What God Has in Mind

Posted on April 11, 2021 by ehurst

Things I’ve seen lately suggest I need to address this again: Biblical Law is not legislation in the Western sense. Legalism is a perversion of what God intended. It’s not a question of the letter versus the spirit of the law; it’s a question of the Person behind the law. If you don’t see the difference, I’m not sure I can help you.

But I’m going to try. The intent of the Law Covenants is to provide an intellectual frame of reference that roughly translates the character of the Person behind the law. It’s feudalism through and through — you are accountable to a Person who knows you better than you know yourself. Any attempt to make the law stand on its own is idolatry, because the hidden dirty hand there is that it raises up the self as god. The Devil is in that; anything that puts the human capabilities on the throne means self-idolatry. It makes the fallen flesh into a deity, and Satan is the only real presence behind any deity that isn’t Jehovah. The frame of reference behind “the rule of law” is that man is god. And it becomes the excuse for the elite serving Satan to enslave us to them.

The only way to keep God on the throne is to force us to fall back upon our convictions. The convictions are written on the heart by the finger of God. By itself that is not optimal, which is why God has always preserved a written record of revelation. But the written record of the Word is not the Word itself. The Word is God Himself. The written record provides the proper path back to Him. We do not worship the written record — AKA, “bibliolatry”. We worship the God behind it.

However, the word “reverence” is appropriate for how we treat the Bible. It is the starting point, the frame of reference for the mind so that we can obey. The written record of revelation teaches us how to think like those whom God historically blessed under His Covenant.

Did Hosea break the Law of Moses in order to obey his God? If you approach it from that angle, then yes; Hosea disobeyed the law by marrying a prostitute. Yet he obeyed the God behind the law. He obeyed his convictions. It’s not that the law was no limitation to his convictions, but that the law was the background against which the convictions had meaning, by which convictions came to life. It wasn’t some kind of special dispensation, a special permit of license. That’s the wrong approach to understanding what happened there.

It’s also the wrong approach to understanding Jesus. His miracles were already written into the Covenant of Moses, so nothing He did was outside what God might do through any of us. He said that Himself (John 14:12-13). Thus, the law was never a restraint, but a set of powers and privileges based on boundaries that keep us out of defilement. It’s written to resolve the human habit of thinking that everything is a matter of instrumentality, that it’s a matter of mechanics. You cannot explain miracles, but you can count on them as normal and regular.

How did Hezekiah defeat the Assyrians? It wasn’t by human warfare nor by any prescribed ritual. There was no ritual that covered that situation. Rather, the rituals in the Law of Moses informed Hezekiah how to approach the God who made all things, and provided the background on how he should communicate with God.

So when Paul talked about blessing those who persecute you (Romans 12:9-21), he quotes Proverbs 25:21-22. It falls into the same category as turning the other cheek. It’s not a rule of combat; it’s a tactic that has its place in your repertoire. Hezekiah didn’t host a feast for the invading Assyrians. But King David did feed the abandoned servant of an enemy he pursued in the wilderness (1 Samuel 30). It’s not a matter of rules. It’s a matter of fitting the character of God to the context.

Do you have a burning conviction about resisting an evil government? Put it in context. If you use the ways of mere men in preparing such a resistance, you will place yourself outside the covenant protections. Your resistance will subject to the vagaries of secular limits and random chance, acting without the knowledge of God’s will and His plans. If you first form a covenant community of faith, then you are in a position to resist as Hezekiah did, receiving a word from God. You get to approach the Lord and hear from Him His plans on the matter, and you are in a position to see miracles.

In Luke 14:25-32, Jesus spoke of counting the cost. You need the calculus of divine power and plans on your side. When faith and conviction are part of the equation, it can change the outcome completely. He didn’t say, “Surrender every time.” He said to be sure you get with the Father before you decide how to proceed. It’s not that resistance is always wrong, but that you should stand ready to surrender every time so that you can hear God tell you when it’s time to resist. And it’s not a matter of always winning, but of knowing whether God wants you to resist regardless of the outcome. It’s not a question of what works, as humans measure such things, but what works to keep you at peace with God.

Israel marched into the Promised Land and defeated giants, beat down chariots with mere infantry, and chased off much larger armed forces. They also got chased off by the tiny forces guarding Ai. It was a matter of having taken the time to hear from God first, of being ready to obey regardless of the outcome. It’s two separate questions. One is, “Shall we go out to battle?” The second is, “Will you deliver the enemy into our hands?” He may not answer the second question, but He never fails to answer the first.

One thing is for sure: You cannot reap the harvest of shalom without the full weight of Biblical Law behind you. If you do not first come together in a community covenant of faith, any resistance is sheer potluck and meaningless. It is vanity and striving after the wind. Only when you can stand together under covenant law can you begin to see what God has in mind.

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Law of Moses — Nehemiah 4

Posted on April 10, 2021 by ehurst

In the previous chapter is a long list of the groups and their assigned sectors on the wall. Those who lived behind the wall built the section nearest their homes. A primary issue is that the entire city was still filled with rubble. Some of the stones were no longer suitable for building. The walls were made from local mined limestone, and once exposed to fire, it softens into something like sandstone, easily crushed. That stuff had to be tossed down the slope. But there was plenty of reusable rubble from the tightly packed homes that once stood inside the wall.

When Sanballat and his friends got the report that the wall building had begun, they came to mock the effort publicly. Imagine a very loud conversation with dramatic gestures acted out in the hearing of everyone working, and the mocking laughter. Further, the reference to making sacrifices is meant to mock Jehovah. What good would it do to call on their pitiful national deity, who had already deserted them and allowed His house to be destroyed? They also mentioned the problem with burned limestone blocks.

Nehemiah’s prayer is completely appropriate. If God is the one insulted, God can act to defend His own name. The people had been called to rebuild the city, and didn’t bother to even respond to the provocations.

At the point were the wall was about half-finished, the trio of enemies coaxed the remaining Philistines in Ashdod to join them in a plan to conduct raids. This had to be done in secret, to avoid transgressing the published command of Emperor Artaxerxes. So the idea was to engage in fast hit-n-run raids. Of course, they would all deny any culpability. But the plans leaked.

Nehemiah outlines his response. First, he prayed as always. Then, with his military training, he organized a defense. It was bad enough the work crews had so much useless rubble to remove and it was killing their enthusiasm for building. But with the threat of raids, they were really starting to give up.

Ten different times, the leaders of the outlying communities begged for Nehemiah to release the workers so they could come home to defend against the the obvious military activity among the surrounding nations. Instead, Nehemiah organized them to come and stay temporarily inside the city in support of their own work crews. He stationed defenders below the wall. He reminded the leadership that this was the business of their God Jehovah they were talking about, not some mere human pursuit. God is more than able to defend them.

This high degree of preparation discouraged the raiders. This was no longer an easy target. Any attack would turn out to be quite messy; the odds were now against the raids. Seeing how well this worked, Nehemiah forged a plan that saw half the able-bodied in full armor around the work crews in a rotation that probably served also to give folks a break from the heavy labor. Meanwhile, the crews were also armed, if not armored because of their work. It slowed the pace of the work, but it served to keep everyone focused on the mission of defending the city in the first place.

Further, Nehemiah stationed trumpeters with each work sector. Since some of the crews did not have direct line of sight to each other, this would provide a means of alarm so that extra defenders could rally to any part under attack. This gave the people the confidence to keep at it.

Finally, everyone lived tactically. The crews didn’t go home at night, but camped out behind the rising walls. Nehemiah didn’t spare himself nor his bodyguard the rigors, either. The leadership disrobed only to bathe in the evening, and then slept in their clothes in case the enemies tried any tricks at night. Keep in mind that it was virtually universal in that time and place for people to sleep nude, which would have made it hard to respond quickly to trouble.

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Stop Missing the Point

Posted on April 8, 2021 by ehurst

It wasn’t a cry for help when I decided to shut down the old blog. I knew God was preparing me to shut it down a long time ago. The only question was when. The forced shift to the “block editor” was the signal God used to tell me.

Look, it’s not like I can’t learn how to use the “block editor.” It’s very similar to other formats, such as software used to format newspapers and so forth. And this business of “blocks” is the underlying format used in the former K-Office, a part of the KDE Linux interface. It’s not like I don’t understand it. But it’s designed for one sector of the population, and I’m not in that sector. I don’t think like that; I don’t organize and process information that way. It’s morally evil to force it on anyone.

Indeed, it would be very easy to use MS Word. Word has a built-in template just for publishing to WordPress (among a handful of other blogging platforms). And you can install a WordPress plugin to import Word documents, so you can get it from either end. And if that’s not enough, Google Docs has a plugin to publish to WordPress.

This is not a question of how to keep using that blog. It’s a question of when to kill it, since it’s death warrant had already been issued. I had posted that several times already. When it comes up for renewal in August, I won’t pay for it. I’ll remove the whole thing. It will be gone forever, except what was brought over when this blog was opened. That was the plan all along.

Even this blog is expendable. I don’t have a death warrant for it yet, but I’m not so invested in things here that my life will change if I have to wipe this one, too. The time is coming when the Net will go through some major changes, and how the Lord wants me to engage the Net will change, too. Get ready for it, folks. Blogging has a limited shelf life; I don’t know the date yet, but it will expire in terms of its usefulness in my mission.

Right now, we need to think in terms of quality, not quantity. We’ve done the work of trying to get this message to the wider world. The response has been minuscule. That’s okay; the Lord is the only one who can grant us souls. What we need most is not large numbers, but a few people deeply committed. And in a short time, the game will change. How we publish the gospel message is going to become the responsibility of some other folks who will pick it up in due time after the big changes in our world.

The fields aren’t ripe for harvest right now; they aren’t even ready for plowing. There has yet to come the scorched earth to cleanse the land before the plowing. I’m doing my part to prepare the message; I’m sifting everything that has been around for a long time. I’m trying to lay the foundation for a dramatic shift in how people think about the gospel. What God builds on that foundation remains to be seen, and I may not be around when the time comes to build.

This is what’s in my hands. Don’t get lost in what stood before the Lord began to move in His wrath. We are privileged to see changes no one can imagine. Let’s preserve the Word in our hearts for when the storms are past. Don’t miss the point of all of this.

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We Shall See Them

Posted on April 7, 2021 by ehurst

When I first felt the Lord’s call on my life some 50 years ago, I thought I knew what it meant. I struggled on that path, but kept getting pushed back and back and back. It wasn’t the people who pushed me back, but the hand of God.

Up until a couple of years ago, I still believed we could just side-step all the others and start with a clean slate. Just sweep away the stuff that doesn’t belong, and we can do covenant community right. But by the time I swept enough away, I discovered there was very nearly nothing left.

It’s like traveling back along a time line, earlier and earlier in the path, looking for a place to start over. At some point you realize you have to go back so very far that it’s very nearly like meeting the Apostles again.

I’m not so arrogant to think we are somehow THE people God has chosen to go back and get it right, as if there were one right answer. But there is for us at least one among some better possible answers. It’s not that we are competing with the answers men have had for the last two millennia; their time is done. God is about to do something very much like the Flood, and it will mean starting down a whole new path. When this flood goes away, the earth will be radically changed, just like it was for Noah. The difference is that God isn’t going to sweep away the rest of humanity. We have to build from scratch on a different plane.

Do I sound like a madman? That’s okay. The world is mad and I’m just a different flavor of crazy.

I can’t know if God plans to help very many people through our testimony of shalom, but I know He intends to help us. For at least some slice of humanity, there’s a message here of faith that is quite radically different from what anyone has heard in a very long time. We can offer it to everyone, but we can’t make them take it.

It doesn’t make us better, just better off. Whether or not it works for anyone else, it works for us.

I’m not writing Scripture, just trying to make the Bible easier to understand. I’m not starting something new, just raising a call to something ancient. I’m trying to echo what Jesus did with His own nation, in that He called them back to the ancient ways. We already have a resurrection, so it’s just a matter of getting back closer to it. We have to touch the living One Himself.

So, I hope and pray I live just long enough to see this thing take root. I believe it’s out there a ways yet. There’s still a major wave of destruction coming, something none of us can imagine. And as always, when God comes to visit, His wrath is one edge of a two-edged sword. That sword has miracles on the other edge. We shall see them if we hold to our faith.

We will see the birth of a new kind of faith, a covenant community. We shall see a large number of people embrace this faith like we did.

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Random Photos 07

Posted on April 6, 2021 by ehurst

Went back out to the NE corner of Oklahoma County today. It was very windy and somewhat cool, despite the thermometer reading a balmy 72°F (22C). This is a cattle pasture that wanders along a tributary of the Deep Fork River, featuring some redbud trees in the background. It’s a lot easier to stop and take pictures once you get back out on these low traffic roads.

Speaking of rural roads, this is NE 164th Street running off into Lincoln County (just east and north of Oklahoma County), where it’s name changes to Midlothian Road. Some of these days I’ll poke around out here some more, but this was part testing of the car and part chasing pictures.

This is some very hilly pasture land just over in Lincoln County, viewed from the side of the road that serves as the county line. It’s rough like this all over out here, but most of it is covered with trees, and so isn’t often visible. There were several places like this where you could just catch a glimpse from the road, but you’d have to trespass to get a good picture of it.

It was a very peaceful ride, playing classical music on the radio.

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Gird Up Your Loins

Posted on April 5, 2021 by ehurst

I’m inclined to support most of what Bill Sardi says this morning over at Lew Rockwell’s site. Seems to me I first heard of the Deagle estimate a couple of weeks ago. At the time, it didn’t really catch my attention, but it’s gotten a lot more notice from others over these past two weeks.

Sardi points out the high probability of a nuclear exchange, the likelihood of ADE from the vaccines that aren’t really vaccines, and the certainty of economic collapse. Any way you look at it, a 70% reduction in US population in four years is quite dramatic. And yet, I consider it quite possible.

There are so very many things going on behind the scenes that it’s hard to estimate the outcomes. Some of them aren’t really hidden, just not commonly acknowledged. It’s the kind of thing where my heart senses a major catastrophe, but my mind recoils and can’t form any kind of realistic estimate. All the more so when I’m experiencing unexpected changes in my own life.

I was planning on a long season of bikepacking. Not so much carrying the full load on the bike itself, but of camping and biking in areas I’ve not seen, at least not recently. Camping is still possible, but less and less likely to happen very much. Biking will, for now, be just a small part of my life. If the VA does a knee replacement really soon, biking a lot is still possible. Yet, I’m honestly moved to plan for it not happening this year. Instead, I’m making accommodations to deal with a left knee that simply won’t allow much physical activity compared to what I’ve carried on in the past.

Who could have foreseen just the stuff I’m facing personally? This left knee crashed very quickly over just a couple of months. It’s the sort of thing your heart could know, but you just aren’t consciously ready to see it. So it is with wider events: I’ve known for some time we were headed for an apocalypse, but I had no idea what it would look like. And if Deagle knows anything, then four years isn’t a very long time for that much change.

I’m not saying that a 70% population drop is a sure thing. That’s more precision and detail than I dare to suggest. But my heart tells me that any day now things could become really unpleasant on a broad scale. This is no exodus; the covenant people aren’t marching off to a far land physically. However, I suspect that the business of blood on the doorposts might still apply, in that we need to separate ourselves from the world around us in other ways.

There’s no way I could offer any kind of solid leadership. Aside from broad generalities, I have no idea what you will go through where you live. All I can do is point back to divine revelation and ask you to search for yourself. I’m honestly still struggling to understand the implications of what it means to be a covenant community, because the one thing I know for certain is just how radically different it is from what we have around us today. I’m not sure you and I could make the necessary adjustments; we can only move in that direction. There’s a vast lore of experience missing there, and I’m still standing way out here on the border of this vast Promised Land.

I suppose I could suggest ways to be united now versus the necessity of being scattered individuals, but then we have to ask how that would fit after the coming disasters and dramatic changes. I have confidence that I’ll know what to do when the moment comes; that’s the part I’m trying to teach here. It’s not knowing in advance what to do, but knowing I’ll be ready because the Lord says He will make me so in my heart.

This week my wife and I are shedding excess baggage and reorganizing what we keep. It has to be heart-led. Because we don’t know what’s coming, it’s a matter of simply doing our best to fit our collection of stuff to the apparent mission before us. That includes realizing that there are some small decisions we’ll regret, but doing nothing is not an option. I have a few more tools to collect, and Veloyce is sorting through her kitchen stuff. I’m taking a look at certain emergency response items I know how to use, and still have the physical ability to use. Anyone got a good used Halligan bar?

Bits and pieces of answers are all I have right now, but the broader certainty of disaster is so solid I can just about touch it. At the same time, the shining glory of the Father is all around me. We are privileged to see things few have ever seen before. Gird up your loins.

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Random Photos 06

Posted on April 4, 2021 by ehurst

I’m starting the numbering sequence of this series where it left off when I carried over the old posts from the other blog. I drove out north of Harrah, east of Luther.

I was testing the idea of using my car to explore the back roads in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma County. It’s unlikely I would have ever ridden my bike out this far, anyway. However, this is the Deep Fork watershed, and the steep hills are now off limits for me. I noticed that I miss a lot when I’m paying attention to driving. I got only these two shots. This first one is a ranch up on Dobbs Road just north of Britton Road.

A bit farther north on the same Dobbs Road was this stock pond. I was drawn by the sharp drop on this part of the bank. In fact, I stopped and turned around on the narrow road so I could come back and take this picture.

Mostly I was just enjoying taking a drive out in rural areas while the redbud trees were in bloom. A few other trees were starting to sprout their green leaves, but the redbuds are spectacular right now. Frankly, a small motorbike would work a lot better for this, but there is no way I could secure one where I live. I wouldn’t have it very long. It’s funny what the thieves will steal where I live, versus all the stuff they don’t touch.

Anyway, I’m hoping I can get used to exploring this way and start getting more pictures of what I see.

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Law of Moses — Nehemiah 2

Posted on April 3, 2021 by ehurst

So far as anyone can tell, Ezra remained in Jerusalem after his book ends with the reforms in 457 BC. The various nations around them had lost all their hopes of seducing the Judeans. So they began a campaign of harassment. For Ezra, this called for some protection. Apparently he built up some fortifications around the Temple. The troublemakers notified Artaxerxes, who agreed with them that Ezra’s commission did not include fortifications. Troops were dispatched to tear down the wall and burn the gates.

Sometime after that, word returned to the Judeans in Babylon of what happened. Eventually the news spread to various Judeans who had been taken into imperial service. Among these was Nehemiah, the Cup Bearer. Ostensibly this was the man who took a sip of the ruler’s wine cup before it was served. This way, if the wine was poisoned, it sickened the Cup Bearer first. By this time it was mostly ceremonial, but the position had grown in influence in the imperial court. Nehemiah was thus essential personnel, one of the imperial councilors with what amounts to a reserve commission in the military at the rank of general. He was trained accordingly, but his primary mission was highly political as part of the inner circle trusted by the Emperor personally.

So in the previous chapter, in 445 BC when Nehemiah gets the news of the destruction of the fortifications of Jerusalem in the face of serious threats, he’s heartbroken. He renders an eloquent prayer to Jehovah on behalf of His people. He fasts and prays for four months.

This left him looking rather dreary on the next public event at which he performs his ceremonial duties. This was normally forbidden, but Artaxerxes wasn’t that difficult to serve. The Emperor noticed Nehemiah’s haggard face, surmised that it was a matter of fasting and praying, and asked him what it was about. Nehemiah prayed silently in his heart while answering the Emperor. This was his one chance to do something for his nation and his God.

Surely Artaxerxes remembered sending troops to destroy the fortifications. But here Nehemiah makes a strong appeal, discussing how much of a threat there was to the people and the Temple that the Emperor so wanted to see finished. So the ruler asked his servant what he proposed to do about it.

Nehemiah took this as an answer to his prayers. He suggested going back in person to visit the people and rebuild the city fortifications with a proper imperial permit. Nehemiah’s training gave him a reasonable idea of how long it would take. He pressed further for a specific written commission to pass through, and an order for sufficient timber from the Imperial Forester, so he could build the walls and restore the palace. Nehemiah would be the ranking imperial official in that part of the empire, so it naturally means having a palace for his residence.

Because Nehemiah was riding in a military chariot as an officer escorted by imperial troops, he got there a lot quicker than was normal for the Returnees traveling mostly on foot. He issued the copies of imperial orders to the Satrap and various governors and officials. This includes Sanballat who was governor of Samaria, and Tobiah, an Ammonite noble serving on the Satrap’s staff. They were deeply disturbed by this turn of events.

Upon arriving at Jerusalem, Nehemiah dismissed the bulk of his escort, keeping only a personal bodyguard required for members of the imperial court. It was enough to discourage, say, a false flag attack from Judah’s enemies that could be blamed on someone else. The two previously mentioned enemies were joined by an Arab nobleman named Geshem. There’s no doubt they had spies in and around Jerusalem, and Nehemiah suspected this, so he outsmarted them.

He waited three days, then at night slipped out quietly through the western gate that led down into the Tyropoeon Valley, riding a donkey and escorted by his bodyguard. He turned sharply left along the base of what was left of the city wall. The ancient valley had been filled with rubble at least once, so the sides of the ridge line weren’t that steep any more. He managed to get around as far as the pool (later called Siloam) that Hezekiah had built out on the end of the ridge, when he dug the tunnel to divert the water from the Gihon Spring on the east face of the ridge. At the pool, the rubble was too thick to keep going along the base of the wall.

So Nehemiah was forced to take the path down into the valley, and turned to continue up the Kidron Valley a ways until he could see the main eastern gate near that ancient spring. Then he returned and made his way back up to where he first came out.

The next morning, he called the officials together, which would have included Ezra. Nehemiah revealed his prayers and the nature of his commission and his plans. It was the very blessed thing they had not dared to hope, so they were quick to agree.

As soon as word got back to the trio of Judah’s enemies, they sent a message to Nehemiah mocking the whole idea as rebellion. Nehemiah outranked them, but his God outranked the whole world. They had no say in the matter. He warned them not to get in the way or they would pay dearly.

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Recommended: Fantasy Muffler, Crutcho, OK

Posted on April 3, 2021 by ehurst

I can heartily recommend Fantasy Muffler in Crutcho, OK. It’s just west of Air Depot Boulevard on NE 23rd in the OKC Metro. Crutcho is a discrete community with some of the rights of a municipality, but not quite fully there. This is the view from NE 23rd.

They open at 8AM every day, closing at 5PM M-F, and noon on Saturday. This is my car up on the rack, getting a new upper exhaust assembly installed. No hesitation or griping about how difficult it was, the man just got to work on it and was done in decent time. He prefers you pay in cash, but it’s cheaper that way.

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New Feature: Photos Here

Posted on March 30, 2021 by ehurst

I’m closing my other blog (it’s gone). I’ve warned WordPress about this, as have a great many others, but they have refused to listen. It’s over. From here on out, all my photos will be posted here.

First up is my sitting in my “new” car. I had just returned from a parts run when my wife decided to capture the moment. The thing is drive-able, but it makes a lot of noise right now. I’m waiting for the catalytic converter assembly to arrive. Until then, the exhaust system has a wide gap where the pipe is broken just a short distance from the engine. I’ll post a better picture of the car later.

Today I had my heavy workout in the park. One of the machines I use is hidden behind a tree in this shot. I am no longer able to do any high-impact exercises, but I can still ride the bike and take pictures.

Once I don’t have to worry about the noise level from the car, I plan to take some day trips to places worthy of some photography. If things go well enough, I’ll eventually make longer trips with camping and so forth.

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