Metaphors coming thick and fast here, but you get the point. Now the older ways are at the tail end of their life cycle, the rust will come back, but the main damage is to the new idea which is now assimulated into the old way of working. We are seeing this a lot with complexity theory at the moment. I picked up a book the other day making a big thing about the distinction between complex and complicated systems.
The solutions are the classic sets of platitudes about leadership, committment and openess to novelty. No real change is expected, the whole thing is simply dressing up sheep in wolves clothing; pretending to novelty while propviding no real challenge. Other, more serious, attempts to understand complexity fail to come to grips with issues of dispiositionality v causality or the nature of constraints.
Instead they hide behind the language of self-organisation and emergence; but all of the proposed practices or changes are heaviliy facilitated workshops in which people agree to be different but in practice do nothing.
In the centuries following, the phrase was used many times in the Latin writings of the Church Fathers [2] and later on in European vernacular literature. Although the story of a wolf disguised as a sheep has been counted as one of Aesop's Fables in modern times, there is no record of a fable with this precise theme before the Middle Ages , although there are earlier fables of Aesop in Greek sources to which the Gospel parable might allude. The first fable concerning a wolf that disguises itself in a sheep's skin is told by the 12th-century Greek rhetorician Nikephoros Basilakis in a work called Progymnasmata rhetorical exercises.
It is prefaced with the comment that 'You can get into trouble by wearing a disguise' and is followed by the illustrative story. He put on a sheepskin and accompanied the flock to the pasture. The shepherd was fooled by the disguise. When night fell, the shepherd shut up the wolf in the fold with the rest of the sheep and as the fence was placed across the entrance, the sheepfold was securely closed off.
But when the shepherd wanted a sheep for his supper, he took his knife and killed the wolf. In the former one is warned to beware of hypocritical evil-doers; Nikephoros warns that evil-doing carries its penalty. The next version does not appear until three centuries later in the Hecatomythium of the 15th-century Italian professor Laurentius Abstemius.
5 Ways to Recognize a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
In his telling, 'A wolf, dressed in a sheep's skin, blended himself in with the flock of sheep and every day killed one of the sheep. When the shepherd noticed this was happening, he hanged the wolf on a very tall tree. On other shepherds asking him why he had hanged a sheep, the shepherd answered: The skin is that of a sheep, but the activities were those of a wolf. Certain elements of this story are to be found in Aesop's fable of the shepherd who raised a wolf cub among his dogs.
When it was grown, it secretly reverted to type. If a wolf stole a sheep and the dogs could not catch it, the guardian wolf continued the chase and shared the meal with the marauder. On other occasions it would kill a sheep and share the meat with the other dogs. Eventually the shepherd discovered what was happening and hanged the wolf.
What may be a reference to this story occurs in an anonymous poem in the Greek Anthology in which a goat laments that it is made to suckle a wolf-cub,. Not by my own will but the shepherd's folly. The beast reared by me will make me his prey, For gratitude cannot change nature. The Greek fable is numbered in the Perry Index. Do they consistently set you on edge? Wolves are often accurate in the spiritual gifts. Please note that just because someone has spiritual gifts does not mean they are heaven-sent. Many times, I've seen people mistaken by these individuals just because they were gifted or because a 'prophetic word' seemed accurate.
Please, pastors, do not put them in charge of your departments just because they are gifted.
They are moving fast.
Watch their lives, because if you're not careful, they will devour your sheep. Wolves didn't always start out being wolves. I don't believe all wolves started out being wolves. Often, they are gifted individuals who just got lost somewhere along the way. Both big wolf-encounters I faced had a similarity. The wolves were both people who had father fractures and never quite healed.
Wolf in sheep's clothing - Wikipedia
They were people who let the idea of success get in the way of morality. Somewhere they became deceived, and their judgment was clouded. They both believed that they were being used by God, but the fruit just wasn't there. The good news is that I believe that these people, along with other WISC, are not so far gone that they can't repent and turn back to God. I believe God still wants to use them; however, I believe they will have to go through a pruning season first.
Perhaps you like me have found out about WISC the hard way.
Wolf in sheep's clothing
The good news is that now you'll be better at spotting them. Wolves can be complicated. Pray for them from afar. Handle them how God is telling you to handle them. Be wise, and keep moving forward. Cursing the Church or Helping It?
- Official Exchanges/Unofficial Representations: The Politics of Contemporary Art in the Soviet Union and the United States, 1956–1977;
- 7 Recognizable Traits of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing — Charisma News?
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