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Disclaimer:  Some of you will balk at the title.  For those that do, I am confident that if you just give it a listen, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Sandy Landry and I worked through this album together, and the one that follows it.
This album, of all of the SLG teachings was the one I understood intuitively the fastest.
You know, Arthur made a comment on this album on Disc 1, Cut 1, at about 5:30. He said:
“So for those of you that are purists and require only the finest and the best of theology, I recommend you shut this CD off and run for the hills.”
I vehemently disagree with his assessment of what he has produced.
By training and education, I am a theologian. I have a niche anointing and earned authority in the area of theology, and I am not just talking because I went to seminary.
I have read a lot and studied a lot and digested a whole lot.
The problem with most theology is that it does not answer or even bother to wrestle with the “so what?” question, especially as it pertains to present day Monday morning work.
This set and the two that follow it are honestly, in my estimation, some of the finest in theology precisely because they provide a new paradigm designed to address the lack of liberation prevalent in the body of Christ.
Now, do they answer every question pertaining to the concept of AHS/unclean spirits? No.
But do they attempt to work with some considerations that may be missing from our modalities of deliverance? YES!
And theology is not theology unless someone first has the guts to pose a question, and then WRESTLE with that question in order to answer it.
Arthur, you accomplish effective theology in short order, and yours is some of the finest attempts at wrestling with the texts while being sober in the assertion your material is not a silver bullet.
On one hand, we need fewer silver bullet showmen. On the other hand, we nee more hunting skillful theologians that “tremble without excellent speech” and who dance the waltz between principle, revelation, and “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5).
Arthur here does just that. And he takes us from the place where we think everything is alright, to the place where we are forced to acknowledge and refuse our own denial that something else might be to blame for what really is wrong with us, and he does not back down from explaining a very plausible theory for what might the the cause, and then presents a possible solution, nay, a series of solutions for the problems that plague us with respect to things that defile our essence.
And in this series, Arthur verbatim encourages people to work in self-deliverance as much as possible. It is so blasted refreshing to hear someone who understands deliverance modalities exhort the body that it is okay for us to do it ourselves rather than rely on his or her unique covering in order to get free.
It is refreshing that Arthur resists the siren song that encourages us to embrace a welfare spirit that says we cannot do it ourselves, but constantly need someone to fix us or pray deliverance over us.
I had a vanishing twin and survivor guilt, and working through that on my own, I was able to rid myself of some things that were creating defilements in my very essence.
And I want the same for the rest of my friends and family.
This journey is about your essence, and not you trying to live vicariously for others, nor is it about someone else trying to live vicariously through you.
So, consider yourself warned, this will jostle your theology if you are used to having a safe and secure theology that isn’t messed with, but it really will give you a solid exposition on how we are supposed to look at some different packages of critters that are out of the ordinary and can afflict us.
Get the album. You will not regret it.

Content can be found at: https://theslg.com/content/132-redemptive-gifts-of-cities
Confession:
Without realizing it, I have been tracking with Arthur since 1999. Let me explain.
When I was in college in the late 1990’s, during my Sophomore Year, I connected with someone who was a violinist and a Music Major at the time, and she told me about this church she was attending, where G-d was moving. That was late 1999 or early 2000.
Within the first few weeks of visiting this church, the associate pastor made a statement that was curious to me: “DeLand, Florida is a Teaching City and this church is a Teaching Church.”
He then went on to list characteristics of a Teaching City, including division of the city into two parts and the careful meticulous research thst is done in the city, along with the presence of many educational institutions and churches.
Now, though that was my only exposure to Sapphire/Plumbline teachings for years, before Arthur’s name came to be associated in my brain with the teaching in this series, it had an impact on me 18-19 years ago.
Further, I started making other connections over the years and recognizing the gift of Teaching independently in other entities. And I always kept that bit of paradigm in the back of my mind, because that church was so influential in my life.
And then I found out from a close friend about SLG, and the Redemptive Gifts. He was a Prophet and, in response to my queries about Leviathan, he pointed me to Arthur. And this series fell out into my lap because of my intense draw to working with land.
This series had that impact on my life because of my passion for cities. And I have come to recognize that the vast majority of cities in which I have lived, and the significant turning points in my life, to an item, have all occurred in Teacher Cities.
My hometown is a Teacher City and it is precious. I now recognize that quality of Teacher land for producing revelation in my life.
College, Seminary, my second marriage, my Spirit Baptism. And then there are the cities profiled here.
Boston…Bakersfield…Baltimore…Santa Clarita…San Jose…Washington…and…San Francisco, HOME OF BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCE.
You want to take care of those places where you go, and though I have visited only three of these cities, Bakersfield and San Francisco gripped me the hardest with compassion over their unrecognized influence.
And I know we on the East Coast have jokes about Los Angeles, but G-d help us, we should be moved to tears for being life-giving to that city.
I have prayer-walked cities after dark because of the passion that Arthur sent my way 18 to 19 years ago.
I have a deep and strong heart for the loveliness amidst the brokenness. I have prayerwalked UCLA, and thought deeply about LA since I was there last 17 years ago.
I remember the friendships that were lost after they were gained as a result of visiting that city.
I remember the depth of Boston as I walked the streets to Fanueil Hall woth my wife and kids and the affection of the Father that BROODS over that city. It moves me.
And how in Teacher City after Teacher City, Father has dared to move in revival and power.
And how deeply the families of Bakersfield are loved, and the history of my people, the Blackfoot Indians, and their tender affection for Colonel Baker, in response to his fairy love for them.
This album changed me.
Years before I knew who Arthur was.
Thanks, friend.

The Redemptive Gifts of Individuals by Arthur Burk
How many people have benefitted from this material, the original, and I am the fourth reviewer?
This series is the original teaching that deals with the identification of many traits of each of the gifts, and it deals with many of those traits with excellence.
Now, Arthur has done his homework here, though later in 2008, he expresses regret over not having given Servant and Mercy their due.  And I can see that, but those gifts are vastly underrated by a lot of us anyway.  I know this, because I underrate my Servant wife on a constant basis.
You should definitely get this one to listen to, understand, make your own inventories in your own words, digest these gifts, compare to the Videos on YouTube, and Majesty of His Artistry, and then move into identifying your own gift.
I am very impressed with the level of attention to the details of Scripture that are found in here, and in the reflections in each member of the fractal that are found throughout the Holy Writ. This series does a lot to add to the coherence of Scripture.
And my thorough exhortation to the body is not for us to use Arthur for what we think he is good for, but to bless him for being such an asset to the body of Messiah Yeshua.
Get this album, understand the nature of the gifts, and deepen your understanding by a thorough read-through yourself of Scripture and an assessment of your resources because you are each sons of the King.

R. Loren Sandford is a trustworthy voice in the body of Christ.  In the few short months I have had the honor to connect with him, I have seen nothing but righteous and humble fruit FLOW from him, as well as a measure of the Solomonic wisdom that is designed to issue from the hoary-headed.  His counsel is sage, measured, and gentle, while also being holy, and full of the life of the Father.
President Trump made some disparaging remarks that were not tinged with grace and truth.  And beyond this, I offer no words besides those Brother Sandford has.  They are reprinted from his Facebook Page, and I am thrilled he supported my reprint of them in their entirety:
 

Some time ago, having examined a lot of negative fruit, and having therefore deleted some posts because of the division and ugliness they produced, I determined that I would not preach against a sitting president regardless of his party. Now I’m hearing cries of outrage from a broad spectrum of people asking, “Where is the church?” after the president’s remarks about immigration from “sh**hole countries”.
The idea seems to be that we pastors should spend pulpit time decrying the president’s statement, and that, if we don’t, we’re somehow not fulfilling our calling. We were called to preach Jesus in His house, so I’m not certain to what degree we have been called to use the Lord’s pulpit to call out a president who may not even be a real Christian. Nevertheless, I have something to say.
I’ve said it before, both in print in my Prophetic Moments blog and emailings and in messages I’ve given both at home in my travels. I put it in the context of a call to pray for the president as a man, as well as for the sake of the country. It’s very simple.
I have said that the president will stand little chance of advancing his agenda if he doesn’t learn some simple truths from God’s word and make them part of His character. Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Perhaps more significant is Proverbs 12:18, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing,” or 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger,” and the verse that follows, “The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly.”
From the New Testament: “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19).
All of these principles apply most strongly to anyone in a power position where the impact of words spoken will be magnified. No one wins by insulting people and calling them names, no matter who they are. Pray that our president takes these things to heart before more damage is done. I mean pray, not vilify or judge or condemn, or in any way add to the hatred and vitriol currently tearing our nation apart. AND DO NOT USE THIS THREAD AS A PLATFORM TO SPEW NEGATIVITY, CONDEMNATION AND HATRED.

The sitting President is an Exhorter, and he will be called to account for how he uses his words.  Regardless of your thoughts on his political affiliation, you are responsible as a believer of Jesus Christ, Messiah Yeshua, to pray and intercede for him and his mouth.
If he is a believer, which I seriously doubt, given the accounts of a faith commitment are dubious at best, then he is accountable to rein his mouth in and his words.  Designating countries that are substandard in his perception as holes of fecal matter does not become the Chief Diplomat.  Nor does it show the temperance of one who is being molded after the image of Christ.  He is responsible to serve, and we are responsible as We The People to pray for him, and not curse him, as part of our leadership duties.
Brother Sandford’s words serve as a good set of prayer points. Hit those Proverbs, if you are concerned for the President’s representation.
But don’t curse the Democrats, and don’t cry foul and only behave as if One political party can do no wrong and the other can do no right.
Blessings.

Well, the Mesmerizing Spirit is finally beginning to be stripped back from the American culture.
And thank G-d.  It’s about time this crap got exposed, even if it is not pretty.
The garbage that is now getting exposed, started years ago, and we need to repent of it and call it what it is.  Sin.
Yes, America, this is what it looks like when we pray for the Mesmerizing Spirit to be broken off of a nation.
Some too-close friends of mine were sexually molested by pastors and those in positions of leadership.
This one issue is why I never returned to the town where I grew up.
Churches fired members of their congregation from paid positions of leadership because it would ruin their reputations.
Congregations stood by their pastors and against the victims out of loyalty, or perhaps out of fear of the consequences of what would happen if they did expose their leaders.
And the list goes on.
And it is not just women, but men as well.
Another sad thing, is that people with celebrity status are jumping on the bandwagon of the #MeToo movement.
Now, allow me to differentiate something.
I didn’t express it well with one of my co-bloggers.  Honestly, I was stupid and brash  and too quick with my comments.  I said I had some reservations about the #MeToo movement. But I do not.  Rather, now that I have had a chance to ponder my reservations with the #MeToo hashtag, I have a better way to express it.
There appear to be two groups that connect with #MeToo.  First, the very real victims.  These are the smoldering wicks and the bruised reeds that the Father of Lights promised He would never snuff out nor break.  We need to advocate for them.
And there is the movement that is comprised of those with celebrity status that would seek to use the victims…
They would seek to use the victims for their own gain.
They would also seek to use their own abnormally large platforms that was granted them by the powers-that-be in this perverse culture, for political advancement.  To advance an agenda that does not fix the problem.
They would seek to insert discussion about how the news media is righteous and the current political structure on one side of the aisle is bad.   This behavior is hypocritical and does not fix the problem.   This behavior proceeds from a false motive.
It confuses the care of the victims with agendas that are tangents to the heart of the problem.
The trouble is, church, we are all culpable for the mess in which we find ourselves.
And as one called to pastor I have one thing to say.
In the words of my co-blogger, Amy Dudley:

Transparency is a concept that leaves us paralyzed at the thought that we will be found out and then everyone will know how fucked up and broken we really are.

Yes, I included that because this is precisely where many of us have been left…
In a place of complete disarray…
Where what was sacred was made profane, by our own sins of omission…
Of neglecting to protect those dear to us.
My brother, to start.  Precious Exhorter that he is.  Precious, world-changing man of G-d, who found his courage in prison, and found a new life in the Great Plains.
And, in the words of Amy Dudley, what kept us silent?

“Two Words:  Shame. Fear.”

My brother’s shame became my fear.  Fear that paralyzed me from moving beyond places where he failed.
And I burdern-bore for him, for Y. E. A. R. S..
And now, all these years later, we are on a massive hunt for dignity for the shame that bound so many of our brothers and sisters.
Dignity is what breaks and displaces shame, not honor.
And we are on a massive hunt for Life, which breaks the spirit of Jealousy, and the rage of the Edomites.
And Dominion, that breaks the Victim Spirit, and the Babylonian idolatry that keeps us powerless before the Spirit of Antichrist.
And Honor…
Honor that comes from the Holy Spirit…
A RABBIT TRAIL
Let me get you a tiny little lesson on the nature of the Holy Spirit here.  Below is Romans 12:6-8 in the Greek. The original. Note the segment at the beginning verse 8 that is highlighted in blue.
6 ἔχοντες δὲ χαρίσματα κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν διάφορα, εἴτε προφητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως,
7 εἴτε διακονίαν ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ, εἴτε ὁ διδάσκων ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ,
8 εἴτε ὁ παρακαλῶν ἐν τῇ παρακλήσει, ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, ὁ προϊστάμενος ἐν σπουδῇ, ὁ ἐλεῶν ἐν ἱλαρότητι.
That segment in the Greek reads, “and the Exhorter in his Exhorting” The Greek word here that is used to translate the fourth Redemptive Gift is parakleton “the one who comes alongside”.
Another form of that word occurs in John 14:16:
16 κἀγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν ἵνα μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾖ,
The text reads “and I will ask/pray to/beseech the Father and another paraclete/comforter/helper/exhorter he will give to you so that with you into the age he might be.”
So, the L-rd gives us an Exhorter as our counselor.
He gives us an emotional, tender-hearted, social, affectionate, personable, not-anti-social, loving, kind, generous-with-his-time and whole Exhorter to confide in.
EXHORTERS, ARE YOU CATCHING THIS?!  IF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AN EXHORTER, AND THAT IS CENTRAL TO THE NATURE OF G-D, WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOU????  YOU ARE A CHIP OFF OF THE OLD BLOCK!
I digress.
BACK ON THE TOPIC
So Honor comes from the Holy Spirit…
That Honor and ability to see things as they really are, both the good and the bad, breaks the power of the mesmerizing spirit,
It destroys the belief that we have to return to Mizraim, the land of Egypt, to be Pharaoh’s slaves and build his cities with whips at our backs.
And Honor comes with Life and Dominion.  These are gifts that come as the members of the Trinity each minister to our spirits.
And that ministry heals, makes whole, softens hearts, breaks the power of death, gives dignity, and breaks the powerlessness.
So, as a pastor, I say, this attitude of protecting the rep of your church at the cost of hurting other people, can ultimately lead to the destruction of your rep.
If you FUBAR the life of someone and then discard them because their presence would ruin your reputation, it shows where you have gone.  You have allowed a mesmerizing spirit to steal in, unnoticed, and rob your church of not only its life, but also the one thing–your reputation and image–that you sought to protect.
And if you zoomed in on the five-letter acronym in the preceding paragraph, because you know what it stands for, and made much of it, then you missed the point of this post, and of Amy’s post.
THE GRIT OF THE SITUATION
Grit is the stubborn texture of the situation.  The part of the road that defines it.  It is made up of integrity or its lack.
Here is the bottom line, each of you local churches.
Your precious reputation is in His hands.  He does with it what he will.  It is not your job to protect your reputation.  That belongs to Him.  If He wrecks your reputation as He did with Elijah in response to the prophet’s stubbornness, who stayed with a widow for months, that is His responsiblity.
If He builds your reputation, then that is both His responsibility to care for it, and your responsibility to steward it.
Some of you have made an idol of your church’s reputation.  Some of you have made much of what your church’s brand is in the community.  You need to quit that.  It is Father’s job to make or break that reputation.
And it is your job to keep your grubby mitts offa someone who is not your wife, men, or your husband, ladies.
And with idols, Father has been known to command us to smash those.
Matthew 16:18 does not say you will build the church.  It says Jesus will Himself build His church.  Acts says, that L-rd added daily those who were being saved.  It does not say the apostles added anything.  They provided a good landing pad for the L-rd’s presence.
You are responsible to protect those who are harassed and helpless in your body among you.  You are charged by the Father of Lights in the law with three commands to love.
You shall love the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, soul, and might.
Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Leviticus 19:18
And the third “you shall love” in the Tanakh, which is rarely preached on.

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”  Leviticus 19:34

This third command to love was the answer to the self-justified lawyer’s question:
“Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)
You shall love the very one you hate, dear Jewish Torah expert.  You shall love the one you think is going to destroy your reputation, church.  That “bastard” Samaritan.
So, in finishing, protect the flock, and do not abuse the flock, and leave the reaping of your reputation and brand in the community to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Do it, without excuses.
#TimesUp

I am working through several issues today.
I know one person that I can confidently say is a legit fivefold prophet.  He is someone that talks to G-d on a regular basis, and G-d talks back.  He lives in the great state of Massachusetts, and has a stubborn streak of crankiness when it comes to ignorance of basic Scriptural understanding.  But he is a close friend and someone I can call, not just to talk about what word he has, but just to talk about how he is doing.  He is a father in the faith, and I have few of those.
He has an odd sense of humor.  And, because of him, I have a number of catchphrases that are very prophety.
And my sense of humor, if it can’t be odd enough, was added to in oddness from him.
His name is Jeff Sickler.  And he is precious, and more precious to connect with on a regular basis.
Today I was in the process of checking some things after a phone call, and he rang me earlier today with a prayer request.  Later today, he rang me again…
With the following, unprovoked lead-in question…
Jeff asked, “Have you been getting bored with cooking?”
I replied,”How do you mean, Jeff?”
(This was my way of stonewalling, because I was indeed feeling like cooking was becoming a chore.)
“Like, when you used to cook, you enjoyed it, but recently in the last few weeks, it has become more of a chore and you have seen it as humdrum.”
I replied that I had never shared this with anyone, but it was in fact true.  And then I asked:
“How did you know this, Jeff?”
“G-d told me.”
Typical Jeff.
And then he expanded.
“Actually, He has been talking to me about this several times, and told me to give you a call and pray for you.”
And so he started praying.
And as he started praying, I started thinking, “chicken, I need chicken.”
Grab chicken, and then put some oil in a pan, and what else?  Garlic.  Get a clove and press that.
And one at a time, the ingredients come.
And grab those dried cayenne peppers on my counter and grind them up.
Honey
Chicken starts sautéing, and then, I hunt for carrots.. Found them. slice them in the processor.
And dump the carrots in with the chicken and garlic, and honey and add a nice big pinch of cayenne and some black pepper.
Then…it needs more salt…no not salt…something else…nutty….soy sauce.
And didn’t we have some leftover rice in the fridge.  Yes, yes we did.
And boom.
Out it comes.  My spirit started cooking.  And the fragrance went pow!
So, I recognize that my spirit can cook, and make something insanely spicy that all of me really enjoys.
And I needed it, because after I finished cooking, I saw a comment on my Facebook wall in response to my punny comment that “Seatac is better than hardtac”.  The author said to me that she didn’t know what it meant. I explained that it was a veiled reference to the conference I will be attending in February, and what the play on words was, by explaining hardtack.
And she replied that it I was excited about the conference in SeaTac.
And I said, I was excited to meet people that I had never met before.
And then I said it….
“How can I miss someone I never met before?”
And then I realized..I know the answer to that question.
I have two answers to that question, and both have hit nerves for me.  I have at least one or two nerves that dwell with the Lamb, permanently, that I have never yet met.
And I recognize this as my birthday comes up.  I am missing some things that are precious to me.
New Treasures.
And like any scribe of the kingdom, I have Treasures….
Old…
And New…….

The last post on Prophets and Exhorters was something I needed to get out.
For whatever reason, I personally am drawn to Exhorters, to be life-giving to them, and to bring them dignity.  I have a lot to say about them.  There is much to celebrate about them.
Okay, so after that last post, here are some other ideas about my unique design, and then about Exhorters, Prophets, and the dynamic between them.
MY DESIGN
I have been working through this concept of what my Redemptive Gift is for some time.
Many people have given their opinions. I am fine with that input.
Eventually, one of these will emerge as the stronger.
With apologies to Adam Esbenshade, Sandy Landry, and John Mosley for having all sorts of conversations about this topic.
What I do know:
1) I love transformation.  I love seeing people come to a place of understanding.
2) I love providing a complete package of understanding. I don’t like critical details to be missing from helping people understand the path they are on and the path that Father intends for them. I hunt for the missing piece to solve some sort of Rubik’s Cube.
3) This is where my deep research of Scripture and love of the languages come in handy.  I add what is missing. I fill out detail. I add color.  I don’t just create skeleton frameworks. I create fuller pictures.
4) I am designed to not only work with land, but also to help others work with the land.
5) I am relational in part. I understand principles and the idea of blessing, and I love to bless others.
6) I am a wordsmith. I write intensively.
7) I enjoy being in motion.
8) I think in terms of principles, and, increasingly, I love to solve problems.
9) I am pretty much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person.  If you want to know what I think, you ask.  Now, I am capable of being kind and relational because I often times am pretty good at gauging what people are going to be able to handle.
10) I am very very very emotional.
11) I am also trusting to a fault.
WHICH GIFT?
I found out that my last post was shared in some unusual places without my knowledge. I know that in that post I had confessed that there was a possibility that I might be an Exhorter, and in some place I had gone so far as to say I had received some affirmation as an Exhorter.
There are some of you that said, “but wait, I thought he said he was a Prophet at one point”.
Others have said, “finally he admitted the truth!”
Still others have said,”more confusion”.
And others might also have said,”wounding.”
And others have asked questions about what I meant by Exhorters backstabbing Prophets.
So, in order to attempt to clear up confusion, let me give you a series of thoughts here.
MY EXHORTER CONTEXT
First of all, when many of you see the Exhorter come out of me, I can explain several factors that might explain some of my Exhorter-esque behavior without calling me a Redemptive Gift Exhorter.
First of all, I was raised on Exhorter land.
I am the baby in the family, which leaves an Exhorter imprint.
My brother is a card-carrying, vintage Exhorter. He is the guy who sneezes and three people get saved.
A spiritually significant ex-pastor of mine (a spirotual father of mine), is an Exhorter.
And several influential people in my life are Exhorters.
Me, I am not so sure I am an Exhorter in my hardwiring. I have for the last several years leaned more strongly toward Prophet than Exhorter.
But there are many ways in which I interact like an Exhorter.
So, we are on this journey together, and I am well with the conversation, and wherever it ends up, I will be satisfied with the outcome.
MY EXHORTER-ISH BEHAVIORS
I won’t rehash the traditional childhood stories of dislike and being unpopular, but I will say I was not socially active until I got to college.
And then BAM!
In two weeks I went from being unknown to being known by at least 80 percent of the people on campus. That one dynamic never changed in the four years I was there in college, though a close-knit circle of friends did eventually coalesce.
The draw of others to me was instantaneous, virtually. I did not blend in whatever. I still don’t.
And I grew up seeing the worst side of the Exhorter gift.
So, here is what I said to myself when I saw repeated expressions of the worst of that gift.
“I absolutely refuse to engage in this behavior.  No control, no manipulation, no backstabbing of others. Period.”
Now, let me frame the above three phrases, because I have said a lot about the negative side of the Exhorter.
The Redemptive Gifts, in their carnal manifestations each have their own negative side, and each is a different flavor:
Prophet:  Fracturing Relationships over an ideological issue.
Servant: Victim mentality with peace at any cost
Teacher: Doing everything except the one thing they have been told to do. Behaving in a predatory fashion (Amalekites).
Exhorter: Control of people by manipulating elements related to cohesive relationships.
Giver: Control of situations to yield outcomes that are favorable to them
Ruler: Exploitation in order to grow their systems
Mercy: Stubbornness and Sexual Impurity
And yes, I could write a goodly article about each, so please do not think that my pointing out the Exhorter’s issues is because I have a vendetta against Exhorters.
I saw some Exhorters use their charisma to network and then use their networked influence with others to control. And it never ended well.
Now let me qualify that statement:  Those Exhorters that engaged in this sort of behavior did so for one of at least two reasons:
1) they had not yielded their gift to the L-rd.
2) they had embraced some perception in their lives that was a not similar to reality.
On the other hand, I have seen Exhorters that used their gifts, in the context of a surrendered life to the L-rd, to accomplish great things, communicate complex spiritual truths in language the soul can understand, and create communities with the flick of a wrist.  I have detailed some of those very positive attributes in previous posts.
So, given these qualifiers, let me flesh out a couple of particular dynamics.
PRESENTATION
Exhorters are given to the concept of presentation.
On the one hand, in a healthy form of this expression, are those who dress with an eye to color, a well-coordinated outfit, and plenty of sparkle or a sharpness in their dress, or some capacity to work well with words of mannerisms so as to foster an space where community is easy to form.  They love color, sparkle, bling, jewelry, gemstones, and this is not a superficial facet of their hardwiring.  They use these affinities to help polish the image they put forward for others to enjoy.
On the other hand, in the unhealthy form of presentation in either:
1) an Exhorter church or organization
2) a church or organization in an Exhorter community
3) a church or organization that occupies the former property once owned by an Exhorter organization
The dynamic of presentation can (not a guarantee that it does, but an acknowledgement that it can) manifest in some unhealthy dynamics.
For example, I have a friend who was molested in an Exhorter church for which he worked. The church responded by firing the perpetrator of the abuse, and then responded by firing this friend. They did so in order to protect their reputation.
This is a negative manifestation of that dynamic of presentation. When the Exhorter engages in covert, hurtful behaviors in order to maintain a certain appearance before others, then the image may be maintained for a while, but it can hurt those who suffer from those hurtful behaviors.
The presentation dynamic is not meant to engage in malicious intent in order to protect reputation. Rather, it is designed to help express one thing: the concepts of the spirit in the language and package of the soul.
There is a language that the Spirit speaks to our human spirits, and Exhorters, as the master communicators are designed to make it easy for us to understand those complex realities.
COMMUNICATION
Exhorters are the master communicators, crafting words and phrases in such a way that makes the truth they communicate easy to digest for the largest number of people.
The negative manifestation comes out when they relying on this quality to influence people without first submitting it to Almighty G-d leads to the next issue.
For example, I belonged to a church pastored by an Exhorter in a particular city where I went to college.  This church believed it exercised spiritual authority over the local university in the city, where I and some close friends attended.
However, a group of us students were led to start praying for that college without first running it by the pastor of this church.  We were effective in praying, and the L-rd gave us extensive spiritual authority over the campus.  This pastor responded with the belief that the university was his spiritual domain, so he scheduled a meeting with those of us who led this group, and asked us to consider submitting the prayer group to his authority and oversight.  The leader of the group said he would pray about it.  School then broke that week for Christmas Vacation, and while at home, the leader heard from the L-rd not to put the group under that pastor’s authority. However, before he could return to give that answer to the pastor, the following week, I attended church there, and at some point during the sermon, the pastor slandered us from the pulpit, calling us “kids who were shooting at principalities with water pistols”.  I had to recover from that, because I could not believe what I had heard.  It was very surreal.  We had now become marked men.  Even when the leader of the prayer ministry returned, without knowledge that this had happened while he was away, he sought the pastor out to give him the answer he had heard from the L-rd, but the pastor’s wife told him that he was not welcome.  This leader of our prayer ministry was a Redemptive Gift Prophet.
And this is precisely what happens in the worst of the Exhorter, when their gift of communication goes awry.  People get hurt.
And in my case, I was friends with both this pastor, and the leader of this prayer ministry, and I got caught in the crossfire with divided loyalties.  Do I support my friend who was clearly just doing what he was called to do, or do I submit to my pastor, who should have been high-functioning but shot off at the mouth?
In the end, I went with my friend, though I never once called the pastor out or slandered him with a railing accusation.
Those days were some of the hardest in my life, because they began a season of warfare that was draining and left me with very little resources.  They left us with a number of curses that were in effect from the moment we ran afoul of the church in 2002, until we uncovered and broke those curses about a year ago.
So, in summary, I have seen a number of instances of the result when an Exhorter does not submit their gift to G-d’s use, and the result is very much destructive.  So, when I talk about Exhorters backstabbing Prophets, I think of this example, among others, and I also think of Exhorters who are unsubmitted to Christ as far as their gift is concerned.
I am not talking about the dozens of gifted men and women I know who have paid the price, willingly or unwillingly, embraced the pain, and submitted their gift, and flow in it in a healthy fashion.
THE BACKSTABBING ISSUE
I have seen the Prophet Exhorter Relationship go vastly sideways, and to directly address the concept of the Exhorter capacity to backstab, let me frame it the other way around.  A Prophet never stabs you in the back, rather when they get out of control, they stab you in the face, head-on, and leave you bleeding.
So, in the very worst manifestation, when an Exhorter like my ex-pastor is not yielded in their gift to the L-rd, there can be the added pitfall of talking about a person or group, which can lead to talking badly about that person or group, which can further lead–because of their capacity to influence large groups of people–to getting buy-in and agreement from a large group that says “yes” to the vision the carnal or low-functioning Exhorter has given to them.
Now, I have seen this happen a number of times, and while it does happen, let me also be the first to admit that I do not believe it to be the majority of cases.  And let me also be the first to say that it is not an inevitability, but rather a potential problem.
If it applies to you then work at dealing with it, and if not, then disregard.
PROPHET PITFALLS
Now, on the other hand, let’s talk about Prophets.  Black and white, ideological, understand principles, have an opinion about everything, volcanic emotions, and often times, in their low-level function, they are going to destroy relationships in order to hold onto a principle or a belief.  And let’s not forget the tunnel vision that can happen.
I have seen these Prophets destroy relationships that were G-d-ordained before their times due to cynicism.  I have destroyed some of those relationships myself.
Further, there are times that, because of the damage I have seen church leadership engage in, I have grown leery of the behavior of many in leadership, because of the way in which they have treated friends and family.
I have friends who have left the local church due to wounding by leadership.  They are in a position of living in the mindset of Life After Church because they haven’t found local churches that are truly safe places.
I think the fact that the church has grown into an unsafe place is a disgrace and a blot on the local church.  I think the fact that sniping happens in the local church is a disgrace.  I am unsettled that our churches have become places where believers who are sons are taken to task by other sons and as a result the church fractures and relationships fracture.
I am angered by the fact that I have friends who live in a number of states and cannot connect with local churches because of the Amalekite spirit of predation that enables other believers to cannibalize my friends.
Our responsibility as Prophets and Exhorters is to make sure that our churches are safe communities where no self-respecting Amalekite spirit of Predation would feel safe infiltrating.
EXHORTATIONS TO PROPHETS
Prophets, it is the express responsiblity of you in partnership with Teachers to see to it that this demonic predatory entity called Amalek does not have a toehold in the dignity of someone whom G-d created.
Prophets, you are responsible for the watchcare and defense and dignity and justice due to the spirits of those who are harassed through assault on the second level of principles. It is a justice issue. Period.
Prophets, with due respect, if the principles are yours to embrace in fullness, get your butts onto the second level of human relationships, put your pointy little noses to the grindstone, and work out on that second level until you have earned authority to deal with this tragedy that plagues the church.  It is partially yours.
Believe me, I know it hurts to trust someone who has slammed you.  It hurts to trust when betrayal has set in. It hurts to not be cynical when everything in you is screaming to break this or that friendship.
This level of brokenness that is caused by the low-level, soulish, carnal Prophet who thinks he or she can get away with fracturing relationships or creating church splits out of offense.
There is a time and a place for Prophets to tell someone to “get over themselves”, and there is a time and a place for Prophets to NOT BREAK THE BRUISED REED AND NOT EXTINGUISH THE SMOLDERING WICK and to bind up the broken hearts. And that counsel came from the Teacher Isaiah.  The Prophet’s job is to have the spirit to discern when to say “get over yourself” versus when to mend and deal pastorally with the wounded.  That spirit of differentiation is critical
The authority to mend broken hearts comes ONLY from those who walk in intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And there is a dynamic of intimacy and flow between the Prophet and the Exhorter in this place.
The healthy Prophet/Exhorter combination brings with it a high authority to mend broken hearts and to handle community dynamics, but the test for both is to be able to lay aside the low-level reactionary issues.  The Prophet with the fracturing of relationships and the Exhorter with the controlling of relationships.
Your job, Prophet, is to nix that bloody bitterness and offense, and to flow in principles that enable good relationships to flow forth.
THE NEXUS OF THE PROPHET/EXHORTER PAIRING
When the Prophet and Exhorter work well together, and are healthy to a degree, there are two results
1) The deft and smooth expression of new paradigms of the spirit in language of the soul.  These paradigms are critical in the new season in which we find ourselves.
2) The handling of that second level of principles with such a grace and humility that relationships and community flow.
That requires a death of the Prophet’s penchant to break relationships at the first sign of trouble, and also a death of the Exhorter to the temptation of controlling relationships with a silver tongue.  It also requires a death of the Prophet’s desire to stab you with a frontal assault, and the Exhorter’s desire to stab you in the back with slander to other people.
It is possible, but it takes a lot of work in the area of working the principles that govern human relationships.
Prophet + Exhorter + healthy relationships= mending of bodies + koinonia
MY GIFT SET
If I am a Prophet, I am a very relational Prophet.
If I am an Exhorter, I am a very Principle-driven Exhorter.
But all told, at the end of the day, I think I am a Prophet.
But time will tell, eh?

There were some pretty radical changes that took place in my adult life, in which I recognize a distinct movement from Non-Jewish Forms to some fashion of Jewish forms of worship, not necessarily to be confused with being part of the Hebrew Roots movement.
There are three distinct seasons in my conversion from celebrating Advent and Christmas to Sukkot and Chanukah.
In the first season, which lasted from the age of 4 until about 24, Christmas celebrations were marked by the strong presence of my mother and maternal grandparents. The celebrations in those years were life-giving because they revolved around family, and were accompanied by choir events. The expectation that surrounded these moments was excellent, and I deeply appreciated that.
Then came the second season of its remembrance from 2005 until about 2011, which became excessively negative. I married the mother of my sons, and these celebrations were radically marked by her imposing will. Her love of Christmas was so dominant in her life that her attitude and that of her mother colored everything each December, so that, even when I attempted to reel in some of those celebrations of the vaunted materialism, she retaliated that I was being a Scrooge (yes, if you want to silence someone without understanding their protests of Xmas, then cuss them with “Scrooge” into silence) and the momentum carried me away as her agenda was one of outright control, a mentality that colored our entire marriage.
That dynamic disgusted me, and, unfortunately, my sons were born during that era of confusion and defilement.
As a result, I was left with an emptiness as a result of the superficial celebration of that day.
Then came the third season, the one after my divorce, when G-d orchestrated events in such a way that the first night of Chanukah in 2012 coincided with the return of my joy, after I thought my life was over and I was going to rot in hell for filing for divorce when I swore I never would (adultery makes the scorned party consider all sorts of options, some stupid, and some that are engaged just to stop the bleed-out).
Then came the night after I filed, and after months of not having any emotion because , and a conversation with a Jewish Exhorter, my laughter returned.
And with it, I emerged from a depression over the destruction of my marriage that I. thought. would. never. end.
And in that season when I was forced to file for divorce, it was as my friend David observed, the way divorce should be.
Divorce from anyone, and especially an adulterous spouse, is something to be celebrated in the same way the death of a hated enemy or heathen should be, which is NEVER.
G-d takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Much less in the destruction of a family.
Divorce is designed to be a tourniquet that is applied when the limb of your mate is severed irreparably.
So, treat it with the sobriety of the death in a family, because in Moses’ time, death was what happened in response to adultery.
When adultery happens, it is a full-on fatal bleed-out. And, biblically, two broad categories of options are left to the believer.
Divorce or reconciliation.
When I had first heard my ex-wife had been unfaithful, my response was to give her 90 days to repent.
And then I was forced to admit the brokenness of the marriage because she claimed to love two men.
The day I filed was December 7, 2012: Pearl Harbor Day.
The following night was one of the nights of, if not the first night of, Chanukah.
I was on the phone to a friend from Missouri, processing this.
I had not been able to laugh have strong emotion, or engage socially with anyone outside my close friend, Jeff Sickler. This season was my “dark night of the soul”.
Placid as a still lake on a winter night.
And then, it came.
Laughter.
I don’t believe it was laughter at the stupidity of the situation. It was the laughter of joy. I was able to proceed with my life, and I felt the return of life.
And I was able to connect with people at church and start interacting with those people.
And my zeal for the Scripture returned.
And that unwrapped for me that year during Chanukah, so heavily that that week had marked the calendar.
And at that point, I knew I was to return to that point of memory every year and remember the deliverance that had happened, and the recovery of my light and my joy.
So, Sukkot was a different matter altogether for a different post.
But I leave you with this bit from Saul of Taursus.
“Let every man be fully convinced in his own mind.”

WARNING LABEL: This post contains some radical ideas that many on both sides of the table are not going to like. The sum total of what is offered here is boiled down to two things.
1) What are you going to trust? The gift, as many do, or the giver, as few do?
2) Are your strength, your hardwiring, and your gift on the altar of Romans 12:1-2 and Revelation 12:11?
Is it possible for this combination to work together?
I think it is.
Let me explain.
I have several friends who are Exhorters, and several friends who are Prophets.
The Prophet and the Exhorter don’t always get along.
Usually this is due to the Exhorter and the Prophet having different goals, and radically different foci (plural of focus) from one another, in addition to having radically different personalities.
However, let me explain a situation where a Prophet and an Exhorter get along radically well.
The Prophet is left-brained and analytical and very principle-oriented. He enjoys looking at complex situations, unraveling dozens of situations, and looking for a set of options as solutions to the problems at hand. He walks in a heavy authority to push things and break things down in the area of deliverance, warfare, and inner healing. He also enjoys creating new things that work and working with those people that are abjectly broken and do not have a sense of dignity at all.
The Exhorter, on the other hand, was raised to be relational. Except this Exhorter very early on, learned the value of relying not on his gift, but on his Giver. He learned, intuitively that, while he could use his influence with others to control and manipulate them to get his way, it was not satisfying, and thus made a decision to not to ever lift the sword or the knife to stab others in the back. For years, he watched as other Exhorters did this to him, his friends, and his family. He learned quickly how to be kind and gentle with others, even though he was hardwired with a great deal of intensity, and was capable of being very strong in will.
When they came together as friends, they became a powerful force, because both of their gifts were submitted to the L-rd, and both gifts were made secondary in dependence to both friend’s commitment to the L-rd.
Earlier yesterday, I posted a portion of a conversation that I had had with a very close friend. He told me a couple of things with respect to spiritual gifts in general and Redemptive gifts in particular. He said that what gets the Exhorter into trouble (and this applies to all of the other Redemptive gifts) is the reliance on their gift as their strength to do a great deal of good, because…
IF they fall into the trap of relying on their gift, rather than the Giver…
THEN the same gift, hardwiring, and bent that leads them to work great good, also will eventually lead them to garner favor in such a way that they end up engaging in abusive behavior, exploitation of others, etc.
I then replied that we needed to rely on the Scriptures, instead of our natural gifts.
He corrected me, and I saw then immediately where the conversation was going. He said, “no you can’t, because Prophets do that. They take the principles and rely on those, and at some point they hurt others because they rely on the Principles to accomplish their tasks of solving problems, and then break relationships as a result of doing so”.
“No, instead we really need to remember that we need to learn how to lay down our gifts and surrender them completely to the service of the L-rd, and we need to learn how to not trust in our gift, whether it our capacity to leverage relationships, as the Exhorter does, or our capacity to leverage Scripture, as the Prophet does, and instead place our trust in and reliance on the L-rd himself.
It is rare for a someone with any gift to take that gift and submit the operation of that gift to the desire and decisions of the L-rd.
What he said next, blew me away. “Most Exhorters, for whatever reason, don’t submit their gift back to the L-rd. They rely on their influence with others to get their agendas done…”
I then finished the thought, “When they need to submit the operation of their gifts to the L-rd and work to get His job done.”
He replied, “bingo.”
He then said, “you on the other hand, did I ever tell you what the L-rd told me early on in our relationship?”
I replied, “no, you did not.”
He said, “the L-rd told me specifically, ‘you can trust him. He will never stab you in the back’.”
You see, early on, I had made an internal commitment that I was going to lean hard on the L-rd, no matter what, and that my interest was never in what I was gifted to do, but rather in what He wanted.
And as a result, whenever an opportunity came up where I could use my gift, it was always a question or a sense of, “is this use of my gift honoring or dishonoring of G-d? Is this how he would want me to flow or not?” That set of questioning and thinking saved me from a lot of heartache.
And in this maze of detecting what my Redemptive Gift was, I learned very early on how to set myself to do the right thing. And I front-loaded my life with that sort of thinking. It is just natural for me to think in this given way.
I was so confused for so many years about my gift, because I was very relational and very integrated.
NOTE: The correct adjectival form of the noun “integrity” is not “integrous”, but rather “integrated”. It carries the idea of “singleness of purpose and drive”.
I was a Prophet, and a Teacher, and a Mercy. And now I know who I am.
Early on in my life, I embraced a preference for the hard truth, come hell or high water; a desire for bald-faced honesty; radical devotion for the plans of G-d; and no matter the cost, an outright refusal to stab anyone in the back, ever, for any reason.
When Exhorters observe those behaviors of backstabbing, dis-integration, slandering, and accusation ruining relationships, church fabric, and relational dynamics, and they instead are given to bringing relationships to a high place of integrity, then they make a commitment to embrace the hard work of walking uprightly as best they can and relying on the L-rd to show them how to interact with others.
As I grew later in life and flowered socially, I learned the heavy influence I had on others in terms of relationships, and the power I had to control and leverage those relationships.
In the town where I grew up, I saw this unhealthy dynamic of control used to affect everything from the red lights to the power structure in the local churches and every thing in between.
So, I resisted that dynamic.
And now I recognize the presence in me that drives me to HUNT mercilessly for reality, even when I don’t get the Principle of Sowing and Reaping right.
I did not share that truth until this point in the post for one simple reason: I didn’t want you to read this post through a perceived bias. I did not want you to think, “oh, he is a Prophet. Oh, he is an Exhorter. So now I am going to read this post with these lenses on”, and so miss something you could have gotten by not having those adjudicating lenses on.
I value the three principles that pertain to the Exhorter gift for three reasons:
1) I do not put stock in, and stedfastly refuse to put stock into, my hardwiring until He tells me to put stock into it. That is the first manifestation of the Exhorter’s Principle: Pain and Suffering.
2) I do not leverage unless He tells me to leverage that strength. When He says to sow I sow. That way, the Second manifestation of the Exhorter’s Principle, the Principle of Sowing and Reaping, can take place.
3) I have seen what it looks like when a whole town, that I know is an Exhorter community, refuses to embrace reality and becomes so concerned with its own presentation that it will exploit people, and I refuse to embrace that non-Reality. That is a hardcore embrace of the principle of Reality that enables what is real to flow.
And for the sake of my Husband, who is an Exhorter, I love my people.
And I only recognized all of this, because a high-functioning Prophet, who is not an ass, and who was delivered from petit mal epilepsy, decided he was going to point out to me the places where I have dignity, call them good, celebrate them, and remind me of them.
Most Exhorters have in their lives, Prophets. (I worded this sentence specifically this way on purpose for emphasis)
But most Exhorters do not have in their lives, Prophets who are willing to set the ideological mindset down for a moment in order to speak to them with dignity about their reality and when they do something really good.
By the converse, most Prophets have in their lives, Exhorters.
But most Prophets do not have in their lives, Exhorters who are willing to set aside their capacity to leverage in order pay the price to eradicate the desire to backstab.
And guess what, Exhorters and Prophets?
If you want to see your friendship excel, you have to be willing to on the one side, not trust in your capacity to leverage Scripture in order to protect you and on the other side, not trust in your leveraging of relationships in order to protect you. It will be rough on both sides of the equation.
Prophets cannot trust in their ability to work with ideology. Exhorters cannot trust in their ability to work with relationships.
There is only one place to put your trust in. And that is the place that Scripture calls the Word of G-d in Hebrews 4.
And it is not Scripture, though Scripture is important.
The placed that Scripture calls the Word of G-d in Hebrews 4:12, if you read the context of Hebrews 4:12, is the Word of G-d from John 1.
Jesus is the Word of G-d. He is the Logos of G-d.
Those who refuse to make the L-rd himself their protector and defender are not really willing to make the Prophet-Exhorter relationship work.
I know that sounds hard, but both Prophets and Exhorters have to be willing to embrace pain and discomfort and be willing to not let their legitimacy rest in the fact that they can….
On the Prophet side of the Equation…that they can use the Principles called Scripture to solve problems and fix things…doing those things that create paradigms.
On the Exhorter side of the Equation…that they can use their pull in human relationships to solve problems and fix things….doing those things that give them influence in relationships as an end in itself.
This is not about Prophet’s agenda, or Exhorter’s agenda.
This is about an agenda and a group of men and women that are συνεσταύρωμαι together with Christ. TOGETHER with Christ.
I have a best friend who is a Prophet precisely because this dynamic was the concrete of the foundation between us.
For 14 years, while I was being sexually assaulted by the Jezebel Spirit, when my influence with other human beings was hit-or-miss, I was developing a hidden life with the L-rd. I was learning about how much He loved me.
Prophet, it is not about being able to have influence with principles and ideology through the Bible. It is not about being able to solve problems and fix things. If you make yourself first good at doing that, if you pour yourself into being able to solve problems and fix things, and if you devote your firstfruits to solving problems and fixing things, and the Bible, then you will develop and intimate relationships with “solving problems and fixing things” and the Bible. And “solving problems and fixing things” doesn’t provide a good shoulder to cry on late at night. And having a relationships with the Bible that does not also embrace the Man the Bible speaks out, the Word of G-d HIMSELF, means you have a relationship with a book. Jesus is the Word of G-d: get that (John 1:1-14, Hebrews 4:12, 4:1-11, 4:13-16)! And in that context and only in that context, can you rightly embrace the Bible as the Word of G-d (“every word of G-d proves true”). It is the Man who is the Word speaks His own word that proves true. The Word Spoke the light that flows from Him into existence. The light did not speak the Word into existence.
Exhorter, it is not about being able to influence humans to fix your problems or even to advance your agenda or an agenda that is really good. With whom can you find solace when you feel powerlessness and a victim mindset encroaching on your turf (I could just as easily speak this to the Prophets in my life). If you devote yourself to relationships and intimacy with those horizontal to you, and give your firstfruits to those who are other humans, then you will have intimacy with human beings, and they will be the ones who are forced to comfort you AT ALL TIMES. If you give your firstfruits to “people want and need to be around me” then that is what will be your reaping and resource. And sometimes, humans do not want to comfort other humans. So, to whom can you run when ALL of your human capital, firstfruits, and relationships fall apart?
It’s the Word HIMSELF to whom you can run.
So, sharing some of my personal pain with the Exhorter crowd. When the Exhorter cannot influence others, then the Exhorter has a number of things to which he can run.
But the price of having this relationship is steep, and we are reminded of this daily, and requires a lot of unwavering commitment to keep swords sheathed.
This is why I put such a premium on trusting Prophets, weird it may be for many Prophets and Exhorters to hear, because David, not anyone else, is the benchmark for what a Prophet looks like, just as his wife, Wendy is the benchmark for what a Mercy looks like.
And while he is typical Prophet problem-solver, he is not verbal-expressive, and very left-brained, and before he runs with his gift, he runs after the Giver.
And it is a beautiful thing when that 1st/4th gift interaction begins to work.
But there is a cost and a lot of hard work, and it requires the destruction of cynicism.

It may be just me, but I notice every year, around the last week of December, that people, believers specifically, start posting stuff about how bad the year was and how good the new year is going to be.  It happens annually, and with monotonous regularity.
For whatever reason we are drawn to making declarations about coming year around the last week of the calendar year, and about saying how bad the previous year was.
My thoughts:
This cyclical crazy-making does not make a lot of sense.
Here is why.
I haven’t had a bad year since about 2012 or 2013.  That was the year I filed for divorce.  But filing for divorce did not make the year bad.  Heck, my ex-wife’s adultery which continued to the present, did not make the year bad.  What made the year bad was how her behavior affected my sons. Period.  The ones I am most loyal to that my ex-wife and I share in common, their emotional and spiritual damage, that is what made that year among the worst.
A plethora of celebrities dying does not make a year bad.  A year that caused you to personally struggle a lot and suffer much does not make a year bad.  Personal pain can make a year among the most productive.
The monotony with which you curse the previous year, because you effectively are doing that, does not help your timeline.
The monotony with which you utter the same four to six declarations over the coming year, and then the monotony with which you turn right back around 51 weeks later and declare how that year didn’t bring those things drives some of us crazy.
My solution to this non-reality is not necessarily the most gentle, but it might be realistic.
How about we reach forward, talk to Father, and if a year is going to be marked by suffering and destruction, we hear that from Him and speak concerning that?
If a year is going to be marked by pain, as some years are, as 2012 and 2013 were for me, how about we speak that?
Now, let me expand on that concept from my own life.  Following my biblically-sanctioned divorce, I connected with some other friends who helped me to restore joy in my own life, and I found my voice again.  In the midst of finding that voice, one of those people who helped me negotiate that season with my sons, my Sunday School teacher at the time, who also coached me in forgiveness, also became my wife.
So, 2014 was not a bad year.
Granted, expanding that, 2012 and 2013 were not bad years either.  They were years marked by pain.  But pain does not make something bad.  If you refuse to do anything with the pain, then it becomes unproductive pain, and the year can then be considered unproductive.
But enough of this mentality of “my year was bad, but G-d will make this year better”.
News flash:
Declaring the reality of what the past year was like is not about whether or not your year made you happy or sad, follower of Yeshua.  It is not about whether or not too many Hollywood celebrities died.  It is not about whether or not people made you feel better or worse about yourself.  Instead, it is about whether or not you were and did specifically what Father wanted you to be and do.  And if a lot of pain came in the midst of that, and you grew from that pain, that does not affect the year.  And cursing the year 51 weeks after you uttered all sorts of prophetic nonsense over the year, and doing this each year, does not make you have better years.  Rather, you can be playing right into the enemy’s hands and cursing the cycle of time, which can leave a negative imprint on time.
So, how about instead of “last year sucked, I prophesy this year will be a year of harvest and increase”,  perhaps say, “this year wasn’t what I thought it would be, and there was some pain” and then analyze whether or not you grew in or through the pain?  And then come back and celebrate the times when you saw the hand of Father, Son, or Holy Spirit move, and write an article or Facebook post about that.
For me, this year was strangely turbocharged because of what has blown open with respect to DID, SRA, CRA and blessings I have written for that group.  It also happened to be the year when I reconnected with Exhorters in an unusual way, and was able to work positively with a great many of them.
And now, I must away and fulfill a longstanding need to work my way through Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek.
So, friends, let us consider carefully the words we speak in response to the pain we endured, and let us also not throw away the resources that 2017 and its pain were.
Be blessed.