May, 2012
When the Pharisees heard "truth" they were offended and very angry. How dare anyone tell them they weren't who they portrayed themselves as being. They worked hard at creating a facade. How dare Jesus expose the truth.
What Jesus says next takes on additional meaning after reading about the wheat and tares I wrote about on May 7 to May 11. Jesus said, "Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch." (Matthew 15:13–14)
Not all the plants were planted by the Father. If they weren't planted by the Father, then they were planted by the Evil One, and one day they will be pulled up by the roots. Those planted by the Father are believers. Those planted by the Evil One are the "religious" unbelievers. From outward appearances it is hard to tell who is who. Like the Pharisees, they appear to be believers when in fact they are religious unbelievers, and they are blind. They cannot see truth because they are not living truth. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. They are deceived. Jesus said that what people say may be made to sound good, but out of the mouth of religious unbelievers the truth will eventually be revealed. "Out of their mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others." (Matthew 15:19)
I would prefer to believe that everyone was planted by the Father, but unfortunately that isn't truth. There are indeed "religious unbelievers," counterfeited to appear as true believers but planted by the Evil One himself.
A Canaanite woman sought out Jesus to heal her daughter. She called Jesus, "Son of David." Jesus was the Son of David to the Jews, but she wasn't a Jew. Jesus came to be a Savior to the Jews. When she called Him "Son of David" Jesus basically ignored her. But when she called him LORD (her Lord, not the Jews Lord), Jesus responded. She was persistent and the disciples wanted to send her away, but Jesus demonstrated that while He came for the Jews He was also going to offer Himself as a Savior for the Gentiles; and He accepted her declaration of Him as LORD, accepted her faith, and at that moment her daughter was healed.
Jesus continued to heal many people of their diseases, and the people were amazed and praised the God of Israel for the works of Jesus. The people were with Jesus for three days. Jesus had compassion on them and did not want to send them away hungry. This time Jesus took seven loaves and a few fish and again thanked God first, and then fed 4,000 men plus women and children, with extra food left over. God cares about our every need. When we go to Him, He does not send us away empty. He knows what we need and he supplies ALL of our needs— abundantly—with excess left over. He is faithful and true.
Addendum: 12/12/15 ~ "Out of the mouths of religious unbelievers the truth will eventually be revealed." Goodness. I've been in the mire of reading my sister and brother-in-law's vicious and false accusations for this past week while preparing for the Settlement Conference which is coming up.
Last night, while going through a mountain of documents, I re-read the two page typed letter my sister and brother-in-law sent to our Senior Pastor on the same day they filed this lawsuit against us. This was a follow up letter. They had already called and talked with two of our other Pastors, each time "using" scripture and "claiming" they were trying to be God-obedient and practice Matthew 18 when the true purpose was an attempt to manipulate our Pastors into playing into their schemes and the desire to smear our names.
Re-reading my sister's letter just made me cringe. Accusing me of things like (and I quote), "emotions became unstable... out of control... deleterious behaviors... incredible degree of anger, perhaps fear, blame, and a very destructive course of revenge... anger and revenge... irrational... unexplainable behavior... emotions barely controlled... threatening... (our behavior made them) afraid for their safety... tremendous amount of wild allegations, blame, anger, and revenge... behavior of a magnitude that could not be fathomed... emotions and behaviors irrational and out-of-control..." All of that (and much more) in just one (two-page) letter!! Her anger was palpable and her words and her actions were irrational and out-of-control.
They also included veiled (and not so veiled) threats about how this could cause harm or be an embarrassment for the church since one of their leaders would be exposed in this very public case. Oh, how grateful and thankful we are that our Pastors saw through their manipulations and did not believe their lies, false claims, and accusations. "Out of their mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others."
Blinded. Absolutely blinded. What I wrote in 2012 is true: They cannot see truth because they are not living truth. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. That is what is so disturbing. They really don't know or see truth anymore. They have made up their own truth and have convinced themselves it is true. There are so many examples of this.
Here is one example. My sister sent me a letter (through their lawyer) after the Mediation in the summer of 2008 failed. In this letter she said they wanted to make sure we understood their offers at Mediation and she proceeded to list them. This past week I came across and re-read the letter while going through the files. My reaction when I re-read the letter was—this doesn't make sense! What she said (and had listed in her letter) as their offers was NOT what I remembered their offers as being. She said one of their offers was for us to buy them out for their actual investment. I sat there and questioned myself. Why wouldn't we have done that? That IS what we were willing to do! Why wouldn't we have done that? Why don't I remember it that way? That is NOT what I remembered one of their offers as being.
Late last night I came across the letter from the Mediation attorney that was sent to all the parties after the failed attempt at mediation. In it he documented the offers from each party and it was exactly as I remembered. WE offered to buy them out for their factual investment—and they refused. Yet in her letter she wrote it as if THEY offered us the opportunity to buy them out—and we refused. What actually happened was the exact opposite of what she claimed in her letter. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. How sad. How very sad.
"Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch."
Addendum: 8/19/16 ~ I'm still learning so much. A while back someone posted a link on Facebook to an article entitled, "20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths and Psychopaths Use to Silence You". While reading through it there were many light bulb moments. It explained SO much. It was so enlightening to read a line by line description of behavior we witnessed. I believe it likely explains why my sister would write the over-the-top shaming letter to our Pastor and why she wrote another letter outlining the "facts" of mediation which totally distorted reality and made me question my own memory.
I'm actually very thankful we have in writing her distortions of reality. That probably sounds strange. It's not that it's enjoyable and it's not that we hope to use their written words against them. It's just that when (throughout this whole long process of trying to break free from them) there has been a strong and malicious effort to covertly change reality and make us (specifically me) appear to be emotionally unstable and crazy by altering the facts of the situation, it is kind of nice to have the confirmation of that behavior in writing without it being just a she-said he-said.
The feeling of it being "kind of nice" has probably come from being free from the years and years of allowing myself to be subjected to that kind of behavior and manipulation. Our decision to break free from their behaviors is what caused "the storm." BUT!! I'm free now. "The storm" rages on, but I am free. Praise the LORD, I am free.
Next Entry: Matthew 16:1–28
When the Pharisees heard "truth" they were offended and very angry. How dare anyone tell them they weren't who they portrayed themselves as being. They worked hard at creating a facade. How dare Jesus expose the truth.
What Jesus says next takes on additional meaning after reading about the wheat and tares I wrote about on May 7 to May 11. Jesus said, "Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch." (Matthew 15:13–14)
Not all the plants were planted by the Father. If they weren't planted by the Father, then they were planted by the Evil One, and one day they will be pulled up by the roots. Those planted by the Father are believers. Those planted by the Evil One are the "religious" unbelievers. From outward appearances it is hard to tell who is who. Like the Pharisees, they appear to be believers when in fact they are religious unbelievers, and they are blind. They cannot see truth because they are not living truth. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. They are deceived. Jesus said that what people say may be made to sound good, but out of the mouth of religious unbelievers the truth will eventually be revealed. "Out of their mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others." (Matthew 15:19)
I would prefer to believe that everyone was planted by the Father, but unfortunately that isn't truth. There are indeed "religious unbelievers," counterfeited to appear as true believers but planted by the Evil One himself.
A Canaanite woman sought out Jesus to heal her daughter. She called Jesus, "Son of David." Jesus was the Son of David to the Jews, but she wasn't a Jew. Jesus came to be a Savior to the Jews. When she called Him "Son of David" Jesus basically ignored her. But when she called him LORD (her Lord, not the Jews Lord), Jesus responded. She was persistent and the disciples wanted to send her away, but Jesus demonstrated that while He came for the Jews He was also going to offer Himself as a Savior for the Gentiles; and He accepted her declaration of Him as LORD, accepted her faith, and at that moment her daughter was healed.
Jesus continued to heal many people of their diseases, and the people were amazed and praised the God of Israel for the works of Jesus. The people were with Jesus for three days. Jesus had compassion on them and did not want to send them away hungry. This time Jesus took seven loaves and a few fish and again thanked God first, and then fed 4,000 men plus women and children, with extra food left over. God cares about our every need. When we go to Him, He does not send us away empty. He knows what we need and he supplies ALL of our needs— abundantly—with excess left over. He is faithful and true.
Addendum: 12/12/15 ~ "Out of the mouths of religious unbelievers the truth will eventually be revealed." Goodness. I've been in the mire of reading my sister and brother-in-law's vicious and false accusations for this past week while preparing for the Settlement Conference which is coming up.
Last night, while going through a mountain of documents, I re-read the two page typed letter my sister and brother-in-law sent to our Senior Pastor on the same day they filed this lawsuit against us. This was a follow up letter. They had already called and talked with two of our other Pastors, each time "using" scripture and "claiming" they were trying to be God-obedient and practice Matthew 18 when the true purpose was an attempt to manipulate our Pastors into playing into their schemes and the desire to smear our names.
Re-reading my sister's letter just made me cringe. Accusing me of things like (and I quote), "emotions became unstable... out of control... deleterious behaviors... incredible degree of anger, perhaps fear, blame, and a very destructive course of revenge... anger and revenge... irrational... unexplainable behavior... emotions barely controlled... threatening... (our behavior made them) afraid for their safety... tremendous amount of wild allegations, blame, anger, and revenge... behavior of a magnitude that could not be fathomed... emotions and behaviors irrational and out-of-control..." All of that (and much more) in just one (two-page) letter!! Her anger was palpable and her words and her actions were irrational and out-of-control.
They also included veiled (and not so veiled) threats about how this could cause harm or be an embarrassment for the church since one of their leaders would be exposed in this very public case. Oh, how grateful and thankful we are that our Pastors saw through their manipulations and did not believe their lies, false claims, and accusations. "Out of their mind come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual sins, stealing, lying, and speaking evil of others."
Blinded. Absolutely blinded. What I wrote in 2012 is true: They cannot see truth because they are not living truth. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. That is what is so disturbing. They really don't know or see truth anymore. They have made up their own truth and have convinced themselves it is true. There are so many examples of this.
Here is one example. My sister sent me a letter (through their lawyer) after the Mediation in the summer of 2008 failed. In this letter she said they wanted to make sure we understood their offers at Mediation and she proceeded to list them. This past week I came across and re-read the letter while going through the files. My reaction when I re-read the letter was—this doesn't make sense! What she said (and had listed in her letter) as their offers was NOT what I remembered their offers as being. She said one of their offers was for us to buy them out for their actual investment. I sat there and questioned myself. Why wouldn't we have done that? That IS what we were willing to do! Why wouldn't we have done that? Why don't I remember it that way? That is NOT what I remembered one of their offers as being.
Late last night I came across the letter from the Mediation attorney that was sent to all the parties after the failed attempt at mediation. In it he documented the offers from each party and it was exactly as I remembered. WE offered to buy them out for their factual investment—and they refused. Yet in her letter she wrote it as if THEY offered us the opportunity to buy them out—and we refused. What actually happened was the exact opposite of what she claimed in her letter. Their lives are lies and they believe their own lies. How sad. How very sad.
"Every plant that my Father in heaven has not planted himself will be pulled up by the roots. Stay away from the Pharisees; they are blind leaders. And if a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch."
Addendum: 8/19/16 ~ I'm still learning so much. A while back someone posted a link on Facebook to an article entitled, "20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths and Psychopaths Use to Silence You". While reading through it there were many light bulb moments. It explained SO much. It was so enlightening to read a line by line description of behavior we witnessed. I believe it likely explains why my sister would write the over-the-top shaming letter to our Pastor and why she wrote another letter outlining the "facts" of mediation which totally distorted reality and made me question my own memory.
I'm actually very thankful we have in writing her distortions of reality. That probably sounds strange. It's not that it's enjoyable and it's not that we hope to use their written words against them. It's just that when (throughout this whole long process of trying to break free from them) there has been a strong and malicious effort to covertly change reality and make us (specifically me) appear to be emotionally unstable and crazy by altering the facts of the situation, it is kind of nice to have the confirmation of that behavior in writing without it being just a she-said he-said.
The feeling of it being "kind of nice" has probably come from being free from the years and years of allowing myself to be subjected to that kind of behavior and manipulation. Our decision to break free from their behaviors is what caused "the storm." BUT!! I'm free now. "The storm" rages on, but I am free. Praise the LORD, I am free.
Next Entry: Matthew 16:1–28
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