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I am a fairly expressive guy.
Most of y’all that read me, know this.
And when I do friendships, I go very deep and am very loyal.
It is rough when I lose a friendship.
I still recall the day, September 11, 2000 when I connected with the very first person I ever led to Jesus.
She had experienced a deep joy in knowing the saving power of the Truth.
I remember the day I gave her the most important chapter a new believer could ever know.
Romans 8.
And I remember the season when the dynamic of our friendship changed.
I remember the strongest experience I had ever had in worship. I was at the front corner of my home church at the time, dancing in my (at the time) very exuberant fashion. And without warning, this friend, who was trained in dance, came up and grabbed me by the hands and spun me around and around. I still remember the glittered look of her red dress, and the unbridled joy on her face and the sound of laughter as we both enjoyed the presence of Father’s delight. I still remembered that that was the only time I had never gotten dizzy from spinning around for that long.
For the sake of clarity, there was never anything relationship-wise that happened between us.
And before I knew it, the friendship was gone. Too soon. Another needless casualty of the war that we had fought for our college campus. Territorial warfare. Another intercessor and Exhorter, and friend of the King, disenchanted, and somehow made an enemy of those who were once friend.
Things didn’t have to be that way.
I still pray for her today.
So, despite my strong ideological bend, I have a deep sense of friendships that come as a result of kingdom work.
For years after that season, I received a lot of stares from people and a lot of whispers went on around me from those who had thought I was unstable and crazy. These labels–when they get stuck on to a person, and people whispers–and these whispers leave a mark.
Years later, it was this past September, and by this time, dozens of friendships were ruined because of these very nasty labels.
My wife and I had a conversation with a precious friend from one of my favorite towns in the country: Los Angeles. In another season, that town was part of this season of warfare. I have seen the sunset over Malibu, seen the brokenness and beauty of California, and seen the capability of the campus of UCLA.
This friend agreed to have lunch, and we sat and discussed several dynamics of our lives.
And then the dam broke. It happened without my warning.
My friend, who was the major speaker at a conference we had attended, asked some question about the Redemptive Gift of Prophet’s major challenge, I think.
I blurted out, as a matter-of-fact, “Bitterness”.
And he replied, “that’s David, who has deluded himself into thinking he is a Mercy”. And the whispers started in the room. And I thought, great, now people are talking about how I am crazy or unstable or rude for answering to quickly.
But even though I sort of cared what people thought, I decided it was best not to care.
And then another similar event happened, and my friend made a remark about what a Mercy would have done, and people in the room audibly whispered “that’s a Mercy?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
And then one, then two, then four, then nearly half the room approached my wife, and asked, “You really think you are a Mercy?!”
You would have thought someone had called Cornell and reported the sighting of an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
And then the next day…
While coming back from a meeting with Greg Hubbard, a generous-with-his-time evangelist and friend from my wife’s previous season in Western Massachusetts, I felt eyes on me. And heard the question about my T-shirt.
“Where is New Life Church located?”
I was at the moment holding the door open for my wife, daughter, and mother-in-law. I offhanded had chosen that we should go to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. And the shirt I was wearing came from the church where I work as a Pastoral Researcher.
The voice belonged to a district Bishop of the Church of G-d, Cleveland. And I responded, sensing the favor of the Father at work. It was a brief conversation, but then I began to think about what was happening.
And in the months that passed since that weekend, friends that were connected with that conference began to just add me on their lists and connect and interact. And I began to use the tools handed to me then to be able to be life-giving in different ways.
And that is when I saw it.
It was a substance, like golden glittery oily substance, dripping off of me.
The same substance drips off of those who are Givers by Redemptive Gift, and attracts resources to them.
This substance was attracting people to me.
I, who was told that I was an unsafe, crazy person was dripping a substance off of me that was causing people to gravitate toward me. And I have had a number of conversations with various people that enabled me to be life-giving to them.
It has caused a number of people to see me as this safe individual, and it has thrown my empathy into sharper relief, and the enemy’s regular emasculation of my in the spirit
I have begun to see a lot more of that quality in my life, and a quickness, not of tongue–though I am still fiercely opinionated, and some people still think of me as unsafe–but of ears. There has been a significant change in that people drift up to me and the result has been fruit of just being able to bless people and speak and be heard as far as what Father really thinks of them.
The tenderness I have experienced as Father’s son has been communicable to others as they receive healing and ministry, for lack of better words.
Whether you call it favor, or anointing, or the presence of G-d, or the volcano that has released because something is now available that wasn’t previously, I am finding interactions with most other people vastly more fluid. and I am finding it easier to hold back and listen before I stick my foot in my mouth, and subsequently connect with those people.
And my wife notices the difference.
I am grateful, and I recognize the change, growth, and ease.
And I recognize that the curses from former leaders, spiritual fathers and mothers, churches, and denominations has been gloriously broken.
And for others of you, the same substance drips after some point. And it causes things or situations to work favorably for both you and the kingdom of G-d.
I don’t know when that point is, but it does happen, and it causes many things that you cannot explain, to happen.
And I still have a heart to see various churches and denominations recover specifically what Father wants them to have, and walk in the portion of birthright and inheritance Father has for them to possess.
Even though I have a post-church mentality, I still weekly go to church, and do what I am asked in order to see Father break the church from her slumber and bring her, deeply and affectionately, into all he has for her.
This is an expression of his bride.
And yes, I know I will offend most people by saying that G-d works even in and through nasty and filthy denominations (see Anglican Communion as but one example), but my Father and my fairest-of-ten-thousand Husband work wherever they want to.
And he will use those who have suffered from SRA/DID and CRA (Christian Ritual Abuse), and those who are shattered in spirit and soul to do mighty things and tear down strongholds and every wicked and vile device of his ancient enemy, and I am celebrating the victory in and through one of those vessels far in advance of that victory.
The Paraclete’s Hammer

One of my favorite things to do is research, and yes, I do enjoy watching the light bulbs come on.
I am the sort of person who mines for the deep gems. It is my heart and hardwiring.  The personally deepest passage pair in Scripture in my experience is Job 28:1-11 and Isaiah 54. 
Now, I understand that Job 28 is talking about wisdom using the analogy of mining, but, lest we gloss over the treasures in the first eleven verses in running towards the purpose of the passage, consider some of these nuggets.
Man puts an end to darkness
And searches out the farthest limit
the ore in gloom and deep darkness
Job 28:3
He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hand in the air far away from mankind; they swing to and fro
Job 28:4
As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
Job 28:5
Its stones are the place of sapphires,
And it has dust of gold.
Job 28:6
Bread over, gems under. Stones where we find sapphire. Deep lapis lazuli. Surest azure. Deep as the ocean and expansive as the heart that dwells with wisdom.
Fire is lain to every root in search of these things.
The exquisite imagery portrayed here, yes, lades us with symbolism, and yes we consider that wisdom is the object of this passage. But the imagery itself just moves deeply the heart of the one hunting. Many times, we hunt for wisdom amidst the dirt. The precious among the self-described-common. The light among the heart full of darkness.
True, he who wins souls is wise, but that statement is not merely winning souls to saving knowledge, that is one that wins trust, and wins favor, and wins guile-free communication, and wins friendship, and wins the fullest expression of tenderness and affection in friendship. Not merely sexual, but a deep emotional transfer between trench buddies.
Jonathan, your love excelled that of women.
And before the dirty mind runs with that into the realms of homoeroticism, that is not what David is referring to. He is referring to comradeship. He is referring to the teamwork that results from a work history, a work history that involves warfare alongside someone with whom the heart is knitted.
I get that sentiment.
I have a deep and longstanding friendship with someone with whom I have fought the kingdom of darkness. I have known him for nearly 20 years. We have laughed together, wept together, mourned the loss of my first marriage together, prayed for wisdom and discernment, and ministered deliverance and emotional healing to one another, and for the last 16 years we have talked roughly once a week.
His funeral is not one to which I look forward. But I already have the comments I will make on that day of his passage from the one realm to the next.
There are bonds of affection that come and grow as you deepen a spiritual connection with spiritual friends.
Common causes breed love. Raw time spent together in a common direction breed depth.
And as Job searched for that sort of connection among his friends, and found it lacking, and looked for it in unvarnished fashion in the reality of G-d, he found a real and unvarnished connection with G-d in friendship that few see, and yet is available to all.
And there is intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in death, in testing, in trial, in the midst of false accusations of those we once counted friends and counselors. Few know that intimacy. Some would even cringe at the idea and notion that Father G-d would ever demonstrate a tenderness of affection, and yet isn’t that what John 3:17 is about, and even John 3:16. He loved us, so he sent. And not just because he made a choice of his will while refusing to admit he didn’t like us. That whole “G-d can’t stand in the presence of sin” teaching is often paired with the mentality that even though we are saved, we are still poor, old, miserable, bastard sinners barely saved by grace. This trite pair of statements is used to trot out a mentality that G-d holds his nose and treats us like trash cans that he washes out, spray-paints with white paint, and tosses a shot of bleach in just to kill the stench
And it is a lie from the pit of hell. It is a solution to a complex problem that is simple, neat, and wrong.
You and I are not some illegitimate trash can that has been washed out and bleached and painted. We are not some unholy lump of clay mixed with a holy lump of clay. Romans 8 tears that mentality apart 39 ways.
We are not dual-natured, for the double-minded man is what? And G-d did not create us to be unstable and leave us in that path of instability.
And then the mate of the pair in Isaiah 54 which speaks to our identity.
First, read this in the context of the following thought. We love to go straight to Isaiah 54:17 and laud how no weapon formed against us shall prosper. But when the weapons that are forged against us do begin to prosper, we wonder why. What weakness in us caused those weapons to prosper?
And one problem is that we forget to go through the process and sequence of the first 16 verses in order to get to the 17th verse, or we resist it. Tempering and refining hurts.
Which brings us to that sequence
Verse 1: Sing
Verse 2: Build a place where he is welcome to dwell
Verse 3: Spread
Verse 4: Fear not, be loosed of your shame and reproach, as you receive dignity
Verse 5: Remember your Husband, the L-rd
Verse 6: Hear His calling of you
Verse 7: Remember the brief moment of His real or apparent desertion
Verse 8: Remember that by seasons and by turns there will be times when he tests you and corrects you, and remember that the season of correction and anger is momentary compared to the season of compassion
Verse 9: Walk with G-d like Noah
Verse 10: Compare yourselves to the mountains, o crown of his creation
Verse 11: Remember in your affliction that your base identity is precious and good (Genesis 1 for those that want to fight this theology of redeemed humanity. We are tov in his sight, we are transformed according to 2 Cor 5:17)
Verse 12: He will build us
Verse 13: He will teach our children carefully and bring them ultimate wholeness
Verse 14: He will establish us as righteous
Verse 15: We will cause strife from the enemy to FAIL
Verse 16: The BLACKSMITH’S HAMMER SHALL FALL ON US AND TEMPER US
SO THAT…
Verse 17: No Weapon formed against us will prosper and the tongues aligned against us shall cease.
You are a gem, follower of Jesus.
In light of that, consider the following gem, mined out of Scripture.
There are seven gifts found in Romans 12:6-8, and these are the Motivational Gifts or Redemptive Gifts. They are the gifts of Prophet, Servant, Teacher, Exhorter, Giver, Ruler/Judge/Deliverer, and Mercy.
I was sitting in a place of meditation one day, listening to a teaching on the Fruit of the spirit one day, and had a thought.
Love applies to all, and self-control applies to all. We are held in place by self-control, rooted and grounded in the soil of the love of G-d. The fruit of love is the life-giving trunk of the tree, and the middle seven fruits of joy through gentleness are the strongest battle for each believer to possess and maintain.
1. Joy for the Prophet instead of his or her typical cranky attitude.
2. Peace for the Servant when they are being treated as a garbage can, or are being reviled. Important here is for the Servant to be a Peacemaker rather than a Peacekeeper. Expanding on the difference between the Peacemaker and the Peacekeeper, Servants in their authority must set the tone rather than letting the tone set them.
3. Patience for the Teacher who must be possessed of a patience to teach, when others are rejecting them in the revelations they receive.
4. Kindness for the Exhorter who in response to rejection must maintain their poise with mouthy people, especially believers.
5. Goodness for the Giver who despite their playing the system and looking for all the angles must continue to treat others after the design given to them by Father (tov, good).
6. Faithfulness for the Ruler/Judge/Deliverer who must learn to flow in faithfulness despite their desire to break off a relationship with people who act in real or perceived betrayal. Deep faithfulness must keep the RJD anchored and it is a fight.
7. Gentleness for the Mercy who must be gentle with themselves and others when their counsel or incomplete input is rejected by others.
These seven are benchmarks for the spirit of the strong and high-functioning of each gift.
So, consider your gift, and consider these things here. These will be your sharpest place of fight and the place where you will be tempted to throw in the towel, especially when your design is assaulted.
Be blessed, gang.

Somehow, I had never seen it…quite that way…
Somehow, the scales fell from my eyes, as Ananias laid hands on me and said, “Brother Saul…”
I had been groping in darkness for quite some time as evening and morning appeared the same to me, and I stumbled down the dirty, clay-laden road to Damascus…
Ow was it Carolina…?
I couldn’t tell…
Usually those indicators that are so helpful for telling where you are weren’t so helpful…
I was rudely refusing to see what was written, given my vision had been impaired from years of 
But while in the shower, a flood of revelation cascaded into my spirit, and Father would not shut up…
And even though I am 37 years old, the revelation still comes after 8:30 at night and I am still waxing Theo-illogical as the day begins with the first fruits of the first fruits…EVENING before morning, the first day. For that has been the rhythm of my life the last 20 years or so, since David began praying, and things began happening, and I began to figure out how to fight.
And I am glad He doesn’t shut up.  He loves talking to me late at night, and I am always eager to hear what He has to say. 
The moment was on Facebook, and the post came from rap artist Lecrae, who said:
“My momma grew up in tough, unfair, unjust circumstances like her parents before her. She struggled. She was treated like a second class citizen in her own country. She never quit. She kept going and pushed me. Most of my closest childhood friends have seen prison life. We survived physical & sexual abuse, survived the war on drugs taking our fathers, and I should have lost my mind or life many times. Still I rose up. I read, I worked, I scrapped, I fought. I went to college. I graduated. I built a business. I relied on God. I invested in others. None of it perfectly. I’ve poured my heart out and been shunned and reduced to whatever online gossip chooses to call me at any moment. I’ve seen too much, we’ve seen too much and fought too hard to give up.”
Well-versed in writing and composing, his thoughts are part of the foreground to what is happening in the backdrop. As usual, racial relations have their own rhythm in this country.
And then the punchline came:
“Endurance builds character, character hope, and hope doesn’t fail. ”
It took me the usual half-second flat to identify the address.  He pulled from Romans 5, around verse 5. 
Actually, now that I am turned there this early, I see that it is 5:4.

No, I am not going to pull context, because that would be the entertainment of too many religious spirits and familiar hermeneutical principles that, taken in the wrong spirit, lead to religion.
This turn of phrase is a little bit different.
Consider the following.  Hope does not fail.  In the King James it saith that “hope maketh not ashamed. In another translation “does not disappoint”.  Disappointment, especially repeated disappointment, can lead to failure, which is a breeding ground for the enemy to bring us to shame.
And the opposite of shame is not honor, but dignity.
Concerning hope, I have always repeatedly preached that hope is the fuel in a Prophet’s gas tank.  Hope is the fuel of the prophetic.  Whether a comfort, a reproof, an exhortation, an edification (which includes correction, I will get to that later), a warning, or a consolation, every single prophecy uttered is meant to have some dynamic of hope that shows up somewhere. 
Now, why does edification include correction?  Very simple illustration. If I build a building–an edifice, in English fallen into disuse–and at some point I don’t build with an aligned foundation, that misalignment is going to show throughout the misaligned building, and the only way to move forward correctly is to admit something is wrong with my structure, take down every single piece to the bad part of the foundation, and correct the foundation.
If a prophet does not speak up, or speaks up but is not listened to, when an issue needs to be corrected, then misalignment is the result.
The only way forward in this is to speak correction, for the audience to receive the correction, and to move forward with it.  And as uncomfortable as that makes an audience, the alternative is a major deviation that can lead to destruction.
Sometimes, to edify someone means you are offering correction, because you want to build them up rightly.
This is why hope is so critical in the operation of the prophetic. And this is why Prophets must, Must, MUST!, engage in being more than a critic or an analyst. They must get involved in the work of building and rebuilding.  If the church does not see Prophets helping out, and being the first ones to speak hope mixed in with their correction of courses (pun intended), and then engaged in the process of rebuilding once the error has been fixed, then the church will ultimately become disenfranchised.
Hope does not bring us to shame, but rather breeds dignity.

Provocative Thoughts for the Morning:
After Abraham stood still before the L-rd (Psalm 46:10), Genesis 18:23 does not merely say that Abraham spoke to the L-rd.
Rather, it says that Abraham DREW NEAR and said…
Genesis has up to this point in several ways established that, not only had G-d given instructions for Abraham to obey, which he did fairly well in many ways, but also another dynamic had germinated and grown between the L-rd and this subtle, Bedouin herdsman.
We are talking about friendship.
Pick up a couple of the subtleties of Genesis 18:22-23 with me.
What does it mean to “stand still before the L-rd”?
Possibly that Abraham was considering what his next statement to his friend the L-rd should be.
The Father hadn’t moved on and he asked himself whether he should share with Abraham the thoughts of his heart and mind, knowing Abraham’s bend toward commanding his legacy toward a posture of righteousness. Would that heart cry for righteousness and that authority to call for the same extend to the place where it interfered with G-d’s plans for the cities on the plain?
G-d’s sharing of his plans with Abraham reveal a dynamic of His nature that we don’t often think about when it comes to reading the Tanakh. Even though he is indeed Sovereign Judge, he is still quite vulnerable and has emotions the depth of which and purity of which we fail to understand, much less be willing to wrap our arms around. This is not some heartless and cruel taskmaster who enjoys roasting the wicked in hellfire and brimstone. G-d , even as Sovereign Judge takes no drunken pleasure in the death of the wicked, as we are so won’t to do.
Rather, every single one of his decisions is made in the context of sobriety.
And Abraham, standing still, was likely pondering what he knew about G-d. This is an illustration of the principle of Psalm 46:10 at work.
Then, he spoke to the one in whom he could trust.
“Shall the Judge of all the Earth do what is just?”
Wait a minute, sparing people is a form of justice?
Yes, it can be. Especially when some of those people can be considered righteous the way the L-rd reckons righteousness, which is a homiletic exhortation for another day.
Abraham made a heart connection with G-d that day, and here is how I arrive at that conclusion, in the spirit of James 4:8.
“Then Abraham DREW NEAR and said…”
Draw near to him and he will draw near in return.
I imagine that drawing near captured something in G-d’s heart. For Abraham, there was plenty of risk. His nephew was living with the wicked. He must have loved him dearly, given the sequence of circumstances that led to this point. He was concerned with all of his legacy. And He knew something about G-d that maybe we have since forgotten. Drawing near To someone that powerful and holy is a scary proposition.
And G-d, in response, fulfilled a win/win both ways. The righteous were spared, and the wicked were destroyed, WITHOUT GLEE OR GLOATING.
If you wish to ask something of Him, are you willing to risk drawing near and considering His nature in order to ask what you need of Him?
He doesn’t promise your interactions with him will be free and easy, but he does promise you will grow and change and be transformed in the process.
Be blessed.

I purchased a copy of this teaching while I was in Toronto on March 19, 2016 for the live event When Your Call Is Blocked.
And on the way home from Toronto to Springfield, Massachusetts, Father told me to pop this series into my CD player for the trip home.
And in one word…WOW!
The concept of legitimacy is directly tied to and forms the root of our identity. For years, I have been beating the drum of identity, and in so many words, this teaching was just confirmation of things I had taught, but never really internalized.
Of course, Arthur pulls no punches in this teaching, specifically because his yearning is for people to be free, even if that means they are uncomfortable momentarily.
That entire trip home, I found issue after issue to deal with and repent of, and following those issues I dealt with, I learned one ver simple truth, approached at from a multiplicity of angles.
I am legitimate specifically because God is and because God loves me.
Not that God loves me in the trite way that we like to talk about love. But that God loves me as in God really is tenderly affectionate towards me and is concerned for my well-being.
The Father has a genuine concern for what happens to his children, and when we use things other than his love as measuring tools for whether we are legitimate or not, then we have bought into the enemy’s lies.
We are not legitimate because we are born in to a certain nation, into a certain family, or even because we have a specific spiritual gift or skillset.
We are legitimate because God is and God is loves us.
Yeah, I know this may come across as mushy, but Father just really is radically taken with us and is jealous over us with a jealousy that rages against anything that is a lie and is designed to harm us.
Get this CD album. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
https://theslg.com/cd-albums/503-legitimacy.html

My wife and I have a very precious friend in Massachusetts.
She rarely speaks, but when she does, there is is life and heart and outstanding refinement in her words.
She, IIRC, is a Texas native.
Below are her unedited words on the topic, and they are flawless:
“I read my newsfeed and can tell that a lot of you went through hell. How you’re still alive is a flippin’ mystery. Neither of us knows how that happened. And you’ve found your voice after it was stolen, or broken, or lost. You’ve plowed through and found healing, and now you’re invested in helping other people. And that’s super cool, but don’t let that stop you from even greater heights. To take the healing that you’ve gotten and call it good is to sabotage how much further you could go. Don’t stop seeking the truth. Don’t lie to yourself and call the work complete when it’s not. Don’t turn into a semi-healed, compromised person helping totally broken people. It’s just another way for darkness to win by keeping you from greater victory, and thus, the people you help from greater healing. Keep climbing. Keep pushing. Keep seeking. Yes, you flippin’ can, because this isn’t as far as you can go.”
The words of prophecy are for edification, exhortation, and comfort. These are those sorts of words. Bang-on-the-dot, sister.

Pardon the tedious in this post.  
I have a friend from Louisiana who lives in West Virginia.  
And I also have some different views on inerrancy and infallibility than most evangelicals.  
Moreover, I am fairly sure I have irritated my friend with my views on the topic because they more or less redefine the concepts.
Take the beginning of my post title, for example.  That number is a specific reference to the beginning of the book of Numbers, where the Lord instructs Israel to number the children of Israel by their clans and by their families, and to get a tally of their resources.  Now the numbering of these resources is a post all to itself for another time.
But the number itself is fairly precise.
And there are a number of critics of inerrancy that like to push the debate on inerrancy/infallibility to places it was not designed to go.
For example, “if that number–603,550–is off by even one, then the number isn’t exact, which constitutes an error, and thus the argument for Scriptural inerrancy falls apart.”
Or, “you forgot to include women and children, therefore you are pushing a repressive, patriarchal agenda”.
While I do not attempt to address every concern in the debate with one post, I propose–hopefully, with some measure of humility–to address better definitions of both inerrancy and infallibility that are based on a particular shade of meaning found in the words’ roots.
Errors and Failures or Fallacies
The root of “inerrant” seems to be “err”, whether that is an erring of judgment or an erring of direction or purpose.
The root of “infallible” seems to be “fail”, whether that is a failing in terms of failures or a failing in terms of fallacies (cut the 14 different ways that students of logic like to cut it).
Thus I define inerrancy as “the incapacity of Scripture to provide us with bad judgment and causing us to err in discerning God’s and our directions or understanding God’s and our purposes”
And for “infallibility”, “the incapacity of Scripture to provide us with counsel that is fallacious or leads to our ultimate failure.”
I’d say the issue with “erring” and both senses of the word “fail” is one of motive.  Was it intentional on the Father’s part, that we ultimately make errors in judgment, and thus fail in life?  
Given redemption is the heart of the gospel, does it make sense that the Father would intend that for us, erring and failures?  If we are going to assert these books are our sacred texts, and thus authoritative,  then does it make sense that we assert that the Author meant for that to happen to us?
If we are going to be part of Jesus’ plan of redemption, does it benefit him or the Father if we fail or end up in a place of futility.
I don’t think so.
Therefore, is it possible that we have hinged our debate on the details of Scripture rather than in the character of the one about whom they speak?
In my view, it is better to discuss inerrancy or infallibility from the position of whether or not God intends us to err and fail, rather than asking if all the bricks make the building that we think they are supposed to make.
God never means for us to fail.
We often like to repeat that the Bible is the Word of God in church, but often times we forget to include in the same breath that Jesus is the Word of God.  And that is to our detriment.  Our basis for faith in the Scriptures is the character and nature of the God described in the Scriptures.  They have to work together, because the voice of the Lord is what helps us understand the Scriptures, and the testimony of Scripture is what helps us understand the nature and character of God.
True,  lots of bloodshed did happen in the Old Testament.  However, did you see that the bloodshed was executed because of rebellion and sin?  And further, did you see that God doesn’t enjoy roasting us over the coals in hell?  He does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, especially the ungodly.  The judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah came because of the distress call that went up to the Lord.
These judgments were ultimately executed because of the redemptive nature of God.    Because he is concerned with the redemption not just of humanity, but also all of creation, he will discipline and judge those people and attitudes that willingly choose to defile time, land, individuals, communities, and offices.
God’s plan does not include gleeful torture.  Our foolishness leads us to accuse him of that.  He does not revel in the separation from one of his kids anymore than we revel in our separation from our source.
If we get that point nailed and set in our hearts, then we can trust him not to let us err and fail.  He also will not provide us with writings that err or fail.
He will also provide us the gifts of the Spirit and the gifts of our design that help us along the way.  
Our job is to first follow Him with the assertion that the best God we can conceive of is the God who redeems.  He fixes and makes things right.  He will take care of us, if we let him.  And He will take care of the jots and tittles.

Recently, a preacher posed a question for discussion concerning church leadership abuse.  The assumption (not without precedent) was that many mainline churches along with independent churches (those that are more given to the “fivefold” expression of leadership) both walk in a great deal of abuse.  In these immigrations, the church member is exchanging one form abusive leadership for another, though both use different titles.
What do you think accounts for the shift from mainline churches to fivefold churches when the abuse is virtually identical?
Below is my response:
“The titles have switched, but the dynamics have remained the same.
“This may be a massive swallowing of non-reality.
“I would suggest we look at what the concepts of pastor and apostle look like from the whole of the Canon.
“And given the Greek word for pastor is only translated as “pastor” once, in Ephesians 4:11-12, I think we ought to include all reference to the character of a shepherd, such as from Psalm 23 and John 10, a d we should table some of the fivefold office terms until we really get a handle on what they mean.
“I observe we are far too casual and lackadaisical with throwing around those terms.
“Give you a good example, I know my best friend walks in the apostolic office. I do as well, My wife is a Teacher. And my best friend’s wife is a legit prophet.
“However, I just, without fear or offense or exploitation, refer to him as David and her as Wendy.
“We are just friends, and we are so far past being enamored with those things that we just walk and flow in those things as the situation arises.
“Part of what we are dealing with in the church may be one of three dynamics. In no particular order:
“1) Woundedness-we got hurt so we leave one hurtful situation for another.
“2) We have become groupies, to make ourselves and our covering feel legitimate.
3) That doctrine of covering-from a study of the Scriptures, “cover”, “covering”, and their synonyms have to do with on thing, atonement for sin with blood.
“Love covers a multitude of sins.
“The mercy seat covered, and was sprinkled with blood to provide atonement for Israel’s sins.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sins.
“Etc.
“Head in the Greek does not mean ‘covering’, but rather ‘source’ like ‘headwaters’.
“Oftentimes, for the sake of legitimacy, we may place our leaders into a position they were never meant to occupy. And we in the Charismatic movements can become just as guilty of the Roman Catholics, in our desire for a spiritual father and mother, of seeking to treat our leaders as intermediaries.
“But there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
“We want a ‘covering’ in the (from my experience) unbiblical senses because we may be relying on a legitimacy crutch.
“This is part of the turn-off for me in many evangelical Charismatic churches.
“Some of those in the midst of this imbalance appear to like to incessantly ask, ‘are you submitted to your covering?’. Then, if you negate the question, they retort with, ‘without your covering you are unprotected!’
“Um, excuse me, sir/ma’am, but Jesus is my love and he covered everything that needs to be covered.
“Covering in context is used with respect to blood and atonement, not leadership.”
From the above, I would be curious to know what your thoughts on the subject are, even if we disagree.
 
Blessings.

My current readings find me in Exodus. 
More recently, I have been in Exodus 25, which discusses the items of the Tabernacle. 
And I am curious. Exodus 25 discusses the construction of the Mercy Seat that goes on top of the Ark of the Covenant. 
The Mercy Seat. 
What a curious name for something that pertains so readily to an object known as being the symbol of the Law of Moses, which,  in the minds of many, has nothing to do with mercy. 
I wonder if it is so-called because the L-rd really wanted us to grasp that the concept of mercy really was a critical part of the dispensation of His law to Israel. 
Put another way, just as the exposition of the Beatitudes could be summed up in the Tenth Commandment, to beware of and keep far from even those thoughts that lead to unrighteous desire; so also the Law was really meant to convey a Mercy that the Pharisees and Saducees neglected to also skillfully exposit.