The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
For many, this title will be a reminder of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western. Highlighting times of chaos following the US Civil War, it follows the quest for hidden riches of stolen Confederate gold. The setting is a lawless, wild west where civilized standards and trust are close to non-existent and death and destruction prevail. But the real story centers around the conflict with the distinctively different means that the good, the bad and the ugly characters employ in pursuit of this quest.
With parallels to more than a couple of biblical stories, the spiritual overtones seem to tap headlines in the current,
emerging season. The players, voices and senseless lawlessness in today’s drama certainly reverberate with the good, the bad and the ugly. But even the emergence of the movie’s “stranger” seems to suggest redefining this story’s descriptive title as the players portray forerunners, opportunists and ones obsessed. Overshadowing the obsessed, and often the opportunists lie the digressions of those whose base motivations are revealed as scoundrels and scavengers.
Again, with it all tying into the cultural drift and spiritual context of the present, waning season …. in which black has been described as white and white as black. To the level that the obsessed have sought to expunge references to God and His Truth from public settings. Words upholding righteous standards and values have been distorted and diminished. With voices upholding these standards becoming targets.
Yet emerging has been a wakeup call; and with a groundswell of voices extending beyond the committed believing community, has been a concerted pushback.
In the midst of the clamor, driving the storyline in this classic movie, the unexpected “stranger” is a challenge to the noxious setting. One unfazed by the threats of the lawless. Rugged and resolute in his own right, a stranger not fitting standard profiles. One conforming to players in a number of biblical accounts who seem to “suddenly” emerge into history with their reset mandates.
David, with his band of rebels, poised to bring Israel together was not unlike this stranger whose leadership was embraced in a time of unsettled conflict. Those who became Jesus’ inner-circle were grass-roots characters reaching for higher dimensions, disillusioned with the direction of the cultural status quo. Isaiah’s prescient glimpse of “a voice of one crying in the wilderness,” again pointing to one paralleling the entrance of the stranger, whose ways upended the spiritual atmosphere to unveil the real path in the quest.
The Focus Required in a Changing Season
So, as change takes place and the new season takes root; as it was in those instances, so it is now materializing. It’s certainly not what you think. And not being what you think, it is more aptly tied to how we think. At least for the purpose of navigating the haze of the confusing toxic atmosphere, not to speak of the challenge of the quest.
So, upon us is a new season. It’s a season attracting the raw, unpretentious coarseness of David’s band of followers, the pure earthiness of Jesus’ inner circle and the unrefined hearts of those with ears to hear …. to capture the voice of the One crying in the wilderness. For that matter, it reverberates with the range of voices of the prophets who countered the clamor of chaotic times and wheel spinning quests that drew the scavengers and obsessed out of the woodwork.
Yet within such a time of chaos, was birthed what Jesus set in motion as an unstoppable, groundswell movement. It overshadowed the death and destruction. It was a new thing. His resurrection releasing a new, very pragmatic dimension. Something far more than a shift in outlook and doctrinal focus; although it was that.
The new thing was the impartation and power of the Holy Spirit. An unstoppable force redefining the course of history. The crux was the manifestation of the reality of God through the simplicity of those who captured this dimension in faith …. and believed. Doing so, released the “good,” utterly changing the viewpoint and mindsets of those who did. It was a departure from how they had been thinking with an impact sending shock-waves of change into the spiritual atmosphere.
The Drivers of Change
What does all this mean in this hour? What it requires is an alertness to and refocus on the prophetic, to the Jewish roots of the faith, and importance of the spontaneity of home-prayer gatherings.
It calls for the mantle of fire; for the fire of God’s presence needed to address the fresh machinations of darkness intent on filling the voids. It aligns with the beginnings of past movements of power that have overcome the gap between the natural and the spiritual, over-compensating for both the overt and covert manifestations of evil.
It embraces and flows in the extent to which we are connected community-wise ….and while confronting the darkness, is fueled by the unusual dynamic of seeing one’s needs met by bearing the burdens of others. It is the recognition of the reality of this dimension of the Kingdom of God, where you find Life by giving it up, by dying to self. You gain as you learn the art and gift of giving.
“As your faith grows, so we shall be within our sphere, enlarged even more.” 2 Cor 10:15
With a God-centered, community-based, entrepreneurial model, it is a combined, community force for freedom that
releases creativity and opportunity within its ranks. It accelerates on trust. There’s more. A whole lot more to this Kingdom dynamic, but it has to first pivot on these factors of selfless serving and giving. In Acts 3:6, Peter discerningly spoke to the beggar with the words: “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to you. In the Name of Jesus, get up and walk.”
What Peter released was the authority, the mantle of fire to penetrate the dark forces, to impart his faith and manifest Life to ones held in bondage. In Luke 18:8 Jesus posed the critical question of “When I return, will I find faith on the earth?” Will God’s people be employing their authority, as Peter did? Will they be extending their faith to penetrate the darkness to impart God’s Life and healing? Or just complacently accepting the overshadowing, noxious chaos of the times without question?
Such decisions of faith begin in facing the realities head-on.
Displacing Cultures of Death with Life
While the Clint Eastwood movie portrays the cultural dynamics of a time of explosive change, engendering a quest, a quest of recovery of stolen resources; “il bueno ….the good” suggests the defining importance of engaging in the process, of employing the confidence of faith and Kingdom-thinking …..in the restoration of the spontaneity in being givers of Life, in praying together and for the needy; in being aligned to and responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit and the prophetic; of the wisdom of practicing the community-enhancing dynamics of the Jewish roots to the faith.
Neither Joseph nor Daniel were bashful or hesitant in employing their faith in actuating these key Kingdom dimensions in their interactions within their host cultures, and with their host leaders. AND through the prophetic anointing and wisdom they imparted, they transformed their hosts’ views of reality as well as their host cultures-of-death as a result.
The Overcoming Force for Good: Kingdom Thinking
So, it’s not just what you think, but a new dimension in how you think. Which opens the gateway for “more.” Becoming a force for Life. It’s imperative that this dynamic we call “thinking,” the birth-canal for the creative and the imagination into the supernatural …..for the believer, has got to be transformed by Kingdom thinking.
It is a force for good to confront the challenges of evil and darkness. It is the equalizer that has been the force from On-High throughout the history of God’s people ….from the angelic accompaniments of the community in the wilderness to the anointing of the Holy Spirit ….in the season now unfolding.
This new way of thinking was initially a challenge to Peter’s eagerness. Over the ages, Peter’s blind eagerness has found root in many, before recognizing the power that operates when residing in His rest.
In this yielding to His rest, it became effortless ….”just THAT simple” …. in bearing the burdens of others; in giving away what he had, and fully capturing the mindset of “such as I have I give to you.” It released the power that changed the reality that had long trapped the destitute beggar.
Again, it was that rest and the giving away, the impartation of the anointing, for both Joseph and Daniel with the prophetic foresight to “see” beyond their own needs into the realities that explained the troubling dreams their host-nation’s leaders had had in facing the challenging times to be faced.
Persevering in New Seasons
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” centers around a time of extreme darkness. It radiated the conflict and chaos reflected in the quests between the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet, it carried with it a change of seasons, which so often tend to be turbulent. Traditions guiding societal and economic foundations had been upended. What may have guided sound protocol in the past were no longer enough. The setting and atmosphere required more, a lot more.
So, when taken from a big-picture perspective, the perseverance of faith through Kingdom-thinking ambassadors, released the forces of Life, for good, serving to bring change.
It underscores the distinction between those that build and those who tear down. A dynamic keenly seen by Isaiah.
God has always had a pathway, a trajectory and destination. In this trajectory, it bears on the significance in recognizing that He is on His throne orchestrating the grand scheme of history. His intent is the restoration of all things; that He is known as a rewarder of those who seek Him, those reaching to be participators in His divine purposes.
The pattern from the beginning is the pathway paved by God’s most unlikely, by the Isaac’s who heard from God and
boldly sowed and reaped in famine. By the Josephs and Daniels whose prophetic wisdom redeemed the elect and their host cultures from the destruction and death manifesting and lingering among the obsessed and the scavengers.
For Joseph, Daniel, David and the birth of the early Church, that assignment, as with the time following the US Civil War, emerged following the radical disruption and challenge needed to displace embedded societal dark mind-sets, ones that were aligned with undermining and tearing down.
These were and are today the defining dynamics of the “builders” foreseen by Isaiah. These are those who emerge during a time of chaos and great change, challenged by the dark machinations of the scoundrels, whose efforts engender the erosion of righteous foundations, failing to grasp the big-picture.
The Opportunity and Assignment from On-High
Many years ago, as I was reaching for the focus I needed in defining my own assignment, a good friend, a Jewish believer and anointed intercessor called me with a message. She shared that she had been praying for me and felt strongly that she had “heard” that my assignment was to be tied to “mapping out, building up and bringing wealth into Israel.”
While I tend to be a big-picture guy, that word, that glimpse into the context of my own assignment seriously challenged me. Yet, it conformed to Isaiah foreseeing a time and a shift that would come to Israel in which the riches of the seas and the wealth of the nations would be redirected to Israel. (Isa 60:5)
Today’s setting globally is not unlike the lawless frontier following the dramatic change that accompanied the US Civil war. On the scene are the manifestations and clamor of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The challenge described by the times faced by Joseph, Daniel, David, the birth of the early Church and now, is in recognizing not just the opportunity of the quest, but in facing the realities of the setting, taking on the challengers head-on, and giving primary focus to the assignment from On-High.
Again, what is required in this assignment is an alertness to and embracing of the prophetic, to the Jewish roots of the faith, and to the spontaneity of home-prayer gatherings. It conforms to past movements of power that imparted Life in overt and covert cultures of death; being connected community-wise ….and compensated by Kingdom strategies, beginning with seeing one’s needs met by bearing the burdens of others. It is the recognition of finding Life by giving it up, by dying to self, gained through abiding in His rest and embracing the art and gift of giving.
So it has been that throughout the course of the history of God’s people, the pattern has been the conflict between the good, the bad and the ugly. Whether recognized or not, the pathway has been by embracing the mysteries of God …. in reaching for that which is not as though it were. God has continually responded in covenant protection and blessing with those who have genuinely reached for Him ….and in judgment to rein in and restore the wayward.
The process demands new ways of viewing the realities. The assignment is strengthened prophetically and involves monumental resets. All of which targets the restoration of the foundations tied to God’s covenant with His people.
In short, it reflects David’s heart-cry of “show me Your ways O Lord that I might walk in Your truth with an undivided heart.” So it will be with what is unfolding for this generation in the turmoil now underway among the nations.
Mapping out, building up and bringing wealth into Israel. It certainly is a major departure from the current clamor of anti-Semitism. It’s the big picture, which does not depart from being congruent with Jesus’ foresight of the separation of the sheep and goat nations; with those whose focus would conform to His returning to find “faith on the earth.”
“The LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” Isaiah 58:11-12
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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner of the Joseph-calling and God’s economy message, being an international voice for the higher dimensions of spiritual game-changers and intercessors since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation, the Strategic Intercession Global Network [SIGN] and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program and the Jewish Business Secrets YouTube series, Mr. Ruddick’s messages equip leaders and economic community builders with strategy where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.
He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.
Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to 3838 South Wabash Street, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at https://strategic-initiatives.org/donate/
2025 Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org
Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information go to https://strategic-initiatives.org
