Mocking the Word of God

OK Believers. When are you going to stop making a mockery of the Word of God?

The Bible says man's body is the temple or house of God, the very sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 6:19 and II Corinthians 6:16. "For you are the temple of the living God, and you are not your own." And yet the church is the last place you will find health and wellness! Diabeties, high blood pressure, heart disease and other chronic illnesses are rampant in the church. How do I know? Same people asking for prayer every week, same people on the healing line every week, same OVERWEIGHT people in the same fast food restaurants every Sunday after service or at the church's food court. (Everyone knows church sisters know how to throw down in the kitchen.) And the same people dying of complications from the diseases listed above.

WHAT KIND OF TESTIMONY IS THAT???

So what are you going to do about it? It's time to get healthy, America. It's time for the Church to lead the way. It's time for believers to look the part of a triumphant Child of God. It's bad enough that believers don't portray the riches of the Kingdom, but that's another post. The world sees most believers as in need of health and wealth. In other words, sick and poor. And since many in the world are healthy and/or wealthy, why should they embrace your God? It's obvious He is not taking care of you - or at least that's how many think. Of course, we know that He is doing His part. It's you who are not lining up with the Word of God. That's an uninspiring testimony to say the least.

Stop living the lie. If you are overweight, diabetic, hypertensive, you are destroying the temple! Even if you are under weight. If you are not healthy, you are destroying the temple. Make the necessary changes to be that shining testimony of the Word of God. Remember, God is not mocked.

Contact me at Mysticdiva77@yahoo.com for addition information of getting and maintaining good health. Let's get healthy in 2010.

Adam and Eve-not the first???

OK, what's going on in Genesis?  There's Adam and Eve, right? Adam named his wife, Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20. Then there is Cain and Abel, right? Now when Cain killed his brother, he was banished from the family, such as it was. The Lord said in Genesis 4:15, "therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengence shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." Whosoever who??? (Sorry. I know that's incorrect English but making a point here.) I thought it was just Adam, Eve and Cain.

Even Cain said in Genesis 4:13-14, "my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold---, I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me." That's why the Lord set a mark upon him. Every one who???

Then there is the part about Cain's wife. Genesis 4:17, "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch. v.19 And La'mech took unto him two wives."

Where are all these people coming from???

What's going on?

There's something going on here, Lord. Probably not just with me but I can only speak for me. Common thread seems to be seeking to know You.

For me, it started with leaving one place of worship after about 20 years, then leaving another after less than a year, being on the "backside of the desert" like Moses and experiencing You like never before. For me, it's been acquiring and reading books that organized religion would frown on. Books by Christians (?) and non-Christians (?) alike. Define Christian for me, Lord because back in the day, it was a derogatory term. Sorry, I digress. Books about Mother/Father God, Buddha, Jesus, Christ (are they one and the same?), Kabbalah, Gnosticism, The Lost Bible, even my essay about being angry with you Lord. And books about leaving the church. Gasp!

Anybody else been there? Books like Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor, The Shack by William Young, Gospel of Inclusion by Bishop Carlton Pearson and So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman.

Are you noticing a central theme here? I know You notice the theme, Lord. You designed it especially for me. I'm writing this for the readers who are feeling "something", feeling disquieted about their religious experience, beginning to ask, like I did, "why am I here?", what is my purpose, Lord?" or "why did You let that happen to me, Lord?"

OK, people, how is that working for you?

Romans 8:35, 38-39.

God's image

We are created in God's image. Physical image? Mental image? Consciousness? If the latter, where did all this doubt, fear, anger and uncertainty come from?

Jesus showed emotion-anquish in the garden and anger. Father God showed anger in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit can be grieved. If God showed these emotions and we're created in God's image, can we do any less? So if/when I attempt to solve a problem "on my own", am I truly (1)"on my own" since God will never leave or forsake me, (2) doing my own thing as in without God or (3) exercising my God given abilities and talents and being a co-creator with The Creator? And am I wrong if I display anger while solving this problem.

What part do our emotions play in our development as spiritual beings. Can we ever be angry with God? Why not? He certainly got angry with us many times.

Did you ever...?

When you were a child, did you ever wonder about the things you heard in church, Sunday School, vacation Bible school? Did you ever dare question any grownup about anything that went against the grain of the organized church that you belonged to?

I remember asking why schools taught that we evolved from monkeys but the Bible said we were created in the image of God? Of course, no one was saying God was a monkey!!! Could not get an answer to my question. Still can't. Now my question is, if we evolved from monkeys, why have we stopped evolving? Everything that science says evolved from something else seems to have "stopped evolving". In all these millions of years that the earth has been around and creatures have been around, shouldn't we be at another place by now? In some cases, it seems that nature has gone backwards. Did elephants evolve from mammoths? If so, why are elephants so much smaller than mammoths?

Welcome your comments, thoughts.

Leaving Church

Reading a new book: "Leaving Church, A Memoir of Faith" by Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest who loses faith with the church but not with God. Sounds like me.

When people ask me where I worship, I tell them that I am on the backside of the desert like Moses and like Moses, I hear from God, perhaps even better than when I was a church member.

If you have read this, tell me your thoughts. Also leave a comment about The Shack. Definitely want to hear your thoughts on that one.

The Crucifixion

The Bible tells us that Jesus' legs WERE NOT broken as was the custom when someone was crucified. This was done, so I've read, to prolong the agony of a slow death because the person could not brace themselves up to breathe. Even with one's legs broken, it could take days for the person to actually die. (Talk about man's inhumanity to man! WOW. Who thinks up these terrible things to do to each other - sometimes in the name of God?)

In Jesus' case, he was crucified and hung on the cross for only a few hours. His legs were never broken and He was removed from the cross that same day. Anyone ever wonder why the procedure was changed? Is there any other account of a man who was only crucified for a few hours, left intact and taken down the same day?

Of course, as a believer, this is an important aspect of your theology. But shouldn't the resurrection weigh more heavily than the crucifixion? The crucifixion is recounted in detail in the Bible and in most churches on Easter Sunday. We have the whole story from the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the betrayal, arrest and trial to the buriel in great detail. In the book of Luke, this covers chapters 18 through 23. The resurrection is all in chapter 24. In John, the "sufferings and the glory" are from chapters 18 through 19. The resurrection appearances are verses 1-19 in chapter 20.

Have we put the emphasis on the wrong part of the story of Jesus?

SELAH