Seek ye first

Most Christians -- me included-- should learn to seek God first. It's mostly a matter of habit, I think. Because I believe that most serious Christians truly love the Lord. There are a few who have a sentimental love, to be sure. And there are a few who are really more into legalism than any real adoration/attachment of the Lord but for the most part the folks who love God really do love Him, and the folks who love the Living Word of God personified in Jesus really appreciate Jesus...and the folks who are grateful to the Holy Spirit really are grateful to Him.

Hosea tells us in chapter 4: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

But it gets even worse in chapter 8:

2Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
3Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
4They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
12I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

Imagine that: God says, "if I were to tell people about the great things in this religion I've given them, they would think it was all a bit strange."

That's how bad it is. We have people in all these Christian denominations who think they know their religion but what they know is the interpretation of their priests and ministers and the doctrines of their denominations. Not always bad, mind you. But in a matter as important as our life on earth and our life after death, we really should remember what Jesus said:

Matthew 15:14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Luke 6:39 "And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?"

So what do we do with what is basically spiritual slothfulness and bad habits? And these habits cause us not to seek FIRST the kingdom of God. The Bible tells us to seek ye first the kingdom of God. IT doesn't say to go to the church once or twice a week and see what verses the minister has been seeking. It amazes me that we who have a religion where our Lord was highly cynical about ministers and priests should end up with an attitude where we believe everything our ministers say without searching and rightly dividing the truth ourselves.

So we must let the word of God dwell in us richly. We must talk to those we love in order to grow from love. This means we must set up our lives in such a way to allow for God's word, God's friendship, God's presence to be more and more in our lives.

A good thing to do is to listen to Bible tapes or sermons in the morning when one is dressing, and at bedtime when one goes to sleep. A tape-playing radio. Download sermons from the internet. Do a daily Bible study in the morning with one's hubby. Have a friend who you do daily Bible studies with in the morning. It can be done.

Give us vision, lest we perish

We get spiritual vision everyday. The doctors plant their visions of illness inside our minds. TV fills our minds with visions of love/lust or wealth or other worldly matters. The Televangelists fill our minds with their vision of Christianity. The world around us gives us its visions. It tells us old age should expect dementia and degenerative diseases, but God's word tells us that old men will dream dreams and it shows us the works done by old folks such as Caleb, Elizabeth, etc.

We need God's vision.

Which reminds me the devil also gives great visions.

Think of Luke 4:5. Satan takes Jesus up to a tall mountain and gives him a vision of all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The implication is amazing. Jesus could, if he wanted, live and rule and do good in all the world. Not that Satan could tempt Jesus. But many Christians nowadays have this flaky idea of Dominion Theology in politics.

I understand that the world should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord because think about it: Christians, through Christ, are a new species of man who have authority over all those things the first man Adam was supposed to have had (but he lost it.) AND MORE!

But the vision might not be from God to rule empires, to rule churches.

But I digress.

We have to hold to good visions and pull down the strongholds of bad visions -- whether those bad visions are plainly evil (like murdering our enemies or lusting for our neighbor's spouse) or subtly evil ( as in evil masquerading as goodness.)

In these days,
Our eyes must be careful what they see. Our ears must be careful what they hear. Our hearts must be careful what they love... because all these things become part of wrong vision. 

Christian Comfort versus Dismissiveness

It might be just me...cause I'm touchy like that... but do Christians often equate comforting each other with being dismissive about the specific sorrow?

I've seen and heard it so many times: Christian A starts talking about some sorrow; Christian B responds with a platitude that often is aimed to making Christian A feel better -- after all, God is strong and all-- but inevitably the comfort comes off as dismissive.

"Sure you have no house but well, there are people who are sick in the hospital dying."
Well, yes, that is true...but putting the problem in proportion to the general suffering out there doesn't help the sufferer does it? It might make the sufferer feel belittled or it might make the sufferer belittle his own pain as invalid.

What is true comfort?

It is hopeful. It acknowledges the pain of the person. It comes from the mouth of someone who fully understands (or at least tries to appear as if she fully understands) the sufferer's plight. True comfort implies the listener will do something about the situation: namely the listener will go to God and pray and intercede in a very personal caring way about the situation. 

Promo Day: Wind Follower First Chapter

Folks say I did a great job researching the spirituality in Wind Follower. I didn't actually research anything. I tend to read a lot of anthropology so I began writing and whatever my subconscious deemed necessary just popped up as needed. I'm pretty convinced God helped me with this book.
This excerpt is the first chapter of my novel, Wind Follower. This chapter is probably the second to last chapter I wrote for the book. Probably it was the last. I don't remember exactly. All I remember was the editor emailing me and saying something like: Your main character is always talking about this past event. I think we better show it. Cause he seems so traumatized about it.
So I sat down and wrote it. Off the cuff. I think it was written in one day and critiqued by my friends the next day. Then sent to the editor. The same goes for another chapter -- the chapter about sorrows going hand-in-hand. The editor said: Uhm, we need an alternate chapter here with Satha. 
Weirdly, these chapters -- written off the top off my head and in the space of about two afternoons-- are two of my favorite chapters in Wind Follower. 
Wind Follower is primarily a fantasy romance and secondly a spiritual book. Quests, warfare, et al... are purely as needed. So although there is some fighting in the story, and although there is some talk of lances and battles in the first chapter, it's best to think of it as a romance. 

I will tell you first how Krika died.

 Okiak, his father and the chief shaman of our clan, brought Krika before the elders at the Spirit Shrine, the sacrificial mound we called Skull Place. My friend was bound hand and foot, and the skin of his face had been flailed away so that all the muscles and bones beneath his right eye glistened. He was weeping and crying out for mercy, choking on his tears. This surprised me, but I forgave it. Who could bear such pain without weeping?

Okiak lifted the shuwa, already reddened with his son’s blood, and there -- surrounded by bones and burned flesh -- remnants of the monthly sacrifices, he shouted, “My son has not obeyed me. I have warned him time and times to pay obeisance to our spirits, but he has refused.”

The spirits had ordered his death. I stood far off, struggling with my father and Pantan. Their hands held me fast and kept me from racing to Krika’s side.

Nevertheless, I called out, shouted aloud for everyone to hear. “Are the spirits so puny and helpless they must force people to worship them?”

All eyes rebuked me, yes, all the elders of the Pagatsu clan, and Father yanked me back by my arm. “Be careful, son,” he said, “lest the spirits also demand your life.”

I glared at him. “And if they did, would you be so weak as to comply?”

He turned away. “The spirits have not asked for your life. Why ponder a demand that has not been asked?”

I hated him for that. Yes, although I loved him with all my heart, I despised him for those words.

Krika continued pleading for his life. Okiak aimed his vialka and let it fly through the sky toward his son. Krika’s wail sounded over the fields and the low-hanging willows and past the Great Salt Desert. But no one spoke for him, not my father, not the other shaman, and not the Creator. He died, battered beneath a hail of stones; all eyes but mine witnessed his last breath. Father had pulled my face into his chest, and I hated my weakness for allowing it. My tears soaked his tunic. He gently stroked my head and played with my braid, and told me that I should forget, forget, forget, for death – however it comes– is the destiny of all men.

They left Krika’s body where it fell. Unburied, he was to be devoured by wild wolves and bears. Worse, his lack of a burial meant he could not enter the fields we long for. He could not hunt with the Creator. His father had damned him to everlasting grief.

      Krika had been my age-brother, taught with Prince Lihu as I was. While he lived, his presence colored my life as a wolf’s continuous howl or a woman’s singing might color the night. He seemed to rage against the spirits while yet singing to the Creator. This was a strange thing, for at that time no one in the three tribes sought the Creator; we thought those shadow gods were his servants. Even I, who was suspicious of the spirits from my birth, had never warred against them as Krika had.

      That night, as the sun set over my father’s Golden House, I escaped to the shrine. There lay Krika, broken on the ground. With many shuwas, I warded off the wolves and lions that had sniffed out my friend’s blood. But the spirits fought against me, calling from the east, west, north, and south, all creatures of earth and air. How black the field and night sky grew with their descending shadows. In the field, only two men: Krika and I, one living and one dead. All my father’s so-called Valiant Men were nowhere to be seen. Although they had battled mightily against the Angleni, on the night of Krika’s death they hid in the compound trembling in fear of the spirits.

Then, all at once, I understood the spirits had arrayed themselves in battle against me, that I would always battle them alone, for I had no ally...no, not one among my clan.

Twitter hashtag: #blackscifi2012  #blackscifi #speculativefiction #christianspeculativefiction #fantasy

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Other participants

Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:

Winston Blakely, Artist/Writer-- is a Fine Arts/Comic Book artist, having a career spanning 20 years, whose achievements have included working for Valiant Comics and Rich Buckler's Visage Studios. He is also the creator of Little Miss Strange, the world's first black alien sorceress and the all- genre anthology entitled - Immortal Fantasy.  Both graphic albums are available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other online book store outlets. Visit him:  http://blakelyworks.blogspot.com/ or http://blakelyworkstudio.weebly.com/

Ja Ja (DjaDja) N Medjay , Author—DjaDja Medjay is the author of The Renpet Sci-Fi Series. Shiatsu Practitioner. Holistic AfroFuturistic Rising in Excellence. Transmissions from The Future Earth can be found at: www.renpetscifi.com  or on Facebook -www.facebook.com/RenpetSciFiNovel or on Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/Khonsugo 

L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade.  Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers:  A Shifters Novel will be released this spring.  For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.

Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/   and www.wagadu.ning.com.

Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives  and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA
with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelineshttp://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com  Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013.  You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com

Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com and http://wwwsistermoon.blogspot.com and   http://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/

Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012.  The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at:http://www.aliciamccalla.com

Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction.  Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/  orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/

Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog,AstroMythoLosophy.com.

Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage.  Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html 

Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:  http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd


Thaddeus Howze, Author-- is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-six years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Visit him:  http://ebonstorm.wordpress.com or http://ebonstorm.weebly.com


Balogun Ojetade, Author—of the bestselling “Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within” (non-fiction), “Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman” (Steampunk) and the feature film, “A Single Link”. Visit him:http://chroniclesofharriet.wordpress.com/

Remembering God's Faithfulness

Okay, so I have a  major discipline problem and last night I realized I haven't been disciplined in keeping up my Book of Remembrance.

In the Bible, a book of remembrance is discussed. And the Bible is always telling us to "remember when the Lord did this" or "Remember how the Lord delivered you from so-and-so." In fact, holidays in the Bible are mainly about remembering. And (I'm way too lazy to look up the verses now) but there are countless verses in the Bible where not believing in God is equated with not remembering. For instance, "they forgot that he was their rock."

It's odd to think but in the Bible "lack of belief" is not about not rationale declarations and being super mentally-enlightened but about simply forgetting. The holidays of Passover and Purim are there to make us remember what God has done. I don't know what the holidays of other religions are about but in Judeo-Christianity, a holiday is not merely about remembering God's holiness or for us to be holy. Holidays are about remembering some aspect of a holy Personal ever-present all-knowing God's loving kind protection toward us.

Okay, so back to me. So although I always remember the angel preventing me from falling off the cliff on Bear Mountain, and the angel smiling at me beside my bed, and God's guidance in finding children who wander off (ah, i could tell you stories!) Or God protecting me from the knife, I had forgotten how wonderfully near He has been to me through helpful dreams.

So.......there I was in bed and I got to thinking about dreams. I write down most of my dreams. (Pretty faithfully so I'm disciplined in that....it's something I am wont to do.) But I got to thinking; "Am I deluding myself with all my concerns with my dreams?" What if some of my dreams are nothing more than my mind wanting to do this or fearing to do that, yadda yadda? I got to thinking, "God just isn't being near me. He doesn't help me at all. Why do I even trust in Him?" <-- yes, yes, I get this way sometimes and I forget all He has done for me.

Then suddenly... I REMEMBERED something that was really important in my life, something that had to do with a dream, something that shows how near God is to me and how faithful He is to me.

One night when my older son Logan, was about three or four, I dreamed of two kids from the neighborhood -- the son and nephew of my friend Jennie-- beating my son with iron batons, sticks, etc. It was quite sadistic and just odd. I woke up thinking, "Well, that was one strange dream." I didn't really know the kids and they never visited my house so I just thought it was weird to dream of them. LATER THAT DAY, who should come to my door but Jennie's son and nephew?????????????? They said, "Carole, we're playing cowboys and indians and we want someone to tie up. Can we play with Logan?" Logan, who was with me and who had heard them, said, "Mom, I want to go! Please, Please!" I looked at those kids and there was something very -- for lack of a better word-- "evil" about them. They looked like they were planning something evil. It was so evident to me. One of them had a little red ribbon which he gently brushed against my arm, "See," he said, "it doesn't hurt. We just want to play." These guys were about sixteen and eighteen and I wouldn't have trusted them from the sneaky looks on their faces. Upshot: I didn't send my son with them.

I  remember this with a shudder. Because of the dream/premonition. My God had "gone before" and had protected me from the machinations of the enemy. Jennie's son turned out to live a good life. His cousin ...well...

I often think that some evil thing had placed the idea in them. And who knows what they were planning or what might have happened? Young folks are often very easy to tempt to do evil. My son might not be with me today or those two might have done something evil to him that would have tainted him. But God saved him, me, and Jennie's son from succumbing to whatever evil plot the devil had planned. The world is indeed an evil place and we need Someone Who Walks Ahead Of Us to protect us from the snares the devil has placed for us. Holy and Faithful is our Lord!

Of course, if I had been keeping up with actually writing down stuff in my Book of Remembrance (dreams coming true, flaky coincidences, visions coming true, etc) I wouldn't have had that moment of doubt. But I thank God that although the physical book of Remembrance wasn't updated or studied by me for so long...God is faithful to remind me of that incident.

Book on Asperger's: Look Me In the Eye

Look me in the eye
by John Elder Robinson

Here's the blurb:

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them) — had earned him the label "social deviant." No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.
After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a "real" job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be "normal" and do what he simply couldn't: communicate. It wasn't worth the paycheck.

It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself — and the world.

Look Me in the Eye is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Asperger's at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes you inside the head of a boy whom teachers and other adults regarded as "defective," who could not avail himself of KISS's endless supply of groupies, and who still has a peculiar aversion to using people's given names (he calls his wife "Unit Two"). He also provides a fascinating reverse angle on the younger brother he left at the mercy of their nutty parents — the boy who would later change his name to Augusten Burroughs and write the bestselling memoir Running with Scissors.

Ultimately, this is the story of Robison's journey from his world into ours, and his new life as a husband, father, and successful small business owner — repairing his beloved high-end automobiles. It's a strange, sly, indelible account — sometimes alien, yet always deeply human.

This is a book written for educators by someone who has Asperger's.
The author has a blog here

There's an audio excerpt from the book here. IF you click this link the excerpt will play.

You can buy it here

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine

Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine 
Peter J. Thuesen (Oxford University press)

Hardcover: 328 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 6, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0195174275

ISBN-13: 978-0195174274

Here's the blurb:
Predestination-the idea that God foreordains one's eternal destiny-is one of the most fascinating and controversial doctrines in Christianity. In this groundbreaking history, the first of its kind, Peter Thuesen shows that far from being only about the age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will, the debate over predestination is inseparable from other central Christian beliefs and practices-the efficacy of the sacraments, the existence of purgatory and hell, the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs-and has fueled theological conflicts across denominations for centuries.

In Puritan New England, the "terrifying decree" of predestination drove some people to suicidal despair even while it convinced others that they were an elect remnant in a fallen world. The doctrine subsequently declined, ridiculed by deists like Thomas Jefferson and evangelicals like John Wesley. Yet to those on the margins, from Lutheran immigrants to "hard-shell" Baptists, it never lost its urgency as a burning theological issue. It provided the religious context of Abraham Lincoln's childhood, and precipitated a schism in the Lutheran church. By the early 21st century, with the rise of conservative Protestantism as a social and political force, the doctrine was spawning disputes online as evangelicals disagreed over what an "inerrant" Bible teaches on the subject. Although battles over predestination occurred throughout Christianity's long history, says Thuesen, only in the American free marketplace of competing Protestant sects could the doctrine persist in so many contexts as a catalyst of religious change.

Thuesen reexamines not only familiar predestinarians like the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists, from Catholics and Lutherans to Methodists and Mormons, and shows how even contemporary megachurches preach a "purpose-driven" outlook that owes much to the doctrine of predestination. For anyone wanting a fuller understanding of religion in America, Predestination offers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1,600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape.

A Cloud by Day, A Pillar by Night

So am reading in Exodus right now and am thinking about The Cloud and Pillar that went with the children of Israel. When the cloud moved, the people moved. When the cloud rested the people rested. And at night the cloud became a pillar.

"At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents." Numbers 9:18

What a predicament for folks who want to move on! It's not as if they don't know where they're going. God has given them guidance as to their future. But for reasons they don't understand they must not move. Now it's okay if the cloud does this resting bit for one day. But what if it rested for weeks on end? How to rest and enter into that rest, that stasis one doesn't understand? Oh, sure God might have caused us to rest to prepare the way before us -- wild beasts, warring tribes etc-- but this sitting around after guidance has been given and not moving...well, it's stressful I'd think.

And right now...wow... But I won't go on about my personal and financial life. But was blessed by this hymn...so.. here is Immortal, Invisible God, only wise. This is the first hymn I remember consciously learning. It's based on I Timothy 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever"

This hymn reminds us that God rules. Goodness rules. The underlying unchanging spiritual reality of perfcetion and truth rules all things, never rushes, never has to catch up. This peace operates with a wisdom human and angelic minds can't fully understand. The working of this spiritual reality -love, care, peace, justice-- is constant, powerful, mighty... yet unseen, inaccessible, mysterious. The work is to labor to rest in that truth of God's love and wisdom.


Lord, I'm trusting that underneath are your everlasting arms. -C

Theists, Deists, Atheists

Someone once asked Einstein if he was an atheist. Einstein answered something like, "No. That is too easy. It's an arrogant position and it lacks mystery."

Another person asked him another time if he believed in God. Einstein answered that he believed in Spinoza's God.

Okay, so Spinoza was a deist.

And yet, although I'm glad that such a great mind as Einstein's could not accept atheism, I'm not too thrilled he was a deist. After all, deism is almost as untenable as atheism. An Intelligence who made the world but has no interest in it and really no ability to love His Creations.

I rather like the Theistic view. A personal God with a personality -- a personality I may or may not like, who does things I may or may not like. A God who is not a machine, who has whims perhaps but who is never cruel  and is always just, wise, and loving.

Consider the meaning of the word "ATHEIST:." They do not call themselves "ADEISTS." Because it is not easy to challenge the existence of a deistic God. Deistic Gods do not need to show themselves good. They don't need to show themselves at all. Nor are there APOLYTHEISTS. Because in a world of such evil and confusion, one can possibly say (as the ancient Greeks and the modern Hindus and modern primitivists say) that gods have certain territories and often feud among themselves.

So the problem seems to be with Theism, and in particular Judeo-Christian Theism. After all the Moslem God is somewhere between a theistic and a deistic God. Not quite unconcerned but not quite in your face.

Some of my atheist friends seem to be at war with the theistic God's way of dealing with the world. "Why," they ask, "does he allow evil?" Of course I always counter with "When should he not allow evil? Should he only not allow evil when others do it? What about the evils you have done? Would you have wanted him to step in and stop you from say sleeping with your neighbor's spouse, ignoring the poor person on the street, stealing from your client etc?"

When my atheist friends go on one of their rants against God, I cannot help but feel they are mentally stuck at a sunday school level. They have a child's view of God. "Why isn't the world fair?" etc. Sometimes when God wasn't even mentioned in a conversation, and a news program comes on telling about thousands of people dying in some earthquake somewhere, suddenly OUT of the BLUE the atheist will say, "How can a person believe in a good God with this kinda stuff? Yeah, yeah, where was God then?"

This always seems a bit over-the-top for me....then I realize there is this hurt child who feels that God has not protected them from evil. Of course, as they grow older they deceive themselves by saying this is all about reasonableness.

Neuroscientists have proved that reason comes from the emotional center of the brain. When a person has an accidental injury to the emotional centers of their brain, they may become irrational and have problems reasoning. So, reason is born in emotion. Reason is emotion's way of proving itself.

So then, what is the duty of the Theist in this world? It falls to us to prove a theistic worldview. Then it falls to us to prove the theistic worldview of Christians. And the only way one can prove this, it seems to me, is not through WORDS and DIALOG but through the Living Christ, and the manifestation of His powers and miracles in this world. That is a point many Christians miss so one ends up with Bible versus Koran or Bible versus the latest atheistic tome. We have to prove what is that good perfect and acceptable will of God -- Christ in us the hope of glory. 

Why Is it important to show race, culture, minority politics or ethnicity in SciFi?

I remember the time I realized the stuff I write -- the situations I wanted to explore-- were not considered marketable by editors and agents...even if there were readers like me who lived in such situations.

The gatekeepers of book-publishing have ideas about who they are marketing to, ideas about what the reading public is like and who the readers of books are. For instance, they seem to assume that Black folks don't read or that readers don't care about religious or spiritual matters. When they see a manuscript written by a Black person, they assume the book will contain certain "issues" -- issues they feel the average American would be uninterested in. And their are expectations about books written by Christians or Black Christians as well.

My response to their expectations and stereotypes is this:
True, there are certain issues that appear in Black and/or Christian books but why assume that all Black folks write the same way.

True, but why think the non-Black world will not be interested in MY particular manuscript?

True, but why assume you already know what a Black writer is going to write?

True, but why concern yourself with only books that you KNOW will sell? It's possible Black literature -- expected or unexpected-- will sell.

But still, the sorrow that came on me when I realized I had written great works but these "assuming gatekeepers" would not let my story enter the hallowed halls of publishing.  To me, race and culture are important. Religion is important. Religion interwoven in history and race is important. I remember a reviewer saying my book Wind Follower was made for a small niche audience. Why? Because it was speculative fiction AND race AND religion. She didn't consider that Black folks and Asian folks have had to deal with ethnic fantasy such as vampires, elves, dwarfs...because to her the fantasy of the white world -- all those knights, ladies in waiting, white female scientists-- were not ethnic but were the norm.

Black folks are used to identifying with white characters because we have grown up inside white culture. We can see the humanity of these white characters. It seems to me that white folks should be given the chance to identify with non-white folks, and that folks without religious faith should  learn that folks with faith are not stupid cardboard stereotypes either.

The fact is all people need to see all people reflected in art. This is how we heal and humanize all humanity.

• So what would I like to see in this area for the upcoming year? More cross-genre publications. Black specfic graphic novels, Black mangas, for instance

By the way, promo day is coming soon, folks. I'll be giving away copies of my book, Spirit Fruit, to the three folks who have given me the most tweets and retweets during this time period.  So tweet away. Please post the link to this article to twitter using any of the following hashtags. Pass the word on about Blackscifi.

Twitter hashtag: #blackscifi2012 #blackscifi #christianspeculativefiction #fantasy #blackfiction

Other participants

Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:

Winston Blakely, Artist/Writer-- is a Fine Arts/Comic Book artist, having a career spanning 20 years, whose achievements have included working for Valiant Comics and Rich Buckler's Visage Studios. He is also the creator of Little Miss Strange, the world's first black alien sorceress and the all- genre anthology entitled - Immortal Fantasy.  Both graphic albums are available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other online book store outlets. Visit him:  http://blakelyworks.blogspot.com/ or http://blakelyworkstudio.weebly.com/

L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade.  Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers:  A Shifters Novel will be released this spring.  For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.

Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/   and www.wagadu.ning.com.

Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives  and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA
with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelineshttp://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com  Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013.  You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com

Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com and http://wwwsistermoon.blogspot.com and   http://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/

Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012.  The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at:http://www.aliciamccalla.com

Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction.  Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/  orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/

Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog,AstroMythoLosophy.com.

Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage.  Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html 

Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:  http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd


Thaddeus Howze, Author-- is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-six years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Visit him:  http://ebonstorm.wordpress.com or http://ebonstorm.weebly.com


Balogun Ojetade, Author—of the bestselling “Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within” (non-fiction), “Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman” (Steampunk) and the feature film, “A Single Link”. Visit him:http://chroniclesofharriet.wordpress.com/

Reading the Bible with the Damned

Reading the Bible with the Damned by Bob Ekblad

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (September 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664229174
• ISBN-13: 978-0664229177

Here's the Blurb:

Both long-time church members and those outside the traditional church can find it difficult to read the Bible. Bob Ekblad encourages the church and the unchurched to read the Bible together, for what scripture has to teach us all. In this compelling book, he reflects on how Christians have often found it difficult to proclaim God’s good news to every realm of society, while those who have needed it most have frequently deemed themselves unworthy due to social circumstances or sinfulness. In Reading the Bible with the Damned, Ekblad demonstrates how to bridge this gap by showing us specific ways to engage people from all walks of life, from the poorest parts of town to inside the prison walls. This book is full of examples of how Scripture changes lives, offering practical suggestions on how to lead discussions on passages from the Old and New Testaments.

From the Back Cover

"This book by Ekblad …moves the Bible away from safe, conventional church venues and reads afresh among the alienated and marginalized. The effect of such a new interpretive context is that the text takes on a poignancy and sharpness that bespeaks the stirring of God’s spirit. We may be led by Ekblad to read the Bible yet again, as if for the first time." --Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary, and author of several Westminster John Knox Press books, including An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination and Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes.

"Bob Ekblad is more like Jesus than most people I know…How different the world will be when more of us share Christ’s life and heart in the same way. I say when, not if, because this book will hasten the transformation." --Marva J. Dawn, Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, and author of Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Societyand Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God.

"Bob Ekblad has raised an ominously serious question…what does the Bible say to the suffering down our street - across our town and city - and out in the fields where our supermarkets get our produce? The responses are both enlightening and challenging, and Ekblad has written a book to teach all of us about the Bible, faith and liberation, and the realities of our own social system." --Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Professor of Old Testament, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, and author of A Biblical Theology of Exile.

Psalm 11

The verse that jumps out at me is "if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

The prophet Hosea writes Hosea 8:12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. Hosea 8:11-13

Romans 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: Romans 14:15-17

If the world calls good evil and evil good, where and how can Christians ever begin to show them what Christ wants?

Psalm 11

For the director of music. Of David.

1 In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.
2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do [a] ?"

4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.

5 The LORD examines the righteous,
but the wicked [b] and those who love violence
his soul hates.

6 On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

7 For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.

Footnotes:

Psalm 11:3 Or what is the Righteous One doing
Psalm 11:5 Or The LORD , the Righteous One, examines the wicked,

Okay, so what's with all these tsunami dreams

So, lately... there have been this glut of dreams and visions in the Christian world about Tsunamis, Floods, Big Waves.

Of course, this could all be a response to the Indonesian and Japanese tsunamis. Plus end of world fears and hopes. But I gotta say that when I had my vision of the terrible flood it was three weeks before the Japanese tsunami and I wasn't thinking of any floods. Plus I don't think my vision of the large rivershore (or seashore) filled with bodies and birds pecking at and eating those dead bodies had to do with Japan. So I'm thinking it still is to come.

Basically, what I'm thinking is this. The Bible often links spiritual and physical things together. For instance  symbolic famine in a dream or vision often means that physical/geographical famine will arrive at the same time there is a famine for the word of God. So I'm really thinking now that these tsunami dreams are saying both, that there WILL be some big devastating physical tsunami and at the same time a devastating tsunami of false teaching in the Christian world ...and maybe a flood of trouble in the world.

Now, the Christian world is generally unprepared about how to respond to a flood of bad theology. And lately, because we humans have always been herd-minded and with the media...well...the community that influences us has gotten larger and we have found it difficult to see the Bible clearly. I mean we have Christians all thinking it's okay to talk about pre-trib, post-trib, etc... when Jesus himself told us not to start putting dates on "the gathering away."   (Best to use "gathering away" because we don't know if we'll be caught up in the air or if we will be saved in a kind of Noah's Ark scenario.) And we also don't know what proportion of tribulation we will have to go through.

Anyway, back to theology and Christians not knowing their religion. Whether it's the Baptists, the Catholics, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Evangelicals, the Charismatics, the Mainstream Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Western Orthodox Churches.... or Christian television, all demonimations have incredibly bad theology. Worse, they all are followers of their traditions and their ministers who blindly follow the wrong core beliefs of their ancient founders or the trendy beliefs of new theologians. Seriously, I tried to tell someone who watches Christian TV that a lot of that theology is wrong and well, she had this confused look on her face. But the wrongness is just everywhere. Yes, yes, I know... the Mormons think they are the only true church. The SDA's think they are the only true church. But  they're wrong as well.

Christians haven't learned to think. We have a very bad habit of looking at things in a kind of black and white way. This makes us very easy pray for anything that is subtle. Witness the success of the Prosperity Gospel. It's very right, Scripturally...but it is also very wrong Scripturally. And as Christians we have to begin to understand subtlety. I mean, we should not forget that Satan deceived Eve by telling her the truth, and (some think) by making her think that perhaps she had mistaken God's decrees. Are you really sure God said that? Perhaps he wants you to be like him. Well, yes, God does want us to be like him...but no, he does not.

So, yeah, we have to learn how to rightly discern, and to rightly divide the word of truth. Consider, the Christian habit of using hand-me-down platitudes is also a sign of the propensity of people to simply repeat what everyone else is saying. I'm thinking the time is now here when we will have to wake up. We are asleep. Or rather, our minds are asleep. We have to read our Bibles to be aware of the traps one can fall into. The book of Colossians, for instance, warns us about what can happen in a Christian community that goes all syncretist to match its surroundings. The historical books warn us of what happens when we mix spirituality with tribal idols (and that could be ancient gods like Baal or traditional ones like crucifixes and the Virgin Mary or modern gods such as money and modern "wisdom.")

One only has to listen to how Christians pray to see how they are more influenced by tradition than by what the Bible says. I recently told a woman that if she is fasting she shouldn't be telling everyone. She behaved as if I was nuts. Why? Because -- despite what Jesus told us about not telling that we're fasting-- the typical Christian always makes a big production of telling everyone he/she is fasting. Seriously, folks!

If we can't see through the deceptions in the modern church, how will we make it when the floods of theologican deceptions come in?

Old Dog Learning New Tricks or Everything Old is New again.

Okay, so many new things in life! So many new and flaky habits!

So there goes the old adage, uh? The funny thing is that some of these new tricks or habits I've learned are totally new and Lord knows where they came from. And others were kinda dormant.

For instance I've always loved foreign films. But whence this new love of Korean films and is it really new? As a kid I used to watch Korean saegeuk dramas on PBS. But I totally dropped watching them for 40 years, only to have them return in full force. What the heck is that about?

A lot of these new tricks I keep to myself. But some...well, they're there for all the world to see. For instance, I've always had a thing for dreams. I have anthologies of dreams by famous writers for instance. I have anthologies of famous literary and religious dreams. But now I've gotten totally into listening to folks on youtube talking about their dreams, visions, and prophecies. Curiosity? Lord knows. Maybe.

Then there is this new thing about designing fabric. Back in the day I used to paint. So what to do with these new tricks?

Well, it certainly makes me long for a long life so I can enjoy and explore them. Maybe that's why new habits pop up. To give us new interests in life alongside our old long-continuing interests. But it certainly makes me smile that these aren't really new tricks or new habits, that these habits were lying dormant in my soul all this time.

I'm wondering if I should buy a violin. Yeah, I used to play the violin way back when. 

Great Things

Last year I dreamed of sitting with an angel at the table. She pushed corn, hot dogs, and ham off my plate and said to me, "Expect Great Things."

I thought that it meant "Expect great things from God, Do great things for God."

A month later, a girl from church brought some food over. Corn on the cob, mini hot dogs, and ham. 

I kept asking what the great things were. My fame as a writer? Healing for me and son? Then I was outside and opened the Bible to this. Seekest thou great things for thyself? 

Jeremiah 45:5
And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
Jeremiah 45:4-5 

A good confirming point.  Jeremiah lived in such an incredible time; I cant imagine how he dealt with it emotionally. So, we are to expect great things. But we are also part of the world. The great things we do or that happen to us aren't meant for us alone. And if the world around us falls, are we to expect great good things  for ourselves while all around are suffering? Heck, I'd like to be super-wealthy and to have my books be famous. But only to help others. I'd like my son and my healing to manifest...but only so we can help to heal others. Will see. In the meantime, here are some other wonderful great thing verses. 

Psalm 71:19
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Psalm 71:18-20

Psalm 126:2
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
Psalm 126:1-3

Job 37:5
God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
Job 37:4-6

Psalm 126:3
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Psalm 126:2-4 

Job 9:10
Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Job 9:9-11

2 Samuel 7:21
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all thesegreat things, to make thy servant know them.
2 Samuel 7:20-22

Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Job 5:8-10

2 Samuel 7:23
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
2 Samuel 7:22-24

O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
1 Chronicles 17:18-20 

Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Daniel 7:8
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speakinggreat things.
Daniel 7:7-9

Hosea 8:12
I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
Hosea 8:11-13 

Joel 2:20
But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
Joel 2:19-21 

Joel 2:21
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
Joel 2:20-22

Mark 3:8
And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what greatthings he did, came unto him.
Mark 3:7-9 

Luke 1:49
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Luke 1:48-50

John 1:50
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
John 1:49-51

Acts 9:16
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Acts 9:15-17

1 Corinthians 9:11
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
1 Corinthians 9:10-12

James 3:5
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, howgreat a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:4-6 

Revelation 13:5
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Revelation 13:4-6