Tag: Prophets

Dealing With What Is Happening In Others and Overcoming the Spirits of Jealousy and Slavery

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Principles

Slaves obey…..and they have zero creative will or desire or tools….and they have access only to what their master gives them…..

Sons create…..

I have a few questions for you. And I have hammered and pounded and beaten this drum forever.

Why the impotent focus on what Bezos and Gates do with their money?

Shouldn’t the focus be on unpacking your own stuff?

Is our job to handle other people’s stuff and see to it other people pay “their fair share”, when fairness is not in the Bible anywhere?

Is our job not to unpack the massive amount of treasures G-d has given us?

Or is it to wonder why someone else had any fulfilling OUR vision and OUR plan for their lives?

Your problem is not Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

Your problem (or problems) are issues that you personally deal with….

Your problem is between your ears…

Your refusal to see what G-d has given you….

Whether or not we realize it, these issues we have been dealing with for YEARS….they already have a slew of answers to them.

I will again mention two things.

We froth at Amazon, Disney, or other company C, and we miss the issues in government, or we froth at government and miss the evil companies.

But it seems we never put the two together.

And deal with the cohesive whole.

Our excuse? We like either the red or the blue solution. One of two Republicrat solutions.

And we ignore the reality that “what you pay taxes on, you own.”

Meaning, we have paid massive amounts of money into services and companies that have done evil things, and I rarely hear believers attempting to leverage the financial investments in these companies to ask the King to steer these companies in a direction that better aligns with His will.

Further question.

Can we leverage our investment to intercede for that alignment of those companies without coaching G-d as to what his purpose and direction for these companies is?

And we rarely ask Father to shine His light whereever He damn well wants to shine it.

And we rarely down a corporate womb of agreement long enough to ask Father to steer companies or governments because we’d rather talk about the injustice as if a yutz of a businessman can or has gassed Jews.

Or we Yell about the penis-shaped ship long enough to say, “he could end world hunger with those billions.

Forgetting world hunger IS….

Because of mindsets…..

The problem of world hunger and creating the foolish solution of confiscating wealth to end it won’t end it.

You will end world hunger when you end personal hunger.

And you end personal hunger when you stop saying “the answers to my problems belong to someone else”.

And when you stop trying to force people to care for the poor or hungry.

That damn spirit of jealousy that has caused fascists to loot and pillage and burn whole cities is a real problem.

And jailing or interning or concentrating or exterminating a race because you think another race is superior.

Calling for reparations when you fail to heal your own wounds is precisely what gets us to ripping all kinds of things apart.

Failing to understand your Southern brethren because you think you can talk down to him or her and they are backwards…

And using the fire of the world to confront what is ultimately a spiritual problem is how you ensure fractured relationships will continue.

The problem is not billionaires or millionaires.

The problem is misfocussed attention on the gifts and resources of others and a failure to unpack, steward, or use your own.

I just recently pulled out a major cork to some large-scale problem I have been dealing with for 3.5 decades.

And you know what?

I am going to keep on pursuing solutions to problems that have not yet been answered.

Gang, this peanuts of the Billionaires is going to get us nowhere.

The problem is the spirit that wants to keep us blind to our own resources (spirit of Jealousy)

The problem is the spirit that says we have no resources (the spirit of slavery)

The problem is the spirit that says other people are responsible for fixing our own problems (the welfare spirit)

You are not a slave, unless you stop creating and start pointing the finger and expecting that your solution is what Jeff or Bill have.

And world Hunter proceeds from a mindset that I cannot do anything to change my station.

And when Scripture shouts:

HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN US EVERYTHING THAT IS NECESSARY FOR LIFE

And yet we continue to act as if some people were given the goods and others simply were not….

We can quit making excuses that the solution is someone else’s responsibility….

That is a damn carnal Teacher with selective responsibility or a half-blind, non-principle-weaving and severely-wounded Prophet speaking.

And I simply will not make excuses for the juxtaposition of anyone’s radically-gifted-for-life life and “my problems are solved with their crap”.

This is not how any of this works.

And you won’t work if you think your problems are supposed to be owned by someone else.

/rant

Blessing of the December Window of Reconciliation #5: Destiny Aspect, Right Father

by theparacleteshammer, posted in December WOR Blessings: Reconcilation to Destiny

“Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.

from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Beloved, I would like to engage with your spirit in the name of Yeshua, if they are willing.

Spirit, listen to the word of G-d for you for today.

αὶ εἷς ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων λέγει μοι· μὴ κλαῖε, ἰδοὺ ἐνίκησεν ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἡ ῥίζα Δαυίδ, ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ.

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judas, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Revelation 5:5

Spirit, there is a line of thinking that came into being with the writings of Jack Lewis that the L-rd is not safe. Indeed, in the Chronicles of Narnia, Mr. Beaver said he was not safe.

And truly, when someone is wounded or bruised or smoldering, a bruised reed Messiah will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish.

But, when the time comes for us to grow into kingdom sons, He is not going to lead us merely or only into the safe place of home, but into the risk-laden context of the wilderness. Spirit, Father did not bring us home to leave us home, but to have a safe harbor from which to do exploits on behalf of the King. And when we travel, Father goes with us, and He allows good things to come into our lives as well as testing and difficult things.

The issue is not whether or not Jesus is safe in that we can control Him, but whether or not He is good, meaning “consistent and trustworthy, free from corruption, and incorruptible”.

In the first blessing, I reminded you of the anchor that was the most trustworthy. Our best anchor is in G-d’s nature. And because everything He created was good, it follows that He who is the Source of all is also good.

Goodness is so lacking in our culture. Alienation in many places prevails.

And the masculine, fathering antidote for the brokenness is not the mothering attribute of safety, but rather goodness.

Goodness is brought about by execution, by a G-d who executes. By a good Father of Lights Who gives us every good and perfect gift. Goodness is seen EVERYWHERE, including in what He has put into you.

Father is going to challenge you, spirit. Father will spend some time working to heal you, but after a season of healing, He will take you out on an adventure with him. You might have to climb mountains, or swim oceans, or work with people who are occasionally ungrateful. You might have to run a marathon, or embrace some pain.

But, spirit, I bless you to rest in your Father’s goodness. I bless you with not just an anchoring place in home, but also a place of rest in Father’s affection as He is doing the grueling work of training you and refining you and giving you sometimes more than you can handle.

I bless you not to rely on Father’s safety when you are questing about, but on His goodness, which is central to His nature.

And that you can praise Him even when He sends you an unlikely messenger to correct you. I bless you spirit to hear Father speak in the Prophet language of Greek and in the Giver language of Hebrew.

Both Prophets and Givers are CRITICAL to your life, spirit, and I bless you to hear what Father is doing as He does it. I bless you to see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and experience the full range of Father’s good pleasure and His good gifts, even if they come in the form of fiery trials.

I bless you, in those season when you are laying on the pavement with a bleeding artery to savor the flavor of grace Father brings to you, whether it is repairing a transected artery, or eating a bowl of your favorite ice cream.

I bless you to lean hard into Him and the strength of His goodness when everything is going up in flames.

I bless you with hyperendurant resolve.

I bless you, spirit, to be galvanized against all the plans of the evil one and the clowns.

I bless you radiantly, affectionately, and zealously, in the name of Yeshua.

I bless you to find the silver lining when the clouds have gathered. I bless you with chops and strength and massive resolve and life and peace and understanding and PLENTY OF FIGHT.

Even in the dark night of the soul….

Merciful Maps and Profound Plays: God Reveals Himself More in Ezekiel

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Uncategorized

By Eric Hatch
July 2, 2018
As we read Ezekiel’s writings, including most of the last post about it, God would forgive you (if you asked!) for thinking the prophet only describes a God who revels in judgment.  However, Ezekiel’s audience finds bountiful hope and a cornucopia of details throughout his book, including amazingly detailed maps and powerful drama.  Both continue to provide color in our process of learning God’s true character.  We will study the unique way God directs Ezekiel to use plays to explain God’s response to His people’s sin.  First, though, we will provide some context for Chapters 40 to 48.

Maps Detail God’s Redemptive Heart

This closing section foretells the merciful plans of the Eternal God of Isaac and Jacob for their descendants.  Ezekiel receives The Word of The Lord with boundary lines for how God will apportion the restored land first promised to Abraham and his children.  This may seem straight forward – that God has a specific plan to give each tribe a place to build and call home.  However, Christians may find these chapters difficult to harmonize with Apostle John’s words in The Revelation and other end-time prophecies.
In this layout of a future kingdom promised by God to the nation of Israel, Ezekiel provides pinpoint, “GPS” cartography, laying out of the boundaries of each tribe of Israel’s allotment of land in a restored and future kingdom.  From my view, this detailed description may have provided John with his framework of Jewish apocalyptic writings.  Yes, I believe that God directly inspired John’s description of numbers: for example, the 144,000 Jewish converts to Christ during the Great Tribulation period and the New Jerusalem, a city over 1,000 miles wide, and just as long and high (yes, tall enough to stretch into Outer Space).  With reformed Temple worship including animal sacrifice, even seemingly after Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice (Romans 6:10), these last 9 chapters may scare away more Christians and theologians than any of Ezekiel’s writings, even the graphic descriptions of 16 and 23!
I will note here that I don’t feel qualified yet to interpret the closing passages of Ezekiel and all of its minute detail.  However, we can know for sure that Ezekiel completes his prophecies in the same place as John does in Revelation.  At the end of his writings, Ezekiel writes in 48:35, “the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.”  Then, as John finishes The New Testament, John writes in Revelation 21:3 this description of the New Jerusalem in language complementary to Ezekiel’s hope-filled name of our future home:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”

With these passages, let us build our hope on The One True God and His desire to reveal Himself in the short-term, when we commune in the spiritual realm, and His promise to live with us in the long-term, when He will physically and perfectly inhabit our new home.
Looking at both John and Ezekiel’s writings, I admit to confusion.  I try to  understand how God sees present-day rulers in Israel/Palestine, and the ongoing fight for land in The Middle East, and the promise of a perfect nation ruled by “The Prince of Israel”.  I also don’t understand when and how the Lord’s coming will occur, as described by John.  Nevertheless, God promises His mercy, and He even maps it out in detail because He will fulfill His words.  His grace is consummated for all women and men who care for Him.

Profound Plays Tell God’s Tragic Tale

Still, Ezekiel contains an even more uncommon narrative style, when compared to other parts of The Bible: 2 forms of drama.  In Chapter 4, Ezekiel acts out a true “One Man Play” among the exiles from Judah in Babylon, preaching each day while laying down outside for over a year (390 days)!  To depict God’s wrath on Jerusalem, he also builds dirt dioramas of The City of David and shows in excruciating detail how The Babylonians will destroy Judah.
In the second form of drama, Ezekiel performs as God’s avatar, his direct reflection to reveal how God acts in relationship with His rebellious children.  In Chapter 24, God tells Ezekiel of his wife’s impending death, but God requires Ezekiel NOT to mourn her passing.  Seemingly the cruelest job of any prophet, God wants the exiles in Israel to understand their deep, ongoing sin.  It’s almost like God says to His people, “See, look at Ezekiel.  He doesn’t even grieve the loss of ‘the delight of [his] eyes’.  Like him, I have no more tears to cry for you.  My wrath will be spent.”
This harsh picture of God shows the other side of God’s character, seemingly in contrast to the tender story in Amos about God’s buying back unfaithful Israel.  There, Amos, acting in the part of God, marries the prostitute Gomer, who bore children not fathered by Amos.  Then, when Gomer returned to prostitution, Amos bought her back, knowing that she still was unfaithful to him.
Both of these examples of “prophet as performance artist” complement each other, similar to the proverbial “two sides of the coin”.  We can’t have a coin… without 2 sides!  God acts at different times and in different circumstances with wrath toward His children in rebellious disobedience and with mercy toward the sinner.  These sets of actions provide more evidence of the significance of reading the writings of Ezekiel.
See, many preachers and seekers of The Lord Jesus Christ (including myself, occasionally) emphasize God’s mercy when responding to sin and unfaithfulness, as seen in the “reality drama” of Amos and Gomer.  However, just like the best human fathers, God not only provides mercy, but He also doles out discipline.  By reading all of the prophets and their proclamations, we see a glimpse of the true depth of God’s personality.  What majesty I see in this nuanced revelation of God’s goodness: just, fierce, forgiving, merciful, and always trustworthy!  And I know this about God because I read all of the counsel about Him in scripture.

God Reveals Both His Mercy and Justice

How should this two-sided (NOT two-faced!) picture of God affect His followers and our sharing of His grace with humanity?  For one thing, we only understand the character and actions of God as we seek Him in and through His past words in The Holy Bible.  For both believers and seekers of The Lord God, we can and should use our studies of the Old and New Testaments to push our awareness of His divine nature.  Remember that God doesn’t expect us to somehow discover a jewel about Him after innumerable unfruitful searches in the garbage heaps of Worldly Wisdom.  I am, similar to greater minds of the past like Isaac Newton, a follower of Jesus Christ and a person concerned with living my life in the logical world created by Him.  Therefore, I “use a metaphor popular at the time [of Newton]: God created two books, the book of Scripture and the book of Nature, and both books are true.” (Seen at https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-book-of-nature-the-book-of-scripture).  We need not worry if reality seems hazy at times, whether within one of God’s “two books” or when comparing Nature with Scripture.  As we wrestle with the meaning of The Bible, and as we learn more every day about the intricacies of God’s Creation, let us seek to find both what is real and what is holy.  As we do, we will know more about how God relates to us and what we must know to follow Him.
Thank you for your consideration… and remember: Holy Spirit is directing us all on a journey to unity in Him, through Christ, bringing us all closer to unity in Heavenly Father.  “God, bless those who read this.  In Jesus’ name, amen!”
I will share in my next post about more of the somewhat obscure parts of Ezekiel.
 

Ezekiel’s Hard-Edged Gloom… and a Glimmer

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Uncategorized

Second from Really, God?: Recognizing The Real God in The Book of Ezekiel, an ongoing series of blog posts
To see the first of this series, please click here.
By Eric Hatch
June 27, 2018
A note by way of introduction – Regardless of your level of understanding of The Bible, I say “Thanks for your time consideration!”, and after you read, please share your Comments below.
As we continue to look through some of the lesser known parts of The Bible, and specifically into the Book of Ezekiel the prophet, I must provide a bit of “Truth in Advertising”.
I admit that Ezekiel, though colorful and fantastic in its narrative, is… at times… hard to read.  This prophet, along with many others, share similar (read: repetitive) phrases throughout the book, and his stories and pronouncements of “The Word of The Lord” speak the same judgments on multiple nations, although they are from different points of view.  They tell God’s people in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah to follow God’s path toward fulfillment.  They speak harshly about the violence toward the poor and alien among God’s chosen people and in their neighbors.  They speak in graphic terms (what American audiences might name “NC-17” descriptions) about the adulterous and wicked idolatry of even the priests of God’s Temple in Jerusalem.  However, this trumpeting of the reality of Ezekiel’s national decline seems to mirror our “enlightened” modern generation.  Both ages of humanity hear these words of warning and blessing over and over, and like most of those in the USA and other cultures who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord, the Israeli nation started to disconnect from (what the New Testament’s Apostle and Prophet Paul called) their “form[s] of godliness” in the religious ceremonies, and then, they start “denying the power” of those forms (2 Timothy 3:5).
Now, we can’t deny the jagged edges of The Major Prophets (called “Major” not for their influence as much for the size of their biblical writings).  Yes, Ezekiel reveals the hard-to-stomach truth of God’s gloomy judgment (7:9-13) –
“I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare you.
I will repay you for your conduct
and for the detestable practices among you.
Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes you.
See, the day!  See, it comes!
Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed!
Violence has arisen, a rod to punish the wicked.
None of the people will be left, none of that crowd –
none of their wealth, nothing of value.
The time has come!  The day has arrived!
Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve,
for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
The seller will not recover the property that was sold –
as long as both buyer and seller live.
For the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed.
Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve [his] life.”
Yes, in a Bible Dictionary, this passage would provide a proper example of “Doom and Gloom”.  As God commanded, Ezekiel and all of the Prophets proclaimed Heavenly Father’s holiness and His inability to go against His own nature to simply excuse or overlook the sin of His chosen nation Israel.  Ezekiel woke up his countrymen to God’s irrevocable death sentence, an appropriate response to Israel’s violence, desecration of The Temple of God (Chapter 8), and adultery and prostitution with other gods and nations.
Let me emphasize a word of caution here about God’s righteous judgment.  As you read through Ezekiel, and if you have never read Chapters 16 and 23 of Ezekiel, seriously, sit down with a somber tone before reading them.  Ezekiel, receives “The Word of The Lord”, which describes Israel as an abandoned, unwashed newborn, then as a young and pretty peasant woman.  God matures her and describes His people as twins in Chapter 23 to represent the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel.  God also lavishes gifts on her as a doting Father, then marries and clothes her in gorgeous wedding attire as her Bridegroom.  Yes, these are strangely mixed metaphors here, but Ezekiel wants his audience to remember the roles filled by God the Father and Christ, The Husband of The Church.   And though God made Israel and Judah into an attractive blessing to the nations around them, they cheated on their Creator, sold themselves into sexual slavery, then gave themselves willingly to their enemies.  Israel and Judah went whoring with other gods, and Elohim disgraced and destroys them for this purposeful betrayal.  Seriously, the horrific language of Chapter 23 stunned me the first time I read it, and it pushed me into a deeper meditation on knowing God’s love for His followers and correctly doing as He directs.
Clearly, God’s wrath reaches an end for His chosen people Israel, especially in light of the later chapters of Ezekiel, where He gloriously restores them to a place of prominence, including the entrance on previously unseen “Prince of Israel” onto the religious and political stage, who was and will be fulfilled in the comings of Jesus Christ.
Yet, even with a future hope in the minds of the prophet’s readers, we should recognize the level of heartfelt love and personal treachery, which God describes about his relationship with His nation.  As the One True God and Father of Israel sees it, His people walked out on Him, sold themselves away to His enemies, and gave away their holiness for almost nothing.  Do we not see the treason?  As believers in the God of mercy,  this is not the example of a slight mistake.  We have become the worst of enemies: those who turn away from what is holy and good and turn toward sin, selfishness, disobedience, and evil.
So, instead of seeing Israel and humanity as the victims of a harsh judgment by a tyrant God, let us know God and His chastisement in its correct fullness.  He must discipline us for our sin.  The acts of rebellion require condemnation, but because He shows mercy, He always offers restoration.  We will show this in detail… in upcoming posts.
Thank you for your consideration!  Does God, as revealed by Ezekiel, surprise you?  Either way, please make comments below.
I pray, “Make those who read this siblings in You: Lord of Lords, Señor Jesucristo, Yeshua HaMashiach, Isa ibn Miriam (عيسى ابن مريم), Eesus Hristos (Иисус Христос).  In Your name I pray; Amen!”
 
I will share in my next post about more of the somewhat obscure parts of Ezekiel.
 
 
 

“Really, God?”: Recognizing The True God in the Book of Ezekiel

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Uncategorized

The first in ongoing series about lesser known parts of The Bible
By Eric Hatch
A note by way of introduction – many readers are at this blog because they like to study The Holy Bible.  Others of us have only skimmed that Childrens’ Bible gifted to us by religious relatives.  Hopefully, some of us only know bits and slivers of scripture.  Whatever level of familiarity we have in our Bible studies, know this – I consider it a high honor to share about God’s revelation of Himself to Humanity.  For your time, I say “Thanks for your consideration!”, and after you read, please share your Comments below.
 
Let’s take a trip back to earlier times… maybe last year, for some of us!
Look back to the moments when you were a new reader of The Bible, whether a seeker in younger (or older) ages or a preschooler whose parents selected some of the most kid-friendly stories of the “picture Bible” or (a personal fav!) The Old Testament of “The Brick Bible”, where the dioramas are made of LEGO’s… yes, it exists!
Got those moments in your mind, Ms. or Mr. Reader?
Show of hands, now — how many of you started reading of The Bible in the book of Ezekiel? (Looking… shielding eyes from the spotlights…) None? Is that a grand total of zero?
Show of hands, once more — raise an arm and hand if you can remember any more than two stories in Ezekiel. (Squinting… hearing crickets … hmm, even the praying mantis in the back has her arms down!)
So, among an audience who wants to study The Bible, we don’t read Ezekiel much, we likely only know two of the stories from Ezekiel, and for 99% of you, there are parts of Ezekiel you have NEVER read.
You may have read all of Ezekiel, Mr. / Ms. 1%.  However, do you remember how Ezekiel wrote with vulgar, graphic, maybe even pornographic language to describe his people’s shameful activity? Yes, I’m serious; it is in Chapters 16 and 23.
Now, I know that, even after reading this series, pastors won’t plan a sermon series on Ezekiel for the next 48 Sundays.  The book presents some difficult passages to interpret from the pulpit or even a seminary.  However, as adult Christians, we create a level of dangerous ignorance when we don’t read The Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.  If we neglect reading this important part of God’s Word to us, we fail to recognize some of the attributes of God.
Similarly, we do not understand or proclaim all of God’s story when we study and share about His grace without describing His holiness and His Law.  For example, why would we even mention His grace if we have not disobeyed His Law?  As well, what makes sacrifice, including the perfect death of The Lord Jesus Christ on His Cross, even necessary?  It is the active rebellion in sin by humanity.  Because we fail to follow God’s Law, we require His grace to stand in His presence and to receive eternal life.
So, please join me as we study Ezekiel, as it will provide us with a clearer view of God’s plan and love for us.  As we grow in our awareness of Ezekiel and all of scripture, we will move away from Satan’s deceptions and our preconceived notions of God.  Then, instead of false ideas about God, we will more fully know His character, Law, and grace, which will point us to their perfect revelation in Christ.

The Detailed Yet Unstudied Picture of God by Ezekiel

Now, looking to Ezekiel’s writings, most of us, even those among us who have read the whole Bible, rarely remember more from Ezekiel outside “The Valley of The Dry Bones” vision in Chapter 37 and what I would call “The Wheel Within a Wheel” vision in Chapters 1 & 2 (when God choose and called Ezekiel as His prophet). These two could become the front and back covers if anyone wrote a novel about Ezekiel.  For some Christians, we may have also heard the “Stand In The Gap” verse (22:30), which pastors and other leaders sometimes use to encourage prayer ministry.
All of these passages exemplify Ezekiel’s recorded visions and commands from God: larger than life, almost psychedelically vivid, waking dreams of God’s terrifying power, righteous judgments against His rebellious people, and promises of sovereign restoration for those who repent.  Still, these tiny portions only make up about 5% of the Book of Ezekiel!  Let the author confess here: I have often misquoted and used as pretexts these and other scriptures to support my own “pet doctrines”.  This misinterpretation, called “eisegesis” in technical terms, occurs when we go to The Holy Bible with our own presuppositions, instead of seeking The Lord’s direction.
As a consequence to our use of the Book of Ezekiel as a pretext, and even then only knowing a few verses from his stories, we end up acting like so-called “Christmas and Easter Christians”, nominal believers who attend congregational worship at our convenience or out of tradition.  Sadly, when we only try to learn about spiritual reality occasionally, we do a great disservice both to God (you become a less faithful steward of your talents and responsibilities) and to your family, friends, and acquaintances (they don’t see the need or benefits of seeking God’s discipline and training).
Neglecting to study Ezekiel, other Major (Jewish biblical) Prophets, and any part of The Bible doesn’t just mean we miss an artistic and cinematic portion of God’s words for us. We don’t just lose a portion of scripture, which would cross cultural boundaries in a media-soaked world. No, we most importantly hide some of God’s revelation of Himself from Humanity.  If you haven’t read and studied Ezekiel, Isaiah, or other prophets, sadly, you can unwittingly accept false ideas about God, such as The Prosperity Gospel or what I would call “One God under Nationalism”.  These deceptions keep you from experiencing the just discipline, true grace, and full love of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, which Israel’s prophetic writings foretold… but for many of us, we don’t know much of what the prophets said of Jesus!
Thank you for your consideration… and receive this blessing in my prayer for you:  Lord Jesus Christ, let all who read this seek you, drawn by You, Holy Spirit, embraced by You, Heavenly Father, and saved to Your holy discipline, Lord Jesus Christ!  Make those who read this siblings in You: Lord of Lords, Señor Jesucristo, Yeshua HaMashiach, Isa ibn Miriam (عيسى ابن مريم), Eesus Hristos (Иисус Христос).  In Your name I pray; Amen!”

Lastly, here’s a preview of the next three posts about the obscure and more well-known parts of Ezekiel.

The Hard-Edged Gloom of Ezekiel (Posted on June 27, 2018)
The Powerful Storytelling and Drama of Ezekiel, and how they tell who God is (To Be Posted June 30, 2018)
The Visions of Ezekiel, the Most Colorful Old Testament Prophet  (To Be Posted July 3, 2018)

Concerning Steve Jobs…A Modification

by theparacleteshammer, posted in Profiles of Businesspersons

I would like to say the following.
Growing up, I have always viewed Prophets as unilaterally the safest of the Redemptive Gifts.  I have used them repeatedly for counsel and input from time to time.  My best friend is an RG Prophet.  Some of the most thoughtful people I know are Prophets, and their prolific ideas are often dizzying.
In short, it is possible that I have been so spoiled by a plethora of high-functioning Prophets, many of whom I view as plush teddy bears (I know some that will contest that image, but anyway, it is the one that works), that I would not recognize a carnal Prophet if I saw one.   Probably in large part due to tunnel vision.
Steve Jobs doesn’t in any way come close to reminding me of other Prophets that I know or with whom I have had experience.  I won’t expose those Prophets that I currently know that don’t behave in a carnal manner, but I have about five that I deem extremely valuable that are don’t come across as mean or unapproachable
Most of my negative experiences in the household of faith, with few exceptions, have come from Exhorters, and there isn’t even another horse in that race.  I have seen the deeply carnal at work, and the moderately soulish as well, and the refusal to traffic in reality is a mind-boggling dynamic.
But a precious spiritual mother, Sandy Landry, pointed out some traits in Steve Jobs that are actually pretty irreconcilable with the full picture of the Exhorter.
Typically, Exhorters really do care what other people think.  Steve on the other hand, not so much, and went out of his way to call others out for their, in his word, “vanity”.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-steve-jobs-was-such-a-jerk-to-employees-2015-2

Apple founder Steve Jobs could be a real jerk when criticizing employees. He said exactly what he meant, often using profanity to get his point across.He once fired the head of the team who created MobileMe, Apple’s first attempt at a cloud service, in a public meeting in front of his team. There are many examples of him almost bringing employees to tears.
Today in a profile in the New Yorker, Apple chief designer Jony Ive — a close friend of Jobs — explains how he once asked Jobs to tone it down after seeing his colleagues feel crushed.
Jobs disagreed.
“Why would you be vague?” Jobs asked Ive. “You don’t care about how they feel! You’re being vain, you want them to like you.”
His argument, which Ive came to agree with, is that managers should always give clear, unambiguous feedback. They should not care whether their employees like them — and to even consider that is a form of vanity.
Instead, the best thing for the company is for managers to put their own ego aside and state exactly what they want, and explain every time an employee comes up short.
That said, Ive is much calmer when he criticizes his designers, although the lab is certainly full of brutally honest feedback. Also, Ive was not a big fan of Isaacson’s biography, which contained many examples of Jobs’ meanness.
“My regard couldn’t be any lower,” he told The New Yorker.

 
 
He also was very, very frank with people who worked for him, and abusively so in a mean-tempered way.
Ex-Apple Employee: Working for ‘Giant Jerk’ Steve Jobs was a Nightmare

Earlier this week, a new account emerged from a supposed former Apple employee that revealed what it was like to work for Apple under Steve Jobs. The anonymous worker painted Jobs as a very demanding boss who worked his employees to the bone. Of course, we already knew that.

Now, however, we’re pointed to a new account from a former Apple employee who isn’t anonymous. The disgruntled former project manager suggests that not only was Jobs incredibly demanding, he was also a “giant jerk” who didn’t value his employees and who blamed others for his own mistakes.

Erin Caton currently works as a project management consultant, and she knows very well that she’ll never work at Apple again. Why? In an old post on Medium dug up today by Business Insider, Caton pulls back the curtain on what it was like from her perspective to work at Steve Jobs’s Apple.

It wasn’t pretty.

First and foremost, it’s important to note that Caton worked as an Engineering Project Manager on the MobileMe team. MobileMe, as you might recall, was an absolute disaster, so it stands to reason that her experiences at Apple weren’t great. But even if she is disgruntled, her accounts are hardly unique — like all wildly successful CEOs, Steve Jobs could be a jerk.

Caton says she had two experiences with Jobs while at Apple. The first was when she was waiting in line for lunch and a man cut in front of her. When she turned to a coworker to ask who the “douche” was who had just cut her in line, she was informed it was Jobs.

Her second experience was significantly worse.

The former Apple worker recalled the lead-up to Apple’s big MobileMe launch, which the entire team working on the project knew was going to be a disaster. The product simply wasn’t ready and they had pleaded with management, but Jobs demanded that it launch on time.

When MobileMe crashed hard on launch night, hundreds of MobileMe team members worked around the clock to fix the service and get it running again. Then when the deed was finally done, they were all called into a meeting with Jobs.

“We all walked over to the building like we were headed to the guillotine,” Caton wrote. “He stood in front of us and yelled at us, told us that we should be mad at each other, said we could have done a staggered launch and complained that we didn’t even try to do all the things that we (those on the ground floor of production that actually make the [expletive] products of the world) had been begging to do. It was the world’s best de-motivational speech.”

Her full post is linked below in our source section.

This is not your typical carnal or even soulish Exhorter behavior at work.  This is more akin to a carnal, self-legitimized Prophet at work.
For example, let me draw your attention to Paul.  As an Exhorter, he had a rough time dealing with either real or perceived rejection in his ministry from within the camp.  Outside the church, no problem, bring it on and it does not matter.  But let someone who is a believer question his authority and the ink flows onto the page and spills over into the next two or three chapters.
So, I must readily admit that I won’t get it perfectly all the time, but it is possible on this that I was wrong.  Which isn’t a problem to me to admit.  But I am more given to wanting to get things right.
So, I would like to really open the floor up on this one for others to speak.  What do you think, gang?  Is there a fit better, from your perspective for either Prophet or Exhorter?  Or is there something else that meshes better, in light of all the details?