Category: Fourth Principle

Follow the Anger…

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Fourth Principle, Principles, Sowing and Reaping

Gang, this is a bit of an unusual post, but I am asking y’all to stay with me.

We look for and celebrate the design G-d places in us, and, sometimes, that means we follow some unorthodox methods to identify that design.

Now, anger has often been characterized very negatively, and that is not without good reason.

However, I want to say something about anger. In most situations that include anger, there is a choice of what we do with the anger. Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians to “Be angry and do not sin” implies that it is possible to engage in behavior that includes anger while also not crossing lines into behavior that is sinful.

Now, I am not saying that this is the case all of the time, but I believe the blanket exhortation to avoid anger is not generally helpful.

And like Clyde Fant, I am of the opinion that “righteous indignation is a twenty letter word for anger”.

Let me say that again two different ways. The need to use the words “righteous indignation” too often proceeds, from my experience, from a religious spirit or a spirit of being afraid of the full G-d-given experience of human emotion and free will.

To respond, instead of trotting out religious language for anger and USING THAT to justify an emotion of which we are afraid, it would be better to ascertain the root of our anger so we know what to do with it. Otherwise, we could be covering up a problem that our heart, mind, spirit, soul, or reins are trying to bring up.

Often, anger is rooted in two things: our sense of that which is just, and a violation of justice. It is not just because we are being selfish, arrogant, or proud.

To be sure, too often we are guilty of accusing of pride those who do not struggle with pride.

While some of you are wrestling with the idea that some believers do not struggle with pride, I will continue.

Indeed, there are qualities Father has built into certain of us that really incite zeal for excellence and effectiveness.

And coupled with those qualities are aspects that causes us to become rankled when excellence or effectiveness are mangled.

It is not pride or arrogance; rather it is anger as the King intended it to be the tool it is for provoking us to raise standards and hunt for better ways.

For example, when believers settle for a status quo try to move into something they know the King has for them….

…are corrected by other believers who either do not understand or do not want to understand try to correct us in accordance with a lower standard, then that friction creates issues.

In order to honor how the L-rd has uniquely made us, we really must move beyond avoiding all expressions of anger, hunt for and yearn for the G-d-ordained expressions of anger, nix religious expressions that blanket judge any expression of anger or frustration, and move into allowing ourselves to be pushed for “what is excellent…”. I would even bet money that those who are easily angered by slack-jawed expressions of faith have “what is excellent” in mind and are pushing for that excellent place.

Just some thoughts.

Songs That Witness Against

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Deuteronomy, Fourth Principle

Even though there are sizable aggregates in the Church Universal that either laud Hebrew and Hebrew texts to an unhealthy degree on the one hand, and those that walk with anti-Semitic threads in teaching Scripture on the other hand, I remain committed to teaching and Exegeting the two segments of Holy Writ as one.

I have also dealt with several individuals that think not a few unsavory things about the Greek language of the New Testament (see the stream of thought that the Greek language is less than Hebrew *GROAN* and other oversimplified views).

Anyway, what follows are my thoughts on some text in Deuteronomy that gripped me (my spirit) the last couple of days.

The Song of Moses That Witnesses Against Israel

The text reads:

“Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the L-RD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

(Deuteronomy 31:28–30 ESVi)

And the song that witnesses against runs through the lion’s share of chapter 32.

I am not going to cite the whole thing because it’s 44 verses.

But basically, to sum up, the L-RD blessed His people in the land, they grew “fat” and in abundance, and then chose to rebel.

See, too many people read through Deuteronomy 32, the hot-button verse in 39 that says:

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

…and then they assume a quick, two-dimensional Calivinist theology of the sovereignty of the G-d of Caprice,

…without seeing 32:39 in the context of G-d’s deeply personal investment in his people (making them alive and healing them: cross-reference Exodus 15:26: I am the L-RD that healeth thee),

…followed by their growing fat in the land, followed by their rebellion, FOLLOWED BY His declaration that the destruction that comes from Him, no matter the vehicle, is in cool-headed response to their deliberate pattern of stubbornness….

Too many people need to slow their roll when it comes to exegesis and not leap towards the simple, easy, and wrong solution to the nature of G-d.

And Moses is giving this this song as a warning about what is to come if they turn from the King. And one of the lessons we can gather from the text is that “justice and retribution for repeated patterns of stubbornness will come”).

Be blessed, gang. And May your evenings be full of the King׳s kindness.

Truly, this song is an expression of the merciful heart of a loving G-d. Dear eres d DC C

The Spirit of Slavery, The Welfare Spirit, and the Spirit of Poverty: Part 1

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Fourth Principle, Leviathan, Third Principle

The Vice President the following on Sunday.

Seeing it, I winced, and was reminded:

Under three things the earth trembles,
under four it cannot bear up:
a servant who becomes king,
a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,
a contemptible woman who gets married,
and a servant who displaces her mistress.

Proverbs 30:21-23 NIV

When someone with a spirit of slavery is installed into office rather than a problem-solving son, the earth, the land writhes. It does not settle down at ease.

Sidebar: And for the record, those who think I am a rabid Narnian and a supporter of the Dwarf Trumpkin, I have been an equal-opportunity offender.

Our responsibility is to hunt for an unpack what was placed into us inherently. It’s not to look for someone else to fix our junk.

When we beg for someone else to manage and fix our problems for us, we are robbed of the dignity of developing rich tools to fix the problems with which we are faced.

When people are cut off from anything that enables them to see their own dignity, the dignity that will empower them to fix a problem or set of problems, and to see the gifts and tools that are already in their own hand….

When they believe they do not have unless they or a benevolent rogue take what is someone else’s…..

They enable something far worse than real lack….

They enable the mindset of the spirit of poverty and the spirit of slavery, which leads to envy and jealousy, and as a result, they will never get ahead.

Be careful when a politician sets forth a problem, for you have no idea what their solution is to that problem, and it could involve the drafting of another’s time, resources, or gifts.

The Redemptive Gift of Yeshua

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