Shattering the Religious Veneer

This week I had the opportunity to go to the East Coast. It was just a small getaway. I didn’t have a whole lot planned for the week. I wanted to take lots of pictures to use with my art. We would head into New York City for the weekend to check things out. Again, I had no set plans. I wanted to just go wherever and see what the Lord had to show me. I figured it would be an adventure and fun to see what God wanted to teach me. I am in a great learning mode and there is probably a great lesson to be learned if we are open to hear what he might be saying.

One night in a quaint little ‘downtown’ suburb my husband and I found a Chinese restaurant to have dinner. I was being brave and told him to order anything for me, shy of things that swam in the water. As he was ordering a man walked in and proceeded to speak with the gal at the door. It almost sounded like he was a salesman and was trying real hard to deliver his speech but was stumbling over his words. I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying.

One of the gals up front was telling him in broken English that all they carried was fresh food. Again, I was thinking he was a salesman trying to sell them a new food product. I was staring politely, trying to see between my husband and the waitress and to hear between them speaking. I finally got it! I looked up at our waitress and said, "tell the man that he can order anything he wants and we will pay for it". She looked a bit surprised, though not exceedingly, and went to tell the other gals in Chinese what I had said. They told the man.

The man felt a bit uneasy, as he had been the whole time since he had walked in the door. He looks at me and says, “Are you sure?” I was about three tables away from him and we couldn’t hear each other clearly but could tell from the mouth, hand and body language what each other were saying. I said, "yes, tell them whatever you want and they will get it for you.” They finally decided on some rice and lo mien noodles. Then he asked the gals about a quart size container and they all looked at me and I said whatever he wants is fine. I asked him if he liked egg rolls. I finally walked up to him and asked again, “Do you like egg rolls?” He says slowly, "well yes I do like egg rolls.” I told him he had to get egg rolls with his food! He slowly agreed.

While they were cooking his food we talked for a few minutes. He said he was heading on a trip to see his parents. He was about 50 years old. He looked like he could have been your neighbor, your pharmacist, your door-to-door salesmen, etc. He wasn’t dressed raggedy and seemed to know how to handle himself fairly well. While speaking with him I did wonder if he had a mental ‘slowness’. I would tend to describe it as a worn down mental condition. Somewhat akin to when life has just taken its toll and you are mentally tired.

He said his name was Philip and he asked if I lived around here. I explained that we were from Colorado and visiting. I invited him to sit with us but he obviously didn’t feel that comfortable with me and declined. He thanked me for the food and I searched my blank mind to know what to say. I didn’t want it to look like I was this great big person helping poor little him out. God led me to do and say and act. Yes, I responded but that is all. So I just looked at him and said. “We’ll just say it was God.” He just looked, nodded and he agreed. I said good-bye and sat back down.

The waitress came over and said something in broken English then finally said clearer, “Giving. That was a giving thing you did. You like to give” or something to that effect. I just smiled. I didn’t want the glory or praise.

All that said to share this: The next day we were at Grand Central Station. There were multitudes and throngs of people in every direction! When I notice a man sitting by himself and he ‘looked’ like a homeless person. He had the mussed up air, raggedy clothes, he was ‘holding himself’ and gently rocking himself off and on. I looked at my husband and said "do you have any money?" I told him I thought I had a $20. I didn’t feel any more ‘led’ to do something for this man than I did for the other man. Actually I cannot say that I particularly felt ‘led’ at all but it is the old thought of what would you do if you met someone that was in real need.

In Matthew 25 it gives the description of the last judgment. Jesus is speaking about dividing the sheep and the goats with the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. And to those sheep on his right he says how when he was sick, in prison, hungry, thirsty, and a stranger they took care of him. They say, but Lord when did we see you naked or hungry or thirsty or in prison and come to you? Jesus replies to the righteous, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.

So in light of this scripture I wanted to do what was expected of me as unto my Lord. I took the $20 and rolled it up and went and gently put it in this mans hands. (Wow! Aint I special!) The man promptly throws the money on the floor! I look at him, my husband and then the money. What do I do? I went and picked it up to try to hand it to him again. He scoots down the bench away from me. Wow! I was bewildered. I didn’t know what my right and religious response should be. I stood there for a few minutes baffled just watching the man. Then out of not knowing what else to do I walked away… with the money in hand.

I pondered the situation for a long while into the day. I probably should have just left the money on the floor and walked away. Maybe this man knew the all-too importance of money and figured I really didn’t intend to part with it or it was a token religious duty. Maybe if I had left the money he would have seen I wasn’t as concerned about the money as I was about him. Maybe when I turned the corner he would have picked it up. Maybe a lot of things.

It cracked my religious veneer. I know the Lord saw my heart and the intentions within. I really wanted to help that man. Was I offering him my best as if it were Jesus? Had it really been Jesus would I have gone to the ATM to get more to give? Was the $20 a token act of righteousness? I know the man had no idea how much it was. It could have been a hundred dollar bill. But God knew how much and for whatever reasons these two circumstances happened to me with 24 hours of traveling and there is a lesson, a relearning, something God is trying to show me. I am sure it is an area in my life that needs great improvement on. It is amazing how uppity we can get when God allows us the treat of doing something to the least of my brethren. We feel righteous and so spiritual. Then God will bring us back to reality just when we think we have a corner on doing something ‘right’.

Even though the scriptures talk about doing these things it’s not about doing right it is still all about and always will be about a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls.

My unrelenting prayer would be: Lord continue to shatter this religious veneer until I am stripped clean and stand before you naked clothed only in humility.

Trinity Lotto!

In a hypothetical situation, you have 3 super-spiritual Christians that are claiming the promises of God that they prosper and win the lotto. Which one should win if they are all claiming the same promises? Does the prize go to the most spiritual one and how does God make that choice without being a respecter of people?

I would love to hear any and all thoughts on this!

Blessings! Blessings! Blessings!

God bless you! Bless your heart! Bless you, Sister! God bless the children! Blessed to bless! Bless the Lord! Be blessed! At one time or another we have all heard someone cry one of these sayings. The religious and non-religious alike will spout these at poignant times.

Then we have the Bless-Me Clubs at church. Everyone wants to come to church to get a blessing from God. Sadly they aren’t going to be a blessing or to give back to God for all the awesome things he has done for them that week. We want to hear the feel-good songs that go with the feel-good message of love, hope and joy… oh, and all the blessings we deserve as children of God.

We like it when the pastor preaches on how God will bless you, and make your name great, or how the Lord will bless the righteous; with favour will he compass him as with a shield. (Psalms 5:12)

But what about scriptures like ‘Bless you the LORD’, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name’, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits’, ‘Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul’,’ He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great’,’ Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD’,’ Every day will I bless you; and I will praise your name for ever and ever’,’ All thy works shall praise you, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless you’? (Psalms 103:1,2,22,115:13,134:2, 145:2,10) We are called to bless God but yet we pile into churches, ‘worship’ services, events, and prayer meetings to get blessings from him and the brethren.

The biggest blessing we could ever receive from the Lord is his shed blood poured out for the atonement of our sins. He already gave us the biggest, best blessing possible but we continue to stand with our hands open, not raised, looking for more.

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. -- Romans 4:7

We don’t want just blessings but we want the blessings to prolific. Inexhaustible blessings. Creative blessings. Productive blessings. Powerful blessings. After all isn’t this our inheritance?

Why are blessing always equated with getting fun and good stuff? Did you know that you are blessed if you endure temptation? In this verse the Greek word for blessed is makarios meaning ‘happy’. Interestingly enough in the passage in 1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Greek word for blessed is eulogetos, which means ‘praised’. So this would read:

Blessed (Happy) is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. -- James 1:12

These scriptures would read like this:

Happy are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. -- Romans 4:7

But he said, Yes rather, blessed (happy) are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. -- Luke 11:28

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed (happy) is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
-- Revelation 16:15

Blessed (happy) are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. -- Revelation 22:14

The Hebrew word for blessed is esher again implying happiness.

Blessed (Happy) is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. -- Psalms 1:1

Let us be happy in the Lord and God that we serve for he is mighty to save and has already procured for us all the blessings that should be enough to drown our souls and spirits with a glorious love!

An afterthought: Just why do we bless someone when they sneeze? Why don’t we bless them if they pass gas?

The Wolf and Lamb

The picture I used for my avatar is one that I made in my relearning recently. I do a lot of art. It allows me to be able to remember scriptures in an improved way if I can ‘see’ the scripture alive ~ so to speak.

I have tried to keep away from the ‘typical’ scriptures that anyone can find at their local Bible store. The classic bless-me and find-the-perfect-promise scriptures on posters, cards, wallets, pictures, neckties, coffee cups, tablets, plates, or anything else that is printable. I also have been trying very hard to never use a partial scripture. These are labeled as ‘a’ or ‘b’. Such as Mark 16:1a or John 14:10b.

A good example is Romans 8:1. It is usually quoted as a great guarantee of God! But usually only the first half is quoted. The first half says: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” WOW! That is a fantastic promise!! The second part goes on to say: who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Wow again! So by adding the second part it kind of dulls the first half in its exclusivity of wowness! Now the promise is not to just any Christian but one specifically who is walking not in the flesh. There are a whole bunch of Christians that are walking and talking in the flesh... oh in the name of Jesus, of course!

I do not believe in the credibility of the numbering system within our Bibles to start with and then you get the certain denominations (which I won’t peg here), that love to dissect the scripture and only use a portion of it. So not are they only taking a scripture completely out of the historical and written context but now they do a cut-n-paste to make the scrap they want seem to work for them as if it were a talisman.

In my relearning I am discovering so many non-truths within the basic concepts that I have been taught whether in the institutionalized churches or in the particular denominations. I bumped into one of these non-truths when I had a brief thought of doing a picture of the ‘lion and lamb’. Like I said it was a brief thought because I didn’t want to do the same old ‘lion-and-lamb’ picture that we have all seen since childhood. I like to do extensive study on an art piece to make sure that I am being scriptural, that the scripture is in context and in full.

I was quite set back to realize that there actually is no scripture for the lion and the lamb together. Yes, Jesus is represented in both. He was the sacrificial Lamb and the Lion of the tribe of Juda. But to find a scripture that talks of the lion and lamb lying down comfortably with each other? It does not exist. What it does say in Isaiah 11:6 is ‘the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.’

WOW! No lion and lambie!!!! Well pop my religious bubble!

So that is how I came to make the ‘wolf and lamb’ picture that I used to use for my avatar.

Releaning My Christianity

My journey for what it seems right now is just beginning.. again! A new journey or an extension of the one started a long time ago? I am not sure. But I am excited at what I see God doing!! (in me!)

A little bit about me. I used to be very ill for 5-7 years and on 3 types of Morphine and 20+ other pills a day. It has blown my memory. That is what got me started on this journey. I have to relearn my Christianity. Some folks have to unlearn the junk they were taught but I am fortunate that I just get to relearn. I fear that I misused my Christian years learning from men and big teacher’s things that I am now discovering have no scriptural basis. I cry!

He is showing me so much! And unfortunately up till now I have had no one to share it with because it is so controversial. Most of my what-were friends think I have gone overboard or patronize me. I go back to the feet of my Lord and cry. The Lord is opening doors where I go online to read about others that he is taking through this journey also. It is refreshing to know I am not a freak. {giggle}

My questions never end. And I get so frustrated because all my what-were friends think I am nuts to be questioning EVERYTHING! I have pastor friends that think I have stepped over the line because I am not just .. whatever.. believing?.. having faith?... God only knows!!!!

I am using this blog to document this new journey. Maybe one day I will write a book? Nah! I don’t want to be famous and have my quotes turned into some statue or necklace in a Bible store! If God wants others to know he will speak to them as he does to me. Or he will open up other avenues for me to share.

I am learning that too much of what I thought was 'Christianity' was just a pile of men's (and women’s) version of what they thought would be ultra-religious.But these teachings whether they were non-biblical or extra-biblical threw a whole lot of folks into oblivion and others into vices and for those of us that are very fortunate it is throwing us into the Fathers lap!

I am relearning at no cost. I don’t care what your name or title is-- I will question anything that I even think crawls the wrong way. Like the signature says, ~Unanswered questions aren't nearly as dangerous as unquestioned answers.~

I cannot take any mans word that what they say or what they are about is the truth until I can dig deep, then deeper and pray for much discernment to sift through the good, bad and ugly.

I am on a journey to find the truth.

The Crux of Christianity

This is the crux of being called a ‘Christian’. It is not about people, teaching, programs, seminars, buildings, funds, events, giftings, etc. It isn’t even about prayer meetings, fasting or tithing. It is not limited to how much we study, who we study with, what translation we read, or if we use commentaries. It cannot be contained in a building or boxed in a house. It is dependant on no one but the Lord himself. It is a relationship. Alive, personal and quite intimate. It trusts him for every situation in all things. This is not just quoting promise scriptures but a lifestyle. It believes that he is able to answer ANY question you could ever have. When we cannot reach out to grasp that infinite concept then we limit who God is and definitely limit who he really is our lives.

Do I falter? Do I mistrust? YES! A resounding yes! He is not asking for perfection. He is only asking for your whole undivided heart to **love him**, not just serve him in every situation. Do we falter in our personal flesh relationships? Yes. And hopefully we can go to that person and ask forgiveness. That is all the Father is requiring of us. OUR HEART!

It is an awesome journey when we remove ourselves from the false expectations that have been implanted in us from childhood and then through the church/denominations. We need to come to a place of realizing that God only wants us to love him with a committed, enthusiastic kind of love that cherishes all of who he is and that what he wants is to be the most important person in our life, even as a lover would desire this from their partner (within marriage of course!!)

The Law was full of rituals and to-do lists and obviously it didn’t work for them. The Father is not about to-do lists. When we have completely and ultimately surrendered every portion of our heart and every piece of our life to him then we, out of that fantastic tender love, will want to ‘do’ things to please him.

The Law couldn’t please him. Nor can us sticking to a pile of man made rituals of doing thus and thus on a certain day at a certain time always in a certain way. It is similar to making love with your spouse and using the same position in the same place on the same day of the week for 20 years. It not only becomes extremely boring but the two of you (I would hope) would eventually look at the repetition and ritual and wonder where your hearts went. Where did the spontaneity or the passion go?

The Father probably wonders that too when we go to church every Sunday at 10 am, get the same cup of coffee, say hi to the same greeters, talk with the same people, sit in the same seats, sing (almost) the same songs, pray the same prayers for the same folks and conclude exactly the same time, as we drive away and get home at the same time. (This may not be exact for every ‘church’. I am compiling this based on all the various churches I have been to whether in ministry or as a spectator.)

Christianity is not a spectator sport. It is about bonding with the lover of our soul. Not being in bondage to being obedient to a concept even if we had always though that perception was true and correct. God is the only thing true and correct and in living an undefiled, totally committed and surrendered life it will eventually emanate from us and others will begin to desire that relationship... instead of the religion.

American Idol?

There seem to be three basic forms of idols.

HUMAN ~ In the secular world there are actors, singers, and a variety of people that represent the things that we either look up to or desire to have in our own lives. They could also be our boss, parents, children, a high political figure, or even a pet. In the Christian world we have the big name preachers, our pastor, favorite music artists or any other individual that represents a great spirituality. These are human idols.

MATERIAL ~ Then there are idols that folks of both secular and religious backgrounds that are not in human form. They could be our car, boats, money, houses, jewelry, and an assortment of other possessions.

RELIGIOUS ~ I used to think a religious idol was perhaps something the Catholics practiced or ‘other’ religions’. Mainstream Protestants practice just as much idol worship. Everyone seems to have put Jesus in his or her own box. We all want to interpret the scriptures to mean that Jesus was like this or that. Some have a loving Jesus while others see him as the judge. We have pretty boy Jesus, soccer playing Jesus, baby Jesus, hanging Jesus, and even Jesus and the Easter bunny. Then there is an ecumenical Jesus, political Jesus, and the ever-popular ‘bless-me’ Jesus.

We artistically create Jesus in our minds to be whatever we need or want him to be for the time in our life. We mold and make him into things he never was, could be or would want to be. I highly doubt that he wore the ‘just-bleached’ white robe and that his feet were soft from the anointing oil… Oh, it was poured on his head not his feet. So his hair was probably greasy.

When we mold Jesus into our denominational structures, make him to pounce at our demands through our positive confessions of faith through speaking the promises; when we let him be a part of this portion of our lives but not another we then have created our own Jesus idol similar to the golden calf. We decide what color his hair is, his eyes, what his demeanor for a certain situation would be, and what promises he meant just for us personally, then we craft him into our image, put him on a stand in our minds, shut the doors to our hearts for change and worship our golden calf.

Can we let Jesus off the cross and out of our boxes and allow him to be whatever he wants to be in our lives?