Tag: Exhorter

40 Years a Son, Living With the Word

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis

I was reading something in the biblical text this evening and I had a bit of something like a revelation.

Sometimes the one thing the King wants to emphasize, is the one thing we as translators and the writers of the original canon treated as an afterthought. We treat things as an afterthought because of the way they are phrased. And simply because of the smallness of the word, maybe the original writers did, too, if we take the words in the text at face value.

Allow me to explain.

It was Genesis 1, and always with the Fourth Day, there is something with the Fourth Day the King likes to highlight for me, and it is a kiss from him. It is a small phrase, only three words, and I have never heard the phrase emphasized, thus it seems to me most people do not treat it with emphasis when the read it, because it takes up such a small percentage of the text.

Maybe the original writer of the Creation Narrative, whether you call him Moses, or JEDP (ahem), or anyone else, just wrote this one phrase and gave it no further thought, but I would like to think it meant something, especially since these entities feature prominently elsewhere in the Tanakh, and in the Revelation and the First chapter of James.

So, here is the text for the Fourth Day of Creation:

And G-d said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And G-d made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And G-d set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And G-d saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14–19 ESV

Did you see it?

And the Stars

I wonder, gang. I wonder if we know of this in this way. For He is the G-d of the Seven Stars, Who Walks Among Them, and knows the starways, and walks among the starlight.

And it is the stars as the Sons of G-d that shout for joy in the book of Job, and the Father of Heavenly Lights that gives every good and perfect gift from above as He walks among the stars, which are themselves heavenly lights.

With rain, with sun
With much, with less
With joy, with pain
With life, with death

The only things that satisfy come from You
They come from You

Everything that’s beautiful
Everything that’s wonderful
Every perfect gift comes from You

Your grace, Your heart
Your voice, Your touch
Your word, Your peace
Your hope, Your love

A thousand words could not explain
A thousand worlds could not contain
Every perfect gift comes from You

It comes from the Father of Lights
It comes from the Giver of Life
It comes from the Heavens above
It’s coming straight from Your heart
To the people You love

“Everything” by Chris Tomlin

When I was 18, the very first time I got to see the starways and the pitchblack of the heavens, I was in ROTC in college, and we were in Camp Blanding in Northeast Florida. My batallion was on a night march, and that was the very first time I was able to identify more than 12 constellations just based on patterns I had seen in books as a kid. And it was radiant, though not radiant like the sun. Sparkly.

And on the Fourth Day, as with other things pertaining to the Redemptive Gift of Exhorter, G-d usually highlights things in patterns of threes.

The nature of G-d

The Three major Exhorters of Scripture: Moses, Solomon, Paul.

The Sun, the Moon, the Stars

For me this highlights something that I wish to give to you as a gift in the arena of how I do hermeneutics, and precisely why the tagline of TPH is “Into all truth by the Spirit of G-d”.

It’s not the whole of scripture, written with a 1-to-1 mindset, with each word having and sharing equal weight with all the others. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit is going to highlight or lowlight certain words of phrases, depending on what is going on with you, and where He wants to point you in a given matter.

Sometimes, a phrase waits 10-30 years to emerge and glow off the page.

And this phrase “and the stars” just hits me in all the right places, moreso now I have seen stars and auroras and other entities with proper telescopes.

I put to you, as me reader, that, when you are reading, that you allow Holy Spirit the lattitude to highlight or emphasize something differently than you have allowed Him previously. If you allow Him to guide you along the river, you have no idea where He will pull the canoe up so He can take you exploring. Reading the text, as with other parts of our life, should be an adventure that is completely life-giving.

He may emphasize a piece of the text you never thought He would.

For example, when was the last time you heard there were three “veyahavtas” (the Hebrew Phrase translated as “You shall love”) in the text of the Torah.

And for you who are Torah haters, how many know the heart of the bible is the law, and the heart of the law is Deuteronomy, and for those who want to get intimate with how blessings and curses operate, you have to be intimate with how Deuteronomy operates?

I know we are not under the law and G-d abolished the law completely without exception, but maybe there is something of value in reading the law.

Just some thoughts. And yes, some of what I wrote above is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

But seriously, maybe it would behoove us to see, instead of a bipolar book, where the G-d on the Right Hand Side of the Book apologizes for the acts of the G-d on the Left Hand Side of the Book, perhaps we are dealing with the outworking of a very complex WHOLE COVENANT.

Perhaps there is life and fathering that will break the bastard curse off of us, if we will begin to obsessively hunt for the Father in the Tanakh, and in the Torah.

It’s not a list of rules and regs, gang, appended by Talmuds and Mishnahs and Gemaras. It is a arkload of principles and relationships available to anyone with the cojones to hunt for Dad’s mind AND heart within its pages.

For example, the first time “Father” is specifically implied in the pages of the Biblical Text is Exodus 4:22.

“Thus says the L-RD, ‘Israel is my firstborn son’.”

From Exodus 4:22 ESV

I wonder if one problem with too many of us that want to run from the Torah and the Tanakh and Whole Covenant into Better Covenant/Worser Covenant is that our relationships with our own earthly dads were so messed-up that we cannot bear the thought of beginning a relationship with G-d the Father in His fullness without a social worker present. And truly, if we were abused by our fathers, we might need someone who will take that role in the spirit for a season.

But, really, the gems are in the Torah for us to find if we are willing. The fat of the land, all of the fat of the land, is present for those of us who look to be transformed from disobedient to obedient, with hearts that are FILLED with the earnest of the Kingdom.

His heart is for us to know all of Him, and not just the parts with which we are comfortable.

The starsong….proclaiming the justice of G-d….

“And the stars”

May the King give light in strange and unexpected places for His kids to walk.

Just some thoughts.

Endurance and the Exhorter: Getting Chiseled

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Design, Exhorter, Principles, Redemptive Gifts, Seven Curses

Text

And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin the king of Canaan

Judges 4:24 (ESV)

Thoughts Here

Gang, I am doing a read-through of scripture, and this text really hit home for the Exhorter, especially given it deals with an aspect of breaking the Canaanite Curse, one of the Seven Curses against design.

Time after time, I, and others, have encountered those who believe the only thing necessary to break a curse is to utter a renunciation, or have a court case, or __________ (fill in the blank with tour chosen thing to utter). And frequently, Exhorters who are built for the long haul of endurance are hunting for the magic spell or incantation or eight key. THE SOLUTION TO ALL MY ILLS.

And while renunciations are excellent, they are not the whole picture.

There must be, resident within the Exhorter, a commitment to grow and increase through consistent righteous actions of sowing and reaping in order to break a stronghold through overcoming.

Exhorters MUST, non-optionally, and non-negotiably, build a reservoir of endurance and strength.

They have to develop life-strong, sinewy muscle (Muscular System of the body is Exhorter) in order to win at many situations.

Press HARDER AND HARDER. Over and over and over. Keep pounding. Hammer to nail. Pull and push and develop. There is a reason that well-built people are referred to as chiseled and cut and ripped. Such adjectives speak of a PROCESS that happens layer by layer.

Such an appearance is pleasing to the eye.

And such an appearance will be the result of building out groups of musculature. In the gym. In the kitchen. In the community. In the secret place. In all of the places.

Gang, especially Exhorters, it’s time to get cut and peel back some things that you have tolerated in previous seasons.

Much love.

And be at peace.

Names of G-d: Hebrews 4:12: The Word of G-d Is Quick and Powerful… Hint: It’s Not Talking About Scripture

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Hebrews 4

“HE is sharper than any two-edged sword…..“

“HE is able to divide between Joints and Marrow, soul and spirit…”

“HE is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart”

Hebrews 4:12, more accurately translated.

Real talk, gang.

Hebrews 4 is about Jesus. The whole thing is about Jesus.

And given it is about Jesus, let this reality sink in, Verse 12 is not talking about the Bible, unless the writer of Hebrews switches the implication of the objective case in Verse 12.

Proof of this? Verse 13

“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Not “no creature will be hidden from IT’S sight.”

HIS sight. He divides.

Those who incessantly say the Bible is the Word of G-d while refusing to say Jesus is the Word of G-d and refusing to give Jesus HIS due in that office as the Word need to seriously consider the strength and work of the PERSON who was the Word of G-d BEFORE giving credence to the Bible as the Word of G-d. For the Bible is only the Word because Jesus is the Word. And the Bible’s Wordness derives from Jesus’ Wordness.

He is not the testimony if it.

Rather, it is the testimony of Him.

It’s fine to know the text of the Bible.

But what makes one a follower of Jesus is the one who Knows Jesus, the Word of G-d Himself.

Know the difference. And learn to relate to the Man as well as you know the book.

And keep reaching Higher.

Our walk os a relationship with a Man.

Not a book. And not a set of propositions.

Just saying.

Mesmerizing Spirit Series: Part 1–Thoughts On Denial and Revelation

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Mesmerizing Spirit

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

1 Corinthians 13:9 ESV

A Disclaimer

I would like to note that I struggled with where to categorize this post, but then I realized I have been on a track of dealing with aspects that blind us, which is a device of the Mesmerizing Spirit.

Also, while it’s true that Revelation and Denial affect the Exhorter more, all of us, regardless of gifts, may struggle with it. For example, Mercies like myself have some issues with this because we tend to be so ethereal, heavenly-minded, head-in-the-clouds.

“Earth to David. Are you checking in with the mother ship?”

The Problem

The root of Denial gives rise to the stronghold of non-Reality that pollutes the strong suit of the Exhorter: Revelation.

Just as English Ivy and Wisteria run amok can bring down a mighty oak or a landslide can choke the flow of a strong river, so also denial initiates a sequence of events that can choke the life flow of a robust existence.

Treating a partial perspective as the whole perspective will kill our ability to hear the voice of G-d. It can also affect our ability to hear our own spirit, which may be shouting warnings to us.

This is true no matter the arena.

The Change of Direction

If we want the light and the river of insight to flow over our lives in force…

If we want to new ideas to alight on us with fluency…

Then it remains incumbent upon us to demand to know the ways in which the partial perspective we each have fits into the whole.

Many who hear the voice of G-d never make the leap from their dream or vision to how it fits as part of a larger picture that they never considered.

The Assignment

Here we follow the G-d of the Hunt. Our mission is to look for missing pieces that will help fill out our perspective. In so doing, we must be willing willing to receive both the comfort/encouragement/consolation and the exhortation/reproof/correction. This may require us to work with others.

Helping Others Speak Even When You Have An Answer

Something that may help us to work at stewarding our words better is this: Put on humility and connect with others to find out what they are hearing from the L-rd as well.

Be willing to admit that, friend, that even though the L-rd has shown you something, someone alongside of you who is less experienced with the things of G-d might need you to listen rather than speak, so you can help them along in their journey to maturity.

The immature may tell you something you have heard one million times before. However, they might also need a more mature man or woman of G-d to encourage them as they journey. Plus, with fresh eyes, they might surprise you with something you have not considered.

To be sure, It is possible to wear humility as a garment and keep an open mind that you do not have the whole perspective.

You are part of a body with many members. This means that you will need to seek out those who have the other pieces of the puzzle. That means you will need to form relationships with other people, like it or not.

Be blessed as you work this out.

Leviathan Post Series Prequal 3, The Threefold Fourth Principle

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Leviathan, Mesmerizing Spirit

When you remove something that has metastisized at an alarming rate, what instrument do you use? Answer: a scalpel. Or a sword. That depends on the context.

Likewise, when you are in Denial about a result and the truth, and the stronghold is allowed to gather strength, that stronghold rooted in denying or hiding from reality creates an oppression. This oppression, left unchecked, will result in the Fourth Head of Leviathan, which we will discuss in the post on that head.

In order to survive and then thrive, you MUST tear down that stronghold, or fall under its weight. In order to tear down that stronghold effectively, you must deal with the root of Denial.

Denial. We heard it when Bob Jones said Bill Clinton had a mantle of humility. We heard about it when people suggested on one side that the morality of the President has little to do with whether or not he or she can govern. “We are not electing a pastor but a President.” We got to the point with Clinton when he said “he didn’t mean it as adultery”. We suspend judgment when it is our people, but heap it when it is the other party or group.

And meanwhile, Joe Biden is grasping for legitimacy because we allowed the President’s office to get that raucously defiled. This creation of the Office of the President-Elect, complete with Presidential Blue backdrop is a Denial-laced grab for legitimacy, because he has not been sworn in.

And many of us appear not to give a damn nor bother to pray for the toll this passed-around nonsense is taking on the marriages and families of those in positions of influence and public service.

So, Donald Trump can be the wrecking ball all you want until the cows come home.

Bill Clinton can be humble all Bob Jones claims.

Bush 43 can be the one who wants to “restore dignity to the Oval Office” while he commits us to an open-ended battle campaign with zero end in sight.

Clinton can give us surpluses until we are blue in the face…

Both Republicans and Democrats can spend us into oblivion with impugnity…

And we can pass around lists that say Republican are for limited government…

Even though Trump and Bush 43 asked for stimulus packages totaling in the billions of dollars….

However, it will not mean a thing as long as we are single-sided in our attacks and corrections and rebukes.

We still have not come out of our Denial yet, church. Neither have our government officials. And I am not convinced they want to.

The problem, indeed, is that SHIELD is a nothing more than a front for HYDRA. Those of you who have never seen the MCU movie “Captain America: Winter Solider” may not know what I mean by this. So, here are the pertinent movie clips.

And we are conserving and liberating nothing, except for the cancer that is present. Our responsibility is not to let one party or group play us off one another. In ANY arena, political or otherwise.

Spiritually speaking, this Denial and “my-partial-perspective-is-the-whole-picture” mindset is what allows things to grow without our knowledge or consent: In government, in the private sector, in the church and in the academy (looking at you, Liberty University sex scandal).

The Mesmerizing Spirit and this partial-as-whole perspective create a defilement of our times, our seasons, and our capacity to accurately discern the rhythm of times, seasons, and our moving forward in a horizontal manner with the constellation of our relationships in the surround.

When you are vested in the success of a political party come hell or high water, regardless of the actual truth, you have crossed the line into Denial.

When you are vested in the protection of a church’s reputation regardless of who was harmed by the abuse (Mars Hill, Hillsong, the Southern Baptist Convention’s mishandling of Beth Moore who called them out on their sex abuse culture), then your attitude is part of the problem.

When Denial strikes, prophets go hazy with their sight, planes fall from the sky because of imprecise engineering, and whole movements in the church go batty because they lose their focus. I am looking at the German Lutheran church for starters, where Martin Luther, the Exhorter, wanted a number of reforms, but moved to embrace anti-semitism and wasted the latter portion of his life combatting and slandering the Jewish people.

This problem of Denial and non-reality can affect anybody regardless of their gift, but it is particuarly and disproportionately damaging to the Exhorter.

Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, FDR, Ben Franklin, Walt Disney, the Assemblies of G-d, the Apostle Paul, Moses, Solomon, the state of California, Hollywood. All have had seasons where they were massively wide of the mark while being effective in other areas, and for some of them, that distraction and non-reality cost them their birthright.

And yes, when you are a President that says “I alone can do this,” then there might be an issue embodied in that mindset.

Or you are a king who, for the sake of political peace, you marry many foreign women…..

Or you are a daughter of a pagan king and are sold as a commodity to cement your father’s political relations (Jezebel), and you swear you are never going to let another person control your destiny or aspirations….

Or if you are a skilled animator who pressures everyone around you to the point where you think that because you are Walt Disney, no one of your staff will unionize….

This diorama of reality is not about one specific set of pot shots against one person. It is about helping to illustrate the worst of what happens when we embrace non-reality.

Defining Reality

Reality is the latest manifestation of the Fourth Principle. before that, it was referred to as the Principle of Sowing and Reaping, and, before that, the Principle of Pain and Suffering.

By reality, I mean embracing WHAT IS as the L-rd sees it. He sees more fully than we do. So, right off the bat, we are talking about recognizing that we see only part of the picture, or, as one Exhorter put it:

…we know in part, and we prophesy in part

Paul to the believers in Corinth.

Gang, reality means embracing the L-rd’s agenda and applying our part for what it is, into the whole, and refusing to see our portion as the whole situation. Broadly speaking, we regularly see less than the L-rd, for some reason….

So, our responsibility is to ever look to the L-rd for direction and input as we progress into our journey.

We seek His agenda and what of His agenda He has placed within us.

Some Implications of Reality

Our responsibility in hunting for His agenda (Reality) is to refuse the popular phrases or excuses of the Charismatic Movement such as:

” I do not have the time to. research this/seek for that/therefore give me the finished product, because I came expecting….”

“I do not have time to process these raw materials. G-d will send me somoeone who will provide the finished product.”

“I do not have time to do this work or that assignment or that thing over there or this thing over here.”

It is one thing for us to ask for help when we really need it, but to engage in every situation by waltzing in with a bang and a flourish and expecting others to give to you finished products from their resources with zero understanding of the cost to them, or the sequence of Giving and Receiving is something entirely different.

There is an entitlement mindset pervasive in the body of Christ that loves to claim divine intervention for Every. Single. Situation where our poor planning or lack of resources is a factor.

Uttering Praise the L-rd and G-d Came Through when He actually came through is not a problem.

However, when we poorly plan and poorly execute and someone comes in and bails us out and we refuse to thank them for fixing our problem in our blindness, and we refuse to make course corrections or adjustments so we do not have the same problem in the future, then we have a larger root problem, and are not far from walking in non-reality.

We simply have to walk this cause-and-effect thing we call Reality more cleanly. If we are chronically late, for example, then we need to figure out why we are late and fix the problem.

We must intentionally sow good seed in order to reap a good crop.

Now, I am not beating up people who have a wound or some trauma or some junk where G-d is working in a long-term process with them to bring them to a better place. Each of us has some issues and stuff and none of us has arrived at the place of sheer perfection. If you are actively attempting to work at bettering your situation, that is one thing.

But it is entirely a different thing when sloth is part of the equation, and you are allowing life happen to you. The spirit of passivity does not belong to the highly effective son or daugher in the Kingdom; they happen to situations.

You must, in walking in Reality, know the difference between pawning your situations off on others, asking for help if you are stuck, and working at the areas you know something about and have means to fix.

It is critically important for each of us to have a goal in mind and, pending our relentless consultation with the L-rd about those plans, move toward the goal that should result in us possessing our birthright.

And in engaging Reality, we must all learn how to….

Embrace the Right Level and Kind of Pain

Indiscriminate pain avoidance is not the domain of those who wish for Reality. Rather, our responsibility is embracing the right kind and level of pain.

Your Pain….Productive Or Not…You Decide…

You have a score of choices with respect to what you do with your pain. And there are two types of pain….productive or unproductive.

Grossly put, unproductive pain is pain that comes into your life situation from which you fail to derive any lesson of any sort. You do not connect with the L-rd in this pain, and as a result, the adversity brings little to know growth.

Productive pain, on the other hand, is pain from which the L-rd is able to instruct you.

Most pain starts out as unproductive. It is the lesson that makes the difference in whether or not the pain moves from the Unproductive category to the Productive category.

For example, years ago, my father abandoned me and my parents divorced. For a long time I could only feel the sting and the heartache of my father’s absence, and this was compounded by the fact that he died a few years back.

What helped transform this pain from unproductive to productive was me helping others who had lost fathers to abandonment or alcohol or death, and blessing them. Taking care of my sons and my daughter.

Sometimes, walking in the blessings that come from walking in reality means embracing others who need when you are in a place of lack and stepping into places to bless and encourage in areas where you have received little to no human encouragement.

We have a perfect Father, and we lack no father, even if our eathly fathers abandoned us. Given we have a perfect and loving Father, what do we lack in terms of tools, affection, and depth of capacity to love and father others?

Nothing.

Reality dictates that we lack nothing with which to father. Not wisdom or resources. Not heart or spirit. Not emotions. Not understanding, knowledge, or wisdom. And certainly not a sense of justice or the capacity for a heart oozing with compassion. Because our G-d could related to our frailties, we also can relate to the weakness of others, and the lack in others.

Because He received from Our Father, we also can receive and then give to others who lack.

Provided we are wiling to move beyond slavery and into the embrace of our Father and give that embrace to others.

We love, because he first loved us. We have freely received SO MUCH, and so we are able to give even in areas where we have lacked.

This is reality that comes from the Father of Lights who has given us his son. How much will He not also give us all things.

Translation: G-d gave us everything He had in the embodiment of His Son. What’s a little bit of stuff? Especially when we are sent to be life-giving to others.

G-d Can’t Be Pro-Life, ‘Cause He Killed Babies…Or Can He (An Analysis of Some Texts, Using Other Texts)?

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Exegesis, Uncategorized

AN INTRODUCTION AND SOME CUSTOMARY PROVOKING STATEMENTS

Because New York passed an abortion law or some such thing, people all of a sudden have started to talk about and exegete the news.


It has been raised as an argument against those who might be pro-life that G-d cannot be pro-life, since, in the Bible, and specifically, in the Torah, he killed babies.


I rarely discuss current events at the same time they are happening. But today I will make an exception.
ollie north
Check that. Two exceptions.


#elliotabrams

It is uncomfortable to talk about how unrighteous our government’s actions are in the area of abortion and talking about how righteous a pro-life stance is, while turning the blind eye to the warhawking anti-life nature of conducting police state actions overseas, that are the purview of Republicans and Democrats alike.

Back to what I was talking about, seriously. Sometimes we want to excuse our government’s stupidity by an appeal to one issue, when there are a breadth of issues at play. And such exegesis gets sloppy.

Some days, our exegesis, which can turn to support one group or party over another, is only painted with broad strokes that Scripture does not use.

And when it comes to Scripture, sometimes our exegesis boils down to making sure that the G-d in the right hand side of the Bible apologizes for the actions of the G-d in the left hand side of the Bible.


But here is how I would processionally explain the actions of the G-d on the left hand side of the book, in seven elements.

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

PREFACING THE SEVEN ELEMENTS: IS HE REALLY AS MEAN AS SOME SAY?

Consider also the fact that the “kinder, gentler” guy on the right hand side of the book, at the end of the right hand side, plagued the whole earth and wiped out a million here and there, in case we think the guy on the right hand side has more reformed ways.


Translation: parsing the Old Testament G-d and the New Testament G-d out from each other as distinct causes the whole book to fall apart greatly. Truly, they are one and the same. Revelation teaches us that. And His Judgment is His mercy.

BACKGROUND TEXTS FOR RECONCILING THE TWO PARTS

G-d, on the other hand, as Scripture RELENTLESSLY teaches throughout both the Tanakh and the New Testament, gives space for people to repent and reform before He executes against them.


Cue cluster of texts that show G-d’s mercy and granting people space and breathing room to repent before He judges.

  • Jonah 3-4, where G-d relents/repents after the capital of the flaying Assyrians repents.
  • Revelation 2:21, where G-d gave Jezebel space to repent
  • Genesis 15:16, where G-d gave the Amorites space to repent, that He didn’t have to, and would have caused something to work out between Israel and the Amorites had they repented.
  • Genesis 18:17-19, where G-d debated what he would share with Abraham, knowing Abraham’s righteousness, knowing Abraham’s heart to cry out for mercy, and knowing that Abraham was able to affect G-d’s heart because Abraham was the friend of G-d in only the way Givers can be.
  • Deuteronomy 2:9 and Judges 11:17, where G-d gave Moab their land, and commanded Israel not to harrass them, even before Moab fought against Israel (Joshua 24:9). This could have led to Moab’s national repentance and a reconciliation and commerce between Moab and Israel. And even when the national reconciliation did not take place, G-d STILL played out the drama that should have been between Moab and Israel in the story of Ruth and Boaz.
  • Genesis 46:4, where G-d SENT Israel down to Egypt, and G-d DWELT WITH Israel IN Egypt, and during which season, Israel had centuries to get to know her G-d, and the Amorites had space to repent and prepare the land for the ISRAELITES, which could have happened instead of their destruction.
  • Genesis 47:6, where Pharaoh gave favor to Israel in the land of Egypt and with the pagan ruler of Egypt.
  • Isaiah 19:24-25, where the L-rd will ultimately bring about redemption of the Egyptian nation, and the Egyptian nation will occupy the first place. SECONDLY, <GASP>, pagan, flaying, barbaric Assyria. And third, Israel.
  • Exodus 4:22-23, where G-d first reveals to a pagan nation His name of “Father”. He then commands, before the first drop of water turns to blood and before the first frog touches the land and dies, Egypt to LET HIS SON GO. And then the judgments start and increase.
    • And yes, one can argue G-d kept Pharaoh from repenting, because of Exodus 4:21 and 7:3, but to merely argue that is to see only part of the whole narrative. Psalm 115:16, “the highest heavens belong to the L-rd, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.” G-d has given people free will to choose what they will or will not do. He does not always get what He wants.
  • From the point above, through the entire sequence of issues, the L-rd showed the Egyptians what they had done in infant genocide towards the men of Israel (Exodus 1:22, note the waters turning to blood in 7:17-21 revealed the death that was in the water and the blood that was on the Egyptian hands). The Tenth Plague was the progressive outflow of the response of the Egyptian injustice of Israelite genocide. Again, there are causes and effects. And when you sow the cause, you will reap the effects.
  • Let me point out also the counsel of G-d in Exodus 9:19; He told the Egyptian people to gather their flocks and herds to keep them from the hail. Some listened, and some did not. There were Egyptians who had livestock that kept them in from the hail and their livestock was spared. This opened the door for some of them to turn. G-d uses every circumstance to bring people to Him, including His judgments.
  • Recall also Exodus 12:49, which could plausibly imply that, during the plagues, there were some Egyptians in the nation that chose to follow the G-d of Israel, and chose to align themselves with Israel, and celebrated the Passover. Even if there were none that did actually align with Israel, He still made provision for that.
  • The book of Joshua is completely devoted to the destruction of whole nations while the Israelites possessed the Promised Land.

Element 1: G-d’s decisions, even those decisions that result in human death, are ALWAYS executed in the context of His mercy and His justice, which are the twin facets of His love. What will drive His children to seek Him?


Element 2: G-d’s purposes are aimed at a long-game strategy. He weighs all decisions with an eye toward redemption and how they will impact eternity and His house.


Element 3: G-d aims to eradicate sin, rebellion, iniquity, and abomination from the earth.


Element 4: G-d’s yearning desire is to walk among us, be our G-d, and for us to be His people. Whatever keeps that community from happening He may remove from us.

Element 5: G-d looks for the fruit on the tree. He looks for fresh water or salt, hot water or cold, humility or assertion, upness or downness, filiality or bridality. He looks for consistency that He can utilize. He looks for and brings organized sequence.


Element 6: Sin twists and perverts the good, and that twisting is revealed in the fruit of the tree that is planted. G-d despises things that twist and mar.
Element 7: Everything G-d is, does, or permits to happen is ALWAYS with an eye toward straightening out the twistedness.


Look, it is not like G-d on a bipolar whim massacred millions of innocent babies in an unprovoked rage.

He gave all of these nations, including Mizraim, CENTURIES to repent. And when a culture of death and murder is embraced, somewhere down the line, death is going to be result, and the empire that embraces death is going to self-devour.


He exposed the Egyptian culture for the death-bringing culture it had become. Blood was already in the waters before the first plague. He just forced the nation to see the blood that was in the water. He untwisted the reality of the waters. And in so doing, He allowed all of those baby boys’ blood to testify (Hebrews 12:24).


The Golden Calf is an example of a culture self-devouring. The Levites massacred 3,000 of their own families and so were ordained through G-d’s warring against the defiled spirit of idolatry.


National sin has national consequences. Longstanding sin has consequences. G-d even showed longsuffering toward the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities on the plain, and Lot interceded for Zoar, and as a result, G-d spared that city.


And one of the names of G-d (Exodus 34:5-6) is The L-rd Who Is Longsuffering.


G-d is not Hitler, G-d is not Pol Pot, G-d is not Stalin, and G-d is not Mao.
And it is not really the church’s job to justify the behavior of G-d to others. G-d can work in, around, and through our objections and the obstacles. But we have to recognize that the principles of Scripture do work. Sexual sin has sexual consequences, murderous sin has murderous consequences. Abortive sin has abortive consequences. Actions do have reactions. Sum of the Forces, Newtonian approximations, and all that jazz.

And Jezebel’s genocide resulted in her blood being shed.


And Naboth’s Vineyard landed on Ahab’s head.


The Principles work, without prejudice, and without caring what you think about how nice G-d or anyone else is.

And ultimately, G-d can work every situation to His glory.


But for us, now is the time to wake up, acknowledge reality in the stead of hiding from it, and bless New York, as we should have, instead of cursing it.

G-d was there first, and this decision on New York’s part is not helped by cursing New York. Rather, gang, let’s not carry on with eighty-five reams of conversation, and instead work with what we know about the Giver and Exhorter design of the state and Manhattan, respectively.


Bless the Giver and the Exhorter dynamic of that state.
Just some thoughts here, gang.

My Overarching Issue With the Majority Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Uncategorized

Since I first connected with the P/C movement in college, I have struggled with a number of issues. Things like elitism, condescension, pretenses of intimacy, control, manipulation, covering, the fivefold ministry, and many of these I have written about.

But, a pattern has arisen that I could not verbalize until just a few minutes ago.

And I finally put my finger on what it is….

What it is that drives so many of my generation from the usual corporate expressions of worship….

What it is that keeps us who want and yearn for relationships with groups of other believers….

What it is that keeps us from moving into depth one with another….

What keeps us from fulfilling any sense of duty to one another (Greek αλλαλους)…

And, maddeningly, what keeps us from becoming a body….

This quality has kept us from behaving cohesively…

It is a sense of entitled secrecy.

Presentation Vs. Vulnerable Reality

We have failed at humility, transparency, honesty, and straight-shooting, in favor of slicked-up presentation, and appearances. And my generation is sick of those presentations that do not find root in bare reality.

Because of a presentation that is nothing more than a distraction from what is really happening behind the scenes, I despise the phrase “brother” and do not usually reciprocate in kind.

That bald-faced fakery is why I despise being called Dave by anyone other than those who respect me.

Secrecy, and the hidden hand. Guile, shrewdness, and all kinds of glad-handing, verbal barfing account for my sickness with most of what passes for “fellowship” (gag!).

It is as if we are more interested in coming off or appearing to be real and tender and affectionate with each other than we are in actually BEING real and tender and affectionate with each other.

A Possible Reason Why

Perhaps part of the reason we do not engage in reality is that we have been so wounded and damaged (cue Plumb’s cut called “Cut” from Chaotic Resolve) that we are fearful of exposing ourselves again. We get castigated repeatedly for not belonging to the church, and for picking expressions of the church that are not part of established and recognized congregations, and yet, those traditional routes for corporate expression are precisely the routes that brought us to a place of shipwreck.

And we are sick of hearing expressions that tout the fivefold as the right expression for church leadership that have not apologized for the toxic abuse of the extant forms of the fivefold.

Back to the entitled secrecy.

Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Todd Bentley, and The Passion “Translation”

Jimmy Swaggart helped initiate Jim Bakker’s downfall.

Jerry Falwell, evidently offered Bakker one thing in exchange for his help and then did another.

Swaggart, the second time he was caught in infidelity, said “The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business.”

Todd Bentley never came clean with what happened to his first wife, and why he was justified biblically in divorcing her.

And finally, when straightly asked to identify and name the members of his translation team, Brian Simmons refused to. He talks about a translation team, by calling himself a “lead translator” and then fails to identify the group he is leading. By comparison, the translation teams for the NIV, the NLT, the NKJV, the ESV, the NRSV, the NASB, and even the KJV are all known.

I don’t care how you slice it, that sequence of events where we evade those for whom we are responsible is a twofold sin. First, it is secrecy of things that should be brought to the light, and secondly, it is either arrogance or fear of rejection that will create a natural gulf between leader and followers.

It’s as if, in each of these situations, there is either a an elitism or a massive wound that the leader is guarding, that keeps Charismatics or Pentecostal leaders from putting any “skin in the game” when it comes to humility or vulnerability or following through with Paul’s injunction to “be subject one to another out of reverence for Christ.” Where is the subjection that is the leader’s portion to those he is supposed to be serving?

Does anyone wonder why we are so riled up when Todd Bentley’s name is mentioned? It has diddly squat to do with a demonic spirit of vengeance and zip to do with our opposing his being restored to ministry. Instead, it has EVERYTHING to do with his refusal to repent and expose this crap, and be truly and biblically restored to his G-d and his family.

This right here is my guff with the Passion “Translation”. The refusal of a man to be vulnerable and authentic with those he is leading and placing the manuscript of the New Testament in alignment with the Greek originals.

Greek Is Only The Language of The Mind and Philosophy

The marketing rhetoric of the Passion lands as if Greek is a language of the mind and is devoid of emotion and passion. Let me say this. The nation of Greece has the Redemptive Gift of Prophet. When was the last time you knew of a Prophet by Redemptive Gift that was devoid of emotion and and zeal and heart. Are Prophets not the volcanoes of the body of Christ?

To sum up, I have witnessed a pattern in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles where, when leaders do put something forth for us to grasp, it costs them very little; it is a plastic extension, but not part of them. They extend very little of their own flesh and blood to us, and as a result, we never get to know them as they really are and there is therefore little intimacy, while we parrot “brother” and “we need to connect” and other triteisms. But the end result is, instead of the real unity and vulnerability to which they exhort us all, a farce and a show.

Gunning For Real κοινονια and στοργε

κοινονια is the Greek word for “community”.

στοργε is the Greek word that is described by maternal affection for a child.

You cannot make much of your accomplishments when you won’t also accept a complimentary amount of the priority of humility and submission to those whom you serve. If there is no risk, there will be no reward. If there is plastic risk, then there will be a plastic participation reward. If there is the risk of gold, silver, and precious gems, then the reward will be that valuable.

They are practicing terminal non-reality and expecting a massive harvest of community.

Be not deceived. G-d is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that also shall he reap.

If you plant corn, you reap corn. If you plant plastic, don’t expect cotton and life.

Expecting to reap much without embracing pain, vulnerability, humility, and submission to those whom you lead, the end result will usually be tragedy.