Chapter 2: Love is Patient
BING. The sound of the elevator arriving in front of Jude caused him to look up. The doors opened and standing inside the elevator was Cynthia, his new coworker and the person Jude is replacing. Cynthia was recently promoted from strategist to strategy manager. Jude was hired to replace her and help support developing the strategy of the firm.
Murray & Fitch was strategically positioned as a security and intelligence firm that helped analyse risks for both government and corporate clients. The firm was in the top 10 firms in the region and seemed to have wide access. Cynthia was brilliant, albeit shy. She was a hard worker, extremely intelligent and very analytical. Her data science background helped her make sense of big data and see patterns in the data that are not easy to see. She liked Jude as a replacement because Jude had a background in economics and complex system dynamics. Jude complimented her knowledge and she complemented his – together they would make a great team.
Her initial strategy was to pivot the firm to look at how system level factors impacted on economic risk. This was a business segment she had long wanted to get involved in but she struggled with the complex modelling that was needed to make the statistics work. During the interview, Jude did well to explain in simple terms how he would build the models so she could understand the causal relationships. Jude’s understanding of systems was a key factor that affected him being hired.
“Oh Hi Jude, I didn’t see you there. How was your weekend?” said Cynthia, “Great thanks Cynthia, how was your weekend?” replied Jude. “Mine was okay thanks, just prepped for today and went for some coffee with my parents.” Jude replied, “That sounds like a nice weekend…” Cynthia had not asked Jude what he did so it didn’t feel right to volunteer that information. The silence was a bit awkward and Jude was not good with long uncomfortable silences, so around level 4 he finally burst out saying “Thanks again for this opportunity. I am extremely grateful and I am looking forward to working together.” Cynthia was not uncomfortable with silence and just gave a pilot smile but did not say anything more. They heard the sound for their floor, level 6, and the elevator door opened. Cynthia motioned for Jude to exit first. He accepted and walked out. Cynthia followed. It was awkward because Jude had to stop immediately after exiting and move aside anyways to allow Cynthia to lead. He was new and did not know the layout of the office so he did not know where he would be seated or where they worked. Cynthia walked out after him and they both walked to her new office. Neither said anything until they sat down in the office.
George.
Once seated, there was a soft knock on the office door. Both Jude and Cynthia looked up towards the office door. There was a good-looking man standing in the doorway who walked towards Jude with his hand stretched out. The man had dark hair, nearly black with blue eyes. He had soft features and was cleanly shaven with smooth, clear skin. Jude liked his dress sense, the slim-fit blue and white pinstriped shirt framed his athletic build well and the darker blue slim-fit smart pants highlighted how tall he was… He had a great ass – perky, the kind of perkiness that made it jiggle a bit when he walked. Jude got up and immediately thought “I’d go there” while stretching out his hand awkwardly to shake the stranger’s hand and introduce himself. He felt iffy about it because Cynthia was his senior, but the stranger greeted him first. Jude didn’t want to be rude or cause the situation to become more awkward, so he continued to play off the stranger’s actions organically.
“Hi, I’m George – the firms senior economist. Are you Jude? I hear you are an economist too?”. Confused and feeling self-conscious, Jude stammered “Oh yeah, Hi George. Yes, I am Jude and yes, I also have an economics background…” Jude gave Cynthia a confused look because he was under the impression that there were no other economists at the firm. He was mildly relieved that he seemed to have an immediate friend – him being eye candy was also a treat. The relief was because Jude was not formally an economist, he had a background in economics, but his experience was in risk analysis and resilience. Jude had built a career helping companies analyse where their risks were and helped them develop and implement strategies to prevent the risks from affecting operations of becoming disasters. Jude’s knowledge of economics was rooted in risk and resilience, not finance. Having George around felt comforting because it gave Jude the sense that there was somebody who was professionally trained and had direct experience in finance. Cynthia greeted George and motioned for everybody to sit down. Jude noticed she’d gotten a bit flustered. He wasn’t really sure why, but chose to be engaging and in the moment, instead of drifting off in his thoughts because he was distracted by why Cynthia was flustered by George.
The Puppetry.
“Hmmm, this one seems to be making different choices to what we expected?” said Ahab. Jezebel was irritated that Ahab had mentioned something that was clearly obvious but knew that she needed his help, so she just glared back. The dynamic between Ahab and Jezebel has always been tense. Ahab has the one thing that Jezebel wants but has been barred from having. During the incident with King Ahab in the 9th century BCE, God issued a judicial decree in the courts of heaven that prevents Jezebel from attaining power. God had seen at the point that Jezebel chose to be a non-kingdom spirit that she would be too evil if she was ever to gain power. As a result, God banned her from directly influencing people with power. Her wickedness was too great.
Stolen novel; please report.
The ever-scheming witch circumvented this rule with King Ahab. As the story goes, Jezebel seduced King Ahab somewhere between 874 to 870 BCE, while Ahab was king of Israel, but honestly, he was kind of a pushover – especially when it came to his wife, Jezebel. She was this super powerful Phoenician princess who basically ran the show, and she wasn’t shy about making everyone worship her god, Baal, instead of the God of Israel. Ahab went along with it, even though it made the prophets, especially Elijah, absolutely furious. Now, here’s the juicy part: Ahab wanted a vineyard right next to his palace, but the owner, Naboth, wouldn’t sell because it was family land. Ahab started sulking like a child, so Jezebel said, “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” and took matters into her own hands. She forged letters in Ahab’s name, set up false witnesses to accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king, and had him stoned to death. Then Ahab just moved right in and took the vineyard. Elijah showed up and told Ahab he was in big trouble for this, predicting his family would be wiped out and even that dogs would eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. And guess what? Years later, when Jehu came to take over, Jezebel tried to charm him by dressing up and looking out the window, but he just had her thrown out and eaten by dogs, just like Elijah said. So, yeah, not a happy ending for either of them. According to scripture, Ahab was the most wicked of all the kings of Israel and God hated him the most. Ahab was supposed to protect the people and use his power to protect against the people of God being led into idol worship. But instead, he allowed himself to be seduced by a witch who then involved him in murderous acts for selfish gain while selling his people down the river to other gods…
So Jezebel loathed Ahab because he had what she wanted. She was cunning and was able to use her looks and the desires of Ahab to manipulate him into marrying her and keeping her. Her tactics have not changed and neither has Ahab. “It was a nice touch causing George to interject himself into the first encounter between Cynthia and, what’s his name, Jude…” said Ahab. Jezebel shrugged and grunted in acknowledgement, continuing to focus on what she was doing. Ahab, feeling unseen, said “and I helped too by causing Cynthia to remain silent and awkward… I thought it was a good touch to make her feel overlooked and insecure in her new position”. “Okay”, said Jezebel, “now that I’ve moved George into play, we need to figure out this Jude guy. Can he work for our plan or what is he doing there?”
Meanwhile, God had sent Michael to work with Jude’s guardian angel Glen. God understood that Jude was not yet able to see and hear into the Spirit so he would need protection because he had not yet learnt how to use his authority in Christ Jesus to perform Christian magic. God had specifically sent Jude to Murray & Fitch because he was aware that there was a plot there to expand the influence of the enemy. He needed an agent there who would do the work and establish His kingdom in that place. Michael gave Glen the message to use the 1 Corinthians 13 spell over Jude. The spell would empower the Holy Spirit to begin the work of establishing 1 Corinthians 13 in Jude’s Spirit – the process of sanctification where the Holy Spirit binds the spells of the bible to a person who is then transformed into the living embodiment of the spell.
The First Dream.
The rest of the workday was uneventful, and Jude spent most of it just introducing himself to his new colleagues and getting set up with his security clearance, etc. Cynthia let him leave early because there was nothing he could do without his laptop and computer which he was waiting for from IT.
Jude had decided that he wanted to make it a point to spend more time with God. Growing up Christian, he had an understanding of the bible and had been baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit. But he had not yet received his tongue and he desired to grow in the spirit and deepen his relationship with God. That night as Jude slept, Glen touched Jude’s forehead and imparted the dream from God. The dream was an encrypted message that detailed what was coming. The message needed to be encrypted because Jude was not yet ready to fully understand the dream. He saw a scroll with a mouth that started to speak to him. The scroll said:
“If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good. Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Hone your prophetic skills… or follow for more certainty!
? The meeting that changes everything
? A weapon that protects—and destroys
? The conflict Spirit is sent
Join the Bible Study on Discord and debate with fellow churchies what it all means:
?? [https://discord.gg/NndYyq7z]()
