Background

Again, this is an area, I will rather not go.

Yet, it is one that stirs our conscience and thoughts.

And, that is reason enough to see what people are saying and why they are saying it.

Predication

Introduction

We all have our own bias and depositions.

And, it is best to lay them bare ahead of time.

Most of my comments will be based on what I have heard from others prior to anything that I will cover in this post.

It is often useful to have some foundational predisposition as that lessens the opportunity to be swayed within each decision point.

Even better when commentators are not even speaking specifically on the new material.

Earlier Words

1. Damon Thompson
   • Sometimes God places something in our heart, but unfortunately so much  of what has gone out in the Prophetic World was not undergirded in scripture
   • And, so I, Damon Thompson, need the foundation of Scripture
2. Neil Ellis
   • This is a Church of matured faith
   • You have been preaching, but you were fearful of how the preaching will be accepted
   • Sometimes the Devil magnifies things and makes them appear more than they really are
   • Sometimes as a pastor what makes us press even though there is “Hell on the Outside” is that we are satisfied that we have the confidence of the people inside
   • Can the Lord trust you, and can the Bishop/Leadership depend on you?
   • Free your Spirit, but challenge your people
   • A faith that has not been tested, is a faith that can not be trusted
3. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
   • Sotomayor was asked to explain her remarks from a 2001 speech in which she said she agreed that “there is no objective stance but only a series of perspectives — no neutrality, no escape from choice in judging.”  She told the committee that, in every case, the two opposing parties view the facts from vastly different perspectives. “You can’t just throw up your hands and say I’m not going to rule,” she said. There is a choice in judging, which means “you have to rule.”

Videos

Here are some of the videos that I will later comment on.

1. Paula White
   • Trump’s spiritual adviser: More devout than you…
     Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser, televangelist Paula White, spoke to CNN’s Erin Burnett in August about the Republican presidential nominee’s faith and the phone call that kicked off their friendship.
     Channel :- CNN
     Published On :- 2016-Oct-20th
     Link
   • Inauguration
     • Meet The Woman Who Many Call President Elect Donald Trump’s Spiritual Adviser | NBC Nightly News
       Critics have slammed her as a charlatan, but in a rare interview with NBC’s Anne Thompson, Paula White defends her message and gives insight into the president-elect’s beliefs.
       Channel :- NBC News
       Published On :- 2017-Jan-19th
       Link
   • Jim Baker
     • Two Corinthians’ Gaffe Was ‘A Setup‘
       • RWW News: Paula White Says That Trump’s ‘Two Corinthians’ Gaffe Was ‘A Setup’
         Published On :- 2017-August-23th
         Link
     • Opposition to God
       • RWW News: Paula White Says Opposition To President Trump Is Opposition To God
         Published On :- 2017-August-21st
         Link
2. Pastor Jamal Bryant
   • Pastor Jamal Bryant – The problem with Paula White…
     Published On :- 2017-August-25th
     Link
3. Roland Martin
   • Roland Martin To Paula White: Be A Prophetic Voice And Don’t Just Be A Profitable Voice
     Roland Martin rips Pastor Paula White for her partisan comments about Donald Trump: Be a prophetic voice and don’t just be a profitable voice.
     Published On :- 2017-August-23th
     Link

 

Leadership

Seated Under

Those in leadership do not always get to take a day off.

Not only does what they think matter, but also how they got there.

I have grown from listening in person or via youtube to the people listed above.

And, that makes me forever grateful.

Influencing Capital

The further we grow, the more influencing capital we personally have and have access to.

After long and hard battles our role will be examined; especially if our role is seen to have moved the needle towards an unexpected end.

Unfortunately it is not just our choice that is examined, but the totality of our live.

Circumference of Relationships

Relationships often covers so much space.

And, some of those spaces overlap and are not necessarily disjointed.

And, so even within a body, for instance Faith community, uniformity does not necessarily translate to conformity.

People sometimes reach different conclusions and they should be free to do so.

This is more so where there are personal relationships with those that are being discussed.

 

In Essentials Unity, In Nonessentials Liberty, In All Things Charity

Link
Philip Schaff, the distinguished nineteenth-century church historian, calls the saying in our title “the watchword of Christian peacemakers” (History of the Christian Church, vol. 7, p. 650). Often attributed to great theologians such as Augustine, it comes from an otherwise undistinguished German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. The phrase occurs in a tract on Christian unity written (circa 1627) during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a bloody time in European history in which religious tensions played a significant role.

 

Sola Scriptura

1. Laws of Social Responsibility
   If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
   You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people. ( Exodus 22:27-28 )
2. Paul Before the Sanhedrin
   • But those standing nearby said, “How dare you insult the high priest of God!”
     “Brothers, Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”
     ( Acts 23:4-5 )
3. David, Saul, Jonathan, & Mephibosheth
   • And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. ( 2nd Samuel 19:24 )
   • He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame. ( 2nd Samuel 19:26 )
   • He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you. ( 2nd Samuel 19:27 )
   • For all my father’s house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?” ( 2nd Samuel 19:28 )
   • And the king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.” ( 2nd Samuel 19:29 )
   • Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take it all, since my lord the king has come safely to his own house.” ( 2nd Samuel 19:30 )

Summary

In summary I find myself always returning to a couple of words :-

1. Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad
   • Allah’s hand of protection is with the maintenance of unity, you should beware of division.
   • The one isolated from the group is a prey to Satan, just as the one isolated from the flock is a prey to the wolves
   • You can not base a spiritual life on suspiciousness, cursing and allocating blame.
2. Abraham Lincoln
   • I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

Closing

Love never fails … for we know in part and we prophesy in part.