Quotes Archive, 2025
"The so-called authoritarian bond is very real. Whether the authoritarian is a controlling friend, or possessive lover, or domineering parent, or political leader with a messiah complex, he/she creates a visceral, mythic bond with his/her subject by leveraging existential personhood cravings, like identity, grievance, deep-seated fears, and aspiration. The codependent bond works like dark magic: the authoritarian gets a steady narcissistic supply, and the subject gets a larger-than-life protector, provider, and avenger for their existential personhood cravings.
This dynamic is not unlike ancient Israel tantruming to return to the codependent authoritarian bond they had with Pharaoh (Num 14:1-4, 11:4-6). It is not unlike the Israel of Samuel's day clamoring and moaning for an earthly king to "judge us and go out before us and fight our battles" (1Sam 8:20 ESV). It is not unlike Ephraim and Judah genuflecting pitifully to the Assyrian king (Hos 5:13). It is not unlike Judah genuflecting pitifully to Pharaoh for protection and help against that same Assyrian king later on (Isa 30:1-5). It is not unlike King Asa genuflecting pitifully to King Ben-Hadad for protection and help against King Baasha (2Chr 16:1-9). Or Jonathan, the subject, and Saul, the authoritarian. Or Ahab, the subject, and Jezebel, the authoritarian. Or Simon the sorcerer and his followers in Samaria (Ac 8:9-11). Or Diotrephes and his unnamed followers keeping him in power (3Jn 1:9,10).
What society calls codependency God's Word calls idolatry. It is making a person, or multiple persons, more emotionally and functionally important than Yahweh Elohim. It is feeling stronger for that person than we do for the Lord. It is being more emotionally reactive and radioactive about that person than we are for the Lord. Idolatry is always revealed in the emotions, the felt reverberations of what is in the heart (Eze 14:4, Mt 15:19). Jeremiah worded it this way: someone who trusts in man, depends on flesh for strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord (Jer 17:5). Functionally, these felt reverberations come out of our mouths as comments, grouchy clapbacks, simplistic excuses, and questionable justifications (Mt 12:34, 15:18). They then come out as behaviors and decisions organized around the codependent bond, further enabling it.
Codependent bonds almost never end reasonably, especially authoritarian bonds. This is because the power addict never gives up the narcissistic supply easily or without taking the ship down with him/her. As born-again, Bible-believing Christians, we need to rouse ourselves from the self-induced coma of codependency, in any form, especially the utterly, imminently dangerous form that involves a power addict. Jeremiah said a codependent person brings curses on themselves (Jer 17:5), will not recognize good and prosperity when they come (v6), and will end up in a dry, lonely desert (v6). Paul said it simply, "You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of people" (1Co 7:23 NASB).
The first step is heart-level, explicit repentance in the presence of the Lord. Then, an earnest cry to Him for next steps in how to exodus out of the dark magic that is the authoritarian bond." (12/29)
(Part 2 of 2)
Waiting gives us a chance to prepare. Some Christians like to say, "Your miracle is in your mouth." This should be balanced with the equally Biblical statement, "Your manifestation is in your preparation", or, “Your destiny is in your diligence”.
If you are honest, you know you are not prepared for what God has planned for you. Waiting periods give us time to do just that--to get ready, to prepare, to do our part. This is the most pragmatic reason God makes us wait. We are simply not ready or ready enough.
Use common sense here. What has God shown you about future promise lands coming to your life? Prepare accordingly and prepare specifically. Proverbs 21:31, God grants opportunity and success to horses that are prepared. Proverbs 13:4, a sluggard's appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Hebrews 6:11, each of you show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.
Waiting exposes the true colors of those around us. The longer we wait on God's clock, the more people around us get exposed for what they are. In the waiting, our social biome gets clarified. God exposes who is what. Job's friends were exposed positively as true friends (Job 42), regardless of their misapplied theology. Judas was exposed negatively as a betrayer. John was exposed positively as loyal and conscientious. Peter was exposed as fickle and fearing people, but had potential God could work with.
Waiting proves faith through earnest seeking. The only way to charm God and invoke His intervention is through faith expressed in earnest seeking. Hebrews 11:6 says (NIV), And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. The Old Testament equivalent of Hebrews 11:6 is 2Chronicles 16:9 (NKJV): For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him...
In both of these scriptures hurt and lack are never considered or even mentioned, only faith worked upward through an earnest and loyal seeking of God. In practical terms, this means the basic spiritual habits with increased urgency and zeal: going deeper and wider in prayer, fasting, singing to Him, going deeper and wider in the Scriptures.
When God sees this faith via earnest seeking in our waiting, meaningful things start to happen. He speaks. He acts. We grow and change at the gut level, down in our psychological foundations. Help or relief appears, often from unusual sources. New wisdom and spiritual intelligence dawn on us. A strange peace blankets our fear and anxiety. And in some mysterious, paradoxical way, the set time for our reward is hastened. (12/26)
(Part 1 of 2)
Why do we spend so much of our spiritual journey waiting on the Lord? Waiting on Him is one of the most uncomfortable, awkward, and sometimes flat-out heartbreaking, experiences in the born-again life. And yet, if you walk with God long enough, you will eventually find yourself in Heaven's waiting room. And if you walk with Him a little bit longer, you will find yourself in even more waiting rooms. Why? The explanation for our waiting is also an exhortation in our waiting--why we wait and how we wait. Let's simplify it down to the six most important.
Waiting breaks our power and will. God's Word has some intriguing things to say on how He uses waiting times to break our power and will.
Deuteronomy 32:36 says (ESV), For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone...
Daniel 12:7 says (NIV), ...I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, "It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed."
You will never hear these scriptures taught in seeker-sensitive catastrophe churches, and even some extreme word of faith churches. However, the truth is, if we are living in our own power we are not living in God's. If we are making decisions by our own will we are not making them by God's. God will have no competitors to His power and will, especially not from His own ekklesia. So what does He do? He incarcerates and freezes us in times of waiting until our self-power and self-will have been finally broken. Only then is our vessel empty enough to be filled to overflowing with His power and will. Paul describes this very mechanism in 2Corinthians 4:7-11 (NKJV): But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
The mechanism Paul is describing is identical to the verses in Deuteronomy and Daniel: waiting breaks our power and will and brings them to an end. It smashes the earthen vessel to prove that it is an earthen vessel, that the display of power may be of God and not of us.
Waiting rearranges what we value most. If we are honest, we enter difficult waiting seasons with some emotional hangups. Some "issues". Some weird habits. Some childish attitudes and behaviors. We want certain things more than we want the best things. God is a terrible father if He leaves us like this.
We need waiting periods, with God and with ourselves, to simply grow up. To go from boys, emotionally and mentally, to men of maturity, fortitude, and stoicism. To go from girls, emotionally and mentally, to women of maturity, wisdom, and balance. This can only happen if our gut-level values are forced to change and rearrange. Waiting, especially waiting in pain, has unspeakable power to make us prioritize the best things. Peripheral, less important wants find their rightful place in the margin as God's highest priorities slide to the center. Read Daniel 11:33-35.
Waiting illuminates our ignorance and God's omniscience. Have you ever fully realized how much you do not know? The subtle engine of self-will is that we think we know. We think we know enough, more than we actually do. So God employs waiting periods to give us humbling moments of realization of how much we do not know, and lifechanging illuminations of His omniscience.
God's waiting periods reveal facts and factors we never knew or even thought of. We see things about ourselves we were blind to before. We see things about others we never noticed. We stumble upon information we never heard of or read or studied. We learn about a past event that was kept secret from us. We learn truths and concepts hidden in plain sight, but hidden to us because of our know-it-all pride. On and on goes the list of major and minor details we are completely ignorant of sometimes.
This is why only God can be the Manager of time, times, and timing, because only He knows all the facts and factors, all the time, in every situation, and their implications. In other words, God's timetable is guided by His omniscience. We would become unglued with fear and despair and insanity if God showed us all the facts and factors behind our waiting. (8/20)
"God's first and foremost attribute is uniqueness. In all of Genesis 1, God never once reveals His holiness or His mercy, and His relational attribute is only implied in 1:26-28. He does, however, emphatically and explicitly reveal Himself as unique--unique in position, unique in power, unique in creativity.
It is not until 2:3 that God's holiness is first indicated, then again directly in 2:15-17. His other attributes also begin to be revealed directly only from 2:3 onward, i.e., mercy, relationalness, etc. Why the phased revelation? Why emphasize and establish uniqueness first, above all other attributes? Because nothing else can be entirely right until we are firmly and deeply bonded to God's uniqueness at ever-increasing levels.
To His unique supremacy over all reality, and specifically, our personal reality. In practical terms, this means recognizing and flowing with His serendipity and providential activity in our daily life.
To His unique position over all things desired. In practical terms, this means personal idolatry comes from not being maturely bonded to God's uniqueness. The idol is nothing more than a placeholder giving us a low-dose experience with something unique-ish.
To His unique creativity and ongoing creative acts. In practical terms, this means God does not always do things according to a formula, expectation, or tradition in your head. He wants to do things authentically original in your personhood and personal world. You will have to be in peace and trust, however, as His creativity is working imperceptibly to a tangible outcome.
What other applications of God's uniqueness can you think of and pray about? If we do not get His uniqueness right (Genesis 1), how can we ever get His holiness, mercy, and relationalness right (Genesis 2:3 onward)? We can't. This is why we stay stuck at the tree of good and evil, trying unnecessarily hard to be good and unnecessarily hard to not be evil." (2/21)
"Dictators and dictators in-utero depend heavily on linguistic trickery, chief among them is the double entendre with plausible deniability. These can also be called polysemic messages.
A statement is said, usually in the flow of a speech or fast-moving interview, that could be understood more than one way. The dictator's enablers and signal-boosters play the watered-down entendre, claiming hyperbole, edgy wordplay, showmanship, or simply poor word choice. The dictator's enemies and resisters zero in on the sinister entendre, claiming the normal understanding of radioactive words, tropes, and dog-whistles, and the dictator's track record of behavior.
In the Judeo-Christian worldview, words are never merely words. Jesus said the mouth speaks only what is overflowing from the heart. Solomon said the very powers of living or dying are in words. James said massive entities are controlled by tiny powers, like a bit controlling a horse or a rudder steering a ship or a small spark setting a great forest ablaze. The tongue, James said, is that small spark. Proverbs speaks often about the "mischievous tongue" and "crooked tongue" and "deceitful tongue" and "froward tongue". Paul told Timothy congregational officials could not be "double-tongued". Paul told Titus to only use sound speech beyond reproach that cannot be condemned.
While the world can debate just about anything endlessly, there is no debate in what the born-again, Bible-believing community is supposed to be in character and linguistics. We are not the puppies, enablers, signal-boosters, narcissistic supply, drooling fans, or power base of anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ. Hosea 5:13 has become true of many American Christians, and the coming seasons will prove it true (NIV): When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores." (7/27/24)