Multitudes of Bad Counselors

Cultic movements and ideas are almost exclusively reliant on presupposition and a static, black and white handling of the bible - not to mention life in general. For those of you who've come up in P/QF, and are now beginning to question and examine things you've always just blindly accepted, I want to discuss something that you need to be prepared for, especially if you dare to leave the cultic system.


In the 40 hours prior to her scheduled flight to come here, or, prior to her disappearing and becoming unreachable, my ex had 26 incoming calls (and God only knows what else) from patriarchal Imbiblers. It was a desperate, coordinated effort instigated by her father. In fact, just an hour or two before the barrage began, her father told her outright, "I'm gonna fight this - and I'm not gonna play fair." She lacked the discernment to connect the dots between his warning and the events that followed, being a product of her cultic, legalistic, narrow-minded, dominionist indoctrination of an upbringing. I eventually heard a couple of the voicemails - so I know the BS these people were shoveling on her. Boatloads of guilt, fear, and patriarchal BS. These people were and are cultic fruitcakes, and I question, legitimately so, whether they genuinely know anything about Christ or the functioning of the Holy Spirit at all.


One of the last things my ex ever said to me (a few months after her disappearance) was, "When all these people called at the last minute, all saying the same thing, it had to be God!" Her mind was completely cooked by this point, completely oblivious to the fact that she'd been utterly played and manipulated. I mean, I could've had a hundred people call her, and my people would've told her that her people were cultic nutjobs - and my people would've been right - but I wasn't interested in manipulating her, especially through mystical manipulation. My one desire was to see her discern. She couldn't.


She was told by these people "How can all of us be wrong about this and you be right?" The answer was a simple one: By all of them being wrong and her being right. It wasn't rocket science. Sometimes the "majority" is merely evidence that all of the fools are on one side of the argument. Numbers aren't a guarantee of quality.


The verse they used to back this up...


Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.


For this verse to work in the manner it was used, it requires a basis of presupposition that ALL counsel is good counsel, and then the verse must continually remain in presupposed stasis. The fact of the matter is that not all counsel is good counsel. I'd dare say that it's dangerous to even believe that most counsel is good counsel. Numbers are no guarantee. I think a proper handling of this verse (under the new covenant) would be to consider it an encouragement to actively seek good counsel and then discern - not to just blindly accept all counsel as good. Also, it absolutely can't be forgotten that the proverbs were written under the old covenant to a Holy Spirit-less people, people with no access to the wisdom of God unless they found it through the very few people who had access to God.


Remember, when the veil was torn everything changed. A God who had always been separated from His people was now available to all, His wisdom given to us in Christ, His personal presence and guidance given to us through His Spirit. God can now speak directly TO you through the mediation of Jesus Christ. We aren't reliant on other men (in a system where only a limited few have access) to relay TO us the messages of God - such as was the case in the OT. I think a responsible look at the OT must be through such a lens.


Attempts to sew up the veil are nothing more than attempts by other men to position themselves between you and God. Control. Such things are anti-Christ in every quantifiable way.


I'm all for seeking counsel and heartily recommend it - even from parents, despite people concluding from my writings that I think parents should be avoided (how stupid) - but, I'm even MORE in favor of personal discernment. If a thousand people tell you the same thing, but it doesn't register or reconcile with your heart...follow your heart. Your heart is no longer separated from God, deceitful and wicked (this is an OT idea - written when the veil was still intact). The Holy Spirit now dwells in you. It's up to you, not up to others, to discern for yourself between valid emotion and infatuation, between the liberating compulsion of the Spirit and the compulsive guilt of the legalism of men.


A heart in which the Spirit of God has taken up residence is a beautiful thing to follow - and is never to be feared. That's something I felt (and still feel) strongly enough about to post it permanently near the top right of this blog.


I wrote about the Botkin sisters' Fool test the other day. Aside from the obvious slant and nonsense of it, one of the more discouraging things about it was that of the 90 bible verses (some of which were multiples) used to support the ridiculous notions they presented about wisdom, 85 of those verses were from the OT. Total black and white, surface interpretation reliance on verses like these...


Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Proverbs 15:5 A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.


Regarding the first, the veil has been torn, and allow me to say again that a heart in which the Spirit of God has taken up residence is a beautiful thing to follow - and is never to be feared.. Regarding the second, we now have personal access to the GREATEST counsellor - the Spirit of God. Regarding the third, add some context; not all fathers give good instruction, and if a father gives poor instruction, it isn't wise or prudent to follow it. There's no "biblical" guarantee that all fathers are wise men, are good fathers, or give good instruction. Now that you personally have the Holy Spirit, it's your responsibility to discern - not to blindly obey.


I repeat: OT passages must be viewed through the lens of being written to a Holy Spirit-less people. We aren't Holy Spirit-less people. That one issue of context changes quite a bit, don't you think?


If you are a young man or woman within the P/QF world, and you've reached a crossroads, no longer willing to just accept what you're told by your parents as if it comes from the mouth of God Himself, prepare yourself for a barrage of "counsel", from immediate family, extended family, old "friends", family friends, maybe even people you haven't heard from in years. They'll all be singing the same tune. My experience with my ex and the experience of many of the readers here serve as evidence that this will happen. In all likelihood, it WILL happen.


Their counsel will most likely be the counsel of legalistic men living as if the veil is still in place. Don't let their sheer numbers relieve you, in your mind, of your responsibility to discern between good counsel and bad. 


Never, ever, allow ANY counsel, whether one, a few, or a multitude, the opportunity to place a veil between you and your Creator.