If My Master Had a Blog, Would He Disable Comments?

Absolutely not.

I think of the life of Jesus, Job, Stephen, Paul…Old Testament figures such as Joseph, Moses and others…

Sometimes the responses to the main story tell the story better than the story itself, in some sense…

Of course, we are not Jesus, who though He was publicly slandered with numerous lies and twistings about what He did or did not say or do, by so many, in the moment of His ordeal, opened not His mouth.

The ultimate assault to Jesus was the public mocking of who He was. It should be noted how quickly the crowd turned on Him…they did not have to dig too deeply in their private arsenal of word assault and accusation munitions, to go from the effervescent shouts of love and loyalty to the same crowd’s betrayal when Jesus stood before Pilate and the crowd effervescently shouted for His crucifixion.

I think of the stoning of Stephen and other general accounts in the book of Acts…in these cases, the followers of their Master, their King, Jesus, did not keep silent. And many paid the ultimate price for that.

I am not equating myself with any of these per se, but, Scripture did leave us these stories that the Holy Spirit brings to mind, especially when we are in the midst of demonically-fueled word violences by the accuser of the brethren.

When he speaks, he speaks lies,

since he was a liar from the beginning. (John 8:44)

I find it mind-boggling in the natural sense (but now see clearly, in the spiritual realm) that I would receive such public opposition (FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE (PSALM 23:3) and SPEECH FROM A GUSHING ARTERY – PART III (JOB 3) ) and for a long series of periodic private interactions that ultimately – in my view – reached needful severance when I recognized that inherently, this was becoming a private clash of faith matters, and more.

Since I write and express from my own life experiences and am navigating through horrific hedgehogs from past, present and into my future in a situation that seems to have no hope and no end, my brief indirect mentionings of these additional burdens, as I feel helpful need in the exercise of my own voice and empowerment within a horrific situation, within my own blog and narrative, in trying to work through my own purview (thinking, expressions, and relationships which God gave to me and not to others and to which I must account to My Master and no one’s else’s master), is only natural.

As I continue to at least attempt to listen to My Master’s Voice, and carefully, thoughtfully and prayerfully respond or remain silent, since I am aware that I do not need to attend every argument I’m invited to, and that became increasingly apparent to me in bold relief during the past year in a variety of ways, even though I continued my attempts to patiently reason and dialogue and respond to messages sent me and statements made to me.

A message was initiated to me mid April that in retrospect, I would handle differently. Rather than continued attempts to find one another within this impossible conversation, I would have skipped any continued dialogue and taken the same final action. Yet, perhaps if I had done that, things would not have been made so very clear to me.

I am asking those reading who seek to follow Jesus and who pray in spirit and in truth, to join me in this unseen battle and weight I have been carrying. Greater is He who is in me than he who is in this world. (I John 4:4)

And with that, I will leave some Scriptures that are coming into my mind this evening and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to anyone reading this expression.

__________

(Revelation 12:9-11, Living Bible)

This great Dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down onto the earth with all his army.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has happened at last! God’s salvation and the power and the rule, and the authority of his Christ are finally here; for the Accuser of our brothers has been thrown down from heaven onto earth—he accused them day and night before our God. ¹¹ They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony; for they did not love their lives but laid them down for him.

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Proverbs 25:17-20 ESV
Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,
    lest he have his fill of you and hate you.
¹⁸ A man who bears false witness against his neighbor
    is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.
¹⁹ Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble
    is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
²⁰ Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart
    is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
    and like vinegar on soda.

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A Living Stone and a Holy Nation (I Peter 2, CEV)

2 Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don’t be jealous or say cruel things about others. ² Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. ³  You have already found out how good the Lord really is.

⁴ Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. ⁵ And now you are living stones being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. ⁶  It is just as God says in the Scriptures,

“Look! I am placing in Zion
a choice and precious
    cornerstone.
No one who has faith
in this one
    will be disappointed.”

⁷  You are followers of the Lord, and this stone is precious to you. But it isn’t precious to those who refuse to follow him. They are the builders who tossed aside the stone that turned out to be the most important one of all. ⁸  They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over this stone, because they were doomed.

⁹  But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done. The Scriptures say,

¹⁰ “Once you were nobody.
    Now you are God’s people.
At one time no one
    had mercy on you.
Now God has treated you
    with kindness.”

Live as God’s Servants Should

¹¹ Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. ¹² Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.

¹³ The Lord wants you to obey all human authorities, especially the Emperor, who rules over everyone. ¹⁴ You must also obey governors, because they are sent by the Emperor to punish criminals and to praise good citizens. ¹⁵ God wants you to silence stupid and ignorant people by doing right. ¹⁶ You are free, but still you are God’s servants, and you must not use your freedom as an excuse for doing wrong. ¹⁷ Respect everyone and show special love for God’s people. Honor God and respect the Emperor.

The Example of Christ’s Suffering

¹⁸ Servants, you must obey your masters and always show respect to them. Do this, not only to those who are kind and thoughtful, but also to those who are cruel. ¹⁹ God will bless you, even if others treat you unfairly for being loyal to him. ²⁰ You don’t gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good. ²¹ After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you.

²² Christ did not sin
    or ever tell a lie.
²³ Although he was abused,
    he never tried to get even.
And when he suffered,
    he made no threats.
Instead, he had faith in God,
    who judges fairly.
²⁴ Christ carried the burden
    of our sins.
He was nailed to the cross,
so we would stop sinning
    and start living right.
By his cuts and bruises
    you are healed.
²⁵ You had wandered away
    like sheep.
Now you have returned
    to the one
who is your shepherd
    and protector.