Ziklag 3.19

Go On Offense

Read It Here:

TikTok, It Don't Stop

SOS Discipline - Daily Proverb and Red Letter Reader

A slippery path is dangerous to thieves as well as travelers. cf Pr. 28:10A

If the darkness is light to you, how great is your fall! cf Mt. 6:33

When the head is blind, the body doubts. cf Sun Tzu 3.22

Did You Miss Out on My Short Story “Brotherhood”?

Brotherhood

From Today’s Stack

from my favorite original not-finished scifi, The Crux

I stepped off the stairs onto the landing. The distinct clang of metal grating echoed under my feet. It was a straight shot. Not a problem. Done it a million times.

The air was heavy and cool, weighted with underground. I could see the faint glimmer of the elevator shaft, too far ahead to be much more than a notion, right where it should be. But the cold shiver itching up my neck was something new.

Gloved fingers flexed around the little black box in my pocket.

Soon. I’d be rid of it soon. One way or another, it ended today.

But first, I only needed to walk down this blind hallway. First, I needed to follow protocol and make my delivery down in the Sanctum.

from an undisclosed and hopefully upcoming resource:

Yes

Everything that is going on is incomprehensible.

You can try to understand the narrative. But there are too many of them, and they’re all shouting at each other. Listening to mom and dad argue is disorienting. Sometimes you just want it to all shut up and go away. When the foundations are shaken, the heart and mind cannot hold together.

That is where psycho-social illness comes from, and that is also why you feel the way you do. Your soul is in trouble. Your spirit is under assault.

The nice thing about having an ark to build is that there is precious little time for shame.

Cycles are the norm, not the exception. But precision does not always enhance accuracy. Sometimes, there is imbalance. Sometimes, knowing that the storm is coming is what causes you to do precisely the wrong thing.

Yet nature always holds true. The sun will come up tomorrow. The birds and the bees are better than history, which does not repeat so much as rhyme.

It is the rhythm we are after. Order. Clarity. In season, and out.

from Talk Them Into It 2.0

The Change Maker

Christianity is the work of one man and one man alone: Jesus Christ. All glory for conversion goes to the Holy Spirit’s work to convince your heart of your predestination to eternal life in Jesus. This is done by inspiring you with the truth of who Jesus is, of what he did, and of what he will come again to do. That you know this, that you believe, this too is the work of God alone.

He promises. You believe. This is conversion, and this is HIS doing.

All matters which follow, such as prayer, confession, witness and baptism, even when we participate in doing them, are still HIS works which he prepared for us.

He paved the path. He built the body. Be breathed the spirit into your lungs. He preached the Gospel. He sends the Spirit. He lives inside of you.

This is HIS doing, and to that I’ll raise a hearty Alleluia!

Importantly then, for your work in conversations that you pray lead to the conversion of friends, family and eniemies alike, this means that you cannot save anybody.

No effort, no struggle, no endeavor, sacrifice or imprecation on your part is enough for you to take the place of God in making his own judgments. It is not your place to have power over other peoples’ souls. Any attempt to strong will, strong arm, wink, whip or shame others into trusting that God loves them in Jesus Christ is bound run into thorny ground.

With the mouth, the Word of God is spoken for others around us to hear and believe. But the Spirit of Jesus blows where he will. He searches the hearts of those who listen. It is not our job to unknit what he hardens. Yet it always remains our offense to give further witness to the hope within our hearts, to both the seemingly hardened and the hungry alike.

Why Sons of Solomon?