The Split Decision

The Split Decision

4/20/13

This phrase can serve many people and have huge consequences when the outcome is revealed to the world.  Many people do not understand that this scenario has played out thousands of time in the past and we have totally missed what it’s meaning in our lives.  If an enemy has the abilities to create this type of disruption within the opposing ranks the devastating results can so devastating that one could never recover.  This event happens on a daily basis and we do not see it and in reality embrace its decision and fail to recognize what has just occurred.

I realize that there are a couple of ways that a person can use this phrase and where both ways could be appropriate in this article, I am only going to use one option of this phrase, which means God probably will use another option of this phrase sometime down the road or tomorrow.  A split decision means that a deciding event has been conclude and there are doubts about what the final outcome is or that a winner has not done so convincingly enough to win over the entire public eye.  This type of event happens in every portion of the world’s settings which in turn means that this type of decision has an effect on everyone in the world.  Seem too much of an extreme view?  Then follow along with this article and let your heart think of any type of setting and think about the final results of those settings and then make your determination.  I believe that you will find that in nearly every case someone will not agree with the performance that has been presented.

For you soccer loving people, and that includes myself, this example will not be unfamiliar to you.  With all of the world wide competitions out there it has become necessary to build soccer organizations strong enough to participate in these select competitions I order to attract support, money and popularity.  If you study a couple of the huge leagues in the world you will quickly realize the competition for these tournaments and the titles that accompany them require big bucks and if you continue your search one will find that the rewards are far greater than what is invested. 

Over the years I have noticed that when teams win these competitions the fans, players and owners are elated on every level but it comes as a shock to us that in just a matter of days the manager resigns from the so called happy club for what seems like ridiculous reasons.  Then after the dust settles the truth becomes known, the people above the managerial level was not pleased at how the club won the tournament stating that the person in charge should have led the club to a better result.  This is an example of a split decision.

Businesses deal with this type of result all the time.  All of us who have been involved in decisions about the future of a person, group, or deal understand that the majority of the time not everyone in that room will agree with the decision that has been made and that disagreement is voiced when the vote comes back not as a unanimous vote.  The majority wins of course, but even though the decision or victory has been cast in the back of the minds everyone knows that not everyone is in agreement and that division actually rules the day.

This concept was introduced to me by my father many years ago.  Most of you know that my dad is a minister, he is retired….kind of…but he always had a certain rule that he followed when we were trying out for a church.  When I was young I had no real reason to know about this philosophy because I was not part of the direct decision team per say, even though mom and dad always include Bud and I’s opinions.  The point is this dad would not accept a church where he did not receive at least 95% of the people’s acceptance of him as a pastor. 

For most of you that are reading this article are probably saying that the percentage given above is a bit egotistical.  But think about it for a bit even a 95% acceptance rate is a split decision.  Yes 95 out of 100 people believe in what you are saying and wish for you to lead them in their spiritual guidance, but those five people do not want you in their presence.  Now, which percentage do you believe will grow, and which one has the potential to grow at a faster rate?  Think about it for a while and you will come to the conclusion that this is a good example of a split decision.

Now do not get me wrong here.  God made excellent choices in which we spent time in and no matter what part of the USA that we went to, God knew exactly what the people needed and showed dad the words to speak to them during our tenure there.  And I would not trade or change any of the places that I have lived, for in each place I have learned something else about people, relationships, the Church and about Spirit and is the backbone of what God is sharing through me to His people.

All of the previous examples have been local or regional ones so let me give you one that places this type of split decision on a global scale.  It is a piece of history that most of you do not know about because it happened in Europe in the 10^th century but the results of those events serve as another example of what a split decision means to mankind.

There are many global settings that could be tied into this one example but I am choosing not to include them, however I do find it interesting that basically the same countries have been implicated in hundreds of further altercations due to past split decisions as I am about to explain, so keep that in mind.  J

There was a ruler by the name of Otto who was the King of Germany.  His kingdom had an enemy who was headed by a man called Berengar.  Both sides wished to control the entire region as their own and both did their best to obtain the necessary backing in order to proceed with their ideas.  Otto’s plan was to influence the pope enough to claim to the title of emperor, which only the pope had the authority to promote and in order to accomplish this Otto had to defeat the pope’s enemies that were breathing down the neck of Rome.  Otto did this feat and the pope was convinced that with the accomplishments of Otto and his army that he should be granted the title of Emperor.  Now there are numerous aspects and conditions that played out during this period of time and all of know that when the human mind is involved in something, not everyone is happy, as was the case in this example. 

On the other side of the coin, one of the details that are of importance involves Otto’s son Liudolf, great name huh.  Liudolf was a powerful man and had held vast amounts of land and with this power that had been given to him and in concordance with human reasoning wished to increase his land holdings.  It so happened that Liudolf and Otto had their eyes on the same piece of property but the timing for Liudolf was not at hand so Otto quickly marched through the land and took it before Liudolf could form his armies.  As you might think this did not set well with the son even though they were on the same side of the fight.  The split was now in play and the consequences soon wee to be revealed to the world.

Remember Berengar who was the enemy of Otto and Liudolf?  Well Liudolf was so enraged by the actions of his father that he convinced another partner of the coalition, Duke Conrad who was in active combat against Berengar, to turn sides and begin to support Berengar and his claims, with full support of Liudolf to ensure victory against his father Otto.  What precipitated this seemingly treasonous act?  A split between the two major players of the coalition and the decision of one to override and take advantage of another, a split decision was the reason and the results of this act were painful to Otto.

Otto was forced to accept an agreement of peace with Berengar since his armies were now no match for the shifting of the sand where armies were concerned.  It was a forceful agreement and not one where both sides had equal royalties as a result.  The surrender of Otto set heavily on his world especially knowing that his own son had played a major role in his defeat.  There are many instances that have proven where families have stuck together in order to complete a desired goal whether or not all of the members agreed with what was occurring.  But in this case, the unity between family members broke so that a split decision amongst them ruled their court strong enough to bring down a king.

A split decision is the perfect result for an enemy.  It is the culmination of the greatest strategy of cat and mouse which results in victory for the enemy.  Not only has the enemy won the battle or war but he / they have successfully broken up the unity that you have with your army.  It is the greatest feeling that a winning side has when this type of scene is played out.  The losing side does not realize their mistake until it is too late and then they are forced to witness the results of their gamble which in some cases can lead to their own demise and / or death.

When we look at civil wars throughout history we notice a certain pattern about them.  That pattern is that they are normally the bloodiest and nastiest wars that are fought between humans.  The reason for this is that the sides that are fighting against each other know their enemies in such a personal way that the damage that they inflict goes straight to the heart.  More division and hurt come from civil wars and the results of these types of wars usually last a lot longer than foreign wars. 

What we as Christians cannot forget is that our enemy has done the exact same thing to us and we are continuing to let him slaughter us both in the physical and spiritual realms.  First we must understand that our enemy knows us more than you realize.  We do not like to think about this but he knows us on a personal level.  Another thing that we must understand is that spirit is pure there is nothing impure about it.  It is either pure in God’s way or it is pure in Satan’s way; there is no mixing of the two.  So if we are God’s creation and then at one time we must have been pure, this is proven in Genesis.  So it would be natural for our enemy to divide us from our Creator.

But why stop there?  Enemies do not just advance to a certain place or objective and then just stop, we have plenty of proof that those ideas do not work.  So our enemy continues his course on those who serve as warriors of his enemy, it is a perfect and logical means in which to win a war.  It is the perfect example of inducing a split decision amongst the spiritual troops, especially if our doubts have increased enough to allow this plan to be birthed into our ranks.  It is the perfect plan of deceit and it is the perfect plan of death to those who listen to it and follow it.

God did not make a mistake in our creation we were the ones who listened to our enemy long enough that we chose to agree to his ways instead of God’s.  It was our mistake not God’s.  And by this decision we have allowed ourselves to actually fight on the side of our enemy against the one being that created us.  We can change this and there is still a short amount of time for us to expose our enemy’s game plan.  It takes guts and courage to achieve this reality however, and it will require us to swallow our pride and to admit that we once again made a mistake in our decision making.  But I have every confidence in the Church that she will wake up and realize that the battle can still be won but only if we turn and stop aiding our own enemy.

It is time to end the spiritual split decision that we have embraced for centuries and turn back our enemy’s progression.  We need to realize that we are being used and that it is vital that we restore God in our lives and for us to lose “self” that we have built up within us.  God loves us and has provided an escape plan from our choices.  When one understands this concept of split decisions, it will become clear to us that every aspect of our lives fall into this plane and is subject to the same scenario within our lives.  Restoration through God is our only hope of true victory.

DLB