Considering My Convictions

Posted on June 26, 2020 by ehurst

I belong to Jesus Christ. There can be no higher loyalty in my life.

Back around 1979, the Lord loaned me to the US government. I took an oath to defend the US Constitution and those whose authority derived from it. Granted, we all winked at the idea that the US was actually following its constitution, but at the time I went along with the charade simply because that was my conviction then. A better system — one that would better accommodate my calling — was wholly unlikely to come along.

We know this world will never follow divine revelation. So we play along with the various governments that have authority over our fleshly existence. We declare a truce, in effect, and try not to cause trouble. At some point, when we realize that said government has declared war on our faith and mission, it’s not a question of whether to resist that government, but how we must resist in order to obey the Lord.

Things have crossed that line for me. What was once a tolerable situation that allowed my mission to proceed peacefully is now a mortal danger. You do understand, of course, that we are at war. The “protests” are not an attempt to persuade the current government to be more just, but to take over that government. This is a revolution; this is the tail end of a very long communist takeover of the US.. And I am convinced that the quarantines are a part of it. So very much of the current system has been compromised that most of it serves the traitors. My heart tells me that things have crossed that line.

If some part of the government asked me to help defend the current system, I would certainly report for duty. This is the oath I took long ago. If the traitors taking over try to get me to serve their new system, I must refuse. They represent an entirely different government, and not a valid government in terms of declaring a truce and playing along.

Without a valid organized resistance to this takeover, there’s not much likelihood of taking up arms anytime soon. I would be quite likely to join up if there were an organization like that. Such are the commitments I hold from my Heavenly Father. Part of why I dislike Trump is that he is too much of a pussy to call for such an organized resistance.

Individual resistance is a whole different matter. In terms of information warfare, I’m already resisting and fighting back. The choices I make every day serve that mission. Organized or not, I’m taking up virtual arms against this coup, fighting the part of the system held by the enemy. Meanwhile, I am utterly certain the Lord is cooking up something that will be an extension of that, something as yet unseen. I sense it will have a meat-space component, but I have no idea what that would be.

You don’t have to support any of this. I’m following my convictions; you need to follow yours. But I’m going to share as much as I can. Maybe it will help you discern what God wants from you.

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Historical Footnote for 1 Samuel

Posted on June 21, 2020 by ehurst

We don’t know all that happened, but the narrative in 1 Samuel 1-6 recounts the loss of the Ark of Covenant. It doesn’t say what happened to Shiloh, but the Tabernacle standing there disappears from history. It is quite likely that when the Philistines captured the Ark, they also sent a unit to destroy the Tabernacle. Or it could be simply that, with the Ark gone and the High Priest (Eli) dead, the whole place was left to rot.

At any rate, during the entire ministry of Samuel as Judge and Prophet, there is no Tabernacle or Temple. It was not built until Solomon’s day. The Ark, once returned, stood in the home of Abinidab in Kiriath-jearim until David’s reign. And that was after Jerusalem was captured from the Jebusites by David and his personal troops. Then it stood in a tent in the royal courtyard in Jerusalem until Solomon built the Temple.

For the entirety of Samuel’s ministry, there was no Temple, no proper Altar or Burnt Offerings, etc. Offerings and such had to be handled in alternative ways. After the death of Eli when the Ark was captured, the priesthood became pretty disorganized, and it required a major effort to get things back in order during Solomon’s reign.

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Law of Moses — 1 Samuel 7:3-17

Posted on June 20, 2020 by ehurst

Samuel was from the Tribe of Ephraim, and was a major prophet, defacto High Priest (because he grew up in the Tabernacle), and the last judge. Israel was under oppression from a new threat. The Philistines had colonized the southwestern coast of Israel just a couple of generations before. They represented a civilization that was spread across the Aegean and as far east as Cyprus. They had one primary advantage over Israel in having learned to make and use iron weapons, while Israel was still in the Bronze Age. They were also some of the hardest boozing people in that part of the world.

Israel had paid them tribute for quite some time. There had been one incident in battle where Israel’s army foolishly brought out the Ark of God from the Tabernacle at Shiloh. After losing it in the battle, the Philistines were sorely afflicted until they returned it. The Ark rested for two more decades in Kiriath-jearim, which we believe is a town some 7 miles west of Jerusalem. The text tells us that Israel began longing for Jehovah again.

So our narrative begins with Samuel issuing a call to Israel to restore the Covenant and put away their idols. This they did, and Samuel called them to worship at Mizpah (Heb. “tower”). While there are five different places with that name in Palestine, we believe it was the one rather close to and just south of Bethel. They had a time of fasting and offerings there. Naturally, everyone showed up with their weapons, since they were under threat.

The Five Lords of the Philistines noticed this armed gathering and assumed the worst. They mobilized for a quick strike, because it appeared their vassals were worshiping to curry the favor of their God before going to battle. So as this force began approaching Mizpah across the plains, lookouts could see the movements and quickly reported via runners to the leadership gathered in the hills. The elders called on Samuel to redouble his efforts to gain Jehovah’s favor on their behalf.

As the Philistine army got close enough to form for battle, the Lord struck them with some awful noise that shattered their confidence. It served as a signal for Israel to attack in force. The Philistines fled and many were cut down on the slopes before they even got to the plains. Samuel then erected a stone memorial marker and named it Ebenezer (Heb. “stone of help”).

The Philistines removed their troops from the captive cities held hostage in the borderlands with Israel. They never came back to trouble Israel during Samuel’s life time. The chapter ends with an overview of how Samuel worked hard to keep Israel faithful.

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Gates Is Just a Part

Posted on June 18, 2020 by ehurst

We could say that Bill Gates is one human manifestation of Nimrod, building a new Tower of Babel. As such, it should be obvious that he is also one head of a hydra that together could be called an Antichrist.

If you have two hours to waste, see this video. If not, I’ll save you some time. It’s not just his involvement in global vaccine programs, and the profits from cajoling governments to buy into it. It’s not just that he is using the vaccine program to bring about a reduction in global population, at times sneaking infertility agents into his vaccines. It’s more than just that the latest vaccine technology is also a defacto permanent identifying tattoo invisible to human eyes. It’s that he’s also working on a means of forcing every human to accept a government identity based on biometric factors; all of his efforts are part of vast mechanism for global tracking and control of individuals and the movement of money. He is the globalist’s globalist.

Please note that his philanthropy has not used up his vast wealth; his net worth has doubled since he began this mission. He’s been buying influence, remaking himself into the image of a saint. But it would be a waste of effort to make him into the focus of all our vilification. He’s working alongside a whole bunch of people who lust for this frightening level of control. However, he has been quite willing to play the front man for good old fashioned eugenics. Both of Gates’ parents were heavily involved in eugenics.

The name has changed to things like “population control” and “reproductive health” and even “global health” (echoed in the common “public health”). Scarier yet is that Gates was involved in Epstein’s obscene plan to seed the human race with his own DNA, as if Epstein were somehow a model of what mankind should be. We find Gates’ money slipped into a lot of crazy projects like that through proxies and shell organizations.

The attention he garnered discussing an alleged vaccine for COVID-19 simply brings more questions. He’s just one of a rather large, secretive group who are true devotees of a very ugly cult. The mask of philanthropy hides a lot evil.

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A Tribulation Church

Posted on June 16, 2020 by ehurst

What am I doing?

I haven’t lost my moral compass. This is still Christian Mysticism and my plans are to watch and prepare for just a few folks added to the audience for what I teach. I still believe the rising tribulation will eventually shake a handful loose from their material obsessions. I still believe something crazy will happen with Zionism and there will be a significant exodus from Zionist churches. A tiny slice will end up with us.

So I’m making some effort to register our spiritual presence on the Net. I know that most advertising techniques are off-limits for us, but that we do need to make our presence known however possible. Right now I’m dropping links from the other blog onto Facebook. My audience there isn’t huge, but occasionally someone will repost. And I’m always ready to exploit ordinary conversations with my neighbors, but there are darn few of those. So far, all I’ve done is distinguish myself in their eyes as someone unusual.

Despite watching and commenting on the situation around us, I have no vested interest in the outcomes of the political situation. It will be what it will be, and no one involved is moved by what matters to me, and vice versa. The only reason I pay any attention is so I’ll know what’s coming next and can plan how I’ll take advantage of the situation. As always, it has nothing to do with any personal profit, and everything to do with divine glory. A steady stream of commentary establishes an anchor point that will prompt a few ripe souls when the time is right. The call of God brings memories to come back and haunt souls under conviction.

I would have gladly promoted Radix Fidem while bikepacking, but that won’t be happening any time soon. There’s too much chaos, both physical and verbal. I have to oppose the lies. There’s a rising likelihood of persecution for that, online if not in the flesh. The more difficult it is the get the message out, the harder I have to try.

Do you know what the term “seer” means? It’s more than just a prophet; it’s someone whom God has anointed to see things most people do not. More to the point, it’s someone who can see what God is doing regarding a particular person or project. Granted, I have to gain some acquaintance of the context, but based on what I do know, I can typically pray and get a vision that pertains to the subject. I noticed it a long time ago, but it seemed more a curiosity than any kind of essential gift. Recently I felt the urge to test it again, just in case it comes up. I prayed about something specific and received a vision sufficient to make a comment about it.

Again, the answer depends on how much of the context I can understand. It won’t work consistently for random people I encounter online. Oddly, I can tell when the answer is a big fat zero, too. It’s a distinct case of “not telling.” I can also tell when the answer is that you must make a choice and live with it. It applies to myself often enough.

Today I envisioned an invitation to choose between some options in front of me. The one I chose is to remain a nobody until some people are ready to become a church under our covenant. That’s my goal in human space. It gets too fuzzy after that, but it’s all I need to keep going. So behind all this blather you see on my blogs is a vision of Radix Fidem growing, and perhaps little churches forming where some of you folks might be around the world.

But first comes more tribulation.

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More from the Book of Ruth

Posted on June 14, 2020 by ehurst

There is a mystical truth hidden in the Book of Ruth: Not only is the Law its own reward, but it invites God to pour out His glory in a very wide sweep, touching many lives for generations to come.

We understand that the sovereignty of God isn’t an iron will. It’s that God gets what He wants in every thing. Sometimes He is quite willing to let you choose against His revelation, and often it’s with the hope you will learn from your failures. He says as much in the Bible. He turns us over to the deceiving spirits to whom we listen for discipline. In other cases, ostensibly rather rare, He forces things to go a specific path for His inscrutable and ineffable reasons.

So when we turn to His revelation, there are always blessings attached. If nothing else, it binds the demons from interfering with things. Sometimes it plays into His long term agenda, and it becomes rather glorious to see. In the case of Ruth and Boaz, their determination to honor the levirate law becomes the basis for including them in the pinnacle of Israeli history: the reign of King David. They were his direct ancestors. (Side note: Ruth’s heritage from Moab is why David retained some friendship for Moab during his lifetime. He sent his parents there to escape Saul’s wrath.)

levirate: the biblical institution whereby a man must marry the widow of his childless brother in order to maintain the brother’s line

What few people can quite grasp is why the levirate principle matters so much. It can only be understood from within the Covenant. Under the Covenant prosperity has a distinct mystical meaning of its own. Under the Covenant the levirate law maintains God’s grant of who prospers and who does not. Under the Covenant God’s decision whom to bless materially can result in sweeping changes through generations into the future. The words “Law” and “Covenant” are synonymous in this context: The Covenant is its own reward.

But we live in a non-covenant world. This is why the blessings of obedience can be hindered or moderated. God’s will does not cease to influence events simply because everyone ignores Him. But it takes time and concerted effort for us as individuals and small communities of faith to rise to a place where it becomes likely God will reveal what He’s up to in the context around us.

Right away we begin to understand why America is doomed under God’s wrath: no covenant. But it gets worse — not only do we see vacated the covenant we should have had, but we realize America has flatly embraced an idolatrous commitment to evil. US laws on property and inheritance are consistently against Biblical Law.

It’s not that levirate law applies to us literally; it was granted by God for a specific context that no longer exists. Rather, it’s the underlying respect for how God does business with physical property. It should still be a matter of whom God chooses to prosper for reasons He doesn’t have to explain. We should bow the knee and walk in His revelation regardless of individual outcomes. Instead, we live in a culture with legal traditions that flatly violate God’s revealed ideals.

We have laws that confiscate property for the flimsiest excuses, mostly to enrich those already too wealthy for their own good. Sure, the State claims this rapacious right of confiscation, but it then is passed into the control of those who wrote the laws, or for whom the laws were written as a favor after bribery lobbying. Unjust favoritism is for sale. God isn’t ignoring this crap, but His plans may move Him to let the sins pile up to a certain height before He acts. That’s how He treated Israel under the Covenant, and every other nation with or without a covenant.

What few seem to understand is just how thoroughly the legacy of America offends God.

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Law of Moses — Ruth 3

Posted on June 13, 2020 by ehurst

The story of Ruth falls near the end of the Period of Judges. Despite the hideous idolatry and debauchery of the times, some people still did the right thing.

During a famine in Israel, a man from the Tribe of Judah named Elimelech traveled to Moab, most likely because he got word the drought wasn’t so bad there. Chances are he leased his own land out for the duration until the next Jubilee. He moved to Moab with his wife and two young sons. During their stay there, the man died rather young. His two sons tried to keep things going and married local women. Eventually the two sons also died rather young. There was now no one to take care of Naomi as a widow, so she returned to her ancestral home back in the Bethlehem area.

Because her two daughters-in-law were young and free to marry, she released them back to their fathers’ homes. One of them refused, but was determined to support her mother-in-law. We know her as Ruth, and the two went back to Naomi’s home. They were welcomed back, but things were still tough, so support was thin at best. Still, word got around quickly what the situation was with Naomi and Ruth. Taking advantage of what few opportunities there were, Ruth went out into the fields during the barley harvest and gleaned, permitted according to the Covenant. At some point she ended up in the field belonging to Boaz, someone related to Naomi.

Boaz was impressed with Ruth’s devotion and convinced her to stay with his reapers. He instructed the workers to treat her as a VIP and to make sure she had plenty to keep her busy, dropping enough for her to pick up. They also protected her from any young fellows who might try to take advantage of her vulnerability. Out in the fields, she would be an easy target for harassment as a foreigner, and even rape. Boaz protected her as best he could without embarrassing anyone. She worked the fields of Boaz during the entire Feast of Weeks, nearly two months in the spring, bringing home enough grain to keep her and Naomi alive. This was pretty good, considering that Naomi had no way to reclaim anything Elimelech had owned, since it was under a long term lease.

Our focal passage starts with Naomi realizing that Ruth was still a desirable young lady. But it was complicated. The Covenant emphasized keeping land ownership with the clan. If Naomi did nothing, eventually Elimelech’s land would pass to some relative anyway. The only way to help Ruth was to find a kinsman redeemer who had was willing to marry her and raise up grandchildren in Elimelech’s name to inherit that property. That meant convincing some kinsman to carry out that duty at some expense to himself — buying back the leased land, paying for a wedding, and raising a family separate from his original household. With everyone struggling to survive this ongoing drought (due to Israel’s idolatry), spending money on an additional wife and children with no payback at all was a tough sell. About the only fellows who would be willing were young men with no wife and children’s livelihood to risk, or someone pretty wealthy.

Boaz was apparently a rich and older bachelor. Having seen how he was kindly disposed to Ruth, Naomi instructed her daughter-in-law to claim him as her kinsman redeemer. This would leverage the land as the issue, but it was quite a bonus to Boaz to have a young wife after all these years. It was a sacrifice on her part, knowing she was quite likely to be widowed again in too short a time. On the other hand, it would make life for Naomi in her declining years comfortable again. Readers unfamiliar with all of this background would not realize just what kind of dedication and sacrifice Ruth demonstrated here.

The Lord was taking care of Boaz; his crop was decent. It was common during a good grain harvest for the owner to host a big party, particularly at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was customary for him to sleep next to his big pile of threshed grain, symbolizing a man protecting his harvest. For Ruth to show up and hang out on the fringes of those invited would not surprise anyone at this point, given how he had treated her. As the festivities wound down, she hid in the shadows until Boaz bedded down next to the grain.

She slipped down onto the threshing floor and laid next to him, pulling his cloak over onto herself, and uncovering his feet in the process. As the temperature of the night dropped, his feet got cold and he shivered (English translations usually miss the point here). As he rolled over seeking to pull his cloak over his feet, it wasn’t off due to a breeze or flopping, but because of a woman there. He asked who she was, and instantly recognized the symbolic gesture she had made, and the import of her words. He was quite flattered that she would choose him over more conventional options she might have had.

He was the right man. He warned her that one other kinsman would have to surrender the right of redemption first. He told her to keep things quiet, then loaded her up with as much grain as she could possibly carry and sent her home.

In the next chapter, we learn that this other fellow was not willing to take up the expense of redeeming Elimelech’s land if he had to raise up grandsons to inherit the land, none of which would go to his own family. But Boaz had nothing to lose. From this marriage was born King David a few generations later.

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Soldier of Humility

Posted on June 12, 2020 by ehurst

Maybe the concept is too subtle for the bottle-fed folks, but readers of this blog should be able to handle it. The Bible says we are fallen. It does not say humans will always take the most selfish path. It is quite possible for humans to be moved by altruism while spiritually dead because the flame of moral truth burns in every heart, even if only a tiny flicker.

The whole point made in Scripture is that God has planted His witness in the hearts of humanity. Everyone is fully capable of recognizing the voice of God in Creation. That way, no one has any excuse when they stand before Him on the Day of Judgment. So God placed receptor in all human hearts; it’s a sensory organ by nature. A great many humans have no idea why they react as they do on some things. They aren’t conscious of how their hearts work, but they do know they are moved at times by altruistic pressures in their own souls.

The Fall doesn’t mean humans are incapable of responding to moral suasion. It means that we are not at peace with God by default. It means that yielding to moral truth does not make peace with God when that response is piecemeal and self-directed. Most of all, it means that you cannot claim God’s blessings until you bow the knee to revelation, until you stop trusting your own internal resources to evaluate what is good and evil.

The Fall means you do trust your own faculties instead of revelation. That’s the whole sum of being fallen — choosing to trust your own faculties on the question of good and evil. By definition, you cannot possibly do anything “good” without revelation. Not just a memorized copy of what you perceive to be revelation, but you must live in communion with God’s Holy Spirit, constantly listening and responding in order to meet His definition of goodness in all contexts. It is utterly impossible to objectify revelation; revelation is a relationship, a living connection.

A fallen nature is a predilection to ignore God’s demands. It’s such a deep and abiding issue in the flesh that the only solution is to submit to a death warrant, to be executed at a time and place of God’s choosing. He literally owns the balance of your human existence. Even that requires His divine assistance, because no flesh can make such a decision. So peace with God requires a miracle that allows you to accept His terms of peace, so that you can then decide to submit to Him as Lord. And it requires a conscious commitment to keep exercising that miraculous gift moment by moment.

Yes, there are a tiny few folks out there who will continue to live their human lives after having made some momentous decision the other way. There are truly demonic folks out there, and you should be able to sense their nature in your heart. Sometimes it’s a conditional thing, and it may be your experience while not so much for others. It’s fuzzy and God isn’t going to shave it down for your convenience. All you really need to know is that you will encounter folks who will never manifest that flame of moral awareness. Study and pray to know how you should respond.

A primary sign of the more common fallen nature is that folks will honestly believe they are essentially good. That’s a doctrine of our secular world. It requires the presence of the Holy Spirit to realize what an awful sinner you are. Humility is a gift of the Spirit. It doesn’t prevent you developing a sense of confidence that God will provide and use you in His work, but it does keep you face down at His feet. It keeps you grateful and compassionate. It also teaches you to rise up in conflict when God says it’s needed for His glory.

Don’t substitute any other care or concern in place of your commitment to His glory. That’s what distinguishes us in His eyes from the rest of the fallen world.

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Each Joint Supplying

Posted on June 9, 2020 by ehurst

The title refers to Ephesians 4. I want to share my experience and let you slice and dice — as in “rightly dividing” — what you should make of it.

First a little background. For me, the Holy Spirit can move in various ways. At times it’s just a conviction that there is a moral boundary in front of me that I cannot cross. Sometimes it comes in dreams that stick in my mind after I wake. Sometimes it’s in visions while I’m awake. A vision is a little hard to explain unless you’ve already experienced it. Something rolls through the imagination mechanism of my mind, but gets my attention because it’s not from my own creativity. And it’s typically symbolic, not literal in meaning. But with the symbolism I’ve always found that, after a bit of contemplation, the meaning is rather clear.

So that’s what happened this morning. I was reading some news analysis type articles and one of those visions came rolling through my mind as I was trying to envision the meaning of one article. The imagery triggered was not from my own stock of creative associations. It came loaded with a powerful sense of feeling that was actually contrary to my wishes.

That feeling told me that, if human activity in the US continues along the same path, we will have martial law. The recent quarantines were a taste, but this martial law coming will be harsher. It won’t be the same everywhere, I suppose because the problem TPTB will claim it addresses isn’t such a big problem everywhere. Still, I got the feeling the quarantines were a trial run.

There will be the same shortages of consumer goods, hoarding, etc. A part of it is the odd sense that some public utilities will be affected, maybe electricity. A vision is seldom very specific. The whole point is that you are granted a warning that you may or may not need to share. Some visions are rather sweet, telling you to keep confidence and be ready in another sense. Once in awhile, I’ve had visions that were neutral to me personally, but part of a bigger picture that I was praying about.

Of course, I’ve been sensing something that was neither dream nor vision, but a very strong sense that God is about to use me in a way I’ve never before encountered. And I’ve been praying quite a bit about that. It keeps pulling up memories of my time in the military, but stripped of certain elements. I can’t really put it into words, but it involves the overall experience of dealing with a reduction in creature comforts, of having to bear some privation for the sake of more important things. It feels like an adventure to me.

At this point, I cannot estimate what that should mean to you. The whole point in offering so much teaching is that you learn to find your own path. I’d be glad to compare notes, but the last thing I want to do is hinder you from finding your own path of obedience to Christ. So what I’m sharing is my experience so you can turn inside yourself to the divine Presence with a clue to things you might not have considered before. And I surely hope that some of you will find a way to share with others your experiences of the Lord. That’s how we grow as a covenant family.

You see, I don’t want to see things go downhill to the point America is under martial law and starts looking like a Third World country. But apparently that’s what awaits us down the road somewhere. I would much rather see sufficient repentance that God relents. However, I think He’s telling me not to expect that at all. It’s going to be like parts of the vision of the Apocalypse, where people will gnaw their tongues in pain but refuse to bow the knee to their Creator.

And I get the feeling I’ll be writing a lot about visions, dreams and boundaries. It will be an adventure like no other.

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Written on His Heart

Posted on June 8, 2020 by ehurst

We shall not organize. There can be no single, unified response under Radix Fidem.

Yes, I’m the elder. It’s possible you might not get my approval for some of your choices, but what difference does that make? I’m not you and you aren’t me. My approval on your actions is not a part of our path together under the Radix Fidem covenant. As long as the Lord is pleased to bring us together online, it would be wholly inappropriate for me to do more than offer my limited guidance based on what little you can tell me about your situation.

If you were under my covering here in geographic proximity, it might be a little different. Still, the worst that could happen is that you would find yourself moved to develop your own covering of obedience to your divine calling. You are all technically your own elders in the first place. So it’s really very easy: Ignore anything I write that doesn’t apply to you. There’s no reason God can’t let you know when to ignore me. You will have my support even if you lack my approval.

Biblical Law is not objective. It is intensely personal, and the whole point is bringing you closer to God so you can dynamically respond to every nuance of the Holy Spirit in your soul. What we share is the outlook that brings people to Him. The only way we can be united is on our faces at the foot of His throne.

Granted, this does have spillover effects, and we must acknowledge them. At any given time, we will have an influence over a lot of people who don’t grasp the heart-led way. We must throw out the lifeline to anyone who cries out to the Lord. God is far more patient and tolerant than we can ever understand, so it requires we exercise compassion and empathy to those who don’t yet get it. They may eventually work it out, and it’s our divine duty to bear with them.

The forward edge of divine revelation has always been verbal/written Law Covenants. We say, “Law is grace.” We make much of how those expressions of grace point back to grace, but it starts with the conscience recognizing something isn’t right. So we are duty bound to manifest things in terms of moral law as a light to those who are wandering around looking for some kind of beacon. That kind of Law is how God first got the attention of people He called. It works well with children for a very good reason: It takes time for fallen humans to develop a full moral awareness.

We treat these people as our own children of faith in that sense. We pray they catch on and take their place in the wider family of faith. They don’t have to choose to stay with our personal household, but we long to see them active in the Kingdom somewhere. That’s the focus: the wider Kingdom of Heaven. We ourselves will run into our own very human limitations on what we can do to be inclusive of the wide variety of folks God calls, but we will do what we can for each other. It takes self discipline to use a light grip on children who need less of our help, yet remain ready to hug and heal them when they come to us wounded.

Our greatest treasure is people. His glow marks them as worthy of heavy investment. Yet it remains a matter of process, not product. We aren’t aiming at something that human talent can control, or human perception can measure. This has a grand blessing as a side effect: It makes it nearly impossible for persecution to target us. Just when human evil becomes so very strong and effective at surveillance, manipulation and control, the same technology sets us free. Their weapons become our shield.

Somewhere on the other side of this time of tribulation is a world we cannot yet see. It will be a world where our message can touch a far larger audience. In that sense, our treasury will grow — more souls sharing the path. I’m pretty sure this has happened many times in the millennia since the Cross, but it doesn’t make it into the history books very often. That’s okay, because it’s recorded in Heaven.

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