THE GUILT AND SINS THAT LEAD TO THE DEATH OF YOURSELF, ESPECIALLY FORMS OF TWISTED, PERVERTED, AND FALSE HUMILITY THAT CAUSE YOU TO NOT BE WHAT G-D MADE YOU TO BE

Do I need to qualify this by saying that it’s a rant? Do I need to write “trigger warning” because my use of certain words will equal butthurt?

No.

I am about to piss off some religious spirits. Good, ‘cuz in Facebook Land the usual tripe rarely does anything to help the advancement of Kingdom.

First of all, I am a Mercy by design. Don’t get that twisted. Too many believers think that means we show mercy, and then they stick us into a fucking box, but being a Mercy that means so much more than that.

Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t cuss, don’t chew, and don’t run with the girls that do…..that’s how went the refrain for the last 20 years in a denomination that stole my voice and told me I was a rebel. Good, I don’t mind being a rebel anymore, or one who shepherds rebels and the broken.

Because, Michael and Renee, you have zero business being pastors.

A Mercy is known because they show the heart of G-d. His tender heart. His loving, emotional, accessible, affectionate heart.

And above all, His warm Bridegroom’s heart that viciously rages against all manner of boxes that say “holiness and righteousness look like this”.

“Holy” means so much more than limp-wristed, set-apart-ness. It means we get together our tools that the King has given us, all of them, and we build something together. It means we execute.

Calling “set-apart” as the definition for “holy” stops short and makes me vomit.

The Wright Brothers, their project funded by their bike shop in Dayton that changed the world, that is HOLINESS.

And when we recite the first statement of the Westminster Catechism, we miss the full point.

What is the chief end of man?

“To glorify G-d”

And too damn many believers stop there…..

And they ignore the rest of the story….

The whole statement is “to glorify G-d and enjoy Him forever”

“To enjoy Him forever”.

“No”, the religious say to us, “G-d’s so blasted holy that we are not allowed to enjoy Him”. We are only allowed to glorify Him, and that is used as a club to beat believers upside the head, and abuse them if they come across as too carnal…..

They say “glorify G-d the way I tell you to glorify Him”.

We get told, this behavior or that language doesn’t glorify Him and so we lance, bolt, skewer, dart, and shoot anyone that does not fit our idea of what “to glorify Him” means.

So, ”to glorify Him” comes with so much damned religious baggage that too few people really get to hear what it actualy means. And we tell people do do this approved list of do’s and don’t’s. And we violate or sear the conscience of too many people when we miss the aspect of connecting with G-d that involves enjoying just being with Him.

As a result, we lost the plot, as they say in Australia.

What if you just walked how He hardwired you? What if you embraced your unique design. Even if that does not mean you “preach the gospel” or you are not a church-planter, or you multiply financial wealth, or you develop the next thing?

And what if we got our mouths off of what “glorify G-d” means, and onto what it really means.

It’s not just about obey and be a slave or even a servant alone.

Really, it means “walk in your design and enjoy the journey with the King”.

Too often, we use triteisms that curse or block or trigger people to respond or tune out.

And we need to get this thing so that it is more approachable.

And the heart of G-d is this, and the Mercy that walks squarely in their design says this:

Be what He made you to be. As Chris Pfohl would say, “let your freak flag fly”. Contribute your unique sound to the sound of heaven, and let Him do in you what you were made to do.

Be you. And for those who are scared of this statement, I will qualify it so you can be happy. This once.

Be what He designed when He knit you together in your mother’s womb.

All forms of guilt because we think we did not engage in behavior that glorified G-d even though it was our design, those sins of misapplied guilt based on false information rooted in the religious spirit, will lead to death of some part of us. There is a sin that leads to death. One of those sins is the sin of religious self-flagellation or feeling guilty over some aspect of our design.

Another of those sins is attempting to control the behavior of others through fear or intimidation.

Feeling guilty over something that is part of His design MIGHT be a curse…

Or a heart belief…

Or a spirit belief….

Our overfocus in what we think is glorifying G-d by squelching His good design in us has turned into a religious cultus or occult knot led by an antichrist spirit designed to destroy us.

What Really Is Antichrist?

Also, allow me to define antichrist with a touch more nuance.

It’s the spirit of “instead of”, not “against”.

αντί, preposition in Koine Greek, meaning “instead of”

ANYTHING but the one thing we need. Substitute who we really are for something that “glorifies G-d even though our heart is not in it. Flurry of religious activity. Paired with the religious spirit to bring a flurry of activities that people think glorify G-d, but leaving the heart of the matter out of the work of worship.

Jerusalem, Teacher City, Philistine Curse. One thing. One thing missing from the full package.

Meanwhile, G-d is comfortable with us as us.

He wants us to be us, and He really wants us to do what we enjoy.

As a Father, He most behaves like a Father when He is enjoying us and taking pleasure in us AS we enjoying the things that bring us joy.

I will be honest, we on the East coast, except for Florida, the former 13 colonies, have this dour and sour attitude. I have a couple of close friends from California, land of dreams, that beautiful Exhorter state, and there is a joy and an ease of thought and living among many California natives. You’d never confuse Cali for New York. Or Tejas.

And we in the East need that infusion of the West’s joyful mindset on some level.

So, as you connect with the King, know Him. Yada, KNOW Him. That word, ידע, means “to know something or someone”, and it is found in both places like Proverbs 3:5-6, and Genesis 4:1, when Adam KNEW his wife, Eve.

Know Him, and KNOW that He adores you and adores how He made you, and He is not afraid of you doing what brings you joy, for in that, in your design, He will be glorified. Forever.

And if people want to tune out because I used a cuss word in this one, then let them. This isn’t for them. And I won’t placate the junk because they require it.

Just some thoughts.