There is a Time
First, before you read this you must read “Restorative anger.” For what follows must be taken within the context of that writing. Remember restoration alone brings victory. There is no defeat of evil more complete than that where Foe is rendered Friend by their own free will.
We have misinterpreted, “live by the sword, die by the sword” to mean, don’t own a sword. NO! In fact, sell your cloak, by a sword, just don't live by it. It is your calling to own and train with that sword so that if some choose to live by theirs, they might die by yours.
Is there not a time and a place for everything under the sun? Most certainly, there is a time.
We have rightly surmised what is obvious; that it is wrong to, “live by the sword”, that it is wrong to live by threatening and killing. But we have so consequently misinterpreted why one dies by the sword if one lives by it. We have interpreted it as if you live a lifestyle of deadly evil, you will be killed by others who also live that evil lifestyle. And while at times this is true, it is not the full truth, and more importantly, it is not what is most true. It is not darkness that defeats darkness, but light. For just as satan eventually runs into the terror that is the strong right arm of the Lord, so upon the earth those that live by the sword eventually run into his mighty men and die by theirs.
Is there not a magnitude of evil that only responds to the sharp edge? Is there not a time and a place for everything under the sun? And if there is a time and a place for good men to stand in the breach for modernity and civility then woe to those who seek to neuter our vigilance and remove our ability to properly respond to the sound of that bell. This world's darkest days have been when good men have succumbed to the trance of Delilah, who still cuts short our wild strength that is the swift resolve inherited from our common likeness to his deepest roar.
While he died to make men holy let us live to make men free. For it isn’t magic that protects the widow, orphan or least of these, it has to be you, it must be me. Meekness only gets its name because if it’s Might. The merciful only possess mercy by withholding the wrath they dutifully wield. For the beginning of wisdom is indeed the fear of the Lord. While for the beloved this fear may be described as a reverent one, it is not so for darkness, for darkness, this fear is a horrible fear from the fateful lightning of that terrible swift sword.
What pitiful weakness it is to think that just because one has the means to be dangerous one will misuse it. People with such fearful delusions are the ones to watch out for. Those who fear the common man being dangerous are usually the same people you want to fear the common man being dangerous.
Don’t give me that pussy-ass turn the other cheek bullshit.
While undoubtedly it too has its time, this mealy-mouth, noodle-necked argument that makes this circumstantial grace a rule to cover all oppression is the same spirit that refused the Christ as the fulfillment of the law. This pitiful argument that grabs its ankles at any whim, or to please any fancy is disgrace and surrender; it is the rot of relationship, it is the death of strength, and it is the opposite of freedom.
It is for the sake of freedom that you have been set free. Freedom always leads to the truth, for it is in the ever-increasing perilous adventures of freedom where we encounter the truth. A truth that can be found in just a single tree, let alone the fullness of the majesty of the entire universe. It is by freedom, and for the sake of freedom that we experience adventure that ever sharpens and shapes us towards the reality of his holy righteousness and unfailing love. For only in freedom is there adventure, and only by adventure is there encounter, and only by encounter is there relationship, and only by relationship might we experience love. And it is with that mighty love that he has already sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. And it is by that spirit that we forcefully advance the kingdom of heaven.
If there is a time for the sword then there is a time for it to be ours. For what has been given, has been given to all. Freely given, and if there is a time for anyone or anything ever then there is a time for us. There are no more high priests of anything, we either all get it or we all do not. What has been given, has been given to all or it has been given to none. The authority that has been given, has been given to all or has been given to none. The power that has been given, has been given to all, or has been given to none. The responsibility that is given, is given to all, or it is given to none.
In heavens eyes, this world's ruling elite‘s possess no special authority. Only in their worldly influence over each of us might their treatment be distinguished in any way, for the threat of the millstone is around their neck and not ours.
If there is no time, and there is no place, then shame on those whose appeal to heaven started on that road to Concord. Shame on those whose last charge began with the dropping of a ramp on Omaha. Shame on those whose final moments rang with the echoes of their bleeding brothers. Yet if there is a time for the expelling of evil by the might of goodness then the time to prepare for that moment is ever before us. And if there is a time then whose time is it? Ours! It’s our time. Like every aspect of the I AM we reflect it personally through our own lives. Again, there are no more high priests! Don’t you get it!? The Vail has been torn for everything. Not only do you not have to rely on a middle man anymore, you don’t get to. Since the veil is torn we no longer get an allowance for denying any aspect of his character. With great power comes great responsibility and that great power is the gift of his fullness, and with such a power our responsibility is that we must testify to each of aspect of that fullness. You get to deny this aspect of thee I AM mentioned in these paragraphs as much as you get to deny any other. You don’t. So don’t.
It is, and has always been about relationship, where with him we encounter the depth of ourselves and the big shock is that our depth of calling may only be summed up in He whose image we were created.
It is up to us. So if there is a time, it is for good men to be ever vigilant to the struggle between control and freedom. For control has only and is only operated one way, it lives by the sword. The spirit of control exists only by force. The struggle between freedom in control plays out from big to small, from our daily lives to the world stage.
Since there is a time, we should forever memorialize those whose last great testimony to virtue was the laying down of their noble lives, for there is no greater love. Therefore in regards to liberty, for me, like Martin, “I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure. I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.”*
There is a time.
His name is I AM, because HE IS. He is the still and small voice but he will also rip off your head and shit down your neck. We have Disney-afied the grapes of wrath. A great example of this misunderstanding of holy wrath is when I have asked spiritual people, “what is the most hateful entity in existence.” Their response is almost unanimously satan or darkness. Wroong. So wrong. God is the most hateful entity imaginable. The devil is cupcakes and Care Bears compared to him. God hates evil far more than Satan hates goodness. His wrath is wider and deeper than you have ever even imagined. Wider and deeper because of love, for love does not exist separate from its ferocious, sanctified purpose to protect the objects of that love.
Let these truths burn through your religion.
If he is coming to rule and if he is coming to reign, are we not his forbearers? Are we not his hands and his feet? Are we not seated at the right hand? Is all authority not given to us? Are we not to be like him and do what he is doing? Can darkness make straight the highway of the Lord? Does the lion not look like something? Does the establishment of his government not look like something? Do we not usher in his kingdom? Do we not prepare the way? Does glory not proceed from glory? Maybe good people are not called to be the doormat of the world? Maybe we are not called to idly stand by and watch rape, murder and destruction. Is victory not the kingdom of heaven? Is warrior not his name? Does darkness not scatter from light? If it does, how? It scatters because goodness is relentless, it is wrath unknown, it is rage, it is violence, it is might untold. Again, is he not Thee I Am? I mean seriously now, who’s gates don’t prevail against whom? And why?
2000 years ago Jesus didn’t come to establish a kingdom upon the earth in a material sense, he came to reestablish our dominance, he came to take back our ability to go first and prepare the way. On earth, Jesus wasn't a lawyer, architect, etc. because we are to stand upon his great foundation and proceed boldly into every aspect of the human experience with the most daring and risky excellence so that we might bring every good thing under the sun to every nation and to every man, woman, and child. Is that not the kingdom of heaven?
There is a reason the demons tremble. Because there is a time. Because he owns a sword, he holds the hammer. And when the devourer who lives by the sword runs into those eyes like fire, darkness will indeed die by that terrible sword clutched by that mighty right arm. And we too, in his likeness, in his image, hold the line, where we too must stand in the breach when Foe, fool or friend are in need. For no one is coming. It is up to us.
I understand that to some you just don’t care. All of this just isn’t for you. Really.. part of him isn’t for you? With every denial of an aspect of I AM we deny what IS and in that denial we remove our heart’s ability to see the truth, and where we have blinded our hearts to truth we are assured to fuck things up. LISTEN! His name is I AM. HIS NAME IS I AM. STOP trying to steal from that name. YOU CANT. Just because your modern certainties have wandered from his ancient ways to the applause of the crowd does not grant you favor with heaven. Heaven knows His name. Does it know yours?
The one weakness breaks the chain. Sadly this section of chain addressed here we have left un-oiled for years. It has long rusted out. And won’t be easy, but we must forge it again. It is up to us.
Strength abandoned is itself rendered darkness.
The time is overdue to Make Ready.
Hold Tension, Be Vast.Remember, restoration alone brings victory.