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This very special
Sleeping Through the Storm SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the KAG!KMAG world.

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Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

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Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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That time when the disciples got an upgrade of faith …

Then he got into a boat and started across the lake
with his disciples.

Suddenly a terrible storm came up,
with waves higher than the boat.

But Jesus was asleep.

The disciples went to him and wakened him, shouting,
“Lord, save us! We’re sinking!”

But Jesus answered,
“O you men of little faith! Why are you so frightened?”

Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and waves,
and the storm subsided and all was calm.

The disciples just sat there, awed! “Who is this,”
they asked themselves, “that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:23-27

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Sleeping Through the Storm Sunday

Talk about a wake up call. Can you imagine being in that boat? When you travel with Jesus, everything you thought you knew for sure is slated to be shattered into a 1,000 pieces at the moment you least expect it.
Let’s get into the scene. It’s been a very, very long day. The crowds are growing. Jesus instructs his disciples to get the boat ready so they can leave for the night. So far, so good.
As they get underway, Jesus falls asleep in the bottom of the boat. Perfectly normal. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
But then all hell breaks loose.
No, really. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a storm where a sense of evil purpose can be felt in the storm. Personally, I love a good storm. Driving rain, whirling winds, crazy skies. When a storm rolls in, you are likely going to find me throwing on my jacket with a smile on my face as I head out to deal with whatever needs to be secured.
But then, there are -those storms- where you just know the damage being done by a storm is personal. Something wants to bring destruction.
On this day, Jesus had been taking down the darkness in a big way.

That evening several demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus; and when he spoke a single word, all the demons fled; and all the sick were healed. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases.”

Was this storm sent as pay back? Sure makes sense to me. It seems from the text that this storm carried a payload of intimidation based on the unusual response of the disciples. These are experienced fishermen. They’ve seen a few storms in their time. Why are they so terrified?
At this point, they cry out to Jesus, “Lord save us, we’re sinking!” Seems to me they had some faith in him. Typically, you don’t shout at the person sleeping through a storm to save you. And yet, Jesus seems to be wanting them to have an upgrade of their faith. He instructs them, before addressing the storm, asking them to see their condition. IIRC, he literally calls them “little faiths.”
And then he stands, rebukes the storm, and instantly, the storm is gone.
Talk about mind blown. The disciples thought they were on track. Thought they had faith. Thought they knew this man, Jesus.
So let’s turn this into a question for today. Do you know what kind of an upgrade the Lord is giving you in the storm set against you now?
Think *3

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This very special
Seeing the Subversion SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the KAG!KMAG world.

---

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

---

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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Subversion : attempt to transform the established social order and its structures

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Jesus’ Prayer & Judas’ Betrayal

“Then he went off by himself, about a stone’s throw away, and falling on his knees, prayed in these words—“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—but it is not my will, but yours, that must be done.”

And an angel from Heaven appeared, strengthening him. He was in agony and prayed even more intensely so that his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground. Then he got to his feet from his prayer and walking back to his disciples, he found them sleeping through sheer grief.
“Why are you sleeping?” he said to them. “You must get up and go on praying that you may not have to face temptation.”
While he was still speaking a crowd of people arrived, led by the man called Judas, one of the twelve. He stepped up to Jesus to kiss him.
“Judas, would you betray the son of Man with a kiss?” said Jesus to him.“

Luke 22:41-48

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Seeing the Subversion Sunday

From the Garden of Eden to end of time as we know it, the constant of subversion will always be with us. In the book of Revelation there is a description of a war in Heaven where, in his rebellion, satan apparently brought one third of the angels over to his side.
Moses had his Korah. David had his Absalom. And Jesus had his Judas. We can train ourselves to see this pattern. Perhaps even catch it in action within the structures we find ourselves placed in during the seasons of our lives.
We’ve touched on the Lavender Mafia within the Catholic hierarchy. And the communist takeover of the Chinese church. There has been mention of the way the Russian Orthodox church works closely with the Soviet-communist flavor of totalitarianism. We’ve had some discussion about the marxist sympathizers recent moves within the leadership of the Southern Baptist Church.
And yet church structures are not the only organizations to be subverted by malicious infiltration. Government and non-government organizations have always been targets as well. Any influential voice can be expected to be a target.
As with any organized power-brokering enterprise, those best at subversion are going to be scanning the populace to identify anyone at any level that might have the power to influence others now, or in the future. Those will be targeted for recruitment or discrediting, depending on the response. The pawns of the mind control media are representative of those recruited for subversion. Both as subjects and perpetuators of it.

So, what is to be our response to seeing the subversion around us?
It’s a question that can be studied in the light of the character of God and examples found in the Scriptures. When Adam and Eve betrayed their Creator, the response was immediate loss of fellowship but with a clear path for restoration given. When the Israelites worshipped other gods in a drunken party while Moses was on Mt. Sinai (being given the 10 commandments!) a similar pattern of loss and reconciliation repeated.
Many Christians have suffered torture at the hands of communists because they would not betray others in the church. Others broke under torture and did betray.

The suffering church deeply understands the weakness of men and the reality of betrayal. Sometimes betrayal done willingly, sometimes betrayal in weakness, under threat of harm to loved ones or under actual torture.
Believers so betrayed have often found the grace to turn their hearts to God and learned to forgive and then live in the joy of the Lord, free from bitterness. This is beyond human ability and one of the more convincing proofs of the Divine.
Jesus gave us a parable to help us understand the divine timetable for dealing with evildoers.

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his field; but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat. When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too.

“The farmer’s men came and told him, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!’

“‘An enemy has done it,’ he exclaimed.

“‘Shall we pull out the thistles?’ they asked.

‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ll hurt the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.’” 

Matthew 13:24-29

Our eagerness to uproot the evil that we see is natural. And yet the example in scripture is for us to take our distress to the Lord and get His answers for how to proceed. To take matters in our own hands is to open ourselves up to the same spirit that created the evil in the first place.
The gift of sight must necessarily be paired with the gift of nearness to the heart of God lest we become the next tyrant that replaces the last tyrant.
Think *3

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“For God is my witness, how I long for all of you
with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge
and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure
and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:8-11

 

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This very special
Sharpening Our Discerning SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the KAG!KMAG world.

---

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

---

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

 

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Discerning Our Motivations

“… and he sent messengers before his face, and having gone on, they went into a village of Samaritans, to make ready for him, and they did not receive him, because his face was going on to Jerusalem.

And his disciples James and John having seen, said, `Sir, wilt thou that we may command fire to come down from the heaven, and to consume them, as also Elijah did?’

And having turned, he rebuked them, and said, ‘Ye have not known of what spirit ye are‘…”

Luke 9:52-55

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Sharpening Our Discerning Sunday

The beauty of our design is that we are created to maximize our effectiveness in the context of meaningful relationships. This is especially important to remember in the community of faith. And in the community of Patriots.
In the hurricane of this communications battle we find ourselves in today, we need all of us working together in order to accurately discern what is important and map out strategies for getting to where we are going.
In the passage above, quoted from Luke 9, the Samaritans thought Jesus was their enemy because he seemed to be heading to Jerusalem. The disciples thought the Samaritans were their enemy because they rejected them. Neither were discerning what was afoot.
Being good students of the Torah, the disciples were ready to reenact an old testament prophet’s great moment of fame. Calling FIRE down on these filthy Samaritans!
Jesus has to rebuke his men. While I might not be able from the text to give a specific name to the spirit they were being deceived by, I’m pretty confident that we are dealing with the same spirit in spades right now. And we had better do both a head check and a heart check so that the Lord does not have rebuke us.
Discernment. We don’t have much of it. Those who are isolated from community are in the greatest danger of having our malicious enemy twist their perceptions of reality.
We MUST work together to grow the best possible perceptions of reality. 

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Why do you think free speech is under attack? Could it be that the open marketplace of ideas is an existential threat to those throwing up smoke and mirrors around their work of dismantling all that we hold near and dear. I think it is.
A newer term for what Wolf’s Q Treehouse operates in every day is “crowd-sourcing.” That is to say, a group of people with a common interest all contribute their viewpoint, observations, even work-products to build something bigger than themselves.
Each person has the potential to make a unique contribution to our emerging understanding.
This undoubtably poses a threat to those who want us in a fog of war. We can expect to see various “spirits” rise up and attempt to throw sand in the machinery. A spirit of offense here, a spirit of division there. Maybe even some deceiving spirits distracting our focus in the middle of a discussion that is about to unlock wisdom we truly need for this next season.
This calls for more discernment. May I suggest for those of us that walk with Jesus to ask him for a discerning heart and a willing mind to see with his eyes and think his thoughts about the world we find ourselves in?
Think *3

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“For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure
and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:8-11

 

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This very special
Shattering the Strongholds SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the KAG!KMAG world.

---

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

---

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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This is a Hard Saying

⁴⁷ “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ Yes, I am the bread of life! ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. ⁵⁰ Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
⁵² Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
⁵³ So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. ⁵⁴ But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”
⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

John 6:47-59

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“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 
We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

From Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 10, verses 3 through 5

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Shattering the Strongholds Sunday

We are told in the scriptures that we are at war. And we are told that we have the use of God’s mighty weapons. Weapons that are capable of shattering strongholds of thinking that are actively preventing people from knowing God.
And yet, before we can liberate the captives, we must first free ourselves from wrong thinking. Where are we agreeing to lies? Have we entertained the whispers of the wormtongue who seductively counsels us against standing strong in faith, hope, and love?
When you read/hear about entrenched corruption are your thoughts immediately oriented to the voice of wormtongue or better influences? Are you keeping your head in the game and asking, “Where is our maximal impact going to come from?”

Please consider the following story that begins with two strong and godly women praying for their community to return to the goodness of God.
Their prayers shattered the strongholds in lives of the careless, pleasure-seeking people around them. And true heart-changing conviction was the result.
Let’s ask God to do it again!
Think *3

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Excerpt from “Revival In The Hebrides” by Duncan Campbell

Now I am sure that you will be interested to know how, in November 1949, this gracious movement began on the island of Lewis. Two old women, one of them 84 years of age and the other 82-one of them stone blind, were greatly burdened because of the appalling state of their own parish. It was true that not a single young person attended public worship. Not a single young man or young woman went to the church. They spent their day perhaps reading or walking but the church was left out of the picture. And those two women were greatly concerned and they made it a special matter of prayer.

A verse gripped them: “I will pour water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.” They were so burdened that both of them decided to spend so much time in prayer twice a week. On Tuesday they got on their knees at 10 o’clock in the evening and remained on their knees until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning–two old women in a very humble cottage.

One night, one of the sisters had a vision. Now remember, in revival, God works in wonderful ways. A vision came to one of them, and in the vision she saw the church of her fathers crowded with young people. Packed to the doors, and a strange minister standing in the pulpit. And she was so impressed by the vision that she sent for the parish minister. And of course he knowing the two sisters, knowing that they were two women who knew God in a wonderful way, he responded to their invitation and called at the cottage.

That morning, one of the sisters said to the minister, “You must do something about it. And I would suggest that you call your office bearers together and that you spend with us at least two nights in prayer in the week. Tuesday and Friday if you gather your elders together, you can meet in a barn-a farming community, you can meet in a barn-and as you pray there, we will pray here. Well, that was what happened, the minister called his office bearers together and seven of them met in a barn to pray on Tuesday and on Friday. And the two old women got on their knees and prayed with them.

Well that continued for some weeks–indeed, I believe almost a month and a half. Until one night; now this is what I am anxious for you to get a hold of–one night they were kneeling there in the barn, pleading this promise, “I will pour water on him that is thirsty, floods upon the dry ground” when one young man, a deacon in the church, got up and read Psalm 24.

“Who shall ascend the hill of God? Who shall stand in His holy place?  He that has clean hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity or sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing (not a blessing, but the blessing) of the Lord.”

And then that young man closed his Bible. And looking down at the minister and the other office bearers, he said this-maybe crude words, but perhaps not so crude in our Gaelic language-he said, “It seems to me to be so much humbug to be praying as we are praying, to be waiting as we are waiting, if we ourselves are not rightly related to God.“ And then he lifted his two hands-and I’m telling you just as the minister told me it happened-he lifted his two hands and prayed, “God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?“

But he got no further. That young man fell to his knees and then fell into a trance. Now don’t ask me to explain this because I can’t. He fell into a trance and is now lying on the floor of the barn. And in the words of the minister, at that moment, he and his other office bearers were gripped by the conviction that a God-sent revival must ever be related to holiness, must ever be related to Godliness. Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? The man that God will trust with revival-that was the conviction. … [And God did come! Otherwise nothing would have changed …]

… But oh, if something happens that demonstrates God!

And the communists will hide in shame! I remember one night I saw seven communists–up until then they will spit in your face, talk about religion being the dope of the masses. Educated men. Wouldn’t go near a church.

But dear old Peggy had a vision one night and in the vision she saw seven men from this particular community from this center of activity born again and becoming pillars of the church of her father.

She sent for me and told me that God had revealed to her that He was going to move in this particular village.

Oh, yes, there were communists there, godless men there but what was that to God when God began to work He would deal with that. So she kept on talking like that. I said, “Peggy, I have no leadings to go that village. You know that there is no church there, and the schoolmaster is one of those men who would never dream of giving me the schoolhouse for the meetings. I have no leadings to go.”

And do you know what she said to me? She said, “Mr. Campbell, if you were living as near to God as you ought to be, He would reveal His secrets to you, also.“ And I took it from the Lord. Oh, dear people, it is good to get the Word within you. It is good to see yourself as others see you. That was how I felt. I said, “Peggy, would you mind if I call for the parish minister and together we will spend the morning together with you in prayer?” “Oh, I’ll be happy too.”

So we came and we knelt with her and she began to pray and in her prayer she said this–“Lord, do You remember what you told me this morning when we had that conversation together?” Oh how near she was God! “I’m just after telling Mr. Campbell about it but he’s not prepared to take it-You give him wisdom because the man badly needs it!”

That was what she said! “The man badly needs it!” And of course she was speaking truth. Of course I needed it. I needed to be taught. But I was at the feet of a woman who knew God in an intimate way. And I was prepared to listen. So I said, “Peggy, when will I go to that village?” “Tomorrow.” “What time?” “Seven o’clock.” “Where am I to hold a meeting?” “You go to the village and leave the gathering of the people to God and He will do it.”

And I went to the village and when I arrived I found a crowd around a seven room bungalow. I found five ministers waiting for me. And the house was so crowded that we couldn’t get in-indeed, we couldn’t get near it. And I stood on a hill in front of the main door. I gave out my text: “The times of [this ignorance God winked at] but now commands men everywhere to repent and because he hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained.”

I preached for about 10 minutes when one of the ministers came to me and said, “Mr. Campbell, you remember what you spoke about at five o’clock this morning out in a field in that wonderful meeting when you tried to help those that were seeking God?” I happened to speak from John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

He says, “Could you not go to the end of the house there are some men there and we are afraid that they will go mental they are in such a state. Oh, they are mighty sinners and they know it-they are spoken of here as communists.” And they say that three of them were here in the United States and went back communists.

I went and I saw seven men. The seven men that Peggy saw. And they were crying to God for mercy. The seven of them were saved within a matter of days. And if you go to that parish today, you would see a church with a stone wall built around it, heated by electricity and all done by the seven men who became pillars of the church of Peggy’s father.

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This very special
Did We Stop Too Soon? SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

---

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

---

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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Holy Trinity Sunday

For some liturgical calendars this is the Sunday
when the focus is on the Holy Trinity.

May the grace of

the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit

be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:14

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Did We Stop Too Soon? – A Question To Ask

When you hear someone only provide a part of the story, but without the rest of the details the entire meaning is lost? Did it bother you? This practice is rampant in our Mind Control Media (MCM) but has also entrenched itself so deeply into our culture that you might not realize how much has been undermined by it.
Everything from religion to law to government to science has been broken using this method. The horrific practice of reductionism in science particularly galls me. Nearly every paper I read in biology or medicine demonstrates that modern research is crafted to provide an intended outcome beforehand. A failure to review other possible mechanisms for a study’s results is so common, I doubt that peer reviewers or researchers even think much about it anymore.
It’s like using stick figures to illustrate a grand ballet and expecting everyone to just go along with the illusion. Most of the time the omissions slip by without much thought on our part, but a particularly glaring omission jumped out at me last week and I had to forgive the source as it was in the Liturgy of the Hours which is given to those serving in the Roman Catholic tradition to be read out loud/prayed each day throughout the year. It became part of my usual routine some years ago as I found it to be a good preparation for centering each day.
The omission in this case is the reading of only half of a sentence of scripture from the book of Acts, describing the event of Pentecost. Apparently this reading has been the tradition for some time as the teaching that accompanied it came from the 13th Century.
The picture of this event is completely changed when the entire sentence in verse 4 is given instead of stopping at the word “speak.” As you can see, verse 4 continues with “in other languages which the Holy Spirit made them able to speak.”

So, in the original text the story is about a group of local Jewish believers miraculously speaking in languages they were not familiar with and had not been taught. In the edited text (and I suppose thought of the Roman Catholic church) they were just empowered to speak. No hint of the supernatural gift described in the context given in the scriptures.

Note, that anyone raised in that tradition might not even be reading the actual text of the Bible for themselves often enough to realize that it stopped in mid-sentence. To be fair, there is actually a time when Jesus is in the synagogue reading from Isaiah and only reads half a sentence, so it’s not without precedent. However, in Jesus’ case I believe the choice was to develop a prophetic focus. The motive for excising the miraculous from the text in Acts 2 could be more to avoid an awkward conversation. In the best possible light, the omission could be attributed to the earnest desire for the faithful to speak out the Gospel, but the violence done by the reading caused me some real anger. How dare they alter the text in this way!
This made me think of another way that using “short-hand” thinking on any particular subject opens us up to making judgements without a full understanding of the situation. When our thinking about something is missing key pieces we are open to error or deception. Like a gap in one’s armor, incomplete pictures of reality expose a weakness that can and does often lead to harm. Harm to not only our community, but also to the Kingdom of God.
When we think of “THE CHURCH” we often have a picture of people around the world that look like us, believe like us, sing the same songs as us, or read scripture the same way as us. And we are the poorer for this. Perhaps that is why I bring in images and practices from various traditions for my posts. When we see beyond our own culture we become better able to see with God’s eyes the world we are really living in.
The favored institutional churches of a particular locale have been persecuting their fellow Christians for a very long time. And rare is the church that doesn’t teach “against” some other faith tradition or other. How it must hurt the Father’s heart when the members of the Bride of His Son fight among themselves over non-essentials of the faith. And a house divided is weakened and Jesus says it cannot withstand adversity.
Maybe we could spend a little time thinking about who is edited out of our picture of “THE CHURCH.”
Do you think of the Chaldean Church in Iraq, Native Americans in Alaska or Charismatic Catholics in Canada? What about small groups of believers among the tribes living in the Amazon jungles? Or secret believers that have come to faith in Jesus while surrounded by an Islamic, Buddhist or Hindu culture.

As the oracle that is known as Q likes to say, “Expand Your Thinking.”
Think *3

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This very special
Shavuot & Pentecost SUNDAY open thread

is VERY OPEN – a place for everybody
to post whatever they feel they would like
to tell the White Hats, and the rest of the MAGA world.

---

Say what you want, comment on what other people said,
comment on people’s comments.
Keep it civil.  Treehouse rules, but expect lots of QAnon.

---

See the January 1st daily thread for the rules of the road,
which are few but important.

---

Remember – your greatest gift to President Trump is FIVE WORDS:
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU

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       Shavuot – Feast of Weeks

You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days… You shall convoke on this very day — there shall be a holy convocation for yourselves — you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations. – Leviticus 21:15-16, 21

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Origin of Shavuot

“Though various Christian denominations commemorate Pentecost, many forget that it was a Jewish holiday before the Church was established. The name Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50, but the Jewish name is Shavuot (meaning weeks or sevens).” 
Shavuot was a way for our people to offer their best to the Lord. In Exodus, God commands His people: “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19a; 34:26). Further instructions regarding this offering of firstfruits (grain) are outlined in Scripture in Deuteronomy 26:1–4:

And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.[1]

Following the presentation of the firstfruits or “wave loaves,” Jews would recite a prayer of supplication, describing the bondage of their ancestors in Egypt, their deliverance and their dependence on God, who brought them to “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9).  Read more …

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Other Traditions

Shavuot is celebrated by both Traditional and Messianic Jews. Roman Catholics and liturgical Protestant churches both celebrate Pentecost 50 days after Easter Sunday. Following an older traditional calendar, Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost with an all night Vigil rich with symbolism. The church in Greece makes it a 3 day party you will want to be aware of if you are traveling to Greece on that weekend.

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Think’s Thoughts

Considering the deep historical and spiritual meaning for this day, please ponder and think about celebrating our shared values for honoring the scriptures as given to Moses, the prophets, and teachers in the Judeo-Christian traditions.

This was one of three feasts given to the people where they would take their harvest (produce from the land), travel to the temple in Jerusalem, and present it before the Lord.
Just to make sure this picture is complete, remember that their harvest was used in two ways, to feed the family (landowners) that came to present it, and some was distributed to the priests, the fatherless, widows, and temporary residents–those without land to provide for themselves. In this way everyone in the nation was able to use this time to enjoy God’s goodness.
Imagine, if you will, the value of these feasts. Creating a special event creates unity among the members of the family. Making it a vacation from regular work gives them time to rest and restore between seasons. Traveling to Jerusalem strengthens bonds with the rest of the people in their nation. Offering their first fruits focuses their minds and hearts on the appreciation they naturally feel for the gift of abundance, land ownership and freedom from the bondages of the past. Sharing with others who did not have land probably increased their gratitude for the land they now enjoyed.
Starting from the observance of Passover, they would begin the countdown to this extraordinary celebration. After the destruction of the temple, the focus for the Jewish people shifted from the focus of offering the produce of their land to the giving of the Torah. This is a a beautiful tradition where the night is spent reading and giving thanks for the scriptures, especially the book of Ruth. (This tradition is not found in the writings of Moses.)

It is in this context that the disciples were instructed by Jesus,–after the resurrection, and 10 days before Shavuot–to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, where they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. As Jews, they knew of the upcoming Shavuot Feast. Devout people from all over were gathering in preparation for it.
I can imagine on this day in that upper room the sounds of travelers greeting and the smells of food being prepared kept their minds on the significance of the time they were in.
In some way, you might see these men and women as the first fruits of the harvest given to Jesus by the Father. Thus, as they pray, Jesus presents them to the Father, who responds by sending fire from Heaven to baptize them.
The sounds from the streets of Jerusalem are replaced with the roaring sound of a rushing wind, the Holy Spirit, and then the loud voices of the believers as they begin to glorify the Lord. They are so loud that people on the streets stop and say, “What is this?” which prompted an explanation that led 3,000 more to believe and join this new community. What an amazing day!
Think *3

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Extra servings of MIQUEDEM (whom I just found in my research for this post)… quieter song of Psalm 116 in Hebrew with subtitles… more rock style international concert in Jerusalem.

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With strings in modern worship style in English from a rooftop in Jerusalem. I really like the visuals and the vocals in this one.