The word that keeps reverberating in the atmosphere is “Generations “. There are decisions that are being made that will not only affect all of us who are living right now, but will also affect the generations to come. In the US, members of Congress are negotiating the various terms and conditions of a bill that if signed in to law will change our way of living, quality of life, and stunt the growth and opportunities of the future for billions of people. Unfortunately, some of the people at the negotiating table are treating this like a simple game where winners and losers have a chance to play again. The reality of this situation is that the winners are taking from those who have way less than them and the losers don’t just lose money, they could lose their lives. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security benefits, SNAP, Section 8, and many other programs that help so many people are being cut, and in some cases under funded so that it can eventually be phased out.
I made a statement last week in jest. I was being sarcastic about a reaction that someone gave to something that I said. I jokingly commented, “I think I just started a chain reaction.” While I was attempting to be funny, I was also stating the truth: what we say and do can set off reactions that may reach farther than we will ever actually go. This is why what lawmakers and the bills that they sign into law are so important to pay attention to. Those lawmakers who know that they are working in the best interests of the people have no problem with the public knowing what they are working on and expressing where they stand. Those who are into shady dealings don’t want anyone to know what they are up to. The ones who will absolutely know what happened and who worked adversely against the best interests of the people are going to be us regular folks and all of the generations that come after.
I pray that the delusion of immunity from the fallout of policy will be broken over the 3 branches of US Government, especially the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch. I come to you God requesting Your intervention in the matter of the current bill that is up to be voted on to be signed in to law. Lord there so many bad faith actors who act like You don’t see them or know there names. They forgot that the impact of their votes go far beyond this moment, and land way into the future. Lord break off the chains from the lie that they can keep manipulating the Legislative process in their favor while billions of Your people suffer. Lord destroy the strategy that makes lawmakers think that they can do dark dealings and hide their involvement. Lord crush the plan that makes lawmakers think that they can live with the fallout and manipulate their way out of accountability. Lord please hear the voice of the Generations crying out and have mercy on us all!
You Lord look beyond the outer appearance and see the heart of each lawmaker and Governmental leader. I ask Lord that those who have sworn oaths to protect and defend ‘We the People‘ will rise up and do what pleases Your and reflects Your heart and will for all people. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray Amen!
Thank you for reading this far into the post. This is more like the type blog posts that I would make years ago. It’s nice to revisit a format that has become a foundation for my current blog post.
It’s been a good minute since I posted anything on this blog. A lot has happened, some of which I am not ready to write about, but I am released today – on Pentecost Sunday (and a few days later) to deliver this message that I have had since January 2025. The message in this post is for mature Believers in Christ, Spiritual Warriors of God, Intercessors, and those who seek to understand how what is happening in the spiritual realm, and spiritual principles relate to what is happening in real time on the earth. Just a warning – If you do not know about Deliverance Ministry or even basic parables from the Bible, this may be difficult for you to understand. I also consider that there may be folks who read this post, understand it and still disagree anyway. I am not writing this to convince or persuade anyone to take my beliefs, I just want to share what I have observed in America from a Biblical and Spiritual Christian perspective.
America Needs Deliverance
Deliverance in the instance that I am referring to in this blog post is pertaining to liberation of lives/souls, rescuing from the devices of the enemy, and resistance to evil plots/plans/schemes/strategies. Another thing that is important to know about deliverance, is that in order for it to take place there needs to be a deliverer – a person or entity that is causing the liberation or rescuing to take place. There has to be a reason why those who are captured can not free themselves. Maybe they don’t know how to get free, or are too weak to fight. It could possibly be that they are confused on who the true enemy is, or simply are overpowered or out numbered to put up a winning defense. The one who is holding others captive, hindering or limiting freedom is the strongman. As we learn from Matthew 12:29, Luke 11:21-28, and Mark 3:27 is that the strongman can be defeated, overpowered, etc. However, once that house that the strongman had is cleaned and made nice again, he will come back with 7 other strongmen that are even more powerful that he is to reclaim that territory. Yes, I am about to go there… Trump came into office in 2017 after winning the 2016 US Presidential Election. A lot of things did not go well during his 1st Presidential term of four years ending in 2021. Yet, although it was clear that he was likely to lose, a big lie was told that framed his loss to Biden as a result from a rigged election. This lie was told to convince his voting base that he had been “robbed” of his opportunity to have a 2nd term as President, although he clearly lost organically. After legal battles and an insurrection against the US Congress by Trump cultists, Biden took office in 2021. Although there were a lot of “mistakes” and mis-steps to repair and restore the United States to thriving again, Biden and his Administration took on that task and actually ended with a better economy and other metrics greater than before Trump was president in this 1st term. Unfortunately, Trump never stopped campaigning after he lost the 2020 election and somehow managed to win the 2024 election to become US President again. When Trump and his administration came into power at the beginning of 2025, they rapidly brought in the richest people they could find to become head of the most important Government Agencies. They also installed Trump loyalists into key positions that play vital roles in how the government is run, and how laws are enforced. Hence, America is in the seven times stronger phase and desperately needs deliverance from the evil that will be and has already been released from this administration.
Why is this important? This message shows how the United States of America has entered the “7 times worse” phase and needs quick, effective, and lasting deliverance if we ever want to have a democratic government system again. Now I am not about to fall down the rabbit hole of explaining fascism, project 2025, and how the current Administration is defying and destroying the basic tenets of the Constitution and our Civil Liberties as US Citizens and other types of residents. There is so much content out there that is much better and more thorough at explaining and breaking down those facts. This blog post is exposing the spiritual principle of how evil/demonic strongmen operate and how that same strategy is being executed by people in the highest office of power in the United States of America.
This is important because Jesus said so. In the model prayer that Jesus gave His disciples as a template of sorts on how to pray, He specifically instructed them to ask God for “…deliverance from evil.” It is truly amazing that so many people who say that they “follow Christ” refuse to acknowledge that evil does exist and it can be people that they respect, love, and revere that are participating in what their Bible describes as “evil”. I know that Christ saw good in a lot of people that were not socially and religiously accepted as “good” in His lifetime. That fact does not mean that He did not recognize when people, especially people in power were operating in unrighteousness, and executing evil plots and schemes. He called out Pharisees to their faces and referred to them as “vipers.” He went into the temple with a whip and turned over the money counting tables and chased the vendors out of the temple, because these people were using corrupt and unfair practices on people who had traveled to the temple to give their sacrifice.
This is important because we learn from the Samaritan woman who begs Jesus to deliver her daughter. She sought out Jesus, but was being blocked by His disciples because she was not an Israelite and she was from a nation that Israelites considered as enemies. She did not let their rejection deter her. She continued to ask for time with Jesus, until Jesus told his disciples to let her come to Him. She asked Jesus to deliver her daughter that was being vexed and tormented (presumably by evil spirits). Jesus tested her faith and belief and told her that his priority was his people (Israelites) not hers. She still persisted and continued to ask for His help acknowledging that she still believed he could help her daughter. Jesus was impressed by her faith and released a healing and deliverance miracle to her daughter, and she was delivered from that very hour. The evil spirits that were tormenting her daughter were positioning themselves as strongmen that had no intention of letting her go free. It took the intercession of a desperate but faith filled mother to ask Jesus to intervene in that situation to set her daughter free. This lesson shows us that spiritual forces can be the “strongman” that we have to fight against and prevent from returning sometimes. This idea is one of the foundational principles in Deliverance ministry – setting people free who are held by spiritual forces that are affecting their lives in many ways. We need to pray for the United States of America, all branches of Government for a removal, overthrow, and complete defeat of every evil strongman in the spiritual and natural realms. We need to occupy the places that are “set free” with truly Godly, sincere, and ethical people who have the US Citizens, Democratic Government systems, and are willing to be part of the solution to solving the crises and major issues that are arising in this country. Please note that if you are reading this and are in or from another country and you notice similar things, use this same strategy for your country and its leadership.
Guess Who’s Back???
“Guess who’s back” is a line that is used in many hip hop / rap songs, especially when a rapper has been on hiatus for a while and they are releasing new music. Guess who’s back when used in hip hop can mean multiple things, depending on how it’s phrased and the context of the lyrics before and/or after that question is posed. This phrase can invoke joy or passion depending on who’s asking the question and to whom the question is asked. I really felt like this is the right question to ask, in order to identify the strongmen that are acting as adversarial forces against our freedom, liberties, rights, and overall our democracy. For those that truly believe that “You shouldn’t mix Church and State,” you clearly have not been paying attention. A lot of the damage that has been done and is being done has been framed as upholding Christian beliefs (even though the Bible actually contradicts a lot of what is being done or said).
Christian passivity and timidity is really what has brought us to this point, not just the evil schemes and plans of those seeking influence and those in power. One thing has been proven time and time again in the United States of America from 2015 to 2025, US Citizens do not know what’s in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, and US Christians do not know what’s in the Bible or how to follow Christ. Clearly I am not referring to each person specifically who identifies as a US Citizen and a US Christian, however I am referring to the mass number of people who not only sat by and listened to the misinformation and in many cases what they knew to be flat out lies and did nothing, or did nothing other than repeat and spread the untruths. The Christians who knew that lifting Trump up to be a messiah like figure, when anyone who pays attention can tell that he does not read or follow the Bible, and didn’t push back against that because “their side was winning” is the reason why we are dealing with this mess now. Every religious leader who grifted off of prophesying Trump’s return and collecting money for boosting culture war topics, political agendas, and misinformation is the reason why we are here. I truly believe that Christians of the United States corporately dropped the ball after Trump’s 1st term ended when they kept boosting “the Big Lie,” attempting to justify the insurrection on January 6, 2021 and for not calling out corruption for what it was.The truth is that the corruption was already contaminating many Christian leaders. If they were in proximity to Trump they sought to buy him off to support their culture war topics and create laws that take away rights instead of giving rights to citizens. They were intoxicated by the new found wealth and influence they gained (especially on social media) by spewing misinformation and using Bible jargon to seemingly validate the crimes and corruption of Trump and his affiliates. If you didn’t know, some prominent Christian leaders felt free under Trump to let their racist, sexist, and bigoted true selves out, and to amplify those toxic beliefs into their “Christian” teachings. The Christian leaders who defended Trump and denounced any report that said that Project 2025 was going to be his playbook, is the reason why we are seeing almost every “play” from Project 2025 being implemented as fast as possible as soon as Trump resumes power. We literally had the advantage! We could have educated folks on what Project 2025 is and how it would affect our lives if implemented, but instead leaders denied it, said it wasn’t real, or essentially put their heads in the sand and didn’t say anything! Maya Angelo said (paraphrase) When someone shows you who they are, believe them, the same principle can be applied here: When a political PAC and a political party write a playbook, believe that they intend to use it. It’s coming up on six months since Trump has been back in office and so much preventable damage has been done: Effective and Essential Government Agencies have been gutted, people have lost jobs, critical services and resources have been cut or limited, laws are being changed that take away our rights, a war on immigrants has erupted…. It has become evident… America isn’t the only one who needs deliverance… the US Church does too!
The Great Deception – The Art of the Steal
So far I have only really pointed at the Trump Administration, the GOP/MAGA and the Christian Nationalists as being the catalyst for why we are here facing the fallout from their bad and corrupt governance. I didn’t even bring up the fact that the”first buddy” Elon Musk added his corruption to Trumps’ and was also a key player on why the US is in decline following Trump’s victory in the 2024 Us Presidential Election. Just recently in June 2025, Elon Musk took credit for Trump and several other politicians in various positions wins in the 2024 elections. Musk took to social media during a “spat” that he was having with Trump regarding the “One Big Beautiful Bil” that Trump wants congress to pass into law. There is so much in that bill that a whole series could be done about just that, so if you want to know what’s in it, there is lots of content out there that explains what new laws and changes to existing laws the GOP/MAGA Trump Administration wants to pass into law. At the end of last year and especially the beginning of this year Trump and Musk seemed to be inseparable. Musk actually did more press conferences with Trump at the time than the actual Vice President JD Vance. By Trumps’ own admission, multiple times, he stated that Elon musk and his “vote counting computers,” were responsible for his winning the Presidential Election of 2024. The deal that Trump and Musk made, likely illegal, is the level of devious corruption that we have never seen before as a nation. Once again, the fact that so many “good and faithful Christians,” were not calling this out and rebuking it opening as Jesus would have is beyond insane. Even self proclaiming atheist media/news outlets pointed out how wrong a Billionaire who receives multiple government contracts for his businesses’ involvement with re-electing a failed politician with a cult following is. And yes, Elon says that he is a Christian now, so he needs deliverance too.
The root of most of this is the way that Politics and Christianity have compromised in America for the “win’. While most people were asking themselves how much they need to compromise in order to win, what they should have been asking themselves this: Is it really a win if they have to compromise the truth to win with deception? By most standards all over the world, cheating to win is not really winning.. It’s just cheating. So how come Americans, especially US Christians do not feel the same when it comes to politics and corrupt leaders? Why is cheating bad in sports but ok if a bill I like is passed into law? Why is it ok to cheat people of their right to due process, as long as it looks like the government is cracking down on illegal immigration? Why would it be ok to place a person with no medical training or degree in charge of the nations’ Health and Human Services agency when they openly oppose tested and tried medical prevention and treatment practices as long as you don’t have to wear a mask or get a vaccine shot? It truly is throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Why are people in the United States so focused on getting their way on one minor thing to the point that they are willing to sacrifice everything? Not trying to get into any conspiracy theories or anything like that, I just want to understand what is at play – why are so many willing to compromise away their rights, their freedoms, their futures? It’s the same deception that Adam and Eve fell for- the “fell into temptation” in other words compromised, so that they would be like God… When God had already made them in His image… They literally gave up everything for a taste of forbidden fruit. We can’t even judge them for it, because here we are in 2025 watching our Political and Religious leaders do the same thing… at our expense. Lord, deliver us from Evil!
It’s so crazy, the majority of this year so far on social media, I have seen endless amounts of videos bashing people that voted for Trump for the mess that he and his first buddy are creating in our country and around the world. Though at times I agreed that the FAFO videos were funny and entertaining to watch when frustrated and how things are going, I’ve always felt like the anger and hate towards Trump voters is somewhat misguided because truth be told, with all of the crimes he committed during his 1st term as president and the other crimes that were revealed after he left office – he should not have been permitted to run for president ever again. The insurrection on January 6, 2021 is enough to say that he should not have been permitted to run, so we kind of have to blame the supreme court for that one.
Can We Learn From This Please?!?!
Is it possible to break this cycle and never allow this or anything similar to this happen again? If we want to make sure that the US, or the country that you are from, does not go down this evil road again in the future we have to show up, speak up, and push back against the evil that is being unleashed from top officials and leaders. I am not asking anyone to break the law, even ones that are unjust – I am not asking anyone to be violent. I am just asking for us to use the resources and power that we have to end this before what we have now is taken away. There is a common saying that you either, “Use it or Lose it.” and believe it or not it’s true. In the Parable of the Talents a businessman gave three of his apprentices money to invest (Paraphrasing). I don’t know what the equivalent would be in today’s terms, but let’s say that he gave the 1st apprentice $10, the 2nd $100, and the 3rd $1000. The 2nd and 3rd apprentices invested their money and brought back a return, while the 1st apprentice basically hid his money in a hole in the ground. The businessman congratulated the apprentices that increased their investment, but he told the 1st apprentice, “You’re Fired!”… Ok, Ok that is not what he told the 1st apprentice (I couldn’t resist).. The businessman scolded the 1st apprentice and told him that it would have been better if he had at least put the money in an interest savings account, at least then he could have earned a little bit of interest on it. Then he took the $10 from the 1st apprentice and gave it to the one who had started with $1000. Now I am not in any way saying that it is good for the one who has the least to have to give to the one who has the most, but that does seem to be the dynamic that is at play right now in the Oligarchy that the current administration is attempting to form. When the ones who have the least do nothing with what they do have, the little that they have will go to the richest. People WAKE UP!!!! We cannot AFFORD to do NOTHING! If we do nothing we are going to end up with nothing! No resources working for us, no services that help us, nothing to live for, nothing to fight for, no Democracy if we do nothing! Please remember: Our ancestors and many people before our time fought and died so that we would have the freedom, the deliverance from EVIL, that we were enjoying until now.
Time to Do Something!
It’s no secret there are people who have already answered the clarion call to get up and do something. Anti-Deportation Protests and other demonstrations are breaking out all over the US. Of course some of the more noteworthy protests are being framed as “riots” in the media, however most of the protests are peaceful. Political activists are requesting that we contact the US Representative and Senators that represent our district in Congress and also reach out to Representatives on the state and local level and put them to task to resist implementing laws that work against us and make life harder for the poor and working class and easier for the rich. If you are an intercessor, you can pray, decree, and declare as a form of resistance in your private prayer time or corporately with other prayer warriors. Leave thoughtful, truthful and passionate messages on the message boards of content creators that you agree or disagree with.
We can bind the evil leaders who are acting like strongmen by resisting their evil schemes, and not implementing the plays from Project 2025 or any other wicked manifesto. We can choose to not comply in advance to the wicked plots and plans of wanna be dictators and false strongmen. We can support our lawmakers that do the right thing and pray for them and their families, property, etc. to be covered in the protection of God and for God to bless and keep them in Jesus’ name. If you feel led to, you can also support them or nonprofit activist groups financially. We can shake off the sheepishness, passivity, timidity, and procrastination and become the change that we want to see in the world (Paraphrase from Ghandi).
Let’s show grace to those who still haven’t gotten it yet, but hold no tolerance or acceptance for the advancement of evil schemes. Of course as Believers in Christ we can always invite our Savior, Strong Deliverer, and Mighty Man of War into the situation and ask Him to fight and win on our behalf!
Let us never forget that regardless of the displays of wealth and power by men who set themselves up as king or any other type of evil ruler, that they are no match for our God, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings! As long as we keep the True and Living God on the throne of our hearts and lift Him over our families, communities, and yes over the Nations we can not lose!
If you had read this far, thank you for your time and attention. Please share with anyone who may like to read Christian perspectives on current events and politics.
When most people think of the Law of Cause and Effect, they would probably envision one circumstance making changes to another circumstance. Sort of like the Domino Effect, where a series of dominos are lined up in a manner that if any one of them should fall it would cause a ripple effect where all of or most of the other dominos would also fall as a result. Some domino displays are so elaborately designed that a fallen domino can catapult a marble, or turn a cog on a gear, etc. Though a simplistic concept, it can be very detailed and extensive in design. While this type of expression of cause and effect is admirable and even entertaining with inanimate objects like: dominoes, cards, or even Jenga – when it comes to human beings, relationships, and the fallout it all can get really messy. It’s akin to one falling rock starting a whole avalanche, there is no resetting the game or easy clean up. This is essentially the mechanics of a mob. Mobs are nothing new, from ancient times to today, if a group of angry and lawless people can get together and cause mayhem and destruction, especially when they believe they have a valid reason to do so, they will.
Merriam-Webster defines mob as: “a large and disorderly crowd of people; especially : one bent on riotous or destructive action.”
scirp.org defines mob justice as: “a situation in which a large disorganized crowd of people take the law into their hands and aggressively carry judgment and punishment on a suspected criminal. People become the executor of the law without following the due process.”
Now that we have a clear definition of the words mob and mob justice, how does a mob start? What is the 1st domino per se? For a violent, angry, destructive mob the catalysts are usually fear, offense, and manipulation.
Fear – The Replacement Theory, overblown news stories that become impending doom to a group of people, taking away “God given rights,” fear of change, and the fear of a beloved leader being ousted. There are many more examples that we can learn from the global community, however for Americans, all we have to do is look at what happened in the 2020 Presidential Election and what happened leading up to the votes being certified in January 6, 2021, and you will clearly see how fear mongering was used to get those that participated in the insurrection at the US Capitol all riled up. Another aspect of creating fear amongst various demographics is creating “culture wars,” where the effort to squash political correctness by outright attacking the views, lifestyles, and expression of all who share opposing or differing views is sickening. While I personally am not a fan of political correctness, I do not find that others need to be muted or invalidated so that I can maintain my beliefs. The fear mongers who thrive on freaking out about culture issues do so to get their audience to take action, and in some cases to form a mob.
Offense – Laws are getting passed that are not welcomed, other differing/opposing points of views are being validated, offended that changes will be made whether you like or not, white supremacy ideology. Why White Supremacy ideology as an offense? White Supremacy Ideology is founded upon the beliefs (although scientifically and historically inaccurate) that people with fair (white) skin are superior to all other people, especially those who have dark skin. They use a scripture from Genesis where Noah issued a curse on his grandson because his son uncovered his nakedness. Basically Noah had gotten drunk and fell asleep somewhere naked or exposed. When his son found him, instead of doing the decent and moral thing – which would be to cover him and make sure he was okay, the son instead ran to get the other sons and mocked Noah to them. The other sons refused to look at Noah in his compromised state and instead assisted Noah. When Noah found out what happened he was rightfully upset at his son, and spoke harsh words, which many consider as a curse, upon Ham. This curse says something to the effect that Ham’s offspring would have dark or black skin. This scripture has been used to attempt to justify many of the atrocities that have historically been done to people with dark brown to blackish skin tones – mostly people whose ancestry is from Africa. White Supremacy takes it a step further by surmising that if Black means cursed then whit must mean blessed. There are other scriptures and Christian literature, songs, etc. that use terms like: “being washed white as snow,” etc. These foundational beliefs are what make people who believe them offended when they witness people of color in positions of power, benefiting in ways that white people typically benefitted like: being successful in a well respected position, having a high paying job, owning a home and or land, etc. Any semblance of a person of color or another ethnicity having equal to or more than they have makes them feel like their rights are somehow being violated. This is dangerous for people of color, non Christians, and for America. They attack democracy, especially the modern expression that actually includes ALL people as equals by quickly reminding us that when the US Constitution was written, it was referring ONLY to land owning white men. Not even the Indigenous Peoples who were here before the European colonizers arrived were considered in the original US Constitution. The US Constitution has since been amended many times to create the government that we have today, however because of the rise of white supremacy ideology many people are not satisfied with it.
Manipulation – Some of the people that participated in the January 6th Insurrection in 2021 and have been convicted and sentenced because of their participation now have a different perspective than they did in hindsight. Because they believed the former President would “pardon” them for their crimes for him, they risked their lives and the lives of the Law Enforcement and other people in attendance on that day, and now they are paying the price. Many of them can’t believe how they were convinced that the Big Lie (that Trump won the 2020 election/ that the election was rigged) and how they actually thought that the former president would help them out if they got into trouble. To date, the former president has not paid for any legal expenses, or managed to get any pardons for those who are now serving time in jail for their participation in trying to get him reelected. While some of the people who took the bait are still loyal to the former president and would do it all again for him, there are plenty of people who can finally see that they were used, bamboozled… manipulated, and would not be found near any type of mob ever again.
While this blog is specifically referring to mobs that form to carry out their idea of mob justice, it is important to note that not all mobs form for the purpose of justice or retaliation. For example mobs formed by the KKK were formed to intimidate and assert power over the minorities in a particular town or neighborhood. Mobs have formed when a favored sports team lost an important game, or when drunk/chemically intoxicated people get into fights. So there are many scenarios where this type of phenomena can happen, but those are unorganized or unplanned examples in contrast to deliberately and intentionally signaling to a group of people to fight or carry out mob justice for a cause or personal benefit.
In the Bible there are various examples of mob violence and the consequence of that. The mob that confronted Lot when 3 “Sons of Men ” or angels visited him, in a smaller simpler way Joseph’s brothers acted like a mob when they attacked him and threw him into a pit, then sold him to a caravan of merchants passing by. There is an example in Judges 19 that is similar to what happened to Lot at Sodom and Gomorrah, although it did not turn out as well for those involved. And of course we can not forget that there are several instances in the New Testament where mobs were either after Jesus and his Disciples, or after the Apostle Paul. In John 18, Pontius Pilate was facing the dilemma on whether or not to crucify Jesus, according to Roman law, he really could not find any fault with Him. So he decided to give the mob of Jewish Pharisees, Sadducees, and citizens the option to free Jesus and have Barabbas (a known criminal) crucified or to free Barabbas and have Jesus crucified. As history goes, Barabbas was freed and Jesus was crucified.
TRIGGER WARNING – The following section is about violent acts, sexual assault, and other unpleasant topics.
The pure evil that is rooted in mob violence and destruction is very dangerous and we must not allow any political figure, any person of influence, or anyone at all be allowed to stir up unchecked violence and destruction on US soil ever again if possible. What happened on January 6th 2021 as bad and insidious as that was, there are levels that are way worse and none of us want to see it. As mentioned earlier in the blog in Judges 19 there is an account in the Bible about a Priest who had/married a concubine and the result of them traveling through a city they were not familiar with towards evening. The concubine has become upset with the Priest and went back to her father’s house. The Priest some time later went to the concubines’ father’s house to pick her up and take her back home. The woman’s father insisted that the priest stay and not travel late in the day. So this happened for a few days, and finally the Priest decided to travel late in the day with the concubine against her father’s suggestion. When they arrived at a certain city an elder noticed them and invited them to stay with him so that they would not be vulnerable on the streets at night. The priest and the concubine accepted the invitation and feasted at the elder’s home for the rest of the evening. Later that night a mob of men from the town arrived at the elder’s house and demanded that he send out the Priest so that they could “have relations’ ‘ with him. The elder refused and offered his virgin daughter and the priest’s concubine instead. The mob relented, so the elder grabbed the concubine and put her out of the house to the mob. The mob attacked her and basically raped her to death. When the Priest went out of the house the next day to look for her, he found her dead. He did not bury her, instead, he dismembered her and sent parts of her to all of the other Israelite tribes. This caused outrage amongst the tribes when they found out what happened and demanded that the tribe of Benjamin, whose men were responsible for the crime, make restitution somehow. They refused and an all out war broke out. Many people died, including the concubine who was assaulted, abused, raped and tortured to death, but also the many warriors that fought to avenge her death.
Now apart from the many questions that a person from the 21st century has reading this account from the Bible has, about why was the woman thrown out at all? Was there another way to de-escalate the situation? Why didn’t the Priest and the Elder realize that the woman might die? The main question is what stirred up the mob in the first place? The truth that is evident in this Bible passage is that it really doesn’t take much to start a mob up. The men who made up the mob mentioned in the story would have been considered to be “Sons of Belial” or sons of the devil/satan. You see, these men had already given themselves to wickedness and evil ways before the Priest and his concubine ever arrived in town. The story doesn’t tell us who the ringleader is or why they even wanted to do that, but just like the mob of men from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah the men were insistent on committing wicked acts with one of the men.
In the Greek the word Belial means worthless, the mob, the sons of Belial are committed to worthless and wicked acts. Just think about it, in the January 6th example all of the destruction, mayhem, and fall out from that was worthless. The goal to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the Presidency was thankfully not achieved, nothing that was done in that violent and chaotic display proved any of the rhetoric that the participants believed to be true. The only value or worthy thing that can be taken away from that Insurrection is that we NEVER want it to happen again, for any reason, for any cause… it is just NOT WORTH IT!
Characteristics of the Sons of Belial
Do not believe or act as if the rules do not apply to them – The sons of Eli (the Priest who mentored the prophet Samuel) had sons who ate the fat from the meat sacrifice to God, the fat was supposed to be the best part and reserved only for God. They also defiled the temple by having relations with the temple workers. This is expressed in the lawless behavior of the mob, they believe they can do what they want irregardless of laws and rules in place. (1 Samuel 2:12-25)
They want Barabbas – It doesn’t matter if Barabbas is a criminal and known for his wickedness. For whatever reason, this is their guy. They do not want the true Christ Son of the Living God. They want someone just as lawless as themselves. (John 18:38-40)
Their hearts and minds are set to wickedness – Like the wicked men from Sodom and Gomorrah, and from Judges 19, these are people who are always ready to do or join in with the violence and evil acts going on. (Judges 19:1-27)
They invest in worthless things: conspiracy theories, the Big Lie, participating in fake militias, participating in the KKK, Neo Natzi groups, and groups dedicated to the former president. In 1 Kings 22, King Ahab was attempting to convince King Jehosephat to go to war with him, so his enemy would be defeated. Jeshosephat wanted to know the word of the Lord concerning Ahabs’ proposition. So Ahab had all of his false prophets prophesy to Jehosephat that it was ok to go to war and that they would win. But Jehosephat was not easily convinced so he requested a true prophet of God to prophesy. The prophet Micaiah mockingly prophesied that it was ok to go to war, then when questioned told them that God sent a lying spirit to Ahab’s prophets so that he would be destroyed. Micaiah prophesied exactly how Ahab would die and was promptly locked up. Ahab risked and lost his life by rejecting the truth and perpetuating a big lie. (1 Kings 22:1-38) Do not believe, buy, support, or invest in any worthless thing that the Sons of Belial offer to you.
We do not want mobs and mob justice to be the norm in this country, or anywhere in the world for that matter. Of course the Insurrection at the US Capitol is not the first or only example of mob justice and mob activity in this nation, however it is the clearest example on how people can be manipulated and encouraged/emboldened to participate in such activities. Below is a link to an article about a mob attack that happened in Taxco, MX. This is not to disrespect Mexico or any of its citizens, but to show what happens when mob justice is normalized. We need to pray and be vigilant not just for the US, but also for our neighboring countries, our allies, and really globally as well. Let’s put some intercessory pressure on the spirits behind the mob attacks and mob mentality. Let’s put those Sons of Belial on the run and agree for no mob attacks today, tomorrow or ever again in the name of Jesus. Let’s not accept and allow politicians, and influential figures to manipulate the well meaning people who may be scared and offended about the changes happening to the country. Let’s not make excuses for those who express hateful, violent, and bigoted rhetoric that is stirring up people to violence. Let’s call out and confront those that would have others violently do their bidding or destroy our democratic governing systems. Let’s not turn away and ignore the threats and signals for violence against Judges, Prosecutors, women, and family members who are put in danger through reckless rhetoric on social media. It may be time to set some precedents that have never needed to be set before to quelch the rise of violent domestic terror groups in this country. Time to take the kid’s gloves off and admit there is a problem with organizing hateful and violent crowds and stop hiding behind the right to free speech. You know that phrase, “I can show you better than I can tell you”? Well let’s not wait until the mob feels like they need to “show and prove”. They are telling us exactly what they want to do, who they want to do it, and are just standing by waiting for the opportunity. They are not playing when they express what violence they want to commit, it may seem funny like a joke, but the joke will be on us if we continue to ignore, explain away, and sit passively inactive while they organize for war.
How many people have gotten more guns and ammo since Jan. 6, 2021?
How many people weren’t at the Insurrection, but wished they were, and are getting ready for the next one?
How many dog whistles, and silent instructions are being sent to mobilize people for the next big mob attack?
Do we really want to be in the “Find Out Section” following the upcoming US Presidential Election?
Many of you reading this are like me in the sense that you naturally have an aversion to confrontation, conflicts, and violence. You may not be the one who wants to riot in the streets when an injustice is committed. This is ok, take your position of influence with your loved ones and help them to come out of mob mentality by praying for and with them, providing factual information that will break lies that they believe, not rejecting them and punishing them for their views for evil rhetoric towards your views. Emphasize that your relationship with them is more important and that you want them to be around in the future to continue the relationship, not in jail, not dead, and not on the run for committing violent crimes. Cover the vulnerable in your life, especially people in public positions, family members, and women or girls that may be targeted, and of course all whom the Lord leads you to pray for. A lot of people do not believe that God answers prayers, or you just do not have that experience. If prayer is not your jam, do what you can do to help your loved ones and keep them safe, while avoiding being caught up in the violent rhetoric. Above all, let’s agree that we cannot have another Insurrection or outbreak of mob violence for any reason.
Thank you for reading! Here is the link to the article about mob violence:
The biblically historical city of Bethlehem is currently located within the Palestinian borders of Israel’s West Bank. Most people know that Bethlehem is the city that Jesus was born in and was also the place where the Magi of the East (wise men) visited Him while bearing many gifts, Did you know that Bethlehem is also the place where Ruth and Boaz got together (Ruth 1:19) or where king David was originally from (1 Samuel 16:18, 1 Samuel 17:12). The small town of Bethlehem has inspired many that just because they are from a small town, they can still become someone great.
Despite the rich history and culture and the fact that it is a key site of religious significance for 3 major religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), protecting this town and preserving all of the good things about it will become difficult as the Israel Hamas war conflict continues. What is this war about? It’s about retaliation, hostages, and terrorism – that is the recent “excuse” to have this war, but in actuality the war is a continuation of disputes over land rights and access, and resistance to coexistence with people of differing religious, moral, and cultural practices and beliefs. Of course power and control is the motivation for some, while restoration of land and resources that were taken is the motivation for another.
To be clear from the Western point of view, the 3 major religious and culturally distinct groups occupying the modern country of Israel are Muslims, Christians, and Jews. But from the point of view of the people who have generations of family history in the region, there is a distinction between a Jewish person (who originally is from that region) and a Zionist (a person practicing Jewish religion/culture predominantly of European descent, possibly the descendants of settlers to the region). The Zionist Jews came to the region that was called Palestine by the British, and were directed to “settle” a piece of land that is reported to have been owned by a rich family named the Rothchilds. What is missing from this account is that in order to do this they had to clear out the people that were already living there. It is true that some of the settlers had to build and establish everything from scratch, however as more and more settlers arrived, local inhabitants were banished from their own property and told that they could not have the houses and property that they had in their families for hundreds of years back. A wall was even built to further restrict their access to other parts of what is now Israel. Most Palestinians, especially Palestiniams who are of Arab descent and practice Islam, can not get access to go to Jerusalem where that is a great holy site for Muslims is located because historical Jewish and Christian holy sites are close to it.
I watched a video of a Palestinian explaining that he (a middle aged to older gentleman) only was allowed access to go beyond the Palestinian border for his job. He has to leave before the sunrise because the bus that goes across the border has to go the long way to a specific access point. After work there is no time for him to run errands or do any leisure activity, he has to get straight to the bus that will return him home for fear of being jailed or physically harmed if caught outside of the border after curfew. And now this war… For those who have been paying attention to Israel over the last 5-10 years, you know that missile strikes, and all sorts of attacks have happened over the years that did not result in a full blown war as we are witnessing right now. This is not to diminish the fact that an attack was made and hostages were taken, however there was much more done on both sides before all of this occurred. What is happening in present day Israel is what would be happening in the USA if the Indigenous people of America had allies and continued to fight over land rights. While some want to peg this war in Israel as a “Holy War” anyone who has been paying attention knows that it is not. And anyone who doesn’t believe that genocide of Palestinians who are being targeted and killed just because they exist and happen to live there is not paying attention. Also yes, Hamas is an Islamic Resistance Movement, and they did do a terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 in retaliation to the wrongs that Israel have systematically have been doing to the Palestenians for decades. The Paslestinians were pushed out of most of Israel into the West Bank and Gaza, however that wasn’t good enough, Jews are still grabbing land from that area and taking from Palestinians.
The narrative that is fed to Western (especially Christian) media is that the majority of Palestinians support and are potentially operatives of Hamas. This is not true according to the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) only 27% of Palestenians were in support of Hamas while 34% were in support of the Palestinian Authority who currently presides over Palestine. It is very telling that the IDF (Israel Defense Force) had no restraints in bombing innocent and uninvolved Palestinian citizens following the Hamas attack. While Palestinians were being directed to move to another part of the enclosure whole apartment buildings were being bombed, civilians in the streets, in hospitals, and other common public places were attacked by Israeli military.
Both sides are wrong to attack, Hamas to attack and take hostages, and Israel to respond by attacking and preventing aid, and killing thousands of innocent civilians. By now Israel knows that Hamas is not operating from the West Bank, so why continue to air strike the buildings and infrastructure there, more importantly killing more people including women and children? It’s a war based on hate against the people who originally owned and lived on the narrow strip of land that is now referred to as Israel. It’s not about getting hostages back, it’s about controlling land and who can have access to it. If it were truly about getting the hostages back, there would have been a permanent ceasefire by now. I also want to point out that at least 65% of Israeli citizens do not agree with the tactics that the IDF is using. There have been videos of IDF soldiers singing and dancing to folk songs about basically wiping out the Palestinians. There are so many insidious and heinous roots of evil to this war taking place.
I want to be sympathetic towards Israel and try to see things from their point of view, but the cries of the innocent must not be ignored. All over the world people have called out the international war crimes that have been committed in this situation and yet there is still no ceasefire, no answer that is sufficient, and no viable solution. The US recently began air dropping aid to the remaining Palestinians to assist in a relief effort. While this is commendable, it is just a fraction of what could be done, in relation to how much power and influence the US has with Israel. Maybe the problem is that the Palestinians have been reduced to being the “others,” the problem, the pests in this situation. The far right government that is operating in Israel took full advantage of the attack from Hamas as an opportunity to rid itself of the people that seem to be standing in the way of advancing their right wing agenda. This cruelty has to end.
It always comes back to resisting the urge to call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20–21). We are commanded to recognize evil as evil, even when it is wrapped up in a nice package or has a convenient excuse. It’s unpopular, for some it is outright offensive to suggest that the way Israel has responded to the Hamas attack is in any way wrong, but remaining loved ones of the tens of thousands of slain Palestinians, some who were just trying to survive another day in their own homes, would say differently. This is not to say that the lives of the slain Israelis from this conflict are not as important, it is just that their loved ones still have their creature comforts, are relatively safe, and able to peacefully put their lost ones to rest, while the Palestinians have to struggle to obtain food, water, shelter, and basic services while grieving and trying to be safe.
Even in Biblical times Nazareth was a humble place, it was not a New York, London, Paris, or Rome – Nope it was more like Baltimore, Chicago, or Compton, people wondered if anything good could come from there (John 1:46). Yet this is the place the Jesus’ family moved to after leaving Bethlehem (they also spent time in Egypt as well). The difference between the ancient times of Jesus and his family moving and rebuilding, is that they had access, they had autonomy to the degree that the decision was for them to decide and not forced on them. The modern day Palestinians, some who reside in Bethlehem are being robbed of that choice, of that autonomy. It would be different if the Palestinians were the foreigners that pushed the Zionists out of their land, the violence and death would still not be justified, but maybe more people would be empathetic. But no, it is the Zionists who moved to Israel and seized property that did not belong to them. I know there is the whole argument that they are God’s chosen people and that Israel is God’s land so it belongs to them argument. But God made the whole world, and as a Christian I could claim that because I am God’s child I can pick whosoever land that I want, end of story – is not gonna fly nowadays. The US should not be funding the genocide of Palestinians, when it has its own history of genocide of the Indigenous and Native peoples who inhabited the land that the United States of America was founded on.
In these days and times, public opinion towards prayer is pretty low. Many critics believe that it is pathetic and does not really make much of a difference, but those of us who believe that God still answers prayers know that praying is not a waste of time, energy, and words. So for those who want to pray, let’s intercede for those who may not be able to petition on their own behalf.
Let Us Pray For:
The most vulnerable – the infants, children, elderly, pregnant, and those with physical, mental, and emotional impairments.
Those who are doing their best to secure aid, food, shelter, and other provision for their families and loved ones.
Those who are sharing while experiencing lack, Lord multiply to exceed the need. We declare: MORE than ENOUGH in Jesus name!
Protection for those who are still traveling to get to a safer place or going back to check on loved ones.
Ceasefire and speedy resolution of the crisis
Homes, land, incomes, and all that was stolen to be restored to the rightful owners.
Repentance for the innocent blood that was spilled during this crisis
Healing for deep trauma and all associated medical and mental health issues for all involved.
Unseat those in power who are making bad and evil decisions to agitate and escalate the war and disunity.
God’s plan and design for Israelis and Palestinians moving forward.
Whatever God lays on your heart to pray regarding this war conflict.
Thank you for reading, please use these prayer points (along with your own) in your intercessory prayer groups, bible studies, and prayer groups.
Systems of all types are at the core of many things that we have implemented as a society to make every level from the highest institution in government to how products and services work. There are natural systems for example the weather, the way that plants and other living organisms work together in beneficial relationships, to biological systems in our bodies that keep us functioning well. There are mechanical systems, technological systems, medical, financial, educational, legal, and justice systems that we depend on to work as they were designed to work, with all outcomes supporting the greater good for us all. But what happens when a system is broken? When a family is split? When justice is not served? When these things happen we often do not see the result until much later down the road when it is virtually too late. By the time we detect that the system is not working, reports of corruption, criminality, abuse of power/influence, and so many other tell-tale signs rise to the surface for all to see. Whether it is an individual person or a whole nation, when the system is broken fixing it, or at least remediation are the best solutions. Now here is the dilemma: Where we are as human beings in a modern world, full of technology and information, how to get everyone to agree that a specific system is broken and engage in meaningful dialog that generates solutions and remediates the damages. In this day and age, many people will look at the same set of facts and interpret them differently. Many people who believe that they can discern the truth from a lie, but still fail to do so and not only believe the lie, they also spread it to others. We are living in a time where so many people can repeat a falsehood and give consideration to it, until it becomes the foundation of their beliefs. If these broken, defiled, and corrupted systems are not restored, what will become of us, and more importantly what will become of future generations?
First I want to acknowledge that speaking on, writing about, or making any type of expression regarding an issue, does not fix the issue. So the intent of this blog is not to be the solution, but to spark the conversations, the dialog, and the interest for those that have the potential to be the solution, individually and collectively. There are a lot of things that seem irreparably broken right now: The Law Enforcement System, the Educational System, and so many others, however pointing out all that is wrong is only helpful to raise awareness. When these systems remain broken corruption sets in and injustice occurs for those hoping to use the system(s) as designed. It is time to go uphold the standard of the Lord and use this as the measure by which we seek to correct, mend, mitigate, and recalibrate the systems that are broken everywhere that we encounter them.
5 He appointed judges throughout the land in each of the fortified cities of Judah, 6 instructing them, “Be careful when you pass judgment. You aren’t dispensing justice by merely human standards but for the Lord, who is with you. 7 Therefore, respect the Lord and act accordingly, because there can be no injustice, playing favorites, or taking bribes when it comes to the Lord our God.” – 2 Chronicles 19:5-7
What we are seeing globally in many of the broken governmental institutions, and other levels and variety of leadership is leading, ruling, and governing without discretion for the people that follow them, the design of the position and institution that they were appointed to, and reducing the responsibilities of leadership to games and personal agendas. In a day and age where genocide, domestic terror attacks, culture wars, and all manner of tom-foolery is being propagated and instigated by the people in the highest governing postions of government, media, the judicial systems, and law enforcement is a clear signal that a change needs to happen quickly for the betterment of all. It is easy to get riled up and want to tear down something because you feel like that institution or system is not working as intended or not not benefiting the people that need it the most. However, what benefit is there to tear down something without having a standard to rebuild towards? For example: Now that corruption has been exposed at the highest level of the US Judicial system and the appointed US Justices (judges) seem uninterested in having a standard that they can be accountable apart from themselves, are “We the People ” just going to sit by and accept this?
Even after all of the protests against excessive violence towards people of color from Law Enforcement on every level (Federal, State, City/Local), there are still reports of violent and aggressive handling of people of color during mental/emotional crisis, mishandling of women of color during traffic stops and any other police interaction, and of course the racial profiling that all people of color, but especially the men, have to endure just to accomplish everyday tasks as they move about throughout society. There are many injustices that continue to occur, where because of qualified immunity for police officers, officers commit all types of atrocities towards people and walk away punishment free, job and pension still intact while those who have been abused by them lose big. This is unjust, yes the issue has been called out, but in an election year what are we going to do about it?
We have elected members of the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate who have no intention of getting legislation passed that would make life better for their constituents and for ALL of the US citizens that they are in office to serve. These career politicians waste time holding frivolous sessions that they know are not going to result in a law being passed and stir up culture wars in the media, and at the end of their terms have the nerve to decide to run again for the same position after they have spent years accomplishing nothing. If you went to a restaurant and came prepared with money to spend and time to sit and enjoy a meal, but when you arrived all the staff did was talk to you about what dish you should or shouldn’t order and never served you anything, would you continue to patronize that establishment? So why does this happen with politicians? Why is there so much support for politicians that sit up in the US Congress and intentionally vote against bills that would benefit their constituents and all Americians, but then try to take credit for the awesome benefits to their state when the bill is passed? This is the information age, and yes I understand that there is “Fake News” out there and all of that, but God gave you intelligence and enough common sense to know when someone is trying to “pull the wool over your eyes,” and deceive you. Even if you are not that knowledgeable on these topics, there are ways to get the information that you need to make a good decision on what you should believe or not. This does not take “blind faith” and undying allegiance to any political figure to know the difference between right and wrong, just and unjust, good and evil, and yes constitutional and unconstitutional. With all of the corruption that has already been exposed throughout these levels of leadership, our tolerance of corrupt politicians can no longer be the standard that we measure political success by.
Rescue the weak and needy;
Rescue them from the hand of the wicked.
The rulers do not know nor do they understand;
They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];
All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken. – Psalm 82:4-5
The attitude towards people in need and how “hard earned tax money” is spent needs to be readjusted in this country. As one of the richest and most prosperous nations on the planet, the US has staggering levels of homelessness, child hunger, and people (some with jobs) living below the poverty line. Yes, the year 2020 and the COVID pandemic did a number on our economy, we saw food and supplies shortages, business closures, and inflation rise. While it does appear that the economy overall is starting to get closer to what it was like pre-pandemic, the mass evictions, land and property grabs, gentrification of previously affordable neighborhoods, and lack of affordable housing options are forcing more and more people, including children, on to the streets. When did it become ok to despise these people and make sure that once they hit rock bottom that they stay there? Not every unhoused person is a drug addict, criminal, prostitute, or mentally disturbed. Most of these people have traumas of losing all their possessions, being turned away by loved ones, and diminishing self worth. They are ashamed, embarrassed, and more than likely depressed from whatever downturn in their lives that brought them to live like this. Even when they get materials to make some type of shelter or encampment, the city and law enforcement take what little they have, throw it out and move them out of that place. Why is this celebrated? Is it because those are not your family members? Or because they are not your friends? Maybe you think that the only way you have significance with what you have is when those people have nothing. Sure it is not your personal responsibility, by worldly values. But in the Kingdom of Christ there should always be a seat at the table for those who are in need. We should care about any human being that needs assistance, not just because it is the right and godly thing to do, but real talk – you never know when or if it could be YOU. If it were you on the streets facing the elements, with no safe place to sleep. Not knowing the next time that you would eat or have any type of income and no help, I am pretty sure that you would care about this issue. I am not saying that handouts and covering the issues with empty promises is the way. I am saying that collectively we can work together to help those who present themselves to be helped and to work on measures to assist people before homelessness is their only option. Yes, this will take sacrifice and even spending some tax dollars to mitigate this problem. Also attitudes and expectations will need to be adjusted, because a situation that has been decades in the making is not necessarily going to be fixed overnight. There are awesome organizations working towards providing solutions, sow into them (investigate and research them 1st if you must), or volunteer. If you run a ministry, seek the Lord on how you can participate with Him to help those in need. You don’t have to be rich or well connected to be part of the solution. If you are not in the position to give, atleast change your attitude towards people in need. Treat them with respect, talk to them as the Children of God that they are or have potential to be. Pray for and with them if possible, whatever you do, please don’t sit by and do nothing.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. – Psalm 89:14
The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all the oppressed. – Psalm 103:6
Blessed are those who observe justice [by honoring God’s precepts], Who practice righteousness at all times.- Psalm 106:3
The works of His hands are truth and [absolute] justice; All His precepts are sure (established, reliable, trustworthy). – Psalm 111:7
I know [with confidence] that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, And [will secure] justice for the poor. – Psalm 140:12
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them,
Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets free the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the [a]righteous [the upright in heart]. – Psalm 146:6-8
“By me kings reign And rulers decide and decree justice. – Proverbs 8:15
Appetite for Justice – The desired fast.
A few weeks ago many of us did as we normally do and started off the year with a fast. We turned down our plates, we made plans for the year, and we were determined to hear from the Lord. There are many good, righteous, and holy reasons to do a spiritual fast (meaning not just abstaining from food, but also praying and studying the Word). One benefit is increased self-control or “willpower” to accomplish difficult goals, another one is hearing from the Lord – receiving directions, ideas, encouragement, etc. to direct your life. Of course other big benefits from fasting include spiritual strength and breakthroughs in challenging areas of your life. All of that is great, but Isaiah 58:6-11 outlines what a time of fasting that pleases the Lord should be like.
“[Rather] is this not the fast which I choose,
To undo the bonds of wickedness,
To tear to pieces the ropes of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free
And break apart every [enslaving] yoke?
7
“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?
8
“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth;
Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity],
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away from your midst the yoke [of oppression],
The finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and [every form of] wicked (sinful, unjust) speech,
10
And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry
And satisfy the [a]need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11
“And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your soul in scorched and dry places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. – Isaiah 58:6-11 (AMP)
What Isaiah has described in the above verses, is that when we properly fast and dedicate that time and sacrifice to God, we will emerge from it with a new hunger – not for food, possessions, or power – we will have a hunger for divine justice! The best part is that we will have the instincts and wisdom on how to work along with God to execute justice in our sphere of influence. I can’t tell you all of the ways that we can be the hands of Justice to people we know and even ones that we will never meet. I think that many of us, especially those who have been called to ministry, but do not know where or how to start, start here- dedicate yourself to the Lord to execute His Justice as He leads and guides. Many of you have the desire to do more for your community, for those in need, or maybe have aspirations for political service. Stop questioning if it is God and start working towards it. Use wisdom of course, and employ common sense, but know that what God may ask you to do may not be common or look like good sense to those around you. However, you will never see the promise of the Lord if you do not at least try (diligently). What’s the worst thing that could happen? If you miss God, at least you will know that you are not graced for that endeavor, you will be that much closer to what your actual purpose and gifts are. If you look ridiculous, join the club! Resolve to be like King David and be even more “undignified” than whatever you did. Pray and consecrate yourself unto God, and recognize that you will be different from other people. Don’t let anything keep you from being a justice bearer of the Lord in this season. You read the scripture, and you know that this pleases the Lord, so seek to please the Lord higher than other people, and even yourself and Go For It!
Thank you for reading this blog post, if you know someone that would appreciate content like this please share and spark this conversation in your neighborhood, city, or nation! Then let the strategies be implemented and not blocked or sabotaged in Jesus’ name Amen!
Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai demands of you — no more than to act justly, love grace and walk in purity with your God. – Micah 6:8
The way Jesus loves is so inspiring, and yet a lot of people who profess to follow Jesus exhibit none of His qualities. Ouch! That was a very critical statement, and it is true for the majority of the Christians in modern times. Unfortunately, this Christian Identity crisis is repelling people, especially young people and teens, and also causing some Christians to leave their faith. It is a tragedy when people regard the way that Jesus loved and accepted socially outcast people, some with sin issues, as “woke”. Some of the loudest people in the US who proclaim to be of Christian faith, lean into the most cruel, violent, and hateful rhetoric on issues such as immigration, women’s rights, race relations, and alternative lifestyles including but not limited to LGBTQ. If Christians had to be graded on how well they followed the teachings of Jesus and sought to be transformed to be like Him, as He actually is – not how we imagine Him to be, many of us would fail. Having a code of values that you agree with versus having a “personal relationship” with God are two very different things.
One of the main issues is that many Christian agendas promote exactly what the Bible warned against:
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. – 2 Timothy 3:5
The Amplified Bible describes it this way:
…holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. Avoid such people and keep far away from them. – 2 Timothy 3:5 (AMP)
So what does it look like when someone has a “form of godliness” but denies the power of it? A good example would be, for a person to tell anyone who would listen about their faith in God, the Christian values, etc. but when corruption, evil schemes, and illegal activity is going on in their social group same person ignores it, makes excuses for it, and even goes along with it. Yes, it is costly to walk in the godliness that pleases God. This is because to please God and keep Him first in our lives, it means that other people – even those in our social groups will not take priority. It means that when they want us to co-sign and applaud their evil works and attitudes, we are not supposed to join in. We are supposed to measure everything with the Word of the Lord and be led by His Holy Spirit. Is this easy to do? Absolutely not when your heart has not yielded and committed to do so. Even with your best intentions to do the right thing, it can still be difficult to stand against people who you want love, friendship, approval, and appreciation from. I honestly think this is where it becomes very telling on who knows Jesus and has decided to follow His example, from those who like the idea of following Jesus. Jesus was BOLD as a Lion! You see he did not sneak and malign people behind their back. He did not give “dog whistles” and innuendos to point blame or accusation against someone. Nope, he directly addressed the error of the Pharisees, and other wrong doers and called out their corruption while in their presence. He did not just tell His followers where he stood on various issues, what He did was show them by example what He would and would not tolerate. Why does this seem so difficult for some of us to do? Dear reader, please do not be one who puts more admiration and esteem in man (human leaders) than you have for God.It requires resisting the temptation to “follow the crowd” and checking “peer pressure” whenever it rears its ugly head. It requires faith that the God who saved you is able to keep you and supply all of your needs – so depending on others won’t be an excuse to fall into unsavory practices. It actually does require studying the Word, so that you can recognize the works of the evil one and have a biblically accurate strategy and response to them.
Now, let’s keep it real… It is very easy to broadly look at the culture and identify the issues and become critical and disheartened by it. However this is not the purpose of this message. The truth is that this message is very important to me because 10+ years ago the enemy started using this scriptural passage 2 Timothy 3:1-8 to launch harassment, accusation, mocking, and all sorts of other evil works against me to discourage me from my call to ministry. It completely devastated me to have such negative things said not just about me, but about my walk with God. All of a sudden it was like some grimey bank robbers stole the riches of my faith, my salvation, my purpose in life, while I was the one left holding the bag all splattered and stained with ink. They were off and on their way to enjoy what seemed like all of the things prepared for me. It is very easy to shatter someone’s world with an accusation, some juicy gossip, or just a critical opinion. It is easy to blame others for the problems or inconveniences that can be experienced in life. It is very easy to harbor hate, resentment, and disapproval in your heart towards someone that you don’t like anyway. While it is very easy to do those things, doing those things will not give God glory. In fact Psalms 1 warns us that these types of actions will put us out of favor and right standing with God.
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example],
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers) – Psalms 1:1
Now when a 2 Timothy 3:1-8 accusation is targeted at you, let’s just say it hits different, and not in a good way. It is the shattering of the mirror by which one views themself that makes them look at the world differently as well. I had to get to a place in my relationship with God, by which I stopped defending myself from the claims and being so offended and hurt by the fact that it had even been suggested to be true. I had to go to God, and ask Him what He thought about it. I had to listen for His answer, AND agree with it regardless of what the answer was. This is the experience, that while it can be incredibly painful, discouraging, and soul shaking – it can also be necessary to grow into the person God purposed us to be, and to find the place of submission to God where regardless of any targeted accusation and mocking, etc. you are not leaving Him, because you know without a doubt that He has not left you. This is the type of submission process that Jesus experienced (albeit at a much higher level) when He chose to go to the cross. Unfortunately, this part of the significance of Jesus’ crucifixion, the suffering, the pain He endured, the mocking, the cruelty at the hands of those He chose to die for- this only is mentioned around Resurrection Sunday and Easter celebrations. We don’t actually expect regular people to uphold the same standards that Jesus did, because that is too “woke’ or too “extreme” or “religious”. In fact, the only time I really see people being held to this standard is when they have already fallen short of it, so the people pointing it out can have some amusement mocking them with the scripture. They can be “righteously angry” and use the scripture as a weapon. Some do it in the name of “correction,” saying that they have to give “tough love” because God chastens whom he loves according to Hebrews 12:6-11. The problem comes when people witness another Christian (regardless if it is a leader or lay person) get openly rebuked and shamed when there is no attempt to privately correct and counsel that person. It’s superficial to shame someone publicly and say we don’t tolerate (fill in the blank) when in most cases there will be no other means to make sure that person has actually been corrected and will work to improve their walk with God.
There are examples from the Bible where this type of open rebuke and open shaming of a person was taking place and Jesus did not participate in it. He did not join in with the Pharisees that wanted to stone the woman who was caught in adultery (John 8:3-11). She was seized from a man’s bed – because she was caught in the act, and dragged to the public place where Jesus was. He looked down at the ground and wrote, not just to prove a point, but to not look upon her nakedness or lack of modesty. Instead of stoning her, he had compassion on her and told her to sin no more – actually correcting her. He also corrected the Pharisees by saying, “Let He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Jesus could have made an example of this woman in a negative way like the Pharisees attempted to do, however the example that He made of her is one of love, compassion, and sincere correction that we are still talking about today.
Another example of Jesus correcting someone is His encounter with the woman at the well (John 4). Jesus went out of His way to travel through Samaria (most Jews avoided Samaria) to meet with the woman at the well. He casually spoke with her, asking for a drink. By the end of the encounter, he had gently called out her sinful lifestyle, and challenged her to go deeper in her faith in God – to become a true worshiper in Spirit and truth. She is the 1st person that Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah to, and she upon hearing that news was one of the 1st to proclaim Him as the Messiah to others. If Jesus had decided to condescendingly approach her, and insulted her by mocking her sinful living situation, there is no way that she would have received Him. Now, if we are supposed to represent Jesus, how in the world are we OK with marginalizing people and agreeing with cruel and mean spirited handling of people in or out of church?
The woman who washed His feet with her hair, Zaccheus the tax collector, the “sinners” that Jesus and the disciples chose to fellowship with are all examples of Jesus loving, accepting, and even correcting people that had fallen at some point. I know that this does not mean to turn a blind eye to sin, or to just become a doormat for people to do as they please with no accountability. What this actually means is to truly live by the “Golden Rule” (Matthew 7:12 CEB) and treat others as we want to be treated, or at the very least how Jesus would treat them. Have I, or most of us always practiced this – of course not. Is this easy to do – in our own strength and power no, when submitted and yielded to God – yes it’s easier to do. Will everyone always accept or understand what it looks like to walk and live according to the love and examples of Jesus? Some did not understand it when Jesus actually walked the earth, and it will be no different during our time on earth. It was revolutionary for Jesus to interact with those on the fringe of society, for Him to have dealings with people that by Levitical (priestly) standards would have been considered sinners, ungodly, and unclean, but He did it anyway out of His love for them, and for our benefit, so that we could learn what love is supposed to look like. It was also revolutionary when Jesus called out wrong doers, He did it publicly and in their presence. This was not to abuse them, but rather to hold them to account for their sinful practices, and to let them know that regardless of the form of religion they displayed, they needed to get in alignment with God. While in modern times it would be perceived as a harsh and abrasive, possibly even disrespectful thing to do, Jesus’ loving compassion and empathy for people and His boldness to confront corruption that the religious and community leaders were involved in needed to be done so that we would have those examples to follow in our lives.
I believe that there will be more people in high positions that will be willing to “call out” corruption, evil works, and ungodly attitudes that are prevalent in some of the highest levels of leadership. It already has begun. I believe that God is doing a work in the hearts and minds of those who will be bold as a lion and confront the wickedness that has infected our country, culture, and moral standards. It will not be “political theater” and the words of the righteous will not fall to the ground. The wake up call is coming for those who have adopted corruption, illegal activity, and degrading moral standards to inspire others to do the same, and it will not be something that they can downplay and ignore.
Now this is just my perspective, but I believe that God is really calling people who have gotten “caught up” in all sorts of political and social movements that pulled, distracted, and even seduced them away from God’s plan for their lives back to right standing. This is the time to repent and seek God for His mercy, grace, forgiveness, and restoration. For we all like sheep have gone astray, each of us have turned to our own way (Isaiah 53:6a) but we do not want, nor can we handle God pouring out our sin and iniquity on us. If you are an intercessor or just have a heart to pray for others, please get right before the Lord and allow God to lead you into the prayers that need to come before His throne. Please dedicate some time to set aside your needs and tend to the needs of your loved ones, your community, your nation, and even the world in prayer. We often have not because we ask not (James 4:2-3), however we are at the beginning of 2024 (or whenever you read this) and we have the opportunity to ask now as we are entering the year. Please give your opinion and beliefs about other people to God and ask Him to cleanse your heart. Because, we may see some of the people that we never thought could or would change for the better, do a 180 degree turn! Let’s stop following anything other than God and make room for Him to step in and bring the chaos back to order! And finally, let our inspiration and motivation for all that we are doing be love. Love to show compassion on those who have lost their way, and love that is bold to correct and not accept corruption as the “status quo”.
Supporting Scriptures
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to destruction” – Proverbs 14:12.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it. – Matthew 7:13-14
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” John 2:13-16
45 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things[a] there, 46 and he said, “It is written,
‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’
but you have made it a den of robbers.” – Luke 19:45-48
Matther 23 – The whole chapter
2 You are jealous and covet [what others have] and [a]your lust goes unfulfilled; so you [b]murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God]. 3 You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask [c]with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires. – James 4:2-3
I started this blog Lessons and Blessings just for writing messages of encouragement to the folks who were following my other content on social media. I wanted to also encourage those who were praying and interceding for loved ones and difficult situations that they were up against. However, over the years, I believe that this blog has really also been an instrument to bring awareness to the fact that some of the Spiritual Warfare that we face, is not just concerning ourselves, family, workplace, church/ministries, or even our neighborhood and local community. As I consider what is going on in the world naturally and spiritually, sometimes it can be overwhelming to try and pinpoint one topic to focus on to write about. While I know that my style of writing pertaining to Spiritual Warfare, Intercession, and Current Events may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I do ask that for this one, please hear me out…
Whether you are Christian, Jewish, or neither there is a great chance that you are familiar with the story of Queen Esther from the Bible. In the book of Esther is an almost fairytale-esque story of King Xerxes who divorces his wife Queen Vashti because she ignored his drunken request to come to a party. After the divorce the king realized that he still needed a queen so he decided to have his men round up all eligible virgins and of those young women he would select only the best to become part of his Harem or possibly become queen. As the story goes Esther was chosen by Xerxes to become queen. Meanwhile, a power hungry bigoted attendant to the king, Haman, was plotting on how he was going to get the king to allow total annihilation of the Israelites living within the Persian kingdom. There are so many nuanced details that really make this book of the Bible interesting as well as entertaining (There are many movies and depictions of the Book of Esther). The character that I am focusing on in this blog is Haman, the King’s vizier, was a high ranking official that was considered a trusted advisor to the king. While Haman truly was loyal to the King, his hate and bigotry towards the Israelites is what became his downfall. While he is not the first person in the Bible to plan a genocide against the Israelites, remember Pharaoah issued an order to kill all of the male Israelite children – but Moses was spared, however Haman is the first to want to do this out of offence and hate towards people who were different from him and also practiced a different religion. Most of the other people who could afford to plan a genocide, were rulers who were already in power and were making power moved to attempt to continue oppressing the Israelites.
Haman was also a person who definitely cared about social and political influence. He is always depicted as vain, proud, and arrogant, and someone who loves to be praised and venerated publicly. When the king finds out that Mordecai (Esther’s uncle/guardian) actually saved his life by reporting a plot to harm him and that he never honored or showed gratitude to Mordecai for this, he consulted Haman – who actually hated Mordecai so much that he was planning to kill him on how to honor a person who deserved a great reward. Haman was so full of himself that he immediately thought that the king wanted to honor him. So Haman gave the grandest and most flamboyantly luxurious suggestions thinking that he would be the recipient. If you want to know how that turned out, read the book of Esther for the full story. The point is that image really was EVERYTHING to Haman. This is why he thought of himself as superior to the Israelites and wanted other people to view him that way as well.
So what do we know about Haman so far? He is a power hungry, high ranking official, who is vain, arrogant, and bigoted. Well, that sounds really bad, in the sense that someone like this would be unpleasant to be around, but is it actually evil to display those types of attitudes and behaviors?
Prideful – The Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished (Proverbs 16:5 NLT)
Boastful – May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things (Psalm 12:3 NKJV)
Regarding self as superior – Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin (Proverbs 21:4 NLT).
AntiChrist – The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead (Psalm 10:4 NLT)
So yes, as we have read from those scriptures, those attitudes and behaviors are considered evil to God, so that is how we should consider them as well. As you can see, Haman was already not doing so well in this story, then things went even further downhill after he persuaded the king to sign into law a day of violence, using deadly force against the Israelites, in which the Israelites would not be permitted to fight back. Now, stay with me, because this is not going where you think this is going. Yes, of course we could pause right here and discuss the disparities of the Israel / Hamas war. We could compare the similarities of the Palastinians being oppressed to how in this story it was the Israelites who were being targeted. Those are good points, however that is not the focus of this particular blog post – Check out my previous blog for more on that topic.
So basically, Haman masterminded this plan to essentially wipe out the Israelites from King Xerxes kingdom because Mordecai, and other Israelites would not bow to him. I’m no psychologist but Haman seems to have a lot of Narcissistic and Psychopathic traits… Basically, Haman’s ego and pride were hurt by not being bowed to for being a high ranking official to the king by people whose religion did not permit them to do so. If anyone… and I mean anyone decides death is the only solution for people who value their religious practice in a way that is inconvenient to that person, they are the ones who have issues not the people committed to their faith. For clarification, the king did not mirror Haman’s attitude at all, he was told by Haman that the people who he wanted to eliminate were troublesome people. He painted a very negative picture of Israelites to justify the use of deadly force on them. Now if a heinous and horrific plan could be signed into law so easily in ancient times, why do we believe that nothing like this could happen, especially happen to us, during our lifetime? If you have not heard about this, it was in the news briefly, you need to know about this – investigate this for yourselves: Project 2025.
Project 2025 is a whole strategy on having the next Conservative (right-wing Republican) President shift the function and culture of the United States of America from democratic to authoritarian. This plan wants to dissolve whole branches of government like the US Department of Education, Department of Justice (DOJ), etc. and restaff those jobs with people who are only loyal to the president and do not have the interest of the people at heart. This plan would effectively give the office of the Presidency more power than both branches of the US Congress, and DOJ. Ah, yes let’s not forget the bigotry and racism embedded into this plan, which is published by the Heritage Foundation. The claims that were made by the former president while at a campaign rally that if he were elected again that he would allow law enforcement to question anyone that “looked foreign” or “illegal” and have them prove that they are US Citizens or be deported are supported in the Project 2025 strategy. In other words, Project 2025 would kick off the “New World Order” if a conservative right-wing Republican president is elected in 2024. That’s less than a year and a half from now. See, wicked Haman likes to plan, he plans for genocide and destruction like some people plan vacations or weddings. What is the Kingdom of God planning??? What are righteous and virtuous people of God planning? What’s our strategy for 2025 and beyond?
Haman did not hide his plan. He confidently went to King Xerxes and explained all of his points, he had his presentation well prepared. I wouldn’t be surprised if Haman was in the King’s office with graphs, charts, statistical data and the like to make sure that his evil plan for terrorizing the Israelites was approved. From what I understand, the Heritage Foundation has been publishing documents like this for years, but this one hits different… It’s peppered with plans of overthrowing the government, seasoned with strategies for division and civil war, it’s a recipe for disaster if we sit by and not take this seriously. This is actually the key to defeating Haman. Take his plans seriously. Mordecai tore his clothes and lamented when the law that Haman proposed was announced that it was signed into law. Because the law was signed without a vote (because there was no democratic process then), the people were forced to give a reactionary response instead of offensively and strategically responding. Now in the Bible this is beautiful, because the Israelites unite in a 3 day fast, praying that Queen Esther will not be killed when she makes her appeal to the king for the lives of her people. But in 2023, we do not have any excuse to sit idly by and let something like this get signed into law, especially when the plans of evil against us have been openly published. Now, it would be easy to blame the media for not doing more coverage on this, however it was covered in the news, though briefly, and no one responded. Now, I saw plenty of content creators speaking out, but no major outcry from the masses. This leads me to believe that a lot of people still do not know about this. So instead of putting up prayer points and key scriptures, I am going to link some of the news coverage videos on Project 25 below. My disclaimer is that I do not own any of these videos, am not sponsored by any of these new stations, and if any of the videos are taken down or deleted – please do your one research on this and formulate your prayer and activism strategies after evaluating the actual document.
Humility, prayer, fasting, boldness, and elegance are all traits that Queen Esther displayed when exposing Haman’s evil plan to the king. This once again is beautiful and really poetically shows the various expressions of being a powerful person. However, I must reiterate that Queen Esther would not still be remembered and revered today if she had not taken the evil plans of Haman seriously.
***Also, just a friendly reminder to look within, repent if necessary, and be led by the Holy Spirit before engaging in any warfare regarding Pride, High Ranking evil spirits, Leviathan, Racism, and cover yourself with the armor of God and prayers of protection during this if you are led to take on this as a pray assignment.
Thank you for reading all the way to this point. Please share with those who would enjoy or find this content interesting. Also if you formulate prayer points against Project 2025, please post them in the comments or share on your social media with this blog post linked. Thank you again for checking this blog out!
War in Israel, BLM, the MAGA GOP, culture wars about education, immigrants, women’s rights, and LGBTQ issues. What do they all have in common? They all deal with how individuals and groups of people identify. Xenophobia is an identity issue. Racism is an identity issue, Political beliefs and affiliations are also identity issues. Of course, it follows that LGBTQ issues are tied to identity. The media floods the airwaves with “hot button” topics and content because it is more likely to grab our attention because it invokes an emotional, and impulsive response from us. I was listening to a gospel song titled, “I know who I am,” and it dawned on me that the root of most of the major struggles that people are facing today, is tied with some type of identity issue. Even if the struggle is something like poverty, classism, credit ratings, how a person is able to present themselves in the world, and even having access to needs and desired information or relationships can all be affected and inadvertently affect that person’s self worth, and how the community surrounding that person perceives them.
This blog is not going to get into validating positions and pointing out something as greater or higher than another, we have the Word of God for that. This blog is really to inspire prayer points for those that pray and intercede for the nations, and to cut through the Tomfoolery that is keeping people in confusion, in deception to reality, and distracted from the truth. If you have read any of the other blog posts that I have written, there is one theme that continues to pop up. This theme is God’s disdain for calling good evil and evil good. This is essentially one of the most straightforward, direct, easy to understand definitions of the word: Perversion. For those who are not convinced, here is the very 1st definition that was at the top of my Google search:
per·ver·sion
/pərˈvərZH(ə)n/
noun
1.the alteration of something from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.
“a scandalous perversion of the law”
So when a person or group starts to agree that an action or deed that usually is perceived as good is anything other than good, this could be considered as perversion. A real life example is when a person that everyone likes does something despicable, instead of holding that person to account, the people who like this person applaud, encourage, justify, celebrate, and imitate the despicable act as if it is somehow not actually despicable. The opposite is also true, if a person who is not well liked is being punished, treated harshly, and put on “blast” for something that many people have done and are not being punished for, ultimately signally that such acts are generally accepted, the ill-treatment towards that person is considered perverted as well. So now the question is: Why do human beings turn a “blind eye” and ignore what is true, and real, and infallible? I think that most of modern societies, especially in Western Culture, have bought into the idea that truth is relative to how we feel about it. An example regarding current events (in 2023) is the recent war that started between Israel and Hamas. While the temptation to waterdown what I am about to express is real, there is no way to sugarcoat this. If you are a Christian in Modern Western culture we are taught/programmed to accept and adopt Zionist agenda. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. I grew a lot in my relationship with God, when I started learning about the Hebrew roots of many of the Christian values and beliefs that I hold dear. However, after visiting Israel (of which I am very grateful for the opportunity to have done so) the ugly and uncomfortable truth reared its face and there is no way that I can ignore what I learned and experienced while there. There I was, as a tourist no less, having complete access to anywhere I wanted to visit within Israel, while the majority of Palestinians who live in proximity to Jerusalem, in Bethlehem and other nearby cities were restricted to where they could go. I could visit the Wailing Wall, various churches, and even Mosques if I wanted to and the people who live less than an hour away cannot. There were other things that stuck out to me, but this post is not to criticize Israel and put the country and the people there down, because I also had good experiences and learned other positive things there as well, however I am not going to act like how the Palestinians are treated is ok. When we accept Christ, we are accepting that anyone who has the potential to accept Him as Lord and Savior can and hopefully will become part of our family in Christ. So ignoring poor treatment of a WHOLE NATION of people is very perverted in my opinion. I know we are taught that Israel and all of the people that reunited there are the “chosen” people of God and that we should honor them. However, honor is given where honor is due and while I can honor the rich cultural and religious cites, many of the cultural celebrations and practices that are validated in the Bible, I am not going to be chill about Xenophobia, genocide and to some degree Racism being practiced by or against anyone. Even Jesus warned us to be “either hot or cold’ because those that are “lukewarm” will get destroyed (Revelation 3:15-16). As an African American Woman, I do not like seeing other groups, whether they are of African descent or not, be marginalized and oppressed. So if to accept the evil actions of others on any level is perverted, and since Xenophobia and Racism at the core is evil, how many perverts are waving their “Christian Flag” high right now?
Another hot button issue from the culture wars of the USA is regarding the treatment and opposition of people in the LGBTQ community. Before I proceed, I will admit that in the past I have committed some of the faux pas that I am calling out now. In the past, I openly made statements like: “Anyone practicing Homosexuality is going straight to hell.” or “The Bible says homosexuality is an abomination.” I said those things believing that because it was taught to me from a Biblical perspective, that I was right, and whoever didn’t like it could “kick rocks”. What I have learned, from interacting with people from the LGBTQ community, and people mistreating me, because they were confused about my gender identity and my sex life (which is actually non existent by the way), I have seen how people are targeted for harassment, stalking, disadvantage, disrespect, etc. just because of what others perceive that person’s gender identity to be. I just saw a video on Youtube.com where a woman was brutally attacked because someone assumed, and therefore was accusing her, of being Transgender. Whatever that woman’s gender identification is, is her business – so why would someone attack her over something that has absolutely NOTHING to do with them? This is the same with any person that is considered too flamboyant or “butch”. While it is perfectly OK, in my opinion, to not want to “condone” LGBTQ issues and activities, however we have to consider that maybe we are around people from the LGBTQ community to show the love of Christ to them, since they are not likely to ever step foot into a church. Once again, anyone from the LGBTQ community could have an experience where God is drawing them and they could be close to surrendering their lives, but a bad encounter with a self righteous Christian “Holy Roller” will turn them off every time. What is truly wicked about this is that, if truth be told, there are plenty of people that profess to be “Followers of Christ” who do not want anyone from the LGBTQ community to get saved and partake in the same grace and salvation in Christ that they do. They would rather send someone to hell than seek the Lord on whether or not He wants to draw that person. Also, let’s please stop acting like talking to, being around, or having any association with anyone from the LGBTQ community is somehow contagious; like just being in their presence they will turn us “gay” or compromise our own gender identity. This is foolish and immature to accuse people of being any other gender identity than what they actually are just by associating with people in the LGBTQ community. Whatever happened to the “Golden Rule” to treat people the way that we want to be treated (Love your neighbor as yourself)? Once again, I have not always walked this out perfectly, but I have learned from my mistakes and now strive to approach things from a wiser perspective. When my flesh is not in agreement, I need to pray and ask God for assistance with this. So if you need to repent, and make the commitment to treat people the way that you would like to be treated regardless of racial, cultural, and gender differences which not only blesses everyone that you come into contact with, it also gives glory to God.
Moses
I find it very interesting that when young Moses came to the realization that the people from the tribe of people that He came from were being oppressed and abused, how he acted (sinfully) to attempt to correct the issue. Moses got angry. Well actually, he was ENRAGED at how disrespectful and vile his brethren were being treated, to the point of committing murder. Obviously, from the rest of the story, we know that becoming enraged to the point of murder is NOT what God is calling us to do when we begin to embrace our true identity in Him. However Moses’ life should still be a great case study on how to embrace your God ordained identity. Although, the sin of murder would cost him time in exile and away from the people that He felt a sense of duty to avenge, when he accepted the call from God and the mission to save his people, he fully took on the new identity of Leader and Trail Blazer, Prophet, and Spiritual Father.
One remarkable thing about Moses is that the people that he was leading did not always agree with him or comply with his directives, yet he didn’t quit. Even before leaving Egypt, he had to prove that his intentions were pure and that he was trustworthy to the people. God was patient with Moses, but still chastened him when he did not honor God’s directives. Moses faced an identity crisis in his youth, being raised as an Egyptian but actually looking like and biologically being an Israelite. It is possible that his identity trauma from youth could have been a contributing factor to the anger that he felt. Identity trauma could also be affecting the emotional issues that many people face, which in many cases can serve as an entry way for sin, torment, and anger; amongst other emotional conditions. If Moses were alive in modern times, would he be able to successfully lead God’s people out of captivity? Of course with God empowering him, Moses would be able to do it, but I wonder which group would be considered more resistant and stubborn: the Israelites straight out of Egypt or modern believers straight out of Modern New Babylon (symbolically speaking)?
Nehemiah/David – Contending Against Mockers
What does Nehemiah and David all have in common? They each encountered opposition that mocked them. How does mocking relate to the identity War? Well, if a person is not secure in their identity, mocking will have that person unsettled in who they are, which may cause them to go down the wrong path or be stagnated in growth and development of their personality. For a person who has a healthy sense of self, being mocked could distract them from their purpose and destiny, have them focusing on weaknesses and flaws instead of their strengths and abilities, and it could evoke a weak response from an otherwise strong person. Most people do not like being mocked. Even the most playful people or people that love to mock others do not like being mocked. Mocking is used in the spiritual realm along with manipulation, coercion, evil influence, gang/mob mentality etc. Mocking also is used to push people into exercising poor judgment, negligence and encourages reckless behavior. How many children, teens, and young adults perish each year because they were “dared” to do something, or were mocked and acted recklessly in retaliation? How many people have ended up in jail because they were “punked” into doing something illegal, or did something in poor judgment to avoid being mocked by their peers? Clearly, how a person responds to being mocked is important, and can determine not only the content of their character and moral compass, but will also magnify a person’s identity virtues or flaws.
It can be easy to say things like: “There is no right or wrong way to respond,” or “you might do the same if it happened to you.” The truth is, there are right and wrong ways to respond to mocking, we have clear examples from the bible on how to respond when faced with mocking.
Nehemiah – was mocked by Sanballat and Tobiah in an attempt to get him and those that were working with him to stop rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. The mocking and taunting escalated to fraud – presenting false correspondence from the king, to accusing Nehemiah of having an evil agenda for rebuilding his hometown. Nehemiah responded to the mocking, accusations, and distraction by prioritizing his God ordained mission to rebuild and revitalize his community rather than focus on the antics of the naysayers. Mocking, accusation, and distraction attacks can be an indicator that a person is fulfilling destiny and effectively Kingdom building.
David – was mocked by his elder brother while Goliath the Philistine was mocking the Israelite army. Isn’t it something how someone can be mocked and bullied, then turn around and treat someone else the same way? It happens a lot, however that is not how believers are supposed to respond. David pretty much ignored the snide remarks from his brother and tuned in to the mocking that was disheartening the entire Israelite army (of which his brother was a soldier in) from Goliath the Philistine. Imagine if David had gotten into it with his brother and did not notice the mocking from Goliath? He would have missed out on a life altering moment, and who knows how the Israelites would have defeated the Philistines. As believers we have to “pick our battles” and not get consumed by every snide remark or “jab” thrown at us. We have to see the bigger picture and be led by God regarding when to engage the enemy or when we let their mockings and accusations roll off of us like water off a duck’s back!
Psalms – There are so many psalms that deal with being mocked, accused, being misrepresented, and many other identity traumas. The book of Psalms acknowledges the range of emotions a person can feel. Some people may be angered, while others may be so hurt that they would rather die than endure the shame of being mocked. A great psalm to address/ counteract those thoughts and feelings is Psalm 118:17- I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Once again, God ordained purpose is what shields a person from Identity derailment when attacked. P.S. – If you feel like you do not know what your purpose in life is – ASK GOD! Pray about it, seek to know how to live your life while you are young or with whatever amount of time that you have left on this earth. In this, knowing your “lane” and coworking with God will add fulfillment and substance to your life that cannot be gained any other way.
Haman
Do you believe that you are more special, favored, and superior to other people that are different than you? Have you ever had a bad experience with someone who is from another culture, religion, neighborhood etc. and decided that because of that experience that anyone like the person you encountered must be bad/evil/unpleasant etc.? These types of mindsets are similar to the one Haman from the book of Esther had towards Mordecai (Esther’s Uncle and Guardian) and all Israelites. Haman felt disrespected because Mordecai would not bow to him. Mordecai would not bow, because he was a devout Israelite who vowed only to worship God, therefore it was against his religion to bow or show any worshipful reverence to anyone other than God. This lack of acknowledgement from Mordecai infuriated Haman. From this anger and offense Haman devised a plan to get the king to approve a genocide against the Israelites. The king trusted Haman as a close advisor and signed Haman’s proposal into law, not knowing that he was effectively sealing his new wife Esther’s fate. For those of us who have read and studied the book of Esther, we know how the story ends. What is profound is Esther’s appeal to the King in order to reveal the insidiousness of Haman’s scheme. For some reason, the king had no idea that Esther was an Israelite. He had not detected it the whole time he was observing her and deciding whether or not she should be his wife and effectively queen. Ethnicity wasn’t important to him, and only entertained Haman’s request because he trusted Haman’s judgment. Isn’t something like that happening today with influential leaders and the media? It seemed like a few years ago, not very many people were all that concerned about the “hot button topics” and “Culture war” talking points that are being communicated over the airwaves. One negative work from Haman almost wiped out a whole people group from that kingdom. However, divine intervention via Esther’s appeal to the King in a private dinner exposed the sinister plan and thwarted it. So what does all of this have to do with us, in modern times, facing 21st century issues? This story shows us the simple but potent root of xenophobia, racism, anti-semitism, white supremacy, genocide and oppression. Another great example of this is the history of the Exodus – the whole reason Moses was sent to liberate the Israelites from Egypt is because of the harsh treatment and oppression they faced because they were not culturally or biologically Egyptian. So when people exhibit attitudes and mindsets of Haman, know that you are witnessing bigotry that has ancient roots and you should not agree with him. Even if elements of truth are incorporated into a bigoted statement, one or two elements of truth cannot make a false and/or perverted statement or stance true. Because we have free will, we have the right to like or not like or want to associate with anyone. However, remember that God hears our thoughts, He knows what’s in our hearts, and whether or not we speak or act on any of it we will be judged accordingly.
John the Baptist / Peculiar people
He lived out in the wilderness and sustained himself on “locusts and honey”. He was Jesus’ cousin and the person who “baptized” him. John the Baptist had a distinct way of life and discipline that made him stand out from others. It wasn’t because his father was a priest, or because his mother prophesied over him while he was in the womb. All of those things were probably contributing factors, however it was his dedication and commitment to fulfill the call of God for his life that made the difference. Regardless of the physical, social, and other differences that John the baptist had, he was secure in his identity. He didn’t live like everyone else, he didn’t conform to the culture of his time and region, he wasn’t afraid to be different, because he was aware that the differences were necessary for him to fulfill his purpose in life. Isn’t it ironic that although the Bible says that we are to be “peculiar people and a Holy nation” the Modern Westernized church seems to be more influenced by the world and secularisms than the Bible and examples from Jesus’ life? If John the Baptist was alive today and attempted to live like that in our generation he’d have people questioning him on every side; wondering why he’s “unhoused” living in the wilderness. Maybe someone would report him to law enforcement for “dunking” people in water. A bunch of Karens would be outraged at his diet of choice and post tik-tok videos about it to start some new conspiracy theory. Of course since he is clearly different from everyone else, a group of nosy people will have to follow him around and take pictures of him to warn the masses of this weirdo in the wilderness. This of course is just an exaggerated example of how being an individual in modern western society is viewed and treated with contempt. A person who is not a part of any group, is almost always attacked, scapegoated, or villainized in some way. Could it be that there is an agenda from the Prince of the power of the air to influence people to root their identities in the groups that they belong to, to make it more difficult for them to live as a “called out” one whose identity is firmly planted in the call of the Living God? The identity war is not just about what a person identifies as individually. It confronts each person with the question, “Who you with?” And in attempting to answer this question people are easily manipulated into agreeing with foolishness, corruption, evil agendas, and supporting what they know to be wrong. It’s so easy to do harm, and be reckless when “everybody else is doing it.” Insurrection at the US Capitol Building on January 6th 2021 is a perfect example of this. How people were emboldened to desecrate the US Capitol Building and threaten the lives of Lawmakers, Law Enforcement, and anyone else who got in their way is appalling. It is clear who those people were “with’ and what they wanted to accomplish. The most telling thing is that even after the attack and people were beginning to face jail time for their actions, that people who had been participants in the attack still had pictures and posts of themselves breaking the law by breaching a protected government building on their social media feeds. Their identities were so wrapped up in being a part of a political group/community that they did not even exercise discretion regarding the pictures and other media that they posted about their participation.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (KJV)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
This verse expresses what God intended our identity to be whether living as an individual or a part of a group/community. Modern Christians seem to have the same issue that ancient Israelites had, to be preoccupied with ruling and controlling things on earth through political or governing power. One of the reasons that the people who once followed Jesus turned on Him after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, is that they were seeking an earthly King in the pattern and expression of King David and wanted to fight against the Roman occupation of their land. Jesus showed up on a Donkey, without an army. He in no way insinuated that He was going to overthrow the powers that were oppressing them, and once the people realized this their support for Him was through. Then there were those accusations of Jesus referring to Himself as the Messiah. It was only after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection that the revelation of what type of lifestyle His followers were to embrace. Take some time and study what being “called out” entails and how to embrace being part of a Peculiar People and Holy Nation. Repent if you realize that there is some compromise or misguided efforts, agreements, or mindsets in your life. Let the Holy Spirit and the Word of God get you back on track. This is something that should be done often, because it is so easy to “go along to get along,” However we need to make a resolve in our hearts, minds, and spirits that we will only Identify as God has called us.
Are You A Blasphemer?
If many of the people who profess to be Christians and uphold the Bible as the infallible source of truth were asked if there were a Blasphemer, most – if not all – would reply “No.” Blasphemy is one of the only sins in the Bible that is noted as “unforgivable” by God, because it is a direct sin against God. I suppose that anyone who knows that they have, at some point in their life, has blasphemed could always repent and hope for the best on Judgement Day, but if you haven’t ever done this egregious sin against the power, goodness, and all the other attributes of God why in the world would anyone start now? Why repeat, confess, and agree with anything that could be considered Blasphemy? This is precisely what happens when people ignore the truth and start calling what is known, confirmed, and factually denoted as good evil, and evil as good. I understand that human beings can have a difference of opinion on all sorts of topics, where one person may favor or prefer/enjoy/desire/etc. something that another person does not like or prefer and that would not be as serious or anywhere close to committing Blasphemy. But there is a difference between preference and actually assigning traits and characteristics to people, situations, places, actions, etc. that contradict and malign the true identity or nature of it. When a person or group can profess that actions that align with blatant corruption are now all of a sudden perfectly justifiable and socially acceptable, that in itself is indirect blasphemy because we regard what is “good” as from God and what is “bad/evil” from satan. So to attribute that which is from God to satan is blasphemy and vice versa.
16 Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow [a]cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes]. 18 It was of His own will that He gave us birth [as His children] by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a prime example of what He created to be set apart to Himself—sanctified, made holy for His divine purposes]. – James 1:16-18 (AMP)
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy [every evil, abusive, injurious speaking, or indignity against sacred things] will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit [by attributing the miracles done by Me to Satan] will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. – Matthew 12:31-32
To summarize the scripture from James and Matthew: If we believe that all good things come from God, when we confess and agree that something that is fully known and accepted as good is evil is essentially blaspheming God. People that intentionally do this, only do it to manipulate and deceive those who would potentially agree with them. Anyone who agrees and goes along with a scheme like this cannot claim innocence when they have every opportunity to exercise discernment, do research on the claims that were made, refer to the Bible, and frankly just use common sense. There is no reason to reach for and imagine scenarios that would make the false statements and claims true when you already know that the explanation given is not matching what has already been established as true. In previous posts the example of the sports fan attempting to justify his/her favorite player cheating or doing something against the rules so that this team can win the game is used to illustrate how this dynamic works. The same sports fan would be livid if the opposing team did the same dishonest act, and would vehemently oppose it and call it out. There is an old expression that used to be in some way like a slogan or public sentiment, some years ago: “Winning Isn’t Everything.” When people are focused on winning at all costs, they can be easily corrupted, because of their desire to win. The same is with any desire that gets out of control, it becomes an idol taking the place of God in that person’s life. Then adding blasphemy to this is only digging a deeper pit for that person, because the day of accountability will come.
How will You Overcome?
We do not have to be swept away and overcome by the Identity War that is being waged against us. Thank God that He has given us tools and weapons for us to fight with. Here are some ideas and strategies to align your identity with God and allow Him to lead and guide you instead of following and agreeing with whatever is released by the Prince of the Power of the Air, influential leaders, and Media.
Agree to let God define your identity, to show you what your purpose in life is and how to be effective in that calling.
Renounce any agreements with false narratives, deceptive agendas, and sentiments that appeal to the flesh to corrupt it.
Compare the attitudes, sentiments, and messaging from media and any other source to the Bible.
Repent for repeating wrong words, being a follower or participant in evil agendas, and for any area of compromise in your life.
Commit and/or rededicate your life to Christ if you have strayed too far or have gotten off course.
Declaration:
I exist outside of my naysayers’ thoughts, actions, and words. God created me with a purpose, destiny, and favorable expected end. I know who I am because I know Whose I AM. I was made in the image and likeness of God. Even though some people may not acknowledge my true Divinely Ordained Identity, as I press towards the mark for the High Calling in Christ I am being conformed to His image more and more each day. Every challenge or difficulty I face is just another opportunity for God to be Glorified victoriously over my life. I know who I am because God knew me and called me before the foundations of time and formation of the earth. I do not answer to the degrading and disrespectful verbal assaults towards me, my character, or evil imaginations of my likeness. Jesus bought and Paid In Full for every part of me and I am Identified as a heir and co-heir with Jesus in Heavenly places. I am not confused about any part of my life because when I seek the Lord for wisdom He generously provides it. My Identity is not a clone of someone else, I am uniquely and wonderfully made and regarded as the Apple of God’s eye. My past failures, successes, potential, or perceptions of others do not define me, for my life is written by God and all of my volumes are protected in Heaven. I do not allow the prince of the Power of the Air, Celebrity or Political Influencers or the media determine my course in life, because my life is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Fads, trends, and pop culture do not move me out of position, off my God Ordained course, or intimidate me in any way. I am not afraid to be different, unique, or innovative and by the grace and mercy of God will fulfill everything that He has written in my book, in the name of Jesus. My identity is not tied to any successes or failures of the past, instead it is rooted and grounded in the purpose and destiny that God has predetermined for my life before the world was formed. At every Identity challenge by the grace of God I will confidently and boldly declare that I know who I am and whose I am and my actions follow in the name of Jesus.
I am eternally identified by the Uncreated One, God almighty, His Dear Son Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name it is so!
Technology has really changed and innovated many parts of modern life, just compare the technological capabilities that we (global community) were working with just a decade or two ago and, it is shocking at how much technology that we interface with on a daily basis. It is very similar in the Kingdom of God, the way in which we as believers can connect and organize to worship, praise, pray, learn, and counsel has been upgraded by leaps and bounds compared to how we (believers throughout time) were able to fellowship in the past. All of these changes and upgrades didn’t just manifest out of nowhere, there were many people who stepped out as pioneers to show us that there was a better way or alternative way of doing things. I hesitate to say that each innovation is “better” than what was available before, because that phrasing can be very subjective, however most of us can agree that innovation ushered in improvements, efficiency, and made what was available for a few available, potentially, for all. The problem with technology is that it is oftentimes sabotaged, corrupted, and downplayed in order to 1. Keep things the same, 2. Help industry leaders continue to make lots of money off of inferior products/services, 3. To contain the expertise and mastery in the elite class. Have you ever purchased something and after using it for a while, thought or said: “They don’t make this product the way that they used to.” Or have you noticed that the standard for something that used to be high quality is now mediocre at best? What about the state of our governments on the Federal and Local levels? A lot of politicians nowadays spend more time and taxpayer money on promoting culture wars or trying to get reelected instead of serving their constituents that got them elected in the 1st place. Yes election season is upon us, and THERE NEEDS TO BE A CHANGING OF THE GUARDS!
The ceremonial “Changing of the Guards” is a visual and physical demonstration of old (who have been serving) guards going out and new guards (who have not served yet) going into service. It happens in militaries, sports teams, theater troops, PTA organizations, etc. – the transference of power, position, and influence from one set of leaders or participants to the next. Modern western civilization prefers a peaceful transfer of power, yet it is nonetheless still a transfer of power. When the transfer of power from the old to the new, experienced to the novice, the MVP to the rookie, etc. things within that organization or realm of influence, begins to slack, stale, and stagnate. This is mainly because those who have power like things to stay the same, while people seeking power are usually seeking it to make changes. You have seen this on your job, in the government, or maybe even at your church. The resistance to change is usually tied to honoring or respecting who was or is currently the main person or people in charge and any suggestion to change or innovate is slapped down as offensive, ignorant, or unuseful. The people who want things to stay the same teach the younger or newer people that this is how we like it here, do things this way. While they keep traditions going and the level of reverence for what worked before high, they miss out on the ease of innovation, the treat of technology, or the sweetness of new wine. This is not to say abandoning what is tested and proven is necessary to move forward, however if there is no innovation the threat of becoming outdated is imminent.
Righteous Anger: Remember that account in Genesis when Moses became so angry to see one of his people being mistreated by an Egyptian guard/overseer that he killed him? Or when David became so offended at Goliath’s taunting that he joined the military just so that he could personally take him down? Yes, Righteous Anger is a thing that the people of God will experience from time to time. This does not give us a license to kill, Moses ended up being exiled and placed on the most wanted list because what he did in his righteous anger was sinful and a crime. God still used him, but that anger rose up again and cost him from entering the promised land. Let’s not forget about Queen Esther, once she learned about what wickedness Haman was planning against her people, she fasted then went to the king to make her petition. This is a lovely example of what is needed right now in this generation. How many of us see the corruption in Government, corruption of school boards, corruption of ________ you fill in the bank and just gripe and complain about it as if we were not chosen for such a time as this? How many times do we walk or drive past those in need and say to ourselves or others how it makes no sense for the most abundant and prosperous countries and cities of the world to have so much poverty and people lacking basic needs, and yet do nothing to help? Knowing and acknowledging is great, but it does not directly address the root cause of the problem. There needs to be a changing of the guard. There needs to be a generation who will not just observe and understand the issues of life, but will take Holy Spirit directed action!
Wishing and hoping… Have we become so cynical and hope deferred as a society, as Believers in Christ, that we would rather see help spring up from another place, as Modecai warned Queen Esther, than to take action ourselves? Have we become so bitter, broken, and begrudged that we are immobilized like ancient Israel’s army was against Goliath, that we can even rise up to fight? This ought not be! We are the people of God Victorious! Jehovah Nissi, El Gibor! Awesome in Power, and Mighty to save and deliver! Are we in the midst of an identity crisis forgetting that our God causes us to Triumph? Or is it just time for the changing of the guards.
I respectfully submit to you that there is no way for the changes that we desire to occur to happen if everything stays the same. Yes, we know… “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Take a look around, examine the current state of affairs… Many systems, organizations, and processes that are supposed to be serving and blessing us ARE broken. It DOES need to be fixed, in fact it needs to be innovated! Who will answer the call? Who will put on their war clothes and prepare for battle? It is time for a Changing of the Guards! If you do not like who is in charge and feel like you could do a better job, maybe, just maybe YOU are the one that needs to pioneer the innovation in leadership for this generation. If you have the answer to the question that people are too afraid, too distracted, or unaware it needs to be asked, maybe it is your time to come forth with Kingdom strategy and technology that will benchmark a new standard for this and future generations. A few months ago, I released a post about God releasing new Mantles. Just why do you suppose God would release a new Mantle to someone that has no intention of using it? He wouldn’t. The increase in power, revelation, influence, and grace is not a gold star just for showing up! It has a purpose that is directly correlated to what is needed to happen in this time and this season for the glory of God! God is not seeking people who want mantles to put on display in their house, to post about it on social media, or to pack it away in their attic to collect dust. He is calling forth people who will be a sign and a wonder to every mountain they take for His namesake.
Let’s not wait until Ichabod is the cry across the nations. We do not have to wait until the Glory of God has departed before recognizing that the changing of the guard is needed. The changing of the guard does not have to be a “replacement’, it could just be applying wisdom to a process to gain efficiency that allows the Lord to blow “fresh wind” on it to come alive. For example, when Moses was operating as Judge over the children of Israel, his father in law Jethro helped him to realize that the way he was operating was not effective, efficient, or sustainable. This was not disrespectful to do, because the strategy to innovate that process was released and not only improved Moses’ leadership, it allowed some of the people who were serving to be trained and promoted to handle various levels of responsibility. When David took down Goliath, it mobilized a whole army from defeat and discouragement to victory and confidence! Notice, David did not stoop to the low of his enemy, instead he lifted up the name of the Lord and expressed trust in what the Lord was going to do! Who will speak out! Some of the enemies that seem like giants who set themselves against the will of God for our times, are just Goliaths that need someone like you to take them down.
Gideon, was in possibly the lowest place of his life when he was called into leadership. The enemy had been spoiling his village, pillaging and plundering all the food and resources that he and his people had been toiling for, leaving them destitute. It was so bad that he was hiding the grain that was harvested in the place where they make wine, hoping that they could harvest and keep some from being taken from the surrounding enemies.
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. – Judges 6:2-6 AMP
The way that the Israelites were living seems so extreme and pitiful, that you may feel like this could never happen to us. Well, let’s not get lost in what could and couldn’t happen in our lifetime, because many of us never thought that a health crisis like COVID 19 could happen in our lifetime, or that we would see the severe natural disasters that seem to be ramping up all over the world. We don’t know what the future holds, and neither did Gideon. Just imagine being so broken and beat down by life, that when the Angel of the Lord, a divine Messenger called Gideon into leadership, he started questioning why God even allowed all of those bad things to happen (Judges 6:11-13). This is where many of us have been or are now. Wondering why, instead of accepting the call. This is not a slight against Gideon or anyone who has questions for the Lord, but it does signal that if we have a bunch of questions, it might be time to get ready for war. Get ready to serve. Get ready to LEAD! Get ready to Pioneer and Innovate!
This has been a long, tiresome season, yet it is still time for the changing of the guards! Gideon and the Israelites were in a desperate situation, so much that they cried out to the Lord for help. The answer to their prayer was Gideon saying yes to the call, yes to trust the Lord, yes to greater responsibility. Are YOU the answer to someone’s prayer? I know we used to have a negative saying about overconfident, arrogant, and conceited people: “God’s gift to the world”. But when we say yes to the call of God to be part of the changing of the guards, we may actually be God’s response to a prayer, a gift to our family, community, nation, and yes even a gift to the world! The good news is that God equips, blesses, and strengthens who He calls into service! In verses 14 – 16 of Judges chapter 6, Gideon is directly told that God will strengthen him to do what he is being called to do! This for many of us is the determining factor. Is the hand of God on what we feel led to do? There is no shame in stepping out into the ocean to “test” the waters. However, if you see the waters raging, it would be wise to have it settled with God before stepping out in faith. So as the Bible states, many are called but few are chosen. Not everyone is going to be a Moses, David, Esther, or Gideon for their generation, but that does not negate the call. We can still agree with God and intercede for those that do step up as Pioneers for this season. Especially in the area of leadership on every level, we need to intercede for those who are currently in leadership roles, and who will take on new leadership roles. In fact, let’s pray right now:
Father God thank you for being available for us to approach Your Throne of Glory to seek Your face during these desperate times. Lord, we do not want to wait until Your Glory has departed before we realize that we need things to change. Lord we give to You our Righteous Anger and ask You to help us to bring Your will to pass in our lifetime, and help us to refrain from sinning or committing crimes that would hinder Your will. Lord the power that You release to Your chosen ones is not to be hoarded or hidden, it is for the purposes that You assigned to it. We pray for wisdom and humility to acknowledge and discern when power needs to transfer peacefully. Help us be ready to answer the call when the opportunity to innovate and pioneer arises. Help us not to shrink back in fear or intimidation at the responsibility, visibility, or level of influence, but instead we will grab our weapon, and run forward lifting up Your name as we take down the Goliath offending Your will. Lord let stagnation and outdated technology not be our portion in the Kingdom of God. Let Believers in Christ be on the forefront of innovation, strategies, solutions, and trailblazing new paths to success and efficiency. Lord let us continue to honor and respect those who have gone ahead of us, serving with diligence, becoming masters and experts in the field. Let them be like Jethro, advising wise counsel to Moses and new leaders that come forth. Lord please strengthen those who have been chosen for such a time as this. Give them boldness like Moses, courage like David, grace and wisdom like Esther, and willingness and strength like Gideon when they answer the call. Lord when the guard changes, let it not be more the same, status quo, non effective, and corrupt. We agree with You Lord to install leaders who are not just Christ focus, and want to appear as “Good Christians,” Lord in this season we need people who really have their focus on what the people need, what the people they are leading want (as long as it does not violate your will) and are ok with slaughtering the sacred cows that hinder and stagnate the progress that is needed for this generation.
Lord please stir up Your Holy fire in the bellies of those that need to come forth and step into their God appointed Leadership role. Lord stir up holy indignation and righteous anger in those you are calling to unseat corruption and greed out of institutions and organizations. Lord God You have called us to be Kings and Priests, let us not forsake our duty to lead and serve. Give them the authority to drive out those who are like the money changers that Jesus forcefully drove out of the temple. And with the new mantles, power, influence, and favor let them honor You and remain grateful and humble acknowledging that they are not self made, but chosen by Your Hand. Help us who are not called into service still support the leadership by interceding for them and instead of tearing them down with complaints, seek to assist, support, and engage in helpful communication so that they can improve in their service. Lord, we do not know what is coming, but You do, please prepare their hearts, minds, spirit, and souls for capacity to handle what is up ahead. Lord God we thank you and bless you for all of these requests in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Here are some scriptures to meditate on for further study:
Romans 8:23-24 (AMP)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been moaning together as in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only this, but we too, who have the first fruits of the Spirit [a joyful indication of the blessings to come], even we groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for [the sign of] our adoption as sons—the redemption and transformation of our body [at the resurrection]. 24 For in this hope we were saved [by faith]. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees?
1 Samuel 17:45-47
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
1 Samuel 30:8
David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue [the captives].”
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy
Isaiah 62:3
You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
Isaiah 60:1 (AMP)
A Glorified Zion
“Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come, And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you.
Revelation 1:6
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Judges 6:14 (AMP)
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
Matthew 9:17
Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
As always, thank you for reading this blog post. I pray that this will be a blessing in your life. Please share with someone who will be blessed and encouraged by this message.
Hello Dear Readers, welcome to Attack the Attack part deux! For those that missed part one, Attack the Attack is the philosophy and mentality, also a strategy for dealing with Spiritual Warfare in this season. Please go back and read it, when you can, it will make this post/installment make so much more sense if you are missing context to the concepts and ideas that will be shared. Now, let’s get into it! Attack the Attack is another expression that pertains to “Walking in Authority as a Believer.” For those of us who grew up in church or have been saved for a while, we have heard many messages on this concept. It basically ties into Believers ( in Jesus Christ) being part of the Kingdom of God and all of the rights and privileges that come along with that. It refers to the fact that there is a spiritual realm, just like there is a natural realm and both are real and have various impacts on our lives. One of the major foundational concepts regarding Spiritual Warfare is that the things that happen in the spiritual realm directly affect, and ultimately influence what happens in the natural realm around us. With this in mind, it is easy to understand how important it is to be aware of and sensitive to discern spiritual activity and how it impacts our reality.
The Bible gives us great examples of what Spiritual Warfare could be like. Some of the great examples of spiritual warfare in the Bible include: Moses and the Children of Israel vs. Pharaoh, David and Goliath, King Jehosephat preparing for war, Archangel Michael vs. Prince of Persia (in the book of Daniel), and one of my favorites Elisha and his servant surrounded by their enemies. In all of those examples, different strategies and methods for engaging in warfare were used. In the example of Moses, he went to petition Pharoah on behalf of the Israelites to be released so that they could go to their Promised Land. In the Example of David and Goliath, David actually went to combat a giant one on one, eventually killing him and opening up the opportunity for the rest of Israel’s army to overtake their enemy. King Jehosephat fasted, prayed, and used praise and worship to win their battle, and in the Book of Daniel, the warfare was not in the earth realm, it was in the heavenlies in response to the prayers that Daniel had been praying. The last example mentioned, Elisha and his servant surrounded by their enemies is the example that directly relates to the current events example that gives a perfect illustration of how spiritual warfare is supposed to work for believers.
The servant of the man of God got up early and went out, and behold, there was an army with horses and chariots encircling the city. Elisha’s servant said to him, “Oh no, my master! What are we to do?” Elisha answered, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “Lord, please, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servants eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha. – 2 Kings 15-17
On August 5, 2023 there was an unspeakable act of violence that sparked a brawl (fight where many people “jump in”) on the dock at the Montgomery Riverfront. This event was all over the news and went viral on social media. For those who are not familiar with what happened; Basically an African American Riverboat Captain, moved the boat of a group of caucasian boaters who refused to move out of the way so that the Riverboat Harriet 2 could dock. According to some accounts of the event, the boaters had been asked/notified to move several times before the captain went to the dock to move the boat out of the way for the riverboat. As a result of moving the boat without the consent of the boaters who were illegally parked there, a few of the men from the boat decided to confront the Riverboat Captain who was just doing his job. They began arguing with him, pushing and getting aggressive with him, and at this point a fight breaks out with the Captain being outnumbered by the men from the boat. Onlookers from the boat and other places at the dock were able to capture the whole ordeal on video. The amazing thing is that as the Captain was getting roughed up by the men from the boat, a young man, who we now know was the Captain’s coworker, jumped off the boat, swam to the dock and joined in the fight. At this point other people from the dock came to the aid of the Captain and to join in the fight. Most remarkably, one person even brought a folding chair as a weapon to the fight. While there are many layers to this event, everything from comical, historical, to racial and cultural, it is safe to say that the majority of people who saw this recognized that what happened to the Riverboat Captain was not right and that the people that started the altercation received an instant harvest on the evil and violence that they sowed into the situation.
While yes, I did get a few chuckles and laughs in regards to the memes and opinions that people expressed relating to this event, that is not why I am bringing this Alabama Brawl event up. In my opinion it was a great example of Elisha’s explanation to his servant, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” It looked like, to the men from the illegally parked boat, and probably to all of the onlookers, that the Captain was “on his own” when he went to address the situation that was preventing the Riverboat Harriet II from docking. The Captain did not lose his patience with the men from the boat, until one of them kept getting violent and aggressive with him, getting up in his face and putting his hands on the Captain. Only at this point does the Captain respond in self defense by tossing his hat/cap in the air and began fighting back. I think this is so significant because it’s not warfare unless you are fighting back. If you are under spiritual attack and never fight back it is only an attack, with the person not fighting back taking hits and losses. Another thing from that situation that stands out is the “hat toss”. It was such a simple gesture that had so much power behind it. Watching that was like the signal that it was about to go down, the Captain was ready to fight at that point. David used his slingshot and five smooth stones, Moses used his staff, and Jehosephat and the people of Israel sent up a shout and other expressions of worship. When the Captain went into the fight he had no idea how many of those men were going to jump on him and many of the people who ended up jumping into the fight had no idea that they would be involved in that altercation before it happened. In a matter of seconds the Captain who started out in the fight alone, seemingly with no help in sight and outnumbered went to helpers coming in to help fight and overtake the attackers from every side and even out of the water! It literally reminds me of one of those old school Karate or Kung Fu movies where someone picks a fight with the wrong person and people/other fighters come out of nowhere to join in the fight. In spiritual warfare, this is the reality that we walk in as Believers, it may look and feel like we are in the fight all by ourselves, but when we call on the Name of the Lord, when we worship and stand firm in our faith in God to deliver, and when we metaphorically toss out hat in the air and decide to resist the devil – we will experience our “Heavenly Help” arrive on the scene, throwing punches, elbows, and possibly even some Holy Ghost Fire Folding Chairs on our behalf!
Now in the rest of the story from 2 Kings 6, Elisha and his servant took a different approach to dealing with their enemy. They, along with the help from the Lord, were able to lead the enemy away to a different city, and let the Samarian King deal with them. I mention this because, just because Elisha had the opportunity to engage in the warfare that was seeking him out. He knew he had the advantage, and that divine help and protection was on his side. He knew all of this and still employed a different non-violent strategy. In doing so, the result of leading that army to Samaria actually brought a judgment against Samaria later in the story. So yes, we are powerful Believers, kept by God, and surrounded by divine protection and aided with supernatural help – That does not mean it is at our discretion on what to do with it. Elisha could have gotten “caught up” in seeing/knowing that all of this divine assistance was available and pursued violence. Now in the Alabama Brawl the Captain was clearly in Self Defense mode and probably did not have a whole lot of time to discuss with the Lord (if he is a Believer) how he was going to handle the situation, so it is no surprise that he responded the way that he did. This is why in spiritual warfare it is very important to know what weapons to fight with and how to use them.
Another key takeaway is that Spiritual Warfare is not always self defense or defensive, it can also involve taking new ground, or pushing forward to be the “help” in a battle that someone we know (or don’t know) needs to jump in and fight alongside them.
While the way that the Alabama Brawl unfolded and concluded is controversial for some, it does remind us that whether the attack is on us personally or on another, it is not warfare unless we fight back! This is why this example illustrates the Attack the Attack philosophy. Granted there are seasons when you may be overwhelmed, tired, drained, or just weakened by the cares of life and when the attack comes the LAST thing that you feel like doing is fighting back, you need to anyway. Yes, in those times the best way to fight back is to give your battles to the Lord and let Him fight on your behalf, but whatever you do, do not sit back and do nothing! If the Riverboat Captain had not decided to fight back, how motivated or inspired would the onlookers be to get involved in the situation and come to his aid? I think people would have still jumped in, but the energy and passion of the event would have been different. The same is true in Spiritual Warfare, God will still fight for us and send help when we are spiritually attacked, but our faith, trust, and our commitment to God usually gets damaged in the process.
In summary, this message is about Spiritual Warfare, not meeting violence with violence, although the example used displayed a lot of that. Key takeaways are that it is not warfare unless we fight back. This is why we are instructed to keep our spiritual armor on and to pray without ceasing. Basically it’s the “you won’t need to get ready if you stay ready,” type of mentality. Another Key takeaway is that there truly are more with us when we enter a spiritual battle. When we know that our help and divine HELPER (the Holy Spirit) is near and ready to fight with and in many cases for us at a moment’s notice, we can experience life differently. We do not need to go into a spiritual battle unsure of the outcome or fearful. We can confidently, charge and give our best fight because God is on our side. This is not about being arrogant or reckless, I am not encouraging anyone to pick fights or foolishly start trouble where there should be none, that is what the mean from the illegally parked boat did, and we all saw what the outcome of that is. What I mean is that we do not have to shrink back in fear, run away, or succumb to Spiritual Warfare pressure, we can make a decision to use the Word, praise, worship, prayer, faith, and many other Biblical spiritual weapons to resist the attacks of satan and his minions. The Next takeaway is to seek, discern, and use wisdom in regards to the battle. This means that we have to be in a posture like Elisha and his servant watching for and anticipating the next moves of the enemy before they are made. In the middle of the battle is not the time to strategize or figure out which is the best weapon to use. Spending time with God in the Word, in prayer, praise and worship allows time and avenues to strategies to download and for weapons to be sharpened. There are many excellent teachings on Spiritual Warfare for Christians that can go into way more detail and explanation, if you feel like this is an area that you want or need to grow in make the investment to get some of the resources out there. Lastly, remember that Attack the Attack is only one of many strategies or approaches to Spiritual Warfare. We do not have to react to every arrow the enemy shoots at us. We do not need to respond to every irritation, negative word, or threat that is raised. However when “hands” of the enemy are on you, Fight back, resist satan until he flees or until God takes over the battle for you.
It is possible that you are reading this because you are coming up on a season where this information will be valuable for you or others in your life. Let’s pray and agree that God will help you to maximize this information by studying more on Spiritual Warfare and will teach you when and how to fight in the Spiritual Realm. This is not about witchcraft or magic, this is about the Holy Spirit empowering you to resist, withstand, and overcome the attacks of the evil one. If you choose to learn more please take the teaching seriously and align your life and lifestyle to be consecrated to God so that He can protect and hide you when needed. There is so much more that can be stated on this topic, however this message is ending here. My God bless you and cover, protect and keep you and yours in Jesus name!
Lessons 'n Blessings 