In Harmony

Here we stand, together, overlooking the landscape of our once cherished nation, the debilitating debauchery of society and the increase in lawlessness and wickedness becoming, “mainstream,” in real time. My prayer is for everyone who has eyes to see that this is a, “watershed moment,” for you firstly, and collectively all of humanity.

A watershed moment is a turning point, the exact moment that changes the direction of an activity or situation. A watershed moment is a dividing point, from which things will never be the same. It is considered momentous, though a watershed moment is often recognized in hindsight. But, the word was originally a geographical term describing the area from which water sources drain into a single river or a ridge, like that which is formed by a chain of mountains, which sends water to two different rivers on either side.

When the Hebrew slaves were radically and supernaturally liberated by the mighty hand of the Most High God, there really was not much of an improvement of their circumstances at first. Yes, the lash of the whip was gone from their flesh, but they were slowly wandering in forsaken places with the constant threat of thirst, starvation, and no known plan for their homelessness. The natural pressure of all of the, “unknowns,” were real and constant. They, “felt,” that leadership was not providing the type and amount of answers they needed. Long, aimless days were turning into sweaty weeks. The once compelling, unshakeable force of the, “promise of Yahweh,” was now seemingly a faint whisper of the good-ole’-days when signs and wonders rained down regularly like, “Jesus loves you,” prophecies in a Ted-talk, plastic church.

They were in the sun-burned raw of the now.

Then, the ever merciful and always loving Father brought them to Mount Sinai, where their journey faced a watershed moment. In that historic place, God gave them the answers to all the questions, but it required trust to focus those answers into useable assets. There was still a journey ahead, a hard one at that, but the destination was now determined… and the idea of, “promised land,” started to take shape in their thoughts as Pastor Moses gave them the new moral and spiritual road-map.

That mountain experience rose above all the circumstances of the past and split them from what the future potential could be. They obviously chose to flow with the wrong direction of the water shedding from that liminal moment… sadly.

Here we stand as well, facing a high mountain of Divine intervention where one side is a, “One World Government,” of mandates, tyranny, endless wars, sexual deviancy, gender bending, logic-denying science, mainstream child abuse, human trafficking, Nazi-esk policing, weaponized government, satanic media, economic devastation, and the next fifty plan-demics already conceived. The other side is shedding the waters of life, liberty, and the pursuit of Jesus-ordained happiness. Just like those embattled, immature Hebrews of Exodus, our worldwide populous faces a mountainous choice: follow the easy, downstream flow of culture and society into the abyss of godlessness… or… like Caleb, maintain our youthful strength, practice our daily swordplay, and rush at the walled cities filled with giant demon Nephilim… overflowing with righteous anticipation for the manifest covenant promise of the faithful God of our fore-fathers.

The Great Awakening vs. The Great Enslavement

Romans 6:16-18 NET
Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

Please recall my many hours of teaching on this particular word, “sin,” in this context and apply it to our discussion. The Greek word for, “sin,” here is, “hamartia.” Here is a quick definition: hamartía – “sin, forfeiture because missing the mark” is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature – i.e. it is not originated or empowered by God. This word is a noun, NOT a verb. Read that again, please. I emphasize that because it is not the action that brings on the slavery in these above radical verses, it is the nature, the identity, the mindset, the worldview that entraps or ensnares us to a slave master who is the arch-enemy of our good and loving Savior and eternal liberator.

If you look closely, you can see that the word hamartia looks similar to our English word, “harmony.” That is because the roots of both words are the same. When a person is embracing an identity or mindset of, “missing the mark,” they are, “out of harmony,” with God’s intended way of life. It is like me playing the French horn during a RUGGED event instead of the drums. As much development potential there is in my drumming (and there is a bunch), you could easily imagine how excruciatingly terrible that funky horn in my big, bearded mouth would be. It would be as torturous as a donkey braying at midnight in a tin barn filled with screech owls startled by a fog horn.

The plans and purposes of God, first accomplished in the Gospel and then finalized in the Finished Work of Christ, are to bring the harmony back to our life and soul. When we are harmonized in Christoformity (conformity to the Christ-life), we become part of the symphony of the ages and join with the heavenly (edenic) resonance intended from the Genesis of creation. We bear the image of the beautiful balance of God. That word symphony should embody a beautiful understanding of everything being tuned perfectly and played together in such a way that the movements can wash over our souls like refreshing waves of the warm sea.

In fact, that word, “symphony” has its root in another Greek word, “sumphónésis.” This word has a simple definition of, “harmony, agreement, concord.” It is used (in this particular lemma) in only one place (hapax legomenon): 2 Corinthians 6:15 in the word, “agreement.” But, read the whole context with me please.

Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 NET

Notice this watershed moment of choosing our Divine Destiny in Christ stands in direct opposition to the ensnarement of the world in all the serpent subtleness that looks like regular, common, “normal” life. We are the workmanship of Christ’s New Life creative expression… workmanship coming from Ephesians two where the Greek word is, “poiema,” which is a kind of, “God Poem.” Our entire and eternal heritage is composed of the heart’s desire of our Father for us to be in perfect harmony with Him to form the symphony of the Body of Christ. We cannot be a billion soul symphony until we are a Beloved Church band hitting the beats and chords together. We cannot be a hundred member band until we have our intimate covenant relationships (marriages, families, Grace Groups, one-on-one discipleship) harmonizing in co-submission to one another’s frequencies.

There is a mountain that rises magnificently above the landscape of this physical realm and it is the shape of a cross. That watershed structure will require mankind to choose to flow down one side or the other. One is complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ our redeemer, the other side is self-righteous exaltation with eventual painful destruction. The choice one makes will be CLEAR and OBVIOUS to even a peripheral observer because it will be rooted in every word, behavior, and action.

It is such a deep honor for me to say that I know what side I am on and how many of you that are gathered there with me. We have come to this mountain for, “such a time as this,” and we will be the generation that are the true heroes of our God!

I love you greatly!
Steve