Hannah Whitall Smith and Horatio Spafford

It's great reading the lives of great Christians. Sometimes one finds that they endured and all went well or they died happily and in the faith. Sometimes...well, one finds the opposite. Oswald Chambers, for instance, was pretty saintly and holy and his descendants are still believers. Same for Derek Prince and C S Lewis. But then we have such folks as Hannah Whitall Smith and Horatio Spafford, the guy who wrote it is well with my soul (and his later strange life issues) do make a person wonder. (His story is told in 100 Hymn Stories. His family has been careful about telling about his later life issues so who knows? maybe the story has been revised out of the 100 hymn stories.)



But it makes me wonder about famous Christian writers. One must always be careful less one fall into error. I mean was he saying "it is well with my soul" and not quite believing it. Was this true spiritual consolation or a self-deluding consolation born of despair? And it makes me wonder about people who love this hymn and who mistake stoicism for religious peace.

When his daughters were killed in a shipwreck, He wrote

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul."

Hannah Whitall Smith wrote two really great books: The Unselfishness of God and she also wrote another book, The Christian's secret to a happy life. Very good. Like Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest it might be really a challenge for new or carnal Christians. Christian's Secret is not complicated or as deep as Chambers' work but because its simple message of trusting God's love is also pretty deep.

The Unselfishness of God is her autobiography. She was raised a quaker, which kinda reminds me so much of being raised in the pentecostal church. Yeah, I know. Sounds odd and flaky but trust me... any pentecostal kid reasing it will see a lotta similarities.

Hannah's writings are very respected by the Christian community but because she believed in universal salvation and no hell, some parts of her book are "removed" by the Christian publishers.

Not picking on Christians because it's not as if atheists have fared much better. History has proven many times that sometimes those who battle the Lord end up dying rather terribly -- Victor Hugo's death was full of fearful groanings. Madelyn Murray O'Hair was murdered and tortured. And the descendants of many atheists -- often down the generations-- have tended to have strange issues with poverty and addiction. One wonders if Hannah's foray into universalism and other issues helped to create the crisis for her and for her descendants.

And yet, her books are lovely... even if she didn't quite manage to live up to what she wrote about. It certainly makes one careful... even the best of souls can fall.

-C

Aaargh

Okay, so my son decides to upload a video of himself singing Mr Good Dick. He uploads it to my youtube account. Aaargh! Mind you that that youtube account is created only to have Christian videos on it. Mind you, folks are subscribed to my youtube account. I can only imagine.... Yes, I can only imagine... some innocent sweet Christian soul getting an email that a new video had been made by yours truly and clicking on to see the subscription and bingo being faced with Older son's paean of praise to his male member! I really wished he hadn't done that. So I told him to make the video private. He says he can't see it on his myspace page now. Ah, poor thing!

Then this morning I try to get the kid to be less of a carnal Christian. I give him a speech about black folks destroying ourselves by being too addicted to sex and violence. I tell him raunchiness, raunchy songs, raunchy books and street lit is not what God made our people for. I give him the old, "Would you go to heaven if you died today?" speech. I tell him that in India tons of hindus people go to bathe in the Ganges yearly (it's the holies of rivers and akin to the Christian idea of grace) to let it wash away their sins and to make sure their karmic debt doesn't bring them back to life again...and definitely not to bring them back to life as a bug or even as some untouchable. (Unlike some American, Indian Hindus don't look forward to reincarnation.) I tell him Moslems are afraid of hell and describe the Moslem idea of hell. I tell him how Chinese Buddhists buy hell money and little dolls to help them out in the underworld and to make their lives in hell better....and how they put their sins on little boats to put away their sins far from them. I tell him all the world's religions and folklores have feared hell. I tell them all the world's religions believe in some kind of really bad eternal place of punishment. What does the kid do? He gives me this "God will take care of me" speech.

I tell him that we American Christians do not take hell seriously and that he should be very careful not to try God's patience by being presumptuous. I say, "What are you gonna say when you face Jesus?" "Lord, I sang and wrote all those songs because I wanted to honor the black male's dick? I felt the need to heal our sexual souls and so I used the talent you gave me and thought only about sex because I was doing my part?"

The kid laughed. But he still didn't seem to be taking me seriously. I can only hope the Lord is talking to him. Because frankly, I don't want anything to happen to him in the state he is in now. He's a sweetie, but all those sexual escapades. Well...it is more than a Christian mom can take.

Emily Dotson

See....
This is why I don't get any reading of fiction done. I am totally reading all these books on healing. I've collected about a zillion of them over the past 20 years and yes, I am finally growing in faith. (So, it took a long time...no one is perfect.)

This has been my life for the past 18 years (20 years if you add the two years of my illness without younger son's illness) :

No sleep. At the most four hours. At the least, none. Usually about two or three hours a night. Then staying up sleepless. Sometimes there'd be times when I would go two weeks without sleep and then suddenly crash and sleep one good night then back to the old cycle. Then pain comes into the mix because the body can't restore itself at night.

Then add to the mix a son who is non-verbal and who is always in pain. ALWAYS. Crying every moment of his life for 18 years and he can't tell you what it is because he can't talk.

Add to the mix...money issues brought on by me not being able to work and medical bills.

Add to the mix know-it-all Christians who behave as if they know everything going on in one's life and say stupid things like, "you're too touchy." As if...if they were sleepless for 20 years straight with money problems and a sick child that just wounds at the spirit just to look how the sickness has destroyed his life...they would be so much better. I think that's my biggest issue with some Christians: they behave as if you aren't behaving properly for a sick person. They go about thinking that if they were in your shoe they would handle your life oh so much better. Their house would be neat. They would've gotten healed by now. And there you are struggling and then they mess things up with their proper behavior issues and cause you to dump into forgiveness. Honestly, for all my extreme chattiness...in non-webe life I am the most forbearing person in the world. I simply do not say anything that might be construed as rude. But so many Christians seem to feel this need to exhort and to tell you what to do...as if they are the first person to ever tell you that, or as if they are privy to God's view on your life. Very annoying.

Anyway, I am sitting around now. Drinking my water, trusting God, praying, fasting. I have soooo many healing tapes by folks I trust: Lester Sumrall, Craig Marsh, Andrew Wommack, Henry Lao, Canon Jim Glennon, Sid Roth, Doug Jones, and of course Emily Dotson.

I downloaded a lot of healing articles over at the elijah challenge and today I downloaded healing articles over at www.emilydotson.com

I love Emily! I have several of her tapes. She had a miraculous healing from lupus when she was in the last stages. I remember when my friend Jestine was in the last stages of lupus. If I had had some of this material....well!

http://www.emilydotson.com/Articles%20by%20Emily%20Dotson.htm

Healings and the Great Commission

Was listening to the Elijah Challenge tape and he reminded us that whenever Jesus rebuked any of his disciples it was often because they did not have faith in themselves.

They didn't have faith in the authority and power he gave them to rebuke the wind...and so cried out to Jesus.

They didn't have faith in the authority and power he gave them to heal the epileptic boy. He actually called them perverted!

Peter didn't have faith in the authority and power he gave them to continue walking on the water.

He also got annoyed with them when they didn't have faith in the authority and power he gave them to feed the thousands. he said to the disciples, "You give them something to eat."

Interesting insights from this guy so far:
In his evangelical services oftentimes the poor are more blessed and healed by God. Often the rich and those in rich countries-- even when some of the rich are Christians-- simply do not get healed in these evangelistic meetings. Reminds me of Mary's Magnificat where she says God has sent the rich away empty.

Ministers telling a Bible miracle story will not blame the ministers for problem with healings. They blame God (It's not God's will) or they blame the sick person (It's your lack of faith) but they never interpret the stories to blame the disciples which is what Jesus often did. In the story of the boy with the epileptic demon, most ministers will blame the man and say "Jesus put it back on the man. You must believe." But Jesus in fact was pretty annoyed with his disciples and told his disciples they should fast and pray for such healings.

In addition, what does it matter if a healing is not God's will? IT was not God's will to heal Hezekiah. God had appointed him to death. But God healed Hezekiah when Hezekiah prayed. Nor was it Jesus's "will" to heal the woman with the issue of blood. He was pretty neutral toward her. She wanted to be healed and she caused the healing. Nor was it Jesus' will to heal the daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman and yet he healed her because the woman prayed.

He says that Jesus has told us that he has given us the authority and power to heal the sick, raise the dead, preach the gospel. We do not need the gift of healing. This is entirely different. It is about obeying his command and walking out in faith in the great Commission. It is the talent Jesus has given to all who believes in them. So then why doesn't the Church go out and heal the sick as proof that the God of Christ is the true God! Great preaching! Challenging!

I really like his preaching and agree with 95% of what he says. Okay, so I disagree with 5%. I'm allowed. I have to come to my own conclusions about some stuff...and in this case.... 95% agreement isn't bad. The 5% is what I don't wish to believe. Might be true, might be not. And a lot of folks in the church believes that...but not me.

Returning to one's vomit

Aaargh! I hadn't eaten sugar in weeks. And then I ate some cake. The effect of the sugar!

Also hadn't eaten anything made by other folks -- cakes, cookies, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, chinese food, pizza-- and then I had some.

Aaaargh. My entire body reacted. I have soo learned my lesson. I have got to learn how to cook my own Chinese Food and my own pizza....or I will not do well.

Been sleeping...because I avoided all the unreal food and lived on rice and beans and water. Tons of water. I feel the holy spirit saying, "You have seen what the world's food does to you? Commit to treating your body right."

Aaargh!

White Christianity

More and more I see that the Christianity I grew up with is sooo tainted with Americanism that it is often very hard to see what The Way -- as Jesus' disciples called the religion Jesus taught-- would have turned into.

So I read Pastor Richard Twiss' "One Church, Many Tribes."

Then I listen to Henry Lao of the Elijah Challenge.

Then I listen to Christian ministers from other countries.

And I can only say I feel a strange excitement in the air. The Christianity we have is so euro-centric and the evangelical charismatic religion we have is so influenced by televangelist and American culture that I stand amazed at what this religion will be like when non-whites, non-Americans, finally get an influence in our church. I'll admit I'll be a little scared too. After all, I'm American and some stuff I hold to will also be challenged. But I'm open.

One of the weird things about this movement toward indigenous Christianity and a Christianity that moves away from American suppositions, interpretations, telvangelism, racism, etc....is that I am CONTINUALLY getting into fights with American Christians who simply do not want to grow. They are sooo committed to the American interpretations of certain verses and of certain ways of being that you can see their fear that you have fallen into heresy when you mention something. It's like telling some Christian man who is into authority that the perfect woman of Proverbs 31 -=- the woman who is far above rubies-- is shown in the Bible as buying property without asking her husband's permission. They just look at you like.....

Or when you tell someone that new believers in countries where new believers are persecuted for changing their religion shouldn't have to leave their religions...that God will work with inside believers from within those religions, that Jesus called believers to a relationship with him, not to "change religions" or "become Christians"...they look at you like......

Or when you tell them that evangelism without the miracles of Christ isn't gonna cut in in some countries....they're like.....

I have to admit that my patience with normal American Christians is running pretty short. Perhaps because they are so connected to American ideas such as patriotism, The US is God's country, etc, or their addiction to fame and large churches...and "issues"...and whatever the latest hip thing Christians are studying (christians and being feminine, christians and bad girls in the Bible, christians and yadda-yadda... or whatever...) well, it just makes me very snippy and "short" with people.

And when it's another Christian writer telling me that my story is too Christian, too heavy-handed (although my atheist friends and my Moslem friend and my new ager friends loved it) I feel like saying, "Idiot! Don't you know folks are going to hell? And you are upset with a book because it's too Christian or it doesn't fall into the type of Christian fantasy you want (Elves, knights, etc.) Oh, it really just p*sses a person off!

Am half-curious to see how Inheritance with those sex issues will play among Christians. Will they say I have made my demon too sexy and scary for Christian audiences?

You May All Prophesy

You May All Prophesy
by Steve Thompson
December 01, 2007
Morningstar Publications (NC)
ISBN: 159933089X
EAN / ISBN-13: 9781599330891

Here it is on Amazon and here it is on New Books Christian

Here's the Blurb:

Paul revealed this startling truth to the first-century church, and God is now releasing the grace and understanding to fulfill it. The days ahead will require that we all be able to hear from God for one another. Now is the time for the body of Christ to begin functioning prophetically in order to build up the church and win the lost. This book offers balanced encouragement and instruction to begin equipping you to minister prophetically with both faith and wisdom. This book will help you (1) recognize God's voice, (2) interpret prophetic symbolism, (3) identify and overcome prophetic character weaknesses and (4) grow in the spirit of prophecy.

This book can totally teach everyone how to hear God's revelation and how to speak it. I totally loved this book.

naaman's question

We Christians often talk about the Naaman healing story and our basic sermons tend to focus on Naaman having to lower himself to wash in the Jordan seven times. But there is something else.

2 KIngs 5:16,17

16 The prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

17 "If you will not," said Naaman, "please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD. 18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."

Interesting uh? The Jewish history and commentaries allow people who serve Yahweh to kow-tow to other religions if their lives might be endangered. Think of all the believers in the Lord in countries where they are persecuted. They have to do what they need to do to survive. In addition, Jesus didn't tell his disciples to convert anyone to Christianity; he told them to turn them into followers and disciples of Jesus. Quite a different. So I suspect a person who comes to belief in the Lord but who happens to be in a country where people are persecuted for believing in Christ can stay in his own religion in some places as long as they have a real true trustful faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. -C

The Ellijah Challenge

Wonderful Christian site on healing. Some great essays there. Been listening to a DVD someone sent me. Wonderful stuff.

Interesting insights from this guy so far:
In his evangelical services oftentimes the rich are more blessed and healed by God -- even when some of the rich are Christians. Reminds me of Mary's Magnificat where she says God has sent the rich away empty.

Ministers telling a Bible miracle story will not blame the ministers for problem with healings. They blame God (It's not God's will) or they blame the sick person (It's your lack of faith) but they never interpret the stories to blame the disciples which is what Jesus often did. In the story of the boy with the epileptic demon, most ministers will blame the man and say "Jesus put it back on the man. You must believe." But Jesus in fact was pretty annoyed with his disciples and told his disciples they should fast and pray for such healings.

In addition, what does it matter if a healing is not God's will? IT was not God's will to heal Hezekiah. God had appointed him to death. But God healed Hezekiah when Hezekiah prayed. Nor was it Jesus's "will" to heal the woman with the issue of blood. He was pretty neutral toward her. She wanted to be healed and she caused the healing. Nor was it Jesus' will to heal the daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman and yet he healed her because the woman prayed.

It's over at the elijah Challenge.

Here is the website address:
http://www.theelijahchallenge.org/index4.htm

Woman at the well

One of my major pet peeves in Bible studies and sermons is how people treat certain folks in the Bible. Plain and simply, they are scapegoats. And our racial, sexist, and xenophobic attitudes have influenced how we see them...and how ministers talk about them. I have been known to walk out of services when someone starts dissing Michal (David's wife -- nothing personal but David was a real crappy husband and father), Absalom, Shechem, The Woman at the Well, Zipporah.

I walk out because I start thinking the minister discussing these folks is either listening too much to other ministers and not looking at the text, or that they are just plain hateful and they don't want to see that they have turned certain Bible folks into sacred cows and others into scapegoats. For instance, I see Sarah's wife as a racist. I can't help it. The King James Version says she got upset when she saw her son mocking Hagar's son and so she said "This handmaid's son will not be heir with my son." Well, those KJV translators could have used the other meaning of the word, which meant "playfully teasing." But by choosing the translation they did, they have made Ishmael a bad person and Hagar uppity and excused Sarah who simply hated the kid...and mainly because she saw the love between the two brothers.

Another example: Zipporah. In the Jewish tradition, she is considered one of the three circumcisers of Israel. A very honorable position. Moses and the rest of the Israelites had forgotten the ritual but it took his being married to a descendant of Keturah another of Abraham's wife for him to remember the covenant of circumcision. (BTW, the Talmud says that Keturah and Hagar are the same people. Wonder what those Christian who hate Hagar think of that?) In that story, Zipporah gets Moses circumcised and says to Moses, "You are a bloody husband to me." (KJV translation.) Christians who know nothing about this kind of thing have blasted her for picking on Moses' bloody penis. I mean, honestly!!!!! When people judge something with their own limited knowledge it just makes things sound silly. But if one looks at the entire story what she is saying is something like "There is a covenant of blood between us." Yet this poor woman has been maligned in so many sermons I just want to scream.

Well, here is one of my major pet peeves: the Samaritan woman at the well. The Samaritan woman who spoke to Jesus at the well is often used as an example of a "bad" woman. Modern readers don't understand that middle eastern men of that time could easily divorce women for any kind of reason, childlessness, talking back, old age. They also forget that during Bible times, poor women without families had few choices when life dealt them a harsh blow. The much-divorced Samaritan woman may have had a big mouth or been unable to bear children. The fact that she ended up with a man who was "not her husband" is more likely the effect of destroyed self-esteem rather than sin. The plain truth is we cannot easily judge a situation we know so little about. John didn't tell us the backstory. People always forget that back in the day a guy could divorce a woman simply because she was childless or had a big mouth or --god forbid-- was sickly.

Many Christians behave as if the “woman at the well” divorced herself or had been the one who initiated the divorces. From what I can see from her conversation with Jesus, this woman had a mouth on her...and spoke her own mind. A good trait perhaps but back in the day, women weren't supposed to answer back or have their own minds.
When people go on about how bad she was for "having so many men" I say, the woman tried to have good marriages but somehow she was constantly being rejected. She finally fell in with some guy who was either using her, or still married to another woman or who was as much a loser as she was.

The other thing they completely miss --the most important thing-- even though they talk about Jesus being the "seventh man" in her life, is that a man meeting a woman at a well is always used in the Bible as a symbol for marriage. Sure Jesus didn't marry the woman, but that John chose to use the old patriarchal symbol for marriage to show that Jesus was symbolically married to the woman as a symbol of Jesus being married to the church is something they don't even touch.

I think what annoys me most of all is the lack of true thinking that occurs in many sermons about the "bad" people. We Christians have a kneejerk dislike for evil even though we're supposed to be aware of our own sinfulness.

But when I think of the Woman at the Well see a woman literally thrown out, who has to fend for herself. She is offered marriage and a home time and again, but not an accepting patience husband. But Guess what!! She was the first non-Jewish woman missionary to spread the good news!

Recovering

Getting over a nasty near-cold which although it didn't overpower me has left me feeling a might weak. This has happened in the past whenever I get bronchitis. I hate colds! In the future, however, I hope to so open my mind to the possibilities of the greatness of the gospel that I stop thinking of this kinda thing as "normal for me."

Thoughts on a couple of things -- yeah, I know...been procrastinating and spent the last three days making youtube videos. Or just go to the url: http://www.youtube.com/user/scifiwritir

So...other thoughts:

John said, "There are also other things that Jesus did that if they were written the world would not hold all the books. But these are written to show you that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten son of God." <-- That's the basic line depending on what translation you have.(yeah, I'm too lazy to open my Bible which is just two feet away)

This means that what the Bible says about Jesus is true and that the Bible has the truth but is not complete, and yet if someone comes up with anything else that Jesus is supposed to have done, we have to challenge it...especially if this particular new gospel has something that says Jesus is not the only begotten son of God.

Anyway, I got to thinking. IF Jesus did alllll that stuff, why do the gospel writers seem to hone in on those particular miracle stories and events? John's gospel aside, Why do they all mention the same specific stories if there were many folks raised from death, healed of blindness, muteness, etc? Okay, John says these particular events were chosen to show that Jesus was -- IS-- the son of God. So the miracles like the healing of Jairus daughter, the woman with the issue of blood, etc...are all "signs" that point to something even more wonderful than the regular healings. And let us not forget that even the raising of Lazarus only told by John and casually mentioned in the other gospels. (Okay, maybe Lazarus was still alive and Matthew, Mark, Luke didn't want to get Lazarus in trouble cause the priests were out to kill him. Maybe by the time John wrote his gospel, Lazarus was safe.) But it does make a person think. When Jesus was asked by John's disciple if he was he that would come or "look we for another?" Jesus' response was to continue healing people then to point John's spiritual gaze to Isaiah's prophecy. He replied "Look at all the people I have healed. The deaf, the dumb, the blind, and the dead are raised to life." So I'll have to say that these particular miracles definitely show that the Isaiah prophecies and Jesus' miracles show Jesus's view of Scripture and Scripture's view of Jesus.

But he healed many blind folks and many deaf folks...why those specific people? Well as we look on the miracles they do seem to teach a lesson, give a sign, in addition to healing. The healing of the "moonstruck" boy shows among other things that one can believe and not believe at the same time, that sometimes God's people (the disciples) have problems healing something in some case that they had no problem healing at another time. I mean, these same disciples had gone out with the seventy and had been casting out demons, so now suddenly they have this problem.

And the story of the woman with the issue of blood certainly shows that a person can be healed by touching Jesus without Jesus even doing anything. Just getting caught in the virtue of healing.

The healing of the Centurion's servant shows that the authoritive word of healing can be spoken at a distance.

And the story of Jairus daughter certainly shows that if one wants a miracle one should not say anything faithless and one should get rid of the unbelieving folks.

The story of the blind man healed outside of Bethsaida shows that sometimes in order to be healed -- cause Chorazin, Nazareth, and Bethsaida were some unbelieving towns-- and when one is in such a situation...best to get out.

The healing of the paralyzed man shows the power of intercession.

The story of the man at the pool shows that we can be healed if we look at God and not at the device we think God has given us to healing. And, like the raising from death of the widow's dead son, it shows that Jesus is so compassionate that he initiates healing even if one has not asked for it.

So yeah, some great stuff in those specific stories.

I also got to thinking about Jesus in Nazareth. The gospel writer says, Jesus could not do any mighty works there....except that he healed a few sick folk." Wow, even a healing of a few sick folk would constitute a mighty work for little old me.

I also got to thinking about televangelists and the words -- in Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes, in the epistles-- that in much talking there is a tendency to sin. Okay, I'm rolling my eyes now but honestly, it seems to me that the evangelists seem to believe that they must deliver "product" and they spend a lot of time hawking the greatness of their "product." Always some new revelation, some new CD, etc. Their sins of arrogance and smugness aside -- not all of them are bad, mind you. I love Andrew Wommack and Sid Roth's Messianic Vision It's Supernatural-- but honestly, it all feels sometimes like they've been to Walmart annual salesmanship meetings.

And it just gets me more cynical of all their revelations. Heck they all seem to get the same revelations about the same thing so I think they're listening more to each other than to God. Give me a televangelist who has a taped show and plays it once a week, than one of the daily ones. I can see the scurrying for product, the need to make more money to pay for airtime, the addiction to fame, the greed for money. Am I just being cynical here? No. The Lord tells us to be discerning.

Anyway...feeling like crap but trusting God to make me stronger. His healing word is within me working mightily.
-C

Yet another day with me fooling around with windows movie maker

I'm waiting to hear from a publisher and an agent so....yeah, I did nada but work on yet another youtube video. So...for your entertainment



Here it is on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPgS-KNW6o4

The Thorn in the Flesh

There is a kind of assuming which falls into the category Jesus called “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.” In this particular kind of misreading, mental and intellectual leaps and suppositions are made because the reader does not know the rest of the Bible, does not use the “precept upon precept” method, or is determined to put a meaning into a text which doesn’t belong there.

Consider the phrase, “thorn in the flesh.” Among Christians, this has come to mean a kind of physical suffering which one must endure because God has given the suffering as a blessing. The thorn in the flesh is closely related to the concept of “a cross to bear.” These phrases are often used in many Christian writings. And the would-be devotionalist should be aware that these phrases have caused great comfort to some, great distress to others, and annoyance to many.

How did this come about? In one of his epistles, (2 Cor 12:17) Paul writes that because he had an abundance of visions, he was burdened by a “thorn in the flesh,” a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him so that he might not be exalted because of the visions. Paul recounts that he asked God to remove the thorn but God said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” This is all Paul said. Assumptions and suppositions have been made. Although Paul uses a phrase that was elsewhere used in the Bible ( Numbers 33:55, Judges 2:3) to describe persecution caused by demonic activity (something like our phrase “a pain in the neck” but much more deadly) many Christians gloss over the phrase, “a messenger of Satan” and create a situation in which God and Satan are working together to keep Paul’s pride down. Paul says that the Satanic messenger was sent to prevent him from being exalted in his visions. But he does not state that exaltation was a bad thing. Many Christians, who have not had a multitude of visions, often refer to their illnesses as their thorns in the flesh. Why? Their situation barely resembles Paul’s, but the nature of suffering is that it seeks an answer and therefore people will define their illnesses as a thorn or as their “cross to bear.”

This is also a case where the obvious is completely ignored. This happens a lot in studying the Bible. It’s as if people are so determined to make a Bible verse mean something totally different than what it actually says that they build up an entire alternate reality in spite of the fact that the reality is al;ready there. This verse is one of those verses that a regular untrained believer would believe what it says. It’s a verse that you pretty much need a seminarian to confuse you and not believer it. Paul describes the “thorn in the flesh” parenthetically as “a messenger of Satan to buffet me.” Parenthetical phrases are usually by definition a clarification placed in a sentence so folks get a clearer idea of what’s going on.

And what a parenthetical this is! First we are told that it’s a messenger. That’s the same word used for angels in the Bible. Then we are told it’s a messenger of Satan. That would mean it’s a Satanic angel. Then we are told it buffets him, which means it beats him up. Now, granted some folks have had no experience with demons hitting them either in the night or in the day but one would think that Christians would believe that demons exist. One would think that Christians wouldn’t go spiritualizing the word “satan.” Moreover, Paul tells us that this is from Satan. Now, if it is a messenger from Satan why does Paul ask God three times to rid him of this messenger from Satan? And why does God tell Paul that God’s grace is sufficient for Paul? True, this presents a problem. And I can see why some people would think that God is “working with this messenger of Satan” to use this thorn in the flesh to help Paul. But would God (and here is my parenthetical), WHO HAS NO DARKNESS IN HIM, work with a Satanic presence?

I think it all comes down to How do we define grace? What exactly is grace? Is it the totality of what God has so given us undeservedly? Is it mere comfort? Is it God's love?

If we see grace as something that is merely about comfort and not a thing of power, then we can say that God is allowing Paul to be beaten up for Paul’s own good. And Paul should be happy because he must remember that God loves him, yadda yadda. Then we can start saying the messenger is really sickness given to Paul to chastise him. Although, in the Bible, God never gives people illnesses as a blessing but as a punishment.

But what exactly is this grace that is given us? Folks who read this verse seem to think that Paul endured this problem all his life. Again, there is no proof anywhere that Paul was always sick with his eyes (he was a tentmaker for heaven’s sake!) or homosexual (Paul said God had delivered folks from this) or sick with any other issue. Folks who want to believe in the thorn in the flesh as a kind of permanent sickness often point to Paul leaving his friend at Miletus sick and to Timothy’s stomach troubles. Folks like to talk about the section where Paul says the Galatians accepted him when he came and he was in sorry shape. "You accepted me, etc." (Gal 4:12-14) But remember, when he met those believers the first time, he had just been stoned (possibly to death) by an angry mob. Of course he was in bad shape! Then other folks say that when Paul said, "you would have given me your own eyes" that that meant he had something wrong with his eyes. Let's not start taking a slang and building a backstory about it. Then there are folks who say that Paul wrote, "Look what big letters I make when I write to you." So they assume Paul couldn't see and had to write his letters largely. But Paul was talking about the largeness of the message, which went on pretty long. Not the largeness of the actual alphabet. Letters have two meanings, remember. That's a case of folks reading something and forgetting that there is another meaning for the English word "letter."

But back to Trophimus whom Paul left sick. First, just because he left his friend sick doesn’t mean his friend stayed sick. Most miraculous Christian healings occur as a process. And we all know what happens when we drink strange water in strange places. So Timothy’s stomach troubles don’t really count. The interesting thing about Timothy’s tummy trouble and Paul’s thorn is that they share the same cure: God has not given them the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Just as Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight, God is probably telling Paul to fight the good fight. Isn’t that what fighting the good fight means? Acknowledging the power of God in us, the authority we have, the grace given to us? In Philemon Paul tells Philemon that our faith grows by the acknowledging of the good things in us. I have no doubt that the reason God told Paul that God’s grace was sufficient for him was that God’s grace WAS sufficient to destroy the messenger from Satan. If grace is only a peaceful feeling and assurance of God’s love, then we are of all people the most weak. But if grace is Christ in us the hope of glory, the treasure in earthen vessels, the authority given to us by Jesus Christ to cast out devils and heal the sick,---if grace is ALL the good spiritual and physical things we have inherited through Christ’s life, death, and atonement, then Paul would have sooner or later destroyed this messenger in the flesh…. Because God’s grace was sufficient for him.

Nevertheless, the Bible Study writer who aims to destroy long-standing traditions such as this is going to have a long and controversial row to hoe. There are many reasons why Christians seem to be unhealed -- including our habit of thinking that if we don't see anything then God hasn't answered how prayers (Remember Daniel hadn't seen anything for 21 days yet the Lord HAD answered his prayers. This "thorn in the flesh" verse, however, is not a good hook to hang a theology of sickness on.

Understanding the Healing Power of God

Understanding the Healing Power of God
Doug Jones

Faith Library Publications / 2001 / Paperback
Retail Price: $8.95

Can be bought at Doug Jones Ministries website
or Christian Book Distributors website

Here's the blurb:

In this book, Rev. Jones presents the truth concerning this little-talked about subject: understanding God's healing power. By applying the principles outlined in this book, you will learn: How to determine if the healing power is present. How the healing power is administered to your body. And how to keep the healing power active within you until you are satisfied with the fruit produced. Many believers have been instructed from the Word that one ingredient necessary to receive healing is faith. However in this comprehensive study, you will learn of another ingredient that you must understand in order to be healed, and that is the healing power of God. When we connect our faith to His power, we are on the path to victory.

Loooved this book!

The story of the rich man and Lazarus

Okay, notice I didn't call it a parable. Because, plain and simple, it is not. I'm only getting myself riled up about this naming issue because my Seventh Day Adventist friends dismiss the entire story -- and hell-- by saying "well, that's just a parable."

Okay, a definition of a parable is a story taken from real life, earthly, and commonplace situations or universal occurrence to symbolize spiritual situations or truths. Often the parable's meaning is hidden and the person telling the parable has to give the key to understanding the parable's meaning.

For those who don't know the story, look below.

Anyway, this is the reason why it is NOT a parable:

1) It actually has a fellow in hell, a spiritual place -- which certainly is not an everyday Earthly occurrence. Certainly not one I'm familiar with. In fact, most of this story takes place in hell. It is a story about a spiritual non-physical place so how can a story about a spiritual place -- the ultimate reality-- be symbolic of a hidden spiritual truth?

2) There is an actual named character in the story. Parables do not use names. None of the characters in Jesus's other parables had names. Moses and Abraham are also mentioned. Even if they supposedly "represent" the law and the patriach, this is not a parable that everyone everywhere in the world would understand. If this is a parable, it is suited only for those who understand Jewish culture.

3) There is a big spiritual discussion in the story...a discussion where everything is spelled out. Things are so spelled out in this story that the only way one can misunderstand what is going on is to set out purposely to find some other spiritual truth the story is referring to. Parables generally do not have big spiritual discussions. No one in Jesus parables ever talk about religious matters.

This refusal to see that Jesus spoke of hell goes so far as to my adventist friends saying that when JEsus told the theif he (the theif) "Verily, I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise, that either A) Jesus meant soul sleep where he guards and keeps those he love or B) that Jesus said "I am telling you this day, you will be with me in paradise." Honestly! When one looks at the index of verses with "Verily, I say unto you" in certain Seventh Day Adventists books one readily sees that the other commas are not moved around to suit theological situations. Only in this verse is this comma switched around.

I don't know how they explain the transfiguration on the mount. Mainstream Christians understand it to mean A) JEsus spoke with the Elias and Moses (representative of the law and the prophets) about fulfilling all that was written about him B) The presence of the three aspects of the Godhead supporting Jesus's sacrifice (father, son, and holy spirit all present) C) The idea that spirit has substance and that spirit transforms bodies, even clothes D), JEsus was honored above all other humans and was not equal to Elias and Moses and E) The disciples were given a view of the Saviour's glory. But there is also the simple matter that Elias and Moses had died and were now very much alive and talking to JEsus. What? Did God wake them out of soul sleep then put them back to sleep again? Not possible. God creates people once and only once. HE doesn't blink them out of existence and in again at his whims. Yes, yes, I know...some will say that Elias and Moses did not die, just like Enoch. But if that is true -- and the Bible says that Moses DID die-- why didn't God include Enoch in the mix to represent the folks who lived before the law and the prophets?

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried: and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." --Luke 16:19-31.

Charles Finney does a really great exegesis on it

It is funny how many, many, many times a sect with issues will say that everyone else has misunderstood this parable. What is it about this parable that makes it so (supposedly) easily misunderstood by everyone else by them? Because it challenges one of their main tenets.

Wondering Times Two Part I

On Saturday at a fiesta given by our iglesia (church) for the cumpleanos (birthday) of a little boy. (Couldn't go to the Jamaican church that day cause the birthday party started early then church was after that.) I sat outside under a large pine and at one point when everyone was inside I stayed outside to talk to a teenaged girl sitting across from me. After sometime I felt in my spirit that I should be talking to her and that the "real" reason for me sitting there would come up sooner or later, and that God would lead her to bring up the "real" topic on her heart. So later of course she did, suddenly out of the blue telling me that her dad was Catholic and her mom was pentecostal and she was confused.

Okay, a part of me thought: "Oh please, this isn't God at all. This kinda thing always happens to you. Teenagers like you. People are always coming out of the blue to tell you their soul's sorrow. It's your face, woman!" But then I thought..."uhm...maybe God did make me stay out here so she could talk to me and maybe I did sense in my spirit that she needed to talk."

Now this is what I'm wondering about. I kept thinking I didn't want to side with her mother although I totally believe penteocostalism is the way to go. I just think the Catholic church places so much power into the hands of the clergy when Christianity wishes that all God's people will heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach the gospel. Plus the treatment of women in that denomination and its history of persecution of the Jews. But I know some very devout Catholics. They never open their Bibles, though. And they pray to the saints more than they pray to God. So yeah, I had issues. So what did I say? I said, "Don't be confused. Find the similarities in what both your parents believe and believe that. And in the long run it's not denominations that get a person saved, it's having a right relationship with God your Father and knowing that Jesus saved you from your sin because no one is perfect enough for God." Since Sunday I have been totally flaking out wondering if I wimped out? Despite all my arguments with folks on the web I am a total wimp in real life and unless someone is a Mormon or someone says something totally weird about Jesus, I tend to try to be peaceful and bring peace. So....did I do right? Or did I lose the opportunity to preach the gospel to this kid?

Stewards of the mysteries of God

Wow! St Paul!!! What a lovely phrase. In other epistles, he talks about the stewardship and the ministry God has given to him. But in this verse..."stewards of the mysteries." Stewards of revelation. Stewards of the glories. Stewards of the news of God's grace. Stewards of the healing. One could go on forever.

-C

Failed miserably...but

Well, I failed miserably after I came out of that courtroom. I think it's all the various issues happening around here. I just got tired and stressed out and my mouth let out all kinds of nasty evil-wishes against creepy neighbor, cops, etc. Plus I totally went into whining mode and blaming and speaking the pathological truth rather than God's Biblical truth. Oh, my friends, you would not have wanted to be around me.

But the Bible tells us we will not be greatly shaken. And it tells us we go from glory to glory. So, hopefully, in all my horrible behavior and horrible speaking two days ago, I wasn't as bad as I used to be. And will not be so bad in the future. Hopefully, I am growing in Christ and allowing his mind to take me over more and more. I'd so hate to think that I still hadn't grown a bit and that the devil can always rely on me to behave in the same predictable old Carole ways. -C

a peculiar people

Peter calls those who believe in Christ a "peculiar people."

The greek word used there means: "acquired" or "purchased possession" which means that we are God's own possession. God's own.

Now that's interesting. God really is our father more than any other. We belong to him because he made us, because he redeemed us with a precious gift. No wonder what Satan cannot snatch us out of God's hands.

Anyways, here is a youtube video I made of one of my absolute favorite Christian songs.

Faith works through love

This is a Bible verse that many Christians often forget to ponder.

If we have faith but we do not forgive our enemies, faith won't work.
If we someone comes on our heart --especially if we suddenly feel a great compassion flowing out towards someone (whether the person is near or not)-- then that is the Holy Spirit working through you.

Sometimes we think God isn't speaking to us. But remember God is love. The love we suddenly feel for someone -- especially if that person hasn't been on our minds for a while-- is often God's way of telling us to pray for that person or to call them or to give them a word.

God is love. He works through love. His compassion in our hearts toward others is His love talking to us. ACT on faith. BELIEVE that that deep love is God-in-you telling you to do something. Or at least to pray for people. But you must believe that God is with you.

The Bible says, "The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet." The Bible says, "Stir up the gift that is in you." It's not as if we sit around waiting for God to so overwhelm us and stir the gift up in us. We are to stir up the gift, not God. We can initiate the gift within us by stirring up the gift within us which was given to us by the laying on of hands. If a faithful elder has laid hands on us to give us a gift, then we must believe we have it. Walk in faith. Trust that God has given...and has placed all things in you: the mind of Christ, the gifts of the holy spirit, the healing powers of the word, the answer to prayers. Walk out in faith. We can turn our spiritual gifts on and off.