Fear of the visible

First posted: December 31, 2020

In the previous posting, we saw how the soul system uses the fear of the invisible to create a moat around it in order to prevent the infusion of the Spirit's dominion. In this article, we shall meditate on the fear of the visible and how it can be overcome to prevent it stunting our faith.

Index

From liquid to solid

In the previous posting, we saw how the disciples were overcome by the fear of the invisible on that dark night when they saw Yeshua walking on the sea in the midst of the troubled sea. Having meditated on the disciples' reaction, we must now consider Yeshua and His walking per se.

"6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" (Hebrews 5:6-9)

As a human in visible flesh, Yeshua must have been tempted by fear as He heard the Father's command to take the first step from land and onto the sea to start walking on it. Fear must have tempted Him again as He took the second step, and the third, but, by the fourth step (Matthew 14:25), the fear's voice became negligible, and Yeshua began to walk steadily across the sea and towards the disciples. What was happening as Yeshua was walking on the sea? What was transpiring spiritually with each step that Yeshua took? To have a better understanding of this, we must meditate on the first few verses of Hebrews 11, the famous "faith chapter":

"1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:1-3)

The word "substance" was translated from the Greek noun hypostasis, which is derived from the prefix hypo meaning "under" and the verb histemi meaning "to stand, establish"; hence, the English word "sub-stance" is practically a perfect translation of the original Greek word. Thus, we can conclude that "substance", or hypostasis, has the connotation of an underlying foundation that gives solidity to something that would otherwise be shaky or shapeless.

The phrase "things hoped for" in Hebrews 11:1 above was translated from a single verb, elpizo, which is the verb used throughout Scripture to refer to "hoping" (at least in the part that was originally written in Greek). Interestingly elpizo is derived from the word elpo meaning "to anticipate (usually with pleasure)". Hence, elpizo hope has a strong emotional component to it, looking towards a future that has not yet happened and making an emotional investment in a future something that is wished for. Clearly, hope plays a stronger role the less certain that "future something" is. For example, unless you live near the Earth's poles, there is very little hope involved in saying, "I hope the (literal) sun will come up tomorrow". There is also very little hope required when saying, "I hope this item in my hand will fall to the ground when I release it". Thus, we can say that hope has a certain "fluid" quality to it. When we hope for something, our emotions can ebb and flow, like the waters of the sea, especially as we see that which we wish for becoming more probable or less probable. This means that, according to Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance that "solidifies" or gives an underlying, defined shape to our fluid, "liquid" hope. This is what happened with each step that Yeshua took on the sea: the fluid, shape-shifting liquid under his feet became solidified by His faith, acquiring a solid foundation underneath, a foundation that could hold His physical weight over the waters.

Reproving denials of pragmatic experience

Hebrews 11:1 above also declares that faith is the "evidence of things not seen". The word "evidence" was slightly mistranslated from the Greek noun elegchos, which literally means "reproof" and is translated as such in its only other appearance in Scripture, in verse 16 of the following passage:

"14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

Notice that the passage above has the connotation of someone who wants to continue growing and who continually reapplies what he has learnt, "reproving himself" as needed to stay within the desired path. This is emphasised by elegcho, the verb form of elegchos, which can be translated as "to reprove, correct, find fault with" and appears for the first time in verse 15 of the following passage, translated as "tell [him] his fault":

"15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." (Matthew 18:15-17)

Notice that elegcho has the connotation of correcting someone about something that the other person should be aware of. In other words, it does not refer to talking to someone about a new concept that expands their understanding and therefore "improves" an already "acceptable" behaviour. Instead, elegcho refers to confronting someone about something that they should know is wrong but which they are not rectifying, hence the Spirit's use of the word "trespass" in the passage above, which was translated from the Greek word hamartano meaning "to miss the mark, to err, to be mistaken". As we have shared before, the ministry most directly related to elecgho reproving and to handing out iron judgements of correction is the "female" ministry of pastor. Thus, we can say that elegcho reproving has a "maternal connotation" to it, as when a mother chides her children when they are doing something that they are not supposed to do. A Godly mother will issue these elegchos reproofs when she sees that the child is engaging in a behaviour that will hinder his or her growth and maturation in some way.

Now that we have meditated on the word "evidence" (elegchos reproof) in the phrase "evidence of things unseen", the question then becomes, How does elegchos apply to faith? To answer this, we must consider the words "things" and "unseen" in that phrase. The word "things" was translated from the Greek word pragma, the same word from which English words such as "pragmatic" and "pragmatism" are derived. Hence, pragma has a strong connotation of "touchability" or "palpability", as well as "down-to-earth practicality". Thus, it seems somewhat "contradictory" that pragma is immediately followed by the phrase "not seen", which was translated from the Greek words ou meaning "not" and blepo meaning "to see with the bodily eye". The usages of blepo in Scripture reveal that it refers less to the concept of inherent visibility and more to the concept of something that is within the range of someone's view. Hence, the phrase "not seen" in Hebrews 11:1 refers to things that may be "theoretically visible" but are hidden from view for some reason, like an object that is inside a closed room or an item behind a wall. Therefore, the phrase "pragmas not blepo-ed" refers to things that have a practical and tangible reality to them but are simply not within the range of view at present. Consider, for example, a radio that is blaring out loud music but which you cannot see because it is behind a closed door. You know that the radio is there because you can hear it; i.e. you perceive the tangible reality of the sound waves that it is producing even though you cannot see it. However, you know that you would be able to see it if the door to the room were fully opened.

From the above, we can conclude that the phrase "evidence of things unseen", i.e. the "elegchos reproof of pragmas not blepo-ed" means that faith will reprove you every time that your soul begins to deny the "tangible" reality of something just because it has not been in the range of your view for quite a while. Your natural soul may begin to say,

"I don't think that that radio you keep talking about is really out there; you keep talking about it but you have never seen it, have you? I am beginning to think that it is not real, and, even if it is real and not the product of your imagination, I doubt that you will ever get to see it with your eyes."

However, your faith will reprove your natural soul and say,

"The radio is real. I have heard its loud sound waves once and again. Those sound waves were undeniably real, and even others have had to admit hearing them on different occasions, even if they would not hear them as loud as I did. The radio goes silent at times, and its sound has turned really soft as of late, but, if I stand silently, I can objectively hear its faint waves seeping through the wall. Stop questioning the reality of that radio, soul. You know it is there. You have perceived its tangible effects. Stop denying what you have experienced. Recognise the radio's existence so that its reality can be fully manifested to all when we finally get the door open and can bring it out into full view."

Hence, we can say that, as Yeshua took steps on the sea, He used His faith to solidify the water beneath His feet, just as faith gives solidity to liquid hope, and He persistently reproved His soul whenever it would want to stray into doubt, reminding it of all the steps He had successfully taken already, steps that proved the reality of the solid foundation beneath His feet, a foundation that He could not see but was clearly there. This is how He overcame any fear that His soul may have wanted to have regarding the visible "liquidity" of the sea around Him. As the waves flowed and beat around Him, He pressed on towards the disciples' ship in solidifying and reproving faith.

Faith and growth

As we saw above, the word elegchos in Hebrews 11:1 has a strong connotation of actions that are intended to help a person progress out of childhood and into mature adulthood. This explains why the verse that follows Hebrews 11:1 says the following:

"For by it the elders obtained a good report" (Hebrews 11:2)

The word "elders" was translated from the Greek word presbyteros, which is the word often used by Paul to speak of the Church position of "elder". Unfortunately, because of the matriarchal Church's Girgashite understanding of spiritual things, all that most believers can think of when they hear the word "elder" is some sort of "uniformed" Church official that has certain special privileges and responsibilities within the Church's "hierarchy". However, as we have shared before, a deeper study of Scripture reveals that a true spiritual "elder", or presbyteros, is a person who has matured spiritually and has walked ahead of others who are less mature in order to make things easier for them, preparing the way for them and helping them to receive a quicker impartation of the things that they have already matured in. In other words, true "elders" are enablers, paying a price so that others may pay a smaller price to achieve the same things that they have achieved. This is the reason why Yeshua walked on the sea first, laying a foundation so that His disciples, starting with Peter, could walk on the sea as well. Whereas Yeshua went through a process to reach the point where He could walk on the sea, Peter was able to start walking on the sea by "simply" seeing Yeshua doing so and by hearing Yeshua say 1 word, the word "Come" (Matthew 14:29).

The phrase "obtained a good report" in Hebrews 11:2 was translated from the Greek verb martyreo, which literally means "to testify, witness", and is translated as such in most of the verses where it appears. Therefore, it can be said that Hebrews 11:2 is declaring that the elders' faith gave witness to their "eldership" or spiritual maturity. In other words, spiritual growth will inevitably be reflected in increasing faith and vice versa. This is why the Spirit of God declares the following:

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17)

Notice that the verse above does not read, "therein is the righteousness of God revealed by faith". Instead, it says that it is revealed "from faith to faith", meaning that a believer walking in the righteousness of God will go from one level or dimension of faith to the next, which will then cause him or her to go from one dimension of righteousness to the next, thereby creating a virtuous circle of growth of righteousness and faith.

The unseen surrounding solidity

As we saw at the beginning of this article, the Spirit of God declares in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the hypostasis of what is hoped for, meaning that faith provides a solidity foundation to liquid hope. The Spirit of God also declares that faith reproves the natural soul, reminding it of the tangible, verifiable effects of things that are there but are just outside the range of our natural view. These two truths combine in an interesting way when we meditate on the following:

As we saw in the previous posting, a close meditation on the visible realm reveals that the true source of all the life and vibrancy in it is the invisible realm. Interestingly enough, a close meditation on the visible realm also reveals that the invisible realm is the true source of its stability. Consider, for example, how the sun faithfully rises every day and sets every night, and how the weather turns warm in the spring, cold in the winter, and then back to warm the next spring, year after year after year. For this to happen, the Earth, which is, in a sense, one big rock hurdling through a vast and empty space, must consistently orbit around the sun whilst spinning around an axis that is relatively perpendicular to its orbit. In a Godless universe where the Earth was the mere product of random circumstances, one would expect the Earth to rotate in a much more chaotic way, possibly with an axis whose angle would vary wildly without remaining (relatively) perpendicular to its orbit, which would cause the seasons at any given location to fluctuate dramatically from year to year. Another possibility would be for the Earth not to rotate at all, which would make each Earth day 1 year long (literally) and make it impossible for the great variety of life forms to exist on Earth.

Aside from the Earth's rotation around its axis, one must consider how it is able to rotate around the sun year after year after year. A materialistic atheist may mockingly laugh and say, "It is just the laws of physics, genius!!". However, the mocking atheist will have to admit that the laws of physics can only "guarantee" this consistent orbit if the circumstances are right. Consider, for example, how difficult it was for man to get an artificial satellite to orbit around the Earth. As you may know, the satellite must be made to reach a very precise speed in a very specific direction in order to maintain its orbit and not crash back down to Earth or spiral out into outer space. In other words, satellites do not just magically start circling around the Earth just because they reached a certain height above the ground. As indicated on wikipedia.org, satellites have thrusters that are powered by solar (and, sometimes, nuclear) energy and that are controlled through flight software and sensors to ensure that they maintain the current orbit or reach a new orbit. This means that they must be guided with precision and cannot be simply left to chance, even if their orbit can be left on "auto-pilot" for significant periods of time once they have been given the right speed and direction. For example, the Vanguard I, a 3.2 lbs., 6.3-inch diameter sphere placed into orbit by the United States on 17 March 1958, is still believed to be in orbit, even though communication with it was lost in 1964. This apparent stability, however, is only momentary. As indicated on wikipedia.org, it was originally estimated that Vanguard I would maintain its orbit for 2,000 years, but that estimate was revised down to 240 years due to the observed influence of solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag during high levels of solar activity. This emphasises how unstable the orbit of objects in space can be, even when there is an intelligent mind behind the object's orbit. Therefore, the long-lasting stability of the Earth's orbit around the sun in a supposedly random universe is a source of great amazement. Remember, the Earth does not have "thrusters" attached to it correcting its path when it starts going astray, and it was not released from a launch vehicle at a deliberate velocity and direction intended to give it its present orbit. What amazes this writer even more is the fact that the Earth's orbit is not circular, not even "elliptical", at least in the strict sense of the word. Instead, it has a quasi-elliptical pattern that "wobbles" slightly on each turn, meaning that, if the Earth were on an "etch-a-sketch", it would form an elliptical, "flowery" pattern around the sun. Even so, the Earth never seems to start swinging away from the sun or into it with each turn. It continues to peacefully orbit around the sun, staying within approximately the same distances from the sun season after season, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, millennium after millennium. And, as all of this happens, the Earth's one natural satellite, the moon, faithfully orbits around it every 30 days, strategically reflecting the sun's light onto the side of the Earth that is not facing it. It is amazing to consider that all of this is happening outside of our control. Speaking from an earthly perspective, we are mere passengers going along for the ride, so to speak, on a "driverless" space bus that faithfully completes its route every single year without incident and without fail.

This stability of a potentially unstable and random world can also be seen in the sea levels. Despite all the "climate change" hysteria, and despite all the (non-imaginary) violent meteorological events affecting the world every day and every year, the sea remains at a relatively constant level across the world. This writer has the opportunity to see the New York City skyline from across the River Hudson on a regular basis, and I am always amazed at how close to the waters the buildings on the edge of Manhattan Island seem to be. It is as if the waters know their limit and stay just low enough "to leave Manhattan alone", even as they seem to be high enough to peek up and see what is on dry land. The buildings on the edge of the river stand calmly, unperturbed by the nearby waters that rush right next to them day after day after day, and the cars on the highway that is at the edge of the river calmly go north and south, confident that they have nothing to worry about the tonnes and tonnes of water racing to the side of them.

"He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end" (Job 26:10)

Some may want to point out the storm Sandy that hit New York City back in 2012 and flooded many streets, tunnels and subway lines, which would seem to refute the stability of the waters surrounding New York City. However, Sandy is actually an ironic affirmation of the waters' stability. Even though this writer was not living in the New York City area at the time, it became very clear to me, upon arriving in the area less than a year later, how much of a psychological impact Sandy had had on the frail psyche of the Democrat-following sheep in this area, an impact that has been exacerbated by the damages that have yet to be fully repaired, 8 years later, due to the abysmal ineptness and corruption of the (Democ)rat politicians in this area. This impact proves the uncommon character of the water damage done by Sandy, for it served as a shock to what had been a stable "water condition". Nothing remotely similar to Sandy has happened in New York since 2012, thereby reaffirming the stability of water levels and the separation between dry land and water. It must also be emphasised that (as we have shared before) a close meditation of Sandy reveals that it was a very specific judgement of God against New York and America to expose of America's negligence towards His latter-rain plans. Thus, it only confirms the deliberate influence of the invisible realm over the visible realm, bringing stability into it and "destabilising judgement" when the doors for it (thankfully) open.

Another incident besides Sandy that cynical matriarchal souls may bring up to "disprove" the stability of the land/waters separation is hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. However, Katrina's impact on New Orleans was less an example of environmental instability and more one of black DemocRat corruption and incompetence. New Orleans was deliberately built below sea level, artificially shielded by dams that were poorly maintained and would clearly not hold up against a major storm. Despite the warnings given to local politicians about this (even by the local press), absolutely nothing was done to reinforce the dams. Therefore, when Katrina hit, the dams predictably failed, and the city was flooded in a dramatic way. The local politicians were so inept and negligent that they were not even able to muster a mediocre evacuation plan, leaving many resources unutilised and forcing residents to fend for themselves. And, even after their overt failure, these politicians blamed Bush 43 and used the race card to obfuscate all their wrongdoings. Thus, the flooding of New Orleans was man-made and self-inflicted and is in no way "evidence" of environmental instability in the separation of land and waters on Earth. And, just as with Sandy, Katrina was (as shared in detail before) a deliberate judgement of God against black America, against an American Church that was refusing to move from the black-horse stage, and against a spiritually-repugnant city that was (and remains) proud of its vile iniquity.

In short, even when you consider the counter-examples that God's enemies may present, it is pretty clear that when you observe the visible realm from an unbiased perspective, the world and the universe in general manifest a remarkable stability that defies the randomness and chaos that one would expect from a random and impersonal universe. Proud and self-reliant as the materialistic atheist may be, he does not realise how vulnerable and dependent he really is. His whole life relies on the invisible hand that carefully positioned that "floating rock" called the Earth in its current, precise orbit and that makes sure that the Earth's "wobbly" orbit does not wobble enough inwards or outwards to either collapse into the Sun or spiral out into cold space. His entire life and ability to exist also depend on that invisible hand ensuring stable days and seasons that faithfully carry out their cycles time after time. He is also at the mercy of the invisible hand that ensured the stable separation of dry land and waters on Earth, for, without that, stable cities with reliable food production would be impossible, and humanity would turn into one giant nomadic tribe at the constant mercy of capricious shifts in the boundaries of water masses. There is clear an infusion from the invisible realm, an input of knowledge and/or energy, that keeps the visible realm operating in a remarkably stable state. Based on Hebrews 11:1, we can say that it is the faith of God which provides "substance" or "solidity" to the random fluidity of things in the visible realm. Knowing this allows us to overcome any unhealthy fear of the visible in two ways. For one, it makes us realise that, intimidating and threatening as the visible realm mat try to be, it owes its "strength" to input from the invisible realm that can be taken away from it at will if the circumstances merit it. This is what happened in New York in 2012 with Sandy and in New Orleans in 2005 with Katrina, for example. Your faith can unleash the power that will "tap" into the invisible foundations that the visible realm relies on, shaking them to unleash God's vindicating vengeance on the things in the visible realm that refuse to submit to the Truth. The visible realm may try to make you think that it owns you, but, in truth, you own it, for by your faith you can tap into things in the invisible realm that the visible realm can do nothing about. The visible realm owes its life and stability to the invisible. The visible is at the mercy of the invisible, not the other way around, and those who operate in God's faith are strongly aware of this and no longer fear the visible in pathetic submissiveness.

Knowing that the visible realm's stability comes from the invisible is also helpful when the visible realm seems so "non-solid" and unstable, just as the sea water below Yeshua's feet. Being aware that the Creator of the Universe is the One ensuring the giant Earth's orbit stability as it hurtles through vast empty space, as well as ensuring the stability of the days and seasons year after year, helps to avoid fearing the visible instability that are sometimes forced to face in life.

The fashioning of ages

As already quoted earlier, the Spirit of God declares the following in Hebrews 11:3:

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3)

The word "worlds" was sorely mistranslated from the Greek word aion, which actually means "age" and can also be translated as "forever" or "eternity" (being translated as such in verses such as Matthew 6:13, Matthew 11:14, and Luke 1:55). In fact, aion is the root of the English word "aeon" (or "eon"), which is used in astronomy to refer to a period of a billion years and in geology to a major geological era (as per collinsdictionary.com). Hence, aion has a strict connotation of time, not location or space as the word "world" deceptively implies.

The word "framed", on the other hand, was translated from the Greek verb katartizo, which is derived from the prefix kata meaning "according to" and the adjective artios meaning "complete, perfect". Thus, katartizo refers to performing work aimed at completing or perfecting something, allowing it to fulfil its intended purpose. As we have shared before, the endowment most directly related to "perfection", "completion", or attaining an intended goal is the work-centric teacher endowment. And, as we have also shared before, katartizo appears in Luke 6:40, which declares (at least in the original Greek) that the disciple when "perfected" (i.e. katartizo-ed) becomes like his "teacher" (not his "master", as the KJV says). This emphasises the spiritual connection between katartizo and the teacher endowment, which is the most "earthly" and "grounded" of all the endowments, meaning that it is the endowment most directly related with "tangible" and "pragmatic" reality.

The word "word" in the phrase "word of God" was, in turn, translated from the Greek word rhema, which, as we have seen before, is directly related to the flow of the prophetic endowment. Therefore, the Spirit of God is declaring that the utterance of prophetic rhema words can mould an age and shape it into completion, i.e. into the final form it is supposed to have. As we have shared before, the word rhema is derived from the verb rheo meaning "to pour forth". Hence, we can say that prophetic rhema words have a very "flowing" or "liquid" quality to them, meaning that they are strongly associated to hope. Therefore, we can conclude that the Spirit of God is declaring in Hebrews 11:3 that, through faith, the liquid hope uttered through prophetic rhema words can "solidify" into an age with a pragmatic reality. Said another way, faith allows the hope in us to issue forth from our mouths and shape an entire age, allowing that age to be perfected in a tangible, pragmatic way.

In the KJV, the second half of Hebrews 11:3 reads "so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear". The word "seen" was translated from the Greek verb blepo , which, as we saw above, refers to things that are within our range of view, and the phrase "things which do appear" was translated from the verb phaino, which, as we shared before, has the connotation of something that emerges from the invisible and becomes visible; thus, phaino emphasises something's inherent visibility, whether it be within one's range of view or not. Therefore, what the Spirit of God is declaring is that what comes into our range of view did not emerge or owe its being from something else that was inherently visible but may have been outside our range of view. Said another way, realistic faith understands that the invisible realm is the ultimate source of all things in the visible realm, whether they be within our range of view or not. A materialistic scientist denies this by always saying,

"Maybe I don't know the origin or the cause behind certain things that I observe, but I have faith that, when the origin or cause is eventually discovered, it will be proved to be another empirical law or fact that lies completely within the realm of the inherently visible."

However, as we described in the previous posting, the above statement is not only logically self-contradictory but it also flies in the face of the overwhelming evidence that many things in the visible realm do not make sense unless they are rooted in the invisible realm.

Hence, when we combine the two halves of Hebrews 11:3, we can see that the Spirit of God is declaring that the Spirit's invisible prophetic rhemas are the underlying "activators" of all the things that come into being in the visible realm, shaping the ages and dispensations that come into our range of view, and it is through faith that the "liquid hope" in our prophetic rhemas are solidified into tangible realities in the realm of time. Yeshua understood all of this and was acting on it as He was walking on the sea, exercising Dominion over the visible instead of fearing it and submitting to it.

Correct and necessary fear

Having said all of the above, it is important to take into account that the exercise of faith is not a licence from God to practise wanton disregard for the threats coming from the visible realm. Consider, for example, how Joseph reacted, at God's behest, when he was told by the angel that Herod wanted to kill Yeshua the child:

"13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son." (Matthew 2:13-15)

Joseph could have reacted to the threat of Herod by saying,

"I ain't afraid of no human king!! Herod can come at me with all that he wants. I will stand my ground and remain here. God is on my side and He will send an army of angels to fend off any army that Herod may send against me, for I have the Son of God in the flesh here, and there is nothing Herod can do to stop God's destiny for this child!!"

However, if Joseph had said such a thing, God would not have congratulated him for his "faith and courage" at the face of evil man's intimidation. Instead, God would have seen Joseph as foolish and disobedient to His command. Why? Because to have no unrighteous fear of the visible does not mean to deny its reality and the invisible laws under which it operates. There was a reason why the unrighteous Herod was the official "king" in that region. As Scripture declares, the visible "leaders" tend to be a reflection and a consequence of the people that they "lead", and they feed off of the people's iniquity to acquire more power:

"19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city." (1 Samuel 8:19-22)

"29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" (Jeremiah 5:29-31)

"In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince" (Proverbs 14:28)

"As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets" (Jeremiah 2:26)

"32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." (Jeremiah 32:32-33)

"9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. 10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD." (Hosea 4:9-10)

In other words, the tangible power that a "leader" may exercise is derived from the souls that support him and are compatible with his soul. This is why a man like Saul, for example, was able to rise to power even though he was not what God ideally desired for His people. The Israelites desired a ruthless and oppressive king over them just like all the other nations around them, and God complied by providing them with a man like Saul that eventually devolved into an Amorite-Jebusite tyrant. And it was this "soul support" that kept Saul in power long after he had stopped being the legitimate king of Israel, for even the man who was the true king of Israel, David, refused to recognise Saul's illegitimacy and rejected God's opportunities to take him down. The question then becomes, "Why does God allow unrighteous souls to empower other unrighteous souls and make them 'kings' in the visible realm?". The answer lies in a verse we have mentioned before:

"The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Psalm 115:16)

The above verse means that God has given man great authority and latitude over what happens on Earth, and this authority has both an individual and a collective nature, which is why the verse above speaks of "sons of men" in the plural (the original Hebrew text says "sons", not "children"). The collective nature of this authority becomes all the more prevalent when men operate at the soul level, for, as we have shared before, the soul is more related to plurality and the spirit is more related to singularity.

From the above, we can conclude that man, even fallen and soulish man, has been given great authority to affect the course of events on Earth, to the point that man is the one who "rules" on Earth by default. Obviously, if a soul exercises this authority in unrighteousness, it will be allowed to do so, but only for a season, for things done in the soul are temporal and things done in the Spirit are eternal. Even so, the soul's authority, whilst it is still valid, must be recognised and dealt with and cannot be simplistically dismissed. This is why the Israelites could not be magically removed from Egypt without getting Pharaoh to let them go. But, as the Lord God showed with the Israelites in Egypt, recognising Pharaoh's authority does not mean submitting to it. In other words, even though God and Moshe acknowledged Pharaoh's authority, they never threw up their arms and accepted it as the final word. Instead, they opposed it by injecting the higher authority of the Spirit until the authority of the soul buckled and the Israelites were finally free. This liberation required a spiritual process that went through 10 plagues and a miraculous crossing of the Reed Sea, and, even then, Pharaoh seemed to have a "say" on how easy it would be for the Israelites to leave Egypt. The point is that, even as the Creator of the Universe and the Source of all life and power in the Universe, the God of Israel did not simply swoop down, wipe out the Egyptian army, and transport the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land; and neither could He simply "rapture" them out of Egypt, teletransporting them to the Promised Land without Pharaoh and the Egyptians realising what had just happened. Pharaoh's "authority" originated from the great soul support that he had from the Egyptians, and his influence on the Israelites stemmed from Jacob's kiss to Rachel (Genesis 29), a kiss that effectively sold him and his descendants into slavery to the matriarchal system. Therefore, the release of the Israelites from Pharaoh's influence required a heavy sacrifice and a long process that could not dismiss the tangible influence of Pharaoh's power, illegitimate as it had become over the Israelites.

This acknowledgement of the visible realm and its power can also be seen in Luke 4:17-30, which, as we saw before, describes Yeshua's escape from an angry Hittite mob that was attempting to throw Him off a cliff. Instead of releasing supernatural power that repelled the mob away from Him, Yeshua had to apply a cloak of invisibility on Himself in order to slip through the crowd and walk away. Why? Because the Hittite souls that were surrounding Him had a measure of God-endowed authority (as per Psalm 115:16) to affect their surroundings; and, even though Yeshua was not about to submit to them or cower under their intimidation, He could not simply overpower them and subdue them in the visible realm (at that moment, at least), and He had to resort to stealth tactics to bypass them and avoid submitting to them. Thus, we can see how, despite being God in the flesh, Yeshua's faith and His fearlessness towards the visible did not prevent Him acknowledging it and using tactics to "go around" it instead of simply attempting to steamroll through it (just as Joseph did when he went down to Egypt instead of trying to openly confront Herod). Having said all of this, it is important to emphasise that true faith also realises that the visible realm's authority to act against God is temporary. Permanent and "irrevocable" as those in the visible realm may feel, they are like fading flowers, here today and gone tomorrow, never to come back.

As a final parenthesis here, it must be emphasised that not all people in power are necessarily a reflection of the people "under" them. Even though unrighteous people rise to power as a reflection of the unrighteous souls under them, they have a tendency to "outlast their welcome", endeavouring to stay past their time. When this happens, they are no longer a reflection of the people they domineer over, and the people under them become unfairly oppressed people who are in need of a supernatural liberation, as was the case with the Israelites in Egypt when their time of (self-induced) oppression had ended. However, this supernatural liberation requires the rise of spirit-centric individuals who can override the power of the visible realm with faith that releases power from the invisible realm.

An immediate antidote

The Lord Yeshua declared the following regarding the visible:

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)

The word "appearance" was translated from the Greek verb opsis, which is the noun form of the verb optanomai meaning "to see", thereby pointing to the realm of the visible. Therefore, the Lord is declaring that righteous judgements are impossible if you draw your "truth" mostly from the visible realm. How do you avoid falling into this pit trap? The Lord gives an answer 2 chapters earlier, in the following verse:

"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30)

The word "just" was translated from the Greek word dikaios, which was, for some soulish reason, translated as "righteous" a mere 2 chapters later, in John 7:24 (thus illustrating how soulish translations tend to obfuscate spiritual connections that would be much easier to make if the translators had limited themselves to a faithful and consistent translation of Scripture instead of giving themselves poetic licence to embellish the text). Therefore, we can say that righteous judgements are possible if we learn to draw our truth mostly from what we hear as opposed to what we see. Though "detectable", sound waves are inherently invisible and are able to travel across "visibility-hindering" obstacles such as walls and distance. This means that sound waves radically expand the range of things that we can become aware of, thereby broadening the truth base that we can use to make judgements.

From the above, we can conclude that the "quickest antidote" to a soulish fear of the visible is to open our ears to hear what the Spirit of God has to say, as opposed to focusing on what our natural eyes can see. This is the case, for example, with what is happening at the time of this writing with the 2020 U.S. election that the senile, hell-bound bastard son of a Canaanite bitch joe bite-me and his gang of liberal whores blatantly attempted to steal in broad daylight (cursed by the God of Israel is anyone who dares to defend that bastard boy and his congress of mandrills from these words by the Spirit of God). Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit of God is saying here.

Having said the above, it is worth noting that the above does not contradict what we have constantly shared about the connection between judgement and "eyes". Judgement is, in essence, the act of "seeing" something (or someone) and declaring it "good" or "bad", which then triggers a measure of reward or punishment. What the Spirit of God is declaring in John 7:24 and John 5:30 above is that the "seeing" required to make correct judgements cannot be limited to opsis, i.e. what can be seen in the visible realm. In other words, to "see" the full picture and make the correct judgement, you need to open your spiritual ears to "sounds" from the invisible realm, for these sounds will allow you to see things that seemed hidden before. This explains why the 2 verses above are in the book of John, since that is the Gospel written from the perspective of the prophetic, Eagle Face, which is the least literal and most "figurative" of all the Faces. Hence, we can say that the word "hear" in John 5:30 is not being used literally and must be understood from a more spiritual and figurative perspective. This also explains why the word opsis ("appearance") in John 7:24 only appears 3 times in Scripture, with all 3 times being in books written by the prophet John (twice in the Gospel of John and once in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 1:16).

Truth breakout

The other verse in the Gospel of John where opsis appears is in verse 44 of the passage that describes Lazarus' resurrection, where it is translated as "face":

"43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." (John 11:43-44)

Notice that anyone who saw the outside of Lazarus at that moment would see exactly what a dead man looks like. In other words, what would hit you in the face would be the image of a dead man, for, on the surface, that is what he looked like. However, underneath the surface, he was fully alive, but the life that was in him was bound by natural factors that would not disappear on their own and required some deliberate effort to be removed. True faith is aware of the deceptiveness of surface, opsis appearances and of the need for deliberate, proactive effort to make the real truth break through the binding surface.

The visible-defying 2-stage process

Notice that, in John 11:43-44 above, Yeshua first called Lazarus forth, causing him to rise, after which Lazarus needed to be unbound from his "death garments" before he could truly be alive and free. This means that Yeshua's loud shout did not automatically break those death bindings. A second stage was necessary, and it is a stage that required the participation, the faith of others. The people who were to loose Lazarus from his bindings had to overcome the fear of approaching a man who had been dead for 4 days, a man who was supposed to not be moving any more but somehow was. This means that they needed to have faith to overcome the fear of the visible, i.e. the fear of what they were beholding.

A 2-staged process can also be seen in the following well-known but little-understood verse of Scripture:

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17)

When most believers (including this writer for a time) hear this verse, they mistakenly hear "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God". Why? Because the word "by" between "hearing" and "word" seems superfluous to the natural mind. However, that word is there in the original Greek text, meaning that God placed it there and cannot, therefore, be ignored. The phrase "cometh by" (between "faith" and "hearing") was slightly mistranslated from the Greek word ek, which literally means "out (of)" and is the root of the English prefix "ex-". Hence, the original Greek text actually says, "faith out from hearing", meaning that, when you perk up your ears and hear what your natural eyes are not seeing, faith is produced and strengthened.

On the other hand, the word "by" in the second half of the verse was translated from the Greek word dia, which literally means "through", and the word "word" in the phrase "word of God" was translated from the Greek word rhema, which, as we have seen before, is most directly related to the prophetic endowment. Therefore, the Spirit of God is declaring that the hearing from which faith emerges happens through the prophetic word of God. This points to another well-known but little-understood passage:

"1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

Notice that, when Ezekiel stood in the midst of the valley, all that his eyes could behold was death, lack of life, a valley full of bones (v1), and not just bones, but bones that were very dry (v2). The Lord then challenges Ezekiel's soul with the question, "Can these apparently dead bones live?". Ezekiel's soul, however, refused to make a judgement based on appearance and submitted to the Spirit of God, waiting to hear more from Him before making a final judgement (v3). The Spirit of God then told him to prophesy the breath of life into the apparently lifeless and dead bones, and when Ezekiel heard this, he did so, and the bones came together and flesh and skin came over them, but there was still no breath of life in them. Instead of judging what had happened as a "failure", Ezekiel refused again to judge by appearance, and his ears remained open to the judgement of God. That is when he heard the Spirit of God telling him to prophesy a second time, and, when he did, the breath of life came into the bones and flesh, and the once dead and lifeless bones stood up on their feet as an exceedingly great army.

Considering the above, the question then becomes, Why did Ezekiel have to prophesy twice? Why didn't God simply breathe life into the bones after Ezekiel's first prophetic declaration? Because the restoration of the very dry and lifeless bones required a 2-stage process. In the first stage, they needed to be reorganised and enveloped in flesh, preparing them for the second stage in which the breath of life would enter into the newly fleshed out bones. In a sense, it can be said that Ezekiel's rhema during his first prophecy fleshed out an "ear" where there was previously none. Once that ear was present, Ezekiel could prophesy again and have that prophecy enter into those ears so that those bones could hear, have faith, and thus come back to life. The bones could not be magically brought to life without their willing participation in the process. As dry and scattered bones, there was no way for them to hear God's rhema, so it was necessary for them to go through an initial stage that provided them with an ear (i.e. "hearing through the rhema of God" - Romans 10:17). After that, they were able to hear the second rhema, have faith, and come to life (i.e. "faith out of hearing" - Romans 10:17, "life out of faith" - Romans 1:17).

Notice that, just as with Lazarus, the second stage in Ezekiel 37:1-10 involves the participation of others. When Ezekiel prophesied a second time, the rhema of God entered the inert men lying in the valley, and their rising depended on them embracing that rhema somehow, for the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). The first stage involves 1 person hearing the invisible and applying his faith. The second stage involves others embracing the same faith after the potential to believe (i.e. the ability to hear) has been fleshed out within them.

From all of the above, we can conclude that, once you are able to stop relying on the visible as the source of truth (i.e. when you stop judging by opsis appearance), you can make the things that are invisible but hearable come into the visible realm. This means that you can hear the potential of what can be and, by faith, make it rise from an inert state of "potentiality" (like Lazarus) and into the realm of the tangibly visible. This, however, requires a 2-stage process, a process that "fleshes out" what is being heard in the 1st stage and then breathes life into it in the 2nd stage. Thus, it is crucial not to give up hope after the first stage, when things seem to come together, like the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, but are still not active in the realm of the visible. As you press on and the inert embrace the rhema of God flowing out of you, life will be produced and the invisible will become visible. When you no longer rely on the visible as the source of truth, you will not fear it in an improper way. You will be able to defy the visible, and you will be enabled to transform it by bringing the invisible to tangible life.