Prophetic word for today - Georgia (Part 9)

Click here to view the original text of the prophetic word sent to us on 17 May 2012.

{The first hyperlink was added by us}

The [other] purpose of my email ... was to let you know that, as I watched the 3rd video (the PS section) of "The Canaanite Hunt", my heart paused on something you shared. It occurs at roughly 57:40+ in the video, where you were speaking about the Chinese symbols representing the name of the Nerium Indicum flower (the poisonous one toxic to dogs & humans) - here you speak about 2 specific [Chinese] characters that mean "bamboo" and "peach". You indicated that you had no idea how they were related. I do not know either, but I did want to share this with you:

Yesterday, I went for a walk through my neighborhood in Winder, Georgia, and, along the way, I noticed a row of bamboo growing on the side of the road (it was a small street passing through an old residential area). As I write this, the Lord has just brought back to my memory that, 2 days ago, as I was walking through the neighborhood (using a different route - each time I walk, I go out with a sister in the Lord and we walk through the neighborhoods and proclaim/recite the Word of the Lord all along the path), I noticed a patch of bamboo in the front of someone's yard - like it had sprung up out of nowhere. They were fresh shoots (could tell because of the greenness of the stalks). Some were taller than others, but they were (each group) at least 6.5 to 7 feet tall. Some were thicker in diameter than others, but they were strong stalks, and this first set (from 2 days ago) were all surrounding a large oak tree. The group from yesterday were just in rows on the side of the road. There was a yard behind the bamboo stalks, so, together, they formed a fence like structure down the side of the road.

Ok, that's the bamboo. The next thing is the "peach". I'm sure you already know [that] Georgia is known as "The Peach State." According to one website, Georgia is known as the "Peach State" because of the growers' reputation for producing the highest quality fruit. The peach became the official state fruit in 1995. You can also refer to the Wikipedia article on the State of Georgia. As an aside, we have experienced a crazy amount of fruit flies in the house lately, and, last week, they all seemed to congregate (unto their death) in the bathtub in the Master bedroom [of] the house.

The last thing I want to mention is - again, you've probably already seen this in the news, but within one week there have been now 2 cases of females contracting Necrotizing fasciitis the "flesh-eating disease." The first was a 24-year-old graduate student who cut her leg while kayaking (she stopped to ride on a zip line, fell and cut her left leg which was eventually amputated). The second is a 36-year-old who just gave birth to twins last week at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, GA and went home to Greenville, SC. where she found a spot growing on her left leg.

There seems to be so much happening right now. A very intense time. I know you mentioned it towards the end of the 3rd video (The Canaanite Hunt), but with the official report of "drowning" - Girgashite style, I was curious to know if you received any further insight from the Lord on Whitney Houston's death. Her death seemed to carry a profound message (beyond the "another out of control celebrity" or "look what happens when drugs control your life" etc.,). For weeks, I would hear pieces of her songs in my spirit and thought about the irony of the lyrics to the song that lead to her giant leap into stardom: "I Will Always Love You" and how it reverberated from the "old Baptist church she grew up in" out through the airways as her casket was being taken out to for the interment.

John Wesley and the Moravians

John Wesley was deeply influenced by a group called the "Moravians" as a result of his expedition to Georgia. This has a very strong spiritual significance, so strong that the Lord triggered several supernatural events in this writer's life so as to make it clear that it was His very clear will that we share on them.

According to Wikipedia, John Wesley had his initial contact with the "Moravians" on the ship that took him to Savannah, Georgia. Wesley was strongly impacted by their pietism, which he saw in display when a storm broke the mast off the ship. Whereas the English on the ship began to panic over the this unexpected incident, the Moravians calmly prayed and sang hymns until the ordeal was over. Awed by this, Wesley continued to relate with the Moravians during his time in Georgia, but he experienced his most lasting impact from them when he returned to London from Georgia. As indicated on Wikipedia, on 24 May 1738, he attended a Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street in which he heard a reading of Martin Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. This reading somehow revolutionised his relationship with the Lord. Earlier that day, he had heard the choir at St. Paul's Cathedral singing Psalm 130, a psalm where the psalmist cries out to God "out of the depths" (in an attitude similar to the one in Psalm 42). Both of these incidents caused a permanent change in Wesley's life, and his ministry was never the same after that.

As indicated on Wikipedia, after his "Aldersgate experience", Wesley began to work closely with the Moravian society in Fetter Lane, and he even travelled to the Moravian headquarters in Herrhut, Germany to study for a season. Upon his return to London, he continued to work with the Moravians, helping to organise their work in Fetters Lane. Despite this, he eventually broke with them the next year, in 1739. This separation was due to Wesley's conviction that the Moravians had fallen into heresy by supporting quietism, and this is how Methodism as a separate entity officially came into being. Hence, we can see that there are two "-isms" related to the Moravians, pietism and quietism. We shall consider the spiritual nature of both "-isms" in this word.

Who are the Moravians?

According to Wikipedia, the Moravian Church has its origins in Jan Hus and the Bohemian Reformation. As indicated on Wikipedia, Jan Hus, or "John Hus", was a Czech priest born in Bohemia in 1369. Hus was greatly influenced by the writings of another "John", Englishman John Wycliffe (who was born in the 1320s and died in 1384, when Hus was 15). Just like John Wycliffe, Hus was a fierce critic of the Old-Covenant structures in the catholic Church. For example, he believed that the liturgy should be celebrated in Czech, not in Latin, and he believed that "lay" people should be allowed to receive communion of both bread and wine. He also believed that priest celibacy was a human imposition, not a command from God, and he believed that the Church's indulgences should be eliminated, and that the idea of Purgatory was an un-Biblical, heretical teaching that needed to be purged. Because of these beliefs, it can be safely said that Hus, along with Wycliffe, was the precursor to the Protestant Reformation that happened several decades later.

Wycliffe was fiercely attacked by the religious leaders whom he judged, but his life was spared by the fact that he lived in England, a land that was more open to God's truth than the rest of Europe. Hus, was less fortunate, however, being burned alive on 6 July 1415 in what is modern-day Germany (in a southern town that borders with Switzerland, the land of "peaceful neutrality"). Hus was burned to death after a "trial" led by Italian bishops. Interestingly enough, his trial and murder happened during the catholics' Council of Constance, at which the "Western Schism" (the existence of two or more popes) in the catholic Church was finally ended and a new poope (Martin V) was elected. Thus the catholic sect was once again unified under a single Amorite king. During this Council of "gooey unity and reconciliation", the catholic Church not only chose to murder Hus but it also condemned his spiritual predecessor, the Englishman John Wycliffe, posthumously excommunicating him. The catholic heretics were so enraged against Wycliffe that they declared that Wycliffe's body had to be exhumed from "consecrated" ground and disposed of somewhere; poope Martin V (who was ironically excommunicated 4 years before Hus' murder by one of the competing poopes, and who is more than likely burning in hell even as we speak) completed this sentence years later, in 1428; he did so by authorising the exhumation and burning of Wycliffe's body, and the ashes were then cast into the River Swift in England.

{As a parenthesis, it is interesting to consider that both Germany and Italy were in some way involved in the murdering of Czech Jan Hus, and that England and the UK were also in the background, given that John Wycliffe was also posthumously sentenced at Constance along with Hus. As we shared 12 years ago, the latter-rain revival in Europe is to start in England and the UK and then continue in Germany and Italy. It is as if Germany's and Italy's involvement in Has' murder in 1415 inadvertently dealt a death blow to the matriarchal church's influence in both countries, with the effects of that death blow to be manifested in the coming days, 600+ years later.}

The deeply evil and cruel murder of Hus by the heretic sect now known as the catholic Church naturally enraged a multitude of the people in the region, leading to "the Hussite Wars" and to the flourishing of Hus's thoughts throughout Bohemia and the region around what is now the Czech Republic. This preponderance of Hus' thoughts lasted for many decades before it was eventually squelched by the catholic Austro-Hungarian empire. This forced the Hussites to flee, with many fleeing to Moravia (in the eastern part of the modern-day Czech Republic) in 1722, hence the name "Moravian Church". They stayed there for a while but eventually settled in Berthesldorf, a town in Eastern Germany, close to the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic (as indicated on Wikipedia).

Amorite devotion and the house of guilty souls

As we shared above, the Hussite movement started with Wycliffe's and Hus' efforts to remove the Old-Covenant structures in the matriarchal Church that were attempting to separate the Body into a higher caste of "priests" and a lower caste of "laymen". With the passing of time, the Hussite movement also developed a strong, explicit focus towards "pietism". The question, then, becomes, "What is pietism, and how does it relate to Scripture?". The answer is found in the Greek word that is closest to the concept of "pietism" in English, the word eusebeia, which is usually translated as "godliness" in the KJV and is strongly imbued with the concept of devotion or piety.

The word eusebeia appears in verse 5 of the following passage, translated as "godliness":

"1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 3:1-7)

Notice how the passage above lists 19 evil traits between verses 2 and 5. A deeper study of this passage reveals that these are the 19 "pillars" that an Amorite builds his house on. In this posting, however, we shall focus on the last trait, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof". Notice how the Spirit of God establishes a connection between eusebeia -- i.e. devotion or godliness -- and "power", which was correctly translated from the Greek word dunamis. This means that, as a person practises devotion, dunamis power is released into the Earth. In other words, when you spiritually (or literally) bow your head and enter into devotion with God, you release power that shakes the world around you. Through your devotion, you can unleash mighty judgements against those who serve as strongholds of unrighteousness, thereby enabling the manifestation of God's perfect will on Earth. This is why Amorites, who are the ones most responsible for raising and maintaining unrighteous strongholds, are so opposed to the power released through eusebeia devotion.

{As a parenthesis, it is worth mentioning that one of the strong indications that 2 Timothy 3:1-7 above is referring to Amorites is the very first evil trait listed: self-love. The Amorite spirit is one of self-exaltation, meaning that it manifests an unhealthy dosage of narcissism.}

The word "denying" in the phrase "denying the power thereof", in 2 Timothy 3:5 above, was translated from the Greek verb arneomai, which is derived from the prefix a meaning "negation" or "without" and the verb rheo meaning "to speak". As we have shared before, the verb rheo has the connotation of someone who is flowing prophetically. Hence, the word arneomai speaks of someone who is negating or impeding the flow of the prophetic. This explains why arneomai is constantly used in Scripture (in passages such as Matthew 10:33, Matthew 26:70-72, Luke 12:9, John 18:25-27, and Acts 3:13) to refer to people who deny God so as to spare their own lives and prevent themselves being prophetically sacrificed for God.

From the above, we can conclude that Amorites try to neutralise the prophetic flow of God's power that is released through devotion in order to prevent it destroying their strongholds. They need to neutralise devotion and redirect it away from prophetically generating any power that may further God instead of them. To Amorites, it is important to break the connection between the prophetic and sacrifice in people's minds because of the devastating damage that a devoted soul's sacrifice can inflict on their agendas. When Jan Hus allowed himself to be burned at the stake rather than deny God, he unleashed great prophetic power into the very heart of Europe, causing irrevocable damage on a religious system that had enslaved God's people in an uncontested way for centuries and centuries. For several decades, the region around Bohemia was finally able to breathe and have a respite from the smothering influence of the heretical catholic Church. Even when catholicism was able to regain control over the region (due to the darkness of the people), the spiritual foundation had been laid for Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation 102 years later, a Reformation that started in the very country where Hus had been dragged to and murdered: Germany.

Interestingly, the Spirit of God declares in 2 Timothy 3:5 above that Amorites do have a "form" of eusebeia devotion. The word "form" was translated from the Greek word morphosis, which only appears twice in Scripture, the other time being in verse 20 of the following passage, where it is also translated as "form":

"17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?" (Romans 2:17-23)

Notice how morphosis is used in verse 20 above to refer to a superficial manifestation of a deeper reality, as when someone fashions a statue in an attempt to substitute the real thing. Hence, we can say that the type of eusebeia devotion that Amorites possess and promote is a superficial one, as real as a statue but as lifeless as one. The superficiality of this devotion also reveals the true object of their devotion, which is laid out in the first of the 19 evil traits listed in 2 Timothy 3:2-5 --- to be "lovers of their own selves". In other words, they worship themselves, meaning that they are the true object of their own devotion and the devotion that they promote in others. They idolise themselves, meaning that their devotion is as superficial as the shallow idols that they turn themselves into. Thus, we can say that the last of the 19 evil traits links back to the very first trait listed, thereby completing the Amorite circle.

Since the Amorite's devotion is not true, it does not release true power. This, however, does not remove the Amorite's need for power in order to build his iniquitous house. Thus, he must rely on soulish trickery to obtain this power. This is why, after listing the last of the 19 traits, 2 Timothy 3 above explains that the Amorite "creeps into houses" and "leads captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts". The word "creeps" in 2 Timothy 3:6 was translated from the Greek verb enduno, which literally means "sink into" and is derived from the verb duno, which literally means "to sink" and is only used twice in Scripture, both times to refer to the setting of the sun. Hence, we can say that enduno has the connotation of a "death", as when the sun sinks to its "death" at the end of the day or when a corpse is sunk into the ground to be buried. This means that the Amorite performs a superficial death sacrifice that simulates the true prophetic sacrifices that he endeavours to suppress. However, instead of sinking into the ground and dying, the Amorite sinks into "houses", i.e. the places where the "female" soul permanently abides, meaning that he uses his superficial sacrifice to gain a place of favour in people's hearts. This is how he releases the substitute soulish power that attempts to compensate for the true Spirit power that he cannot unleash. In a sense, it is as if Amorites are able to get buried in people's souls through some superficial sacrifice, thereby getting a tombstone bearing their name to be planted there. The infiltrated soul then starts looking at the tombstone every day and is reminded of the "great" sacrifice that the Amorite performed on its behalf, and the ensuing emotions (the epithumia "lusts" mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:6) render the soul under the control of the Amorite. When this happens, the soul starts to work for the Amorite, and the Amorite begins to receive the workpower that he needs to build his house.

The phrase "lead captive" in 2 Timothy 3:6 was translated from the Greek verb aichmaloteuo, which is only used twice in Scripture, the other time being in Ephesians 4:8, which describes how Yeshua descended to Sheol as a result of a true sacrifice and led captive those in Sheol captivity, ascending them out of Sheol and up to Paradise. The word "laden" in 2 Timothy 3:6 was translated from the Greek verb soreuo meaning "to heap up", which is (again) only used twice in Scripture, the other time being in Romans 12:20, where the Spirit speaks of "heaping coals of fire" on the head of one's enemy when you act kindly towards him. Hence, soreuo has the connotation of someone whose conscience is seared by the undeserved actions of another. Therefore, the reference to women "laden with sins" is, in its truest sense, not simply referring to "promiscuous women", as one might initially think. Instead, it refers to souls whose consciences are riddled with guilt due to their many spiritual faults and who therefore see the Amorite's acts of kindness as something that they do not deserve and that makes them indebted to him.

The phrase "silly women" in 2 Timothy 3:6 is a mistranslation of the Greek word gynaikarion, which is actually a diminutive of the word gyne meaning "woman". Hence gynaikarion really means "little women". Even though it can be argued that the phrase "little women" is a derogatory reference to these "women", the true meaning of the phrase goes way beyond that. In truth, the phrase "little women" is referring to the "female" souls that have a low concept of themselves because of their spiritual flaws and because of the disenfranchising message of the matriarchal Church, which endeavours to make believers think of themselves as nothing more than "imperfect sinners saved by grace", sinners who are too flawed to aspire to anything significant in the Spirit and whose true role in life is to lead their little secular lives so as to produce the finances that the truly "spiritual" ministers need for their "important" work. Hence, we can see how all churches throughout America and the world are filled with an overwhelming majority of "silly women laden with sins" (or "little women heaped up with sins"), even if most in the congregation are as prudish and "respectable" as one can be.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the Amorite endunos (i.e. sinks) himself into a superficial death and burial in order to gain a place of favour in people's hearts. This is how he releases the substitute soulish power that compensates for the true Spirit power that he cannot unleash. In a sense, it is as if they are able to get a tombstone bearing their name to be planted in people's hearts. The infiltrated soul then starts looking at the tombstone every day and is reminded of the "great" sacrifice that the Amorite performed on its behalf, and the ensuing emotions (the epithumia "lusts" mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:6) render the soul under the control of the Amorite. When this happens, the soul starts to work for the Amorite, and the Amorite begins to receive the workpower that he needs to build his house. All of this is facilitated by the soul's sense of spiritual smallness (gynaikarion) and its inability to understand that it can escape from the flaws of the first Adam by "wearing" the New-Covenant last Adam that Yeshua enabled through His true prophetic sacrifice.

Devotion - the adjective

Having understood the Amorite's superficial pseudo-eusebeia devotion and how it produces soulish workpower from self-minimising and guilt-ridden Old-Covenant souls, the question then becomes, "How do we practise true eusebeia devotion?". To answer this question, we must consider the roots of the word eusebeia, which is derived from the prefix eu meaning "good" or "well done" and the verb sebo meaning "to worship". Hence, true devotion involves a worshipping attitude towards God. It is true worship as we bow our spiritual heads that releases the true power that the Amorite enemies of God dread so much.

Even though worship is a strong component of eusebeia devotion, it would be wrong to equate the two. To better understand eusebeia devotion, we must consider how the word eusebeia and related words are used by the Spirit of God in Scripture.

The active adjective

The adjective form of eusebeia, eusebes, is only used 4 times in Scripture. Interestingly, 3 of those 4 times are in the book of Acts, which points to how eusebeia devotion is spiritually related to the carrying out of explicit "acts" or actions. In other words, eusebeia devotion is not passive in nature, meaning that anyone exercising it will inevitably engage in tangible, proactive spiritual actions. Said another way, eusebeia devotion goes beyond a "theoretical" understanding and always manifests itself in tangible, concrete ways. This explains why the 3rd and last use of eusebes in Acts is in verse 12 of the following passage, where Paul is describing his road-to-Damascus conversion:

"12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:12-16)

Notice how Ananias was not afraid to heed God's command and go to Paul, the very man who had been going from town to town persecuting Christians, torturing them, and imprisoning them. When God told him to go and lay hands on Paul, he did (despite his initial hesitations), and he carried out an act of love on a man who had previously hated him and his brethren, a man who was now a repentant man hoping for a new start in God. And, not only did Ananias restore Paul's eyesight, he even had the boldness to command him to be baptised, meaning that he was not afraid to "give orders" to the very man who had been given earthly "authority" to put him in jail. All of this reveals how eusebeia devotion results in bold, decisive actions that follow a level of understanding that transcends natural thought.

The first appearance of eusebes is in Acts 10:2, which describes Cornelius as a devout man who feared God with all his house, and who "gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always". This again speaks of a man whose devotion led to concrete actions. The word "alms" was translated from the Greek word eleemosyne, which is derived from eleos meaning "mercy". Hence, eleemosyne could be translated as "acts of mercy", meaning that Cornelius' devotion led him to give of himself in mercy for the sake of others. This reveals how eusebeia devotion not only leads to a concern for God's will but a concern for those around you, especially the brethren in God. In other words, true devotion does not stay in the "heavenly clouds" with God above but descends to the reality on Earth and the humanity living on it.

The conflictive adjective

The second appearance of eusebes is in Acts 10, as well, in verse 7 of the following passage:

"7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; 8 And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa."

Notice how, out of the 3 people described, the Spirit of God only applies the word eusebes ("devout") to the soldier. This does not necessarily mean that the 2 servants were not devout. Instead, it emphasises how devotion requires a soldier's "go-out-to-fight" attitude, which contrasts with the servants' more "passive", stay-at-home role. True devotion does not shy away from conflict to either defend existing territory or conquer new one.

The destructive adjective

The only time that the word eusebes does not appear in the book of Acts is in verse 9 of the following passage, translated as "godly":

"4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:" (2 Peter 2:4-9)

Notice how eusebes is spoken of in the context of people who, through their actions, unleash destructive judgements on the unrighteous people and environments around them. It is interesting to note that the word "ungodly" at the end of verse 5 was translated from the Greek word asebes, which literally means "without devotion". Hence, the Lord is establishing a clear division between those who engage in true devotion and those who do not, with those on the devotion side unleashing destructive judgement on those who choose to live on the other side. As you can see, there is no middle ground wherever true devotion manifests itself. Those who are friendly towards true devotion will be drawn towards being devoted themselves, and those who are unfriendly or indifferent towards it will become anchored on the side of "un-devotion" and be sentenced as enemies of the "devoted".

Notice also how the passage above portrays a truly devoted person as one who becomes very uncomfortable with unrighteousness and is actually vexed by it when it envelops him. This emphasises how true devotion is incompatible with indifference to the surrounding atmosphere. In other words, a truly devoted person is not only concerned with his own personal "sanctification" but is concerned with the sanctification of the entire tangible atmosphere around him. A truly devoted person desires the manifestation of what/who he is devoted to in the surrounding atmosphere and not just within his own personal, private space.

Notice also how 2 Peter 2:9 above speaks of God delivering those with true devotion from the temptations or trials around them, meaning that they can escape from being influenced by the atmosphere around them and can influence and transform it instead, either through obliterating judgements as happened with Noah and Lot or through the surrounding environment gradually yielding to what is inside of them (again, there is no middle ground when the truly devoted are in town).

Devotion - the combative truth-zealous verb, even in weakness

As we shared above, the word eusebeia is derived from the verb sebo meaning "to revere, worship, be devoted to". This verb appears 10 times in 10 verses of Scripture, 8 of them being in the book of Acts, which again emphasises the spiritual connection between devotion and proactive angelic actions.

It is interesting to consider that, out of its 8 appearances in Acts, sebo is used 3 times to describe the behaviour of the enemies of God. Even though, as we saw earlier, eusebeia means "good devotion", there is much to discern from how those who are not good apply their devotion, for it shows how real devotion manifests itself. Devotion in and of itself is neither good nor bad; what makes it "good" or "bad" is the object of the devotion. When it is truly directed at God and His Truth, our devotion becomes "good devotion", i.e. eusebeia, in the eyes of God.

The first appearances of the verb sebo in the book of Acts are in chapter 13, in verses 43 and 50, in reference to Paul and Barnabas witnessing in Antioch:

"Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God" (Acts 13:43)

"But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts" (Acts 13:50)

Notice how the Jews went to the sebo-ing women to wage battle against Paul and Barnabas to counter the spiritual success that the apostles' witness was having against them (as described in verse 43 above). This reveals the combative and territorial nature of sebo devotion. The fact that the devout people mentioned in verse 50 were women also reveals that this combative and territorial nature does not rely on or stem from natural strength. Even in "female" weakness, those with sebo devotion can effectively wage war against whatever opposes the object of their devotion, for the source of their strength (and motivation) derives from their zeal and their inner conviction about the object of their devotion. Even in "female" weakness, a sebo-ing person cannot stand still and watch the enemy take up territory and attack the object of their devotion. It is sad that most of those who claim to be "devout" Christians do not show this type of combative zeal, not only against the enemies outside the Church but against the enemies within (which are far more abominable to the truly devout than the enemies outside will ever be).

Notice also how the Spirit speaks of how, after the congregation had broken up, those with sebo devotion followed Paul and Barnabas to speak with them and be persuaded by them. This speaks of how those with sebo devotion are willing to believe in and embrace something on the strength of its own merits, without having to wait for that something to be embraced by the rest of the crowd. Those with sebo devotion are willing to step out on a limb and embrace what they perceive to be a truth even if they are the only ones who do. This is why they can be bold, combative, and territorial even in the midst of "female" weakness, for their devotion drives them to fix their eyes on the object of their devotion and its (or His) strength, taking little time to look at their own external weakness.

The last 2 negative uses of the verb sebo in the book of Acts happen to be the last 2 appearances of sebo in Acts. The first of these 2 is in verse 13 of the following passage, translated as "worship":

"12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, 13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law." (Acts 18:12-13)

Even though the verb sebo is used here to refer to third persons, it is evident from the context that those speaking in verse 13 were devout (i.e. sebo-ing persons) themselves. Hence, we can see once again how devotion evokes a combative, territorial nature in those who operate in it. As the devout Jews saw Paul gaining ground in their territory, they became determined to drive him away and regain that land.

Even though we may be quick to dismiss the Jews' actions in Acts 18:12-13 above as a mere power struggle or a knee-jerk reaction to someone who was threatening their power and their control over people's lives, we must realise that there was more to their conflictive behaviour than mere "politics". Even though they were indeed driven by jealousy and a thirst for power, they were also driven by a sincere conviction that they and their "Moses" were indeed in the truth and that they needed to defend that "truth" against the enemies that were rising up against it. This is why the Jews in verse 13 were so worried about Paul persuading men to go against the law. As we have shared before, law, truth, and judgements are inextricably intertwined, meaning that those with real sebo devotion will have a sincere zeal for the truth (or what they perceive to be the "truth"). They will have a desire to have themselves and everything around them operate in accordance with the truth that they believe in. In other words, the Jews of Acts 18 were not only interested in abiding by their law in their own personal lives but were also on the lookout for that law being abided by in the people around them, and, when they saw a danger to that in Paul, they reacted and carried out concrete actions against him.

Devotion - the verb zealous for a physical manifestation

The last appearance of the verb sebo in the book of Acts is in verse 27 of the following passage, used once again to describe the devotion of those fighting against God:

"26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." (Acts 19:26-27)

Notice how yet again the devout enemies of God could not stand still when they saw Paul gaining so much ground in the territories around them, which thereby threatened the object of their devotion. Notice also how, besides worrying about the threat to their livelihood, they were also worried about the reputation and magnificence of the temple that they revered. In other words, their devotion drove them to become concerned about the physical manifestation of their devotion on Earth. To them, the object of their devotion was not merely an invisible entity that could be revered in an abstract way within their hearts and minds. Instead, the object of their devotion had to become manifested in the earthly realm --- and not only manifested, but manifested with great magnificence, in proportion to the magnificence that they ascribed to it in their hearts and minds. It is sad to say that the vast majority of those who claim to be "devout" Christians ever reveal the same kind of zeal about a magnificent manifestation on Earth of the God whom they revere. Naturally, this does not mean that these "devout" Christians should promote the edification of some magnificent physical temple. The temple that we are to worry about is a different one; it is the body of human believers on Earth, and it must be said that the dimensions, reputation, and magnificence of that temple leave much, much to be desired. There are too few who care about that temple in a truly devoted way. This is why the physical manifestation of God's Glory on Earth remains distant and evasive.

Devotion - the prophetically-inclined verb

The 3rd time that the verb sebo appears in Acts (the first time after Acts 13), is in verse 14 of the following passage, translated as "worshipped", in the context of Paul and Silas' visit to Philippi:

"14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us." (Acts 16:14-15)

The word "attended" in verse 14 was translated from the Greek verb prosecho, which is derived from the word pros meaning "for, forward, ahead of" and echo meaning "to have, hold". In other words, prosecho in verse 14 speaks of the devout Lydia taking what was spoken by Paul and holding it before her, as when a person places a set of principles in front of him so that they may guide him as he moves towards the future. Interestingly enough, the word "spoken" in the phrase "things ... spoken [by] Paul" was translated from the Greek verb laleo, which, as we have shared before, refers to speaking with a strong prophetic anointing. Thus, we can see how true devotion prompts people to heed and be guided by God's prophetic voice and anointing.

A close study of Acts 16 and Paul and Silas' visit to Philippi reveals that their experience in Philippi had a very strong green-horse connotation, and, as we have shared before, green-horse riders operate as "prophet-pastors", meaning that, the longer Paul and Silas stayed in Philippi, the stronger the prophetic anointing became on them. As this happened, Lydia's devout heart became receptive to that prophetic anointing, opening a door for God to guide her life through it. This then prompted Lydia to speak under a strong prophetic anointing herself. This is why the word in the original text that was translated as "besought" in verse 15 is from the verb parakaleo, which, as we have shared before, speaks of prophetic exhortation. Even though the details go beyond the scope of this posting, we can at least say that Lydia's words in verse 15 were a strong prophetic figure of the spiritual journey that Paul and Silas were on the verge of undertaking. In short, we can see from Acts 16:14-15 that sebo devotion leads a person to value the prophetic and to let the prophetic act as a guide to his life. As a result, the devout person also begins to operate in the prophetic.

Devotion - the prophetically-violent verb

It is also worth noting that the word "constrained" in Acts 16:15 above was translated from the Greek verb parabiazomai, which is derived from the prefix para meaning "besides" and the verb biazo meaning "to use force"; biazo is only used twice in Scripture, both times (Matthew 11:12, Luke 16:16) to refer to the Kingdom of Heaven "suffering violence":

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12)

Hence, we can say that truly devout believers develop a propensity for forging the Kingdom of God on Earth through "violent" spiritual actions, meaning that they do not expect God to magically caress the Earth and "make it all better". Instead, they, like Lydia, use the prophetic endowment to forge God's manifestation through much spiritual violence, laying hold of the Lord the way that Jacob did with the angel of the Lord, doing so until His Presence becomes permanent on Earth and not just in Heaven.

Devotion - the priestly verb

After Acts 16, the next appearance of the verb sebo is in the following verse, in the context of Paul and Silas' visit to Thessalonica,

"And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." (Acts 17:4)

The word "consorted" in the verse above was mistranslated from the Greek verb proskleroo, which is derived from the prefix pros meaning "forward, ahead" and the verb kleroo meaning "to cast lots" or "to assign [an inheritance] by lots". Therefore, what Acts 17:4 actually says in the original text is that the devout Greeks were "assigned by lot" to Paul and Silas, as if they had been given to them as an inheritance. This is a prophetic figure of how the devout are the Lord's inheritance and their inheritance is the Lord. This means, as per Numbers 18:20 and Ezekiel 44:28, that those who operate in true devotion are the ones who are operating the most in the spiritual priesthood that was made available to all through Yeshua. It can be said, therefore, that "devotion" and "priesthood" are basically synonyms in the spirit realm.

Notice also that Acts 17:4 above once again speaks of the "devout" and "women" at the same time. This yet again points to the connection between devotion and external weakness and how that external weakness is no impediment to the devout when exercising their oft-combative priesthood. Unlike those practising a superficial devotion, the truly devoted do not need to see themselves cloaked in priestly robes to ascribe strength and authority to their priestly actions. They know that that authority and strength is derived from the truth and strength in that to which (or whom) they are devoted, and that is enough to propel them to take the Kingdom by force. This is something that the matriarchal Church will never understand or accept, no matter how much spiritual and Scriptural evidence God presents to them, for their devotion is not to God's Truth but to the religious structures that were edified on selective portions of God's truth.

Devotion - the easily-provoked verb

The next appearance of the verb sebo in Acts is in verse 17 of the following passage, translated again as "devout":

"16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." (Acts 17:16-17)

Notice how Paul, being a "devout" man himself, was immediately "stirred" by the idolatry that he saw all around him when he arrived in Athens. Notice also how his reaction was to "dispute" with just about everyone who came across his path. This points not only to the conflictive nature of legitimate devotion but to its territorial qualities. When Paul saw other "devotions" dominating the landscape around him, his immediate reaction was to engage in warfare to defeat those enemy devotions and win that territory for the One he was devoted to.

The word "stirred" was under-translated from the Greek verb paroxyno, which is derived from the prefix para meaning "from, besides" and the word oxys meaning "sharp" (as in a "sharp two-edged sword") or "swift" (as in "swift feet"). Therefore, paroxyno has the connotation of an instant, almost knee-jerk reaction, as when one snaps in a strong emotional way in reaction to something observed.

Interestingly enough, the word paroxyno is only used in one other verse in all of Scripture, in 1 Corinthians 13:5, where it is translated as "easily provoked" and is used to say that love is not "easily provoked". In other words, the very Paul who wrote that love does not paroxyno was paroxyno-ed himself when he arrived in Athens. Does this mean that Paul was not acting in love when he reacted to the idolatry of Athens? Of course not! How, then, can we reconcile the apparent contradiction between 1 Corinthians 13:5 and Acts 17:16? Before answering that, we must point out how this apparent contradiction in Scripture reveals how the words in 1 Corinthians 13 (the "love" chapter) can be misinterpreted if understood literally. Because of the matriarchals' concept of what "love" is, they are quick to imagine love as some sort of stoic state of mind where you are always willing to be a passive little victim and where any "aggressive", "masculine" reaction is immediately perceived as "carnality", "lovelessness", and lack of "self-control". This is why, when they read that love does not paroxyno, matriarchals are quick to add any sort of quick, strong reaction to their official list of "loveless" or "hateful" actions.

Having said the above, the question remains, how cans we reconcile the use of paroxyno in Acts 17:16 and 1 Corinthians 13:5? The answer has two components. One of these components can be discerned by observing what part of Paul was "easily provoked" (paroxyno-ed) in Athens. According to Acts 17:16, it was his spirit (pneuma in Greek). This means that it was not his soul but his spirit which was quickly provoked when he beheld the idols all over Athens. Therefore, we can now discern that 1 Corinthians 13 is referring to the soul not being easily provoked when one is operating in agape love. Thus, 1 Corinthians 13 is not banning "quick provocations" from the spirit, which, ironically enough, are the types of provocations that the matriarchal Church is most quick to condemn. For some reason, matriarchals demand that the soulish, quick reactions that 1 Corinthians 13 does speak against be stoically tolerated, and any counter-reaction against them by spirit-centric believers provokes a quick "you are not walking in love" reaction from them. In other words, their quick, soulish reaction to supposedly enforce 1 Corinthians 13:5 is the real violation of 1 Corinthians 13:5. They resort to snappy reactions to condemn "snappy" reactions! The irony in the Church's matriarchal judgements is so ironic that it can be qualified as outright lunacy.

The second component on how Acts 17:16 and 1 Corinthians 13:5 can be reconciled is in the object or recipient of the quick paroxyno reaction. God does not love evil, and He never calls us to love evil. On the contrary, the God of Israel goes out of His way throughout Scripture to declare how much He loathes evil (throughout the entire Bible, not just the so-called "Old Testament"). Yes, He can love His enemies, but, in doing so, He is loving the redeemable part of those enemies. When Scripture says that He loved us even when we were His enemies and gave Himself for us, He is speaking of how He saw that there was something redeemable in us, and He was willing to pay a great price to rescue and enable that redeemable part. In other words, He loved us because He saw a "potential for good" in us, no matter how remote it was. He saw a potential for us to manifest His Nature in us, no matter how unlikely it seemed. He saw a potential for us to manifest His Nature in us, and He went out of His way to see that good potential manifested.

Some matriarchal may be rising up in indignation after reading the above to claim that, according to Scripture, there was absolutely nothing good in us. This would mean that, when God loved us, He was actually loving pure evil. Even though this may sound very "pious" and "complimentary" of God's love, and even though it would be possible to produce passages giving validity to the statement that there was nothing good in us when the Lord loved us and gave Himself for us, this would miss the point of what it means that there was "nothing good in us". Yes, there was nothing "good" or "redeemable" in our old Adam, yet that is not what we are speaking of here. The Lord knew that, if He sacrificed His life in weakness, there was a potential for the old Adam (with "nothing good" in it) to die and for a new Adam to be birthed within us, and He could see that humanity was not in such a lost state that there would be no one who would accept this new opportunity. Fellow believer, this writer is convinced that, had there been absolutely no human being who would have been rescued as a result of Yeshua's sacrifice, He would have never died on the cross. Besides the mere fact that God abhors unnecessary sacrifices, the reason for this is "spiritual logistics". If there had been no human to rescue, there would have been no Abraham, and there would have been no natural lineage through which Yeshua could have been born in the flesh on Earth. Besides that, there would have been no apostles through which to spread the meaning of Yeshua's sacrifice so that people could have had the option to accept or reject the offer. If there had been no human that could have been redeemed through Yeshua's sacrifice, He would have never come in the flesh to die at Golgotha and God would have destroyed humanity millennia ago, just as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Hence, we are not speaking of God loving us because we were "good". Instead, we are speaking of how God saw the potential for good in us if we were just enabled through His love, and He could see who would and would not accept the opportunity for "good", loving those who would and rejecting those who would not. This does not mean that we have anything to boast about when we take the opportunity that God made available for us. How can someone be congratulated for accepting a lifesaver and being pulled into a boat when he is drowning in the middle of the ocean? It is not only the logical thing to do by a person in need, but it is also the right thing to do, for it involves acknowledging His truth and rejecting any previous falsehood that we have previously embraced. It is this potential to assent to good that God can see in us and which causes Him to see us with love. Because of this, He does not become "easily provoked" and strike us down on the spot the moment He sees us doing some evil act, even if that act quickly stirs the wrath of His Spirit. Thus, when the Spirit of God declares in 1 Corinthians 13:5 that love is not easily provoked, it is referring to God loving the potential for good in us (when it is still there) and His soul not being easily provoked over every small evil. Why? Because His eyes of love are set on the potential for good that is there, even when it is not naturally visible. Once that potential for good is gone, there is nothing for God (or us) to love any longer, and all the words on "love" in 1 Corinthians 13 no longer apply.

When Paul beheld the idolatry in Athens, he became easily provoked because he was, at that moment, beholding evil itself and implicitly beholding the hearts of those in Athens who were not redeemable and who would fight him (and God) to the death to defend all that idolatry. Yet, his reaction was still in the love of God, for the quick provocation within him stirred him to go into warfare in Athens in order to redeem as many as could be redeemed, given that he could see the potential for good that remained in Athens. Otherwise, he would have simply cursed Athens and moved on to a different place, as per Yeshua's command in Luke 10:10-12.

In short, when 1 Corinthians 13:5 declares that love is not easily provoked, it is saying that love does not direct paroxyno at anything with a potential for good and that is thus "loveable". And, when Acts 16:15 declares that Paul's spirit was easily provoked by the evil that he beheld around him, it is saying that paroxyno is often directed by the Spirit at anything that is inherently evil. Some may want to simplify all of the above by reducing it to the phrase "God loves the sinner but hates the sin". This, however, would be a distorted oversimplification of all of the above. Why? Because God does hate the sinner and show no love for him when he is beyond redemption, and He can even hate parts of a person that are beyond redemption because the person has chosen to hold on to those parts, even if He loves other parts that still have a potential for good or are already operating in righteousness. Dear reader, if you find yourself unable to accept this as true, ask yourself the following question: Does God love mass murderer Stalin (love, in the present tense)? Does God still love the atheist mass murderer Stalin who worked to prevent millions of souls finding God and escaping eternal hell, and who died with his fist raised at God? If your conception of God's love is such that you are willing to say "yes, because God's love is so vast and incomprehensible", there is only one question left to consider: Do you think that God loves (present tense) satan? If your answer is still yes, then you are wasting your time reading this website and should take up a new hobby.

Yes, at some point, God loved Stalin (and even satan), and He would have been willing to love and forgive Stalin had he repented at the last minute, even after committing all that evil. But, once he crossed a certain line (the line of the second death) at some point in his life, any opportunity for repentance and redemption was removed from him, the love that God had for him ended, and all that was left was hatred of him, for he had become inherently evil. It is because of all of this that the Spirit of God was so careful to say in John 3:16 that God so loved (past tense) the world that He gave His only begotten Son. It does not say that God loves the world, for friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). May those with understanding understand what the Lord is saying here. If you are willing to have a true understanding of what it means to have devotion towards God, these words will become as clear as a self-evident principle, even if that principle cannot be phrased in simple and self-evident words.

Devotion - the manifestation-loving verb

The next time that the verb sebo appears in Acts after chapter 17 is in verse 7 of the following passage, translated as "worshipped":

"1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. 3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. 7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue." (Acts 18:5-7)

[Notice that Paul did not continue "loving" the Jews in Corinth after they blasphemed. He loved them by "reasoning" with them every Sabbath, but, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, something broke in the spirit realm, and Jews entered a "decision zone". A small window of opportunity had opened for the Jews, and it was up to them to decide whether they would go across that window. When they simply decided to reject God's love offer, the window closed, God discarded them, and His love for them ended, for there was no longer anything redeemable in them (i.e. there was nothing to love, for God does not love inherent evil). This is why Paul shook his raiment, which represented the shaking of dust from the feet that God uses to symbolise His permanent separation from people (Mark 6:11) and the end of God's love for them.]

The name "Justus" is a Latin name, and, as you may imagine, it means "just one". This once again emphasises the spiritual connection between sebo devotion and a zeal for righteousness, which implies a zeal for laws and judgements, since "justice" is impossible without an effort to abide by a certain set of laws and principles. The phrase "joined hard" in verse 7, on the other hand, points to another quality about devotion that we have already shared above. That phrase was translated from the Greek verb synomoreo, which only appears once in Scripture and is derived from the prefix syn meaning "with", the word homou meaning "together", and the word horion meaning "boundaries". Hence, synomoreo has the connotation of something that is "adjoined" to something else, being together and sharing a common border. Thus, it can be said that Justus' house was almost like an "annex" to the synagogue. This spiritually points to the devout's love and concern for the physical "house" of that which they are devoted to. This is why the devout in most religions have a tendency to be present on a regular basis in their religions' temples. As we said above, the devout do not see the object of their devotion as an ethereal, abstract reality. The more devout they are, the more their heart burns with the desire to see the object/recipient of their devotion tangibly manifested in the physical realm. This means that those who are truly devoted to God in the Spirit are constantly longing to see His manifestation in the "temple", i.e. in the flesh of those who have believed on Earth. This is why the Sukkoth, the "Feast of Tabernacles" is so important to the devout remnant, for the remnant's desire is to see the vision of Emmanuel, "God amongst us", "God tabernacling with us", manifested on Earth. This is reinforced by Paul physically entering into Justus the devout's house, which speaks of the devout's desire for a tangible (and permanent) visitation of God in their houses and their very physical beings.

Devotion - the verb Girgashited by man

As we shared earlier, the verb sebo only appears twice outside the book of Acts, once in Matthew 15:9 and once in Mark 7:7 (both times translated as "worship"). Even though the KJV translators translated both verses slightly differently, they are actually identical in the original Greek text.

"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7)

The word "vain" was translated from the Greek word maten, which, interestingly enough, is derived from the verb masaomai meaning "to chew, consume, eat". As we have shared before, "teeth" are spiritually related to the teacher endowment. Hence, it is no coincidence that the Lord then speaks of "teaching" and "doctrines" (which, in the Greek, literally reads "teachings"). As we have also shared before, when the teacher endowment "goes bad", it turns Girgashite, which means that it becomes focused on the visible and on repeating methods intended to oppress prophetic freedom. Thus, it is no coincidence that the word "commandments" near the end of the verse was translated from the word entalma, which is only used 3 times in Scripture, once in each of the two verses above and a 3rd time in verse 22 of the following passage, also translated as "commandments":

"20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not, taste not, handle not) 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh" (Colossians 2:20-23)

Notice how the above passage speaks of people who are caught up in following rules that focus on superficial compliance, rules that give an appearance of piety and devotion but which have no true effect on the inner self. Therefore, we can conclude from all of the above that, when devotion becomes derailed, it always degenerates into a blind compliance to external rules that have an air of spirituality but are devoid of any prophetic purpose. As we saw above, devotion prompts us to embrace the prophetic and to put it in front of us as a guiding parameter. Thus, the irony is that misguided devotion can begin to place invisible prophetic, spiritual value in acts and rules that are actually useless. In a sense, it can be said that this is the result of devotion that has gone half way; it is devotion that is convinced of the prophetic power of rites that would otherwise seem pointless to anyone not sharing in the same devotion. However, their devotion is not deep enough to be devoted to a Being that is far removed from their natural thinking, so they feel compelled to anchor Him to something tangible that is somewhere between their natural thinking and the true prophetic reality of the Being to whom they are (supposedly) devoted. This leads to a devotion guided by rules and rites that are utterly ridiculous to the natural thinking yet ineffective in the spirit realm.

There is a spiritual reason why the verse on devotion that follows the commandments of men appears in the books of Matthew and Mark. As we have shared before, the Gospel of Matthew is the Lion-Face Gospel, meaning that it is the one most directly related to apostolic judgements, and the Gospel of Mark is the Man-Face Gospel, meaning that is the one most directly related to the pastoral and teacher endowments. As we have also said before, judging apostles "gone bad" turn into legalistic Jebusites and teachers "gone bad" turn into literalistic Girgashites. Hence, the presence of this verse in Matthew and Mark points to how misguided devotion opens the way for Jebusite legalism and a Girgashite trust in visible rites and rules.

A devotion verb count

Based on all of the above, we can say that the verb sebo is used in a negative sense 5 times (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7, Acts 13:50, Acts 18:13 and Acts 19:27), 4 times in a positive sense (Acts 13:43, Acts 16:14, Act 17:4, Acts 18:7), and once in a way that could "go either way" (Acts 17:17). There is prophetic significance in this near 50/50 split, for it reveals how genuine devotion can as easily be taken in a direction contrary to God as it can be towards Him, with a very subtle majority tending towards the wrong direction.

It is also interesting to consider that both appearances of sebo outside of Acts (Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7) use sebo in a negative sense, which emphasises the fact that a matriarchal devotion that leans towards soul passivity and does not progress into proactive, angelic, spirit acts will inevitably degrade into a devotion that opposes the Spirit of God.

Another detail worth considering is that, if you exclude the 2 appearances of sebo outside of Acts, the positive/negative count changes to 4 for "positive", 3 for "negative", and 1 that can go either way. In other words, in the realm of actions, the actions of those with "good" devotion outweighs the actions of those with "bad" devotion, even when the percentage of people with bad devotion generally exceeds the percentage of those with good devotion by a wide margin.

It is also interesting to consider that the sebo verse that could go "either way" is Acts 17:17 (which speaks of the righteously-devoted Paul contending with the devoted ones still trapped in the synagogue of the Jews). As we have shared before, the number "17" speaks of a manifested remnant, meaning that the final outcome in the "battle of devotions" depends on the remnant's manifestation. Without the manifestation of God's remnant, it is impossible for Christians' devotion to overcome the world's devotion, since the Church cannot conquer the world unless the unrighteous devotion within itself is conquered first, and that will not happen unless the remnant are manifested on Earth.

The green battle of devotions

Another detail worth noting is that, if you exclude both the first 2 and the last 2 appearances of sebo (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7, Acts 18:13, and Acts 19:27), all of which are "negative", the positive/negative count changes to 4 for "positive", 1 for "negative", and 1 for "neutral". This emphasises the fact that the type of devotion that is inherently "internal" and is not easily discernible by the natural eye tends to be "good" devotion, whereas the devotion that becomes inherently "external" and easily discernible by the natural eye is always bad devotion. We can also say that the 6 appearances of sebo inside the 4 negative ones yield a 4.5/6 ratio towards "good". Interestingly, a 4.5/6 ratio is equivalent to a 75% or 3/4 ratio. This speaks of how good devotion can (if unhindered) progress "naturally" through the first 3 horses of the Apocalypse (white, red, and black), with the 4th horse, the green horse, requiring a special "effort" or "intention" that few are willing to embark on. It is also worth considering that, once a devoted believer chooses to embark on the green-horse journey, it is always the incorrectly devout who end up killing them, just as Yeshua was murdered by the devout Jews, not by the "secular" and "religiously neutral" Romans or the non-committal Jews.

The above is certified by a word that is used 3 times in Scripture, a word that, on the surface, seems to have no connection with "devotion" or "reverence". All 3 appearances of this word are in the book of Acts, always translated as "Augustus". The word in the original Greek text is sebastos, which is derived from the verb sebo studied above, and it literally means "revered" or "worthy of reverence or devotion". It is generally translated as "Augustus" because that is the Latin equivalent of sebastos and was an adjective used as a title of honour for the Roman emperor.

"But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar" (Acts 25:21)

"25 But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him 26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write. 27 For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him." (Acts 25:25-27)

"And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band" (Acts 27:1)

Notice how the speaker in Acts 25:21-27 (Festus) hints that Paul could have avoided any additional imprisonment if he had not insisted on having a hearing before Augustus. This points to the voluntary sacrifice that green-horse riders make, which causes them to go through Death and descend into the prison of Sheol. Because Paul insisted on appealing to Augustus, he remained imprisoned, and he then endured a dramatic shipwreck as he was being taken to Rome, after which he remained under house arrest in chains for 2 years in Rome. Whilst in Rome, he contended with the devout Jews until their window of repentance had expired, after which Paul chose to speak exclusively to the Gentiles (Acts 28:25-29). As Paul was detaching himself from the devout Jews in Rome, he explained that the reason for his original imprisonment and its prolonging was due to the devout Jews:

"17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. 19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. 20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." (Acts 28:17-20)

The devout Jews in Jerusalem had accused Paul of being sacrilegious towards the Temple that they were so devoted to, their claim being that he had taken Gentiles into the Temple, thereby "defiling" it (Acts 21:28). Notice also how Paul's decision to appeal to Augustus was due to the Jews' opposition to the Romans' imminent release of Paul. Even though it is not declared explicitly in the text, this writer believes that, had Paul pressed for his freedom, the Romans would have released him, and there would have been nothing that the Jews could have done about it. After that, Paul could have then hid for a while until the fervour of the devout Jews had subsided. His public ministry may have been hindered by the Jews' threat against his life, but he could have led a relatively free existence without all the hassle that he eventually experienced on his way to Rome and whilst in Rome. In other words, when he saw the Jews' devotion rising up to challenge and suppress any growth of devotion towards Yeshua, he decided to take the battle to them, being willing to go through green-horse Death and Sheol if that is what it took to wage that battle. That means that, when he appealed to "Augustus" (the sebastos, the one worthy of reverence or devotion), he was spiritually challenging all the objects of their devotion that opposed "good devotion" (eusebeia). This is also why the first thing done by Paul upon "settling down" in Rome (under house arrest) was to speak to the devout Jews there. More than appeal to a literal world leader, Paul was demanding to challenge the objects of false devotion that opposed devotion to the One True God and His Messiah. This is the type of battle that eusebeia believers engage in, even if it means going through green-horse Death and Sheol.

Strong devotion

The word eusebeia ("good devotion", "piety", or "godliness") appears in the following list, translated as "godliness":

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." (1 Timothy 6:11)

The word "righteousness" was translated from the Greek noun dikaiosyne, which can be literally translated as "justice" and is derived from the Greek word dike meaning "punishment, avenging justice". Hence, dikaiosyne speaks of a believer operating in the apostolic endowment of wisdom, laws, and judgements. The second word on the list, "godliness", was translated from the word eusebeia meaning "good devotion", and, as we shared above, devotion is inherently inclined towards the prophetic. Hence, eusebeia speaks of a believer operating in the prophetic endowment. The 3rd word on the list, "faith", is directly related to the heart, since that is where faith abides (Ephesians 6:6); and, as we have shared before, the ministry most directly related to the heart and to causing faith to flow out of men's hearts is the evangelistic ministry. Hence, the word "faith", or pistis in the original text, speaks of a believer operating in the evangelistic endowment.

Notice, therefore, how the first 3 things that we are to pursue, according to 1 Timothy 6:11, speak of a believer seeking to operate in the 3 "male" endowments of apostle, prophet, and evangelist. The next 3 things on the list point to the same 3 "male" endowments, only in a slightly different order. The word "love" was translated from the Greek word agape, which, as we have shared before, points to the 3rd and highest level of love, love from the heart and the spirit; and, as we have also shared before, true love is inherently sacrificial in nature and, thus, prophetic, since that is the endowment most directly related to sacrifice. The next word on the list, "patience", was translated from the Greek noun hypomone, which, as we have shared before, refers to staying under a heavy burden for a long period of time, which, in turn, points to apostolic endurance. The next and last word on the list, "meekness", which was translated from the Greek noun praotes, is not as easy to discern, but a quick study of the word in Scripture makes its meaning more evident.

The word praotes is derived from the word praus meaning "mildness of disposition, meekness", which is only used 3 times in Scripture, the first time being in the following verse, translated as "meek":

Notice how the Spirit associates meekness with inheriting the Earth, which speaks of possessing it and having dominion over it. This, in turn, points to the evangelistic endowment of conquest and kingship. Hence, it is no coincidence that the 2nd appearance of praus in Scripture is in the following verse, translated as "meek":

"Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." (Matthew 21:5)

The 3rd and last appearance of praus in Scripture is in verse 4 of the following passage, once again translated as "meek":

"1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (1 Peter 3:1-4)

Notice how verse 4 directly associates meekness with the heart, which implicitly points to the evangelistic endowment once again, since that is the endowment most directly related to the heart. Notice also that the Spirit speaks here of wives "winning" people over (v1) through their conduct, even without having to utter a word, which yet again points to the evangelistic endowment that conquers or wins hearts over for the Lord. Notice also how, even as the words above are addressed to women, the Spirit exhorts them to manifest the "hidden man of the heart". Even though the word "man" was translated from the Greek word anthropos, which is not inherently "male" but refers to "humanity" in general, the fact that the Spirit did not simply refer to the "hidden woman of the heart" reveals that, as a literal "woman" begins to operate in the Spirit, her "female-ness" begins to dissipate and the "new man" (the new anthropos) of Ephesians 4:24 begins to shine ... yes, the new man created after God Himself, who is "male" (Exodus 15:3) and Spirit (John 4:24).

The fact that the last appearance of praus is in the context of meek women and the hidden man of the heart reveals an important truth about the nature of the last 3 items listed in 1 Timothy 6:11: they are related to "female" weakness that hides "male" strength. Whereas the first 3 items in the list -- righteousness, good devotion, and faith -- refer to the application of the 3 "male" endowments in a strong and active way (judging to produce righteousness, challenging the status quo in devotion, and conquering in faith), the last 3 items reveal the application of the same 3 "male" endowments in an externally weak way that actually hides "male" strength. When you act in sacrificial agape love, you are allowing yourself to die in weakness; yet, in doing so, you are releasing the prophetic power of God. When you act in hypomone patience, you allow a heavy burden to remain over you for a long period of time; yet, in doing so, you apostolically forge the way for new spiritual territories in the lives of others as you release new and higher levels of God's judgements and wisdom into the Earth. When you act in praotes meekness, you surrender your right to exercise and enforce your will; yet, in doing so, you enable the evangelistic dominion of God's will on Earth.

Notice that the first 3 elements in the list of 1 Timothy 6:11 (the "strong" elements) point to the apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic, in that order. By contrast, the last 3 elements in the list (the "weak" elements) point to the prophetic, apostolic, and evangelistic, in that order. This switch in the order between the apostolic and the prophetic occurs often throughout Scripture as a way to show how the Spirit of God has intertwined the two (an example of this in the natural realm is how the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa). The fact that the prophetic endowment is first in the "weak" half of the list points to the sacrificial nature of the last 3 elements on the list. It requires an attitude of prophetic sacrifice to embrace the "weak" manifestation of the "strong", "male" endowments. It is when you are willing to relinquish strength and embrace weakness that prophetic power is released in a supernatural way, and that is when your "male" endowments become perfected. The fact that the second half of the 1 Timothy 6:11 list is headed by the prophetic also emphasises the fact that, of the 3 "male" endowments, the most "female" one is the prophetic endowment. This is why Scripture does not hesitate to speak of prophetic women (such as Miriam, Deborah, Isaiah's wife, and Huldah).

Before proceeding, it is worth summarising part of 1 Timothy 6:11 as follows: patience is the "weak" side of apostolic righteousness, meekness is the "weak" side of evangelistic faith, and love is the "weak" side of prophetic devotion.

Devotion over authority

The word eusebeia ("good devotion") also appears in verse 2 of the following passage, translated as "godliness":

"1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

As some of you may know, the above passage is one of the most popular passages in the matriarchal Church, for pastors see it as Scriptural justification for submission to all forms of human authority, especially the authority of ordained pastors. Thus, a passage that had a totally different intention in the Spirit has been turned into a tool to suppress any form of "rebellion" or "agitation of the status quo" by "overzealous sheep". However, a close meditation of this passage reveals an entirely different message. Notice, for example, that verse 1 establishes a premise that pastors rarely point out: that we are to carry out supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving for all men. In other words, the passage is not merely an exhortation to embrace and give our prayerful seal of approval to authority figures. Instead, it is a call to have an awareness of all of humanity and to not simply live in a self-contained, "religious" world.

The word "supplications" in verse 1 was translated from the Greek noun deesis. A close study of that word reveals that it speaks of a person clamouring for apostolic justice and righteousness (as shown by its use in James 5:16 and 1 Peter 3:12). Hence, to pray for an unrighteous "leader" to be "blessed" and have a "happy day" and to "prosper in all the (evil) plans that he embarks upon" cannot be considered "obedience" to the exhortation in 1 Timothy 2:1 above. On the contrary, righteous supplications will begin to cause the cursing and dismantling of all operations of unrighteousness, especially those conceived by unrighteous "leaders".

The word "prayers" in verse 1 above was translated from the Greek noun proseuche. A close study of that word reveals that it speaks of a person operating in prophetic boldness and sacrifice (as shown by its use in James 5:17, 1 Peter 4:7, and Revelation 8:3-4). Hence, a person exercising proseuche prayers will have a propensity to speak with boldness before human authority to defy them, and he will show a willingness to die in sacrifice because of it if necessary. Hence, the assumption that 1 Timothy 2:1 is a call to be fearful of human authority and accept all their rules and decrees at face value actually prompts believers to disobey 1 Timothy 2:1, for it suppresses the release of prophetic proseuche prayers that boldly challenge the earthly "leaders'" status quo and enable the pouring out of believers as libation sacrifices to further God's purposes on Earth.

The word "intercessions" in 1 Timothy 2:1 above was translated from the Greek noun enteuxis, which is only used twice in Scripture (the other time being in 1 Timothy 4:5). This writer believes that this word's translation as "intercession" is a bit misleading, for it tends to hide its true spiritual nature. The word enteuxis is derived from the verb tygchano, which can be translated as "to obtain, attain", as when one achieves something that has been pursued for a while (this connotation can be seen in how tygchano is used in 2 Timothy 2:10, Hebrews 8:6, and Hebrews 11:35). Hence, it can be said that enteuxis has a strong evangelistic connotation of conquest and victory. This means that it refers to invocations with a strong Spirit-of-Pergamos Head Authority, i.e. invocations made with kingly authority as one stands before El Elyon, the Most High God, to petition something until it is achieved. This is why entygchano (the verb form of enteuxis) is used by the Spirit to speak of Christ confidently at the right hand of God making "intercession" over the saints in Romans 8:34.

Hence, the word translated as "intercessions" in 1 Timothy 2:1 does not have the connotation of a weak person begging and pleading before a mighty figure on behalf of another person. Instead, it speaks of a person who can boldly stand before a king and request that the king perform something, speaking from a position of kingly authority himself as he does so. It is also worth noting that this type of "intercession" is not necessarily done "on behalf" or "in support" of another person, as shown by Acts 25:24, where entygchano is used to speak of the Jews requesting to Festus, the procurator of Judaea, that he kill Paul.

The phrase "giving of thanks" in 1 Timothy 2:1 was translated from the Greek noun eucharistia. Even though this word generally has a wider spiritual context (being especially related to the green horse of the Apocalypse), its more specific significance in the list of 1 Timothy 2:1 is in relation to requesting and receiving. Notice that the first 3 items listed in 1 Timothy 2:1 involve requesting from the strength of the 3 "male" endowments (apostolic "supplications" for judgements and justice, prophetically bold and death-challenging prophetic "prayers", and evangelistic "intercessions" full of kingly authority), whereas the last item involves receiving and acknowledging the giver in weakness. Hence, it can be said that, in this specific context, the word eucharistia points to the "Man" Face and to the 2 "female" endowments of pastor and teacher. The "receiving" being done here, however, is not matriarchal in its nature. On the contrary, it implies an acceptance of the will of the giver (i.e. thanking him for what he gave rather than demanding more or complaining about having received the wrong thing). This therefore speaks of a "female" soul that submits to the "male" spirit rather than demand that the spirit accommodate its soulish wishes. In other words, after having operated in "male" apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic spirit strength, we are to operate in "female" gratitude where the soul submits to what has been forged in the "male" Spirit of God.

Over authority, not under

From the above, we can conclude several things regarding 1 Timothy 2:1: On the one hand, the verse has a strong "male", spirit-strength connotation that the matriarchal Church usually rejects and is quick to strip from it. Second, it speaks of applying these (eminently "male") actions on all men. A third important detail to consider is that the word "for" in the phrase "for all men" is a horrible mistranslation of the word hyper, which, as you may imagine, literally means "over" and has the connotation of someone who stands above something rather than by its side or under it. Hence, 1 Timothy 2:1 does not have the connotation often given to it of someone who is standing by someone's side and is trying to act as a supportive advocate on that person's behalf. Instead, it speaks of someone who is concerned about "all men", not just himself, and who exercises "male" spiritual authority over them in order to impart apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic "maleness" into the lives of "all men", giving thanks afterwards as he sees the response of the Spirit to his requests.

Now that 1 Timothy 2:1 has become spiritually clearer, the next verse, 1 Timothy 2:2 can be better understood. Again, just as in verse 1, the word "for" at the beginning of verse 2 (in the phrase "for kings, and all that are in authority") was translated from the word hyper, which gives the verse a different spiritual connotation. Instead of portraying a submissive and loyal subject praying on behalf of his mighty king above him, 1 Timothy 2:2 portrays someone exercising "male" apostolic, prophetic, and evangelistic authority (deesis, proseuche, and enteuxis) over kings and those in positions of authority. In other words, 1 Timothy 2:1-2 speak of aligning kings and those in authority under God's apostolic judgements, His prophetic purposes, and His evangelistic Kingship. Thus, our "supplications", "prayers", and "intercessions" are intended to submit those in earthly authority under God's Spirit rather than to show our submission to and passive acceptance of those authority figures, which is what the matriarchal Church tries so hard to "teach" from this passage.

As you may see from 1 Timothy 2:2 above, the motivation for the "supplications", "prayers", and "intercessions" is so that we may lead a "quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty". When a matriarchal believer reads this, his first impression is to think that God is saying, "Be nice and good and pray for those in positions of authority so that they will not mess with you and you may allowed to have a nice, happy life". This type of thinking, however, forgets an important spiritual reality that God repeats throughout Scripture: that there can be no peace until justice is done, and there can be no peace until God's intended prophetic purpose is fulfilled. How can there be "peace" if a king is lying, stealing, and committing atrocities against his own people? Can such a king be dissuaded from his evil through "kind" prayers from loving subjects who are constantly praying for success in all his endeavours? If your answer is yes, replace the phrase "a king" with the name "Caligula", "Stalin", or "Mao" in the previous question. If your answer is still yes, dear reader, you might as well stop reading this posting and move on to a different Bible Studies website, for your concept of good and evil is so distant from spiritual (and Scriptural) reality that you will not benefit from reading any further (and you will, in fact, incur greater judgement from God if you willingly expose yourself to more of these principles, thus making yourself more and more accountable).

Yes, Scripture does call us to "do good" to those who are evil so that "coals of fire" may be "poured on their heads" (Romans 12:20), but this does not mean "put your hands together in a pious mode and pray to God that Mr. Evil will have a good day and prosper in all the evil that he intends to do today". Instead, as we have shared before, it means that we are to always be fair towards that evil person, which may, on some occasions, require that we defend him against false accusations, even when he has often acted in an unfair way towards you. It also means recognising the good in that person, or at least the potential for good in that person, and to go out of our way to protect that good (or potential for good) from being destroyed. In other words, the "good" that we are to do towards them does not involve putting on blindfolds and pretending like we do not see the evil that the person is doing. Instead, it involves seeing more closely to detect the good or potential for good in that person in order to protect it and nurture it, if possible. Hence, when done right, "doing good to those who are evil" never involves dropping the sword of God's judgements. On the contrary, it involves using the sword in a more nuanced way to determine what is good (or potentially good) in that person and protect it from destruction or unfair judgement. We can even add that, on many occasions, "doing good" to an evil person involves applying painful judgements on him in order to forge repentance, just as when a Godly father physically punishes his son in order to correct him and steer him towards the path of life. When applying these judgements, the "best interests" of the other person are still in one's heart, even after the evil that the person may have inflicted on one. And, even if the evil person has nothing "rescueable" in him and simply needs to be destroyed, one's heart will be focused on destroying a source of contamination so as to prevent other evil people like him (and other good people that are not yet evil) being contaminated beyond the point of redemption. Unfortunately, the matriarchal Church has a hard time ever recognising such destruction as "doing good", and that is why it is incapable of forging God's Kingship on Earth and why it will never understand what Scripture means when it says that "God is good" (yes, the same God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, who slaughtered so many Israelites in the wilderness, and who enabled the massacre of 6 million Jews before the nation of Israel could supernaturally rise from the ashes of obliteration, as per Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

Returning to 1 Timothy 2:1-2 above, we can now say that our apostolic "supplications" are intended to apply God's judgements hyper those in leadership so that justice may prevail and peace may ensue. Whilst evil is in control, the righteous can never be at peace. This is why it is required that we apply God's judgements on "leaders", especially evil ones, in order that they may become aligned with those judgements and allow us to exercise God's righteousness and purposes in peace. Obviously, supplications over a righteous leader will only bolster the good in him and lead to prosperity in all that he does, and supplications over an evil but redeemable leader will put him through a period of purging until the good in him is free to shine, which will once again lead to the righteous living in peace (an example of this is Nebuchadnezzar, whose good was redeemed through Daniel's righteous, uncompromising supplications over him - Daniel 4:19-37). Notice, however, that the message behind 1 Timothy 2:1-2 is not "pray over your leaders so that they may leave you alone and let you live your own personal life", since the initial exhortation from God is to do this over "all men", meaning that we are called to have an outward look beyond our own personal interests so that we may nurture an atmosphere where we can collectively operate in God's righteousness, without the hindrances that unrighteousness always tries to place on that.

The true meaning of "quiet and peaceable"

Having said all of the above (i.e. having removed the hindrances brought on by the matriarchal Church's unrighteous interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:1-2), we are now free to better understand what the Lord means when He says, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty".

The meaning of "quiet"

The word "quiet" was slightly mistranslated from the Greek adjective eremos, which is (arguably) better translated as "separated" or "isolated" and is derived from a similar word eremos (spelled differently in Greek) that means "solitary, lonely" and has the connotation of a deserted, desolate place. The "desert" is most directly related to the apostolic endowment of wisdom and judgements, since it speaks of a place where people go through the "fire" of God's judgements in order to be purified unto righteousness. The "desert" can do this because it is a non-soothing, lonely place of little soul communion, meaning that it reduces the exposure to the sounds of Canaanite soul communion and the hatred of righteous judgements that the Canaanite spirit instigates.

"Peaceable": Strong will against Canaanite influences

The word "peaceable" in the phrase "quiet and peaceable life" of 1 Timothy 2:2 was mistranslated from the Greek adjective hesychios, which is derived from the words hezomai (which is not used directly in Scripture) meaning "to sit" and the verb echo meaning "to have". In other words, hesychios could literally be translated as "having a seat", which speaks of someone who is "still" and not "moving about". An adjective form of hezomai is the word hedraios, which appears only 3 times in Scripture. Its first appearance is in the following verse, translated as "stedfast":

"Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well" (1 Corinthians 7:37)

Notice how hedraios is used in the context of a "heart", which, as we have shared before, is the part of the soul where the will abides and is the soul component most directly related to the evangelistic endowment. Hence, hedraios speaks of a strong will that does not allow external factors to exercise dominion over it but which, instead, holds its ground and enforces its will on its surroundings. The verse above, as a whole, also has a strong apostolic connotation to it, since it speaks of someone who exercises (apostolic) jurisdictional authority (exousia, mistranslated as "power") over his own will and who has (apostolically) judged (krino, mistranslated as "decreed") in his heart that "his virgin" must abstain from marriage (the highest form of soul communion), meaning that he has resolved to abide in (apostolic) loneliness. Therefore, we can say that 1 Corinthians 7:37 above speaks of someone who uses an evangelistic heart in order to abide in apostolic judgements.

"Peaceable": Strong will to fight like Joshua

The next time that hedraios is used is in verse 58 of the following passage, again translated as "stedfast":

"57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:57-58)

Notice that the passage above speaks of "having victory", which is most directly related to the evangelistic endowment of conquest and kingship. Hence, it is no spiritual coincidence that the Spirit refers to Yeshua specifically as "the Lord Jesus Christ". The word "Lord" was translated from the Greek word kyrios, which is derived from the Greek word kuros meaning "supremacy". Therefore, the word kyrios speaks of a supreme ruler, i.e. someone exercising kingship. It is sad that the matriarchal Church has diluted the word "Lord" so much that it has lost its notion of supreme kingship, becoming little more than an empty religious title for Jesus.

A matriarchal may be quick to "point out" that the verse above is not talking about us acting in evangelistic conquest but is, instead, only referring to Yeshua's conquest. To support his argument, the matriarchal will more than likely emphasise that verse 57 speaks of God giving us the victory, which the matriarchal takes to mean that God does all the work of conquest and we have little to do but sit back and enjoy the fruits of His work. However, such a thinking has two problems. For one, it ignores the phrase "through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah" that appears after "giveth us the victory" in verse 57. If we were little more than passive recipients of Yeshua's victory work, the Spirit would have said "thanks be to God because our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the victory". Instead, the Spirit speaks of God giving us the victory through the Lord, meaning that the Lord is the enabler of the victory that God gives us. In other words, the Lord's work lays the groundwork, and it is through that groundwork that we can then have victory from God. Said yet another way, we are not given the Lord's victory; we are given "our own" victory through His, meaning that we are forging new victory on the foundation of His.

It must also be emphasised that, when the Spirit speaks of God giving us victory, He is not simply speaking of someone who sits at a table whilst his waiter (i.e. "God") serves him a delicious dish of "supreme victory". Consider, for example, the following example: Would Joshua have been wrong in saying that God gave him and the Israelites victory over their enemies in the Promised Land? After all, Joshua and the people with him did not sit on their hands whilst their enemies magically fell to the ground and died so that they could then walk into their cities and calmly take them over. Despite this, only an utter fool would claim that God did not give them victory over their enemies, even when they had to fight and, in some cases, give their lives for that victory. Without God, they would have been quickly obliterated from the face of the Earth, but it was God's supernatural presence amongst them that enabled their massive victory over otherwise unbeatable enemies. It was as they operated in God that the victory that had been given to them was manifested. Hence, it requires a great deal of (matriarchal) laziness to conclude from the word "giveth" in 1 Corinthians 15:57 that God and Yeshua do "all the work" and we are only to "sit back and enjoy".

The falsehood of the matriarchals' understanding of verses such as 1 Corinthians 15:57 is emphasised by the Spirit in the next verse. Notice that the Spirit of God does not say in verse 58, "Therefore, sit back and bask in the glow of Yeshua's work for you." Instead, the Spirit of God says that the spiritually logical conclusion to what He declares in verse 57 is that we are to "abound in the work of the Lord", meaning that we are to work out the victory that the Lord has made available for us. Again, the matriarchal Church has so bastardised the meaning of the phrase "work of the Lord" that it nowadays conjures up little more than singing in the church choir, sweeping the church floor after a service, or handing out "salvation tracts" to strangers in some crowded street. This is the result of the matriarchals' spiritual ignorance on the true meaning of the word kyrios (i.e. "Lord").

Contrary to most believers' conception of Christianity, to do the "work of the Lord" is not to perform mundane religious activities that could just as well be done by well-paid, hell-bound "heathens". Instead, it means to exercise the Lordship of Yeshua on Earth in order to produce the victory spoken of in verse 57. For example, can you visualise the apostle Paul or Peter handing out tracts on some street corner in Jerusalem, only to have people flippantly throw them to the ground with defiant impunity, all as Paul and Peter say "Jesus loves you" with a silly grin on their faces? Dear reader, do understand that I have handed out tracts on the street. There were situations in my past where I was sitting in a public place and the Spirit of God told me to hand a tract to a specific person nearby. There is nothing inherently wrong or "demeaning" about handing out a salvation tract, but when it becomes a "filler task", i.e. an easily-executed task that serves as a replacement for true spiritual work, it turns into little more than a means through which satan can mock God's people due to their utter weakness. This writer has walked past tracts lying on the New York City pavement a block or two away from where some Christian was doing "the Lord's work" by handing out tracts to anyone walking by, and it has stirred me to great wrath that these well-meaning but naive matriarchals have simply exposed the Holy Name of the Lord to profaning as people walk by, look down at His Name printed on the tract, and step on it as if it were meaningless rubbish. Sure, it is conceivable that God may want to send His message to a hardened unbeliever who will arrogantly reject it, but, in such cases, judgements will be unleashed on the unbeliever's life the moment that God's message touches the floor; and, the more the unbeliever does this, the more the judgements will intensify until he is either broken unto repentance or is cursed unto literal death and eternal hell. That is what would happen if a tract were given out under God's instruction and in the right evangelistic spirit of conquest and kingship. There is generally no conquest, prophetic, or judgement anointing on the pieces of paper that well-meaning matriarchals hand out because there is no "male" spirit of conquest or prophecy or judgements in these believers, so the tracts become nothing more than weak pieces of paper that then become the conduit for the enemies' mockery of God's Holy Name (Ezekiel 36:27).

Paul and the other apostles did not carry out their spiritual conquest (i.e. the true "work of the Lord") by "handing out tracts". They did so by manifesting the Nature of God on Earth, at times causing the Earth to literally shake under their feet. They were able to conquer despite the hostile cultural and spiritual environment around them, and they were able to conquer because they always invaded the territories that God commanded instead of haphazardly targeting territories based on soulish emotionalism or natural understanding (e.g. Acts 16:6-10). Instead of conquering people for the church (i.e. capturing more bodies for the church pews), Paul and the other apostles were endeavouring to conquer the Earth unto God by manifesting His very nature in the flesh. This is what it means to do the work of the Kyrios, but most believers (including "pastors") would rather die than admit this reality. Yes, our "labour is not in vain" as verse 58 above declares, but only when it is done "in the Lord", i.e. in the spirit of the Kyrios' dominion. Otherwise, it is indeed "labouring in vain".

"Peaceable": Fighting like a spiritual "male"

Now that we have established that hedraios, translated as "stedfast" in 1 Corinthians 15:58 above, is used there in a strong evangelistic context (i.e. in the context of working out God's victory and the dominion of Kyrios's kingship), it is worth considering the other two qualities mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:58. After speaking of being evangelistically "steadfast" (hedraios), the Spirit speaks of being "unmoveable". This speaks of remaining on God's foundation without allowing ourselves to be moved from it. As we have shared before, the endowment most directly related to "foundation" is the apostolic endowment of wisdom and judgements. Hence, we can conclude that, to be "unmoveable", we must have an apostolic spirit that does not swerve from God's judgements despite all the soul influence and pressure around us, especially the one from the Church. "Unmoveable" believers are apostolic men and women who emanate God's judgements everywhere they go and who constantly manifest the permanent nature of God's logos truth and judgements.

After evangelistic "steadfastness" and apostolic "immovability", 1 Corinthians 15:58 lists "always abounding". The word "abounding" was translated from the Greek verb perisseuo, whose adjective form is perissos. A detailed study of the appearances of these words in Scripture reveals that they are strongly linked to the prophetic endowment. This is the endowment most directly related to "overflowing" and "abounding", especially since it is the endowment that prompts believers to flow beyond the containment of natural understanding. The prophetic endowment is also the one most directly related with transcending time and with eternity, which correlates with the word "always" in the phrase "always abounding". The word "always" was translated from the Greek word pantote, which can be literally translated as "for all whens"; hence, it conveys the notion of something that is no longer affected by time and can reach into eternity.

In short, 1 Corinthians 15:58 declares that the "work of the Lord" requires the 3 "male" endowments: It requires the evangelistic endowment to operate in a steadfast will that does not surrender until His dominion is victoriously established; it requires the apostolic endowment to operate in "unmoveable" judgements that act like unshakeable columns upon which God's Kingdom can be built; and it requires the prophetic endowment in order to "always abound", thereby overrunning all natural and soulish limitations and creating a channel through which eternity can flow into the temporal realm. As you can see, this goes way beyond singing in the choir, sweeping the church after a service, or randomly handing out simple salvation tracts on the street. The fact that hedraios "steadfastness" is mentioned first in 1 Corinthians 15:58 emphasises the direct linkage between hedraios and the verse's evangelistic context of "victory" and the nature of the Kyrios.

"Peaceable": To conquer across time and space

The third and last time that hedraios appears in Scripture is in the following verse, this time translated as "settled":

"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister" (Colossians 1:23)

Notice how hedraios is mentioned in the context of "faith", which once again points to the evangelistic endowment, given that, as we have shared before, the ministry most directly related to faith is the evangelistic ministry. The connection to the evangelistic endowment is also present in another word whose linkage to the evangelistic endowment generally gets lost in the translation to English: the word "gospel", which is translated from the word euaggelion and is almost identical to the Greek word for "evangelist", euaggelistes.

When most of us read Colossians 1:23 above, we have a natural tendency to gloss over the words, treating them like poetry and accepting them as truth that has been spiked with hyperbole for dramatic effect. Aware of this natural tendency, let us re-read what Paul is daring to say in the verse above: "the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister". Notice that Paul is not saying that the Gospel will be preached to every creature under heaven. Instead, he uses the word was as if to indicate something that has already happened. However, this writer would like to challenge you with the following question: At the time of Paul's writing, had the Gospel been preached in all of China? Yes, it is believed that the apostle Thomas made it all the way to India and established a church there before being martyred. Yet, assuming that Thomas (or some other apostle) crossed from India into China, can it reasonably be said that he was able to preach the Gospel to every Chinese, including the ones in the faraway province of Canton, the island of Hong Kong, or the province of Fujian at the time that Paul wrote Colossians 1:23? Yet Paul very clearly said that the Gospel was preached to every creature under Heaven. Some might say, "Well, Paul was speaking in faith, prophesying about the day when the Gospel would be preached to every single creature under Heaven, especially with the advent of television and other technologies." Even though, there would be a measure of truth in this statement, it is clear that Paul was not simply prophesying about some future event. To insist on this is equivalent to shutting one's ears and mumbling repeatedly, "I did not hear what I just heard", because admitting to hearing it would challenge us to question the veracity of Scripture. The truth, however, is that you did hear what you just heard. Paul did say that the Gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven at the time when Colossians was written; and, to emphasise that he was not prophesying about some future feat performed by people in some distant future, he ends the verse by saying "whereof I Paul am made a minister", as if to say, "I, Paul, have been involved in making what I just said a reality ... Yes, I, Paul, the human born in Tarsus around 5 A.D. with the name 'Saul' in my birth certificate, not some poetic figure of people operating in the apostolic endowment in some future place and time". What, then, can we make of Paul's words? If they are not to be taken as poetic hyperbole, how can we interpret them without having to admit that they are false?

To answer this question, we must first admit the truth before us. Paul's words in Colossians 1:23 are not literally true, and to claim that they are is tantamount to radical self-delusion. They cannot be taken as a prophecy of a future event due to 3 reasons:

Given the above, we are left with the only remaining possibility: that Paul was not speaking about literally preaching to every creature under heaven, and he was indeed referring to himself as the one executing this action in the past. In other words, Paul was declaring that he, in his prayers, had already travelled around the entire globe and declared the Gospel that he knew to every creature under heaven. In the depths of their slumber, Paul had already approached them in the Spirit and whispered the truth to every one of them. Even if they were not consciously aware of the man named Yeshua from Nazareth or the relevance of His life or death, and even if they were to die without ever having heard His Name, they had become aware of Him in their subconscious and were capable (if they were willing) to exercise their faith in Him, with their lives exhibiting tangible, visible consequences of those exercises of faith. In those who were "circumstantially available" to hear the literal message, this internal, subconscious faith manifested itself in an overt confession of Yeshua's Lordship. In all others, their exercise of faith was still acknowledged and blessed by the Lord, and it was counted unto salvation for them, not only in eternity but in their natural lives on Earth. Paul, as a true believer in the redemptive work of the Lord in man's life, had enough faith to believe that "little old he", former persecutor of the Church, had the power and the authority to accomplish this awesome feat of reaching out to every creature under heaven with the Gospel that he knew, even if he would never get the opportunity to literally preach to the vast majority of them. This is why God rewarded and honoured his faith, to the point that he ended up writing 13 of the 27 books (almost half) of the New Testament, and his words (even the literal ones that he put down on the 1st-century equivalent of "paper") have been printed over and over for over 1900 years and are literally circulating all around the planet, to the point that they have either been heard or been within earshot of just about every human being currently alive on the face of the Earth.

On top of the above, it can be said that even the word "creature" in Colossians 1:23 has a deeper connotation than its literal meaning. The word "creature" was translated from the Greek word ktisis, which, interestingly enough, is used 8 verses earlier, in Colossians 1:15:

"12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:" (Colossians 1:12-15)

Notice that verse 15 establishes a common lineage between the Father's Son (v13) and every "creature", given that the phrase "firstborn of a group" implies that every member of that group descends from the same father or source. Notice also that, just before referring to the Lord as the "firstborn of every creature", Paul declares that He is the "image of the invisible God". Hence, we can conclude that the word "creature" refers to more than biological living beings; it refers to those who share in the God Nature of Yeshua. Not only that, it can be said that the word "creature" refers to those who at some point will be willing to have that Nature created inside of them, for, in God's eyes, that moment is a reality that is only waiting to be manifested. Hence, Paul's preaching to "every creature under heaven" refers to his spiritual journey across space and time to reach out to all those with the potential to receive the Gospel and share in the invisible God-Nature of the firstborn. Paul's ability to do this did not stem from some "inherent greatness" that God ascribed to him and him alone. It stems from his faith in the God-Nature of Yeshua that he knew was inside of him. Hence, this ability is available to every ktisis, to every creature who is willing to put into action the God-Nature inside of them through eusebeia, i.e. through "good devotion".

{As a final parenthesis on the words hesychios and its related word hedraios, it is worth pointing out that the word "quiet" in the phrase "meek and quiet spirit" of 1 Peter 3:4 above was also translated from hesychios, meaning that both the words for "meek" (praus) and "quiet" in the phrase "meek and quiet spirit" of 1 Peter 3:4 point to the evangelistic endowment. It is also worth mentioning here that hesychios only appears in 2 verses of Scripture (1 Peter 3:4 and 1 Timothy 2:2), both of which we have "stumbled upon" in this study of eusebeia devotion.}

Conclusion: What "quiet and peaceable" truly means

As you may recall, we arrived at Colossians 1:23 as we were meditating on the Greek word hedraios, which, as we saw in its first 2 appearances, has a strong connection with the evangelistic endowment. Notice from all of the above that hedraios's connection to the evangelistic endowment in Colossians 1:23 is evident not only through the word euaggelion but through the powerful message of transcending time and space to evangelise every creature under heaven, which is something that, if received in our hearts (1 Corinthians 7:37), can broadcast the dominion of the Kyrios with hedraios steadfastness unto every potential ktisis under heaven, even if they are not within literal earshot of us (and even if they are not in the same span of time as us).

As you may also recall, we arrived at the word hedraios as we were meditating on the word hesychios in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, which speaks of applying apostolic "supplications", prophetic "prayers", evangelistic "intercessions", and Man-Face "giving of thanks" over kings and those in authority so that we may be free to lead an apostolically desolate (eremos, mistranslated as "quiet") and evangelistically steadfast (hesychios, mistranslated as "peaceable") life on this Earth (bios in Greek). All of this reveals the underlying reason why we are to apply "supplications, prayers, and intercessions" over "kings" and "those in authority". It is not so that we may be "left alone" to live our self-centred little lives in peace. Instead, it is so that we may subjugate the environment around us in order to be free to carry out angelic operations as creatures (ktisis) bearing the nature of the invisible God. This is why the Spirit of God speaks of apostolic desolation and evangelistic steadfastness in 1 Timothy 2:2, since, as we have shared before, angels are "apostle-evangelists". As we saw above, the original Greek words mistranslated as "quiet and peaceable" do not have the "let-me-live-my-self-centred-life" connotation that the matriarchal soul associates with them. Instead, they speak of someone who is spiritually warring in order to live in an "apostolic desert" where he can evangelistically sit in steadfastness to broadcast God's dominion throughout the atmosphere. In other words, the "supplications, prayers, and intercessions" for the kings and leaders are so that the believer may be free to act like an angel. There is no hedonistic escapism portrayed in the original Greek words of 1 Timothy 2:1-2, and there is no such message anywhere in Scripture. When God's people act in the nature of Yeshua that has been deposited in them, they become "male" agents who exercise their devotion to effect radical change on Earth.

As we mentioned above, the word "life" in the phrase "quiet and peaceable life" of 1 Timothy 2:2 was translated from the Greek word bios, which is the word from which the English word "biology" is derived. This illustrates the fact that the apostolically desolate and evangelistically steadfast ("quiet and peaceable") life that we are to live is to be manifested in the realm of this natural, biological life. This means that the apostolic "supplications", prophetic "prayers", and evangelistic "intercessions" of 1 Timothy 2:1 are intended to produce a change in this life, not in some magical, future life when we are all turned into literal "angels" with wings on our backs and a golden harp in our hands. The angelic (i.e. apostolic-evangelistic) actions spawned from our apostolically "quiet" and evangelistic "peaceable" life are to be carried out in this realm in order to forge the presence of God in the midst of this "biological" realm, not in some faraway, future "magical" realm.

Devotion unto maturity

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 above, the Spirit speaks of leading a "quiet and peaceable life" in all eusebeia devotion and "honesty". The word "honesty" was slightly mistranslated from the Greek word semnotes, which is derived from the word semnos, which, in turn, is derived from the word sebo, which, as we saw earlier, is one of the roots of the word for eusebeia. Hence, we can say that semnotes is strongly related to devotion. A closer look at the grammatical makeup of semnotes and its use in Scripture reveals that it speaks of something that inspires reverence or devotion in others. With this in mind, let us consider the only 2 other verses in Scripture, besides 1 Timothy 2:2, where semnotes is used.

The next time after 1 Timothy 2:2 where semnotes is used is in verse 4 of the following passage, oddly translated as "gravity":

"1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; 4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; 5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)" (1 Timothy 3:1-5)

Even though there is a great deal of spiritual content in the 13 qualities listed in verses 2 and 3, we shall focus here on the trait described in verses 4 and 5, especially since that is the trait that the Spirit associates with semnotes.

Apostolic-prophetic proistemi

The word "ruleth" in 1 Timothy 3:4 above is a mistranslation of the Greek verb proistemi. Even though proistemi is only used 8 times in all of Scripture, its last use, in Titus 3:14, clearly shows that it cannot be translated as "ruleth":

"And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful" (Titus 3:14)

The word "maintain" was translated from proistemi. Notice that it would make no sense to exhort someone to "rule over good works", especially since "good works" are not external to the person and are not even persons with an independent will who can be "ruled over" as a king over his subjects. This disconnect between proistemi and the concept of "ruling" is also evident in the roots of the word; proistemi is derived from the prefix pro meaning "before, ahead of" and the verb histemi meaning "to establish". As you may infer, the prefix pro is strongly related to the prophetic endowment, since that is the endowment most directly related with transcending time to see things "ahead" or "before" they happen. And, as we have shared before, the word histemi is most directly related to the apostolic endowment, since that is the endowment most directly related with establishing spiritual foundations. Hence, proistemi speaks of performing something using an apostolic anointing that establishes God's wisdom and judgements but which is also imbued with a prophetic anointing that allows the person to freely flow forward in the Spirit. Hence, proistemi combines two principles that are contradictory to the natural mind: one is the establishing of a (apostolic) foundation that, by its nature, is intended to be immovable and the other is to allow for the free flow and movement of the (prophetic) Spirit. Notice, therefore, how proistemi bears absolutely no notion of "rulership" or "dominion" over others. Instead, it has a strong "work" connotation, as when one labours to create a foundation that has certain non-simplistic qualities. Hence, it is no coincidence that the last use of histemi in Scripture (in Titus 3:14 above) is in the context of "good works for necessary uses". It is no coincidence either that proistemi is used in 1 Timothy 3:4 above after having spoken of "bishopry" as a "good work" 3 verses earlier, in 1 Timothy 3:1.

Now that we have a better sense of proistemi's true meaning, we can see that the phrase mistranslated as "one that ruleth well his own house" in 1 Timothy 3:4 is actually speaking of someone doing the sometimes difficult work of laying an immutable, apostolic foundation of wisdom and judgements whilst at the same time enabling the free flow of the prophetic Spirit. It is after this that the Spirit then speaks of "having his children in subjection", which, as you may infer, points to an application of evangelistic kingship over the children. To simply exercise (pseudo-evangelistic) dominion over the children without the arduous work of establishing an apostolic-prophetic foundation first is tantamount to assuming that being an "undisputed dictator" over one's children is all that is required to fulfil what the Spirit declares in 1 Timothy 3:4.

The 7 components of truth

The spiritual linkage between the use of semnotes in 1 Timothy 3:1-5 and the passage's connection to "work" is emphasised when we consider the fact that semnotes is derived from the word semnos, which, interestingly enough, is first used in the following verse, translated as "honest":

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8)

As you may see, the verse above can be said to list 8 things. This writer, however, would dare to say that the first item on the list, "true", is actually an "umbrella" over the other 7 items on the list, meaning that the other 7 qualities are a breakdown of the 7 components that constitute what is "true". Mind you, there seems to be no overly explicit indicator of this separation of the first item from the rest in the original Greek text, except for the fact that the first 6 items are listed in quick succession, with the first item (the "true" item) taking up 3 words ("soa estin alethe") and each of the next 5 items taking up 2 words only ("soa semna, soa dikaia, soa agna, soa prosphile, soa euphema"), meaning that, out of the first 6 items, the only one with which a verb (estin, from the verb "to be") is used is the first item. This is difficult to perceive in the translation due to all the "are" words that the KJV translators artificially added ahead of each item on the list for "readability" purposes. This, therefore, hints that the first item is different from the other items in that it states the nature (the "what is") of the rest of the items on the list. The fact that the last 2 items are more "verbose" in the original Greek text -- 3 words for each, separated by the only occurrence of "and" (kai) in the verse ("ei tis arete kai ei tis epainos") may indicate that they are "separate" items on the list, yet this writer believes that the last 2 items are indeed a continuation of the first 5 items, with the first item remaining as the quality that applies to all the other items on the list.

Assuming that the above is true, we can argue that the 7 items on the list after "true" point to the 7 Spirits of God. Below is a very brief explanation of how some of the items can be quickly associated with their corresponding Spirit of God:

It is more difficult to associate the 2 "verbose" items at the end of Philippians 4:8's list to their corresponding Spirits of God, given that the association is more subtle. However, this writer would dare to say that the phrase "if there be any virtue" corresponds with the Spirit of Laodicea, the Spirit of Prosperity. This is because the word "virtue" was translated from the Greek word arete, which is only used 4 times in all of Scripture. Out of those 4 appearances, the only times that it does not appear within a list is in 1 Peter 2:9 and 2 Peter 1:3. In 1 Peter 2:9, it is mistranslated as "praises", and it is used to describe God's people as a generation that "shows forth" the virtues of the One who called us out of darkness and into His marvellous light. It can be said that this points to "prosperity", since people who are prosperous tend to "show forth" their prosperity by what they wear and what they own. In the other "non-list" appearance of arete in Scripture, 2 Peter 1:3, arete is used to speak of how God called us to "glory and virtue". It can be said that this once again points to prosperity because of how it links "virtue" to "glory", which is a quality that emanates from people who are very prosperous.

The other "verbose" item at the end of Philippians 4:8's list, "if there be any praise", is even more difficult to associate. However, a quick look into the word "praise" begins to point towards one of the remaining Spirits of God. The word "praise" was translated from epainos, which is only used 11 times in Scripture, and is derived from the prefix epi meaning "above" and the verb aineo meaning "to praise". The first 2 times that aineo is used is in Luke 2:13 and Luke 2:20, both times in the context of the shepherds who were keeping watch over the flock at night and who had a visitation from the angel of the Lord announcing the birth of the Saviour. "Small" as this evidence may be, this writer is convinced that this shows the connection between epainos and the Spirit of Thyatira, the Spirit of Service, who is the Spirit behind the pastoral (i.e. shepherd) ministry. Why would "praise" be linked with the Spirit of Service and the pastoral endowment? Because, as we have shared before, the shepherds (or "pastors") of Luke 2 reveal that, when the pastoral ministry is done right, it is done in the dark of night, outside of the view of man, meaning that it is done out of disinterested concern for the sheep and not to receive praise from others or forcible "loyalty" from those being cared for. Therefore, those who exercise the pastoral endowment in its truest form are earning great praise from God above on the day that all their hidden, disinterested shepherding is revealed. That is why the Spirit of God made sure to use the word epainos rather than aineo, since this praise is intended to happen up "above" (i.e. epi), when all is said and done, not on Earth below. Because of the "delay" in the recompense for true shepherds, this praise, when it happens, shall also be a praise that goes "above" the normal praise that can be received in this realm below.

This connection between the pastoral ministry and praise is what prompts those who exercise it in the soul to crave so much praise. Unfortunately for them, the praise that they seek is the "praise below", not the "praise above", which prompts them to expect immediate payback for their work in the form of soulish exaltation and unconditional loyalty from those they "serve".

Notice that we have associated 6 Spirits to 6 of the items in the list of Philippians 4:8, meaning that there is only 1 item left to associate, "whatever is honest", or "whatever is semnos". This writer has found that the Spirit of God often provides lists in Scripture where all but 1 item can be "identified" with items in another known list. This is so that, by elimination, we may learn what that last item corresponds with, thereby gaining greater understanding of its spiritual nature. In this case, we can learn by elimination that semnos corresponds with the Spirit of Sardis, the Spirit of Perfection, who is the Spirit behind the teacher endowment. This explains why 1 Timothy 3:1-5 and the word semnotes seemed so strongly related to "work", since the endowment most directly related to working with efficiency is the teacher endowment (as you may recall, when the teacher endowment is distorted, it turns into the Girgashite spirit, which is the spirit most directly related to unrighteous "workaholism"). This correlates with something that this writer has also learnt, and it is that, once the final item on a list has been associated by a process of elimination, that association is usually reinforced by other passages in Scripture, for by 2 or 3 witnesses every word shall be established.

The children within us

Now that we have established the spiritual connection between semnotes and the teacher endowment, we can go back to 1 Timothy 3:4 (quoted above) and have a better understanding of what the Spirit of God meant by the phrase "having his children in subjection with all semnotes".

The word "children" was translated from the Greek word teknon, which can literally be translated as "offspring" and can therefore denote a relationship of dependence, and, in some cases, a young age. In the context of 1 Timothy 3:4, it is evident that teknon is being used to refer to children who are still living under their parents' roof and who are therefore of a relatively young age. Hence, we can conclude that teknon refers to people who abide within our private realm (i.e. our home), people that we are responsible for but who have not yet fully matured. In a deeper sense, therefore, we can say that 1 Timothy 3:4 is actually speaking of those parts within us that are still very immature, or not yet fully matured, but for which we have the responsibility (in the eyes of God) of bringing into full maturity. This means that 1 Timothy 3:4 actually provides a basic spiritual roadmap for maturity.

Teaching our inner children apostolically and prophetically

According to 1 Timothy 3:4, our teknons, i.e. the spiritually immature parts of us, are to be subjected under the "male of the house", i.e. the new-man Spirit being in us, with all semnotes. As we saw above, semnotes has a strong connection with the teacher endowment and with "work". This means that reaching maturity involves a great deal of work and "self-teaching" that specifically targets the immature areas within us. We also saw above how this work and "self-teaching" must be done in the context of proistemi-ing, which involves the apostolic establishment of wisdoms and judgements whilst giving room to prophetic freedom. Therefore, we can say that the "self-teaching" that produces the greatest fruit on our immature areas is the teaching that seeks apostolic wisdom specific to those areas and that constantly applies apostolic judgements on it until they are fully submissive to the truth and have fully matured. This teaching must also seek the prophetic guidance of the Holy Spirit and allow the prophetic flow of God's anointing. Otherwise, the wisdom and judgements applied can become "stale", "earthly", and of little spiritual benefit. This explicit focus on prophetic freedom is also important because of the teacher endowment's tendency to turn Girgashite and anti-prophetic when it is operated in an environment that is not receptive to God's prophetic nature.

Targeted, detail-oriented work on our inner children

It is important to emphasise the "specific" nature of the work that we are to carry out on each of our immature areas. A good parent does not simply set generic rules over the household without worrying over who those rules are being applied on and when. A good parent knows each of the children under his care, and he knows them "by name". This means more than simply knowing the names in each of his children's birth certificates. Instead, it means knowing the "nature" of each of his children (this is the child's real "name"), which means that a good parent will know the best rules and words to minister to each of his children, and he will be aware of how effective those rules and words have been, making adjustments as necessary. A good parent will also know which children need more work and which can be left to continue growing in what has already been sown into them. In short, a good parent will know the spiritual state of each child, and he will know what work each of them needs and when. As we have shared before, the ministerial endowment that is most detail-oriented is the teacher endowment, meaning that, as per the word semnotes, the apostolic-prophetic work that we are to perform on our teknon areas must be willing to delve in "gruesomely boring" details in order to produce the greatest benefit.

Sowing devotion into our inner children

As we saw earlier, semnotes is derived from the word sebo meaning "to revere" or "to be devoted to" and can literally be translated as "something worthy of reverence or devotion". Hence, we can infer that things that are semnotes have a great deal of devotion sown into them. Consider, for example, the sense of reverence inspired by a building facade with a great deal of detailed masonry artwork. The number of hours that a sculptor must have spent chiselling out such intricate details is quick to inspire reverence and respect. The same can be said for an intricate painting or a film with an intricate plot and remarkable visual effects. Thus, we can see how semnotes in 1 Timothy 3:4 speaks of applying sebo devotion inwardly in order to mature the immature areas within us and make them worthy of reverence or devotion due to their resemblance to God Himself.

The 2 sides of devotion

As opposed to the prophetic devotion that is applied outwardly to expand God's Judgements and Kingship on Earth, the type of devotion that we must sow to reap semnotes inner children is more "teacherly" in its nature, requiring a great deal of concrete work and attention to detail. This illustrates how God has arranged it so that two very different ministries would end up playing a fundamental role in devotion, even when the two are so "diametrically opposed" to each other (one operates on high, the other on the ground; one focuses on the invisible, the other on the visible; one focuses on freedom, the other on containment; one is spontaneous, the other is plan-oriented). Whereas the soul always forces these 2 ministries to fight with each other, the Spirit turns them into 2 sides of the same (devotion) coin.

Returning to 1 Timothy 2:2 above, we can now see why the Spirit of God speaks of leading a "quiet and peaceable life" in "all godliness and honesty". As we saw earlier, "godliness" was translated from eusebeia, which speaks of the prophetic devotion that is projected outwardly in a "male" mode. The word "honesty", on the other hand, was translated from semnotes, which speaks of teacherly devotion that is projected inwardly in a "female" mode (since the teacher endowment is a "female" endowment). Thus, the "male" (apostolic) "supplications", (prophetic) "prayers", and (evangelistic) "intercessions" that are to be applied over (not on behalf of) those in positions of authority is so that we may be free to act like angels, in apostolic "quietness" or desolation and evangelistic "peaceability" or steadfastness) applying devotion prophetically outwards ("godliness") and teacherly inwards ("honesty"). Notice how the only ministry not represented in 1 Timothy 2:2 is the pastoral ministry. This explains why a pastor-dominated Church system is incapable of forging a body of believers who can truly fulfil 1 Timothy 2:2 and transform the world unto God.

The false Bohemians

As we shared at the start of this posting, John Wesley was deeply impacted in his spiritual life by the Moravians' "pietism", but he eventually broke away from them because he believed that they had descended into the heresy of "quietism". As we also shared above, the word "pietism" is synonymous with "devotion" and points to the word eusebeia and all that we have shared here regarding "devotion". As you may have noticed, devotion is a very important quality to exercise, for it releases extraordinary prophetic power that enables the expansion of God's dominion on Earth, and it enables the sometimes-tedious process of internal transformation and maturation. This explains why it was so important for Wesley to come into contact with the Moravians' pietism. The problem with the Moravians' pietism, however, is that it descended into the type of "quiet meditation" that we now associate with Eastern mystical religions. Instead of fostering a devotion that projected outwardly to shake the world, it became focused with "self-improvement" and "self-control". Thus, we can see how the Moravians' understanding of "devotion" became slanted towards the "teacherly" semnotes side, interpreting the "quiet and peaceable life" of 1 Timothy 2:2 in an implosive, soul-centric way.

It is ironic, therefore, that the Moravians were historically spawned from Jan Hus, given that Hus' devotion was anything but "quiet" and "inwardly focused". He spoke truth with boldness and was willing to create chaos in the atmosphere around him if that is what it took to further the dominion of God's truth amongst His people. In fact, Hus was so far from "Eastern-style meditation and quietness" that he ended up suffering a horribly evil death, being burned alive by religious bastards who are currently burning in Sheol as a reward from God for their deeds whilst in (earthly) authority. After Hus's death, those who had embraced his message did not show any signs of "transcendental meditation and quiet introspection", choosing instead to defy the authorities that were attempting to suppress Hus's words, all of which led to the so-called "Hussite wars" that lasted for 15 very "non-quiet" years, from 1419 to 1434, as indicated on Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, the literal and spiritual conflict between the established religious/secular "authorities" and the Hussites ended with a compromised victory where the more "moderate" Ultraquist Hussites defeated the more "radical" Hussites and "made peace" with the Church. Thus, the potential for any true outbreak of New-Covenant thinking throughout what is now the Czech Republic and eastern Europe was suppressed, and the sacrifice that Hus made was forced to wait 83 more years before it was allowed to yield more fruit (when the German Luther posted his 95 theses in Wittenberg in 1517).

The Hussite Wars are also known as the "Bohemian Wars", not only because of the fact that Hus was born in Bohemia but because Bohemia was the epicentre of the Hussite movement. As indicated on Wikipedia, Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in what is now the Czech Republic. Bohemia is so central to the Czech people, geographically speaking, that it is simply known as "Čechy" in Czech, a word that is very similar to the Czech word for "Czech" (Český). Interestingly, the English name "Bohemia" is derived from a phrase meaning "home of the Boii", a phrase that resulted from the fact that the Romans drove a Celtic tribe called the "Boii" from that region in order to conquer it. According to Wikipedia, the name "Boii" can be translated either as "the (cow) herding people" or "the warrior people". This dual translation correlates with the "dual" nature of Godly devotion (the "male", outward eusebeia devotion that effects external change and the "female" semnotes that fosters inner maturation). The fact that the Boii were Celts also correlates with Godly devotion, since, as we saw above, devotion is eminently prophetic when it is projected outwardly, and the Celts are the most prophetic of all the 5 groups that Europeans can be divided into.

As you may know, the name "Bohemia" is now associated with people who subscribe to an unconventional, "anti-establishment", "transient" lifestyle. As explained on Wikipedia, this resulted from the French people's use of "Bohemian" to refer to the Romani people living in France, which happened due to the French's mistaken belief that the Romani had reached France through Bohemia in the 15th century. As indicated on Wikipedia, the Romani, also known as the "gypsies", originated in northern India, migrating towards Europe around 1,000 years ago and gaining a relatively strong concentration in Eastern European countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. It was the Romani's transient, unconventional lifestyle which prompted the French to associate the term "Bohemian" with artists who defied orthodoxy and preferred a "freer, looser" lifestyle. This connection between the name "Bohemia" and a hippie-like lifestyle, as well as its connection with a people from northern India, is no spiritual coincidence, for it correlates with the Moravians' digression into an Eastern-style meditative quietism that mistakenly equated devotion with a search for a false inner "peace" and "harmony" that demonised "male" war against unrighteousness and promoted a "communal retreat" from the more "materialistic" world. The fact that Hus's birthplace, Bohemia, became associated with all of this shows how the "Hussite" brethren that came after him slowly perverted the warrior-like, matriarchy-defying pietism of Hus (and Wycliffe) into an effeminate, hippie-like quietism and abhorrence of war. Thus, the presence of Moravians on the ship that took Wesley from Britain to America in the early 18th century speaks of how this devotion-distorting spirit infiltrated America from very early on, thereby allowing the matriarchy to establish a "quiet" but firm stronghold in America, a stronghold that would "defend" the matriarchy from remnant assaults of devotion in future. This explains why the powerful spiritual movement in America that started in the 1960s degenerated so quickly into hippie dissolution. The enemy has been able to perform a subtle deception that deforms warrior-like, devoted "Hussites" into war-loathing, imploding "Bohemians", thereby neutralising the Church's ability to effect any change against it.

It can be said that the spirit of "Rome" has repeatedly defeated Hussite devotion within the Church. First, it defeated and drove out the (prophetic) Boii from the Czech lands at the end of the 2nd century, thereby "Romanising" Bohemia and sapping the prophetic devotion out of it. After that, the Vatican pope and his followers were able to defeat the more "radical" Hussites in the 15th century, thereby "Romanising" them again and halting the Church's Reformation for another 8 decades. After that, between the 15th and 19th century, it was able to obfuscate the Bohemian spirit of Hus enough so as to associate it with the Romani, a people that perverted the prophetic and opened the door for the evil Eastern god of Daniel 11:38 (whose stronghold is in Tibet) to corrupt Japheth and prevent it operating in true prophetic devotion. The first "Romanisation", the one in the 2nd century, happened literally, at the level of the material "body". The second "Romanisation", the one in the 15th century, happened at the "soul" level, sapping the emotions of those with the potential to be truly devoted to God. The third "Romanisation", the one that happened between the 15th and 19th centuries, happened at the "spirit" level, creating a spiritual barrier, a spiritual smokescreen that created enough confusion so as to cause believers to make no distinction between prophetically-emotional devotion and self-absorbed, Eastern-meditation-style quietism. This is the smokescreen through which babi obastard gained victory in 2008, allying itself with the god of Daniel 11:38 so as to thwart the rise of the remnant at that time. Eternally cursed by God are those who enabled babi, especially those within the Church; banished shall they be from God's Presence, and they shall forever be known as those whom the God of Israel viciously spat upon. Even when spared from literal hell, they shall carry the eternal shame of their deed, and they shall wander aimlessly through the dry and marshy lands of the Earth, like gypsies with no home.

It can be argued that the modern-day American hippies, i.e. the diehard American white liberals, do have an outwardly, warrior-like devotion to "complement" their hippie-like devotion to non-judgement and non-violence towards iniquity. Their outwardly, warrior-like devotion, however, only surfaces against anyone who does not harbour their anti-judgement, "anti-war" agenda. In other words, they become viciously judgemental towards those who do not embrace their "non-judgemental peace and love" agenda, and they become openly devoted to the destruction at any cost of anyone they dislike, even if that destruction requires sacrificing truth and facts. This partial use of outwardly devotion in a vicious and self-contradictory way is what makes the American white liberal the most vile and despicable political creature on the face of the Earth. Cursed by God are you, American white liberals. Cursed are you and your families, and may failure envelop everything that comes in contact with you and every endeavour that you put your hands to. May you die an early death and with great pain as you do, and may your worthless corpses be spat upon as they rot for all of eternity in the rubbish heap of human history. May the door of salvation be closed upon you. May your eyes not be open to the truth so that there will be no opportunity for you to repent. Banished for all of eternity are you, worthless, self-flagellating American white liberal, and may your eternal home be Sheol, where you shall burn in pain forever and ever and ever. Amen.

There is more to say regarding this word, but we shall do so in a future posting...

Prophetic word for today Georgia (Part 9)