Principles Archives - Page 10 of 10 - The Paraclete's Hammer

Beth Moore, the Redemptive Gift Teacher Who Behaved Like An Fivefold Prophet, and the SBC, Who Has Spent Far Too Long Protecting Ministers With Wolvish Behavior

15 May 2019 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Beth Moore, Principles, Principles Of Relationships

One of my relatives was sexually molested by a Southern Baptist pastor.

To this day, I have a strong distaste for men in positions of leadership in the church, and the level of control that many of them walk in with the consequent abscense of the required vulnerability and transparency that should mark an elder and minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I am one of the number that is gifted and called to pastor.

And I would say, based on her recent behavior, Beth Moore is acting more like a pastor and prophet than most of the men I have seen, with some exceptions.

So, I say this with a very cautious, but needed heart.

The Southern Baptist Convention Needs To Repent of the Conventional Wisdom

A report from February by the Houston Chronicle details some 220 men over 20 years assaulted some 700 victims. My relative is one of those victims.

And unfortunately, the convention might stand to reap judgment for wanting to protect their own reputations, and blaming the victims.

My relative was fired from their position at the church because of this mentality of “protect your reputation”. That church is reaping the judgment of not just the behavior toward the victim, but also toward their reputation.

And that church has yet to repent for permitting that sin and that serial violation.

Something has to change. Something has to give. Because people can only be freely justified (Romans 3:23) if they confess their sins (1 John 1:9).

Enter Beth Moore, Catalyst

It would seem Beth Moore has also found herself in hot water with the powers that be.

She let slip on Twitter that she was preaching on Mother’s Day, and Owen Strachan of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary replied that women should not preach in a pulpit on Sunday to the main service, given that is perceived as only the domain of men.

Now, I understand that a great many of my evangelical friends might agree with Strachan and a number of early church fathers that preaching is only the domain of men.

However, I happen to disagree with the incomplete interpretation of the sledgehammer texts of 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, for an army of reasons, including A) the ignorance of their social and historical context, given Corinthian and Ephesian women were often caught up in prostitution and sexual idolatry, B) the Greek verb λαλέω in 1 Corinthians 14:35 which is the most generic word for speaking, C) the absence of the Greek verb κηρύσσω in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 or 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 which is the verb used to show preaching in an authoritative fashion, D) the fact that the text 1 Timothy 2:12 reads “I do not permit” rather than “G-d does not permit” (this is an exhortation of Paul’s for that context, not a command of G-d’s for all time), E) the examples of numerous women who testified, prophesied, preached, taught, and led (including Deborah, Huldah, Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia), many of whom were associates of the Apostle Paul.

Focusing on 1 Timothy 2:12

Paul says “I do not permit a woman to teach…”

Let’s look at that phrase. Teaching is something in the Ephesian church that Paul forbade of women, regardless of the perception. Given that pulpits did not exist back then, the Southern Baptist position is little more than a tradition of men based on a terrible reading of the text.

Let us show how terrible that reading is by taking that phrase to its logical end.

If Paul forbade women from teaching, then he would have forbade any form of teaching that could be remotely construed as authoritative. This includes teaching kids, teaching infants, teaching the human spirit, teaching the youths, teaching the women, teaching anyone. Teaching is by its very nature, an exchange from one in authority to one not in authority. Ephesians 6:1 does not say, “children obey your fathers in the L-rd, for this is right. Rather it says “children obey your PARENTS” γονεύς, which comes from the verb γίνομαι, which means “I cause to be”, or “I generate.” So, mothers AND fathers are both implied by that word. Translation: mothers have authority over male children.

Look, this is a reductio ad absurdum, given to show that the premise is unreasonable. And Beth Moore’s capacity to teach, among about 80 other women that I can name off of the top of my head who can teach, some of whom received their calling to teach precisely because “the last two men told G-d no” (Joyce Meyer). And for those of you who want to call out heresy in Joyce Meyer for adhering to prosperity messages, she did apologize effectively for that

If we are silent, the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:40). If a man were stifled by us, by himself, or by the enemy, do we honestly think G-d could be stopped from raising up a woman to do the thing that man was called to do? Really? After seeing the account of Deborah alone, one would hope that we would be more savvy in our reading of the texts.

When men drop the ball and choose to stifle their gifts and the call of G-d, G-d will call women, period. If men stifle their voices or are forbidden by religious leaders of any Christian denomination or within Judaism, the ROCKS will cry out. If adults will not speak, the children will speak. G-d is not slackened that He cannot reach and that He is incapable to using anyone He wants to use. If the messenger is a woman, then so be it.

Beth Moore is right to be used to call out this foolishness and anemic nonsense, and to continue functioning as the lively, vivacious, articulated and called speaker, teacher, and preacher that she is.

And Now For Dealing With the Sexual Abuse Scandal

I think Moore also, in her response toward’s Donald Trump, has been being prepared by G-d to be used, by her very presence, as an instrument for confronting the fever of perversion and sex abuse that has been allowed to grow in the SBC, in part, because of a rampant denial of the need for deliverance, spiritual warfare, and inner healing that pervades much of the run-of-the-mill status-quo of the cessationist theology of that denomination.

I think we men are being forced to deal with the perversion and sex addiction that grips us by the vessels of pure and holy women like Moore being used so readily and massively by G-d.

And it is about time.

The abuse of my relative, which happened some 26 years ago, and lasted for years, along with all those other baby boys and girls, is being confronted as the Mesmerizing Spirit is being dealt with, and if the SBC does not repent for its foolish behavior in many ways, tolerating and protecting ministers who enable iniquity (generational sin) in the camp rather than dealing with it, the judgment may only increase.

Just a few thoughts, from a man who is tired of covering over the nakedness.

The emperors have no clothes, gang.

And it’s taking women to point this out for us.

And supporting the pervert and perversion on the right is just as noisome as supporting the pervert and perversion or the enabler on the left.

Leaving Satan’s Plantation

13 May 2019 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Fractals, Principles of Scripture

My son, Isaac, is an outstanding example of obedience and submission and helping others.

That said, he sometimes takes it too far and it occurred to me as though he acts like he is living on a plantation.

Let me explain.

Plantation Mentality

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Isaac was up this morning, and as per his MO, he was standing at the bus stop under an overcast sky that as threatening with some rain. I asked him to come to the porch in order to sit down. Now, the bus is not incredibly easy to hear, but if you quiet down, you can hear it, and given Isaac’s arm was hurt from a biking accident today, he could not play, and I encouraged him to sit down at the front porch, some 200 feet from the curb, and talk to me. He pushed back that he did not want to be left behind, and that the bus would leave without him, and I pushed back and asked him to calm himself, and not to fret or fear, and that I have a key and a car, and would give him a ride if they left him, which didn’t calm him much.

He was afraid the master was going to whip him into submission if he did not jump and sprint to the bus.

So, we talked, and listened for the bus, and a couple of times he thought the bus had come, and it was just a car. I reminded him that I taught him what a diesel engine sounds like, and just gently told him to continue sitting.

And, discerning the presence of something malicious, I said:

“That is a spirit of fear that you are walking in, and it is keeping you from being able to rest and walk with a sound mind, son. You know how I know this? I walk in the same thing, and when I get in a spirit of fear, I respond by getting angry and mean and cussing and hurting stuff, people, etc. Let’s just calm down.”

And the bus showed up, and we walked together, and I encouraged him to slow his pace and to not freak out over the bus.

It was a set of expectations that was placed on him by that critter, and he rolls over regularly for whatever the source of the pressure might be, and sometimes acts like a slave (I do the same thing myself). And I said, “you are a son, not a slave. I do not want you having the mentality that you have to sprint, risk falling and injuring yourself again, and having to, instead of going to school, going to the ER, and having a doctor fix more issues. The bus driver can wait another 45 seconds while you walk safely.”

And as we walked, surely enough, the bus waited another half-minute, while he walked at a decent pace. And as he got on, and I talked to the bus driver, I was telling her that he needed to learn how to be safer and not panic that she was going to leave him behind.

She thanked me, and drove off, with Isaac on board.

And I saw the picture of Isaac picking cotton as a field hand, and heard the words in my spirit, “leaving Satan’s plantation.”

And I recognized my plantation mindset as well. And began the process of repenting of that mindset.

The Spirit of Fear

It is the spirit of fear that keeps us on the devil’s plantation. Makes us push ourselves and those around us to just slave away to whatever agenda he has for us, and makes us drop our boundaries and our willingness to say “no” and crowds us. And that brings us to the brink of Thyroid and Adrenal Fatigue.

And it prevents us from embracing the Power of Yeshua, the Love of the Father, and the Sound Mind of the Ruach Hakodesh, which brings us to a place of security in Him. When my strings get pulled, I get jazzed up on whatever irritant is tweaking me at the time, and it’s harmful to whatever purpose Father is moving me toward in the given season. And it disconnects me from my timeline.

But…

And G-d through Yeshua did not design us for this. He did not design us to flow in fear of circumstances. And when we violate the design, we come to harm. It is the fear of the L-rd that is the only fear in which we should walk (honoring, and keeping Him our priority, as contrasted to mindlessly being afraid of Him). And when we walk out of the Fear of the L-rd, and in the fear of the enemy or the fear of the circumstances, we disintegrate, and that pretty rapidly.

Gang, it is time for us to come off of the devil’s plantation, and to see the shackles cut from around our feet.

The only way we can do that is by embracing power, love, and a sound mind through the Fear of the L-rd, which is a desire for Him and His honor, in response to the multi-colored expression of His love.

And the embrace of power, love, and a sound mind comes through repentance (which is vastly more than just the starting block of changing the way you think, and moving forward, pointing your orientation in a new direction), and working with blessing and coaching our adrenals.

The Adrenals-Future Post Preview

The adrenals are the landing pad for covenants and agreements.

They are also very spiritual organs.

And, with the brain and the heart, they are one of three thinking organs.

RHE and the Failure Or Refusal to Listen to Critics

9 May 2019 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Current Events, Fifth Principle, Principles, Seven Principles, Stewardship

Dear Evangelicals,

Part of the reason your sound is so roundly cursed in some circles is because of the following.

A failure or a refusal to listen.

When we reject their accusations out-of-hand without an honest conversation about if we got our viewpoints wrong.

Granted, I have heard much of Rachel Held Evans with which I vehemently disagree. That said, it is damned near impossible to utilize the death of someone to tastefully show where you think they were off or heretical. I think we might want to rethink how we approach our theological adversaries.

Many times, we tear at other Christians, and at the worst times. We refer to them as heretics, monsters, abusers, and all other sorts of things.

We did it with Matthew Warren’s family.

And others. And Father gives us the opportunity to redeem our time and days, so that we can walk well in the “days [that] are evil.”

So, evangelical church that I have left, who often speaks as though your reputation will be marred if you are not quick to share where you disagree with a major theological figure who dies, I would exhort you to demonstrate a quickness to listen, and a slowness to speak.

You do not need to demonstrate a tasteless knee-jerk response to justify your theological position in the MIDST OF AN OBITUARY.

Indeed, when we use our authority in Christ to speak insensitively about others and parts of our tributes breathe the air of criticism so close to the death of someone for whom Christ died and with whom we so greatly disagree, it can land as though we are rejoicing over their death, or potentially taking pleasure in their death, which is not the example of our L-rd, who “takes no pleasure in the death of the ungodly.” Regardless of your evaluation of a person’s life, it comes across as opportunistic to use the occasion of a person’s death in order to get mileage for your position.

A few years back, a relative of mine died who walked with a considerable double lifestyle, and I did not use the occasion of their death to bring that iniquity to light.

In light of Evans’ untimely death, evangelical leaders should not use the funeral meats to coldly furnish the dispute tables.

The body is not even in the ground and we are rushing to protect our reputation, as if it is not clear where we stand theologically.

I had a relative who was sexually molested by a pastor, and instead of protecting the victim, they fired my relative. Their argument? They wanted to protect their reputation.

Our stewardship of words would be better placed in articulating that someone is dead, and then at a later date, say where we disagreed with them.

Never pass up an opportunity to walk in discretion towards another with whom you disagree.

When we use our sound to repeatedly trumpet our disagreements with someone and the context is not appropriate, we may not be practicing the best stewardship, and may open up the door for the further devouring of our sound.

Fifth head of Leviathan, gang.

#letthereaderunderstand

Dog-Walking Ruminations: Human Relationships

1 May 2019 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Principles, Principles Of Relationships

Following the usual disclaimer, gang. Seriously, apply only what applies. Don’t apply what does not apply.

DOG-WALKING RUMINATIONS

It has been 22 years since homeschooled Josh Harris messed with my generation (January 1, 1997, and now we are starting to pick up the pieces.

For the record, homeschooling is not THE solution to society’s ills, and public schooling does not guarantee your children will be sacrificed on the altar of agnosticism.

For the record, I was raised in public school bye a whole time Public School English teacher. My father was Discipline Coordinator for Metro Nashville Public Schools. I have walked the last 34 years very comfortable connecting with everyone from feminists and home educated to Young Earth Creationists, Old Earth Creationists, and Evolutionists.

I have personally survived all of that, and I can affirm that it can be done no matter how dark the days are. If you teach your kids how to light a candle and follow you as you run into the darkness, provided you are doing exactly what the father has instructed you to do, in the end your kids will survive and have a legacy that is life-giving to pass on to their kids.

If you raise your kids to know and understand and walk in the basic principles of life, and to recognize the cause-and-effect relationships, they can be made ready, no matter what kind of a school situation in they find themselves.

Darling, Freud, and Jung, no matter your opinions or research, hunted for meaningful principles. They may have found some.

There may have been things that they got right in the midst of all that they got wrong.

But before you adjudicate, do a smattering of reading as Father leads.

Make sure that you don’t cede your responsibility as parents to raise your kids in the nurture and the admonition of the L-rd.

Surrendering those rights and responsibilities to the school system, the Sunday School System, the church or synagogue system, or to your kids themselves is a surefire way to ensure that they have been raised in accordance with the stronghold of selective responsibility.

For those that are believers, your family is your ministry team and they are your primary responsibility and congregation and synagogue.

It is your job to instruct them in the art and science of seeing things in accordance with reality.

Responsibility for the current status of the relational scene in the faith of Jesus rests with individual families, those who ceded their responsibility to instruct their kids when it came to the principles governing human relationships. It is time, check that, Beyond Time, for us to recover that responsibility and take an active role and teaching our kids principles that are necessary.

Feeling guilty over having to send your kids to public school does not fix the problem. Taking an active role in instructing your kids and allowing their teachers to assist you in that process and embracing the Principle of Responsibility will help fix the problem.

it was never Josh Harris’ responsibility to raise our kids in the area of Human Relationships.

It was never our job to shove a book in their faces and hope to G-d that some of what was written in those books would sink into them.

Don’t get it twisted. I am not attempting to condemn anyone for their parenting style.

This is the Russian epic of Cinderella; if the shoe fits, wear it. If the shoe does not fit, don’t wear it.

If this applies to you, then apply it, and if it doesn’t apply to you then FOR G-D’S SAKE, DON’T APPLY IT.

In other words, if it offends you simply because I wrote it and stated my opinion, then you might be allowing yourself to be cut for the wrong reasons.

Any reasonable person should be able to eat the meat and spit out the bones. If I said something you can take and use, then please take it and use it.

But if it is not useable or applicable, then understand it may not have been meant for you.

It is my job, your job, our job as parents to raise our kids to know all of the principals governing Human Relationships.

Let us quit naively assuming that one methodology of schooling or education or resource is going to be the simple, Silver Bullet, quick fix.

Neither a homeschooler not a public schooler nor a private schooler has a corner on all truth in an area.

Life is complex, and the Faith of Christ is complex.

This time for us to develop multifaceted complex solutions, that weave together a boatload of principles in order to fix a multifaceted problem.

The Wrights were not successful in manned flight because they followed a quick-fix simplistic answer to get the Flyer off the ground. Rather, they WOVE together a plethora of concepts and did a boatload of research and rumination AND THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS OF MEDITATION on the work of birds and kites and gliders (Flyer 1 was AN UNPOWERED GLIDER) before they put engine to wings, ailerons, elevators, and rudders.

Just because Christ has a Simplicity to him does not mean the solutions to life will always reflect that simplicity. Simplicity applied to every problem will bring applied to every problem we’ll bring a follower of Yeshua to frustration and utility.

Stop approaching your face with and anemic Silver Bullet. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem that you may face. and if God has called you to conquer a complex problem, then giving up just because the problem is complex is a sure-fire way to lose out on your Birthright and your calling.

Our Unrighteousness Vs. Christ’s Righteousness

9 November 2018 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Anthropology, Honor, Principles of the Trinity, The Trinity, Theology

Red Maserati
Let me offend some of you right out of the gate.
G-d is not that impressed with your unrighteousness or your real failures, not nearly as impressed as some of y’all are with them.
Now that I have said that, let me frame what i mean.
See, many of us enjoy making much of how much of a sinner we were/are/will be when we come to Christ. And yes, I know, there are some pretty messed-up things that we each did in our live BC (Before Christ).
However, what we end up doing is making the egregious error of saying we ARE sinners saved by grace.
We take our own unrighteousness, real or perceived, and make that the determining factor and lynchpin of our walk with Christ. “But I am going to sin every day. Even when Ben Franklin kept a list and tried to stop sinning, he came around at the end of the day and saw it was impossible”.
Um, how do I put not to fine a point on my response.
How about, “hell, no”, for starters?
The rat race of staying sinless as an end in itself is an exercise in futility.
And there is no reason to add sin to sin by saying we are filthy, miserable, bastard, sinners who are barely saved by grace, and then engaging in an attitude of self-spiritual-rape as if we are not good enough, and then inviting the enemy to do the same on a near-constant basis.
Your sin and your unrighteousness Before Christ, real or perceived, is not the Lodestone, lynchpin, North Star, or the Determinant of the Matrix (see Linear Algebra and Cramer’s Rule for an explanation) of your relationship with Christ after coming to know Him. Rather, his righteousness is. And He sanctifies you and makes you righteous. Romans 8 is an astounding exposition of this concept.
I WAS a sinner. You WERE a sinner. You have been redeemed, and are a new creation.
You ARE ravished by His affections, He deeply adores you and chases you and treasures you and HAS, even in your pre-Christian state, given you gifts from conception. One of these is called your Redemptive Gift.
He has foreordained you to chase after your destiny, not beat the hell out of yourself and focus on your pre-Christian state.
Sure if you mess up, you repent. I told the Prophetic Movement they neede to fix that mindset of near constant screw-ups. That is why 1 John 1:9 is in the book.
But overall, we move from glory to glory, and from faith to faith, not from glory to inglory, or from faith to obsession with dead carcasses and old bodies that Christ has buried.
Sure we may return from time to time and say, “did I realy screw up that badly before He found me?’. But we do not make that the reference point for our compass.
Rather, we make it True North. Or in Scripture, True East.
You were….
Now tell me and expound what you are.
And let me expound this with an appendix from my book on Ephesians.
DO not pit your unrighteousness against Christ’s righteousness and live as if your unrighteousness matters more than or somehow overcomes Christ’s righteousness.
It does not, not even close….

A List of the Benefits that Believers have as a Result of the New Birth
******NOTE: Before you go into this list, PLEASE STOP ASKING what is not possible, and begin to ask G-d what IS possible. Stop saying what always happens in your life and start believing for what CAN happen in your life. You can get all the information you want and get this stuff as head knowledge, but until you accept what G-d has promised by faith, it will not come alive in your heart. No eye has seen what is possible, no ear had heard, and it has not entered into our minds what G-d has prepared for us who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9).*********
“He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” -Ephesians 1:3-
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is not variation or shifting shadow.” -James 1:17-
Benefits merely as a result of the New Birth. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your identity as a result of being born again:

We have access to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3)

We are chosen in Jesus. (Eph 1:4)

We are able to be holy and blameless in Jesus (Eph 1:4)

In tender love, we are predestined to sonship, which is adoption as mature sons that reflect the character and qualities of the Father that adopted us (huios) (Eph. 1:4-5)

“Predestined” is broken apart into “destined” and the prefix “pre-” which means, ahead of time. He has a destiny for us that is given to us ahead of time. (Josh. 1:8). That destiny is to succeed and not fail, to increase from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and to increase from faith to faith (Rom 1:17).

The question is, will we accept that path and destiny, or will we reject it, choosing instead a mediocre life that does nothing, says nothing, and is nothing. He did not call us so that we would constantly struggle with addictive sin, and constant nagging failures and regrets. He called us to a place of transformation (2 Cor. 5:17).

We were predestined according to the kindness of the Father’s will (Eph. 1:5).

The Father bestowed His grace freely upon us (Eph. 1:6).

The Father bestowed this grace on us in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6).

If there is any confusion as to the identity of the Beloved, it is the Beloved Son, in whom the Father is well-pleased (Matthew 3:17, 17:5, Mark 1:11, 9:7, Luke 3:22), Jesus.

In Jesus we have redemption through His blood (Eph. 1:7).

Forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7, Isaiah 53:5).

Healing of sicknesses and deliverance from demonic oppression (Matthew 8:16-17).

Healing of sorrows (Isaiah 53:4).

We have forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7).

We have access to the riches of His grace. This grace has been lavished on us (Eph. 1:7-8, 1 Jno. 3:1).

Is there anything the L-rd’s grace cannot provide?

We have access to all wisdom and insight (James 1:5, Eph 1:8).

By His wisdom and insight, we have access to know the mystery of His will (Eph. 1:9).

As His sons, we have no need to ask, “what is the will of G-d for my life”? He will give us the answer. We will never be left in the dark as to His will (John 10:27).

We have access to this will, specifically as a result of the Father’s Kindness.

His will for us as individuals is given with a view to the end of days. He wants to fit His plan for our lives into the larger plan of the ages. We play a part in that plan. But we have to agree and get our will in alignment with His will. Eph 1:10)

We have an inheritance that is multifaceted, comprising many different things (Eph 1:11).

We have a destiny that was written for us ahead of time (Eph. 1:11).

We have been sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13).

The seal of the Holy Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance. He is the Father’s down-payment to us, the first installment, and the entry-point into that inheritance. Hence, we are responsible to get to know Him really, really well. (Eph.1:14)\

We have the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation who give us the knowledge of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our knowing G-d does not come merely or only from reading about Him in a book, and acquiring a bunch of information, rules, and regulations. It comes from encountering Him as we read, as we pray, as we worship, as we meditate on Him and the Scriptures. We can know Him. He reveals Himself to us and gives us flowing Wisdom (Eph. 1:17).

Our eyes have been enlightened (Eph. 1:18).

He has a rich and glory-filled inheritance in us (Eph 1:18).

Are we using the riches and the glory He has put in us?

The greatness of His power is pointed toward us who believe (Eph. 1:19).

We have working in us the strength of His might (Eph. 1:19).

We have this same strength working toward us and on our behalf (Eph. 1:19).

All demonic authorities and rulers and principalities and dominions are under His feet. We are His body and He is our head, therefore these things are placed under our feet (Eph. 1:21-23)

We have been given Christ, by the Father, as our head (Eph 1:22).

If Christ is our head…what are the implications?

Christ fills us with His fullness, therefore nothing in us need be lacking, missing, or incomplete in Him. You are not incomplete until He makes you one with your husband-to-be or wife-to-be. You are complete and fulfilled in Christ, when He comes to live in you. The sad truth is most believers refuse to apprehend that truth, much less appropriate that truth (Eph. 1:23).

You are no longer dead in sins (Eph. 2:1).

You are no longer walking according to the course of this world (Eph. 2:2).

You are no longer children of wrath (Eph 2:2).

You are no longer living in the lusts of the flesh (Eph. 2:3).

You are the recipient of infinite and tenderest affections, and the fullness of His heart. You have unhindered access to the fullness of the depths of the heart of the infinite creator of the universe. This relationship with the Lord can grow like nothing else. Think of the most lush, verdant garden in the midst of spring. This is much greater than that (Eph 2:4, Song of Solomon 4:16, Psalm 23:2-3).

We have been saved by grace, which is more than just freed from eternal separation from God. We are the recipients of a birthright, a calling, a destiny (Romans 8:29), deliverance (See Exodus), healing from all issues emotional and physical, and a whole compliment of commanded blessings (Psalm 133).

We are raised up in Jesus, (Resurrected) and full of the power of His resurrection (Eph. 2:6, Romans 8:11)

We are seated with Jesus (See #23, Eph. 2:6).

Given that the L-rd is G-d Most High, and given that Melchizedek was priest of G-d Most High, if we are seated with Christ, and if we are a royal priesthood, then we are seated in the highest places and we are therefore as a result of that, made priests after the order of Melchizedek. We are thus priests after that shadow and type. We are priests of G-d Most High (Genesis

In the ages to come, the Father will show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness to us. What does that mean now? A portion of those riches, the down payment of His inheritance in us, is available to us now, as this list details. How much of His kingdom is available? Let us see (Eph. 2:7, 1 Cor. 2:9).

We have not been saved by law, though the law is a good thing and not to be despised. We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8, 1 Jno. 3:1).

We have been given such a large gift of grace from G-d (Eph. 2:9).

We are His workmanship (Eph. 2:10).

We are not separated from Christ (Eph. 2:11).

We are included (part of) in the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:12).

We are no longer strangers to the covenant with Abraham (Eph. 2:12).

We have hope (Eph. 2:12).

We are with G-d (Eph 2:12).

We have been brought as near to G-d as we want to be, so long as we want to draw near, and to the extent to which we want to draw near (Eph. 2:13, Jas. 4:8).

We need not fear drawing near to G-d, as if we need to fear Him punishing or spanking us at random or on a whim. G-d is not in a bad mood, nor does He experience mood swings. He is not an absentee drunk, or abuser.

We are not given some ethereal, intangible peace. The Father Himself is our peace, and the Son Himself is our peace. The man, Christ Jesus is our peace. The Prince of Peace is Himself our peace (Eph. 2:14).

We who are non-Jews are made one with those who are Jews (Eph. 2:14-15). He has made peace between Jews and non-Jews.

We have been placed in one body with the Jews because of the cross, and thus have access to the covenants given to the children of Abraham (Eph 2:16, Gal 3:29, Romans 4:16).

We are reconciled with Israel in one body to the Father (Eph 2:16).

We have access by the power of the Holy Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:18).

We are not strangers, aliens, bastards, or second-class stepchildren who are tolerated a corner in heaven (Eph 2:19).

We are CITIZENS (Eph. 2:19).

We are part of G-d’s household (Eph. 2:19).

We are built on the right foundation in this household (Eph. 2:20).

We are being fit together (Eph. 2:21).

We are fitted with the capacity for growing (Eph 2:21).

We are part of a holy temple, and the temple of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:21, 1 Cor. 3:16, 1 Cor. 6:19).

We are being built into a dwelling for G-d’s Spirit. Combined with #54, this makes us “already” and “not yet” a temple for the Spirit. Scripture is full of many of these “already/not-yet” paradoxes.

If we yield our lives to Jesus, deny ourselves, we have access to become prisoners of Christ Jesus, for whatever people groups He has called us to minister to. (Eph. 3:1).

Your “cross to bear” is not a sickness or a mental disorder, or some imperfection, or some handicap. There is only one “cross to bear” according to Scripture. The only “cross to bear” is the cross of self-denial, period. If you take up that cross, and only that cross, you will find the life He has always wanted you to have.

The statement “whatever does not kill you only makes you stronger” is not biblical. Whatever does not kill you is not from G-d, because G-d wants to kill you. Deny yourself. A sickness is not you denying yourself. A malady is not denying yourself. A handicap does not make you humble. You can be a quadriplegic and still have pride up to your eyeballs. You can live below the poverty line and still be entrenched in greed as high as the sky. What does the trick in carrying your cross is denying your rights whatever those might be. Your right to fornicate, be offended, walk in pride, walk in lust, etc.

We can receive revelation in order to know the mysteries of G-d (Eph. 3:3).

We can understand insight into the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4).

We can walk in the same revelation that the apostles and prophets walked in (Eph. 3:5)

We are fellow heirs of the promises given to Israel in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Eph. 3:6).

We have access to the unfathomable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8).

We have access to the manifold wisdom of G-d (Eph. 3:10).

We have access to G-d’s boldness and confident access to the Father (Eph. 3:12).

We can be strengthened with power through G-d’s Spirit (Eph. 3:16).

Christ can dwell in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17).

We can be rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:17).

We have the capacity to comprehensively know the breadth, length, height, and depth of G-d’s love which surpasses knowledge. We can know what surpassess knowledge (Eph. 3:19).

We can be filled with all the fullness of G-d (Eph. 3:20).

We have access to more than we ask or think according to the power at work in us (Eph. 3:20).

We can walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1).

We can walk with humility (Eph. 4:2).

We can walk with gentleness (Eph. 4:2).

We can walk with patience (Eph. 4:2).

We can preserve the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3).

We are each given grace (Eph. 4:7).

We have each been given gifts (Eph 4.8).

“Get into the car and drive off into all G-d has for you.”
-David Falls-

The Mesmerizing Spirit; Or, The Spirit That Truncates the Message, Making A Full Message Into A Partial Message

28 October 2018 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Exorcism, Honor, Mesmerizing Spirit, Principles, Principles of the Trinity

Having done a couple of videos on the subject of the Mesmerzing Spirit, what follows is how I understand the Mesmerizing Spirit. So, read on, and feel free to add, change, adjust and do what helps you to flesh out what I have put down here.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESMERIZING SPIRIT (MS):

The MS is a pickpocket; it wants to distract you from something in order to rob your perceptions of another, keeping those perceptions from attaining a place of wholeness, and causing your to believe you are percieving the whole when you are perceiving only a part. It can be 10% or 50% or 98%, but something is missing.
The MS is not a character assassain on its own, but it sets the stage for character assassinations to take place. It lays that groundwork by stealing from the full compliment of our perceptions and our discernment (the two can be different), and in turn, stealing from the full package of reality.
I have seen the MS work in tandem with the 5th Head of Leviathan, which prevents people from hearing and perceving accurately, and in the context of human relationships, it prevents people from hearing our heart and seeing that accurately. With the 5th Head operating in our lives, words get twisted and and ANYTHING to do with sound can get misaligned. While this can extend to malfunctioning technology and we love to hear, I really want to draw your attention to the most general way of thinking about sound. Don’t get locked into merely thinking about sound in a narrow band, or just thinking about technology alone. Rather, expand your perception to think about all forms of sound (emanating from single sources) and communication (interaction of sounds between multiple sources); conversation; music; the sound of creation, birds, fish, leaves, trees, wind, oceans, the deeps of the mountains, the earth, the sun, stars, wheat growing in a field, ants, lions, snakes, wolves, dogs, cats; hearing the L-rd’s voice, the voices of other people, the voice of the enemy, the voice of your spirit, and the voice of your soul; and responding in kind to each of these, including those who do not speak our native language (human/animal, human/plant, plant/animal, weather/plant, weather/animal, water/plant, etc.). In general, how well and how accurately do we hear, and how well do we steward those things we hear and with which we interact? When words and sounds get twisted by the 5th head, the MS comes in and brings people’s focus onto a part and deceives them into thinking them that they are looking at the whole.
Remember the old statement that “perception is reality”? Well, if you are looking for evidence of reality in your perceptions of a person or a situation after the MS has come through, then prepare yourself, because if your perception is not accurately grounded in the fullness of reality as G-d sees it, then perception will not come even remotely close to refleting reality, much less being reality, once this spirit has done its dirty work. Further, as a general rule, perception is never an accurate reflection of reality in our culture precisely because perception too often operates in the absence of either real Spirit-driven discernment or the Fruit of the Spirit. We need both to accurately see and percieve others, and the MS wars relentlessly against both discernment and the Fruit.
The MS robs a portion from the whole of our perspective.
On the one hand, we might end up focusing on a really good package and miss out on some serious flaws because we bought the deception that that flaw did not exist. The MS can cover for a flaw or set of flaws and make us see the person or entity in question as only all-good.
On the other hand, we might focus only on the bad in a person, but because there is something golden in their character that the MS dirtied up, soiled, or covered over, we cannot see it. The MS can cover over a massively good set of qualities and cause us only to see the negative and a person or entity as all-bad.
We call this a theft of honor based on reality or non-reality.
The objective of an MS is to control where you look and at what you look.
Because of the ability of the MS to blind people, we understand the MS to be a perversion of the Holy Spirit. As per my previous post, my review on Life, Dominion, and Honor, it is the Holy Spirit Who is primarily concerned with bringging us Honor. Given the MS is a perversion of the Holy Spirit, we infer that the MS is concerned with destroying honor by destroying the complete perspective of who a person or what a situation is in the eyes of others. For the teaching, which is free, and worth every minute, go here.

WARRING AGAINST THE MS
So, how do we get rid of this nonsense?

We must repent for allowing our attention to be absorbed by only the bad or only of the good in our own lives.
We must repent for reviling the people, organizations, and other entities that we have reviled based on an inaccurate perception of their image and actions.
We must repent of how we have coached G-d in how he delivers us and our friends. These prayers for deliverance may be based on inaccurate perception.
The phrase, “Perception Is Reality”, as it is commonly applied, absent discernment, and in the presence of only a superficial, natural perception, is an abomniable lie from the pit of hell. The way we commonly utilize and apply this phrase as a maxim, rooted in only our five senses, causes us to scoff and keeps us from actual discernment. Instead of discernment, we so frequently settle for our senses. Let me repeat that; instead of discernment, we frequently settle for the data that comes through our five senses. As a result, we think the firstborn son of Jesse is the anointed of the L-rd. Consequently, we refuse to even begin a search for the heart/mind of a matter. G-d looks on the heart/mind, the core of a matter. When we settle for the natural data as our way of determining truth rather than the more difficult work of hunting for the heart and mind of a matter, we open the door for the stronghold of the Cult of Comfort; in the typical naturalistic way of dealing with things, we reach places where we are happy and content to judge people based on their appearance or the height of their stature (1 Samuel 16:7). And we never dig more deeply for what the L-rd is doing in a matter. Superficial perception leads to superficial judgment (decision). Therefore, we need to reject and repent of believing the lie that perception is any indicator of reality, and we need to actually take the time to observe reality. For lack of a stronger analogy, vaccinate yourself with a healthy dose of discernment. It is through discernment that you prove what is G-d’s will that is good, acceptable, and perfect.
Get to know which forms of discernment are yours, and cultivate those. There are certain gifts of which I am convinced, that are the domain of each and every believer, despite how some would read 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. Prophesying, speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance, and discernment are three which fit this description.
We then must ask Him to align our perception with reality as He sees it, rather than passively accepting whatever comes through our senses as a marker for reality, we need to put on the fullness of discernment that Yeshua died for us to possess. So, get rid of this phrase of sloth, and actually hunt for reality.
We must repent for shelving the Fruit of the Spirit, and for substituting suspicion for discernment.
We must repent for reeling off all of the “yes, buts”, all of the excuses why we cannot or should not do something, or why someone or something is only good or only bad. If you cannot see and name at least some of the flaws in a good person, or the see and name at least one or two redeeming qualities in a bad person, then there is a high risk you are already under the influence of a mesmerizing spirit. Every perfectly-behaved person or situation has some foolishness or flaws, and every clown or bad situation has something in them that can be seen in a redemptive light and used for a redemptive purpose, if we will just hunt for it.
We must ask G-d to shine His light on WHATEVER HE WANTS TO SHINE HIS LIGHT! WARNING: this simple prayer is DANGEROUS!
While asking G-d to shine His light, we must actively REFUSE the temptation to coach Him on what to expose (Hello, people yelling about the negative of the Democrat Party without calling out the negative in your own camps. People praying, “Yes, G-d, expose the lies that the Democrats/Demoncrats/Libtards/Democraps are engaging in.”, are calling for curses in alignment with their own biases.). If G-d wants to expose the things we want exposed, then fine, but if He wants to expose what is uncomfortable for us, or things that we do not expect Him to expose, then we need to be ready for that.
When we pray, “shine Your light whereever you want to shine it and keep it there until we see what You want us to see and fix what You want us to fix.”, we are in reality signing and handing a blank check over to G-d to start exposing the junk that He wants to expose. If we are going to live dangerously, we need to embrace this manner of lifestyle. Sign the check, and hand it over to the L-rd without qualifications.
We must allow G-d to expose whatever He wants to expose in us and in others. Even if it hurts, even if we don’t want it, we need to give Him His fathering liberty to handle, shift, adjust, align, reframe, and refocus us on the actual problem instead of our ideas of what we think is the problem. He is a good Father and everything He does in us and through us is with an eye to our good and benefit. He is in this for our benefit, not our desctruction. The one who destroys us is not willingly serving the interests of our King.
Once we have begun to align our focus with the truth of a matter, which is a process, we need to ask Him to begin the process of cleansing out the garbage that has infested us, inclusive of us making a confession where we have misjudged others, misappropriated principles, applied partial truth to render full judgments and sentencings, and ask Him to cleanse, cleanse, cleanse this junk out of us.
Following the season of cleansing, we ask the Father of Lights to lead us in the direction of proper stewardship of our relationships with people and situations. Stewardship of interaction, of our cultivation of the Fruit of the Spirit, of our human interactions, is critical. As an aside, we really need a neatening up of our relationships. Unless you have a friend that you are sure can handle sarcasm and a relational interaction marked by joking and humor, it might be wise to minimize sarcasm or fast sarcasm for a season in case that has damaged your interactions with others. When something offends someone, if there is a genuine reason for them to be offended, stop hiding behind the excuse “I was only joking.” Rather, apologize for being or behaving like a jerk, no merely coming across as a jerk. And do not say “I am sorry you feel that way”. That is a cop-out, and it places the blame on their feelings rather than your actions. You apologize for BEHAVING in a dumb fashion. Do not embrace a position of selective responsibility. Take some ownership of some things that may not be your fault. Doing so may help you cultivate some authority to speak into the life of another when you might not otherwise get the permission to do so. And the MS HATES when we embrace Responsibility and become our brother’s keeper, especially when we think they might not deserve it.
Further, we need to ask Him to give us right perceptions. We ask Him to give us an internal world and an external world that match, and a capacity to not just interact with others in an external sense, but also an internal sense.

And for our texts here, because it seems that the MS is present in Scripture, let us consider not just the bad of the kings of Israel and Judah, but also the good of the kings of Israel and Judah.

MESMERIZED HERMENEUTICS
First, consider that Manasseh, who wickedly reigned for most of his life, REPENTED near the end of his life, and for all of his idolatry and wickedness, actually ended his life in obedience. Yes, I know some are going to say “but 55 years and defiling the temple and the legacy of Ahab, and the iniquity of the people!”, and there is a place for that, but consider the also the later obedience of Manasseh.

The L-RD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

Therefore the L-RD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the L-RD his G-d and humbled himself greatly before the G-d of his fathers.

He prayed to Him, and G-d was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew (yada-Genesis 3:1, Proverbs 3:6) that the L-RD was G-d.

Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.

And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.

He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

-2 Chronicles 33:10–16-

And, yes, go ahead and quote verse 17, about how Judah did not hear him but continued in sin, and that iniquity on their part was Manasseh’s fault. You would be correct. I will concede that point.
But, when you respond with that argument, please do so in full light of the fact that Manasseh repented, and the L-rd HEARD the voice of this king who repented. And understand that it is quite possible that Manasseh could be dwelling in eternity with the L-rd and with Josiah, and if he did so, there are a great many people to whom he would have repented for sinning against. Do not EVER leave out that Manasseh repented. Doing so is the work of the Mesmerizing Spirit. Do not read the Bible with the Mesmerizing Spirit; do not engage with a mesmerized hermeneutic.
Second, consider that Josiah disobeyed, doing what the L-rd did not explicitly tell him to do, and went out to fight Pharaoh Neco.

But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And G-d has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing G-d, who is with me, lest he destroy you.”

Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of G-d, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo.

And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.”

So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.”

2 Chronicles 35:21–24

And Josiah’s pride, refusal to listen, and thinking he was the L-rd’s anointed caused him a premature death at the hands of the Egyptians, in a story that eeirly resembles the death of our third example: Ahab.

THE MESMERIZING SPIRIT SEEN IN THE ACCOUNT OF AHAB’S DEATH

And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the L-RD will give it into the hand of the king.”

And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”

But Micaiah said, “As the L-RD lives, what the L-RD says to me, that I will speak.”

And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the L-RD will give it into the hand of the king.”

But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the L-RD?”

And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the L-RD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’”

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the L-RD: I saw the L-RD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the L-RD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’

And one said one thing, and another said another.

Then a spirit came forward and stood before the L-RD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’

And the L-RD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’

And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’

Now therefore behold, the L-RD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the L-RD has declared disaster for you.

1 Kings 22:13–23

It is my viewpoint that the lying spirit in 1 Kings 22 could be considered a form of the MS, for the following reasons.

It drew Ahab’s attention away from the danger that awaited him.
It drowned out the word of the L-rd in the mouth of a proven prophet.
And, Ahab did not feel completely safe with the counsel of his prophets, given he disguised himself (1 Kings 22:30).

Specifically, in this case, the spirit in question filled the mouths of prophets with lies, and there was ONE prophet who spoke for the L-rd.
Gee, that doesn’t sound like any context we know about today, does it? We have no risk of trouble with the MS given we are under the new covenant, do we?
Ummmm……yeah…
In the multitude of counselors, there can be safety and wisdom, but when you have the risk of a lying spirit or mesmerizing spirit infesting your prophets, and if only one person is speaking for the L-rd, then you want the counsel of the one full of trustworth who has nothing to gain from counseling you.
And before people get going on that “mouth-of-two-or-three-witnessess-get-confirmation” concept, let us note the context for that phrase; confirmation of words was for legal cases involving accusations. So, before using that scripture as the basis for requiring two or three confirmations for anything you do, recognize and weigh EVERYTHING. Sometimes, the L-rd may humor you and give you a group of counselors who will be able to speak positively toward a matter. But there may be times when you have to go alone, as did Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Amos, or others. I am not saying put yourself off in a silo, but what I am saying is do not assume you can depend on the luxury of two or three witnesses before you obey in a matter. Sometimes, Dad is going to say “go naked and barefoot” and no-one is going to stand beside you, Redemptive Gift of Teacher.
Sometimes, you are going to have to strike out alone and, instead of being a Pioneer who settles a place, you will have to be a Trailblazer and strike out a new path where NO ONE has gone before you.

PIONEERS VS. TRAILBLAZERS
In our obsession in this season in the Charismatic Movement with Pioneers, we have fallen prey to a MS. Specifically, we have been duped into believing that Pioneers come first in a matter; they have not. What we have been mesmerized out of is a recognition of Trailblazers, which precede Pioneers.
Pioneers come into a community that is not yet, and they establish it. They lay the groudwork and foundations for the new settlement. And Pioneers are well and good, and they can go into barely-charted territory. However, what precedes a Pioneer is a Trailblazer. Trailblazers go into completely uncharted territory, and cut new paths through the territory that were not thought possible, and make the path crossable for those who would follow to establish outposts on the frontier.
Furthermore, most of the time, Trailblazers are not celebrated by the majority of the community.

“For those of you who are initiators, the probability of your being celebrated for your design is slim. You may go to your grave without validation and affirmation from mankind. So you are responsible for doing maintenance on your own identity. And I would encourage you to look at Scripture. Jonathan was one who was an initiator; another is the apostle Paul. Both of them were high-action figures. Another one was Peter. And Peter and Paul and Johnathan messed up along the way. They initiated a bit too much and a bit the wrong way, and, yet, none of them derailed G-d; He was bigger than their occasional messiness. And G-d leveraged the beginners, the initiators, the starters to change the world. And yet many of the initiators get damned, or stoned, or marginalized, and then 200 years later we build a monument to them and call them a hero. And you have to choose to do your own emotional maintenance and to go through life being who G-d made you to be, validating the fact that you may not be appreciated here on earth until 200 years after you are gone, but choose whether you are going to be who G-d made you to be, or who the culture tells you you are supposed to be.”
Arthur Burk, “When Your Call Is Blocked.”, Disc 2, Cut 3, Timestamp 12:45-14:14

DEALING WITH THE MS IN CULTURE: ONE EXAMPLE
Think of the Wright Brothers, and not just the Wright Brothers, but the many who preceded them in expounding the principles of aviation but did not draw the attention of the culture. The work of those who formed the conception and birth of modern aviation was a war against the MS in the culture. They were not celebrated for building the new transmission that was fixed-wing flight. And it took them years to receive any sort of recognition.
The Wright Brothers, specifically, upon their return from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to Dayton, expected a celebration upon their return, and sent a telegram to their father asking him to inform the press

However, the Dayton Journal refused to publish the story, saying the flights were too short to be important. Meanwhile, against the brothers’ wishes, a telegraph operator leaked their message to a Virginia newspaper, which concocted a highly inaccurate news article that was reprinted the next day in several newspapers elsewhere, including Dayton.
The Wrights issued their own factual statement to the press in January.
From Wikipedia article “The Wright Brothers”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers

Note: the Wrights wanted a factual statement, they did not like inaccurate reports; this is typical Prophet/Teacher attitude. Wilbur and Orville measured everything meticulously. And without embellishing anything, their later work was filled with a “come and see” mentality. This work demonstrates an explicit absence of, and resistence toward, the MS.

THE LESSON
In the culture of Christianity, when people whom you see as prophetic voices are not hearing correctly for whatever reason, whether they miss the boat, or are mesmerized, or are responding soulishly, or whatever the case you need to be able to acknowledge your own legitimacy, recognize your own validity, and do maintainence on your own legitimacy before the L-rd.
The bottom line is this: if you focus only on part of the whole, or if you allow your attention to be drawn to part at the expence of the whole, then you can become blinded. But if you ask the Father to shine His light whereever He wants to shine it, and allow Him to show you whatever He wants to show you and the WHOLE of what He wants to show you, then be prepared for a wild ride, and be ready to shift from places where you are to places where He wants you to be.
It is not fun to deal with the MS, but it is exceptionally kingdom-building and rewarding to take care of it.
Be blessed, gang, and feel free to comment below if I have missed something. If I have, I will be happy to add above.

The Redemptive Gift of Yeshua

10 October 2018 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Christology, Ed Silvoso, Exhorter, Principles, Redemptive Gifts, Sowing and Reaping, Uncategorized

So, there is still a lot of curiosity, and I could never exhaust this topic.
But, there is still floating around this idea that Our L-rd was a combination of all seven RG’s, based on the early teachings of our mutual friend, Arthur Burk.
Let me say, unequivocally, that He was born fully-G-d and fully man. With a soul like our, that was singular, and with a spirit like ours, that was divided into seven portions.
And let’s look at the textual evidence first. Setting aside what Arthur said, let’s look at our main sources for understanding on the life of the Son of G-d.
The Gospels.
I would like to consider a couple of texts for our purposes, starting with Matthew 11.
We know John the Baptizer was clearly hardwired with the Redemptive Gift of Prophet. And he was hardcore. John Sandford, in his book that sets the standard for our understanding for the Office of Prophet, The Elijah Task, made the observation that the Baptizer had a camel-hair shirt that was turned inside out, and that this was a way of putting his skin into a place of continual flagellation. Anyone who has touched a camel would get an understanding of such a garment would afflict the skin. It is not the softest material.
John breathed the judgments of G-d on the Pharisees repeatedly.
He also never, never associated with people in crowds by choice. He was in the lonely places of Judea, and the crowds had to come to him in order to speak to them, and he was a fireball to ANYONE to whom He spoke.
Now, look at our L-rd, Messiah Yeshua.
He was in the lonely places by choice and by need, but he also spent his ministry with people constantly. He was a General Contractor, and by nature of that job, dealt with people, subcontractors, owners, tenants, and other people incessantly. And He went to Zacheeus out of the crowd and in the midst of the crowd. And He compelled specific people to come with him, including Matthew, the…
TAX COLLECTOR…
And the wedding feast in Cana, when He bartended to a bunch of inebriated wedding guests.
And the friend……
Of sinners….
And he spoke to them, as a man speaks to his friend….
And He wept….
Over the man Lazurus…
As a man weeps for His friend…
And we with unveiled faces….
Beheld His glory…the presentation of the Man who was full of Grace and Truth.
And He made known to them, the nature of His Father, their Father…
He knew and processed the nature of G-d, who is a good Father.
He was not a machine Ruler, though He understood the principles of Freedom and Sonship.
He was a social without exception Exhortery Exhorter.
He suffered much pain, and dealt with the Exhorter’s Principle in the hardest manifestations. And possessed His birthright.
Because He will not rest until His Father’s house is FULL OF PEOPLE WHO ARE HIS FAMILY.
NONE! ALL!!
G-d is willing that NONE should perish. G-d is willing that ALL should come to repentance.
That none should perish.
G-d loves cities.
Who told you this, David?
20 years ago, an Argentine Exhorter by the name of Ed SIlvoso told me this in a church in DeLand, Florida, named First Assembly of G-d, pastored by an Exhorter.
Yes, yes, Exhorter, it is your job to mess up the church with the new revelation that the body is missing.
That His house may be FULL…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUT9NWzaReA

11:00 in, gang.

“What we see in Scripture is process. There’s one snippet that we have as an example of process, and that is G-d’s passion for cleansing the land from death. It is going to take seven months after the Battle of Armageddon for the specified teams to find every piece of human flesh and bone and give it a proper burial. That is process. The King doesn’t just come in and fix Israel overnight. He takes the remnant of people that are left after the tribulation and gives them process tasks, and I believe that the Millenium is going to be a process of the church learning from Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate Exhorter–He walked in the Redemptive Gift of Exhortation–we are going to learn from Him principle after principle about how to heal our ecological mess, and today we need to LEAN INTO it, not with the fear and the panic that the ecology movement is perpetuating, not with a sense of lack or poverty, but with biblical principles.
Arthur Burk, The Majesty of His Artistry, Disc 5, Cut 7, “Measurable, Verifiable, Sustained Change, Timestamp 1:32-2:47

And the Exhorter’s playing field is the Principles, and showing cause and effect. It is not the Prophet, who is designed to use principles to build with. But the Exhorter is designed to do principles nonstop. Lots and lots of Principles and Revelation.
Moses, Solomon, and Paul were all Exhorters, and they FLOWED in Principles.
And the Sermon on the mount and the parables are Principles all.
And, here is a final piece. Listen carefully. Every fight that He picked with a Pharisee was over a principle that He was giving to them, to help fill out what was missing from their theology. They, Teachers, missed the one thing. Hello, Philistines. This is why the Exhorter and the Teacher go so well together, hand in glove.
So, there you go, gang.
This is my analysis, and this happens to also be Arthur’s analysis.
Enjoy it.
Giggle.
#mischief

The Passage That Kept Me Going

21 September 2018 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Adultery, Divorce, Hermeneutics, Marriage, Principles, Remarriage, Uncategorized

After I had first heard my ex-wife had cheated on me, I chose to give her a period of time, 90 days, to see what she would do.
I had also begun to ask counsel of those I knew whom I had respected in the ministry who had experienced divorce and they had given me counsel. One of those friends, who had an experience in marriage in which he was claiming aggrieved status, said that he went through and did a serious season of self-examination.
Yes, the divorce may seem like it is all their fault, but it is still a good thing for us to do self-examination.
As a result of that conversation, during that time period when I had taken to consider thoroughly what I should do, I began to recount my sins as well, the places where I had messed up in our marriage, and the places where I knew that I was in the wrong.
And while I never engaged in physical acts of adultery, I may as well have (Matthew 5:27, which is based not on a new commadment or new interpretation of the Torah, but on the old commandment of Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21). The wrong desire is adultery.
And, no, not even a first look is right or good. No, “admiring the L-rd’s creation” is the same as “scooping fire into your lap”. It does not work. I have heard all the preacherly catchphrases and they do not work.
Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, got the tattoo.
We must resist the equivocation. If by my confession someone can be freed, it will be worth it.
And deliverance from all of that nonsense, whether the act is physical, mental, or emotional (and they all form pathways that are not often or quickly removed), is a process.
So, as I was going through that process, I had a conversation with a pastor friend who is an expository preacher and a Teacher by Redemptive Gift, and I told him what had happened.
He then directed me to a passage in Micah.
See it here:

I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.
Micah 7:9

By hearing of our own offenses and knowing what sin is, we know the absolutes, and thereby where the boundaries of the fence are. And we can take a strange comfort in knowing where the boundaries are, because then we can know when we are in the right and when we are in the wrong.
We need to know that we can be wrong when we are wrong.
We need to know there are still standards.
Let’s cite Frank Peretti, because he says it better than I can, and BE FOREWARNED, to my survivor peeps, the context is an internal discussion pertaining to a bathtub drowning, and the character in the book is in the process of coming to grips with her own state of reality, which is necessary in order to overcome denial:

She looked at the tub; she touched the cold, blue-green porcelain. I could pretend, she thought. Just for the sake of discussion, I could pretend that this is a fence, a limitation, a boundary.
A boundary I crossed over, and shouldn’t have.
She let her thoughts continue on their own and just enjoyed listening to them huddle together and confer in her head.
What if what happened here was wrong?
Ah, come on, according to whom? There are no absolutes; you can’t know anything for sure.
What if there are, and what if I can?
But how?
Later, later. Just answer the first question.
What if it was wrong?
Yeah.
Then I’m guilty. I made a wrong choice, I jumped the boundary, I did wrong.
But I thoughts boundaries only exist in your mind!
I did wrong. I want to think that, just once.
Why?
Because I need a fence. Even if I’m on the wrong side of it, I need a fence. I need to be wrong. I need to be guilty.
What for?
Because…

Sally stirred. She pressed her hand firmly against the tub where her child had died. she mouthed the words, then she whispered them, then she said them out loud, “Because at least then I’d know where I am!
Apparently she’d awakened a dormant emotion; pain came upon her suddenly, and aching deep in her soul, and with gritted teeth and a stifled whisper, she pounded the side of the tub. “Oh, God!”
She rested against the hard plaster wall again, panting in hurt, anger, and despair. “O God, help me!”
Despair slipped and fell. His talons had lost their grip.
There, she’d said it. She’d followed the proposition through to its conclusion, had her little fit, and how she was finished. She didn’t know if she felt better. She felt a little foolish for talking out loud to herself–or to God, whatever the case may be. It didn’t matter.
-Frank Peretti, Piercing the Darkness, pp. 206-207-

Further, when we know there are fences, we know not only that there is a wrong side…
And when we are on that wrong side, and therefore guilty….
But also…
That there is a right side…
And we can be on that side…
And we can know when we are on that side…
I spent myself handling my offenses against the throne, and against Him, and against my then-wife.
Pam, to whom I am married now, helped deeply in that process of dealing with the offenses.
It is possible, while you are dealing with a divorce or even with a seperation with what you did wrong.
Consider the gravity of what Jesus said to the Pharisees.
“Because of the hardness of your hearts…”
Gang, I cannot overemphasize this enough.
If you are not dealing with the hardness of your heart,
it does not matter if you have biblical grounds or not for divorce.
It does not matter if your heart is wounded, and justifiably so.
It does not matter how many different ways you are tied up due to generational bondage or covenal agreements.
If your heart has gone hard, then it will be damned hard to have a successful single life or remarried life.
What made blasphemy of the Holy Spirit so easy for the Pharisees is that precise condition, and over and over again, that was the illustrated root of their resistance toward the Son of G-d. It was not a religious spirit.
It was hard-heartedness that got them. It was the resistance toward Ezekiel 37 and 38. They did not allow Him to breath life on them and remove their stony hearts.
Their bones were devoid of sinew and muscle. The Rulers had no Exhortery pliability.
In my own adultery, there were several things I sowed that reaped destruction.
And it began with fear of man, thinking this was the right person to marry based on a dream.
And after I bore the indignation of the L-rd and dealt with the process of recovering a pliable heart, He took up my cause, in some very subtle ways.
Hit the second half of that text from Micah 7:9

until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

“Executes judgment”. That is Mishpat. Execution. He can be trusted to execute to those who want his working in their lives. Judgment first starts in the house of G-d, with us, and then with our case. He judged it, and executed. He is the G-d who executes.
Our job, believer, is to handle our business honestly, vulerably, and openly. Come hell or high water, do it, and deal with your junk.
Now, concerning pornography in Matthew 5, I had a conversation with a friend who had some thoughts, and they echo mine here. What follows are our very rough, unrefined, unrevised thoughts somewhat mixed together.
I think that what Jesus was trying to say is not that the two (adultery and looking on a woman with lust) are the same. Rather, what He was driving at is “you think you are holy because you avoid the big act. Well, the act itself consummates because it is rooted in an attitude germinated in the soil that says that lust is okay.
That person that says it is “okay to admire the creation of G-d” does not realize the danger they are helping you to jump into.
One is adultery and the other is the adultery of the heart. One begins a process, the other finishes that process.
In the act of physical adultery, you are joining two people, two spirits into something that did not previously exist.
In the instance of lust, damage is done, but spirits are not joined.
Said another way, Jesus is saying, “Well, if you really want to be righteous “clean your thought life.”.
Don’t pretend that makes you holy just because you are avoiding physical adultery.
There are commonalities between the two, but they are not the same.
Would it feel the same to you?
If you had to pick between the two 10 years of porn that you could fight through together, versus one act of adultery, which would you pick? That give you the evidence that the two are not the same.
Having experienced both, I would have to say, “I would have picked having to fight through 10 years of porn to rescue my bride, over one moment of adultery”.
I know in her a lot of what was lost.
This woman is a card-carrying Exhorter who was given a birthright of authority over nations.
And because of the hell that we dealt with, she is now way-removed from that path.
So, in handling your own situation, my question is, “what will you do to avoid a hard heart?”.
Hard hearts are seedbeds for Jezebel. Jezebel is not merely this beastly dragon that wants to kill the prophets. It can end that way.
But Jezebel begins with a decision that “I am not going to let anyone hurt me like that again.”
And the entry point for her is subtle. A grandmother who neglects her grandchild or grandchildren. A mother or father who somehow hurts their kids.
Yes, they are accountable for how they hurt us. But ultimately, we are responsible to pass the Mercy’s Test. All of us. The test of the Right Response to Pain.
The news is that the Phoenicians hurt Jezebel by marrying her off as part of Omri’s contract with the Phoenicians. She was a gifted and multi-talented Exhorter, considering the gifts that Phoenicia had and gave to many places.
The news is that Jesus, our chief example, and an Exhorter, was hurt by all sorts of people, and allowed them to do what they did to Him, and yet gave Himself to them, for them. Just to have one Nicodemus.
And the news is that others will hurt. I have hurt, and some of you will hurt.
But we must protect our hearts and keep them tender before G-d, and not let it get that edge of hardness.
Proverbs 4:23.
And we NEED EACH OTHER TO TENDERLY HELP ONE ANOTHER PASS THE TEST.
Must pass. Must pass. With flying colors. Bearing fruit in our season, and being planted by the streams of water.
Streams.
Streams of revelation.
Streams of dreams and the vision G-d has for us.
Streams of affection.
And we must wrestle this temptation to grow calloused to the ground.
We have too many needless casualties of war because of wounds through relationships, marriages.
The bloodletting has got to stop.
Tempering my counsel from yesterday because I want you to catch the punchline, understand you may have a right to divorce, and that may be where G-d is sending you, but you do not have a right to leave with a stony heart and keep your life-giving effectiveness.
The gifts and callings of G-d are irrevocable, true.
But other things can be damaged and you still keep your gifts.
Your anointing can be affected.
The size of your conduit can be crimped.
The shape of your seal can be damaged.
The sum total of your potential effectiveness can be lessened.
And the level of your kinetic effectiveness will definitely taper off.
Gang, we must push through.