and I do respectfully thank Senator Gayle Harrell for this. However, I’m glad I got it on the record so Senator Book and any other legislature considering supporting unfounded legislation such as SB64 can consume it at their own leisure.

I genuinely thank you for your time.

In the Torah, the process for returning a leper back to the full community was an involved and multi-step process. It speaks to the celebration of one who has been cleansed.

In much of the modern-day church, the process of restoration is very stripped down, and there is very little in the way of process.

Many times, we come of the law and because we have one or several preachers’ voices yelling in our ears “you are not under the law but under grace” we our of respect to their vehement overapplication of Paul’s counsel, ditch several books’ worth of good teaching, reproof, correction, and training in rightousness, and instead we, with that ditching of counsel, we also have a radically stripped-down version of moving someone, who was separated from the community, back into the community. Our salvation mechanism by which others become entertwined with a household of faith, Roman Catholics, Anglicans Orthodox, and other high-church traditions excepted, has become a community-minimal-investment, five minute prayer at an altar with little deliberate celebration in the life of the church.

Frequently, anything that is more than this is treated as a nusiance by the church because we are not under the law but under grace, and so we do not have much material from which we pull real celebration of someone’s addition to the church.

One area where the Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox, and like sectors of the church get chatechism (discipleship and integration into the community) right is they draw out the process over the course of weeks and months, make much about someone’s first communion, involve the family, set out special clothing and rites for the occasion, and involve a number of individuals.

We we cut the law out, we cut out, for example, the passage on how lepers are reintroduced into the community.

In Torah, the leper was inspected several times, the priest made several pronouncements, a number of sacrifices were brought, the priest involved with his process left the camp and entered his space, blood was sprinkled on the leper seven times, cedarwod and hyssop were picked, birds were selected, and one of the birds was killed while the other bird was dipped in the sacrificed bird’s blood, that bird was released into the open field, and the leper was pronounced clean. His hair was shaved, and he was reintegrated back into the community.

Contrast that with someone who raises their hand to accept Jesus.

It is just left feeling a little thin.

And our modes for reconciling the backslidden believer are equally thin.

Gang, we have to do better. There could be more of a process that we engage in, so that our celebration more nearly matches that of the angels who rejoice.

I wonder, what that process would look like.

A celebration and a meditation and a retreat where a group of new converts takes away with a priest or rabbi or pastor to a place where they have connection of the deep truth of who G-d is as Father, who Jesus is as Husband, and who Holy Spirit is as Counsellor.

There has to be something more than what we currently do for many new believers.

Just some thoughts here.