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It’s Not About The Church, Or Church ≠ G-d

9 September 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Ecclesiology, Principles

Someone missed the transition from communicating about church to communicating about G-d

The above image was seen on my personal wall and so I am re-posting it here with my thoughts:

As a pastor, I would like to address a notoriously faulty paradigm here.

How does “don’t make church a high priority” translate into “no concept of G-d”?

If we communicate truth, and we move from one concept to a different concept, without language for a smooth transition that connects the two realities, then the flow will be choppy.

We live in a church age where where church members and preachers have equivocated “G-d” and “church”, and subsequently used the two interchangeably.

Or G-d and Christianity, and then utter retardations such as “Christianity is the only valid religion” or “Christianity is the only way to G-d”.

And as we all know, Jesus said:

“The Church is the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.

And we have made the church responsible for spiritual growth. And we have abdicated our responsibility, to, flowing from our personal relationships with the Trinity, raise our kids up in the nurture and the admonition of the Church.

Are you getting it yet? Too many of my cynical Generation X are done with the “Church is G-d” Bolshevik.

The issue is not church, but growing up without parents who impart through the spirit to them, not the reality of church, but the reality of G-d.

If I impart knowledge of an institution and then farm my kids out to someone else in order for them to be instructed in Scripture without doing that heavy lifting myself first, then I don’t know how much good the church will do or be.

I will also say this.

Most of my wounds spiritually came from believers in institutional churches who refused to make discernment a priority or listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit also a priority, while judging me by my exterior, repeatedly and brazenly, which in turn led to slander and false accusations.

I’ve been a believer for 37 years, and have been raising my kids without an institutional church’s backing for the last several years, and it’s not because I have a theology degree, but because I listen to and hear Him.

It is amazing to me that, in the first 3 steps of this sequence, G-d HIMSELF, the Word of G-d, Jesus is not mentioned. Just a damn institution which may or may not get my kids closer to the L-rd if it does not know how to equip and release according to design.

So, if the sequence is to truly be logical, I would replace “church” in each step with “G-d”.

Over and over, I have seen all kinds of memes and posts that refer to institutions and seem to imply the institution is the same thing as the Man, and that simply is not the case.

A church is only as healthy as the strength of the personal relationships its members have with the Holy Trinity apart from the power and authority structures they attempt to place on one another.

When Weapons Do Prosper

13 August 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Principles

You read the title correctly.

Some weapons that are forged with the enemy’s intent to harm us actually do harm us.

“But wait, David. You are teaching heresy. The Word of G-d says, ‘no weapon formed against you shall prosper’. What are you talking about? I am so confused.”

Confusion comes when we refuse to read all of what is tied to a particular passage.

There can be a number of reasons why weapon prosper, but I want to focus on one dynamic of Isaiah 54:17 in particular: its immediate context.

So, the text for verse 17 reads:

no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17 ESV

Many sectors of the Charismatic Movement get so stuck on declaration and decrees, that they do not account for the context that builds into us that sinewy, tough, muscle in the spirit that comes through the process that enables Isaiah 54:17 to become a reality.

They miss that Isaiah 54:17 is contingent on walking well through the sequence of Isaiah 54.

The context for that passage is the set of keys to verse 17.

It reads:

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the L-RD.
“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
“For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.
“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
“For your Maker is your husband, the L-RD of Hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the G-d of the whole earth he is called.
“For the L-RD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off”, says your G-d.
“For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
“In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the L-RD, your Redeemer.
This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the L-RD, who has compassion on you.
“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
“I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.
“All your children shall be taught by the L-RD, and great shall be the peace of your children.
“In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
“If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.
“Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;”
Isaiah 54:1–16 ESV

I am of the viewpoint that Isaiah 54:17 is meant to be loaded, and, behind verse 17, is supposed to be the following disciplines:

1) Sing in your barrenness while you are giving birth.

2) Enlarge your place unto the boundaries for which the L-RD has designed you.

3) Resist fear. This leads to the removal of shame, but shame is rooted in something deeper: the absence of dignity.

4) Receive dignity first BEFORE YOU RECEIVE HONOR. Honor is for what you do. Dignity is for who you are. This might mean you need your receiver fixed, if it is broken.

5) Receive the honor of what you do.

6) Stand in your office of wife, both men and women. Just like there are no daughters in the kingdom, there are not bridegrooms of Christ. Congratulations, life is uncomfortable for everyone.

7) Recognize the seeming or believed or possibly real desertion and the real gathering of the L-RD. Meaning, recognize and walk through the seasons He gives you.

8) Recognize and be able to discern when we are being afflicted and when we are being borne up and be able to celebrate the King’s majesty in the midst of this.

9) Become life-giving in a deep and principle-woven manner. We have too much shallow life-giving abounding in too many of our churches. Too many preachers with their inch-thick understanding and wisdom, and not enough miles-deep and stone-heavy principles-woven-together Teachers who will enable us to deeply mine more from the Acripture than merely to “stay in love with Jesus: it’s that simple.” It’s not that simple.

Simple solutions do not touch complex problems that have not been understood, nor in woven to discover the principles and the opposite spirit.

10) Allow Him to set your foundations and forge you. No flames of forge and no Paraclete’s hammer, zero success against the weapons forged against you. If you are not tempered, you will break and shatter against those weapons (now you know part of where our blog name comes from).

Thanks to Isaiah the Teacher for helping contribute to this.

After this sequence, much of which will be extremely painful, then the weapons will not prosper against you. You who have been tested.

Be at peace, gang, and ask yourself, “do I want that +80 authority that can only be earned?”

Consider and then do.

Lessons In The Fifth Head From the Fourth Estate And Simone Biles

1 August 20212 August 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Fifth Head, Leviathan, Principles

She’s a hero.

She’s not a hero.

Self-care.

Excellence.

Quitter.

Why are we deciding what someone is based on a small set of decisions that are held under a million power magnifying glass?

Where is the Mercy Season Fragrance and tenderness in all of this?

The desire to make news is so devouring that you have to litigate a gymnast’s actions and ask the question of whether or not heroism is present??

And, some ignore the socialist actions of a governing board that refuses to celebrate excellence, but rather attacks excellence?

Or worse yet, we focus of secondary issues, such as whether or not she was good for her decision, and ignore the attacks on her dignity.

This proves the entire fourth estate (a term used for legacy news media) does not have anything better to do with their time except lead us to a place of fostered discord.

And I don’t want their evaluation of her decision.

Rather, I want them and us to celebrate the honed skill of an athlete who is a cut above the rest.

Mediocre journalism has become what the masses thinks is fresh manna, and they don’t realize they are devouring maggoty, stinking bread.

FOX, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC….the whole lot of them are peopled by predators with an agenda that is unredeemed.

And many of our current modalities in the culture are governed by modalities that deny redemption and kill nuance and refuse to make a way for robust discussion.

Picking apart a person that you should be protecting and honoring as the weaker vessel (the way Christ protected and protects us as His Bride) is the summation of what should be in our mouths.

Managing our words, or better yet, STEWARDING our words and communication when it does not matter to us will determine whether or not others hear our heart when it finally does matter. There is a wealth of sound present in the earth, and a landfill of noise given off by the fourth estate

And we will reap what we sow.

The problem here, is how are we enabling sound and clear communication to emanate from us in such a way that it gives life rather than takes it away.

Are we supposed to never speak anything that is negative or indicates our anger? G-d forbid!

But if we are frustrated, let’s really weigh our words and measure them with frugal economy so that they do not spill over into dishonor of others.

For more on honor, true honor, go here.

And, gang, let’s slow our collective roll when it comes to being quick to label others or know the truth about others.

We are better than the Fifth Head of Leviathan and the grossly negative and sometimes-abusive communication of the fourth estate.

And truly, let us, protect the delicate and vulnerable (what is really meant by “weaker vessel”).

Whose life are you breathing to others?

And what place of safety am I providing as a leader and communicator?

Jesus, cleanse me more deeply. Amen

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

26 July 202127 July 2021 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

Male Faith Vs. Female Faith

20 July 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Fractal of Two, Fractals, Male/Female

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find fiath on the earth?
From Luke 18:8

Sometimes you build the platform and then the L-rd repsonds, and sometimes the L-rd just shows up and you respond.

There are two dynamics that run very close, inverse of one another, and yet, we must dance between them on a constant basis as belivers.

We are told, by the one group of believers, that if we attempt to do anything for the kingdom, that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” (even though He has transformed us (2 Cor. 5:17). What, so Jesus saved us and transformed us from one form of filthy rags into another form of filthy rags?

And we are also told by the other group of beliveers, that if we just wait for the L-rd to act, that we are lazy and not bearing the fruit that is the testimony that we are His followers.

Both camps may not understand one another, but they both adject one another in the kingdom.

See, we were made to engage with both, and not to view one or the other as better or worse than the other.

Some days you are going to feel a GRACE to do something, to build, to get a wild hair and construct something.

And some days you are going to feel a GRACE to sit still and allow Him to be with you.

A grace to work, a grace for kingdom-laden effort where you work with dilligence.

Which has the same source as the grace to not act and to see Him act.

There are going to be days and seasons when you are supposed to construct a platform for the King, to marshall resources, to bolt boards and beams and set foundations and pour concrete and run wire and follow a set of prints.

The grace to manage. And even in the midst of revivals and moves of G-d, people still need to skillfully manage resources and supplies. Just because G-d shows up with miracles and wondrous things does not mean that we can stop all management.

We need to arrive on the other end of a move of G-d having passed the test of successfully handling what was put into our hands to use. And to not be swayed by every single need that tugs on us.

There are days when the revival gives us power and authority.

And some days, the power and authority are to say “NO” to the many needs, so we can say “YES” to the specific needs WE are called to handle. Just because resources fall into your lap does not mean you fritter those resources away on the first begging hand that comes to your door.

Are you capable of blessing those G-d tells you to bless, and also of listening to the King when He says “do not bless that person”?

Are you able to pray when the L-rd says to pray (and when He tells you to pray, He will supply the grace necessary to pray) and refrain when He says to refrain, even from praying?

He has designed you to accomplish a limited number of assignments on this earth and in this season.

So, there is truly a male form of faith, in which we build something and the L-rd responds to us.

And there is a female form of faith, in which we wait for the L-rd’s initiation, and He does something that we receive, and then we respond to Him.

Which season is it for you?

Male faith or female faith?

My challenge to you is this: Don’t merely act with one aspect of faith, assuming your form will be always blessed.

Sometimes you will need to execute what seems to you a foreign form of faith in order to move forward in a seaason.

And I bless you to hear when the music changes, so that your dance step changes.

Some days, we work faith in building a platform.

And other days, we lay in our beds and allow Him the prerogative to initiate.

Be blessed, gang.

Window of Reconciliation Blessings, June 2021: Blessing 2b: Land Aspect (Trauamtized Land)

15 June 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Blessings, June WOR Blessings: Reconciliation to Land

Spirit, in the last post, I talk about some general dynamics of hearing and instructing land, but there are some dynamics I neglected to include, given that last post was entitled, “Traumatized Land”. So, this is a continuation of that post.

Spirit, there are going to be times when the land you are working with is traumatized. The land may be able to acknowledge your presence, but cannot verbalize the nature of its pain.

Spirit, if you get a “yes, I am in pain”, but you are not able to verbalize what the nature of the pain is, I bless you with the patience and the skill to be with the land. Nothing high-impact. Nothing where you are shoving or breaking or moving or pulling or pushing or fighting things in the spirit.

As the passage says, there is a time and a place to throw stones and to gather them.

And with your land assignment, regardless of what the nature of the trauma is, and even though bones might need to be set, or splints might need to be applied, or connection that is gentle might need to be made, spirit, I bless you to be sensitive while you are staving off longer-term trauma and it’s effects, even if it means you are having to engage in some first aid that is painful for the moment.

When a bone is broken and misaligned, we need the bone not just to be fixed and healed and no longer bruised or broken. We also need the bones and tendons and ligaments in their proper alignments.

I bless you to team up with the right people of you need more than one person, and that those people are aligned together to the common purpose.

I bless you to move and bend and flex as you work with assuring the kingdom is manifested as it ought to be.

I bless the land to receive trauma care from you on behalf of and in the name of our King.

I bless you, spirit, to be skilled at placing things in alignment and to show love to the land as it is recovering.

I bless you, spirit, to keep doing the things Father has given you to do. And I bless you to consider what needs to happen long term as you are working at stopping bleeding or damage that keeps the land from embracing fullness.

Keep doing what you do, spirit, for you are blessed with the King’s favor.

The Spirit of Jealousy, Some Thoughts While Reading Numbers 5

7 June 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Life, Life, Dominion, and Honor, Spirit of Jealousy

The passage usually labelled “A Test For Adultery” in Numbers 5:11-31 struck me as curious today.

It’s the first mention of the Spirit of Jealousy.

And I want to cover a thought or an aspect here that may help us parse out what empowers that Spirit to have such a strong capacity to harm individuals.

What strikes me is not merely that jealousy is a feeling internal to somebody with no action or execution…

Rather, Jealousy strikes me as the intention to seek restitution for some slight of provision, that is, some belief that we were shorted or shortchanged in the area of those things that were given to us.

Dovetailing off of the Principle of Compensation, we carry a conviction that we were inadequately compensated, and we perceive an inequity where none currently exists, and as a result, we unintentionally or intentionally desire to open a legal case before the throne of the Father, using our G-d-given authority, with a desire to extract inequity from the party we believe has it better than us, without realizing that we might, before all is over, end up extracting life from that person.

Two aspects here

Life: This virtue parallels G-d the Father (see Life, Dominion, and Honor, where the Farher has GIVEN us the compliment of GIFTS that enable us to engage in everything necessary for LIFE and godliness.

Legal Court Cases involving jealousy frequently result in assaults on life, which is why myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) are so prevalent the where the Spirit of Jealousy is empowered through out authority.

Before you attempt to execute on your desire against someone, your desire should first and always give way to a willingness to discuss your issue with G-d the Father to see if your motives and thoughts are actually just and this is part of G-D’s sequence for you right now, or merely the result of offense or a slight and you personally need to seek for your own readjustment with the KingzY

You might need to deal with the L-rd one-on-one as he helps you sort through your feelings and emotions toward an individual.

I say all this because we were given a lot of authority by the L-rd and the capacity to abuse that authority if we are not careful.

In light of this, when dealing with the Kingdom’s legal system, and the level of authority you have been granted, oftentimes when your emotions are inflamed, it’s better to wait until you are capable of reasoning and have a conversation with the L-rd and ask Him to judge your emotions with you and for Him to weigh those.

There might be a misunderstanding, a head of Leviathan, a curse, a mantle, an off perception, an issue of forgiveness, something else that is to blame before you leap to demand an extraction.

So, as you are dealing with the situation where G-d is blessing or unpacking someone else, be careful, should jealousy strike, to refrain from lashing out, and from seeking for your good at someone else’s expense.

Deeply consider the nature of your cause, and ask the King for help and clarity in case there are pieces of the puzzle or perspective that you are missing.

The authority the Word of G-d gives us is truly a two-edged sword and we must be careful and clear-mindedly judicious about where we point that sword and scepter.

Be at peace as you are working through issues of potential jealousy.

And I bless you to cultivate the awareness that you might have treasures that are unpacked and you are in need of unpacking those much more than you are of envying what someone else has.

There is a real set of purposes for the Spirit of Jealousy.

But it is not for judging whether what G-d has given someone else is right or correct.

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

6 June 2021 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.

A Paradigm For Which The Church Has No Grid

10 May 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, What Revival Looks Like

Gang, when you hear about the end times and the end days, what do you typically hear from when speaking with the standard prettiness rapturist as it pertains to nations, governments, and land?

“This nation, all nations, and this earth are going to one day burn up and be consumed by fires, so there is really no point in doing anything except trying to win as many people as possible to Jesus.”

And yet, one of the premiere scriptures that is used for revival is 2 Chronicles 7:14.

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their people.

“Wait a minute!”, you say. “That’s not the verse!”

It ends with the phrase “heal their land”

And we missed the punch line, so much that Rebecca St. James has codified everything BUT THAT PUNCHLINE into a really catchy cut.

Jesus I am broken now
Before you I fall I lay me down
All I want is you, my all

I cry out from the ashes
Burned with sin and shame
I ask you Lord to make me whole again

For you say if I will come and will
Pray for you
There’s forgiveness when I
Turn from me and pray
For you say if I will come and will
Pray to you
You hear me and heal me when I pray

Your ways are not my own
But I long for them to be
So this what I pray
One with you you’ll make me

Melt me away ’til only you remain

For you say if I will come and will
Pray for you
There’s forgiveness when I
Turn to you and pray
For you say if I will come and will
Pray to you
You hear me and heal me when I pray

Did you see it?

Read the verse again.

If they will Humble themselves And pray And seek me face And turn from their wicked ways Then I will hear from heaven Forgive their sin And heal their land.

Now the sin being forgiven is one thing. Even being healed is another. Us redeemed? No problem.

But land that will one day burn up?

That land being healed?

That’s a bit outside of our zone, comfort, and theology.

How many sermons have you ever heard preached about revival in this age before the age to come that involve the land responding to revival?

Not many stories of how the land reacts are our there.

Of those those that do get told, the land often doesn’t fare well from our consumer-oriented, human souls-first-or-only revivals that focus on building buildings by taking on further debt.

Such as the Brownsville Revival.

But G-d wants to impact more than just healing, delivering, saving, and redeeming humans.

He wants to heal the land as well.

Whether or not you like the idea of believers interacting with land, that is a missing part from much of the current teaching on revivial.

I pray that changes.

LEPROSY AND UNCLEAN: LEVITICUS 13

28 April 202128 April 2021 by theparacleteshammer, posted in Biblical Studies/Exegesis, Uncategorized

“Unclean” in the Torah…a curious phrase. I am reading abot leprosy in Leviticus 13, and I think about the ways in which this word is use in the text.

We come to this word and we immediately think, “not clean”, or “dirty”, and as a result of that, we might go to “I am not good enough to appear in the presence of the L-rd”, and then leap to “I must not be good enough for the King’s presence.”

However, I do not think this train of thought fully encapsulates what the L-rd is trying to convey here. I do not think that our swiftness to leap to G-d’s rejection of us because of imperfections is really the right way to go about this.

Whenever I read a passage in Scripture as a pastor and a teacher, I start with the premises that G-d is good, G-d is love, RIghteousness and Justice are the foundations of His place of rule, and G-d desires a personal relationship and interaction with each of us.

That informs my reading, especially of things like unclean, which might tempt us to adjudicate G-d as unjust or unfair or somehow not right or mean-spirited. And thus we are left ot a place of futility. I do not think that is a helpful way of looking at Torah, and while Andy Stanley talked about unhitching our faith from the Tanakh/Old Testament….

I think a more appropriate place to go would be to unhitch our faith from sloppy, abridged, or merciless INTERPRETATIONS of the Tanakh/Old Testament that lead us to quickly pass judgment of the L-rd.

I do not believe “unclean” was used here to simply convey “dirty”, or “can’t come into G-d’s presence”, or “not good enough”, leading us to say G-d is mean or what-not.

And lest someone accuse me of attempting to negate the idea that “your sins have seperated you from G-d”, that is not what I am saying here. G-d is holy, but our idea of holiness often looks something like “free from sin”, rather than “weaving together principles to produce change”.

I think that “unclean” frequently refers to the idea of something that violates the singleness of our basic essence. And oftentimes, sickness, disease, and tragedy do not come into our life because we or our parents sinned. Often times, that comes into our life so that G-d may be glorified (Job 1-42; John 9:1-6).

Truly, it sounds like G-d wants to draw near to those who are broken or compomised (Luke 15:20), or unclean. So, our better solution is not the mindset that we need to stay away from G-d, but rather allow Him to run to us and we run to Him. Leviticus 13 is not about how we stay away from G-d, but how we protect ourselves and others when we are dealing with the junk that could threaten the stability of the larger group. And in the midst of the leper colony, we connect with the Father, who runs toward us.

Even while we are managing a sickness that can threaten our community, the holiness of heaven, with its weaving together of principles to produce change, desires to meet us where we are, outside the camp or inside the camp.

So, as you are looking at these passages, do not merely see them as “G-d doesn’t like me”. Rather, see them as “G-d has a purpose to connect with me in this season”.

So, when you read “unclean”, stop with the nonsense of thinking, “G-d refuses to receive me or look at me because I am a worm bastard sinner”. Think “G-d wants to clean me up and distill and purify my essence so that it is a single and cohesive whole.”

G-d is zealous that our essence be 100% your essence with nothing added…

You should be, too.