As anyone who has undertaken a major home remodeling project will attest–the “demo” phase is messy and ugly. (This, no matter how fun Chip Gaines makes “demo” look on TV.) It’s messy and chaotic, but absolutely necessary if something better, upgraded, and improved is going arise.

I’m not exceptionally “prophetic” but I do try to keep my spiritual ears attuned to what the Spirit is saying to me. And back in July, I told the folks on my email list that I believed we—God’s people individually, His Church, and His churches—had entered a season “accelerated transition.” (By the way, if you’re not on my email list, you can remedy that be registering on the home page.)

In the handful of months since, I’ve seen that observation validated in my own life in the cases of many churches and ministries I have connections to . . . and believe me, I have connections to a LOT of churches and ministries. There is a lot of “demo” going on right now. And it feels messy and ugly and chaotic and can feel like things will never look pretty and orderly ever again. But they will.

They will because God has a pen in His hand and isn’t finished writing our chapters. And Jesus, the Head of His Church is:

. . . at [God’s] right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 1:20-23 TPT

The “demo” phase is part of a process of creative destruction. And I believe this season of a “accelerated transition” also is bringing with it big, long, disruptive season of creative destruction—for individuals, businesses, ministries, and churches.

These disruptions and revelations are NOT “the devil.” They are NOT the enemy persecuting the Church. They are God, refining, restructuring, and rebuilding HIS Church and HIS world.

Some big entities are being “demo-ed” right now (“some,” not all). And here’s the thing. As I told a friend today, “I don’t know details in most of these cases. But I do know that the bigger and wealthier any enterprise gets the more incentives the key stakeholders have to keep the party going . . . no matter what.”

And some of these enterprises are very, very big.

And to another friend this week I texted:

“Spiritually, it is ‘pride’ and a sense ‘ownership entitlement’ that are the enemies here, not {person’s name}. God’s not having it any longer. But something wonderful is waiting on the other side of this season. Something glorious.”

This is not “judgment beginning with the house of God.” This is loving redemptive remodeling. Yes, the “demo” phase has begun. But something much better is coming. And that is God’s end game, because being redemptive lies at the very core of who He is.

My encouragement is this. Be on the side of building what God envisions. Not on the side of what has been. Pride, arrogance, entitlement are getting ripped out to the studs. The Master Architect has something much healthier in His plans.

We are in the early days of what is the fifth disruptive technology revolution of my lifetime. This new one may be the biggest and most disruptive of all.

Disruption 1. The first was the advent of the personal computer in the early ’80s. I got my first PC in 1985. Then smart people started working on how to connect them all together to share information. Which led to . . .

Disruption 2. The Internet came along in the 90s. This changed everything. Anyone born after ’95 or so has no memory of a pre-Internet world. This led to . . .

Disruption 3. The advent of social networking and social media in the “oughts”, that is, the ’00s. MySpace was first to market in 2003. Facebook came along a year later. Twitter arrived in 2006 and Instagram in 2010–rewiring the brains of a couple of generations of young people and spawning an epidemic of anxiety, insecurity, fear, and rage. Then came . . .

Disruption 4. Smart phones. The first iPhone debuted in 2007. This technology merged the internet revolution with the convulsive changes brought about by mobile cellular phones. Watching television shows and movies produced prior to the year 2000, I’m constantly reminded that most of those plots don’t work if mobile phones exist. Now we have arrive at . . .

Disruption 5. ArtificiaI Intelligence (AI). Every tech company in the world is rapidly rolling out new AI platforms that contain the potential to change everything.

Back in 1990, it would have been impossible to anticipate all the ways the internet and smart phones would change our lives.

In a similar way, it’s impossible to know all the ways AI will change our world and our lives. But, for better and worse, it’s coming. The fact is, all new technologies have had “better” and “worse” aspects to them. Alfred Nobel (father of the Nobel prize) invented dynamite in the 1860s. It instantly made things like construction and mining easier. It also made killing people easier.

Less than a century later, the advent of nuclear power also became a two-edged sword. The power of nuclear fission could power entire cities. It could also destroy entire cities.

In a similar way, social media connects shut-ins like my 93-year-old mother to the outside world and to the lives of her great-grandchildren living hours away. And it exposes those same great-grandchildren to perversity and darkness while distorting their perception of themselves and the world.

All new technologies are like this. Some will use it for evil and others will use it for good. It will make lives better. And it will destroy lives. The problem isn’t the technology. It’s the fallen, broken humans who utilize it. (Side Note: At the root of Progressive and Left ideologies is a denial of that basic truth about humans. We’re all born fallen and broken and in desperate need of a Redeemer. A rejection of this Genesis 2 and 3 truth sits as an uexamined false premise at the foundation of all Leftist ideology. But that’s a discussion for another post.)

One of the most negative effects of AI is already visible. The tech’s astonishing ability to fabricate images and video, and perfectly replicate voices, makes creating fake evidence and false narratives quick, cheap, and easy. Which means the most gullible and naive among us–particularly those most desperate to have their preferred narrative validated–are being duped. Meanwhile everyone else grows more cynical and skeptical.

Given the powers of photoshop and cgi video editing, this trend has been in place for years, but AI is accelerating it to warp speed.

For a while now I’ve been saying that the most troubling end game of this specific use of AI is not that our fellow citizens will believe lies, but that they ultimately will refuse to believe the truth when it’s standing right in front of them. (Note: I have a “Critical Thinking for Christians” e-course in the works that will help immensely with this. Stay tuned!)

Nevertheless, along with the manifold negative uses of AI hundreds of beneficial uses will emerge as well. Uses that make life better, easier, longer, and more pleasant for billions.

The disruptive AI revolution is coming. In fact, it’s here. The impulse in the West will always be to regulate it to death. Of course, Western governments have a terrible track record where regulation is concerned. It will invariably resort in bigger government; another bloated, corrupt bureaucracy; and will hinder the good applications of AI while sending the bad applications underground and out of sight. And while that’s happening, the world’s most evil actors; China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, et. al.; will gallop unrestrained toward developing AI’s worst applications.

Technologies are morally neutral. It’s people that are broken. And there is only one remedy for that brokenness. And we Jesus-followers carry it with us wherever we go.

Many New Covenant scriptures call on believers to fight. To resist and overcome the enemy. To do the works Jesus did (and even greater ones!) To put on spiritual armor and do battle—not against flesh and blood—but with wicked, unseen powers. We’re called to push back darkness with light wherever we go. And to receive, by grace through faith, everything Jesus died to purchase for us. And receive, by grace through faith, freedom from everything He died to redeem us from.

On the other hand, don’t many scriptures call on us to suffer willingly and nobly? To accept whatever comes our way as being God’s will and for the best?

A recent assignment has me exploring the book of First Peter . . . and his exhortations about dealing with persecution and trouble, tribulation, trials, and testing (the 4 “T”s!). Peter wrote his first letter in a season in which Christians were enduring a double persecution—one from the Jewish establishment in Jerusalem and a new, emerging one from the Roman government under Nero in Rome. 

The believers of the fledgling Jesus movement were caught in a terrible squeeze between the two. Literally pressed in from all sides. 

When you examine the book of 1 Peter, thirteen different Greek words appear repeatedly and are translated into the English words, trouble, tribulation, trials, testing, suffering, sorrows, etc. Knowing which Greek word is beneath those English words is pretty helpful.  Let’s take a look at them:

lupeo – “distressed”

pirosmos – “trials”

dokimazo – “testing” (NOT the kind of test that qualifies you to graduate to the next grade, but rather the kind that reveals the true nature of something.) 

pathema – sufferings (of Christ)(Jesus’ redemptive, substitutionary suffering on the cross; which includes the suffering rejection by fallen people and this fallen, broken world’s system.)

lupe – “sorrows”

pascho – “suffer” or “suffering” (unjustly or justly or Christ’s)

molops – “wounds” (of Christ)

kako’o – “harm” (the result of violence)

tarasso – “troubled” (in soul)

epereazo – “to be reviled or insulted” 

blashempeo – “to be maligned or smeared”

oneidizo – “to be reviled”

purosis – “a fiery ordeal”

{Note: in the Gospels we see Jesus using the Greek word thlipsis instead of many of the words in the list above. It, too means “persecution or oppression from others.” I’ll write more about that word another time.}

A deeper linguistic dive could be taken into each of these words and the way they’re used in 1 Peter and elsewhere in the New Testament, but . . .

The picture that emerges is that believers should expect persecution and trouble from the world’s system and the people in it. (This aligns perfectly with what Jesus told His disciples. “Expect persecution (thlipsis). Expect resistance. Those enmeshed in this fallen world’s systems hated me, they’re going to hate you once you’re IN me.”) So, First Peter exhorts us that when that persecution comes, we should bear up under it with calm, restful, assurance in faith that we have become sharers in Christ’s sufferings. For example . . .

. . . but to the degree that you share the sufferings (pathema) of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed. (1 Peter 4:13)

A significant element of Jesus “sufferings” was rejection. Isaiah saw it: “He was despised and forsaken/rejected by men . . .” (Isaiah 53). We too, will suffer rejection by people in the world and the systems of this world.

Here’s the thing.

Because most Christians don’t see the nuances and differences between these very different Greek words, And because Peter beautifully and powerfully exhorts his readers to bear up, persevere, endure, and remain in the faith under the “fiery ordeal” of persecution—they assume, wrongly in my view, that we are to passively accept anything and everything the unseen enemies of Christ, and the Curse unleashed by “the Fall,” throw our way. 

In other words, they lump the presence, activity, and attacks of Christ’s “enemies” as well as the effects of the Curse . . . in with Jesus’ and Peter’s exhortations to accept persecution gracefully and suffer it with quiet dignity. 

As a result, many believers think they’re getting mixed messages from the New Testament. “Which is it?” some wonder. “Am I supposed to fight or just suffer nobly?” 

Which brings me to . . . 

Dixit Dominus!

That’s Latin for “The King says…” or “The Ruler says…” Why did I just tell you that?

Well, I sometimes listen to classical music while I’m writing. I’m particularly fond of Handel and Haydn and Vivaldi. This week I was listening to a few Handel works in my headphones while working when I noticed that the piece currently playing seemed to have a special anointing on it. So, I glanced at my phone to see what it was.

If you’re unsure whether or not it’s possible for a work by Handel can have anointing on it, I suggest you listen to a skillful performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Handel had some insight, and there’s some “oil” on his sacred music. 

Turned out I was hearing a work by Handel titled “Dixit Dominus.” Unfamiliar with that Latin term, I looked it up; found that it’s Latin for “The Lord says”; and that there are a number of classical works that carry the same name.  All of them are “church music” and are based on the first three words of the 110th Psalm. You long-time Cup and Table Co. folks will instantly recognize it and know why I found that interesting. Just to remind you, Psalms 110:1 reads:

The Lord says to my Lord: 

“Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies 

a footstool for Your feet.” 

“The Lord says . . .” (or in Latin: dixit dominus)

You C&T veterans will also know (because I’ve prattled on about it hundreds of times) that the above verse is the most-quoted Old Testament verse in the entire New Testament. And that there is a reason for that. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of His Father. 

That ascension is recorded (from earth’s perspective) in Acts 1:9-11 and from heaven’s perspective in Daniel 7:13-14. That day is not a future event. It happened nearly 2000 years ago. The 110th psalm is both messianic and about the coronation ceremony of a King. Which is why the very next verse talks about a “scepter” and “ruling.”

The Lord will stretch out Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

So what does this have to do with the 4 “Ts”—trouble, tribulation, trials, and testing. Because it helps give us a guide as to whether or not some attack or adversity or trouble should be FOUGHT by faith, or ENDURED in faith. 

Here’s where I’ve landed “as for me and my house.”

If it’s persecution from lost people or systems created by lost people . . . I’ll receive grace, in faith, to endure it and come through the other side. BUT . . .

If it is an enemy of my enthroned King; or an effect of the Curse He came to roll back, I’m fighting it. And I’ll expect to overcome it. It’s that simple. 

By the way, we can identify those things by simply observing what Jesus DID, specifically what He attacked and reversed; AND what He announced His mission to be when he read from the Isaiah 61 scroll (see: Luke 4:17-21).  

It’s vital to remember that, from the Bible’s perspective, Jesus’ “enemies” are not people. No, people are the the object of His love and the objective of His redemptive work on the cross. No, a large but subtle theme of the Bible is that, in the Unseed Realm of the spirit, a heavenly rebellion took place and both earth and humanity got caught up in it.

The begninning of the end for Jesus’ enemies was the season in which He emerged from that tomb and, 40 days later ascended to heaven and took a seat at the right hand of the Father. There “the Lord says” (dixit dominus) He will “rule in the midst of His enemies) until the implications and the outworking of that victory are fully realized.

Paul had this incremental conquest in mind when He wrote:

 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. (1 Corinthians 15:25-26)

To sum up: Don’t mistake the Scriptures’ exhortation to expect and endure persecution with our mission and calling and empowerment to extend Jesus’ rule, push back darkness, and receive all He died to obtain for us.

If it’s in the Atonement, fight for it. Fight by remaining in rest. Fight by remaining in gratitude. Fight through worship and praise. Fight by putting the sword of truth in your mouth.

As I said on social media earlier this week:

I hope that helps somebody today.

Announcer Voice: “Previously, on ‘How to Fix a Broken Chooser’ . . .” In the first installment of this three-part series of posts I made this statement:

This whole series of posts is for Christians who seemingly, in hindsight, make the wrong choice over and over. Or who, in at least one area of their lives, get bad outcomes in the choices they make.

In that first installment, I also wrote this:

I can say with reasonable confidence that I’ve never once made a good image-driven or status-driven decision. 

If you haven’t read that post, stop now, click here and read it, and them come back here a week from now when you’re finished. (Okay, it may be a little on the LONG side.)

I can say with equal confidence that I’ve never made a good FEAR-driven decision, either. But I can look back across my life and identify many fear-driven decisions that were terrible ones. That’s the insidious thing about fear. It convinces you that it’s the voice of wisdom, prudence, and reason–when in reality fear is really, truly, fundamentally like having an evil idiot for an advisor.

This relates to something I said in the previous post about our ability to rationalize logically what we, at an emotional level, think we want. When I’m teaching and training marketing/sales folks, I make sure they understand that all decision-making starts with emotion.

In other words, the “heart” chooses and then asks the “head” to sign off on it. That moment—when the head is being asked to validate an emotional preference that is not at all rooted in reason—rationalization steps in to “help.”

Yes, all decision making starts with emotion. And there are few emotions more powerful or more visceral than fear. The huge problem with having fear be your “decision-driver” is that it usually drives you to the wrong choice. Along these lines, the mystic-sage Dr. Phil has said:

“Eighty percent of all choices are based on fear. Most people don’t choose what they want; they choose what they think is safe.”

I suspect this has always been true. BUT . . . the age of the smart phones, social media, the 24-hour news cycle and the nature of the internet economy have all conspired to try to keep you afraid or alarmed all the time. Here’s something I wrote in one of the devotionals in Praying Grace for Women, titled “Lighten Up”:

An inescapable electronic news and information ecosystem is designed to fuel either fear or outrage in you because everyone on the internet gets paid through clicks, pageviews, and shares. Carrying these weights in an environment of pandemics, protests, and political polarization is a prescription for the crushing of the human soul with care. Your soul.

Most of us carry around in our hands a device that keeps our nervous systems in “fight, flight, or freeze” mode all of our waking hours. Not good. And here’s another factor.

All humans come equipped with something I call an “Inner Story Teller.”

It’s rooted in our God-given imaginations. It’s our ability to vividly imagine scenarios we’ve never actually encountered, conversations we’ve never had, and a variety of futures that might, but probably won’t, unfold.

In reality, the God-given purpose of your Inner Story Teller is to produce this in you . . . Hope! Paul seems to have had this in mind when he wrote Ephesians 1:18-19:

“[I pray]. . . that the eyes of your understanding [imagination?] may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe…” (MEV)

But the enemy of our souls delights in getting us to turn this powerful weapon on ourselves. Instead of letting the Spirit of God help our imaginations tell us stories of the good future God has in store for us, we let the enemy hijack it and we start telling ourselves stories of catastrophe, tragedy, heartache, or rejection.

When this becomes a pattern, as it does for so many, life becomes very small. I recently came across a clip from an interview with Erwin McManus that banged the Gong of Truth for me. It’s very short. Watch it here:

Just in case you weren’t able to play it, here is a transcript of the clip:

Erwin McManus: “Fear establishes the boundaries of our freedom. So whatever you’re afraid of, that becomes your limitation. If you’re afraid of heights, you stay low. If you’re afraid of people, you stay alone. If you’re afraid of failure, you stay safe. And when you realize that fear establishes the boundaries of your freedom, the moment you press through those fears, now you have unlimited freedom.”

This is heartbreakingly true. As a result, the most fearful among us live the littlest, most constrained lives.

I know sweet people . . . people who love God and and are desperately loved by God . . . who live tiny lives because their fears have shrunk their world so comprehensively, they’re like anxious, miserable baby calves in a veal pen.

And, with fear as their “evil idiot advisor” they consistently make bad choices that produce bad outcomes.

Fear isn’t an easy habit to kick. And it is a habit—a habit of the heart and mind. Numerous scriptures reveal that fear’s “kryptonite” is love. God’s love. In practical terms, this means renewing your mind to the truth about God’s goodness and kindness toward you. And rooting your identity deeply in the reality that you are a beloved, accepted, son or daughter of God.

Now, if you’ve been a victim of profound or prolonged trauma, in order to find freedom from fear you may very well also need professional Christian therapies of the type provided the folks here. If so, go get that help!

But yes, both fear and bad values will consistently drive poor choices in your life. So, in the third and final installment, I hope to show you, to borrow Paul’s phrase, “a more excellent way.”