Nemesis

Am thinking of this story from the Bible. It's a story of Nemesis, the Roman goddess of vengeance. Her name comes from the same root word which means "to give what is due." As a lover of Greek tragedies, I loved the relentlessness of Nemesis. I suppose she's related spiritually to the idea of karma. Folks get what is due to them. The goddess seems to be more interesting when she gives bad folks what they're due -- the fruition of the evil seeds they've sown-- than when she gives good folks the stuff they're due. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things she never found that many good folks. Who knows? But in modern America the word has narrowed even more, Nemesis is now a human villain who challenges a bad person. "So and so is my nemesis," etc.



In the Bible story, Paul is saved from a shipwreck. This is miraculous enough. But then as he is building a fire a snake comes out and latches onto his hand. The chief immediately thinks that Nemesis is relentless. Sure, it looks as if the guy's gotten away from vengeance but although the stormy tempest didn't do the job Nemesis had intended, Nemesis gets the nearest weapon...a poisonous viper.. to finish the job the storm had hopelessly botched. The relentlessness of Nemesis is something those who truly believe in karmic justice believe in. You WILL get yours.

The weird thing is that the chief's insight is quite right. Paul IS a murderer who escaped the storm. Paul killed many believers. But grace triumphs over justice and with a tiny shake of the hand, Paul throws the relentless vengeance aside.

Can we who feel guilt ever really rest in the forgiveness -- yes, the grace!-- of God. This is not mere mercy. Paul is not merely not swollen, not mildly sick. Paul is utterly unscathed. And even more: Paul is given the gift of healing. Isn't the grace of our God wonderful? Now, can I write a story about a forgiveness so great? Am hoping Constant Tower turns out inspired and wonderful.

Acts 28

1And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
2And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
3And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
5And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

Psalm 94

Ah, the need for justice in the world! The arrogance of cruel folks, especially the cruelty of those in power. Cruel judges, cruel bankers, cruel adults who oppress children. What can the normal person do with the powerful folks of the world?

Know what? Sometimes one can do nothing. Oh, deep in my revolutionary heart, I'd like to be able to do something. Write letters, argue with/convince the bill collectors, enlighten those in the medical or educational system, slap some sense into rapist ministers/priests. But, know what? Even if I manage to help one oppressed soul, there are others out there who will continue to be oppressed by other creepy proud folks.

People believe that Christians believe in "pie in the sky by and by." Not really true. Mother Theresa, Archbishop Romero, Desmond Tutu, Lec Walesa etc...were all people who believed in God, a heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. YET they changed the world. No, Folks, religion is not the opiate of the people. (Heck, today, it's more like "lotto is the opiate of the people" or "democracy is the opiate of the people" or "having a black president is the opiate of the people." We black folks believe in changing the human law, "getting the right person in office" etc. But let's face it, certain racial, financial, legal, injustices aren't gonna change no matter who the heck is in president. Mammon, Pride, doesn't give way that easily.

So in this case, I'm not going to be ashamed to say, "God, tear the heavens and come down!" "God, repair this situation and if you can't repair it, destroy the wicked or destroy this worldly system."

"Lord, vengeance belongs to you. Lord knows I'd like to take vengeance in my hand and destroy a few creepy people. But I'd probably not get away with it. I'd probably destroy my soul. I'd probably end up going over the edge in bringing retribution. So, Lord, help me know more and more that you, God, see me. You, God, see all. And help me to rest in the knowledge that the wicked will come to see your light."

Psalm 94

1O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
2Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
6They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
7Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
11The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
13That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
20Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

Deciding to believe

So there I was a coupla days ago when this still small voice starts telling me I must tell my son the following verse:

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 (King James Version)

18If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

19Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

20And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

21And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Yeah, I know. A real tough one. But, it kept coming to me with that strong, "Tell this to your son!" persistence. So, I decided to be a Bible thumper and tell the kid he should not be so rebellious towards me, that children not listening to their mothers is considered so heinous to God that he even demands such children be stoned.

I reminded kid of the strange dream he had a year ago where he saw a clock whose hour and minute hands looked like staircases and led outside the boundaries of the clock downward. He said he had risen from the dream with the feeling that he had to get his act together. I reminded him that God "does not always strive with man" and that the worst thing that can happen to a person is for God to leave him alone to his own devices and his own evil. It seems God is giving you a time limit.

Upshot: Kid told me off.

Second upshot: Woke up this morning -- about an hour ago-- to mega-noise and screaming out my doors. Yep, a Professor Gates incident right outside my door. Son was standing in front of our yard. Cops came rolling around and asked for ID. Son ASKED them questions instead of simply kowtowing to them. Son is now in jail. Will wait for the morning to hear what the judge says. Am hoping son doesn't lose his job because he didn't show up.

Now, what to do? I have to Decide something. I can go wailing and freaking out or I can decide that this is best. I asked the Lord to do all that was necessary to save my son from hell. Yep, I believe in a literal permanent hell. Perhaps this is of God. Perhaps it is not. I suspect this creepy annoying business might be a gift from God as an answer to prayer. Hell is permanent; jail isn't.

I will decide to believe that come what may from this upsetting situation, it is best for son's soul, son's future behavior, the family. As Hagar says, "You, God, see me."
More and more I see God's nearness to me. Should i believe that -- in this situation-- he's far away? No. I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 93

Thinking about those floods that lift themselves up. In the Bible, "floods" represent troubles. Troubles upon troubles.
Psalm 69:1

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

Isaiah 59:19

So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

So, yeah, floods are a bitch. And sometimes they even have a voice: Generally a mocking voice that declares it will triumph over us.

The floods bring despair. One feels, like David, that one sinks in deep water where there is no standing.

But there is a river! A river of life! This river of life is God-with-us. God working in us, God working outside of us. It reminds us of the testimonies of God and urges us to believe we'll come out of the flood, undrowned, alive.

In this Psalm, the psalmist reminds his hearers of God's power...even against floods. He reminds them/us that God's testimonies are very sure. Very sure. Then he states that holiness becomes God's house. The Hebrew meaning of the word "holy" is otherworldliness. A greatness, a glory, a truth, a beauty, a goodness, a strength, a power, a way of life, that is so outside of our mental realm that it is too-good-to-believe--too-hard-to-believe news.

The sureness of God's testimonies hint at permanence. The Psalmist tells us that God's law is sure,God's laws and truth is ever-present. Faith has its laws and its constancy just as gravity has its laws and its constancy. The world -- spiritual, universal-- is stablished. It cannot be moved. Even if the waves seem to be "truth." We must simply enter into His rest, enter into the peace that God has established. To find that peace is to find the strength that allows the waves to be conquered.

Faith works by laws, just as gravity and electricity works by laws. Electricity doesn't flow through wood. Gravity can be overcome by thrust. We understand the laws of electricity and the laws of gravity to control them but we don't understand the laws of God's kingdom. The psalmist tells us that holiness becomes God's house. Holiness is nothing more than understanding and falling in line with God's established spiritual rules. Those are the only ways to conquer the waves. We can't say, "I like the idea of rubber transmitting electricity." Or rather, we can say it. But it's not going to work. God never says vain words. His words are a covenant with his people. Just as electricity and gravity has its covenant with us. We can gripe and complain all we want but we need to get the concept of the laws of the spiritual realm and apply them.

One of the laws I'm working on is that faith must be spoken. I've seen too often how speaking the negative thing has caused negative things to happen. But, perhaps it's a fear I have of believing in fairytales, I haven't seem to be able to commit to speaking the positive things. I remember several times I said, "so-and-so used to run away from his caretaker into the streets and almost got killed." Even though I had put this habit of the child's in the past, the WEIRD thing was that on BOTH times I said this, on that very same day that child ran into the street and almost got killed. The kid wasn't even in the room when I said it. Negative stuff happening when we speak negative stuff happens so many times! I remember my friend telling another friend, "You're gonna die on that new bike of yours." The next day my friend died in a bike accident. Words are powerful things, and they are part of how the law of faith works. The angel Gabriel shut up the mouth of John the Baptist's dad because Zechariah didn't believe. He would have spoken his unbelief. The woman whose son died did not speak or mention his death even when she spoke to Elijah.

I totally believe what the Bible said, "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue."

Psalms 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God

Angels have told me several times in dreams to stop talking about my physical pain or my son's and to believe what the Bible says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." "You will declare a thing." "We walk by faith, not by (human) sight." Why do we believe the waves? Why don't we believe that God really reigns? We can we not simply fall into the otherworldliness of it all.

St Paul tells us all the time that the battle is in the mind.
Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

“I will say of the Lord He is my refuge,. my God in Him will I trust”. Psalm 91. Instead of speaking of the waves, Jesus tells us to speak to the mountain and to tell the waves about the glory of God. I will tell autism and fibromyalgia, the waves in my life, that the Bible says that we were healed by Jesus' wounds. And I will not affirm the waves' power to destroy me. All things are possible with God.

The woman with the issue of blood entered into the rest of Christ. Jesus didn't know anything about her condition, but she determined in her heart that if she touched the hem of his garment (following the word of God in Malachi where the Son of Man rises with healings in his wings. "wings" was the term for the hem of the garment.) She believed in the word of God and SAID -- or "kept saying"-- "If I touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed." Faith in the words of God and action. And, without Jesus doing anything she put into motion the "law" of Christ's healing before Jesus had time to "size her up and decide if she should be healed." None of that. She knew that God reigns.

Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Once again, Lord, I commit my tongue to speak only your truth. I resist the waves. I acknowledge your promise in Isaiah 53: By your wounds I am healed. Just as I fall in line and commit to the rules of gravity and electricity, I will commit to falling in line with the spiritual laws you've shown me in your word. Paul told us to "water our prayer with thanksgiving" and I commit to praising you for the unseen, for the surety of your testimonies and your promise. As David says, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

It's said three times in the Bible: The Just shall live by faith.
And

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Hebrews 11

All around us, there is evidence of all God has established: his Word, his character, his love, his truth.

Psalm 93

1The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
2Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
3The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
4The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

Keeping the promise

Okay, so like a fool I decided to promise God not to buy lotto tickets. (Mercifully, I didn't promise him not to do anymore online sweepstakes, or I'd really be freaking.)

Yes, I know, I should trust God and not lean to my own understanding. But in my very nerve-wracked fearful moments, I start thinking that winning lotto will free me from all my distresses. Yep, it's one in a zillion chances of me winning the big one. (Actually, it's 50/50. Either I win or I don't.) But this trusting God without seeing a human way out -- even such a far-fetched one-- is fricking difficult.

Lord, help me to rest in your care. Love you, God!

Obama Joker Posters

Okay, I believe in free speech. But it weirds me out that the same folks who are so against Pres Obama (whom I don't even like, mind you) didn't make a peep when Pres Bush jokered us into a billion-dollar war.

So yeah, I believe in free speech. But this divisiveness in our nation caused by such "grass-roots" organizing is creeping me out. (Yeah, I'm creeped out by the Lincoln-Obama comparisons too. Feels a bit morbid. And that's the reason I really don't like these joker posters. American racism is very murderous. Heck, all racism is murderous. And prejudiced Americans with their desire to "take America back" can be quite murderous. All that entitlement mentality. Honestly, the subtext of the poster is death. I might even add that the subtext is lynching. (Yeah, I'm good at picking up lynching in the atmosphere.) I know folks will say it's "only" about the Joker, and if anything the posters are about madness. But, call me flaky, but the posters read "death" to me.



I suppose some folks are upset because it's an example of hateful folks using trendy racism to mock the president. The Joker posters also have that death-mask look.

So, then, aren't folks allowed to speak their minds? Even if hateful right-wing pundits are fuelling hatred across the land? ::sighing deeply:: They say humor diffuses anger. It makes folks think something's being done, it makes them feel relieved of some of their angst and seething. So, one could say the general nastiness is just a whole lotta smoke, and racists fuming about having a black president. But, I just think murder and death loom ahead. I know this country. I can sense the hate in the atmosphere. I know how entitled some white folks feel when they aren't given the 90% of attention, 90% of power, etc they think is rightfully theirs.

So, how awake am I?

Seriously pondering why my main male characters are white or Asian. Am I just mindlessly falling into the boy-goes-on-a-quest myths I've grown up with? Or is it more personal? And should I change it? And even when they're black characters, they're males. Sylvia Kelso, a writer friend of mine, wants my pulley YA story to have a female main character. Can I find my inner feminist and do it?

So where do my stories come from? Is there some great need to heal my teenaged heart, loving all those non-black guys who stomped on my heart? If the stories rise from the purest part of me -- no matter if it's totally f*cked up by American racial issues-- to heal me, why should I change it just to be a true Black person or to do something for the feminist cause?

I really do want to be awake and mindful. Am hoping I am. am hoping I can be. This mindfulness has to do with everything. For instance, if I'm feeling crappy, I really should be mindful enough not to talk about it. Not only because my whining is upsetting to some folks and I get stressed when I stress other folks out. But because Christians believe in the power of the tongue. If I truly believe God has healed me, why should I slip into speaking of sickness?

I want to be alive in everything. I have so many Christian friends who live by platitudes and maxims. (And heck, most of these maxims are theologically incorrect.) I don't want to do that. I don't want to have a glib kneejerk answer for everything. I don't want to live by daydreams or by news pundits or medical newsbites. I want to live by truth. I don't even want to succumb to sexual fantasies, for instance...so have been very careful with any luscious thought of gorgeous warriors that drop into my mind when am in bed with hubby. The devil is a liar. Lies include exaggeration, delusion, false truths, fear-mongering, doubts, and stupid knee-jerk theological platitudes that aren't true.

So yeah, am trying to be mindful, not led about by the world or by new spiritual or worldly trends, or by my own inner demons, or by demonic entities. Will see. Jesus says the day has enough trouble of its own.

Psalm 92

I remembering being in Montreal once -- mercifully, only once!-- and meeting a woman there who was rather nasty when she discovered I was a Christian. Folks in Canada seem to have an ongoing competition war with Americans for some reason, and especially American Christians. So she says, apropos of nothing, "All these silly Christians going around praising God. Why do such a stupid thing?"

I responded, "Well, when you get up in the morning and you turn to your beloved, don't you ever say, 'You're the greatest! I love you'?" God must've helped me with that answer because she was immediately silenced. The psalmist says that brutish people don't know this love of God.

The thing is, praise naturally rises from the heart for anything we love. Just as snide cracks rise up instantly when we deal with something (or someone) we hate. Just as we naturally whine when we're in pain.

Of course sometimes we don't quite feel like praising. Yet, this psalm tells us it's a good thing to do. We must rejoice at what God is doing in our lives, even if we don't see it. We know God's character and God's Word. What God has said is truth. Not what we see, not what the doctors declare, but what God himself has proclaimed. This is where our victory comes: we praise God for what we know He is doing in our lives in spite of what we see because we know God's character.

Psalm 92

1IT IS A GOOD THING TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, AND TO SING PRAISES UNTO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH:
2To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
3Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
4For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
5O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
8But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.
9For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
11Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
15To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Heritage Mass Choir

The Korean Heritage Mass Choir is a gospel group in Korean that takes its style from African-American gospel.

Am back

Okay, am trying to get my act together here. It's been one of those weird months. Won't go on about it. Sufficeth to say worrying about a kid with tummy issues and not quite committing to refrain from giving him cookies and dairy is not a good mix. Am wondering if there's such a thing as an allergy so bad that the withdrawal of the evil food (milk and cookies in this case) just makes the kid suffer more.

Even so, we might give in on the cookies but we won't ever give in on the milk again. (Okay, hubby gave him some ice cream yesterday which is just very stressing.) Milk has caused us much grief.

Anyway, trying to get control here. Gotta write and the child has missed most of summer school because of his tummy issues. We're also trying to make him drink more water.

God gave me a dream where someone asked me, "Where are the greens?" So, yeah, we have to teach this kid to eat more veggies. Might make soup today. Chicken soup with spinach? Don't know about adding the rice. Have been wondering if I should get rid of all the grains...but am thinking he's quite good if he just avoids milk, drinks water, and eats enough fiber. Will see.

-C

Psalm 110

Psalm 110 (King James Version)

Psalm 110

1The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

2The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

3Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

5The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

6He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Jacob's Ladder

Darra Consulting now accepting new clients

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Darra Consulting, a church financial consulting and strategy firm, has announced that it will now accept new church clients.

Orlando, Florida - July 31, 2009 – Darra Consulting LLC of Orlando, Florida has opened its doors to new church clients that are interested in optimizing their financial strategy or seeking funding for construction, refinance, or other growth opportunities.

“We currently have the capacity to take on some additional clients, particularly those churches who are in need of money for expansion but who are having difficulty finding it on their own in the current economic climate. We are currently offering a free consultation for interested churches.” said Founder/President John Ottinger III.

Churches have been seeing a great deal of membership increase in these economic times as more and more people attend services. In “Praying for Recession: The Business Cycle and Protestant Religiosity in the United States,” David Beckworth, an assistant professor of economics at Texas State University, looked at long-established trend lines showing the growth of evangelical congregations and the decline of mainline churches. He found that during each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, the rate of growth in evangelical churches jumped by 50 percent.

But although churches are expanding, they are often unable to find funding for either construction or refinancing. Banks have a history of misunderstanding the way churches work and are tightening their lending requirements due to the recession, leaving churches unable to procure the financing they need. Many churches are unprepared for this new economic climate, having structured their finances based on the good times of the last few years before the economic downturn. Darra Consulting is a team of financial strategists that can help the church reposition themselves to eliminate wasteful and haphazard spending, increase the effectiveness of the ministry, and prepare for building expansion either now or in the future.

“Though times are tough, churches are expanding, and we aim to take advantage of the low rates and unique opportunities in this financial market to make each church’s vision for growth a reality,” stated Ottinger. “We do not offer a specific product but rather a unique solution tailored to the needs of the church, and so we do not have the same limitations as direct lenders.”

To find out more about Darra Consulting, call

ABOUT DARRA CONSULTING, LLC
Darra Consulting, LLC is a team of experts with over 30 years of experience in the lending industry, including over $1 billion in church real estate finance and over $500 million in non-profit real estate finance. To learn more about Darra Consulting, please visit www.darraconsulting.com or contact the company by e-mailing info@darraconsulting.com.

Contact Info:

Email: johnottinger (AT) darraconsulting.com

Web: www.darraconsulting.com

Carl Brandon Society open Letter to the SF Community

We at the Carl Brandon Society are writing this open letter to our community regarding the recent incident involving Harlan Ellison and K. Tempest Bradford. The rest of the post is here:

http://carlbrandon.org/blog/2009/07/open-letter-to-sf-community-re.html

Searching the scripture: suffering

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

My friend Tami Murdock comments on this verse as follows: This is usually the verse that most people mix up with saying that 'God does not give you more than you can take', when it actually says that God will not let you BE TEMPTED beyond what you can bear. BIG DIFFERENCE.

VERY TRUE. I will only add:

A) They equate suffering with temptation and mix up God's promise that we will not be overtaken with a temptation with we will not be overtaken with suffering. B) They say "God doesn't give you more than you can take" as if God gives suffering or as if all suffering comes from God or as if God doesn't want to end the suffering. C) They always speak as if whatever suffering you're going through is forever. Certainly, they never talk about the way God provides out of it. If anything, they blame you for not seeing the way God has provided (usually as they see it.) D) They fall into comparison mode and compare sufferings. This verse doesn't compare suffering. It compares temptation. Some suffer so much the world is not worthy of them.

Two really great sermons

Two really great sermons sent to me by my friend Rose-Marie of http://pen-of-the-wayfarer.blogspot.com

Jackie Pullinger is the lady who ministers to drug addicts in China.

Jackie Pullinger, God Uses the Foolish Things:
http://media.sermonindex.net/19/SID19143.mp3

Other sermons here



Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned in solitary confinement for many years for his faith.

Richard Wurmbrand, The Beauty of Nothing:
http://media.sermonindex.net/4/SID4325.mp3

Right-click to down-load

Dark Parable: Jonah

Yesterday I got up and this image came into my mind of a cartoon I'd like to make of the prophet Jonah. It wouldn't really mention Jonah but it would have one scene where God's hand forms a great fish. We see the full-blown creature being prepared by God's hand, then swimming in the ocean, then swallowing a man. The man hangs out in the great fish' stomach, squnched in the stomach, then we see the man more and more squeezed then the man is vomitted out on dry land. The scene shifts to the man again, sitting on a hill. The hand of God planting a seed and we see this seed growing into a large beuatiful plant with large leaves shading the man. Then we see God's hand preparing a little worm. We see this worm crawling into the beautiful plant and eating and destroying the plant. We slowly see the plant wilting over the prophet and dying. And the prophet grieving. Then we see the worm die. All the while we see the animals of Ninevah in the background.

Well, totally weirdly. I mention this idea to look about this animation I want to make and then later on yesterday afternoon hubby turns on the TV to some preacher he didn't know and I didn't know. And what does the man talk about? God preparing/appointing the whale, the gourd plant, the worm, and the wind. (I hadn't thought about the wind in my meditation/vision.) But it seemed so weird. He talked about going out to people we don't want to go out to and having spiritual appointments from God we don't like because we rebel.

I'm sure it must mean something. It was just very weird. Of course we saw this sermon just after older son slammed me for being on facebook. But not sure what that's about? Weird to feel God is talking to you but not quite knowing about what. Maybe to accept certain things in life as appointed from God.

What impressed me was God's creativity in dealing with Jonah. He created so many natural elements to deal with Jonah. I wasn't even thinking of anything else. (I suspect I really don't want to think of having to go to people I don't particularly like.) I always considered Jonah a lover of nature, a prophet who was not particularly impressed with humans because he knew them inside and out. A real cynic. But he loved animals and the only way God could even get him to care about nineveh was to remind him of the animals who would die. Because Jonah would care about that. Jonah loved creativity, especially the creativity of animals. He loved the gourd.

The things were created specifically for jonah. To swallow him, to cover him, to destroy what blessed him, to bring extra heat on him. The whale is an enclosing trial but it protects Jonah from the even greater trial of the dangerous sea. The gourd is a temporary beautiful shelter that is not permanent. The worm is that thing appointed to destroy the temporary shelter we've gotten used to. Then the hot wind is to bring us back to reality. I wonder about the natural elements and how they'll be used to judge the world. Tornadoes, hurricanes, strange animals, extreme heat, etc.

Weirdly, about a month ago I was reading the story of Lot's wife and pondering how sad it must've been for her to leave her two married daughters and their fiances in burning Sodom and her home town. And I picked up a Bible study to read...just off the cuff...and opened to it and the author had written, "Now, if the Lord called you to leave your town and family and all you knew, would you be like Lot's wife? Or would you be unable to leave all behind and not regret or miss your home?" I said, "Lord, I could leave." But I wasn't too thrilled with my city at that time. Then for the following days I realized I really love my town and my friends and it would be horrible to leave them behind. Whether for another town, or in a kind of rapture situation. I suspect that many of us are like Lot's wife. If we are founded worthy to be taken from the wrath to come, we will have to look at so many folks we loved -- and even family members-- who are left on the wrath-covered earth.

Still not quite clear. But will see. Will definitely try to forgive my enemies and be prepared to go where God wants me to go.

-C

CFBA: Through The Fire

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Through The Fire
Bethany House (July 1, 2009)
by
Shawn Grady


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Shawn Grady signed with Bethany House Publishers in 2008. He was named “Most Promising New Writer” at the 39th Annual Mount Hermon Writers Conference. Through the Fire is his debut novel.

Shawn has served for over a decade as a firefighter and paramedic in northern Nevada. From fire engines and ambulances to tillered ladder trucks and helicopters, Shawn’s work environment has always been dynamic. The line of duty has carried him to a variety of locale, from high-rise fires in the city to the burning heavy timber of the eastern Sierras.

Shawn attended Point Loma Nazarene University as a Theology undergrad before shifting direction to acquire an Associate of Science degree in Fire Science Technology as well as Paramedic licensure through Truckee Meadows Community College.

Shawn currently lives in Reno, Nevada, just outside of Lake Tahoe. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his wife, three children and yellow Labrador.



ABOUT THE BOOK

Firefighting burns in Aidan O'Neill's blood. The son of a fireman, O'Neill has a sixth sense about fire and often takes dangerous risks. When one act of disobedience nearly gets a rookie killed, O'Neill is suspended. His weeks off are supposed to be a time to reflect but instead he escapes to Mexico, where another rash act of bravery actually kills him. But only for a few minutes.

Called back to Reno, he's now haunted by visions of hell and paralyzed in the face of fire. And at the worst time, because an arsonist is targeting Reno. With a growing love interest with one of the investigators complicating everything, Aidan must discover where his trust rests as the fires creep ever closer.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Through The Fire, go HERE

International Justice Day Video

Wolves and False Prophets

Shelly talks to Pastor John

Shelly talks to Pastor John

Derek Meets a False Apostle

Once a reed always a reed

I often hear people talking about how St Peter became stronger after his baptism in holy spirit and more decisive. Am not sure of this. His name was originally Simon which meant "reed." Seeing his tendency to be blown about by the wind, Jesus called him "Peter" which means a rock.

Preachers will note how Peter wimped out, warmed himself by the high priest's fire and then betrayed Jesus in the light of that same fire. Then they'll say: "BUT this same Peter, after Jesus' resurrection was brave enough to preach in the temple Beautiful. He had become strong."

Yet, Peter always seemed prone to wimping out whenever overwhelmed by others. Peter was the one who saw the vision of the sheet falling from heaven with unclean animals. He was the one specifically told in a vision: "What God has cleansed, call not thou unclean." Yet, even after that vision, he wimped out and started avoiding the gentile believers when the Judaizers arrived.

Jesus was born to be a sign spoken against. A strange thing for a Messiah to be. He was born to be doubted and rejected all his life. And although Peter believed that Jesus was whom He said he was, it still wasn't easy for Peter to stand up against the fear of man within himself. I suspect it makes his future martyrdom all the more brave. Who knows that at the very moment Peter was saying, "I will die for my Lord" he was also thinking, "Oh my God, people will think I'm silly and wrong for believing this."

The Omo Tribe

conversions, conversions

I find myself getting more and more concerned (troubled) by Christian folks who convert to Islam or Judaism. I suppose a part of it has to do with a sense of loss, that Christ has lost someone (but Paul wanrs that people who fall away from us were never with us in the first place. I think it was Paul.) And a sense that if ministers had taught these people rightly, they would not have become Jews or Muslims. And a sense that if these folks knew how to taste and see how good the lord is (instead of a love of genealogy, rituals, arrogant researching and ever learning and never able to come to the truth, etc.) they would never have left.

I know the great falling away will come at the last days. And I trust Jesus and love him. Certainly, God has been very good to me and has shown me such intense kindness so he doesn't seem to mind that I'm Christian (if I'm wrong about Christ) but I feel this present battle -- this long-drawn out battle-- with the illnesses in me and Gabe are part of the attack of my faith. When I come out of this, I will be as gold tried. But sometimes things get so strange...and when I see all these folks dropping their faith and not really caring a relationship with the living God (being really satisfied with rituals and semantics as Paul wanted.)

I see a lot of these folks with their super word skills and they have a devotion to God in some ways, yet they don't seem to have the same kind of relationship Christians have because to them God is so far away and we Christians dehumanize him by being so into the fatherhood of God, or by "daring to believe" that God could become man. That's what keeps me strong. I can list the weird supernatural or healing or sweet things the living God has done for me. These folks often just list research.

Still thinking:

I see more and more why we need an Elijah Challenge. Not to come to people through words of doctrine or philosophy but through the power of God, through showing them that the living God works mightily in our lives through His son, our redeemer, Jesus Christ. Anything else is just a word game and arguments. But we need a: If Jesus is Lord and God's chosen mediator, then let the bodies be healed, let the captives be delivered, let the bodies be cleansed, let the demons depart. And to have proof in our lives -- if not for others but at least for Christians-- that these things have happened and the year of jubliee has come.

Just thinking... Keep me in my prayers. Am hoping to come through this with a total surety about Jesus so that my faith never wavers. Thanks so much. It's just that all these folks turning from belief in Christ. I ask myself why is Christ so reviled if he isn't truly otherworldly? As Kierkegaard said, "The greatest offense of Christianity is that it says, humans want to believe they are good but Christianity tells us that if we were to get our hands on God we would kill him. Because we are at war with God and with true goodness and we truly do not wish to love our neighbors. We want to be better than they are and to feel justified in disliking them." A paraphrase from Training in Christianity. And one I totally believe to be true. But really, all I have going for me is that God has proven himself to be alive in my life and to be very present. Don't know how it holds up with all the research nuts and semantic nuts, but it would be so good for Gabe and me to be healed...then I would be as Kierkegaard says, "I feel as if I were a piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it: That piece cannot be moved. --Soren Kierkegaard

Last night was worried about Gabe so much, prayed in the spirit a long while and felt God's presence. Am trusting that He's working. Hoping Gabe'll go to the bathroom today and not be in pain. More and more convinced that if I were ever in a spiritual debate with another person from another faith I'd go in with a list of God's goodness to me. "I love the Lord because he has heard my prayers." Others may get all philosophical and they may slam me with Bible exegesis that put me to shame but I can only speak of loving this living God who is close to me because I love Jesus. Nothing else matters.

aviad cohen: messianic jewish singer

great autism finances article

over at http://autismsupportresources.blogspot.com/2009/07/autisms-financial-frustrations.html

Credo

Last night was so sick but challenged Satan by shouting: 1) I believe God exists 2) I believe God sees me and all my sorrows and needs. 3) I believe that Jesus is the son of God and the mediator of our sins 4) I believe the Bible is the word of God and what it says about God's love, God's power, God's care, and the work God has done is true.

Others have left off believing one of these things when the devil came against them because of the Word. But I will not. I will stick to God's testimonies. I will hold to God being personally involved in my life. I will hold to Jesus because I love him and I totally respect him. Whatever happens -- even if I never get what I want, I will never leave fall away from God.

It felt good. Life is hard. In the world we have tribulations but Jesus has overcome the world.

-C

Statue of Liberty reopens

Happy Independence Day

The fear of man brings a snare

Okay, I could say I'm a proponent of free speech because I'm an American but the truth of the matter is I'm a person who is finding her voice..finally..and who is doing so because she is a Christian.

I'm finding my soul being more and more freed every day. I used to have the fear of man ...which brings a snare. But more and more I realize I don't care what people think. Or rather, I am becoming braver at telling people they are DEAD wrong. Being on Facebook is interesting for me. I have religious friends, black friends, Christian friends, secular friends, atheist friends. I was afraid of being too religious for the non-religious, too christian for the muslims, too snooty for those who thought they were educated, too emotional for the rational. I said to myself, "Should I just aim for safety and not say anything that will get any one group mad at me?" But now I don't really care. If someone thinks I'm a bitch or a pill or a silly Christian or a mean liberal or whatever, it's what I am. I'm finally beginning to accept myself.

Not sure if this is how God made me but it's who I am now...and God sees that it comes from my heart, from my weakness, from my strength, from my neuroses, from my spirituality. He loves me nevertheless. So today I posted MY opinion of Governor Palin. I said I liked some of her policy and I disliked others and I hated the way people hounded her...that the herd mind is cruel. I wrote this although many of my facebook friends are herdmind types. But who cares what they think? I've lived in fear of man's opinion for too long.

God's opinion is all that matters.
-C

The syro-phenician woman.

When Jesus answered the Syrophenician woman with "not a word" -- with total silence-- the woman persevered. Most Christians stop there. They say, "God didn't answer me." But the woman persevered. Then Jesus said, "I am not sent to any but the tribe of Israel." Most Bible-believing Christians also stop here. The Baptists, for instance, stop here. They say, "Jesus was sent to Israel. The days of miracles are past. Jesus wasn't sent to those living now in the 21st century." But the woman persevered, and we should also. Jesus then told her, "It's not right to take the children's meat and give it to strangers." She said, "But the dogs eat what falls at the children's feet." The woman did not take offense at Jesus' words. Even better, she said basically that God's goodness is everywhere and everyone --even the worst and smallest of humanity-- partakes of God's glory. THEREFORE why shouldn't he heal her daughter?" We cannot give up or use other people's experiences to stop persevereing.

The Subtlety of Unbelief

More and more I'm encountering folks who say stuff like this: "God gives us hard times to make us better."

The Bible tells us to "count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations." It also says "Don't say when you are tempted that God is tempting me because God tempts no man." It also states that "God chastises his children." But it does NOT say that God gives us hard times. Nor does it say sickness is a blessing. We must rightly divide the word of truth or we will fall into a subtle kind of unbelief.

We are called to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, to preach the good news of the kingdom to the poor. We are called to occupy til Christ comes. But the subtle unbelief among god-loving Bible-believing Christians that A) Bad trials bring blessings and B) nothing happens unless God wills it THEREFORE a hard time must have been allowed by God to bring a blessing... is iffy theology. A) God does NOT control everything that happens to us. and B) God is often more willing and able to get us out of trouble than we are to able to believe.

This idea of the sovereignty of God has a lot to do with A) folks not really understanding how they have opened their lives to disaster and B) folks not believing in the devil C) folks not believing that their sin will find them out and D) slip-shod reading of the Bible.

How many Christians for instance know that bringing an idol from another religion (a Buddha, an ankh, a Yoruba carving of a God) into their house brings a curse? How many Christians know that it's not legalism to avoid eating pork, shellfish, etc? How many Christians know that one is actually cursed if they have sex outside of marriage? How many Christians know that to mock the handicaped (even lovingly, I suspect) brings a curse? This is not legalism. And yes, I know Jesus took the punishment of all these curses upon us. But does that mean we should presume to do what God has told us we should not do? So folks open their lives to trouble and develop heart disease of other health issues...and the next thing out of their mouth is this blasphemy: "God brought this on me so that I might grow and really appreciate Him." Oh please! It's almost as if they've mixed up islamic "submission" with buddhist "surrender" and totally forgotten that as Christians we're supposed to overcome evil with good.

Another problem is slip-shod reading of the Bible. The Bible tells us:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 It doesn't say God makes bad things happen. It says God can take those bad things and make them good.

IF you abide in me and my words abide in you, THEN you can ask what you will and you will receive.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, THEN you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
When someone is sick we are NOT to say it brings a blessing.
Sickness is always viewed in the Bible as a curse. If a person has sinned a sin unto death, we are not to pray for them. (And Proverbs and the Bible shows us many sins that lead us to death and poverty.) But for the most part, we must pray. We are not to go around telling people the sickness brings a blessing. The Book of Proverbs challenges us on this idea of bad times brings good blessings. What Satan meant for evil God is able to turn to good. . . if we fight the good fight and resist the devil. But how can we resist the devil of sickness, sorrow, etc... if we start nursing the thought that perhaps, maybe God gave it to us as a blessing so we could learn better. It's silly to sit around saying, "God's will is so mysterious I don't know if I should be praying for freedom from this" when God himself has told us that Who the son sets free is free indeed! The Books of Proverbs, Psalms, and the gospels tells us that bad times that we fall into might tempt us to fall away from God if we suffer too much or if we are blessed with too much. How many people have fallen away from God because of suffering? A lot.

We are warned not to "limit the holy one of Israel." We are called to go from glory to glory, and to "only believe."

Why then are so many loving Bible-believing Christians trying to comfort afflicted people by urging people to be content with the sorrows of life. Is that true Biblical comfort...to say that God brought sorrow into your life so you could learn something? I even heard someone say that if Adam and Eve had never fallen they would never have learned how much God loves them; they would've taken everything for granted. Oh please! Folks are gonna take stuff for granted whether or not life is good or bad for them. One-third of the angels fell into sin. The other two-third didn't.

So unbelief shouldn't disguise itself as comfort and respect for the sovereignty of God. It's a bad theology which makes us think we're helping folks when what we're doing is blaspheming against the goodness of God and discouraging folks from seeking God for Biblical guidance on how to be freed from their afflictions. IT also excuses the so-called comforter from praying for the sick or arranging for the praying for the sick. We pray every day for President Barack Obama but when was the last time we really set out to pray with all our hearts for some normal Christian.

1 John 3:18 NRSV: Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

Sometimes it's so easy to speak so-called comforting words. But let us beware of platitudes that rob the precious gospel and that rob the believer of the miracles we are called to walk in.

When Jesus answered the Syrophenician woman with "not a word" -- with total silence-- the woman persevered. Most Christians stop there. They say, "God didn't answer me." But the woman persevered. Then Jesus said, "I am not sent to any but the tribe of Israel." Most Bible-believing Christians also stop here. The Baptists, for instance, stop here. They say, "Jesus was sent to Israel. The days of miracles are past. Jesus wasn't sent to those living now in the 21st century." But the woman persevered, and we should also. Jesus then told her, "It's not right to take the children's meat and give it to strangers." She said, "But the dogs eat what falls at the children's feet." The woman did not take offense at Jesus' words. Even better, she said basically that God's goodness is everywhere and everyone --even the worst and smallest of humanity-- partakes of God's glory. THEREFORE why shouldn't he heal her daughter?" We cannot give up or use other people's experiences to stop persevereing.

Dark Parable: gorgeous hunk, addiction spirit, kitty

I dreamed of a young man who was very beautiful and who seemed to be my other soul. I didn't know him but when I met him and we hugged, a peace went through my body. I couldn't stop holding him but we had to part. I lived on an island or maybe he did. Forgot which. But there were no buses to get us to each other and he had no money to pay for a cab. A woman said to me: "he's a bit odd, you know. He had sex with my father. Just a bit needy. Are you sure about this?" I said, "That's okay. Don't worry about that." A TV crew came and was asking people about various stuff and I told them my story that I was 50 and had fallen in love with a 20 year old...and we couldn't get together. It seemed they were beginning to decide to do the show around me and this guy. I was wondering how I could get in touch with him because I didn't know his phone number. It's been years since I felt such deep love for anyone in a dream. Not sure if it was good though. Could be a seducing spirit.

In my other dream I dreamed a pastor I knew had an infant son who was demonized. She tried to cast the demon out but she didn't know how to do it because she hadn't studied it. I showed her hot it was done and she was surprised to see that I knew a bit more than she did in this matter. Seems she had moved into a house with an addiction spirit and the addiction spirit had made its previous owner addicted to video games. I always dream of confronting addiction spirits. In this case it was the same spirit of addiction that was responsible for substance abuse as well as video games addiction. Same spirit different manifestation.

I dreamed my cat squeezed itself into a large plastic bottle with a tiny hole. How she got in there I don't know but at first I thought she would get herself out. But then the more she breathed the more the bottle got sucked in and collapsed around her and soon it was almost the shape of her bottle and no room to move. I got nervous and bit the bottle with my teeth until I got the kitty out. I almost feel the bottle represents an evil spirit which takes on the shape of those it demonizes.

GOT THIS INTERPRETATION FROM ROSE MARIE OVER AT
http://pen-of-the-wayfarer.blogspot.com

I think it's totally dead on.

they all speak of things that, once they get in, they dont leave easily nor are welcome after they make themselves known. a relationship that looks ok, but underneath are big issues,
spirits that dwell in a house and then try to inhabit even a baby, and a cat who once ensnared in a bottle, cannot leave. to you, to the people who moved into the house, to the cat, it all seemed like a good idea at the time, but led to entrapment. beware.

Defying Autism by Karen Mayer Cunningham

Defying Autism by Karen Mayer Cunningham

128 pages
Creation House (April 7, 2009)
English
ISBN-10: 1599796287
ISBN-13: 978-1599796284

Here's the blurb:

When their 18-month-old son, James, was diagnosed with severe autism, Cunningham and her husband were devastated. They sought help from social service agencies, medical specialists, and expert educators, but found no assistance---until God stepped in. This dramatic story of James's supernatural healing will touch your heart and show you that God still performs miracles! 128 pages, hardcover from Creation House.

And here's another of her interview on Sid Roth

Here's the blurb for that
Guest: Karen Mayer Cunningham

April 20-24, 2009 - Show 1640
Karen's life was wonderful; she had a blissful marriage and perfect baby boy named James. But at eighteen months, something happened. James began to exhibit bizarre behaviors including violent tantrums, head banging, and eating rubber. Tune in to hear the dramatic story of James' illness and his supernatural healing. God still performs miracles, and He is willing to perform a miracle for you too!

Here is her appearance on Sid Roth

There's also this testimony of a boy healed of severe mental retardation

There's also a good healing of autism testimony in this collection of testimonies also on this site on Sid's website.

The thing is to never ever ever give up on the fullness of God's healing power.

Dark Parable: The baddies

I dreamed I was in a building which had many offices or schoolrooms. A skyscraper. Three bad guys in black with guns were roaming the building ready to attack. I knew them and they either knew me or didn't think I was danger to them or I had made a deal with them to not hurt me. Three others were outside, also in black but a bit more shadowy. It was a bit like the end of the world and everyone was very afraid of what the baddies would do and were sitting in a large audience area in the lobby of the building.

I put a cloak over my head, and realized that somehow looking out from under it there was a long beigish-goldish narrow passageway. Like a tunnel. Tunnel vision.

Suddenly Superman came in and saved us all and I jumped up clapping my hands and laughing. I said, "Ah, I thought this would all end very badly with disaster. It totally hadn't occurred to me that he could come in and save us all."

I think this connects with God wanting us to "Guard your heart with all your strength for all the things of life come out of it. Proverbs." Plus it was as if the church had built an audience and not an army. We were just sitting around doing zilch while the killers/stealers/destroyers roamed the building. Plus there is the negative expectation I had instead of putting the mantel/cloak over me and developing a Christian tunnel vision of trusting God to do a wondrous miracle.

God, what are you doing?

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?” Dan 34-35

CROSS-REFERENCES:

Job 9:12 "Were He to snatch away, who could restrain Him? Who could say to Him, 'What are You doing?'
Job 42:2 "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.

Psalm 39:5 "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.

Psalm 115:3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.

Psalm 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

Isaiah 40:15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Isaiah 40:17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

Isaiah 43:13 "Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"

Isaiah 45:9 "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker-- An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands '?

Daniel 6:27 "He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

Romans 9:20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? (NASB ©1995)

Munyurangabo

Munyurangabo. 2007. USA/Rwanda. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung.

Tagline: An orphan of the Rwandan genocide travels from Kigali to the countryside on a quest for justice.

Munyurangabo, a film about Rwanda by Chinese American Christian filmmaker, Lee Isaac Chung. Getting some great reviews and awards in many festivals.



Here's a review at http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/2009/leeisaacchung.html

Here's their blog

Here's the film site
Here's a review

Professor Donald Knuth discusses interaction between faith and science

Professor Donald Knuth discusses the interactions between faith and science. This event took place on March 16, 2009

Resisting the Devil

The Bible tells us to resist the devil and draw near to God. I've found that it's very hard to resist the devil when Christians are telling one that perhaps the bad thing in one's life isn't from the devil at all.

The Bible tells us:
The Lord is light and in him is no darkness at all.
Jesus had taken all our suffering.
God chastises us but he doesn't chastise his people will sickness unless someone has sinned a sin unto death. So sickness is never called a blessing in the Bible, it's called a curse.

It is very hard to fight against sickness when someone is telling you that it's really a blessing or that God has done it to bring for a blessing. The evil that the devil does, God can bring good from...but that doesn't mean God made the evil.

Should a sick person be sitting around saying, "Should I resist of accept this? Is this illness that destroys so many lives and leeches away our money from God or from the devil?"

To get rid of that confusion God makes it clear that he does not give people disease. True there are people who think that a thorn in the flesh means a sickness given to them from God. I don't believe that. The Bible specifically says it's a demon so why people make it a disease, I don't know. (Yet, even when they believe their illness is a thorn in the flesh given to them by God they go about trying to free themselves from it. Should they even do that, if God has given it to them? Why are they trying to remove what God has given them? Why don't they accept it and stop taking medicine)

But honestly, even if I did believe in thorns in the flesh, the only person who got it said he got it because he had such a wealth of revelation the thorn of flesh was given so he wouldn't be proud. Honestly, the folks who say they have thorns in the flesh never seemed to have gone to the seventh heaven! Nor do they seem to have had the kind of spiritual face-to-face chats with God that would make them proud.

So again, telling folks to accept the sickness in their lives or to think of it as a blessing is telling them to not resist the devil. God doesn't want us sitting around saying, "Uhm, now ...should I resist this bad thing or shouldn't I?"

Dark Parable: Maria and channel 99

Dreamed I walked into a bedroom -- either my son's or mine or my sister's-- and the TV was on. I turned it onto a channel I never watch. 99 or 98 and it just so happened that a music video show was on and a new music video of a favorite female artists which I had never seen was just beginning. I said, "Oh, thank you God." I do this a lot because it often happens in life that God does fun little flaky synchronicity things with me. So I was happy I was seeing this video from the beginning and either it was new or I'd always wanted to see it.

So the video starts and the singer -- who might have been Jordin Sparks or someone like that-- walks out into a school athletic field and towards some cheerleaders and they start spelling out a name with their bodies. M A R I A. Which was either the name of the singer or the name of the song. Then they all burst out laughing and the song begins. It really was very strange.

-C

Film: THE FRAGRANT SPIRIT OF LIFE

A scene from the film THE FRAGRANT SPIRIT OF LIFE. This is Soroti Hospital, about 20 miles away from the village of Serere where Village2Village works with orphans www.village2villageproject.com The film is made by SanDamianoFilms.

Poverty is a sad, sad, horrible thing.

Fight against HR 875 and Monsanto's man in the white house

The youtube video



This is how the bill itself but this is how it describes itself (Ah, 1984!)
H.R. 875:
111th Congress
2009-2010
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.



Click here to write to your congressman.

Free Downloadable Autism alternative health workbook

It's available to download here: http://www.holisticheal.com/media/downloads/autism-pathways-to-recovery-workbook.pdf Remember to right-click to download.

This is the main website.

Am trusting in prayer but hey, why not try it.

Gabe update

Guardianship Meeting today!!!! Wish us luck!

Food Inc -- The dangers of multinationals and our food

The dangers of multinational corporations and our food supply



Rest of the article here:
http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/food_inc_the_must_see_film_of_the_summer/

Here's another scarier trailer at youtube. Okay, do I need to be more scared?

luck envy

Oh gee! I find myself envying the lucky. Especially the lucky folks who really are not as "spiritual" as I am but who aren't necessarily bad people. I guess I'm sorry about my life. Many of the psalms tell us not to envy the evil people because the prosperous evil folks will suffer in the end. But what do we do about basically normal people who just have this wonderful luck flow down into their lives?

I can't wish they "deserved" the luck because if I start doing that then in my mind I'm saying that good should only come to folks who deserve it. Then I'd be blocking blessings from coming to my life because worth would have to be measured. If I can't accept good luck happening to folks who don't deserve it, then why should good luck come to me? So, let luck be full of grace and flow where it will.

And yet, I do kinda feel sad about this kinda thing. Bad luck has come to me and much of the good that has come to me has been out of luck. But so much of it has been earned also. I just have to learn to rejoice with those who rejoice.

The Bible says "let every man be fully convinced in his own heart." What we allow ourself is what is good for us. I've been really wondering about my usage of the word "dang." I use it all the time. But then I heard this sermon about not saying darn because it's like I'm damning myself. I don't know if I believe that and yet...I do feel so unsettled when I use it that I'm trying not to use it any more. (Actually, as Yoda says, Do or do not do. There is no try."

As for luck, I've seen bad luck in some lives which makes me think that there is some kind of demonic assignment in someone's life. I have a friend who said over her son "If it weren't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all."

I'm sitting here listening to an interview on blogtalk radio about luck. I used to believe in good luck a lot more than I used to. It's good to reinforce the notion of good luck. I've often found that when I listen to stuff on believing for good stuff, that good often happens. I only wish it was more of a habit of mine to trust in good. But at least, I'm feeding my luck. I also visit a luck site sometimes. I suspect you know what I mean. Life is magical but I also believe we can train ourselves to feed either doubt or hope, just as we can feed good luck. Some of them are a bit too New Agey and the Christian in me thinks "uhmmm a bit too New Agey." Don't laugh but I don't want to cross over into some flaky semi-demonic mode of mind-over-matter-dealing with demons kind of thing. Yeah, I said don't laugh. But it's the truth... one has to be really discerning about the kind of spiritual teachings one allows into one's mind...even if one is desperate to get mucho bucks. But others fall in well with the kind of faith the Judeo-Christian God would like us to have. Just trying to bring luck my way regarding repairing this house. One has to be soooo careful.

So, what is a Christian supposed to think about luck, fortune, favor? Some Christians don't like using the word "luck." We Christians can be pretty legalistic. We may say we don't believe in luck yet at the same time we often speak so negatively. My mother used to say, "Who knows what will happen? God suffers not. He could make you die and leave the kids alone." Or people talk about "cancer running in their family." And every little conversation we have we get all negative. Jesus said in the day of judgment we will give account of every idle word. So although we say "don't use the word luck" we talk unbelief and despair a whole lot. A whooooole lot. I have to avoid some folks because it's part of the African-American style to talk about the man and what they want to do to us, or to talk about our troubles with foreboding and then20we say, "I just knew this would happen" whenever something bad happens. It's not bad to get into the habit of saying "The Bible says I'm blessed. The Bible says you're blessed. You're favored." Better than saying "good luck."

The other thing is that as Christians we believe words have power to bless and to curse. So God knows what we mean when we say good luck. But at the same time when we say favor and blessed instead of luck we remind the person that God is with them.


Although the King James Version reads:
Genesis 30:11 (King James Version)

11And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

Genesis 30:11

The NIV and other language translations is:
Then Leah said, "What good fortune!" So she named him Gad.
Genesis2030:10-12

But then there's this.
Isaiah 65:11
"But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
Isaiah 65:10-12

Sure, a rich guy didn't come into my life to marry me when I was young, but I have a good hubby. May wonderful good luck continue to happen to me! -C

100 Movies Spoiled in 5 Minutes

Sadhu Sundar Singh: Hymnologist and author of I have decided to follow Jesus

As one studies Christian songs -- especially the most famous of them-- one realizes how complicated the lives of Christians can be. Some of our best songs were written by people who still bring a lot of controversy.

One of the favorite Christian songs I have decided to follow Jesus was written by Sadhu Sundar Singh an Indian born into a Sikh family. The Sikhs are a religion in India that is monotheistic. They are neither Muslim nor Hindu but they are one of the main religions of India. Sundar persecuted Christians in the beginning but when he was contemplating suicide he had a conversion experience and became a Christian.



I have decided to follow Jesus

I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though I may wander, I still will follow;
Though I may wander, I still will follow;
Though I may wander, I still will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
Though none go with me, still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
Will you decide now to follow Jesus?
No turning back, no turning back.

I love little old lady house builders

Moving house: How a little old lady spent 23 years single-handedly dismantling her cottage brick by brick and rebuilding it 100 miles away

Read it here:

Gutsiness and toughness supreme

As John the Baptist Taught His Disciples

Once Jesus was praying in a certain place. After he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." Luke 11:1
And also Matthew 6: 5 - 14

Nowhere in the Bible do we see John teaching his disciples how to pray. But he did. And it seems that Jesus had been with his disciples -- some of whom were also John's disciples-- a while without teaching them how to pray. That's odd. I find myself thinking, "Uhm, isn't that the first thing one would teach one's disciples."

But somewhere along the line his disciples developed the desire to ask Jesus for something he seemed not to have as yet offered. Another interesting thing I should meditate on.

The disciples might have seen some great miracles Jesus did. It might only because they saw him talking to God so often. And they began to realize that a close relationship with God was a good idea. From what we can see in the various gospels, it was a combination of these and other reasons that prompted them to ask Jesus.

Whatever the reason, they asked Jesus to teach them and I'd assume that the way Jesus
teaches people to pray would be different from the way John taught people to pray. There'd be some crossover and overlap of course. But John who knew only the baptism of water for the repentance from sin and who was a servant in the house of God would naturally teach prayer as a servant-minded water-baptizer would do. Jesus, on the other hand, baptized with the fire of the holy spirit. John was not worthy to untie his shoe. (And John is more worthy than most of us, even though the spirit was upon him.) Jesus was the son. The son can tell you how to ask the father for something. The son can tell you to use his name. The son can tell you how to speak to the servants and those in submission to you. So yeah, the son can tell you how to boldly go to the father, boldly command the tree to pick itself up, etc.

Most Christian ministers nowadays know only the water baptism of repentance from dead works. Like Apollos they are great preachers but they know only the baptism of John. And many of them say that the baptism of John is the only baptism necessary. Yes, they have God's holy spirit working in them because they are saved but they don't know the full gospel or they deny it?

I downloaded some videos from the elijah challenge website and what he says is below. It falls in well with what I was pondering about John the Baptist.

They know the prophetic way of praying and preaching but they don't know the kingly way of commanding. Jesus was Lord, Prophet, King, Savior, The True and Great High Priest. John was only a prophet. A prophet speaks to people and when they pray they pray as prophets do. He might also have had a bit of the priestly anointing as the old prophets did. A priest intercedes between God and man. In the book of Kings, Chronicles, and the Torah, those old prophets could pray for people who had sinned and could pray for the sick. But they really weren't priests. The priestly anointing, the prophetic anointing, the kingly anointing were all separated. In Jesus, though, all these anointings are one. So he prays differently and he has given us these same anointings: We are a holy people, a royal priesthood.

This means that we can pray to God for others (the priestly anointing) and we can speak to people and to the spiritual realm about God and God's power in us (prophetic anointing) and we can command sickness and demons in the spiritual realm (the kingly anointing.)

Jesus has taught us how to pray. In the Lord's prayer, in the statement about the fig tree, in the affirmation that we can command a mulberry to uproot itself and be planted in the sea (Mulberries require fresh water but hey, Jesus said if we have the tiniest purest faith and we can command it, the impossible can be done!) Hey, we can have more than we're able to ask or wish. It is not the greatness of the faith that matters but our endurance and what we believe in our spirits and in our hearts.

Lord, teach us how to pray! Amen. -C

Oh gee! Yet another sin brought to my attention

Envy.

Yep. First the Lord told me to deal with my wounded heart and my resentment about money and the proud heart it had given me. And now, he has gone out of his holy way to let me see my envious heart.

Weirdly it's an odd mix of jealousy and envy. And it has to do with the Cinderella issue. I've always known that I'm pretty peeved that I married a regular guy. I didn't mind it in the beginning mind you. But when one sees what wealth can bring then a normal guy doesn't seem quite as good. This is mixed with my love of fairytales. Deep in my heart I've always wanted to marry a prince (instead of a prince of a guy.)But that is mere fairytale stuff. But after snippy people judge one's house, weight, etc, one finds one's self wanting to "show them" and that ends up in my envious/jealous mind as being a wish for a rich guy so those who sniped at me would be envious. I suspect this could lead to an adulterous heart and am happy no rich guy -- okay, no rich straight guy-- ever came asking me for my (now-married) hand. And so am trying to work on that...not daydreaming about rich powerful men ...and keeping the imagination only on the novel level.

Will see. Why, oh why, does the Lord have to bring these things to my attention? Maybe they're getting in the way. After all, Job didn't have anger issues after bad stuff happened to him. He only developed anger issues after his friends came to enlighten him. They were good folks, I think. After all, they were defending God and no doubt if one didn't really understand what Satan does and if one is seeing so many devastations happening to a friend in one day and if one believes that God is sovereign and nothing can happen unless He ordains it....then one would challenge Job;s righteousness. But it led to Job having bitterness against church people. And when one has had church folks tell one that one must not have faith or else such and such and such and such and such and such would not have happened all at once, then all one can do is answer A) So, why does God punish me for what he allows you to do? or B) keep one's mouth shut. But then what happens is a bitter root. And that bitter root messes up one's ability to be healed, makes one sicker, and produces pride and envy.

I still wish to be richer than my judgmental Christian friends. But now am careful that I don't sit around wishing for rich young man to take me away from hubby. Will wish for hubby and I to get rich together.

Psalm 91

Psalm 91 is a psalm every believer should memorize and believe. The power in this psalm is amazing. It has done wonders and created many miracles and saved many lives.

The Psalm promises those who love God and cling to him and who are always spending time with him that God will protect them from all evils. Sudden evil, slow hidden evil, traps, conspiracies, natural evil. Look at the imagery and meditate on them.


Psalm 91

1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.