The Tidy Deception

There’s a deception that I’ve come to … well, I don’t know that I actually “hate” it, but I sure don’t love it.

It’s a deception, an illusion, and it’s perpetrated, many times, in God’s name, and often with the best of intentions.

It’s the deception of the finished lesson.

I became aware of it while I was studying something-or-other for teaching. I felt like I was wrestling a greased pig. I cut my way through bunny trails and wild goose chases and fought off premature and inaccurate conclusions.

It was a long and arduous process.

And when I was done, I presented my results to the folks I was teaching, all tidy, all logical, all wrapped up with a nice little bow on it.

It was good teaching. And my conclusions were both accurate and relevant.

But I was uncomfortable with how tidy it was. This was not a tidy topic, and I felt that I’d done folks a disservice by hiding the blood, sweat, toil and tears that went into the process.

In actual fact, the blood, sweat, toil and tears are a legitimate part of the topic, of the conversation. Let’s be honest: outside of TV shows, there aren’t a lot of thorny questions that tidily wrap themselves up in 30 minutes, are there?

It seems to me that the need to make things tidy and clean and neat is not actually a benefit to American culture.

Let’s be specific. If we think that the abortion issue has a clean and simple answer, we’re not paying attention. If we think that the topic of social justice can be solved easily, we’re smoking something interesting. If we think the fear of God, or the grace of God, or the rapture, or the solution to immigration, or balancing a household budget have tidy answers, we’re not seeing the whole of the subject.

Christian platitudes are an abysmal failure. But Christian blogs and Christian books (and not-so-Christian books) that have clear-cut answers are equally deceptive.

We’ll see how I respond to this, how I deal with this in the future. As much as anyone else, I like having clear answers readily available, and I like not looking like a dork as I stumble for an answer that actually means something on a complex topic.

But we might find that not every post has a confident conclusion. I don’t know. We’ll see how this turns out.

Prophecy

2019 A Season of – “Yes they can!”

Every year for as long as I can remember the Lord has given me my personal word for the upcoming year, and sometimes it would be a bit bigger and meant for a couple of others as well. But the word I received this morning for 2019 is monstrously BIG and meant for a wide range of individuals.

Very early this morning the Lord gave me a dream that actually had me falling under the Spirit while in the dream in a way that I have not experienced in 50 years of dreams…to say it was exciting would be an understatement. Holy Spirit and I talked about the dream for probably a hour (2 am – 3 am) this morning and this is what I can share. It’s a bit long so I beg your patience.

In the first scene I was young man (in my late teens early 20s) in Northern California (I’m from Oroville), and a large group of us were talking about the recent fires and our upcoming group gathering up in the mountains.

In the second scene I was driving a white Toyota coupe (like a Celica) to the gathering. I made a left hand turn onto a narrow two lane highway and headed north. After a short period of time I began to see burned out cabins and trees, then I came upon a small group (four or five) people that were cleaning up what they could of their belongings and getting into their car and heading back the way I just came towards town.

In the next scene I turned right onto another two lane road and headed towards the mountains. I came to the point where I was supposed to turn to the right again but the road had been significantly destroyed by the fire. It was twisted and laying at about a 45 degree angle. (I’ve seen damage like this following Katrina while in Mississippi – but not from fire). I saw a detour sign and realized that I had missed a turn and went back down the road a ways.

In the next scene I came upon what looked like a detour and turned on it. But after a short ways I found myself heading towards a school building and I was beginning to drive on what appeared to be scaffolding. I just punched the gas, jumping from spot to spot until I came to a point where there was someone outside that stopped me from going any further because “they” didn’t think it was safe.

In the next scene I was able to make it back down the hillside and met up with some of our group heading to the correct detour. I had to leave my car and I was frustrated, but glad to be moving again. I was sitting up front in the passenger seat, when my grandfather began to get car sick. We made a left hand turn down “Sandy” road and came to a spot where we could stop and he could get out for a breath of fresh air.

In the next scene I saw that we were on the other side of the school and I could see my car, and the fact that there was a way for me to keep on going from there. So I jumped out, but had to chase a few toddlers back to the car. A friend and I made our way back to my car. As we were about to get in the car I heard a beautiful female voice signing and we stopped and went in looking to see who it was.

In the next scene we saw the young lady heading into a class room, still singing, and several others had joined singing in the hallway.

In the final scene I came under the power of the Holy Spirit and I heard Him say “1968 – The Summer of Lost Innocence” and I felt impressed that there needed to be a concert for the fire victims in the area focusing on the past promises God had made and how they were only delayed not destroyed…I was then transported to current time and thought of several friends that had lost everything in the Paradise – Camp Fire. Then I woke up.

Holy Spirit and I began to talk about the dream, He impressed upon me that,

“This is a dream within a dream and more complex that you’ve had in the past…it is meant to speak to multiple people, from multiple generations, about multiple problems – but that ALL WOULD SEE A ‘YES THEY CAN’ DO IT season in 2019. A season to revive destroyed dreams and promises, to OVERCOME the numerous times they’ve been told “no you can’t do that” by people in authority.

“This is a season of revived revelation of past dreams and authority that have been gathering dust because they’ve been told no over and over and over again. This is a SEASON OF YES, a season to recover and to remember the past dreams – for some over 50 years ago during the summer of ’68 and the year of lost innocence. This is their time, their season, to step into YES. It is for individuals, it is for groups, it is so big.

“Just last week you talked with a friend about how you haven’t done all that you know that I have called you to do because it is SO BIG that it is almost scary – I say to you I’m BIGGER and I’ve called you, I’ve prepared you, I’ve equipped you – now STEP INTO YOUR SEASON OF YES. They can’t stop you any longer!

“I need all of Our children to understand, this is the most NOW season they will experience in their lifetime – this is so big, for so many, that they will tend to default to their past memories and experiences – STOP – and grasp what I’m saying … YES YOU CAN DO THIS.”

Be blissed my friends and may 2019 be AWESOME in the Lord.

Martin Best
Whirlwind Ministries

Prophecy

2019 A SEASON OF – “YES THEY CAN”