[b]Spiritual Confusion
[i]1Co 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Dan 9:7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
Jas 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Rhetoric. Misunderstanding. Dismissive presumption and hypothetical scenarios. Truth laced with anger that is hostility. Indignation torqued out of all proportion, back and forth, compromise, emotions, suspicions. Proper rebuke protected by self preservation, self defense, 'reputation', it is not welcomed as the medicine needed, the balm of healing. The order of learning; dropping off what was held previous now set at challenge, at odds, exposed over exposed even, still, the clutching, the defending ... strife, contention, division, spiritual anarchy, evil ... [i]confusion.
Accusation and Rebuke
Jas 4:1 From [u]whence
[i]come they not hence,
even of your lusts that [b]war
Ye lust,
and have not:
ye kill,
and desire
to have,
and cannot obtain:
ye fight
and war,
yet ye have not,
because ye ask not.
Ye ask,
and receive not,
because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Is it not sheer confusion, spiritual confusion?
[i]Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Enmity [i]with[i]enemies[b]of
Sobering thought, no? And over what?
"friendship with the world"
Confusion abounds in our day. It is confusing to express and difficult to explain ...
Confusion is confusing!
At bottom, spiritually what it amounts to is;
Something is [i]wrong
Something is [i]amiss
Something is\\has [i]grieved
[i]Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain,
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
[i]And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Suffering, [i]shame of face[i]ourselves[i]own[i]hate[i]spitefully use you
Luk 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, [b]hoping for nothing again[b]kind
[i]Be ye therefore merciful,
as your Father also is merciful.
Judge not,
and ye shall not be judged:
condemn not,
and ye shall not be condemned:
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Give, and it shall be given unto you;
It all seems to have become inverted, turned upside down, reinterpreted, given new opinion, discounted ... [i]put to confusion.
The things that ought to be embraced are forsaken, explained away.
Is it not [i]enmity
And grieving the Holy Spirit?
Is it not [i][b]felt
[i]Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.
[i]But foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing that they gender strifes. And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.
[i]In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
[i]And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
"[b]the deceiver of the whole world
Victims or a victim mentality, true victimization or imagination, [i]confusion
"Blame". Whose?
'[i]The devil is in the details
I believe it is so. What better strategy than to set the Brethren at odds against each other, better to first ...
[i]in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves
Turn it outside in, make it proud and "self-righteous", [i]deceive[i]blame it on the devil[i]oppose ourselves
That is a startling admission isn't it, [i]them that oppose themselves[i]crimes of the heart
Reconsideration and reconciliation.
Confusing isn't it? Surely have only made it more so. There is no 'end' here and no real answer, 'I don't know' is prevalent, I cannot shake it most often. Pray much over it ... [i]How[i]violence[i]must
A [i]must
[i]But the wisdom that is from above is [u]first[b]pure[u]then[b]peaceable
and [u]easy to be intreated[b]full
without [b]partiality
and without [b]hypocrisy
"Without" ... [i]confusion