When God Talked Back

Reading the book, "When God Talks Back", by T.M. Luhrmann, I thought back to the first time that I "heard God's voice" and "recognized" it as a clear concise answer to a question.

I was a lonely child with few friends and lot's of trust issues. One day, when I was twelve years old, I looked around the school yard and wondered why I was so alone, and others always had companions around them. I felt that God must have wanted me to go through this loneliness for a reason. I wrote a little poem on my book cover to commemorate what I was feeling. It started like this:

I look my eyes up to the sky

and ask the Lord above so high

"Why me?"...

At this point I remember imagining myself in front of God, demanding an answer. I continued to write, without thinking,

Then came from the blue

"Because, my child, you are YOU."

When I finished writing I remember this instance of feeling puzzled. I had never written a poem before, and certainly have never thought of one so fast. Then, I read, again, what I had written:

I look my eyes up to the sky

and ask the Lord above so high

"Why me?" Then came from the blue

"Because, my child, you are YOU."

A sudden realization came to me that I had an answer to my question.

"Because I'm me?", I asked God, a little perplexed. "What do you mean by that?" But, I couldn't shake this feeling that it was God who put those words down.

Because I'm me.

I decided to put that answer away in the back of my mind and wait for God to explain Himself to me. Over the years, I believe He has.

I am me. I am the only me God made. I have talents and abilities that were given to me for a purpose; and, only I can fulfill that purpose for God. I may not know or understand the purpose for which God created me, but my goal should ever be to live my life to glorify God as if no one else can live my life -- because no one else can.

And finally, I wake up each morning now, and I thank God for creating me to be who I am. I look back on my life and I am thankful for all of the experiences I have had. I feel special, because those experiences, good and bad, were my own and no one else's.

God gave them to ME.

Hypocrite

I have noticed that when people use the term "hypocrite", it is usually because they do not fully understand it's meaning and wish to insult the person to whom they are referring. A hypocrite is someone who claims to be sinless while judging others for the same sins that they, themselves, are guilty of.

As a matter of practice, I personally have never claimed to be sinless; nor do I judge others. I do, however, state facts. I do not dare tell someone who is homosexual that they are going to hell. As a matter of fact, homosexuals are just as qualified to see the Kingdom of Heaven as I am, if they have accepted Christ into their life and are seeking to better themselves and lead others to Christ. However, I will tell them that practicing homosexuality is a sin. The Bible says it is a sin. That is not judging, that is stating a fact. I could tell a good, Bible going woman that homosexuality is a sin and it would not offend her. Then why is it that if I tell someone who is a homosexual that homosexuality is a sin they get offended? Truth is truth, whether you want to hear it or not.

On the same note, I am not judging the homosexual by saying that homosexuality is a sin. What he or she does with that information is entirely their business. I am to love the sinner and hate the sin.

When I refer to the Bible, I am pointing as much to myself as I am anyone else. I am constantly working to better myself. God may not expect me to be perfect or sinless (after all, we wouldn't NEED Jesus if that were the case), but He does expect me to strive to achieve perfection. So, when I quote the Bible, it is usually to remind myself that what I am saying is backed by Biblical principle.


Proverbs 11:9 says, "The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered." Therefore, someone who calls someone a hypocrite is, him or herself a hypocrite because he or she passes judgment on someone else.

The righteous are not people without sin. They are people who are doing their best to be without sin, yet being imperfect are humble enough to admit their own faults and attempt to right their evil ways. Their dependence is more fully on Christ's redeeming power and God's Grace because of their imperfection. Only one who is immature in their walk with God would dare try to pull a speck out of someone else's eye when they have a plank in their own. (Matthew 7:3)

One who is mature is willing to accept their limitations, and then glorify in God's infinite lack of them.

Conviction of Conscience

Have you ever been convicted? Have you ever had this "sudden realization" that you've been doing things all wrong, and the strong urge to stop what you are doing wrong to make things right?

If you have, then you have experienced "conviction". Conviction can happen at any time. The word "convicted" is related to the word "convict". To convict someone denotes an active participation in causing someone else to become convicted. On another note, a "convict" is someone who has been found guilty of a crime. Therefore, if you are "convicted", then you have been found guilty of some action you know is not right and deserves changing in your life.

The word "convicted", although used liberally in Christian circles, is only used one time in the King James Version of the Holy Bible. It is at the part of the story about the prostitute who was caught in the act of sinning. When they brought her before Jesus in order to try to convict him of blasphemy, or false teaching, Jesus told them, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." One by one, from the eldest to the youngest, they walked away. In John 8:9 it says that they were "convicted by their own conscience, and walked away."

What is conscience, then, that it should convict anyone?

I have heard it argued that the conscience is the Holy Spirit convicting you; but, according to the Bible, you can have a good conscience or a bad conscience. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul seeks to use food that has been offered to idols as a example. As Christians, we know that idols are nothing; therefore, we have no problem eating food offered to them. However, those who were raised in idolatry revere idols as holy. If they see you eating food offered to idols they may be offended. Someone who is offended by you may not want to listen to you when you tell them about Jesus, or what is right or wrong. Paul calls their conscience "weak". Therefore, it is diplomatic form, to say the least, to learn their customs and seek not to offend them in order to keep their minds open to your teaching of the Gospel.

To Titus, (Titus 1:15), Paul writes, "To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure: but even their mind and conscience are defiled."

In Hebrews 9:14, Paul explains how a person with a defiled conscience gets a clean start to rebuild their conscience to God's glory: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

When you accept Christ into your life your slate is wiped clean. All of your sins are forgiven. From that moment on, you do your best to keep your heart and mind pointed toward Christ, walking in his precepts and laws. From that day forward, your conscience will convict you when you turn down the wrong paths.

June 2013 Comments

June 29

I am returning two movies to the library and am going to check out two more. Last night

I watched The Wilderness Family. It kept me on the edge of my seat during the whole movie. It was a refreshing visit to a more pure time in movie-making history. I recommend it.




June 28

I am at the library. Just checked out three books by Edward Abbey: The Monkey Wrench Gang, Hayduke Lives, and The Brave Cowboy. I figure I'll end up reading every book in the library before long, starting with Fiction, since I have nothing better to do. I also checked out some movies: Act Your Age, Air Force One, The Adventures of the Wilderness Family and the first season of The Adventures of Jim Bowie. Am looking forward to nice peaceful opportunities to read and watch TV.

I didn't make much on my check this payday. Just enough to pay $300 on rent and talk my landlord into working with me so I won't get evicted. He is willing, as long as I pay him $300 every two weeks until I am paid a month in advance. But, after buying 10 bus tickets and $15.00 worth of phone minutes, I only have $25.00 left. I am so broke. And, I have no food in the house.

On the bright side, I am losing weight. But, even that poses a problem, since I can't afford to buy new clothes.

Today, I ate at the Friendship Center. 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a bag of chips, a pack of cookies and a fruit cup. I was hungry. I saved my cookies for later. Later, I may go and eat supper at the Salvation Army.

I spent some time on the internet at the library.

When someone tells me it is not polite to talk religion or politics, then I assume that they believe it is polite to force ignorance on people. If you don't talk, you can't learn. If you don't ask questions, you can't get answers. I like being impolite if that is what it takes for me not to be ignorant.

It's Time to Wait.

by Shonda M. Ponder

It's time to wait. We've been waiting forever for "the time to be right", for when the "SHTF", for the right people to be elected. It's all we've been doing anyway; so, why not wait for the right reasons?

I believe that we are wasting our time if we think that we can place a new party into the political arena that will help us. Too much has already been lost. People are just too shocked and/or ignorant to admit it is too late.

We went over the hill and started the downhill slide the moment that God was taken out of our schools. That was His first slap in the face. This last one is Allah being put in schools where God once was, in the name of tolerance, which no one had for those who worshipped God.

Then they made it legal to murder unborn babies. This was and is the last generation of freedom seekers, crying out from the womb for their right to life.

Since then, we have made it a crime to display manger scenes in public places. Schools refuse to sing Christmas Carols with Christ in them. Christmas has become so commercialized that Christ is no longer even seen in Christmas.

Add to that the systemic taking away of our freedoms, as written in the Bill of Rights, starting with the 2nd Amendment. In order to have the right to defend yourself, you have to have permits to carry a gun, and they aren't allowed even in the most dangerous places. In order to buy a gun, you have to withstand a background check. Our privacy has been stripped from us in the name of safety and security. To top it all off, you can only buy the kind of guns they say you can own.

This war on Terror has made it mandatory that the government have permission to spy on it's own citizens. They listen to our phone conversations, read our emails, follow our work history and private club histories.

Our Churches aren't even allowed to endorse a candidate, even though it's okay for planned parenthood, which is supposed to be a non-profit organization, to do so.

We can't even protest without permission from those we are protesting against. Our right to petition our government may as well not exist, since they pay no attention to those petitions anyway. Our right to assembly depends on where we are assembling and what for. I just don't think the founding fathers had all this in mind when they wrote the Bill of Rights.

We are forced to pay taxes to help women kill their babies. We are forced to pay for healthcare we don't have. We are forced to pay fines if we don't have insurance. And, the IRS can destroy your life if you disagree with the government.

This is not America the Beautiful, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave anymore. We have systematically become Amerika the Oppressed, Land of the Dependent and Home of the Cowards who bend to government rule. Even our Rule of Law is Dependent on who is in office.

I don't see it getting any better. I think it's time for a new plan. As a Christian, I think it's time to focus on getting to know our Creator and our Savior, and stand ready to die for Him, because that is just where this is all heading.

Oppression leads to persecution, genocide, and annihilation. It has already started. Most are just too blind to see it. When people in Michigan are getting stoned and the stoners are not getting charged with the crimes in the name of religious freedom, which Christians apparently don't have, it's over. Why can't people see that?

I don't mean to be pessimistic about our future. I just don't see it getting better. We are never going to get rid of all the laws we already have. We fight one law, only to be blindsided with a worse one that we have to fight. While we are doing that, we have left the one we were fighting in the first place so that it can grow stronger and more oppressive, and give birth to new, even more dangerous ideas against our liberty.

So, if we are going to wait, then I suggest we start waiting in the right waiting room. The only thing that can save us now is God, and I've read the book. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Thought for the Day:

You are not here to tell your church and your Christians friends how much you love God and why. You are here to stop the drug dealer on the street, to talk to the homeless, the sick, the hopeless, the prostitutes, the needy and the other lost; to tell them how much you love God and why. Jesus came for THEM. You do not have to relate to them. You only have to love them.

Memories of a lived life: Justin Williams Birthday

Twenty-two years ago today, God blessed me with another son who would never cease to amaze me. Back then, I was young and scared. This son was given to me to remind me that God was still with me every step of the way. Happy Birthday, Justin Seth Williams. I pray that God blesses you and that you feel His presence with you even more than He's shown Himself to me. Momma loves her baby boy.

Computer Problems

My computer crashed and I can't even get the darn thing on. So, I pulled a few strings and a friend sent me his old computer, but without a monitor. Right now I have no monitor, and even if I did, I'd have to get internet access to use it. I don't have the money and am hanging by a thread to keep a roof over my head right now. So, be patient. I'll get it all worked out soon enough.

NEW WEBSITE

HI! I haven't updated my blog in awhile because I've been really busy updating my new web site. So, I probably won't be back here for awhile...but don't go away! In the meantime, check out my new web site! It's called "The Ponder" and you can get there by going to http://www.shondaponder.com