It would be most beneficial here to note something that is strikingly relevant to this issue of the flaws of misplaced mercy. You will notice that this prophetic removal of the mark of the beast (Sheba) from the kingdom, immediately follows Joab's rebuke of David for his mourning over the death of Absalom. Here we find a quality of the second Remnant that is revealed not only here but in other places as well.

It has been mentioned in The Conflict that the second Remnant Elijah will not be a sweet gentile merciful work, but one whose intent will actually be to tear down Christianity. Two clear testimonies of this characteristic boldness are John the Baptist and Elihu. John the Baptist, who had the Spirit of Elijah (who was equally not a wimp, taunting the prophets of Baal as they tried to get their god to accept their offering), was anything but sweet and gentle, calling the people a brood of vipers and demanding deeds consistent with repentance (Luke 3:7-14). Yahshua Himself said that John was not a weak "reed shaken by the wind" or a "man in soft clothing" (Matthew 11:7-9), and neither will be the second Remnant John.

Elihu was likewise one who prepared the way for Yahweh. Who was Elihu? He was the one who spoke after the three friends of Job spoke their error (3,000 years of Christianity), but immediately before Yahweh spoke. Elihu in fact performed the Elijah work by preparing the way for Yahweh to speak, who then "answered Job out of a whirlwind." This is the whirlwind Elijah likewise entered, ending his work in the same way. Both of these men's works ended with a whirlwind. Why? Because they both represent the Elijah/Elihu second Remnant who prepare the way and ascend alive.

Elihu is what I have called a hot pepper. To Job and his three friends, he spoke - "Refute me if you can; array yourselves before me, take your stand" (Job 33:5). If you want to know some of Elihu's spice, read chapters 33 through 37. This will give you a glimpse of what the second Remnant will be like.

Now we find a third testimony of this spice and boldness of the second Remnant in Joab's rebuke of David regarding Absalom. His message equally represents that which is to be delivered to Christianity, and the outcome will be the same - afterwards the mark of the beast will be removed from the kingdom.

And may we add here that the resolve of the Remnant in this necessary rebuke and correction to Christianity, requires that Yahweh do for us that which he did for Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 3:8f, we read Yahweh's message to Ezekiel just before he spent 7 days among the exiles "causing consternation" - "I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads."

So if I sound a bit strong some time, I'm just being that which I must be - one who speaks truth with resolve, that the way might be prepared for the Son of God; and I pray that the only thing I allow to interrupt me, will be the voice of Yahweh in a whirlwind saying, "Come up here" (Revelation 11:12).

In this regard, please allow me to share something else that is personal, and will likewise help you to understand better this necessary forthright nature and purpose of the second Remnant. I begin by continuing our examination of this account regarding Absalom. But again let us note that things in these Bible accounts are not there just for the sake of history, but for prophecy. As was stated at the beginning of this writing, the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is one long parable or riddle. Like Nebuchadnezzar's dream that he would not tell, yet demanded that it be both revealed and interpreted, so the Scriptures are a parable, a riddle, even a hidden dream that (1) must be discerned, and (2) must be interpreted. Up to this point, it seems that Christianity has not even discerned the dream, much less the interpretation. But, as it is written in Proverbs 14:6, "knowledge is easy to him who has understanding." Once one understands the true government of the church, including the two-part Remnant and breach Christianity, as well as the role of Satan, knowledge is easy.

You will recall that when the man brought news to Joab that Absalom was hanging by his head in a tree, Joab asked the man if he killed him. Because of his fear of David, and even Joab, he had not done this. Yahweh Father Joab then told him - "I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt." Now, already you should be thinking - a belt, prophecy? Ten pieces of silver, the Remnant? When the Bible records for the reader these types and kinds of unique facts, they are here to tell us something very important; and if we have eyes to see and ears to hear (like a Joseph), then we will discern what it is that Yahweh has recorded here for us to understand. Here once again we must be brief.

When this man was told this by Joab, he proceeded to tell Joab how he would not have trusted him to have done this, even if he had promised him more. He did not trust Joab to uphold him. Here we have a very important point and testimony. Remember, this offer made by Joab is a message from Yahweh Father, and it relates to those who are offered the reward of putting down the Absalom Christianity rebellion.

When this man expressed his lack of trust in Yahweh Father Joab, Joab's answer was very revealing. He said to the man - "I will not waste time here with you." Joab proceeded on to run three spears through Absalom's heart; yet for the sake of prophecy, it is recorded that the death of Absalom was by the hands of "ten young men who carried Joab's armor."

Who will Yahweh Father use to "kill" Christianity? Will it be those who fear transgressing mercy, the David order, and do not trust Yahweh Father? Not at all. There are multiple testimonies about the death of Christianity, but one outstanding one is that the Remnant kill Christianity. What is our promise for doing so? The Remnant silver kingdom work, as well as the belt of prophecy. When Yahweh cites the belt as a reward to the one who will kill the rebellion of Absalom, He is telling us that we will receive the work of the ones who were described as having that belt - Elijah and John the Baptist!

Quite significantly, there are only two people in the Bible whose appearance is identified with that of wearing a belt - Elijah and John the Baptist. In what is to this writer a most humorous identification of a man, we read that when Ahaziah, the king of Israel, the son of Ahab, received a prophetic message from a man who did not identify himself, the messenger provided the king the following description of the prophet - "He was a hairy man with a leather belt bound about his loins" (2 Kings 1:8). Who was the mystery man? It was Elijah!

The other man to have the belt in his description is the one in whom resided the spirit of Elijah. John's description actually matched that of Elijah, as we read in Matthew 3:4 - "Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist." Thus we see the two common factors - hairy and camel's hair, and belt and belt. Why this similarity between these two? Because these two men reveal the same work, and their belts speak of prophecy.

The belt of prophecy is promised to the second Remnant Elijah/John the Baptist. And if someone will not deal with the Absalom when he is at the place when his death is inevitable anyway, when that person is moved instead by the weak and misplaced feminine David mercy, when he will not trust in the instruction and promise of Yahweh Father, then Yahweh Father is telling us He will say to that one - "I will not waste time here with you."

Is this harsh? No, for there is a time in which Yahweh's work is critical, and indecisiveness or weakness will not carry out the work of Yahweh Father.

As I just said, the information I will share with you here is personal. I add it because, like the accounts regarding my children, it adds a personalization or application to these truths. As I also have said, I have learned these things regarding the ways of Yahweh by personally experiencing them, and the best way I can communicate them is by relating them the way I learned them (though making myself vulnerable). What would the Bible be without the revealing accounts of the failures of others like Peter, Ananias and Sapphira, Achan, Gehazi, Judas, Lot's wife or even Job's wife, the sons of thunder, even David, and the long list goes on? The failure of the following individual is likewise presented here as a learning experience.

For almost two years, I had a man to stand faithfully by my side as my helper. Spiritually he was my "wife" of sorts, an Elijah/Elisha, master/servant, relationship, or what was probably more accurately in the end an Elisha/Gehazi relationship. Even as Christianity has to be cut short to two parts, this man was cut short in his service to me to two years. What happened to change this? In keeping with his feminine place as my helper, he went the way of David mercy and ended up seeking to hurt me instead. It is quite significant he did this on precisely what was the day of Pentecost following our delayed Passover. Like Pentecost, his actions were certainly leavened, and indeed he did wave two loaves before Yahweh, or two years. Equally, as on Pentecost when there were tongues of fire, I received tongues of fire from this man, who often called himself "a fireball." And interestingly, this day also happened to coincide with Father's Day, 2002.

I need not go into the specifics of all that transpired in his actions, but basically he joined Christians in their David mercy actions in sympathy for my daughters, and betrayed our friendship and his service to me by taking our personal correspondence and sending it out to others, criticizing me. In the truest sense, he turned on me. This caused me a great deal of hurt, anguish, and soul searching, and was actually the event that immediately preceded Yahweh showing me all of this about Joab and David. In a sense it was a circumcision of my own heart, the "bridegroom of blood" requirement performed by Zipporah on behalf of Moses (to be covered in the section titled "Adonijah"), that prepared the way for Yahweh to bring this truth to me.

It is most striking that on that Pentecost Father's Day I received two "gifts." The first was this man's initial correspondence to me under the subject of Father's Day. The other was a gift from Christi. What did she give me? It was a belt!

Truly this experience reveals the choice that we have today. We will either be a part of the displaced mercy of a David, or we will do the will of Yahweh Father and receive the promised Remnant silver and the belt of prophecy. After much examination with prayer and fasting (for I take nothing lightly, even criticism), I chose the belt.

One of the objections this former assistant made was that the Remnant "will not cut the garment of the anointed one nor take the spear and water pitcher from near his head without grieving for what she has done." In light of that which we are learning about David, as well as Yahweh's characterization of the Remnant work, let us briefly (unfortunately briefly) look at these two accounts to which he was referring regarding David and Saul.

It has been said from the beginning that David is very complex in his prophetic testimony. He is in fact Yahweh, for he was created after Yahweh's own heart. In this writing we happen to be looking at one aspect of Yahweh's testimony through David that reveals a work in His kingdom which must be called into check by the Yahweh Father aspect of God. So though this writing may seem to be "picking on David," this is not true at all. David is very complex, the most complex man in the Bible, and reveals all of the works of Yahweh, much like Yahshua represented all the works of the kingdom.

In this conflict between David and Saul, we see the conflict between the Remnant and Christianity. And even as there are two Remnant, the first and the second, that must come out of the sleeping body of Christ, so David went to Saul two times while he was sleeping and took personal items from him.

The first time this was done was when Saul was resting in a cave, even as Lazarus was "resting" in a "cave." (Saul was not "relieving himself" as some translations incorrectly translate this, insomuch that the literal "covering his feet" found here is equal to that seen where Boaz was sleeping and Ruth "uncovered his feet," awaking him.) On this first occasion David cut off the corner of Saul's robe (1 Samuel 24:1-7). The second time David took something from Saul was equally while he was sleeping, and on that occasion he took Saul's spear that was at his head and the jug of water (26:6-12).

Here we see some clear prophetic testimonies that distinctly identify these two events as taking the two-part bride out of the sleeping body of Christ. First is that which was just described. The parallel here of Saul sleeping and these two separate encounters of David taking something of Saul's is unmistakably Remnant. But furthermore, the first thing David took from Saul was the corner of his garment. Why did he take the corner? Because the corner is the Remnant - the corners of the field for the needy and the stranger, the corners of the field from which Remnant Bride Ruth ate, the corners of a man's beard that could not be removed, the corners of Ezekiel's temple that were for preparing the food for the people, the corners of a man's garment on which were the blue tassels, the corners on Yahshua's garment that others touched and were healed, and these are just the obvious. Thus we see that when David took the corner of Saul's garment, it spoke of the Remnant that is taken from the sleeping body of Christ.

On the second occasion in which David took from sleeping Saul, he took the spear that was at his head and the jug of water. Obviously this is the spear that is taken from Satan, the head of the body of Christ, the present covering over Christianity, and is used to set forth a new head - the Bride that comes from the pierced side of Yahshua's body, or the blood work and the water work. This is also the water of the first Remnant that is represented in the jug of water that was simultaneously taken from Saul.

Thus we see both the first Remnant and the second Remnant in these two times David took from Saul specifically while he slept. But my former assistant's objection was that the Bride will "cut the garment of the anointed one" and "take the spear and water pitcher from near his head without grieving for what she has done." I ask, like the John the Baptist/Elihu rebuke given by Joab to David for his grief that Absalom died, why should anyone grieve that a redeeming and covering Remnant that defeats Satan is taken from the side of the sleeping body of Christ? This attitude is exactly that for which Joab had to rebuke David. It is a misplaced idea regarding that which is necessary and valuable. My former assistant may want to join David in his misplaced mercy, and if one follows in this mentality even give back to Saul his spear (as did David), but this man has no plans whatsoever to do likewise.

This is the same spear that equally took a two-part David Remnant out of the house of Saul, when on two occasions Saul threw that spear at David and drove him out of his house - 1 Samuel 18:11 and 19:10. David was no longer under the headship of Saul, having been removed by Saul's spear. This is the spear that is equally evidenced by taking the water and the blood, the two Remnant, from the side of Yahshua. And why should anyone want to return that spear to Saul?

As long as Yahweh gives me breath and life and strength, I will hold onto that which He miraculously gives me for the Remnant. Forget the misplaced mercy; we need the miracle of a two-part Remnant, and I have no plans to shrink back or to give up that which Yahweh has given me, no plans! I am a Joab, a Yahweh Father; not a David. Give me the corners of Saul's garment, oh Yahweh, and I will rejoice! Give me the spear that was at Saul's head and the jar of water, oh Yahweh, and I will not return them! I will not be a David. For those who have eyes to see, this testimony is given to us so that we not shrink back, that we not give in to misplaced mercy, which was the choice of my assistant.

Why would anyone grieve over the death of Christianity? If Christianity prevails, which like Absalom has taken the kingdom by force, it would be just the same and equally destructive as if Absalom had prevailed. In fact, any Christian who supports the fall of Absalom in this account, actually approves of the defeat of Christianity that must also come (as pictured here). And this man is here to rebuke the church for supporting the "take it by force" kingdom work of Christianity and will not support the misplaced David mercy. For the sake of the kingdom of God, Christianity must die and a two-part Remnant removed from it. In this I will rejoice!

Furthermore, let us notice something here quite obvious about unlawful and misdirected mercy. You will recall that when David had mercy on Abner and approved of his rebellion against his king, by doing so he encouraged the rebellion of others, resulting in the two other commanders killing Ish-bosheth, cutting off his head, and delivering it to David. Then in the account regarding Amasa, we see David having the same consequences in his actions. David incorrectly showed mercy to Amasa, and all it did for him was to undermine his respect for David's word. David did not create good in Amasa by that which he did; he only encouraged Amasa in that which Yahweh Father knew had to be judged. Yahweh may want to have mercy, a parent may want to have mercy, but realize that misplaced mercy will only produce further failure and rebellion, both in the life of the one to whom the misplaced mercy was extended, as well as in others.

I am reminded at this point of a parable Yahshua told that relates directly to that which we have noted here in this portion regarding the man who feared David and Joab, and would not trust Joab so as to obtain the promised ten pieces of silver and the belt. Does this remind you of anyone in Yahshua's parables? As you will see, it directly relates to the man who equally feared his master and took what he had - one talent - and hid it in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30). What equally was the master's response? As with Joab toward his noncommittal man, he was not pleased. "You wicked, lazy slave; you knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed?" Thus he took away the talent from the man and gave it to the one who had ten talents, the same number of pieces of silver that were promised to the man who had not killed Absalom, and the same number of Joab's armor bearers who in fact did kill him.

In both of these cases, the man who would not act with resolve but rather feared the authority's harshness and shrank back, was treated with contempt. These two accounts were obviously intended to relate to each other, and we should take notice that anyone who will not seek Yahweh and trust in Him even as Yahweh Father, or any child who will not seek the heart of their father and trust him when he too must be a Yahweh Father, does not please Yahweh. We cannot despise the Yahweh Father work just because in the eyes of misplaced mercy it seems harsh. Correction in the eyes of this type of mercy always seems unacceptable; but the fact is, it is necessary. My former assistant even called me a "hard man," citing this account; and he went on to take his role as my assistant and bury it too in the ground, killing it himself, and thus equally he had his office taken away from him and given to another. Let us be wise and see the parallel truth of these two accounts. We cannot shrink back from Yahweh's works as Yahweh Father. If someone wishes to follow in the way of fear and misplaced mercy, then what they have will be taken from them and given to the Remnant.

Thus we see again why Yahweh Father Joab had blood on his belt. He had to carry out his role as the Father. This is the same blood that I have on my Father's Day belt. It is the blood that is not willing to let misplaced mercy prevail over that which must take place for the sake of the kingdom. My trust is in Yahweh Father, that indeed His word is faithful and His promises are true.