Satanic Patterns

Satanic patterns that cause fracture.

Based on three sermons by Tommy Miller, Legacy Church.

Jezebel        (Fracture and chaos caused by unauthorised power)

Absalom       (Stolen hearts and lack of growth, from coddling wounds)

Leviathan      (Discord and fracture from maligning of character)

These are patterns that disrupt and subvert kingdom culture.

We're naming these patterns so that we're able to use a word as a container, to identify and stop these patterns from occurring.

The reason to consider these patterns isn't to marginalise a group of people that cause problems; it is to understand how to implement kingdom culture to suffocate these patterns.

The goal is that we come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

If we can identify patterns that keep us from getting there, then we can better starve the pattern of oxygen so that we don't have to tolerate them anymore. None of these patterns can be confronted directly. All three patterns have the ability to turn your response to them, into evidence for the case they are making.

All these patterns have their beginning in the utterings of Satan in Genesis, hence why they’re being called Satanic. They’re also echoed in other parts of the Bible, from where their names are assigned. All these patterns are prophetic forewarnings to the patterns that will disrupt and subvert kingdom culture in your life and in your body.

They permeate every structure under heaven; personal relationships, church relationships, your Soul, your body and ultimately the rest of creation.

Jesus gave advice that addresses these patterns, but without linking them to prior scripture, the application of this advice may be misunderstood.

One of the greatest things that the enemy of your soul can do, is get you preoccupied with evil, when it's the subtleties that destroy you.

In the meantime, while you feel safe, he'll come to you with the subtlety of a Jezebel, or an Absalom or a Leviathan. The enemy rarely says, "Burn it down." He usually says, "You deserve better."

The subtleties create the strongholds from the book of Corinthians where it talks about the weapons of our warfare not being carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, that is our normal reasoning, that justify dysfunctions.

They all start with offense, bitterness, victimhood, control, isolation, pride, and fear.

They sound like:

“I know I shouldn't be angry, but…”

“I know I shouldn't gossip, but…”

“I should forgive, but…”

Jezebel Pattern (Fracture and chaos caused by unauthorised power)

Jezebel, the origin of the title.

Jezebel is so named after the wife of King Ahab, who through the King’s apathy and near abdication, and her yelling and calling the shots, caused chaos. Ahab didn’t need to confront Jezebel; all he had to do is rule.

Jezebel in Genesis.

Jezebel started with the voice of the serpent that was supposed to be subservient to Adam and Eve, but instead positioned itself as an authorized voice, and gave them a new narrative. Adam and Eve didn’t need to confront the serpent, just check what he said with God.

Jezebel elsewhere in the Bible.

Moses was told to speak to the rock, and he would get some water for his people.

He was frustrated with his people. So, he smacked the rock. He was governed by something that he was supposed to have under his authorization, and it caused him to respond violently, he became a violent reflection of the violence toward him. That’s the Jezebel pattern winning.

Jezebel nature.

1. Jezebel is unauthorised power.

2. Jezebel is loud but not allowed.

3. Jezebel is the voice that tries to kick you off your throne through criticism and volume.

4. Jezebel pulls leaders off their throne.

5. Jezebel is a narrative that is not authorised to be your instructor.

6. Jezebel tries to create enough chaos to get you to use force and striving, rather than rest and decreeing.

7. What is loud becomes more believable because it convinces you that they're authorised by telling you that there's a threat to not listening.

8. Jezebel is tolerated by leaders, not leading.

9. Jezebel is a talker.

Jezebel kryptonite

1. Jezebel can't function where authority is present.

2. Jezebel can't function where abdication hasn't happened first.

Jezebel examples.

1. Jezebel can be your interactions with others in the church, a church leader may not permit someone else to do something, that’s not control, that’s authorisation.

2. The person disallowed, is the most likely to accuse the leader of being Jezebel. Someone fallen into the Jezebel pattern, is most likely to accuse the leader of being Jezebel.

3. Jezebel can be your own body’s pain messages, i.e. illness. Illness is senses and experience, calling the shots in your biology, while the spirit is supposed to be giving life to it. Christ is the uncreated and invisible logos, He governs your soul and your soul governs your body and your body governs creation.

4. You may have aches and pains this morning. But the loudness of those aches and pains is a Jezebel voice trying to subvert the authority of word over creation.

5. A migraine is a good flag of how it works, because that disorder can only lead you through coercion and volume.

6. Loudness is only needed when authorization isn't present. If somebody needs to make a ruckus in order to get their way, then it's because authority doesn't accompany their words.

7. If somebody is trying to gain power with no authorization, the only way that they can do it is by yelling. And then somebody that's not certain of their authorization will yell back, becoming a mirror version.

Jezebel the solution.

·   We can look for where our bodies, or people have a say, that they never should.

·   We don't need to address the thing or person that's causing the dysfunction. The moment you confront Jezebel, you hop down from your throne, and you become just like her.

·   Jezebel, if you confront it, will convert you, because the only way that Jezebel can lead you is by coercion and volume.

·   Everything in the kingdom is a matter of order. Dysfunction comes from disorder.

·   Make sure to know the kingdom lines of authority, and where you have it.

·   Establish clear authority that doesn’t allow this pattern.

·   Kings don't yell; they decree. Kings sit on thrones and rule with appointed and authorised power.

·   We are kings. All the authority that is in our words comes from our position, not our volume.

·   Remember that God has a still small voice; your pain and injuries have a very loud one.

·   If you know that the promises of God are “yes” and “amen” and they're apprehended through rest, then rest is a position of authority and authority is a place of dominion. And then things come under subjection when you don't let the things that are yelling at you, pull you off your throne.

·   Your knee might be trying to preach a different message to you than the one that Christ has put in you, in union. So, it's screaming. The pain is way more real than union. And then if you're a good solid word of faith guy, you'll scream right back. I command you to be right. Don’t shout in prayer for healing.

·   Jesus in his authorization, never yelled, he just decreed, softly "Hey, you receive your sight." “Hey, you wake up”.

·   Determine who is authrized to talk into your life, and discount other voices.

Absalom Pattern (Stolen hearts and lack of growth, from coddling wounds)

Absalom, the origin of the title.

Absalom is so named after the son of King David, who, after not getting due justice from David, set about undermining him to anyone who would listen. 2 Samuel 15:1-6.

Absalom was never entirely wrong. That's what made him so dangerous. David did have flaws. People had legitimate concerns. There were legitimate issues.

The issue wasn't the existence of problems.

The issue was that Absalom weaponized them to gain a following and justify further dysfunction.

Absalom in Genesis.

Absalom in the beginning was the serpent itself saying, "Listen, I tried what you're about to try.

He's keeping something from you."

His motive for keeping you from that tree is selfish.

Adam and Eve are created in the image of God. And it says that you should be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. It means all the created things that were on earth should be under their feet. So, the devil was here for his sentencing.

But Satan talks to Eve and he says, "Listen, I tried it. Look what he did to me. He's keeping something from you. If you do that, you'll get punished. Just listen to me.”

Absalom elsewhere in the bible.

Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 both have prophecies. One's over the king of Babylon. One's over the prince of Ty.

Both of those prophecies move out of something natural and into something spiritual and clearly start addressing a non-material being.

In the beginning of those moments, it's talking to a king. And then something shifts. And then it says something along these lines. “By the abundance of your trading, you tried to exalt yourself and you said, "I will become right like the most high." And because of the abundance of your trading, you were cast down.”

Trading means giving to get.

We have a being who tried to strive their way to godliness, that is cast down to earth to be trampled underfoot by humans.

He wasn’t supposed to be a problem; earth was his hell.

Absalom nature.

1. Absalom is compassion without truth.

2. Absalom is what Corinthians calls a stronghold (reasoning that justifies your dysfunction).

3. Absalom looks justified so is the hardest to spot.

4. Absalom is justified dysfunction over legitimate infractions, which means you become OK with it because you believe you’ve earned it.

5. Absalom starts around a genuine offence to you.

6. Absalom weaponizes wounds to create communities where your wound is the foundation on which your relationships are built.

7. Absalom weaponizes pain and doesn’t want your recovery, or the club is empty.

8. Absalom weaponizes problems and then uses them to cause counterfeit intimacy with a group that has been hurt the same way.

9. Absalom inflicted people gather around the pain that they all mutually carry. Healing in an Absalom community is betrayal to the community itself.

10. Absalom is love without power.

11. Absalom is truth without honour which always becomes rebellion.

12. Absalom looks noble because it looks pastoral.

13. Absalom can look like compassion.

14. Absalom is pastoral with no accountability for restoration.

15. Absalom never gives you justice.

16. Absalom is the voice that makes you feel good about staying dysfunctional.

17. Absalom steals loyalty.

18. Absalom shifts power to whoever you believe has your best interests at heart. It’s very easy to get wrong.

19. Absalom begins with empathy that will always detach from truth.

20. Once Absalom has your heart, it's very difficult to become whole because there's a price.

21. Absalom is a listener.

Absalom elsewhere in the bible

Sarah was stuck in an Absalom spot where God said, "You're going to have a baby." And she giggled. Why did she giggle? Because there's a voice that justifies her belief that she will not bear children at 100 years old.

In Joshua the commander of the Lord's army came to Joshua and Joshua said, "Whose side you on?" (meaning for which army) He said, "I'm on God's side."

2 Samuel. Absalom identifies a disappointment. Then he amplifies that disappointment. Then he personalizes relationally with the disappointment. Then he positions himself as the solution. That's how he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. King David may not have done anything wrong. He just had somebody outside of his gate saying that he would. “If you bring this to him, you're going to be disappointed like I was”. King David did not handle Absalom well. David did nothing. David failed as a leader. Absalom had legitimate reason, but never allowed that that area of his life to come to wholeness, so he could be productive and functional again.

2 Corinthians 10 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty in God. For pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Carnal here means the way that seems right to a man. Justifying dysfunction seems right. The most difficult thing about confronting it is that it seems right.

So, the weapons of our warfare don't seem right to the natural adamic mind. But they're mighty in God for pulling down the reasons that justify your dysfunction.

Casting down arguments that means that strongholds begin as arguments.

Every prison begins as a thought that sounds reasonable.

Absalom examples.

●  You can’t be like Christ if you're harbouring justified or unjustified offense. There is a price to not demanding that the gospel heal your dysfunction.

●  Offense becomes the lens by which you interpret the world. And if you interpret creation through offense, you can never redeem it, because offense and love can't coexist.

●      You have reports, you have evidence, you have pain, you have a million things that justify why you feel the way you feel. That justification for that dysfunction feels really good when that dysfunction keeps you from being responsible for showing up (the manifestation of Christ in your life).

●  Absalom can be reaching for Paracetamol, when initial cold symptoms arise, before bringing it to God and releasing Heaven to your body. Reaching for the medicine is the confession you are sick and your body agrees.

○  X-rays justify your dysfunction.

○  MRIs justify your dysfunction.

○  Age justifies your dysfunction.

●      Absalom can exist in your personal alignment where you just say, "It is the way it is. It's been like that for as long as I can remember” or “Why would I expect full healing and restoration in my body and mind now, if it's been like this since I was a kid?”.

●      Absalom can be in a marriage if you use the other person in the relationship to justify why you're not being Christlike. In a marriage, you're responsible for bringing your unique expression of Christ into it, you’re not responsible for their performance. You’re responsible for yours.

●      If your contribution to the relationship is dependent on what the other person contributes, you're no longer living out of identity. You're living out of response to Absalom.

●      When we’re surrounded with a group that makes us the centre of the story and we forget about what we're building generationally. This gets sacrificed on the altar of self-preservation and our grandchildren have absolutely nothing to belong to.

●      Not attending church, because church hurt me and makes me feel good not going. Churches (leaders) should be held accountable, that goes without saying. But our response is critical.

●      In the first century when you were part of the church, you were part of the church with no denominations. It was regional. If you were in Ephesus, Timothy was your apostle. You didn't get to go to another church down the street if you didn't like what Timothy was doing. Timothy was in subjection to Paul. Paul kept him theologically and morally accountable. If Timothy had an apostolic revelation for you as the church in Ephesus, 26,000 people were submitted to that word. And if they didn't like it, tough. A lot of fruit was born in this period.

●      Every stronghold begins at justification.

●      Every rebellion begins as a reason.

●      Every fracture starts with a story.

●      We've all done it. And we've all done it in the name of Christ likeness.

●      We don't feel the freedom to give others truth, so we just give them a shoulder to cry on, which is okay in the moment. It just can't become a culture.

●      Absalom exists in your own personal alignment, telling you didn’t demand your pound of flesh when you have forgiven someone; It says you didn’t demand justice, you don't respect yourself enough, you don't love yourself enough. No, you should love yourself so much that you will not allow the behaviours of a dysfunctional person to cause you to stop loving them.

●      In a marriage a wife may want the feeling of safety because of previous abuse, so you shield them from shows of your strength. That is equally abusive in the long term, but in the moment it's exactly what they want, it's safe. Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. He is an expression of masculinity that has lordship and saviour in the same breath. Meaning he's power and love. True masculinity can hold those things in tension. Power and love are both synergistic expressions of masculinity. If you have a man who is powerful without being loving, you'll be attracted to him because he's strong. But without love, his strength will be turned toward you at some point. When you're trying to take care of a woman like that, it is love without power, because you believe that the power that hurt her in the past is a threat to her. So, you get rid of yours, and you become understanding and whatever they need in the moment. “Feel however you want. Do whatever you need. That's okay”. And then after a few years, she feels extremely unsafe because she thinks that if something happened, you wouldn't be there to protect her. Love without power is equally as abusive as power without love.

●      In a church you have a church leader who has power without love and he abuses you. So, you look for Love without power. Then after a while, you realize that that cost you nearly as much as power did.

●      Anytime you start a ministry in response to something, it's not a ministry, it's a cult.

●      Ministries aren't started in response to something. Ministries are started in submission to something, and that thing is Word, it's Christ. It's heaven's culture and it's the DNA that flows through His veins flowing through the body of Christ so that creation can be redeemed by people who are experiencing Zoey life not hearing a voice saying “it's okay, I'm so sorry, there there”.

●  Most people believe that the greatest threat to family, church, marriage, or organization is evil. It is not. The greatest threat is justified dysfunction, because evil looks evil. Dysfunction often looks reasonable when it's intelligent enough to explain itself.

Absalom the solution.

1. Absalom can't be confronted. You will look like the worst human in the world by trying to break up a wound licker’s group. All you can do is teach that the purpose of coming into the body of Christ, is to be brought to the measure of the stature of the fullness of God and that is the voice that has your best interest at heart.

2. A group of people become so mature that they recognize that Absalom isn't conducive to their future.

3. Have covenant relationships meaning that; “I will take a bullet for you, and a bullet from you, and never leave you”. That is impossible to establish if you're gathered around shared pain, because if you get healed, you're no longer part of the group.

4. Don't gather around doctrine. Doctrine is the shallowest ground that you can establish relationships on. It means that you'll come together only as long as you agree with each other.

5. Gather around union. If you gather around union, you can never be separate.

6. Jesus's strategy is to expose dysfunction, heal dysfunction, transform dysfunction into something that'll bring healing to the nations.

7. Make sure Absalom has nowhere to breathe because we have recognized and defined what we want.

8. We don't want to be coddled. We want growth.

9. If someone comes to coddle us, say, "Wait a minute. I appreciate the love, care, and concern, but I don't want to stay a victim forever and that's what your response will keep me as”.

10. It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond.

11. Use discernment to identify and recognise problems.

12. If you continue to use senses and experience to justify dysfunction, the only person that's paying the price is you.

13. When somebody tries to heal you of your dysfunction, you may grab it back up and say, "You didn't go through what I went through”. But their response shouldn’t be simply “I'm terribly sorry that you had to endure that." It should add that “you're letting an encounter with something dysfunctional make you dysfunctional forever, when the gospel would prefer to use that as a lesson to bring restoration to other people.”

14. Develop an opinion of others that is consistent with the Father’s and never allow their performance to change it.

15. Treat others according to who they are, not how they are.

16. Ignore the temptation to think that if you don't mistreat them, you're not standing your ground.

17. Know who to call when you want to be babied, but call the one who will give you truth.

18. Truth instructs how to bring reconciliation to a relationship and gives a solution so you can be whole, healed and delivered. That involves personal responsibility. If that's not what you get, but you get cuddling that justifies your dysfunction, you will believe they have your best interest at heart, because they listen.

19. Give understanding, but not alone, give understanding with truth.

20. If you come to Christ with a wound, he will give you healing. He won't give you justification.

21. You’re being mistreated or have been betrayed. You don’t deserve it. It’s a loss, but Christ defines you. That perpetrator doesn't define you. And if that perpetrator doesn't define you, then you can endlessly love them without expecting them to honour you back." Step into a place where you authorise what defines you in your life. And it's not the voices of the people that are trying to hurt you.

22. We need to see that not every voice has our best interest at heart. Some ministries are based around shared pain and do not propel you into Christlikeness. Faith is the currency of Heaven not pain. Truth won’t affirm shared pain groups, truth stands alone.

23. you don't need truth in response to pain. You need truth that becomes the solution to pain.

24.  When God uses the word “wisdom”, he's not talking about logic. He's not talking about the rudimentary principles of this world. He's talking about a thought process that comes with the mind of Christ that is willing to bend and break the rules of reality

25. God's justification for things is not the same as our justification for things.

26. Put your hand on your heart and truly say, "I'm everything He is and nothing that He's not." with no “but” at the end! Because that is keeping the world seeing Him through you. You might find senses and experience justifying a dysfunction that you're carrying around that you're not even upset about.

27. Your soul always has the ability to trust senses and experience, or submit to Logos. And when it submits to Logos, it has the voice of the one that wants the best for you. And then loyalty shifts from experience to word

28. When loyalty shifts from experience to word, then the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ now becomes the endgame, not the justification of your dysfunction.

29. If someone comes to you with a problem, ask if they've spoken to the other person about it. If they haven't, tell them they should and that you are not permitted to here it.

Leviathan (Discord and fracture from maligning of character)

Leviathan, the origin of the title.

Leviathan is so named after Serpent himself, the giant scaled sea monster that man can’t beat (Job) but God will crush his head (Isaiah). It lives hidden in the deep, in other words, it’s hard to spot.

Leviathan in Genesis.

●      Leviathan in the beginning was Satan’s suggesting Adam & Eve weren’t like God and casting doubt on His having their best interests at heart.

●      Leviathan was also Adam and Eve, not first checking Satan’s assertion directly with God on their next nightly walk with Him.

●      Leviathan is maligning of character.

●      It's the thing that literally uprooted humanity itself.

●      In short Leviathan is the root of mankind’s fall and conflicts, that’s why Jesus gave us explicit protocols for conflict resolution.

Leviathan definition.

1. Leviathan does not rewrite words or events. Leviathan rewrites the character of the one who said it. The person that said it did not change.

2. Leviathan doesn't have to change the things you said, or the things you did.

3. Leviathan rarely changes what was said. It changes what was heard.

4. Leviathan twists a leader’s identity, so what was accomplished in their throne is no longer honoured.

5. Leviathan is not a loud spirit.

6. Leviathan is not obvious rebellion.

7. Leviathan is not disagreement.

8. Leviathan is distortion, malignment, twisted perception, crooked communication, hidden defence, and silent withdrawal.

9. Leviathan lives in the deep.

10. Leviathan does not live at the surface, it lives in depth, that means it's not obvious.

11. Leviathan thrives where things are unspoken, assumed, suppressed, and half true.

12. Leviathan thrives in distance and time apart.

13. Leviathan is something that subverts and disrupts kingdom culture.

14. Leviathan maligns (sews doubt on) a person’s character, so their actions and words don't mean what you know they mean.

15. Leviathan is a super deceiver.

16. Leviathan hides in politeness without honesty.

17. Leviathan hides in honour, without truth.

18. Leviathan hides in peace-keeping, rather than peace-making.

19. Leviathan is the cancer to Jesus Christ’s body, us.

20. Leviathan loves environments where nobody says anything, but everybody feels something.

21. Leviathan produces confusion, misinterpretation, emotional distance, passive aggression, triangulation in private conversations, replacing public alignment.

22. Leviathan distorts and tests relationship.

23. Leviathan attacks tone.

24. Leviathan attacks timing.

25. Leviathan attacks intent.

Leviathan elsewhere in the Bible

The first generation of human beings that saw God, face to face, were deceived by the Leviathan voice.

They walked with God in the cool of the day and were still willing to listen to a voice that

was maligning character enough to make the words mean something that they never meant.

Satan said to Eve, "God knows in the day that you eat of it, you'll be like him."

Satan implied “God's got motive, don't trust that guy.”

In Matthew 18 Jesus gives a conflict protocol that would have saved Adam and Eve, and all humanity.

If you're offended at your brother, go to him and him alone.

Adam and Eve could have asked God if He was hiding something from them, He’d have said “no”, case closed.

Matthew 18’s, conflict resolution would have saved humanity from deception, which is why God gives it to you as a relational construct to save you from Leviathan.

God said, "This is now flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone."

God crafted you from the same material, you were made from the fabric of divinity.

God falls in love with you the same way Adam falls in love with Eve because he's looking in his own face.

This is the love that the father has for everybody that he created.

And then a serpent comes and says, "Actually, you're not that good. You're one step away from perfect. If you eat of it, you'll be like God." And the reason that he didn't tell you that is because he doesn't want you to be. The day that you eat it, you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. It's the last thing that guy needs. He needs to keep you under his thumb.

So now, Adam and Eve don't just question who they are. They now question the motive of the

one that created them. And now instead of going for a walk every day with this guy that created them they hid.

He never changed.

His words never changed.

4,000 years of human lineage took their cues from their ancestors, Adam and Eve, and hid from Him the same way.

If Satan said, "God never said that to you," Eve would have said, "Yeah, he did”

Satan instead said, "God is playing both sides. He's keeping something from you"

Eve could have easily diffused all of humanity's problems by saying, "Hey, I’m not accusing you, but our relationship matters enough to me to ask you if what he's saying is true..."

And God could have easily backed up his story and said, "Listen, I said you could freely eat from any tree in the garden. You want to try freely eat from the tree of life. See what happens. You'll live forever." He could have showed the fruit of his consistent character.

Leviathan, Jesus’ Fix

In Job, it says a human being cannot subdue Leviathan.

For 4,000 years of human history, all we have is senses and experiences and our forefather’s narrative to define to us who the father is, until the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.

A human being cannot undo the twisting of Leviathan, but God in flesh can and did.

Jesus is the express image of the father.

No one has seen God at any time, but the one that came down from heaven, he has declared him.

4,000 years into human history, somebody comes down and says “everything you believed about the father was wrong.”

Well, what you thought was right, but you didn't know who He was.

"Is he safe?" Absolutely not. But He’s good.

His ability to cause mass amounts of chaos is in His nature, as is His desperate love for humanity.

If you don't know His love for humanity, and you only know his ability to cause chaos, then he's a danger to you.

Humanity spent 4,000 years afraid of the one that could call down fire from heaven, not realizing that He would call down fire to vanquish their enemies, not them.

They wasted 4,000 years of human history.

The biblical picture of Leviathan, Job 41, Leviathan cannot be subdued by human strength. In Isaiah 27, God deals with Leviathan. Leviathan's head gets crushed.

How does the son of God put on flesh and come crush Leviathan's head?

He just rewrites the narrative.

He brings an end to the maligning of the character of the Father by putting on a body and saying “If you've seen me, you've seen Him. Everything that they told you about Him that caused you to

run, caused you to strive, that caused you to earn, that caused you to try, that caused you to stay away, find it in me.”

God deals with Leviathan by crushing his head.

Leviathan himself is the serpent.

The serpent is a destructive force against kingdom culture, because they erroneously malign the character, it doesn't have to change the words or the actions.

Leviathan in the Parable of the talents.

Leviathan is hard to defend against.

The master effectively says, "You know that I'm a hard man. You know that I gather where I don't scatter seed. You know that I reap where I haven't sewn. We could have done something together.

You were right about my nature. You were wrong about our relationship”.

He did not deny his ability to be a terrible God.

He did not deny the fact that he makes things out of nothing.

He did not deny the fact that he was a hard man.

Why wouldn't you want somebody like that on your side?

In the parable of the Talents, when the master came back, he's like, "Yeah, I'm a hard man." Guilty is charged.

You can kill things in a breath. Guilty as charged.

You gather where you haven't scattered seed. Guilty as charged.

You reap where you haven't sown. Guilty as charged.

Leviathan in Moses and the Israelites.

In the book of Exodus, God brings Moses up to the top of the mountain.

He said, "Go down. Tell everybody I'd like to see them. Consecrate yourself for three days. Come up the mountain. On the third day, I'll make you a company of priests. I'll be your God. You'll be my people.

In Deuteronomy chapter 5 the Israelites responded and said, "Hey, we heard his voice once and we didn't die. If we go again, we definitely will."

We got close to the creator and we got lucky enough to be spared. We should not get close again. Moses, just go up and hear what He has to say.

What God desired with for humanity, before the law of Moses was communion and priesthood. It wasn't legalism.

We requested legalism because we maligned his character.

God said, "Bring them up the mountain. I'd like to hang out."

Israel said. “Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. you're gonna consume us with fire.”

God can consume whatever He wants with fire. He can be Hell on earth. There’s more fire in God than we think there is in Hell.

You want that from a Dad that loves you.

Really solid attribute to have as a dad that loves his kids.

God can be terrible, destructive, wrathful, vengeful, is able to destroy everything He created in a breath.

But he's on your side.

Wrath is definitely a part of His nature, and it's against everything that ever posed a problem for humanity and creation. He will destroy it with no prejudice whatsoever.

Leviathan in “Blessed are the peace-makers”

In Matthew Jesus says "Blessed are the peace-makers." Not keepers.

Eve could have kept the peace, or Eve could have made peace.

She would have made peace through clear confrontation with the father.

Clear moral failure can usually be resolved. The person can be restored without being reinstated (those are two different things).

But failure to follow biblical conflict resolution is a huge no-no.

It’s like cancer, it spreads throughout the body.

Cancer multiplies, the same way offense multiplies, through triangulation.

Had the narrative stayed between God and Eve, they would have been fine.

But a counterfeit saviour stepped into the chat with her.

“Does he have your best interest at heart, maybe he's got his own?”

Leviathan positions itself as a saviour and then kills you.

Avoid the hero triangle.

There’s just Offender and Offended.

Issues stay between those two parties.

If they don't, you the offended are out of line.

If that offense passes through the offended, the offended person is now the problem.

When Jesus is talking about conflict resolution, he said that it's better if this man ties a millstone around his neck, gets thrown to the bottom of the sea than to take his disease and spread it throughout the body (become the scandalizer). For punishment? No, to save everyone.

Jesus says it's impossible that the offenses won't come, but woe to him through whom they come.

Adultery is one of the only sins that sins against someone else's body.

The rest of them you're having your own party.

But adultery, you sin against someone else's body.

He puts those on a different level.

When it comes to scandal, when it comes to the whispers behind the confrontation, it doesn't say anything about the confrontation being right or wrong.

Offender - guilty as charged, offended, go to them alone.

Eve became offended. If she would have gone to God and resolved her offense, they would have given birth to spirit. She would have saved humanity from its delusion.

Instead, Eve became the one through delusion came.

God's saying, "We should have drowned Her/Him”.

Get rid of Adam and Eve. Start over.

An eye for an eye is advising against making accusations, not punishment in kind.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. If you accuse me of something where the punishment is that I lose my tooth and I am found innocent because you're falsely accusing me, you lose your tooth. So if you're willing to put yourself on the line for my punishment, go ahead and say something. But if not, it's going to cost you dearly.

It has nothing to do with the punishment due for a crime.

It is the punishment for false accusation.

Maligning of character is an issue. It's the thing that literally uprooted humanity itself.

If Satan would have been in a position where he paid what God paid when accused falsely,

then he would have been the one that was cast out and hidden from.

The Bible makes no public sanction or safeguard against being personally offended. It does, however, safeguard against your response to personal offense.

If a person offends a person, no priestly intervention. If the person now becomes a problem because their bitterness is spreading, now the priesthood will get involved.

The offense isn't an issue, the scandal is.

If the priesthood is involved, they are safeguarding against your response to personal offense so that you don't become a stumbling block to others.

Some early Christian texts say “Guard the tongue. No slander, gossip, or tailbearing.”

Slander is something that is untrue and shouldn't be spoken.

Gossip is something that is true. It's nobody's business.

Tailbearing is when you're carrying someone else's narrative.

The Bible says personal offense, opinions, and justice should be handled between the offender and the offended.

If there's no witness, it doesn't mean it's not a problem. It means it's not a public problem.

It means it's a private problem where two people are intended to preserve unity through clear confrontation.

If something is standing in the way of union, the New Testament suggests it may be keeping you from inheriting your promise.

Jesus consistently points to the possible chain that's keeping you in bondage and the anchor that keeps you from walking in your freedom. Unforgiveness.

Harbouring these things costs you.

Bitterness and unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

The New Testament picture of judgment has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments and us falling short. It was one simple question. “Have the recipients of mercy shown mercy over and over?”

The Process doesn't change for a legitimate injustice.

Do you want justice or do you want progress? Because the two don't coincide.

Do you want to cause division and chasm in the body? Or do you want to both be healed internally because you offered forgiveness and bring union, strive to make peace / preserve the peace?

Forgive everyone, no exceptions, suck it up.

Luke 17.

Jesus said to His disciples:

“Raise the dead”

Teach the gospel”

“Heal the sick”

"If anyone commits an offense against you, forgive them – as many times as it takes."

Their response was to request an increase in faith to do this last one.

And Jesus's response to increase our faith for this is “no, it’s your job”.

It’s what you’re supposed to do.

Do your job. You’ve received mercy, extend it.

"No alter calls, no spiritual gifts, no extra faith. You're a recipient of mercy. Give it away."

You don't have a choice.

Some people applaud a pilot who lands the plane, but they shouldn’t.

Big deal if the pilot doesn't land the plane just as it's a big deal if a recipient of mercy doesn't extend it.

It’s a command.

You don’t thank a servant because he did what was commanded of him.

Jesus said there's two things you can throw in the sea.

One is yourself if you don't get over it. Second is the thing that's causing your bitterness.

It doesn't take faith. It takes obedience to extend forgiveness.

Matthew 18

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.

The motive behind going to confront somebody is unity, not justice.

If he hears you, you get your brother back. That's a beautiful thing.

And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the governing assembly (not a public shaming).

If it's a personal offense, they don't want to hear about it.

There's no priestly provision for personal offense.

But if he refuses to hear the governing assembly, let him be like a heathen and a tax collector.

Heathens and tax collectors weren’t to be maligned or treated with contempt.

Jesus treated sinners and tax collectors, as His number one priority.

You treat the offender as though they are desperately in need of the love of God.

The real meaning of “where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name”.

Of your offender:

Go to Him in private. If he hears you, you get your brother back.

If he doesn't, you bring witnesses to try to get your brother back.

If he doesn't hear them, you bring leaders to try to get your brother back.

And if none of that works, then they become the number one target of your affection and priority.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it'll be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered there in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Two witnesses.

That means that there is heavenly assistance available for restorative conversations.

It means that if relationships follow proper protocol, then there's divine assistance.

Divine assistance comes to bring them to union, unity, and maturity.

Leviathan the solution.

Leviathan doesn't need to be “called out” in implementing these steps…

1. Don’t falsely accuse others.

2. Don’t malign anyone to others, even if they’ve actually wronged you.

3. Forgive others, as many times as it takes (that’s your job, it’s not rewarded)

4. Have private, clear and loving communications, the hard communications.

5. Speak directly, quickly, and honourably.

6. Guide others to not take a step in this dysfunction.