The History Channel has a series called “Life After People”, the last episode examined the former German Diamond Mining town of Kolmanskop in Namibia, Africa which is in a desert wasteland. The town was chosen for filming “Life After People” because it was completely abandoned around the 1st World War and has been completely taken over by sand since then.
The site was a diamond mining town because of several factors. One factor was the very strong winds which actually blew diamonds in along with the sands of Namibia. These winds blew the diamonds all to one location. Another factor is the barrenness of the landscape. Namibia is also near a tectonic plate I believe, which would mean that instead of remaining coal, enough heat and pressure would combine to form diamonds. Diamonds are ofcourse, the hardest substance on earth and the only substance that can be used to drill under the ocean to deep buried oil deposits.
Due to the lack of water and vegetation, things that normally make a place prosperous, diamonds could easily be seen. In fact, the method of diamond hunting was to simply walk outside at night during the full-moon and they could be seen shining in the sand.
So, what’s the life lesson of a small diamond mining town called Kolmanskop?
For someone to be a diamond, they must have endured not only the extreme amounts of pressure but to have also been through the fire. Pressure can create coal out of something once dying, but only pressure and baptism by fire can make a diamond.
Diamonds are also easily found in the barren places, when there is nothing to cover over their brilliance. Additionally, diamonds can be found in the darkest of times, like night at Kolmanskop, when they would be noticed due to their reflecting the light from above the dark hours.
The winds of change also blow the diamonds into our path. Turbulent events in life sort out the coal, which remains buried deep in hiding, from the diamonds which are sent to reflect their light.
Diamonds are also the only substance hardened enough by pressure and fire to dig deep for something precious. Coal and most other substances would dull or sharpen when confronted with an obstacle, diamonds have the hardness from their baptism of fire that allows them to penetrate barriers.
When choosing friends, Diamonds are the ones to find. They will dig deep and have been through the fire. It is in the barren and dark places in life that the diamonds get revealed, and separated from the coal.
Plumb, lyric “Nice, Naïve, and Beautiful” from the “Beautiful Lumps of Coal” album Listen here:
She’s only known heartache and pain She’s never known pain like this She stands alone defending her name Know that she’s trying to be who she is Well is it so wrong to be who we are when all that she’s done is fail?
A Cause she’s so nice, naive, and beautiful Why does she keep taking advantage? Why does she live in a world so cold? She takes advantage of the nice, naive, and the beautiful
Cold is the throne of her hardened heart No one has seen the softest part Day after night she holds an ache but won’t budge to show the secret layers Well is it so wrong to hang onto hers? Maybe she could set it free
A Cause she’s so nice, naive, and beautiful Why did she get taken for granted? Why does she live in a world so cold? He took advantage of the nice, naive, and the beautiful
If you’ve been there, you know If you’re still there, hang on We’re all dealt our lumps of coal What you do with it can turn beautiful
Well there’s life outside of your madness and there’s a face behind every scar But there’s a love overflowing with gladness Get out of that place that’s restraining your love I said get out of that place that’s restraining you love
She’s so nice, naive, and beautiful She’s so nice, naive, and beautiful
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
Shalom, brothers and sisters by covenant! Many of you are undergoing a season of separation and you don’t know the answer to WHY?? Why the life altering divorce? Why the painful break-up? Why did your years long friendship end? Why did your business partner walk away with the checkbook? Why are you being deployed away from your family? Why are you being isolated in so many ways? Why is YHVH silent during this test it seems? I believe that your answer, like most answers, can be found in an ancient path that we have forgotten how to walk in our modern age. The answer is found in the turning of the seasons and gathering of the harvest, but we have lost so much of the Creator’s blueprint that we can barely recall the question.
The questions are: “When does this season end? What does this season hold? What’s in the next season?” In the times the Bible was written and in all nations around the world, it was an agricultural society. That’s how life was understood; through the lens of sowing and reaping, dividing and gathering, planting and waiting, wilting and blossoming again. During the era of Ruth, the grain crop was the central focus and the life of every Israelite was determined by the stages of the harvest, just as life is determined by the harvest cycle today for the believer. Though we have forgotten how we were intended to look at the world.
After losing count of the calendar that the Creator gave us in the moon, the stars and the land, we began to lose our understanding of our life and the seasons it contains. We didn’t know the destination anymore. Life became a series of endless accidents and experiences with no rhyme or reason, beginning or end. But if we are reminded that we were created for fellowship (to be a Family), for leadership (to be a Kingdom of Priests upon the Earth), for stewardship (to tend the Earth), for multiplication (to be Fruit-Full and Multiply both Physically and Spiritually after our Kind), then these seasons make sense.
What if life was never meant to be about waiting for your name to be called by Peter so you can be issued a harp and a pair of wings to float on a cloud? What if the Kingdom of YHVH is a Govt. and this Earth is the field where He plants seeds, raises leaders, pulls out the weeds, and prunes the seeds He planted so that they can bear fruit to feed the Spirit? What if the mind of Yeshua was placed inside of you as a seed to share with the world when it blossoms in order to beautify the ugly world around it? What if He gave you a new heart to bear fruit that will heal the nations? What if you were not simply BORN? What if you were PLANTED, at this place, at this time, in this nation, to bear fruit? To be bread? What if you are meant to provide bread for your brothers? And this Earth is the field and you are the grain? What if we are not being shuffled through life by accident, but are being made ready for something, something grand that took determination and patience and planning, like a harvest!
Let’s assume that we have been planted. We are headed towards not a death of our body, but a harvest of that seed of Messiah that has been planted inside us; that seed we call a renewed heart and mind. If we are the harvest, if we are those meant to bring the bread of life to the hungry souls of the world, then we can’t feed anyone in the shape we stared out in. We couldn’t bring any healing, return any strength, ease any hunger pangs, or revive the faint, unless someone intervenes, like a Master of the garden. The first Adam nearly allowed the garden of humanity to perish with blight, but the 2nd Adam is a Master Gardener, come to bring water to the desert and roses out of thorn briar patches. Before these trials, we were intertwined with tares, covered in chaff, and the very seed we were intended to share with the world -the wonderful gift we were instructed to multiply, the essential ingredient for daily bread- was encased in a hard shell that no human being could penetrate it.
So how does that lonely seed planted in the Earth become life giving bread in the Body of Messiah? Let us walk through the Ancient Methods of Harvesting Grain from Amongst the Tares…………………. The harvest begins with the planting (the Birth). The Earth is tilled (the world is made ready) for you to be born into it. There is a need that you are custom designed to fill. There is a hunger for something that you (or the unborn child in your belly perhaps) is meant to fill in the souls of those around you. If the world is starving for salvation, perhaps an evangelist seed has been planted inside you, or if the world suffers from a dangerous ignorance of the ways of its Creator perhaps a teacher seed has been planted in your heart, or if there is a lack of leadership, the kernel of a pastor or apostle is between your ribs?
When the seed is planted, the sprouting begins as you are knit together in the fertile soil of your mother’s womb. Then the rains begin, as the word is poured over both the wheat and the tares (Tares are a toxic plant or weed that can easily be mistaken for wheat that has yet to mature). Both are often planted in the same garden (the same Family, same church, same nation). The wheat by the Creator and the tares by the enemy who brought the blight on the human heart to begin with in the 1st garden. They grow closely, sometimes so close that their roots intertwine, and both are the recipient of the same washing of the word, the same soil. And for the first part of the season they may even be indistinguishable because outside they are the same. But when the next season approaches, when the Light of the world shines upon them after the winter rains, the difference between what was inside the wheat and what was inside the tares becomes apparent.
The wheat reacts to the Light by a growing and swelling of the seed inside of it until it becomes a heavy burden and the wheat bows its head in the Light. The tares however don’t grow. They don’t change. They just remain standing tall, refusing to bow. After time has been granted by the Reaper for the seed in each to reveal itself, to come to fruition, for the Light to expose what was inside of each different stalk from the same soil, the painful part begins. The sickle is taken to the field and the wheat is harvested by a cutting (in Hebrew Covenants are not made, they are “Cut” and they ALWAYS cost something precious). The tares are not cut. However, after the wheat has been separated and the wheat is not in danger of being harmed. Tares are uprooted and then gathered to be burned in the fire so that they cannot spread seed after their kind.
There are instances however, in which the wheat and tares are gathered together before the time. Out of greed some farmers will attempt to sell as much “Grain” as possible by harvesting both wheat and tares together before seeing how they truly respond to the Light, and declaring tares to be wheat. Then both are turned into bread for the body, and because of the tares part of the body becomes sick (we call this a gluten allergy) and that part of the body blames the sickness on the wheat and the body refuses bread from that day forward, preferring cheap substitutes instead (often sugary ones or even ones made of dead flesh) for fear of the bread. When it is not really wheat they fear. It is the tares.
His winnowing fork is in His hand and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3:12 NIV)
If the wheat and the tares are properly separated, which is usually in a sudden and violent manner on a day that neither of them expected it to occur, there is a step for the wheat that comes AFTER the tares have witnessed the wheat being cut from the earth it was raised in. During the next few uncomfortable steps the wheat experience, the tares may remain behind untouched (if only for a brief moment) in the same comfortable ground they were always in, not knowing that while the wheat is being turned into bread that gives life, the tares are simply waiting to be uprooted and tossed into the fire. You must understand this, that the wheat is being worked with. It has an urgent purpose to fulfill. It cannot long remain as it was because the body is starving for it. The tares are not a priority, they are at a standstill, only serving the purpose of holding the soil in place until they are uprooted. After the wheat has been cut from the tares that it always knew -that perhaps it always thought to be wheat like itself (or perhaps the wheat thought itself to be a tare),-then it is taken bundled together with other wheat for a time (brought into fellowship), awaiting the remainder of the wheat to be harvested. The process of taking this grain from the Earth and making bread for the body now begins.
The stalks that attached the seed to the Earth (the world) will be removed from the head. The first step is stripping away all but the seed, the seed that was designed from the beginnings of the world to give life to mankind. It is taken to the threshing floor gathered and where the chaff or husk are separated from the seed. The oxen are first brought in to walk upon, literally crushing the chaff from the wheat. Then the heads of grain with chaff (a remainder of the stalk) will be brought high above its field of origin during the middle of the night (in the darkness and the quiet). This is when the wind (Ruach or Pneuma, also translated Spirit) picks up and moves the most during harvest season. The heads with chaff are then taken to a flat stone floor or upper room on top of a hill that is designed to let the wind blow through it for this very purpose. A winnowing fork is then used to cause upheaval under the bundle of wheat heads and chaff. As the wind/spirit blows through it separates the chaff (remainder of what attached the seed to the world) away and off into the night, leaving the seed, more naked and vulnerable than it has ever been before, to fall to the floor (as its heart has too much weight when mature to be carried away by wind that blows cold in the night). This part of harvest time is very dangerous for the wheat. Even more so than sowing time when tares be can planted alongside wheat to steal water, soil and light or even to spread blight or choke out the wheat. During the winnowing time is when the enemy would most often attack in order to steal the wheat being harvested (partially because the work had mostly been done, partially because it was in the dark hours which makes wheat easier to steal, and partially because at this stage the wheat can be made into any kind of bread the enemy desires). For this purpose the Owner of the field, His Son, or men that they sent, were often on guard with swords over the wheat throughout the watches of the night (where Ruth fatefully found Boaz).
This remnant of the field is a treasure greatly valued by its planter, though the wheat may not feel that is the truth during the cutting and the winnowing. The wheat that remains, now without stalk to connect it to the earth/world. Without the remaining chaff that had always lingered and covered its true nature before, all that remains of the wheat weed is a hard outer shell around the kernel/the heart that must be removed before making bread that can be useable to the body. For this purpose, the wheat is placed in a farming implement called a Tribulum in Latin, that served the purpose for getting the (Spiritual) meat from wheat that an olive press does for getting oil (Annointing Oil) from olives or a wine-press does for getting grape juice (the blood of the vine, covenant blood) from the grape. This Tribulum is like hyssop in that it is very abrasive (hyssop is a botanical brillo pad used for scrubbing in ancient times). As the grain is crushed between the two planks or tight places of the Tribulum (from which we get the word “Tribulation”) the last barrier, the hard outer shell that hides the heart is removed from the wheat, so that its life giving aspect is seen.
This wheat kernel is then gathered with other wheat kernels that have been separated from the field of their birth, from the tares they grew alongside, from the stalk that connected them to the earth/world, from the chaff that remained on them, and finally, from their hard outer shell hiding their heart, and this collection of life giving seeds is then crushed, and then afterwards soaked and washed in water to unite the seeds together. It is formed and shaped by loving hands that are intent on providing nourishment to hungry families, and the lump of dough (collection of wheat seeds) is placed in a fiery furnace and sprinkled with salt until they resemble what the world is truly hungry for, a pleasing aroma, an answer to the longing deep inside, a renewal of strength that was lost, an opportunity to gather for rest. And after all the trials – by bowing before the reaper, then the cutting away from the world, then the separation from remaining chaff by the wind, then tribulation for a time, then the joining by water and strengthening by fire, then the sprinkling with salt- then the wheat is finally ready to give life as it was intended. And afterwards, the tares that have mocked the wheat for all of its trials and tribulation, while the tares rested in their same old place, are bundled and burned.
Are you experiencing the cutting away from the Tares in your life? Are you being bundled with those like yourself whom you have never encountered before? Are the remnants of the world on your fife being blown away in the dark and quiet places of the night? Have those you never knew guarding over you during this difficult place, as if they were on an assignment? Do you feel the hardness of your heart being shattered between your trials on one side and your circumstances on the other? Is the water of the Word cementing you together with other believers? Are you being firmed up together under intense heat? Are you becoming more salty to your friends, family and co-workers? Are you being made ready for the harvest? The remnant of the field? Will you be uniting the children of the King in fellowship when all is said and done? Will you be satisfying their hunger for daily bread?
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
“He Doesn’t Want Your Money, He is Interested In CHANGE”
“This is my renaissance (rebirth)
This is my one response
But I got to say now,
It’s got to CHANGE”
“Renaissance” by Mat Kearney Before I became a believer myself I always thought it strange that so many people “heard the call” and “said the prayer” at these “mass birthings”, “revivals”, and youth conferences, and then right back to doing exactly what they were doing before. I shouldn’t have been surprised, I was baptized in water when I was 8, and again a few years later. I had made a public confession and said the sinner’s prayer out of a honest terror of going to hell (yes, the local Baptist Church was the only Church I knew of, and Baptists sell Fire Insurance in addition to their regular day job). They also do a lot to help people in need, such as myself when I was 14 and didn’t know where my shoes for winter were coming from, or my next meal. Aside from saying the prayer, getting dunked in the water, and having an honest fear of my fire insurance policy not being any good because I never did my part in making the payments (a changed life), and reading the Bible cover to cover, I never really CHANGED.
I had a deposit, a drop of the Spirit, that provided enough light to keep me from walking off a cliff, but not enough to keep me from losing my way for the most part, from going down the dead ends and hitting all the potholes on the road to the Wedding Feast. Sure, somewhere deep I also felt some conviction, but it was rationalized away. It wasn’t enough for me to turn around (repent), just enough to make me search the Bible for more loopholes.
The scariest part the whole time was the very word’s of Yeshua (called Jesus by most Christians) “Away from me your workers of Lawlessness, for I never knew you!” These words were being spoken to those who had performed miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, founded television ministries, sold books, etc, etc. Of course, as one of the 12 Apostles, Judas had done all of these things as well. I knew that if they were in trouble, I must really be in deep. I didn’t even tithe, and like the sign above says, He isn’t interested in your coins, He wants REAL Change.
Another thing that will keep you up at night, the words found in the Gospel of John “He who loves Me will keep My Commandments”, and we are also warned that if we don’t do as the Father Commands, then the Father is not in us. I was also at this time, well aware of the many Commands being ignored by many Christians. While they found breaking the Sabbath, celebrating pagan holidays, and other things perfectly okay scriptural because their pastor said it was, I had a curse of knowledge. I knew that it was wrong, but I did it anyway. At least they could do as they wished on Sabbath out of ignorance and could probably be forgiven, they didn’t know any better. When you know better, and do it anyway, then its Grace Abuse and comes to the point that no forgiveness remains.
Like alot of other things. Studying the Scriptures to find loopholes had only revealed more ways that I was hanging myself. Studying the Scriptures to prove Deism (an Elohim that doesn’t personally involve Himself in the lives of people) only proved that He was very involved, especially in the business of blessing and cursing. Especially in the business of taking care of hypocrites (my way around this was to simply not claim to be a Christian).
Finally I came to the admittance that Teshuvah (Hebrew for Repentance, returning to YHVH’s Law) must be made. While asking forgiveness with your mouth is one thing, actually changing is a whole other thing entirely. Just as Yeshua says that if your brother offends you and REPENTS 70 times then you must forgive Him. The word He uses for REPENT isn’t talking about a verbal “I’m Sorry” its talking about actual change. I realized that Accident Forgiveness is granted not when we quote our life insurance policy number (an out of context verse) to heaven’s prayer line, but we actually REPENT and change our ways to match YHVH’s Ways and start driving the vehicle of life like we care if we wreck, which hurts us and others, and is an offense to the one who paid for the damages the last time. If we can’t handle our earthly clunkers, what kind of vehicle can He trust us with in heaven, the kind we will have for Eternity (Matthew 5:17-19).
The difference between Fire Insurance and Blessed Assurance is seen in the 2 words for “To Hear”. In Greek, Akousia (like Acoustic) means to physically hear when sounds waves hit your ear. In Hebrew, the language Jesus spoke, they say “SHEMA”. Shema means to “hear and obey”, because Hearing YHVH without obeying Him is almost inconceivable. If you heard and didn’t obey, then you must not have known the voice of the one who was speaking (Just like Paul’s Companions who heard thunder). The “Shema” is also a prayer found in Deuteronomy 6, that declares that there is only one YHVH, and He is above all, so we must Hear and Obey Him. Yeshua also quotes it as the Greatest Commandment “Hear O Israel, HaAdonai is Elphim, Adonai is ONE.”
I challenge you to hear (Shema), YHVH’s Words in the Bible, obey His Commands so that you may blessed if you are a believer and not have your rewards lessened in heaven (Deuteronomy 30, Matthew 5:17-19) and not bring a curse on the nation such as more terrorism and debt ( Leviticus 26)
We can give to the Congregation, and go through the motions, appearing to be changed, but unless our heart is changed, then our “Fire Insurance’ is not yet in effect and everything can still burn.
Its not our COINS He seeks, He seeks CHANGE. Giving the Coins simply Changes us, because it breaks our attachment to that which is not YHVH, but is only treated as such. The blessing comes not from giving our “love offering” but in giving an offering of Love, expressed by change, a broken and contrite heart.
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
“A Lover Must Also Be a Fighter, Or Else He Is Not A Lover”
Love is not a fleeting emotion, it is not the warm fuzzies, love is not passively laying down your life, or praying for change. Love is active, powerful, dangerous, love is a verb and an inspiration for the greatest acts of courage and kindness. What we have done to Love, we have also done to the Messiah.
Growing up in a rough environment, I learned to not lean on anyone not strong enough to protect you. Therefore the problem I had with the “Mr. Rogers’ Messiah presented in Churches. My thinking was “Someone had the warm fuzzies enough to die for you, now they are gone, what now?” “So you want me to just take all sorts of abuse, without you protecting me, and on top of that I am not allowed to defend anyone I love?” And the hardest message of all to place your faith in. “Place your faith in someone who passively let Himself be killed, and wants to give a hug to the guys who did it.”
This twisted idea we have of effeminate, motherly, Valentine’s Card, Hippie, Mr. Rogers “Love” has so marred the image of the one who loved most of all, that we wouldn’t recognize the Him if He returned today. In fact, when we read about Him in the Bible, most people can’t believe its the same Messiah worshipped in the Churches (whom most Christians call Jesus, but whose Name is Yeshua).
When you show someone passages about Him telling His disciples to sell their sandals and use the money to buy swords, making a whip and lashing the money changers during the weekly worship service and flipping their “Love Offering” tables over, throwing the guest speakers CD’s in the trash. They don’t like Him telling the most powerful TBN preachers in the nation that they are a den of snakes and hypocrites, not 10 feet from their very pulpits and camera crews, and daring them to kill Him because He will just raise from the very grave itself in 3 days and 3 nights, making many get terribly offended.
The Yeshua of the Bible isn’t the Yeshua they bought a picture of at LifeWay Book store holding a sheep in his arms like a little boy does a puppy. The Yeshua of the Bible wanders around cemeteries alone and instead of running from the naked demon possessed (something close to high on crack) homeless man that is screaming at the top of his lungs and bleeding from head to toe, the one that threw Sherriff’s deputies in every direction on last night’s episode of COPS, the Yeshua of the Bible simply tells him to stop acting a fool and put some clothes on. And he does it.
The Yeshua of the Bible is on a ship from “Deadliest Catch” in the middle of a storm, taking a nap while the Captain of 20 years (Peter Kepha) wets his Levi’s bootcut jeans. The Yeshua of the Bible has a squadron of Roman Marines and the Temple Secret Service come to arrest Him and his 12 factory worker disciples in the middle of the night, and when He says “I am He” they fall on into firing position behind their riot shields for fear of lightning coming out of His eyes and torching them. After all, He did raise a man from the dead with a whole crowd watching Lazarus claw his way out of the dirt like Night of the Living Dead, but he was fully functioning when he came out asking “what’s for dinner?” Would you be afraid to draw a weapon on this man, after all, if He does that for His friends, what in the world will He do to His enemies? Go X-men on them?
You see, a Lover must also be a Fighter. Because Love requires the willingness to confront a threat, to stare down those with evil intentions, to risk everything on a one in a million chance, to tell the truth without anxiety about the consequences, to expose the wolves for wolves without fearing their teeth. Love cannot be passive, cannot be indecisive, it cannot be afraid to defend or even to destroy. Most of all, it can’t be afraid of offending, of stepping on toes, of perturbing sensibilities or shattering expectations and pulling down limitations. Love may seem rude, out of place, ill-mannered or even arrogant.
Love serves the one it adores, but it doesn’t worship them by becoming a doormat. Love has a higher desire than the approval of the one it adores, Love has the desire of bringing Freedom. Love has a higher desire than Safety, Comfort, and Security for the Lover and the one Adored, Love has the desire of reaching the full potential. Love abandons “what is permissible” in an unstoppable march towards what is Best. The Lover understands that to be what is needed, He cannot conform to the desires of the one it adores, He must instead be the Lover/Fighter He was designed to be. This is the only way He can serve and protect, by being What He was designed to be. Many may want a friend, a pal, a buddy, in Yeshua or an earthly husband, but what they need is a Lover and a Fighter, a leader who knows who He is, what He is here for, and how much the cost will be.
All of these things fit the role of the Redeemer and the Avenger in the Bible. Roles of the Messiah that are often forgotten in the Feminized suit and tie Churches of Spiritual Civilian America.
The Redeemer was a relative, usually an older brother, who freed you from debt slavery. The older brother was a given a DOUBLE PORTION from the Father, so He would have enough to redeem his siblings should they get into trouble. The most common way to end up in slavery was to owe more than you could pay. Since their was an entire system set up to keep people out of debt slavery, someone must have a real addiction or being incredibly foolish to have ended up a slave. The Kinsman Redeemer would use His inheritance from the Father, and His position as the son of a powerful man, to go before the one who holds those he loves in slavery, and the Redeemer would bargain hard for the price of the one in slavery. He would then take of his double portion and pour it out at the feet of the slaveowner. He had to be strong, and intimidating, in order to get the one He loves free.
This Kinsman Redeemer loved so much in fact, that He was not only willing to risk losing His inheritance if He failed, but also His Life and His Freedom. Like Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino”, He was strong enough to destroy the ones holding those He loved hostage, but instead He gave His life to ensure that they would never be in bondage again.
Yeshua came as a kinsman (human body) to Redeem us from the things we are slaves to. We were slaves to sin because we couldn’t stop sinning. When a person sinned voluntarily they were effectively signing a contract that they agreed to pay with their life. This certificate of indebtedness was spoken of by Paul and is called a “CheiroGraphon” in Greek (Handwritten Ordinances that were against us). You signed one if you went into debt, and if you couldn’t pay, you were sold as a slave until your debt was paid. Messiah paid the full penalty for breaking YHVH’s Law with His life. Thus redeeming us from this Written Document that says we owe our lives to pay for our sins.
He also redeemed us from not only the things that got us into slavery. He freed us from breaking YHVH’s Law not by changing YHVH’s Law, but by planting a desire to keep it in our hearts, and giving us His Spirit to have the power to go and sin no more. Because He doesn’t want to see us selling ourselves into slavery again. He also breaks the addictions that led us to sell ourselves into slavery as well. In addition, He gave us His written Word to teach us Wisdom and YHVH’s Law, so we wouldn’t break YHVH’s Law or do stupid things to end up in slavery to anything again. You were bought at a heavy price, and He doesn’t want you going back into slavery.
Another thing He redeemed us from, aside from the Curse (Debt Owed) of Breaking YHVH’s Law, is Legalism. He redeemed us from the curse of trying to think that we could just work our way out of debt slavery. For as long as we thought we could work out way out, we would live in futility trying to do it on our own, instead of letting the only one with the Double Portion of the Inheritance pay it for us. He would have to be strong, or we would not have faith in his ability to set us free.
Sometimes the case happened that even though the price of Redemption could be met, the slave owner just didn’t want to release the slave. In this case, you would need a very strong Kinsman Redeemer, an eldest son ( who had a double portion of the Father’s Strength). He would have to release the captives by force, and in Revelations we see Jesus doing just that, commanding the sea and the grave to release the captives of death who are in them.
The Avenger is also a form of Lover. If a person was accidentally killed or maimed, then a Redeemer could serve as an avenger. He would chase the one who killed or maimed his relative to extract vengeance and/or justice. This took a strong person, strong and fast and tough, because they would not only have to catch the fugitive, but also fight them when they found them, and go many days through the desert without rest like Clint Eastwood in “Pale Rider”. Love and Justice are inseparable, love for the victim is measured by the Justice meted out by the avenger. The fugitive would be on a time clock, and every day that passed that he was not in a city of refuge, his clock would be ticking down. He would get more and more desperate. This is the case of Satan, he knows that he has done great harm to YHVH’s people (though with malicious intent) and the Avenger on the White Horse is coming for his head. He is thrown into the pit for a thousand years in the Book of Revelations (a form of Refuge and a prison), and then he dares show his head to try and harm YHVH’s children again. This time he is flayed alive over an open flame, the great red dragon is like a lizard on a stick over an open campfire being roasted.
Yes, the Lover must be a Fighter, otherwise He would fail at being a Lover.
I highly recommend “Wild at Heart’ John Eldredge, it looks at the problem of and cure to the Feminized Church .It changed my life, and my view of Yeshua. It has also helped a lot of sons and fathers who feel the Church is trying to cut their manhood off every week. Another great book is “No More Christian Nice Guy” by Paul Coughlin.
LOVER by Derek Webb (my favorite Christian Song) Listen Here http://www.last.fm/music/Derek+Webb/_/Lover Lyrics Like a man comes to an alter I came into this town with the world upon my shoulders and promises passed down and I went into the water and my Father, he was pleased I built it and I’ll tear it down so you will be set free
Yes But I found thieves and salesmen living in my Father’s house I know how they got in here and I know how to get ‘em out I’m turning this place over from floor to balcony and then just like these doves and sheep you will be set free
I’ve always been a lover from before I drew a breath some things I loved easy and some I loved to death because love’s no politician, it listens carefully of those who come I can’t lose one, so you will be set free
But go on and take my picture, go on and make me up Iill still be your defender, you’ll be my missing son and I’ll send out an army just to bring you back to me because regardless of your brother’s lies you will be set free
I am my beloveds and my beloved’s mine so you bring all your history and I’ll bring the bread and wine and we’ll have us a party where all the drinks are on me then as surely as the rising sun you will be set free.
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
The Poet that He Trained for War-The Great Conundrum of David
“Blessed be YHVH, my Rock, who trains my hands for War, and my fingers for Battle;” Psalm 144:1
Reading the Psalms we find a very interesting phrase that would surprise, or even shock, many in our Modern Church. David Son of Jesse; the Poet, the Musician, the Lover, the Worship Leader, the Ultimate Shepherd, has written a Praise Song that speaks of His Creator, His Father, training his hands for WAR and his fingers for BATTLE.
We also find a David who was a Warrior, not just a Poet, and a Fighter who understood that a Warrior who for fights only for himself and not a King is just a Mercenary, a Warrior who fights only for a Nation is just a Soldier, and a Warrior who fights only against the Voiceless, the Needy, and Fatherless, and the Poor is just a Thug.
“And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 1 Samuel 18:7
Before we jump to any grandma’s Sunday School or Pastor with Highlighted Hair Conclusions, David wasn’t just slaying Demons and Principalities, and this wasn’t fighting a Spiritual Battle, this wasn’t a Prayer Meeting, or writing a Book on The Battlefield of the Mind, or Preaching. The Scripture is undeniably clear, King David took many lives on the Battle Field in close quarter, hand-to-hand, Marine Corps in Iwo Jima, Trenches of World War II, Civil War bayonets, Braveheart with long swords and hatchets style Combat. The Church of his day sang of his victories, even the Women, even the Youth Group, even the Worship Leaders. Men wanted to be David, and women wanted their Husbands to be like David, and their Sons to grow to be like David and their daughter’s to marry a David. And the YHVH, that men with guitars and skinny jeans and gray haired old ladies in Choir Robes sing about in Churches, about whom we sang “He has the whole world in His hands” as children, that we quote on cute little bookmarks from LifeWay with pictures of sheep and deer and other petting zoo animals, and whose name we use to oppose the Death Penalty and going to War on many occasions, trained King David’s Hands for War. YHVH, Our Heavenly Father, trained his hands for Bloody, Gruesome, Hand to Hand Combat, War and His Fingers for Battle and things that happen in movies like Braveheart, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and other films Churches won’t let their members attend because the violence is “unchristian” and something young men should NEVER be exposed to. But it IS a House of YHVH, and this is what He trained King David for, Boxing, Kickboxing, Wrestling, Judo, Firearms, Knife Fighting, Combat. What if the modern Houses of YHVH was used just as much a Dojo or Firing Range as it was a Civitan, a Daycare, a Concert Venue, a Comedy Club and a Country or Book Club??? What if we allowed King David to be more than a Shepherd and Poet, what is he could be a Warrior?
“My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.” Isaiah 3:12
In our Feminized Culture in which most men have been raised strictly by women (and therefore made more Feminine) because the men ran away and refused to raise their sons, and a Feminized Culture will be long on Mercy and short on Justice, this is a kind of reality that most of us have been sheltered from here in the United States. Most have never known someone who had to take a life, and if we did, then it was over-seas in some far off Country and we didn’t see our family member or friend until months afterwards and then there was certainly no lengthy conversation about it, if we ever heard about it at all. In a way, we have only known one side of that person. Our grandfathers, our uncles and fathers and brothers and friends and even the husbands of many of you ladies. We have never seen a man engage in Combat, not a street fight when someone insulted his mother, not a punk at the mall getting too fresh with his daughter, not even when a mugger steals his grandmother’s purse, because all of this would simply be “Un-Christian”. If someone did, for any reason, ever, defend the defenseless using force, it would probably cost them their standing at their Church, their Job, in the Community, or with their Wife/Girlfriend, well, in most places except for Texas and some of the Southern States. Our Culture is ruled by a Youth Mentality, a mentality of whatever is pleasant and Feels Good IS Good, and whatever is unpleasant and makes us Feel Bad IS Bad. Since Duty is often unpleasant, and no Fathers have been around to show us our duties and hold us up to the unpleasant ones we are a Generation that has never fully grown up. We are a culture ruled by Youth (Infants) and the buying power of Youth (which controls advertising which controls culture), oppresses anyone who would act with Righteousness or Justice (usually by Organized Protests or Silent Oppression in the Corporate and Academic Centers).
“And when He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ Acts 13:22
How do we reconcile this David, this Navy Seal, Cage Fighting, Action Movie Hero, Martial Arts Instructor, David, with the David who wrote the most studied, celebrated, sung, rewritten, and honestly most touching, Songs ever written? How did he set down the Sword after slaying hundreds of armored, armed and well-trained evil and barbaric men in an open field in the desert, bury the bodies of his best friends, then wash the blood and guts and dirt off his face and hands to sit down to pick up the pen and write the words that would comfort millions of people throughout the centuries, inspire the worship services of Churches throughout every Nation on Earth where there is Worship of YHVH, in addition to Prophesying in exact and clear detail the Death, Burial and Resurrection of His King to arrive over a thousand years later? How did David then go back home to make love to his wife Abigail, or to teach His Son Solomon how to read Hebrew, or to hear the case of a Widow whose land was stolen, or to sit in the Tabernacle or Dance before YHVH?
“Blessed be YHVH your Elohim, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because YHVH loved Israel forever, He has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” 1 Kings 10:9
In the original design for a Man, every man was intended to be a King, a Priest, and a Lover. Adam was a King in that he administrated the Garden, he named the animals, he kept the Peace and brought Order (which allows life to grow) out of Chaos (as Chaos slowly and invisibly destroys life), and Kings after Adam, who would have responsibility for limiting the Evil in the actions of men both inside and outside of their Kingdom (otherwise nothing living or innocence would remain, but only Evil). Kings would ensure that those who took life without just cause were not allowed to live longer themselves (the life of the murderer who ends the life of an innocent person is ended shortly after the life they took), they ensured that what was stolen was returned, and those who had little regard for the life and innocence of the Fatherless, the Widow and Vulnerable learned it quickly. Adam’s fall however, and the Fall of the Church as well, as that Adam knowling allowed the Law of the Creator to be set aside in favor of what His Bride (the Church in a sense) desired to do, but while the Bride (Congregation) acted in Ignorance, Adam the Priest, did so willingly, and the Earth (Adam’s Domain) has been in a Lawless Chaos ever since then.
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a Book a copy of this Law, approved by the Levitical priests.” Deuteronomy 17:18
Kings like David were limited though, by Law and by Honor. A King could not force anyone to go war (as drafts were forbidden in Torah but not recruitment), a King was expected to be at the front lines as his troops went to battle (so to risk the lives of his men was to risk his own), and a King was not allowed to embark in wars of aggression to expand their territory or to multiply wives for himself (robbing them from other men). Kings were also not above the Torah (The Creator’s Constitution to protect His People and His Instructions for how they are to live and hold Government). Kings could not execute anyone without two or three eyewitnesses (who would receive the punishment they were trying to impose on someone else) and Kings were compelled to write an entire copy of the Book of the Law when they took office so they could not claim ignorance of Righteousness.
“Her priests have done violence to My Law (Instructions) and have profaned My Holy things. They have made no distinction between the Holy and the Common, neither have they taught the difference between the Unclean and the Clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.”
Ezekiel 22:26
Adam, and all men after him, and the Nation of Israel, was also expected to lead the world in the duties of a Priest (separating the Clean from the Unclean, ensuring the Presence of The Creator is Welcomed with Worship, and ensuring Fellowship with the Creator took place and nothing that would disrupt that Fellowship was allowed). Adam failed in His Priestly duties because he allowed the Serpent/Dragon into his domain, over which he was responsible for ensuring that nothing Unclean entered, and this Unclean thing hindered Fellowship with His Creator. Because someone in his home was taken with it, it charmed her, entertained her, made her feel good about herself, he let it stay and it ruined Eden.
“And you shall be to me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Exodus 19:6
In his role as a Priest, we find a David that we are more comfortable with, though any Pastor who took seriously his role as one who separates the Clean from the Unclean would have terrible trouble seeking employment. And unlike being a “King of the Home” (who ensures that the Law of YHVH is abided by and Justice is administered), a man being the “Priest of the Home” can still be heard in some Church Circles. As the example of the Kingly Priest, David led worship for the Nation of Israel (all those in Covenant with YHVH), not in an official capacity as David was not a Levite, but in the capacity of personal example as we see by his dancing before YHVH in the Ephod (and catching hell from his Bride who only allowed the Priest of the home to worship on her terms). David was a Priest in that he sought the direction of YHVH (not the People as in a Democracy) and not the dictates of his Bride (as in the Churches where the Spiritual Bride sets the Standards instead of the Spiritual Husband, a Spiritual Feminism), and his relationship and communication with YHVH was used to serve the people as a leader in both times of Peace (Blessing) and War (Crisis). Part of David’s worship was Music (singing, playing, writing, composing Music) but in the Scriptures, Obedience was the ultimate Worship, and Worship was measured by what you surrendered and not by how quickly you clapped, how loudly you sang, how many tears you shed, or how many times you laid out on the floor or passed out and fell backwards. Worship was an attitude for David, not a performance.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to Me. And since you have forgotten the Law (Instructions) of your Elohim, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6
In the Jewish Tradition, Study is actually the ultimate Worship. As Study takes more Sacrifice and is less pleasant that Singing and Dancing, as Study ensures that Worship is done in alignment with Truth and should crush any Golden Calves before they arrive. In opposition to 1950’s American Culture, Jewish Women often run the family business so their husbands can have time to study Torah (the Creator’s Instructions) maybe this is based on Proverbs 31? Or just an understanding of Priesthood?
“As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of YHVH’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of YHVH your Elohim, with which He commanded you. For then YHVH would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. YHVH has sought out a man after his own heart, and YHVH has commanded him to be prince[b] over his people, because you have not kept what YHVH commanded you.” 1 Samuel 13:10
David was a true Worshipper. He worshipped/Lived His Life in Spirit (Being led by that which is Right) and Truth (believing that which is Right). The difference between Saul and David in fact, was that David was a true YHVH Worshipper (a Priest), and Saul was a People Worshipper (a Politician). David went into battle and asked YHVH about WHAT to do, and HOW to do it, and WHEN to do it, and with WHOM to do it with, while Saul asked YHVH what to do then made the rest of the decisions on his own. David feared YHVH, while Saul feared the People. Perhaps this is a good time to ask if there is a Saul or a David behind the Pulpit at your Congregation, and why you and the rest of your Congregation voted him there? And also points out problems with Spiritual Democracy.
“Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And YHVH loved him” 2 Samuel 12:24
Adam, like all the other men after him, was also called to be a Lover. Lovers not simply in the Romantic Sense, but to Love their Creator, Love their Children, Love their Neighbor, and yes, to Love their Wives. The Love of a man can always be seen in both how tender he is with his children, and how fierce he is with those who would do them harm, and the same goes for all others in his life. A lack of fierceness or a lack of tenderness, both indicate either a lack of Love or a lack Strength, as it takes Strength to both Tender and Fierce. Adam was called to not only be the King-Judge of Eden, with his wife Eve beside him, and a Priest of YHVH separating the Clean and Unclean (removing Serpents-Dragons from the Garden), but also to be a Lover to Eve and to tenderly show his children The Way to the Tree of Life. Adam was called to be Fierce against the Serpent, and Tender towards Eve. But Adam was tender with the Serpent and turned against Eve when YHVH came ask Adam why he was derelict in his duties as King and Priest. When Adam did this, he attempted to relegate these duties to Eve, as he was enjoying the privileges but didn’t want the responsibilities (like enjoying making a baby but refusing raise a child), so the authority and therefore responsibility of the home, is then delegated to the mother.
“And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the King, because they perceived that the wisdom of Elohim was in him to do Justice.”
1 Kings 3:28
But back to Tenderness. The Strength of a Warrior, like David, is shown in that he sees the difference between himself and others, and respects that difference. He realizes two things, that his Strength sets him apart, and that his Strength is a tool with which he was given to serve those he loves (perhaps why Samurai means “one who serves). When a Warrior realizes that his Strength is Real, then he is not threatened by others who do not have it, and therefore does not have to constantly prove his Strength TO THEM or OVER THEM. He can afford to be tender, he can afford to be seen as “Weak” by those who have never seen the Warrior arise, and he can prove them wrong whenever the need arises, but he never proves it unless there is a true need. Captain Jack Hoban, a Marine Corps Captain and 5th Dan (5th Degree Black Belt) in the Togakure Ninja Clan had this to say on being a Warrior “I am a Warrior, Everyone in the Room is a little Safer because I am there”.
“16 As the Ark of YHVH came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before YHVH, and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the Ark of YHVH and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before YHVH. 18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of YHVH of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat,[e] and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.
20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before YHVH, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince[f] over Israel, the people of YHVH—and I will celebrate before YHVH. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your[g] eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.” 2 Samuel 6:18
A True and Genuine Strength, is shown in dancing with your daughter, carrying your grandmother’s groceries in for her, giving the homeless man a bottle of water, crying at a funeral, making a fool of yourself to share your heart with your wife, and in worshipping with wild abandon (which some of us struggle with). Weakness needs to be respected just as much as Strength in order to have a functional Society and a Healthy Community. The weak deserve Protection just as much as the strong deserve Respect. Almost all children, handicapped, the elderly, and the majority of women deserve the protection of the Strong. The tenderness of David was made possible by his Strength and not in spite of it. Any Warrior who did not know he was a Warrior could not play the Lyre, write Poetry, or many of the other feats of Tenderness that David was known for. Strength with Love produces Tenderness, Strength without Love produces Brutality. The Samurai understood the need for Tenderness in a Warrior, perhaps why the Samurai learned just as much about pens (Poetry, Calligraphy, Drawing) as they did about Swords, and spent just as much time in their Gardens as they did in their Dojos. Those who have learned to nurture life have also learned to protect it fiercely, as David learned with his sheep. There are those who will mock or not understand your tenderness, but these people often spend much of their lives denying their own Blessings and lack Wisdom. Perhaps this is why the Celts had a saying “Never give a Sword to a man who can’t Dance”, the bitterness rusts their Sword.
“And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” Judges 16:5
Strength comes in many forms, Physical Muscle Power like the ability to lift rocks or run marathons, Mental Analytical Power like the ability to plan or strategize, Emotional Staying Power like the ability to keep pouring yourself into a Dream or a Relationship or an Idea long after most would have quit, or the Power of Discipline to say “no” in an area in which your Body, your Mind, or your Emotions want to say “yes”. Everyone is Strong in one area or the other, and Weak in one area or the other. Not everyone can be Strong in one of these areas, and few in any people can be strong in all of them. Everyone has a weak area, and in these weak areas we are often the most afraid to show tenderness in that our weakness may be revealed. Those who are most likely to fall prey to a bad relationship don’t let anyone in, those with an unknown physical injury may refuse to participate in sports, and those who are don’t feel like they have efficient intellectual ability may play the class clown in order to justify low grades. Denying Weaknesses however does not make a Warrior, it makes a cold Robot or a lonely Fool. Trusting it with anyone makes a Fool too.
“Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there.” Genesis 43:30
Learning who we can trust with our Tenderness and cry with us in defeat is the greater part of Wisdom, just as much as knowing who can respect our Strength or stand with us in Battle and celebrate in our victories. Pretending we don’t have any vulnerabilities is like trying to keep watch on a caged animal so nobody knows that there is a tiger in the basement, we have to sleep one day, and until then we will spend every waking moment making noise (making money, winning trophies, earning grades, getting promotions) to cover over the growls and taking nourishment (our Love) away from those we love in order to feed it (our Fear). Vulnerability cannot be killed, but it must be trained before let loose.
“Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” Genesis 24:67
In the Japanese Culture, Samurai called their wives “Oku-San” which means “Ms. Inside”. This may sound as if they never left the house, but the wives of Samurai managed the family farm, the money, the business, so their husbands could have time to train for the Battlefield (be their Protector) in the same way that Jewish Women would manage the business so their husband could have time to study the Torah (train to be their Priest). She was called “Ms. Inside” because she was the only person with access to her husband’s weaknesses. She would be the only one to ever see him naked (and see his scars), to observe him slow down as he ages, to see him cry. The Kanji (Word Pictures) for “Wife” or “Oku-San” is a Picture of a Treasure inside of Vault, it’s his Tenderness.
“I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.” Nehemiah 13:10
But what happens when the Protectors are stripped of their Swords, and the Priests are taken from their Scrolls, and told there services are no longer needed because now we have 911 and TBN. Or when Kings are stripped of their Scepters after being told that Justice is not in agreement with Love, and Levites are told to go back to working the Fields unless they will serve the as Politicians instead of Priests. Then the Bitterness sets in, and the Strength remains locked away and unable to get out, like a caged Lion until it is released one day Hungry and Angry, or it becomes Weak from Atrophy and the day you need a Lion to chase away the Wolves all you’ve got is a toothless Housecat that purrs not roars.
“8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince[b] over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.[c] Your throne shall be established forever.’” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.” 2 Samuel 7:8 (David was unable to build it because he had shed blood)
There is a price to be paid for being a Warrior. Time away from Family, not being understood, the great personal risk to self that comes from facing danger on behalf of others, and there is the Emotional and Psychological Cost that is paid from seeing and doing things that were never intended in the beginning, but are one of the many unfortunate necessities of life after the Fall. There is a certain unspoken distance between the Warrior and the Civilian, those who would give their Life for a Cause or a Person or People, and those who believe in nothing, and those who are busy standing watch over others who are busy playing games (appropriate for children but not adults). The more untested, unchallenged, and under matured a Generation becomes the higher cost its warriors pay, as they become more and more alone, facing more duties themselves as there are fewer and fewer Warriors left to share the burden, and being more and more misunderstood or even punished (as seen in the ridiculous self-defense laws in this Country which criminalize defending one’s family), with less rewards and definitely less Respect. We see directly in the dismal State of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and treatment of the Vietnam Veterans received by their brothers, sisters, and former friends upon returning home from War. The bitterness shared by men all across the Nation can attest to this, as like Prophets, Warriors are often least respected in their own homes, by a Generation that was not worthy of them. Respect builds Strength, Disrespect erodes It.
“Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.” 1 Kings 4:20
The Sacrifice of one Generation of Warriors, the Sacrifice of War, can make Peace for the next Generation, and give the children of those Warriors the Blessing of Peace. After World War II, and its sacrifices for soldiers on the battlefield in terms of blood, and families at home in terms of rations and finances and the high cost of fatherlessness, America became the wealthiest and most technologically advanced Nation in the world after the ensuing Peace. This was the very thing that Teddy Roosevelt feared, not a Generation that faced War and became hardened men, but a Generation that faced Peace and never grew the fortitude it needed to guard its prosperity or to appreciate its Blessings.
After David the descendent of Shem faced many battles against the Philistines descended from Ham (called Palestinians by the Romans), to restore lands stolen during the 400 years in Egypt (reference the Book of Jasher), Israel became the wealthiest Nation in the world in the ensuing Peace, which allowed Solomon, David’s Son, to invest in the development of Technology and Agricultural Principles from around the world that blessed Ancient Israel, even colonize some of it, why we find Hebrew inscriptions in New Mexico and Tennessee.
“When Pharaoh let the people go, YHVH did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For YHVH said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see War and Return to Egypt.” Exodus 13:17
This financial prosperity made available from the end of War allowed Solomon to build the Temple as he was not busy defending the land that it would be built upon. The blood shed by David cost him the privilege of building the Temple as his heart had burned to do, but it did allow the Peace that Solomon needed in order to so, which would not have been possible without his father’s Sacrifice, and Sacrifice that perhaps Solomon never understood as he took the wealthiest Nation in the world to near destruction in one Generation. Many Generations that have seen War come to disdain it so much that they forget to teach their sons how to be Warriors, how to have Tenderness but not have Strength (the Generation we have today), while some Generations know only hardship so they teach their sons to have Strength but not Tenderness, such as the 1950’s Generation, which led to the “Free Love” 1960’s Generation of Lawlessness as a reaction to Law without Love is usually Love without Law. But these Poets hands can still be trained for War, and their Fingers for Battle, if only the Warriors are also taught to be both Tender and Strong by their Parents, their Wives, and especially their Congregation Leaders.
“Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the Priests and Levites, each in his work;” Nehemiah 13:30
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
This is the season of every year when both the believing and unbelieving worlds halt to celebrate an event known as “Christ-Mass” for reasons of religion, tradition and sometimes just to have a party or to meet their yearly sales goals.
Everyone knows the story of the Nativity (from the Latin “Natalis” for “Birth”).
Or perhaps I should say they know the folklore about the day which is full of Historical and Biblical Inaccuracies just like the music video posted below. I ask you dear reader to suspend objections to Christ-Mass History and Traditions for just a moment to look at a forgotten aspect of the Nativity that we can absolutely find in Scripture. It is a part of the story that both the Churchmen and Academics have long overlooked.
Have you ever noticed how many lives were saved in the Nativity Story by The Creator speaking to almost everyone involved in this story through Dreams?
The first life to be saved was that of Mary herself.
Mary (Miriam) was a high school aged girl in a small Middle Eastern town
that was also very very religious at the dawn of the the 1st Century.
Picture a small Southern Bible Belt town in the 1950’s (but courts ran by the Taliban) and being an unwed teenage mother who has been arranged to marry her high school sweetheart once they graduate. The girl comes from a long line of preachers as even her cousin has married has married a preacher named Zach set to be on giving the prayer at the National Day of Prayer at the White House. The boy she has been engaged to is named Joe and he works as a general contractor (the family business in a town where family reputation keeps you in business). There is no public assistance for those who are shunned by the community so without his business the family would literally starve wife and children and all. Yet she is pregnant and the whole town knows.
Joe’s lineage includes a former President, a fact which the family is very proud of despite their current poverty. In fact, everyone in the town is descended from the same President named David Melech. So we have a family of preachers and a family of statesmen arranged to be joined by the marriage of two teenagers in a very public engagement that the everyone witnessed in the town square. Then the girl, Mary, is suddenly pregnant and that baby doesn’t belong to Joe. She claims to be visited by an angel in the middle of the night and that the baby will be the one to “Make America Great Again” (just not in the way either the Conservatives or the Liberals anticipated).
Joe is of course really upset so he is getting ready to wake up the next morning and Google an attorney’s number to end the whole marriage quietly. This would let Mary be quietly sent off to live with her cousin up North until the whole thing blew over. Mary would be condemned to a life of single motherhood and be forever separated from her family and friends and home and not qualified for food stamps or daycare. She would also be in a desperate level of poverty but at least she would be safe from the town gossips down at the Church. She would also be shielded from prosecution for breach of contract and from a lengthy public trial. The appointment with the attorney has been booked online so Joe lays his troubled head down to rest, and they Joseph has a dream:
“Now the birth of Yeshua the Messiah happened this way.
When His mother Miriam was engaged to Joseph but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, made up his mind to dismiss her secretly.
But while he considered these things, behold, an angel of
Adonai appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Miriam as your wife,
for the Child conceived in her is from the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
She will give birth to a son; and you shall call His name Yeshua,
for He will save His people from their sins.
”Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by
Adonai through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son,
and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”
When Joseph woke up from his sleep, he did as the angel of
Adonai commanded him and took Miriam as his wife.
But he did not know her intimately until she had given birth to a Son.
And he called His name Yeshua.”
Gospel Of Matthew Chapter 1 Verse 18 to 24
Tree of Life Version
Mary’s (Miriam’s) life is saved in the physical way because the hyper-religious Taliban like judges and prosecutors running the town can’t touch her legally. The life of her heart is also saved because she will be covered by Joe and not be an unwed mother or an adulteress. All because of a Dream given by God to her husband on her behalf.
Joe’s life just became far more difficult for the rest of his life however. He has lost the support of his family and community and the profits from the family business. As John E. Thomas of Streams Ministries points out, Joseph is now known as the “guy who just couldn’t wait.” It is now Joseph who has publicly shamed every person of influence n his life. When Joseph saved Mary’s life he also took on her very public shunning by both their families and by the community. I believe that somehow, some way, he knew that Mary’s Heavenly Father would provide if Joe chose to be a man of valor and stand up as her wall and her shield against both cameras and guns and sharp tongues.
Why did Joseph choose this difficult path? Yes we know that he was a Tzaddik (Righteous Man), but he was still going to Divorce her quietly the night before.
Joseph chose to take on this woman and a baby that wasn’t his for the rest of his life because of a dream. Joseph knew in his Spirit that this dream wasn’t from expired falafel for dinner, this dream was from The Creator asking him to be a Wall and a Shield.
“Just A Girl”
By Brandon Heath
(Video of the Christ-Mass Folklore)
I wonder if you’ve heard the story
Of little fame and lesser glory
The night the keeper of the inn
The little town of Bethlehem
Encountered Joseph and his Mary
About to birth the Savior of the world
His wife said go and see who’s knocking
He ran down to the gate unlocked it
The moment he heard Mary’s cry
He couldn’t look them in the eye
Denied them and went back to bed
When his wife asked who was there
He said I don’t know
Just a girl
Just a couple gypsies begging at the door
Told them we don’t have room for anymore
And closed the door
It was just a girl
He tried to sleep and wasn’t able
He snuck out to the dirty stable
The two had found for covering
And later in her suffering
The keeper knelt outside the barn
And in the light of that great star
He prayed what have I done
He’s just a babe
Just minutes old there trembling in the hay
I could have found a room for them to stay
I’m so ashamed
He’s just a babe
There was no robe
There was no crown
The shepherds stood
On royal ground
The keeper wept
For what he’d done
He turned away
God’s own Son
Just a King
Just a million angels crowding in to see
Jesus there among humanity
Just a babe
Just minutes old there trembling in the hay
Staring at his mother in the face
She’s just a girl
Just a girl
Does she even know that she just changed the world
Does she even know that He will save the world
Does Mary know that He will save the world
She’s just a girl
Just a girl
Just a girl
What about Mary though? Abortion was actually common in many parts of the Ancient World. The Egyptians had discovered a plant that could either prevent or eliminate pregnancy and they harvested that plant into extinction. The Spartans (cousins of the Jews according to the Books of Maccabees) would simply leave any child unfit to be an Olympic Athlete to die out in the elements. The Phoenicians on the northern border of Israel put their unwanted infants into a fire and in the southwest corner of Jerusalem the Jews had turned the former grounds of Planned Parenthood Headquarters into a giant trash heap and mass grave called “Gehenna” (we would translate it as “Hell”). So they most definitely had unplanned pregnancy.
Christianity had not come about yet there were no orphanages or public hospitals or soup kitchens as there were all invented by the Church throughout the Ages. The Temple in Jerusalem was also no longer overseeing the distribution of care for orphans and fatherless and aliens and widows through the “Local Levites” as it had been before.
Why did Mary not simply “end her pregnancy” as many of today’s mothers and grandmothers would instruct her to do? Why was her cousin Elizabeth mentoring her as instructed in the Letter to Timothy before the Letter to Timothy was written?
Because Mary had a dream from God and that dream has already come true! Her cousin Liz (married to the famous preacher Zach) was ready for the nursing home when she became pregnant with a boy named John. If we look at the preaching rotation of Zach and his other pastors in that denomination, this boy John was born on Passover and was 6 months older than Mary’s soon to be baby boy. This would mean that Mary’s baby boy was born near New Year (the Feast of Trumpets also called Rosh HaShanah which is in September) and was conceived near the Feast of Dedication (also called Hannukah). Hanukah is on the 25th day of the 12th Hebrew month, called Kislev in the mid-winter.
The Creator has been weaving the dreams and the outcome of the dreams together for Mary and Joseph to both believe that God can come to them in a dream.
“Then in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by Adonai into a town in the Galilee named Natzeret and to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Miriam. And coming to her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored one! Adonai is with you.” But at the message, she was perplexed and kept wondering what kind of greeting this might be. The angel spoke to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua. He will be great and will be calledBen-Elyon. Adonai Elohim will give Him the throne of David, His father.
He shall reign over the house of Jacob for all eternity, and His kingdom will be without end.”
Miriam said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?” And responding, the angel said to her, “The Ruach ha-Kodesh will come upon you, and the power of Elyon will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One being born will be called Ben-Elohim. Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age; and the one who was called barren is six months pregnant. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
So Miriam said, “Behold, the servant of Adonai. Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her.”
insert flight to Egypt and Magi———————-
In the Ancient world nothing could be worse than separation from your Tribe and your Community. Most often it was a literal death sentence to be left into the land of those with a different faith and different language and culture. It was to say the least, extremely difficult. Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Turkey however had the largest Jewish populations of anywhere else in the world outside Judea so Joseph likely found some community where he and Mary landed. In a time without telephone or internet or even Facebook and Telegram, Joseph got the news of Herod’s death. He also got a message saying that it was time for him to come home despite death threats on his family by the local government. So he surrendered his family’s Refugee Status/Political Asylum Status and returned to his home country with his wife and his toddler.
“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of Adonai appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus was king of Judea in place of his father Herod, he became afraid to go there. Then after being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of the Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Natzeret, to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that Yeshua shall be called a Natzrati.”
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
“Hey Hey Now, Don’t Dream It’s Over” Crowded House
“There is freedom within There is freedom without Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup There’s a battle ahead Many battles are lost But you’ll never see the end of the road While you’re travelling with me … Hey now, hey now Don’t dream it’s over Hey now, hey now When the world comes in They come, they come To build a wall between us We know they won’t win
“So it will be afterward,
I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh:
your sons and daughters will prophesy,your old men will dream dreams,your young men will see visions.“Also on the male and the female servantswill I pour out My spirit in those days.I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth—blood, fire and pillars of smoke.The sun will be turned into darknessand the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of Adonai comes.Then all who call on Adonai’s Name will escape,for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalemthere will be rescue, as Adonai has said,
among the survivors whom Adonai is calling.”
The Prophet Joel Chapter 3 Verse 5 Tree Of Life Version
My name is Brian Newman and I have been studying Dream Interpretation for 5 full years now. In 2020 I graduated a course totally dedicated to the subject of Biblical Dream Interpretation. Dreams can be viewed through the lens of History, Psychology and Spirituality. There are also Jewish, Christian and Pagan ways of looking at dreams.
However the only way of finding Truth in our dreams is to going to The Word of our Creator, both the Logos (Written Word) and the Rhema (Whispered Word).
He created us body, soul and spirit.
He created dreams and sleep and even night itself.
He knows what each dream means and where it comes from and
He shares this with us in His Word how to interpret our dreams.
His Prophets Daniel and Joseph and Ezekiel were dreamers.
His Apostles such and Paul and John were dreamers as well.
He even spoke to those in dreams who lived in rebellion against Him
(Pharoah, Nebuchadnezzar and the wife of Pontius Pilate).
In the Last Days He has promised to speak in dreams to old men (whether that is physical or spiritual maturity) and in Visions to young men. He also promises to pour His Spirit out on ALL flesh (Jew and Gentile, Male and Female, Christian and Non-Christian). These days He is personally appearing to Muslims in the dreams by the thousands.
So we should rightly expect more and more people to dream the closer we come to the edge of time and looking down at the end of History as we have known it so far.
“For thus says Adonai, the God of Israel:
“Do not let your prophets who are among you or your diviners beguile you,
and pay no attention to the dreams
which you make them keep dreaming.”
The Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 29 Verse 8 TLV
There are around 20 kinds of dreams but there is a kind the dreamer must be very careful of.
This is a kind of dream called a “Soul Dream”. This is a dream that is not from The Spirit of God but is simply an overflowing at night of whatever we have filled our Souls with during the day. An example of this would be a greedy person having frequent dreams of winning the lottery or a lustful person having frequent dreams of women in swimwear. This kind of dream often expresses itself politically when someone consumes far more news in a week than they consume Scripture. In short, we are prone to this when we spend more time gazing into our screens than we do our Scriptures and more time listening to Talk Radio that we do listening to the Spirit of our Creator. These Soul Dreams result in either false hopes or in false fears that are mistaken for prophecy or for being a prophetic dream. Then the true prophetic is called into question by everyone.
Every 4 years or so we experience an explosion of dreaming in our Nation just as the Prophet Jeremiah did in his nation during the years leading up the Exile to Babylon.
In our day, just as in his day, these dreams seem to all revolve around either hopes or fears about politics and patriotism and the outcome of the Nation (Israel then America).
In the time of Jeremiah, The Creator was trying to warn the people of Judah that the political and national outcome would not be what they had been hoping for. The Nation was going into bondage for it’s sins instead of into prosperity, just as Deuteronomy 30 promised the Nation.
The people however had set up a group of mega-pastors and social media influencers (called prophets) that kept their positions by telling the people exactly what they wanted to hear.
The people-pleasing (in the style of King Saul) become so pervasive that the expectations of the people began to cause the spiritual leadership to have dreams according to the whims of the people. It’s almost like sunflowers facing the sun the way the prophets sought the whims of the people for direction while turning away from the true Son-Shine that gives Truth and Life.
It was not The Creator giving these dreams to the spiritual leadership, it was the fleshly desires of the people demanding a validation from the Soul and Flesh instead of The Spirit.
Essentially, the spiritual leadership of the Nation had been feeding their own Souls and Flesh so long that they could not longer discern the difference between their own Soul and The Spirit of The Creator. This led to the airwaves being full of Soothsaying, which means they were giving a message that is exactly what the audience expects instead of what The Creator instructs. Just as we often find in our pulpits and televisions today and at our local Christian Bookstore.
“Build houses and live in them; also plant gardens and eat their fruit; take wives and have sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there,
and do not decrease. Also seek the shalom of the city where I took you as captives in exile, and pray to Adonai for it—for in its shalom will you have shalom.”
The Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 29 Verse 5 TLV
Judah would be set free from Babylon but it would be 70 years (nearly two generations later or the time between The Great Depression and the Year 2000) before that “hope and a future” of Jeremiah 29:11 would come to pass. Jeremiah instructed the people to go about their daily lives and conduct business, build homes, and pray for the peace of their city while waiting on prophecy to come about. He did not instruct them to compel its arrival or to live in terror of its coming. There are many Dreams and Visions and Words that are for a far future time than our time.
Jeremiah also did not instruct them to overthrow the government which God was using for their discipline. He instructed them to pray for the Shalom of their cities. The Prophet Daniel understood this principle and he prayed Repentance for his people before praying for their Deliverance. He knew that Salvation began with the the Spirit instead of the Ballot Box.
I believe as others do that the Principality over the Nation of Daniel was firmly in place because the hearts of the people desired it to stay. Only when the hearts of the people were changed would the political and financial environment of the Nation truly be changed. The spiritual world works by invitation and the heart condition of Judah was aligned with the presence that overshadowed them. The values of the people became more Babylonian than Hebrew and dominance by Babylon (later overcome by Persia) is what they were given. Then it was this exact same Principality (Fallen Angel who has dominance over a region) that Daniel was told of in a Dream/Vision. Daniel was able to see with his spiritual eyes while he was sleeping what the natural eyes could not see when they were open during the daytime. Dreams are our spiritual night vision goggles. They let us see what we must pray against in the hearts around us.
John Paul Jackson’s “Dreamipedia: A Case For The Biblical View of Dreams”
“Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear. Adonai-Tzva’ot, Him will you sanctify, and let Him be your fear, trembling at Him.
The Prophet Isaiah Chapter 8 Verses 12 and 13 TLV
We find later on in the time of the Prophet Isaiah that it was not the false hopes that controlled the hearts and minds of the Nation, it was False Fears. Conservatives like myself recall the frenzy of Dreams and Visions all over that airwaves which came out during the Obama Administration. Youtube was filled with dreams and visions about invasions from every Nation on the Earth from Russia to China to North Korea complete with concentration camps and secret tunnels under Wal-Mart. Then we experience some relief from Obama and the terror comes back under Biden. With every round of conspiracy and soulish dreams, more credibility falls away from the Church.
If we collect the “dreams and warnings’ from the past few decades alone we will find dozens of absolute and unquestionable candidates for Anti-Christ in addition to the destruction of the United States by every natural disaster in existence. We would have also been conquered by half of the foreign nations both inside and outside of the U.N. and NATO. When we witness this frenzy of contradictions that are proclaimed in a State of hysteria, we know the Enemy is sowing seeds.
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and self-discipline.”
The Second Letter To Timothy Chapter 1 Verse 7 TLV
Every 4 years we are told we are in the midst of another Apocalypse or an impending Apocalypse according to the Dreams and Visions and supposed “Words” from the Souls of well-meaning individuals. This is exactly what the Prophet Isaiah warned us to not give into.
There are also many hard hearted individuals who much like Jonah are hungry to witness a catastrophe. Sometimes this hunger for catastrophe produces cataclysmic dreams and visions that lead the dreamer into becoming a self-appointed watchman or prophet. When the fatigue of constant End-Times Anxiety finally wears off many simply walk away from the Faith. Others will quietly fall spiritually asleep and become unmovable by any actual warnings from The Creator.
The last two years the Corona Virus has unleashed a level of fear this Country has not known since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our level of fear of simple humanity and community has caused more deaths from suicide and overdose and medical neglect than any disease we are facing. The virus is very real but fear is the even more harmful contagion. This fear has manufactured so many nightmares in the minds of dreamers who have been sharing on Youtube and Facebook.
This fear mongering isn’t helpful at all to so many facing mental illness or isolation or addiction. In the words of the Apostle Paul, who was assigned to create Halakah (daily living rules) for the Gentile Church, we must be mindful to “bear with each other’s weaknesses”.
When we live our lives in such a terror that it produces self-induced nightmares then we have no hope to offer the World. We are simply in a panic just like everyone else, only because of different reasons. The Scriptures tell us that the end arrives in a time of unprecedented peace, not anxiety.
“But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners,
your dreams, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers,
who speak to you, saying,
‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’”
The Prophet Jeremiah Chapter 27 Verse 9 TLV
So how do we handle these dreams?
Firstly, we stewards our dreams well.
The better we steward any gift like dreams the more skilled in discerning we become.
This is like a wine connoisseur that can identity which nation and vintage he has sipped.
We record our dreams, we pray over them for the meaning and the source and the timing.
We guard our dreams, meaning we only share when led to those we are led.
We consider our brothers who are weaker in the faith and therefore prone to end times panic and irrational decisions like leaving their jobs to go live in a bunker until the sky falls down.
We also watch for patterns to see if the dreams we recorded ever came to pass.
We also keep in mind that dreams are Parables, not film footage from the Future.
The vast majority of dreams are one or another form of Soul Dream.
The Prophetic Dreams are usually the ones that we can’t shake for years. Shalom to your Hearts.
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
And I feel the love is dead I’m loving angels instead
And through it all she offers me protection
A lot of love and affection Whether I’m right or wrong And down the waterfall Wherever it may take me I know that life won’t break me When I come to call, she won’t forsake me I’m loving angels instead
When I’m feeling weak
And my pain walks down a one way street I look above
And I know I’ll always be blessed with love
And as the feeling grows She breathes flesh to my bones And when love is dead
I’m loving angels instead”
Excerpt from “Angels” by Robbie Williams
Love And Honor Are Never Wasted
The Greek word for “Aggelos” has two meanings.
One is the supernatural being we know as an “Angel”,
The other carries the broader meaning of “Messenger”.
For the moment we will be focused on the Messenger function of the
Angels in our lives, or in this blog, in my own life.
The messengers in my life are full human with human flaws and
human weaknesses and human limitations.
They are however, messengers sent by The Creator when I need them most.
Usually in my life this is after a break-up.
I have ‘always been a Lover, since before I drew a breathe” as Derek Webb sings.
Being an INFJ Male, the True Romantic of all 16 personalities, and also the rarest,
Finding someone I can deeply connect with has been especially difficult.
Deep connection is however the deepest need of the INFJ Soul.
So to find one of these rare Souls that can speak my language and
Then to lose them, is disheartening to say the least.
I imagine it is for others who each sing their own specific song with a
Melody and Harmony and Lyrics most others won’t be able to follow easily.
I invest all that I have into relationships of every kind.
This is especially true however when I believe I may have
Finally found my Sweetest Friend.
Sometimes the Intent is confirmed through multiple Witnesses,
Through Dreams and Words and Visions and Circumstances.
Fasting and Prayer and Answered Prayers.
Yet still, We all have Choice.
Esther and Ruth and Rebekah all were asked to choose
By someone that spoke with Revelation into their Lives.
Mordecai, Naomi, Eleazer all asked, but never demanded.
Some people in our lives choose to be Orpah over Ruth.
Sometimes people were never intended to be who we
Believe they were intended to be in our Lives.
Over these last 7 years I have noticed a pattern.
When the meeting seems to have truly been a Divine Conspiracy
And Circumstances or Fear or Trauma influenced Human Choices
And the Enemy used the Past to get in the way of choosing the Future,
Its a kind of robbery.
When I had the best of intentions and was the best that I could be,
There is a kind of recompense that comes with being robbed.
In the Torah (The Law of God), if a person is robbed
And the Thief is identified and the Victim has no Guilt.
The Thief has to pay back 5 or 7 times what was stolen.
The Thief is ultimately the Enemy (HaSatan-the Accuser/Deceiver) when all is said and done.
This hasn’t been true for all my relationships.
Those in which her or I lost or we lost our way together simply
Produced bad fruit for everyone involved.
Anxiety, Mistrust, Regret, Delays and Lost Opportunities.
However, For those when I was truly robbed of a Sweetest Friend,
There was a Sweet Recompense for the stolen investments.
I lose a Sweetest Friend but make even Sweeter Sisters and Brothers.
In the last Round of Loss I lost a Cherokee Sweetest Friend and Ministry Partner
And the three Daughters that would have been Grafted-In.
It was a very short lived Courtship but even in that short time
I gained both a mentor and a friend in an older brother that was her Mentor.
It also rekindled my Counseling Sessions with the Pastors who covered our Courtship.
So they can instill priceless and Generational Curse Breaking Wisdom into my Life.
I also reconnected with my Hebrew Hearts Singles Family that I dearly missed.
In the previous Round of Seeming Loss that lasted several painful months.
I gained a Counselor Friend that has opened ministry doors to teach Dream Interpretation.
I also gained a Pastor Friend that has let me become part of his Church Unofficially.
I gained numerous friends in the Faith from those two new friends as well
That have made my time in East Tennessee so much more meaningful.
I have lost count of the coffees and bonfires and dashboard confessionals
From that one Divine Arrangement that didn’t work out as was intended.
Then her and I became friends again in the end when it was all said and done.
This friend was not another one “lost in the bitterness” as The Fray sings about.
In the Round of Loss in between the two mentioned above,
The girl I came to see walked away but a new friend from Arkansas stayed.
This new friend started the GoFundMe that helped me get visitation
With my two Daughters restarted after not seeing them for 10 months straight.
The longest and most agonizing ten months of my life were brought to an end
Through a friend gained through a romantic disappointment.
There were two missed opportunities for a Family in Florida.
But from the Greek missed opportunity I had
A Divine Appointment from Portugal
That was actually her best friend and employee!
While visiting the missed Divine Appointment from Portugal at a Synagogue,
I met my Jewish Faith Sister and later her Native American Husband that is now my Brother.
Both of whom soon moved from Florida to Tennessee.
Those long drives that seemed like wasted time with many phone calls also
Produced a strengthened bond with a California-Florida Friend that is full of Grace and Wisdom.
And in the first encounter where I was told prophetically that someone
Was my intended but she chose a different path, but in her Adopted Sister,
I gained an Adopted Sister for Life.
This Puerto Rican Older Sister has seen me through Hell and Water High.
I can’t forget to mention the family in Sacramento that took me in with open arms
And let me lead a Passover in their home. The brother lives in Tennessee now.
I’m still good friends with the girl who is one of the smarted people I’ve ever known.
Then there is my Spirit Sister in Kentucky sent to carry me through
Heartache after Heartache in the 7 years I have known her.
We strangely met in person the night of what would have been my
6th Wedding Anniversary.
The first Anniversary after the Divorce.
A different kind of Help-Mate arrived.
I was instructed to “Fight For Hearts” earlier that same Hebrew Day.
She and I started a Ministry together with her future Husband.
Take Heart my friends, Love and Honor are never really wasted
And cannot ever be truly Stolen.
You may not get to love your Intended sometimes,
But you are left loving Angels (God’s Messengers) instead.
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
“If I could tell the world just one thing It would be that we’re all OK And not to worry ’cause worry is wasteful And useless in times like these
I won’t be made useless Won’t be idle with despair I’ll gather myself around my faith For light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know But they’re not yours, they are my own But they’re not yours, they are my own And I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes It didn’t steal your laughter And heartache came to visit me But I knew it wasn’t ever after
We’ll fight, not out of spite For someone must stand up for what’s right ‘Cause where there’s a man who has no voice There ours shall go singing
My hands are small I know But they’re not yours, they are my own But they’re not yours, they are my own And I am never broken
In the end, only kindness matters In the end, only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray I will get down on my knees, and I will pray I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
My hands are small, I know But they’re not yours, they are my own But they’re not yours, they are my own And I am never broken
My hands are small, I know But they’re not yours, they are my own But they’re not yours, they are my own And I am never broken We are never broken
We are God’s eyes God’s hands God’s mind We are God’s eyes God’s hands God’s heart We are God’s eyes We are God’s hands We are God’s eyes”
Hands By Jewel Kilcher
1st Book of Samuel the Prophet Chapter 17 Verse 50
“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, struck the Philistine down and killed him. Since there was no sword in David’s hand, David ran, stood over the Philistine, picked up his sword, drew it from its sheath, slew him and cut off his head with it.”
I Have A Pebble And I’m Not Afraid To Use It
Around 1100 B.C. a small group of agricultural tribes were being terrorized by a confederacy of pirates from the Greek Isles bearing the most advanced military technology the world had seen at the time. After decades of pillaging the farming families along the coast of Canaan the pirates searched the land for the most terrifying spectacle of a human being they could find. Single combat with this monster of a champion, whom many whispered to be the offspring of demons instead of humans, would be presented to the tribes as a chance at avoiding countless loss of life in open battle. The tribes were offered to present their own champion to face this beast instead sending an entire army of farmers to die during planting season thereby leaving their families to starve in the fall. This was no Philistine charity though, the enemy wanted their future slaves in sweaty fields and not in battlefield graves.
After many weeks all the tribes could not find a single warrior to stand up to the challenger. The athletes and brawlers and manly men all shrunk back from being the one to risk failure and defeat and death no matter the chance at being the nation’s hero that slew the giant or the chance at freedom for their families.
Then one fateful day, a junior high boy that had been disqualified from every team because of his size was sent to deliver lunch to his brothers out in the field. The red haired youth was sent to the battlefield not to fight but instead to run an errand. Then he heard something he just couldn’t let slide. The vulgar beast of a man standing on the hill had been not only threatening to kill and enslave this young man’s family for several weeks along with all the other families in his tribe, he had also been insulting the ability of the young man’s God to deliver His people from these pirates and Bronze Age thugs. This young man was filled with indignation at the injustice and at the lack of willingness of the champions and heroes of his generation to stand against gross evil.
The young David didn’t see his own size or his lack of training and armor and weaponry and legacy as tickets to the gallows. He simply saw a wolf growling in his neighbor’s yard, a lion roaring at the children of his tribe, a bear trying to taking his loved ones away in the night and a lack of warriors to stand up as a wall against tyranny and fear on behalf of their people as was their duty and their birthright since Adam was tasked with killing snakes.
Wolves and lions and bears had been threats to his family and flock that he had faced down many times through the years. Courage is a tree that grows tall and thick with the opportunities for valor and honor. This young man had let the acorn of courage take deep root all through his life, now it was time for that righteous oak to provide shelter to those he loved and had loyalties for. God had on many occasions given this young man a pebble as his weapon to slay the beasts of the field and terrors of the night instead of armor and blades. This day was no different except for the fact that this thief bore a sword instead of teeth and armor instead of claws.
David walked straight up to that terror of a man that had been taunting those he loved and taunting his God. Then a boy too young to shave placed that God-given pebble directly between the blackish eyeballs of a pirate who could have played for the NBA. In a matter of a few seconds of courage, years of terror had brought to a shocking close. This was not by the manly men of the age and nor by swords and shields and war horses and armor that only the wealthy could afford. This threat of slavery was not ended by armor that was only placed on the shoulders of those who by virtue of strength, athleticism and the right last name had the confidence of the people. It was ended by a boy that nobody saw coming with a pebble from the stream and the strategy both given by His God and an intolerance for evil. The most feared army in the world was sent running back to it’s slave ships and for it’s very lives by a boy with a pebble and an awkward pre-pubescent voice and a hall pass.
The Philistines of old, just as the tyrants of today, had not yet learned to fear the unlimited power that God can bestow into any tool on the Earth in the hands of a willing warrior. In one battle God defeats a massive and terrible army with a single tent peg in the hands of a woman named Jael. In another He field commissions Gideon, the local baker, found hiding in the basement of Panera Bread to be commander of the Israelite Army. Then He has the baker turned commando smashing porcelain jugs to route the enemy instead of launching grenades and mortar shells. Aided by an enemy soldier with a strange dream of bread rolling down the hill like a grainy cannonball.
And in another era, He has a geriatric named Moses armed only with a bathrobe and a walking stick march into Pharaoh’s palace. He has been sent to wreak havoc upon the most powerful nation on Earth until it submits in shame and terror at the justice for evils it had committed upon its holy slaves. Once again, a geriatric who snuck past the nurses at the local senior center brought down the world’s premier military superpower with a walking stick.
This wouldn’t be the last time that a battle was won by a weapon or by a person anointed for the task that no one saw coming. The battles have been on different fields, the enemies have worn different kinds of weapons and armor but their strategies have always been the same; injustice, slavery, vainglory. God’s strategy has always been the same too, SURPRISE! Bet you didn’t see that one coming did you Satan?
When we go forward in history around 27 A.D. a traveling preacher named Yeshua from a town where no one finishes high school that is too small to have a Wal-Mart overturns not only tables but also how humanity looks at humanity with 12 ordinary men and a few ordinary women as followers. The Way He teaches them to walk leads them to go onto establish the first hospitals, orphanages, and asylums in the world and also bring an end to slavery while granting women unprecedented human rights. He and His followers reform Judaism and completely overcome the cultures of Greece and Rome by a way of living marked by love, generosity and selflessness. He doesn’t have an army, or a fortune, a political office, a college degree, or even a Twitter Account.
He simply had the Words that God put in His mouth and a good pair of Birkenstocks.
We move onto the Middle Ages (October 1517) and a young seminary student named Martin Luther fleeing a very abusive childhood becomes disgusted at the sale of fake tickets to Heaven called Indulgences by a local preacher in the town next door. Unwilling to witness the flock being devoured by church sanctioned wolves, he takes his stand armed only with a hammer and a nail. Over the next few decades he brings over 1,000 years of papal control over Europe to its knees. Where kings and armies and fortunes had failed to rescue Europe from the burning stakes, a seminary student with a borrowed hammer and $2.00 in nails from Home Depot began the downfall of the religious tyranny of the Papacy which had the blood of millions of martyrs on its hands. Today we have freedom of religion because of a college student with a hammer and a bad haircut. This revolution was however helped along by an old man named Mr. Gutenberg with a copy machine hidden in his basement that churned out pages and pages of thoughts of freedom a century prior.
Finally in a our modern times, after centuries of ignored social and economic oppression, in 1955 an elderly black lady armed only with a bus ticket stops the nation in its tracks and demands that the Supreme Court and even the National Guard became involved in a cause everyone wished to ignore for decades. Rosa Parks didn’t have a trust fund, or a seat in congress, or a social media following. She had a job at a factory and a bus ticket. She stopped the presses and got the attention of the media and the Supreme Court in regards to the concerns of her people, by weaponizing a three inch long piece of paper with a ticket number printed on it and the use of one simple word, “no.” What millionaires and politicians and business owners and even armed rioters had been unable to accomplish, she won with a bus ticket.
The tyrants and pirates and thugs of our time are no different than in the time of the men who became King David and Rabbi Yeshua, than that of Martin Luther and Rosa Parks. They like their ancestors before them are bent on evil and domination of the meek. They have yet to learn to fear the weaponry that God chooses placed in the hands of the people He chooses, the meek, the poor, the oppressed, the underestimated.
We are also no different. If God chooses us and we cooperate with His choosing, we can turn the world on its head with the most unconventional of weapons as long as these are the weapons He assigned to us instead of the armor the Saul’s of the world try to place upon our shoulders.
He has defeated armies with tent pegs, pebbles and water jugs and even overturned empires with a good pair of Birkenstocks and a messenger committed to speaking only the Truth.
He has ended empires and centuries of oppression using a hammer and a nail, or a copy machine and a bus pass.
We don’t need to stop and ask Saul and his mighty men in suits and ties if they think the armor the world insists on burdening us with is going to scare the giants away.
We can’t rely on professional assessments of Goliath’s anxiety levels when he sees the letters behind our names on a business card.
All we can rely on is knowing that God said its time for battle and we know in our hearts that “this is the way”.
We need to stop and ask God if we picked the right shaped pebble or correct bus number or whatever will be the weapon for our individual battle. Then we need to ask when the battle begins and how we should face down whatever or whomever in our path has presented itself as the thief of freedom to us and those we love.
Imagine if the Apostle Paul had a minivan or if Peter had a Facebook Account?
Imagine if someone gave Andrew a cellular phone or Matthew a laptop?
Imagine if someone let John loose on a college campus or Barnabas was locked up in a federal prison?
If we were to all make ourselves available for battle then the world’s tyrants would lie awake at night shuddering at the thought of which dismissed nobody off the street is at the city park tonight gathering pebbles to take down their corporate security team.
Or what gifted street preacher is putting on his new sandals before breakfast to change the hearts of the city they formerly controlled by lust, greed and bribery?
They would learn to fear the seminary student buying a bag of nails at Home Depot when they thought they had all the pulpits on a string.
And to toss and turn over whose fiery grandma in a pair of Dr. Scholl’s will be standing in line at the Greyhound Station tomorrow ready to resurrect the dignity of millions.
They would fear the nobody’s waiting to arise from the crowd more than they fear the rifle of the soldier marching towards their mansion or the gavel of the judge or the banker closing their account .
If you can ask God to show you your pebble and show your Goliath, or maybe point you to just the right pair of sandals, or pray for which number bus to take to work today, you would be amazed.
This keyboard is my pebble, and as of today, I am no longer afraid to use it.
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
One of my favorite movies “Peaceful Warrior” (based on a book that was required reading for Spiritual Training back in Ninjutsu) has this one scene that is absolutely my Sensei when I was a teenager in the trailer park terrified that I would never “become somebody”. I forgot the lesson and spent 15 years of my life chasing travel and degrees and racking up student loan debt and then afterwards hating my “nobody jobs” before it came back to me, The Honor of Service.
In the film scene, the 20 year old college kid Dan, who is in training for the Olympics says to his new mentor: ‘Hey Socrates, if you know so much,
Why are you working at a gas station?”
And the mentor replies standing under the ‘Full Service Sign’
‘This is a SERVICE Station, Dan
We Offer SERVICE. There is no Higher Calling.“
There is NO Higher Purpose Dan the young college kid retorts: ‘Than pumping Gas???‘ Socrates replies: ‘Than Service to others’.
“Peaceful Warrior” Film Clip
The Messiah taught us this first, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love Adonai your God with All your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these Two commandments.”
Gospel of Matthew 22:36-40 (Tree of Life Version)
Linguistics bear witness as well: Deacon means ‘one who serves’ (by Meeting Needs) in Greek. Samurai means ‘one who serves’ (by Valor) in Japanese. Minister means ‘one who serves’ (by Leadership) in English.
Maybe our Congregations should be more ‘Service Stations’ than Book Clubs and Country Clubs???
A place where we go to Serve others and help them be Filled, instead of “Self-Service” where we go to Fill our Self.
Maybe that’s why the Germans call Church Events a ‘Gottesdienst’ (Service To God)??
It doesn’t mean ‘Service to Ego’ or even ‘Service to Man’. But service to our neighbor is part of service to God per Leviticus 19:18, and the triune roles of the Levite as Priest, Worshiper and Social Worker display this as well. We are STILL a Kingdom of Priests upon this Earth.
“You have made them for our God, a kingdom and kohanim, and they shall reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:10 (Tree of Life Version)
As such Kingdom Laborers we are tasked with teaching others HOW to love God and to Love their neighbor, primarily by example 💙.
Perhaps this is why one famous preacher required all ministers to scrub the Church’s Toilettes before he would let them speak behind the Church’s Pulpit?
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause: paypal.me/letstalkshalom Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
I Saw Stars 