Does Anything Surprise God?

I ran across a clip posted on YouTube by a brother (I believe he's a brother in the Lord) who discusses views on divorce in the Bible, women preachers, and the inerrancy of the Bible as the Word of God. I haven't listened to all of his clips to decide whether or not I agree with anything he has to say, or if any of it resonates with me. . . but while browsing through his more info section, a link to an article in Time magazine was mentioned, so of course I visited it to read the article, "An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce?" which was published on 11/5/07. It included another link to another article published in September which asked the question "Are Mega-Preachers Scandal-Prone?"

The article mostly centered around the Weeks' and Whites' marital troubles that made headlines news earlier in the year. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Time took notice...but I'm glad that the tone or the article was not one of mockery, scorn and derision.... I wish I could say that for so many of the other things I've read and seen online since these tragic events thing occurred for all the world to see. One can rest assured though as my dear mother wisely advised me earlier this year... none of this that has happened has taken God by surprise.... and He's not sitting on His throne trying to figure out what to do about it and wringing His hands!! In times of crisis, both personal and public, it would do us all a world of good to remember that, yours truly included.


Now playing on Windows Media Player: Robin Vincent - MEDITATION E
via FoxyTunes

China's New Bestseller: The Bible

Saw this article on time.com:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1695279,00.html.

To God be the Glory!

A Few Updates

Just some news to share....

Prominent Christian Ministers Under Fire

I first learned about this on 11/6/07 ago. I then found out yesterday Joyce Meyer was on CNN, defending her ministry I presume. I asked a friend of mine about another prominent, well-known minister, located here in Houston, where she used to attend church. She informed me that this pastor and his church pay taxes to the US government! No wonder their name is not about to be dragged through the mud.

Now, I don't adhere to the belief that a pastor or minister should be dirt poor, but as I said to someone the other day, maybe they need to read "The Millionaire Next Door" and learn not to attract attention by bragging on TV about how he/she has been blessed with a Bentley, Rolls-Royce and a 30,000 sq. foot house!


The New World Order?

I got this clip from a email my DH received.



Watching gave me much to think about. I'm sure some dismiss it as another conspiracy theory, but I think they would remiss to do so. Small wonder why the US dollar has declined so much in value over the past week or so.... How long before the \"Amero" is introduced?

The Height of Perversion?

Sex with robots??!! I don't have many words for this one right now, but just had to post it. The threat against traditional marriage, and bestiality is bad enough, but this is a new low for mankind. Click here for more information.

Matters of the Heart

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23

"Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate." Psalms 143:4

"He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Psalms 147:3

So, its been three weeks...I'm back at home, adjusting into my new job, and although I didn't want too much time to pass between posts, I also didn't want to "force" things, such as posting something for the sake of posting. A few noteworthy items caught my attention, such as the visit of Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Columbia University, and the resulting furor it caused. I considered writing about something that I only learned last year, which is this man considers himself the one who will introduce the world to the Islamic Messiah, the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi. I will explore that at a later time, because I'm certain many saints, especially in the US, aren't aware of this. Were it not for the ministry of Evangelist Perry Stone, who is great teacher of the Hebraic/Jewish roots of Christianity, I would probably still be totally unaware of this. However, I decided to reserve this for another time.

Which brings me to my topic ...matters of the heart, where to begin? ... The last few years of being single, I became a mini-crusader of sorts, and made it a point to encourage other single people I knew. I was on the email list of a few ministries that targeted the single audience, and their somewhat unique place in the Christian world. Churches often target married people, and young people, i.e, teenagers and college students, in specialized ministry groups within their local bodies, but singles in some church circles, have a weird place in that microcosm.

I still have a special place in my heart for single people, but I'm no longer at the place in my life where I can say I "totally relate" because I'm not single. Those years, however, even though they may have been few according to some people, were integral in my emotional, mental and spiritual maturing. My attention, after getting married, naturally turned to seeking out ministries that "cater" to married people ..but I haven't been as willing to share what I learn or come across with others, admittedly because of my own fear that it will arouse concern in friends/family at best, and suspicion about my marital state at worst.

But let me get back to the heart ... It is often used as a symbol of love... However, I like to think of it as having a dual role... both in the matters of love, but more importantly as a symbol of the soul, specifically the condition of the soul. The word heart is mentioned 833 times in the bible and many times the context in which its mentioned is that of the thoughts, intentions, motives. When one thinks of heart matters... relationships come to mind as well...

We've seen "matters of the heart" play out, unfortunately, in public all too many times. Recently, the national spotlight has been on the "heart matters" between two "powerhouse" couples in the Pentecostal/Charismatic vein of Christianity, much to the chagrin of many, that played out on the world's stage. Prophetess Juanita Bynum broke her silence two weeks after the much publicized beating at the hands (and feet) of her husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks. The very next day, Randy and Paula White announced to their church that they are divorcing after 18 years of marriage. I haven't read or heard much being said about Paula and Randy as I have about Juanita Bynum and Bishop Weeks.

Both Bynum and Weeks have been roundly criticized by "average joes" in the church, other ministries, and secular personalities as well. Frankly, some of them have made some valid points. For instance, this past Sunday, BET aired a hour program called Exalted and this weeks subject was Prophetess Bynum. Her family and close friends were interviewed, and they all had wonderful things to say about her. Of course, the recent events in her life were also profiled. I couldn't help but to agree with one minister's comment that above all else she is concerned about Bynum's public appearances since the beating and that Prophetess Bynum is not taking care of herself. A minister named Jonathan Walton also posted an open letter to her on his blog about her recent crusade as the new face of domestic violence. Read this post on his blog as well. Again, I'm not taking sides, but he does have some valid points, and openly asks what others have been saying in secret and in other blogs all over the web. Bishop Weeks apparently broke his silence recently as well at a recent press conference, as seen here. I have no doubt both thier hearts are hurting... and hurting both figuratively and literally ...

I remember the times when I experienced that fleeting, funny niggling thing in my heart times something hurtful was said or done in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. It dawned on me at some point that "heartbreak" is quite literal and really can be felt. It's no secret that marriage is under attack, and the fact that Christian marriages fail at about the same rate as marriages between non-Christians is disheartening to say the least. One couple, Mark and Kathy Davisson, have turned a horrendous marriage into happy, fulfilling one and now minister to other couples to help them do the same. Take a read through thier website, and see they are making a difference one couple at a time.

I'm on this couples email list, and have shared their newsletter once with other young marrieds like me, and also a few single people. The trials of the aforementioned couples have not escaped their notice either...but something in their most recent letter really caught my eye, and it got me to thinking about matters of the heart.. and as it turns out, that little thing I felt in my heart during times of deep emotional hurt, wasn't something to take lightly. They mentioned a recently published NY Times article which stated the findings of a recent study about how marital spats affect both men and women was published, and as it turns out, keeping quiet during an argument damages women, but not men.

Some highlights:
"But women who didn’t speak their minds in those fights were four times as likely to die during the 10-year study period as women who always told their husbands how they felt, according to the July report in Psychosomatic Medicine."

"'When you’re suppressing communication and feelings during conflict with your husband, it’s doing something very negative to your physiology, and in the long term it will affect your health,' said Elaine Eaker, an epidemiologist in Gaithersburg, Md., who was the study’s lead author. 'This doesn’t mean women should start throwing plates at their husbands, but there needs to be a safe environment where both spouses can equally communicate.'" -- a state the Davisson's call "being emotionally safe".

Science is proving what the Word of God has said all along -- one's emotional state not only affects the soul, but it also plays itself out in the body. Sinking feelings in your stomach, butterflies in the stomach, stabbing pains in the heart in response to emotional stress is the body's way of letting us know the mind-body connection is indeed real.

As I related in another post, prolonged states of emotional stress, shutting down own's emotions, stuffing your feelings, whatever you want to call it, affects us internally, and if not dealt with, not only darkens the soul, but afflicts the body as well. Pastor Henry Wright of Pleasant Valley Church of Thomaston, Georgia has proven this over and over in the ministry God has given him which addresses the roots of disease. On his biography page he states "Today, Psychology is the fruit of that frustration as an attempt to manage the diseases of the soul (emphasis mine) through therapy and drugs." Listen to a radio interview (week one) Sid Roth conducted with him over two weeks (week two), and you will no doubt come away enlightened about how deeply our emotions affect us. One thing that stood out to me -- unforgiveness is often the emotional root cause of cancer.

I've experienced some emotionally trying things in my own life recently, and get concerned about the unknown effects they may be having on my body. Because of what I've learned intellectually, I know I have to go the Lord, cry out to Him and allow His spirit to heal my figurative heart, and also whatever unknown damage has occured in my body. My prayer is that you, dear reader,do the same, not just for yourself, but for others, especially other women, who you know who have damaged hearts that have not begun to heal.

Catching Up . . .

. . . One of the reasons I hesitated to start a blog was I didn't want to end up putting myself under pressure to post updates everyday, or even every other day. I was however, hoping to do it at least once a week. Well, here I am two weeks later, with no posts in between. Oh well, its not like I haven't been doing anything for the past two weeks.

I was very busy helping my church finalize plans for our annual prophetic conference , which was wonderful, but as there are a few of us, we all had to wear several hats, and at the end of it, I was spiritually refreshed, but physically tired. So, here I am, a two days after the conference ended, typing this in a hotel room while away from home the first week on my new job! :-)

I'm late on reporting two things that were very noteworthy: Dr. D. James Kennedy, of the Coral Ridge Hour, moved on from this life on September 5th. The second noteworthy thing, the same day after I wrote about Juanita Bynum breaking her silence, I found out that Bishop T.D. Jakes broke his silence on the matter. I was also kind of disheartened to find in a related article on the same website, there were over 20 pages of comments left, much of them negative. The phrase "the harder they are, the bigger they fall", except in this case, it might be the higher they are, the bigger they fall; How easy it is for us to forget that the "big shots" in the Christian world are humans just like us, with flaws, failures. The one difference is as I said before, normally private matters have been exposed for all the world to see.

On the other hand, another article on the same subject had me laughing. Yes, its a little irreverent in its tone, but the author presents some basic truths, that frankly need to be heard more. Truths that the author says she learned attending a Black Pentecostal church in a tough neighborhood in Dallas. Truths such as "If you're in ministry, never travel without your spouse for any length of time." and "A woman shouldn't be calling another woman's husband without the wife's permission". Another nugget:
"But all of this makes me want to gather some of these big-name folks, stuff them into a rickety church van with “Holiness or Hell” stenciled on the side in crooked letters and haul them to South Dallas for a little Ghetto 101. Seriously: If more folks followed the wisdom that’s been hammered into my brain at the old school, we would’t be where we are today."

It's just like a woman of God and I were recently discussing, there is much talk in the Kingdom about integrity, honesty, and the like, but it comes down to walking the walk, there is much to left to be desired.

Finally, I want to share two inspiring items that were shared with me recently, both very thought provoking. The first one I received via email a few weeks ago, and rather than forward it to family and friends in the kingdom, I decided to post it here:

"Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'.

The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'. They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated.

Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'. 'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?' She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'.

She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them." Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory:

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them. * Only if you wish send this to the people you will never want to forget and remember .
TAKE TIME TO LIVE..... To my friend and loved one, I WISH YOU ENOUGH........ "

The second item, someone shared with me this past weekend. I met a minister who was a vendor at the Prophetic Conference hosted by my church. Although he came there for one purpose, he later told me that he eventually realized his "kingdom purpose" for being there and when his perspective changed, things opened up for him that weekend. He later told me and the other two young ladies who were working at the registration table alongside me about a story that someone sent him via email. A young man cleverly planned a touching, sentiment ail, well-executed, poignant way to propose to his finance. This is the story behind it:

R"ob and Keisha dated for about 4 years. And he knew that she was the one...but he had to save up for all that God had prompted him to do for her. So in short what you are about to see happen on April 28th....he rented out 10 rooms in the Ritz Carlton in buckhead and invited about 50-60 people to be there for this special night...Keisha had to go from room to room and in each room were people who were special to them....his boys...her girls...her Bible Study group....his parents...her parents..etc. and everybody in each room had questions that she had to answer to be able to move to the next room and before she left each room the people there would pray over her....so you have to watch each room to see how that goes...he chose roses because Keisha aunt who passed suddenly loved roses and he bought some of the dipped in gold because of the stories in the Bible about Solomon and how everything was dipped in gold and the song that you hear playing in the background was the same song that was played at Keisha aunt's funeral, she was like a second mom to Keisha.

When Rob was asked what he was thinking and how it felt...he said that he was kicking and screaming all the way. not because he did not love Keisha and want to marry her....but because of the time, money, and stress that was spent doing this. Rob, put his house up for rent and saved for her ring and this night and he did it out of obedience... I have spent the past year of my life piecing together a vision given to me by God. On April 28th, 2007 that vision was fulfilled. My labor of love for the woman I love. "God Is Love...The Proposal"
(clink on link to view).

Satanic Messages in Hip-Hop/Rap? Say it ain't so!

I wanted to share this information in my first post, and decided to wait, but its so much on my mind, that I can't wait any longer. My DH told me about two weeks ago about a clip he came across on youtube in which a pastor talked about the subliminal messages hidden in a rap recorded by Jay-Z. He further went on to tell me this same pastor talked about another group who had a curse written in their album liner notes, the message was backward and one had to hold it up to a mirror to read it. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I knew about hidden Satanic messages in rock music, but RAP?

To be clear, I'm not a fan of RAP/hip-hop now and wasn't much of one when I was younger. I will admit that back in the early nineties, when Christian rap was coming into its own, my brothers and I would play CDs of some of the artists, some of them who even had a "hard-core" sound that reminded me of Public Enemy. As for secular rap/hip-hop there were a few songs I liked. This was mainly because I trained myself to listen to the lyrics of a song, and not just get caught up in the beat, as many of my peers would tell me they did, and many times I quickly got turned off by many of the artists and their songs.

So this past Monday, Labor Day, my husband found the clip for me, I played it, and couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing and yet I knew it was the truth!! This pastor even digs up the roots of the "thug" -- just like everything else around us on this planet, its has spiritual roots. Unfortunately, the clip on youtube has been removed due to "terms of violation", so I'm unable to share it.

This pastor, tells it like it is, and to be sure, he has his critics. His name is G. Craige Lewis, his ministry is EX Ministries, and he has traveled the world preaching to young people, mostly teenagers about the spiritual roots of the hip-hop culture and lifestyle. Not everyone is a fan, and a search on Google resulted in the usual that I've come to expect: web pages that claim to refute him and prove why he is wrong are listed along with message boards and other blogs that praise him for his crusade. The Dallas Observer even published an article on him.

His message is not just directed at the hip-hop artists. He also calls on the carpet many famous famous gospel singers who appear on the albums of secular artists, or have secular artists guest on their albums. He also takes to task black ministers, preachers and bishops who have in his estimation, compromised the gospel message in one way or another. The first reaction is to think, who does he think he is? But when one gets past their emotional reaction to his message, and really listens, and old saying may come to mind "It's tight, but its right".

His website has a page of testimonials from people, many of them teenagers who have been impacted by his mininstry, and a podcast page where you can listen to and download mp3s of Minister Lewis and discussing various topics that affect the Body of Christ from the recent Don Imus scandal, to BGLOs, and of course the influence of Hip-Hop on the culture. Listen as he discusses the spirtual power of influence (the true meaning of the word), and the difference between "stars" and "celebrities":

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Aside from the spiritual ramifications, rap has recently also been under the microscope for the attitude displayed towards women, especially black women, in thier lyrics. The Imus scandal shed light on an issue in the black community that very few leaders have dared to deal with -- that of the mysogynistic lyrics, and the lifestyle it promotes. Bill Cosby has twice spoken out about social ills in the black community and how to remedy them, but his loudest critics have been other blacks.

This gentleman has also tackled the subject, long before the Imus debacle, in this well thought-out and written essay (A word of caution, song lyrics are quoted here and they are explicit). I discovered his article on this blog that belongs to a fellow believer in Christ. Take a look around there, you might find a thing or two that causes you to SMH.

I'm glad God has raised someone to inform and help bring deliverance and healing from the spiritual effects of the hip-hop culture. I'm also surprised that he has elicited the kind of reactions that he does. When truth hits one in the face, one has two choices: to accept it or reject it with a face of anger (masking denial) claiming its not for you. Unfortunately, this isn't anything new. After all, Jesus Christ, who is our example, said the Gospel is offensive, so its no surprise that this message, an off-shoot of the gospel, is offending people across the country as well.

Juanita Bynum breaks her silence

The Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian world received a "one-two" punch almost two weeks ago when news broke about the abuse that Juanita Bynum suffered at the hands of her minister husband, Thomas Weeks. III. See here and here. The next day, the news spread that Randy and Paula White announced their divorce at their church. The news even appeared on sites that normally reports the latest celebrity misbehavior like tmz.com and various black-owned blogs, believers and non-believers/Christians alike.

While my admiration for Prophetess Bynum is not what it used to be, my first reaction was shock and later sympathy. News clips all over the 'Net burst with comments from the "everyman". I observed a dividing line appearing between men and women, another dividing line between believers and non-believers and another bet still yet another between those who think she deserves what she got, and those who don't. I wont go on ad-nauseum about the whole matter and keep most of my opinions to myself because I doubt I will be saying anything new that has not been said yet. She has plenty of critics, detractors out there. Just visit any of her links on YouTube and read the back and forth comments centering around women who preach and you'll see what I mean.



But, I digress.

Today, I just happened to visit FOX5 in Atlanta to find out she called a press conference and gave an unprepared statement. I respect the fact that she didn't go into details, but what puzzles me is the reporter that was assigned to the story stated Prophetess Bynum was going to the TBN studio in Atlanta to tape the Praise The Lord show.

Come again? I don't understand.

I realize as she said her new platform will now be to raise awareness of domestic violence, but...where do I begin? I also know she is a strong woman, and wouldn't be down for long, but I was also hoping that since she has publicly endured what many women experience privately, she would take a sabbatical first, not for years mind you, but at least a few months. SMH. I don't understand, but then again, I'm not her, and I don't have a ministry or multi-million dollar enterprise to run . . . yet.

I only hope that she will take more time for herself to heal. Seeing this kind of reminds me of a couple I knew who suffered through a miscarriage a few years ago. I was concerned about the female half of the couple and how she coped with her loss. I later found out that she went to church the next morning, and sang in the choir of all things!!

I've come to realize in my short time on earth, that I have to respect people's decisions when it comes to things they may or may not do in their personal lives, but I had to wonder if going on with "business as usual" was her way of healing, or her way of not dealing with what happened.

Believe it or not, and I'm kind branching off into a different subject here, as humans, we are tri-partite: body, soul and spirit. When we suffer through emotional, traumatic things, it not only affects the soul -- your mind, will, intellect, emotion (to name a few), but manifests itself in our bodies. Oh sure, most times it doesn't appear on the surface or isn't obvious, but believe me, our bodies feel it. And that trauma will show manifest sooner or later... in the form of some illness, either physical or mental.

Bottom line is, I not only wish her well, but wish both her and her husband healing for their souls.

My first post!

Hello world! Wow! I'm really doing this, after toying with the idea for the past few weeks, and even getting a Divinely inspired title, I still procrastinated and put it off . . . until today! I have so much to share, that I felt overwhelmed with getting started, and so.. I kept putting it off. But, no more.

So, what's the purpose of this blog you say? Simply put to inform, enlighten, and minister to the whole man. That's it in a nutshell. I come across so much during my daily browsing on the 'Net that emailing links to people over and over gets a little old. I guess thats one of the purposes of blogging, right?

This maybe a rough start, so bear with me, but please do visit often and also feel free to comment.