Answers Provided: Excerpt from Promises of Mercy by Valerie M Bodden, and Video of Religion/political Debate

You know folks, I've said before that I consider myself like Thomas, a doubter by life and personality. And, when I was treated as I was by the West Virginia University, I lost one of my most important responses. I began not to Trust, one of the most important word for me and, perhaps, for many of you. So it was natural that, once I had responded to God to share my Testimony yesterday, I immediately began to be nervous. Did I say everything that I should have said... Should I have included my present fears from the republican party... Well, he sent to messages. One from the book that I had just started--the individual excerpt provided today was my answer... 

When I went to YouTube to find the song that was referred to in the excerpt, the following video which was two months old, was on the first page... Right now, I'm so proud of Jasmin. She was much more prepared than I've ever be to debate the Bible. I'm not ashamed of that. It is my reality given my own life. I accept. But, you know, folks, one of my major concerns was just how Christianity is being "used" by the republican party as a tool for manipulation of our citizens... I had never seen any news about this particular event... I wonder why? Was it withhold or just not shared publicly? I don't know... Why I bring it up at all is because, somehow, that 2 month old video was on my screen when I opened that site... If you don't feel chills when I say that, like I just did, then you may want to think through what you know about the Holy Spirit working within each of us...

This video is a dramatization. I'm opposed to much of the use now being "created." But I must admit that I was so thankful for finding it waiting for me. Johnson has been a special thorn for me... Professionally when he told the House to go home so he didn't have to bring something to the House, per Trump's wishes I knew, I lost all desire to listen to his actions. They were tainted in his claiming he followed the words of Christ...

 I was crying as I fell to sleep last night, just as I am crying right now as I write... Not in sadness, but once again being thankful in all the confirmations of life where I KNOW that God is Alive and watching... Listening... Working through His children as their talents allows... Read this sermon from the book written by Valerie M. Bodden/

“Children of God.” Dad’s voice came through the phone, and Judah swallowed. It had been a long time since he had heard his father preach, but those words were so familiar that they brought a strange ache to his throat. “You all might not know this about me,” Dad said, “but I don’t mind making a fool of myself.” A ripple of laughter came through the speaker, and Judah snorted. “Or maybe you do know that,” Dad quipped, and the laughter got louder. Faith joined in. 

“I forgot how much I love your dad’s sermons,” she said. “The pastor at the church in Nashville was good, but he was so stuffy. Almost made you feel like laughing in church was a sin.” Judah nodded. He couldn’t deny that his dad was a good preacher, even if Judah hadn’t believed the things he preached about in a long time. 

“My kids always loved that, growing up,” Dad continued. “Having a dad who wasn’t afraid to embarrass himself—and them in the process. When they were little, we would take them to the zoo, and I would start singing the Wizard of Oz song. You know, the ‘follow the yellow brick road’ one. And I’d do the whole scarecrow walk too, like this.” He broke into song, and Faith’s laugh filled the car. 

“Is he doing the walk?” Judah demanded, not taking his eyes off the road. “Sort of. As much as he can in the pulpit.” Faith giggled. “Did he really used to do that?” “Oh yeah.” Judah groaned, but it turned into a smile at the memory. “The younger kids would always join him, and the rest of us would try to pretend we didn’t know any of them.” 

“Or there was the time,” Dad continued, “that I made the whole family enter a lip sync contest. We had a choreographed dance and everything.” “You did not.” Faith turned to Judah with a disbelieving laugh. “We did,” Judah said grimly. “How did I never hear about this?” “It was before we moved to River Falls. My siblings and I swore each other to secrecy.” Faith was still chuckling as Dad said, “So when I say that I’m not afraid to be called a fool, you know I mean it. And that’s a good thing, because, well, I’ve been called a fool more than once in my life. And not only for the silly things I do. For what I believe.” Dad’s voice sobered. “For the God I serve. For the faith I have.” 

Judah’s hands tightened involuntarily on the wheel, and he winced as pain shot through the injured area. But it was foolishness, what Dad believed, the God he served. Sure, Judah had believed it too, a long time ago. But that was only because he hadn’t known better. Once he’d gotten to college, seen more of the world, he’d realized that none of it made sense. A higher power. Miracles. Eternal life. All of that was just silly, wishful thinking. Silly, wishful thinking that made him look like a fool when he brought it up. That drew snickers and eye rolls from his professors and classmates. And unlike Dad, he did have a problem with being called a fool. 

“I can’t blame people, really,” Dad continued. “After all, what we believe as Christians does sound a little bit foolish. We believe that God spoke the whole world—the whole universe—into existence, out of nothing. We believe that he is triune—three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in one God. We believe that Jesus is both true God and true man. We believe that he came into the world as a baby, born of a virgin, to live a perfect life in our place. We believe he died on the cross—carrying the weight of our sins with him—and then rose from the dead three days later. And we believe that because of that, we will live eternally with him in heaven, even though we die. I mean—” Dad whistled quietly. “None of it seems to make much sense, when you think about it. No wonder people think it’s foolish.” 

That was exactly the conclusion Judah had come to. But he knew Dad well enough to know he wasn’t going to leave things there. “Here’s the thing,” Dad continued. “These are all things I can’t adequately explain. They’re things I can’t prove with scientific evidence. They’re things, some of them, that I don’t even fully understand myself. And we don’t like things we can’t understand, do we?” 

Judah accidentally made a sound of assent. He felt Faith’s eyes come to him, but she didn’t say anything. “And so people dismiss the truth as foolishness,” Dad went on. “They tell us it can’t possibly be real. It’s not reasonable to believe. Well, let me tell you something. Faith isn’t reasonable.” 

Judah’s eyes flicked to the phone in Faith’s hand for a moment. Had he heard right? 

“That’s why it’s called faith,” Dad continued. “We can’t reason it out. We can’t reason ourselves into believing. In fact, too often, our human reason gets in the way of our faith. Not because our human reason is bad. When it comes to paying the bills and growing crops and building cars and performing surgeries”—Judah wondered if that last one was for his benefit—“human reason is wonderful. It’s a gift from God. But when we put our trust in that reason, above faith—that’s when we get into trouble.” 

Dad paused, and Judah’s gaze skipped to Faith, who was nodding along.

 “I know this feels like a new problem,” Dad said. “But Paul was already warning about this only twenty or so years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He writes in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1: ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. . . . Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power and wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.’” There was a pause, and Judah could imagine Dad gazing at the people in the pews, making sure the words sank in. “That sounds complicated and deep,” Dad finally said. “But really, it’s pretty simple. When it comes to salvation, the wisdom of this world is nothing. The foolishness of God—of believing in a Savior who came into this world to take away our sins—that’s everything.” 

Faith shifted in her seat, her arm brushing against Judah’s as she leaned on the console. Judah told his arm to move out of the way, but it didn’t listen, and they sat with their arms pressed together. 

“Speaking of the foolishness of God—” Dad’s voice was slightly louder with Faith holding the phone closer. “Let’s talk about that. Because when you think about it, God’s love for us is rather foolish, isn’t it? After all, we have nothing to offer him. We can’t pay him back. In fact, rather than paying him back, we too often spit in his face. We sin against him. We ignore him. We deny him and turn away from him. If anyone treated us that way, we would walk away from them. But God’s love isn’t contingent on our love for him. He doesn’t love us because of who we are. He loves us because of who he is. He loves us because he is love. He loves us with a love that never holds back. He lavishes us with his love, as 1 John 3:1 says: ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!’” 

Faith sighed, and Judah glanced over to see her blinking back tears. “What’s wrong?” He was instantly on alert. She laughed a little. “Nothing. Sorry. It’s just— Sometimes I forget how much God loves us.” Judah didn’t say anything, but his heart twitched. Or, it didn’t—he knew without a doubt that hearts didn’t do that. And yet, there was no other way to describe it. He almost wished for a moment that he could believe what Faith did. That he could go back to a time when he did believe. But now that he knew better, how could he? 

“And not only is God’s love for us foolish,” Dad was saying, “but the way he chose to save us seems pretty foolish too. I mean, if it were up to us to come up with a means of salvation, I’m pretty sure we would say, ‘Well, of course you’ll have to do something to earn it. There’s no free lunch. You have to be a good person. Follow all the rules. Keep every commandment.’ But God knew we couldn’t do that. He knew that not a single one of us was good enough or could do enough to earn our way to heaven. So he didn’t say, ‘Well, do the best you can, and maybe if it’s good enough, I’ll let you in.’ No, he said, ‘I’ll do it all for you. I’ll send my one and only Son to live in your place. To be perfect in your place. To die in your place. You don’t have to do anything. Only believe.’ We hear it in Ephesians 2:8-9, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’” Judah let out a breath that he hoped Faith didn’t hear. Even if he wanted to, how could he believe something so unbelievable? 

“People want proof of that, they want evidence, they want to see it with their own eyes. Well, it’s all right here. And beyond that, it’s right here.” Judah’s eyes flicked to the screen in Faith’s hand. “The Bible,” she said, as if realizing what he was trying to figure out. “And our hearts.” Judah nodded but pressed his lips together. This was where he had a problem. He couldn’t base his whole life on feelings. “I’m not talking about feelings,” Dad said, as if he had read Judah’s thoughts from forty miles away. “I’m talking about faith. There is a difference. Feelings depend on our circumstances. Faith depends on our Savior. It relies on what he tells us in his Word. It holds to his promises, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense to do so. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, ‘Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.’” Dad paused, as if letting that sink in, then continued, “But how? How can we possibly have confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see?” 

Judah nodded. Exactly. It was silly to expect someone to believe in what there was no evidence of. 

“Fortunately—” There was a smile in Dad’s voice. “That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. He is the one who works on our hearts, the one who gives us a heart transplant. ‘I will give you a new heart,’ the Lord says in Ezekiel, ‘and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’” Judah caught his breath. There was no way Dad knew that verse had been playing through his head ever since Amina had said it to him—he didn’t even know Amina had existed. And he couldn’t know that more than once over the past few weeks, in the privacy of his own room, Judah had reread Mama’s note alongside those verses in her Bible. So was it only a coincidence that he had brought it up? 

Or . . . Had God led him to— No. Obviously not. Judah dismissed the possibility. But he couldn’t dismiss Dad’s voice as he continued, “The Holy Spirit takes our hearts that are by nature dead in sin, and he replaces them with living hearts, overflowing with faith and love in him. Hearts that have ‘confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.’ Hearts that are willing to ‘become “fools” so that you may become wise.’ Hearts that have an answer that is stronger than any physical proof, any scientific evidence, any seeing with our own eyes. And that answer is Jesus. Amen.”

“Amen,” Faith whispered. Judah kept his eyes on the road and his lips pressed tight as Dad led the congregation in a prayer. If anything, the sermon had only made the ache in his throat sharper, but he didn’t know why. Saying Jesus was the answer to everything sounded nice. But in real life, it didn’t work that way. He’d seen too many children pray for a parent’s recovery, only to have to bury that parent a few days later. Too many spouses with unanswered prayers. Too many parents weeping over the bed of a child they’d been sure God would save. You can’t save me, Dr. Judah, God already has. Amina’s words slipped into Judah’s thoughts. He saved you too, did you know that? Judah had believed it once, but believing it again now felt too . . . futile. Besides, he had turned his back on God for years. There was no reason for God to take him back, even if he wanted to go back. 

“’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take him at his Word.” The words of the hymn seemed to fill the car, and it took Judah a moment to realize that was because Faith was singing along with the hymn. Her voice was low and sweet, and her face shone with a smile that said she trusted completely the truth of the words she sang. Judah’s heart gave another weak twitch, but he tried to ignore it and turned his eyes back to the road. 

!!!!

God Bless

Gabby

This is why I enjoy this retired pastor...

We must all consider to choose between God and This World

Only then will Peace be Achieved...

Peace is created or lost by all of us...

Right now, it's the worst time of hate and violence I've seen...

I DO Want Peace. Do YOU?

President Joe Biden's Final Address...God's Servant In the World of Politics... Prayers for Freedom for America and World

Most men can stand up against adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power… - Lincoln

I Will Miss Joe Biden... Oh, I haven't been involved in politics to know much about his early life there, but I remember him from his words, either read and written by him, read and written by somebody else, said by many, many news commentaries, but mostly because of his constant references to His Lord and Savior... How many times have you heard him close with God Bless America; God Bless Our Troops

But there were times when he joked about having to talk with Him, or in the midst of a speech, he would go through the sign of the cross, often laughing...

Now, take a look at the top picture in the right side of my blog

I believe Jesus and Joe Biden were trading jokes about what was happening during his years in Politics. Let's face it. You had to have a major faith in God, A sense of commitment to the role he was playing in America, and, most of all, Joe Biden went through many personal family losses that he could never understand, but knew he had God's Love to Get Him Through...

I saw God in his actions on the picket lines...talking and hugging and supporting Americans

I saw him speaking out against those who attempt to not recognize all people are created in God's image. While he attempted to work with Congress and got a Border Bill created in the first years of his administration...He must have been sad, distraught. He knew the republican president cared nothing about the immigrants who sought America seeking safety, support.

Joe Biden cares for all people...You can see it in all videos

But Joe Biden believed in the rule of law, based upon our Constitution

He allowed the Attorney General's Unit to be totally free to act, even at the same time we all watched as every single step forward was challenged and placed into legal scrutiny with years passing, only delayed by the "unneeded" in my opinion, appeal of every single thing that was appealable!

The courts became unworthy of respect as we had earlier expected.

In Biden's Final Address, he speaks to America to seek term limits and timely ethic reviews for courts. In one fumble Joe Biden was tried by millions of Americans for one presentation...

Yet thereafter, he has successfully represented our country, and, I believe, was ready to continue on for another term if the disinformation, misinformation and ugly smears had not been made. 

I would have voted for Joe Biden for a second term...

He has major differences that the republican president, past and newly elected doesn't have: integrity, the ability to delegate and trust staff, and the willingness to accept briefs and discussions with staff... He would have been prepared to continue for more years, based upon these skills, together with his decades worth of experience in government!

America will begin to see what the last election has brought upon America.

We have already seen Project 25, the movement toward a dictatorship, the staffing of government with convicted felons, liars, individuals who refuse to speak truth if Trump has lied about it.

Can you imagine what will happen if they attempt to do everything they claim they will do?

Let's consider just one thing... I contributed to Social Security from age 18 through to 65

MY contribution was expected to be invested for my benefit

That is true for every single American.

IF Social Security is running out of money, then I consider that a problem for the government's financial staff, NOT US. There are many elders who are living on social security alone

Do you really think that Americans are going to be left without our own money/income?

NOT!

PREPARE AND WATCH...

EACH DAY COULD REAP ANOTHER DISASTER.

ONLY YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOURSELF

THE GOVERNMENT UNDER REPUBLICANS WILL NOT!

Pray that I'm Wrong...

~~~

I've selected three books of relevance at this time...

If you have not already read them, I suggest you do.

Or at least read my and other people's reviews...

Hopefully, do your own research! Read from multiple news stations

I watch ABC and MSNBC for world news after many years of choosing

Be careful of social media. Do NOT believe everybody who posts.

If you know it is misinformation, it is the time to share known facts without prejudice. In fact, in my opinion, it is your personal responsibility to speak Truth

Share Truth, Write Truth, Challenge with Truth

Because God created all people and America is open to All

And God is Truth personified...

Stand Up!

WE CANNOT GO BACK!!!

!!!

Go To Review

Go to Review

Go to Review

Father, I pray for all my black friends, my Indigenous friends, all friends and neighbors. We are afraid, we hear so many lies, disinformation, misinformation, there are so many scams, so many people taking our children into human trafficking, there are so many who turn away from those in need, of hunger, or clothes... You said to allow your children--all of your children to come unto you...

We have come... We know of YOUR love and we try to share it. There are those, only you know who they all are, but they hate because of our love...They want more from you--riches, power...they have even begun to use your name in political issues, claiming you as their lord and what they ask should be blessedly given, yet choosing then to turn away from those in need, they threaten many when we try to speak truth, they force their own people to vote for things they don't believe in for fear--they know that one word of threat can bring followers that think nothing about, for instance, breaking into a home, seriously beating up an elderly man, just because his wife's name was mentioned by the MAGA leader... Lord, things are happening so fast that we can't possibly keep up with all that will affect each of us, our family or friends...the people of our world, our nation, our state, our community, even our churches... Lord, give us the strength to speak on your behalf. We know that your Love is bigger than any of us...Provide the words of love to speak against Lies, against corrupt leaders, leaders of churches, those who place being rich over anything else even though being rich has also done so much harm to so many... Oftentimes based upon religion as opposed to Your Love.

Father we call upon you to be with us as we move forward, touch those who will be in office. Place the spirit of truth on those who are being confirmed; let their tongues speak truth about all things and 
God give us your grace, your infinite patience, your strength and love 

Keep those thoughts in our minds so that we don't speak out in anger, but in truth.

Lord, we ask these things in Your Name

Amen

 

Freedom was given to us...

He gave us Free Will!

Depend Upon Him in the coming days, months and years....

You gave us Freedom

You gave us JOY

Please, Lord guide us to keep safe from those who would take those freedoms that You gave us...

We Speak Jesus!

May these words and music teach us and our children of freedom, peace, of those in need...

May we, like Jesus asked of us - Love ALL of our Neighbors

May we work to never go back, but look forward with Joy, 

Knowing YOU Are The GOD of LOVE

Be With Us All

Gabby

Talking About Today's World of Religion - A Single Christian Woman - Open Memoir - Gifts of the Spirit - Judgment Versus Love

 

Do you personally know anybody who is a Christian? Do you know any people from the Jewish faith? Or of Muslim faith?How can you tell? Did you meet them in a Church? A Synagogue? A Mosque? Maybe worked with him or her? When I was younger, I became involved with a group that was active at that time in Morgantown, It was Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship. 

Not once did anybody question me as I walked in and sat down. Not once was I asked if I were a Christian. Not once did anybody tell me to go because I was a woman... And, not once did anybody turn me away when I asked to be anointed at a meeting and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. We met in a meeting room in a local motel. It was informal, people roamed around, or sat praying... 

Then one night I saw a man come in and I knew who he was but did not know him personally. Suddenly I heard a word of knowledge for him. I waited, just to be sure. The man continued to stay, looking around. I was urged on. I spoke to the man: "You are worried that if you receive gifts of the spirit, that your congregation may not accept your change. I went on, your gifts are between you and God and you have no need to speak of them unless you find it appropriate... I think I shook hands with him and walked away from him. I have no idea what happened after we left. That really didn't matter. I had given God's message to him. That was to be my only role in his life...

I did invite two individuals from work with whom I'd been sharing a small fellowship during lunch. Both came, at different times. One spoke in tongues at his first meeting. Both of these individuals were involved in another God Incident, which I'll be writing about.

 

Although I had spoken in tongues and had received a word of knowledge to share, none of us got actively involved with this group. In fact, for me, which I thought was quite interesting, it was through a book (!) that I received the full blessing and blanketing of His Love... I was reading a book by Catherine Marshall Something More...

I remember that I was reading  in bed, which is normal for me, of course. Suddenly, heat started coming into my body, it seemed to start in my head and slowly encompassed my entire body. I was totally submerged in His Love! God's Love! And tears of joy flowed, as I spoke words I did not know, some over and over. I remember, I wrote down "Ascil-li-up Tito" down in my Bible later, spelling out the words by sound. (Of course, I've searched to find those words. I did find Tito. I had thought that Tito might be Jesus in some language, but, finally, I decided it really didn't matter.)I have no idea how long I lay there with a body temperature well above normal but feeling so blessed. As I calmed, I began to pray for everybody that I knew...just saying their names, sending out God's love to them... Until I felt Him leave, the heat was gone... In a few minutes, of course, I went back to reading--wondering what would happen next...

Now, I am back at the beginning, it seems... I wasn't really away, but all of the above was not what I planned to write about today! So, it seems that, perhaps like I do for writers of non-fiction religious books, especially, I want to share their "credentials..." Could that really be the reason I felt a need to let you all know that I am truly a Child of God?! I don't know. You'll have to decide. But I do know something that I can now say, after reading Dusenbury's book, I Judge No One.

And yet, as Christ did before he had been blessed with His resurrection and became fully a part of the Holy Trinity--God, the Father, Christ, His Son, and The Holy Spirit who abides in us, if we allow...

I know that I am a human...and I do judge. I judge actions. Sometimes for personal reasons, but also as part of the political world in which we live.

You see, I know that God sees us as humans. Jesus had been human for a very short time, in order to fulfill His Mission given by His Father. When I say I do not judge, I speak of Christ's global love for all of mankind. If I believe that we are all made in God's image, then I believe that I am to extend love to all, no matter what religion. It is those times that I am most close to how I know that God wants us to be.

But, I am still human, and I falter, fall, and sometimes get confused. So, let's now look at Today's World of Religion...

Oops! This morning as I was waking, I began to think about all those books I have read in which somebody had shared their personal lives--and, in particular, their faith or religion. I knew one book in particular I wanted to mention, but, in the search it didn't come up, but another did... It was my 2014 interview with Lee Harmon, who wrote, among others, The River of Life as an agnostic christian... Even I was amazed at this second God Incident. Please, if you have the time, click over to first read that discussion with Lee. For one, it felt to me, that I was given the "affirmation" that many suggest should be received that God wants us to speak on a topic. And, second, it has so much more to say than I planned to include in today's article--yet very relevant and important!

I have now read and shared about two books by Dr. Michael Brown, Donald Trump Is Not My Savior and The Political Seduction of the Church. (You can search on Dr. Brown's name and bring up all of the blog posts that were done while I read these two books.) Although both of these books were informative for those who are interested, I did not feel that any of the questions about the role of The Evangelical Church's alignment with the Republican Party had been successfully addressed.

Somewhere along the line, I read that at least one writer felt that we of the Christian Faith were at least due some form of accountability. It is clear, to me, that most involved individuals do not feel they owe anybody anything. Indeed, in the last book, where Dr. Brown continues to repeat that Donald Trump is not his Savior, he never acknowledges that there was anything significant that he, himself, did not agree with. And there's the issue, isn't it?

Since Dr. Brown's book was published, we have gone through the January 6th Insurrection, the Supreme Court's overthrow of Roe-Wade and its concurrent and very real distress, anger, and disruption that has occurred in the lives of not only pregnant women, but in doctor's, nurses, clinic staff, et.al. Not only has elections been shrouded in misinformation and fear, but from, traditionally, red states, we are hearing of all that is happening at the local level that is clearly prejudicial between non-white citizens of America.

In I Judge No One, one of the parables shared by David Dusenbury, was one that I've often thought and wrote about... It is about the woman who was caught having sex...

Early in the morning Jesus came again to the Temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. Making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to tempt him (Greek peirazontes auton; Latin temptantes eum), so that they might have some legal charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, lord.” “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” (John 8:2–11) The first thing to note is that this temptation is framed by Judaean law—not Roman law. The legal charge that Jesus is in peril of is a Judaean one—namely, that of subverting the divine law-code of “the truly sacred Moses,” as a second-century Egyptian Christian philosopher calls him.14 The question put to Jesus—Now what do you say?—is a lure for him to cancel a Mosaic statute. But there is also a temptation for Jesus to implicate himself in the machinery of Judaean law and politics. In effect, Jesus cannot release a woman caught in the act (in flagrante delicto) without committing blasphemy, and he cannot condemn her without becoming a punisher of the body—and a political Christ. Hostile observation of Jesus by the “the scribes and the Pharisees” is noted in much the same language in the synoptic gospels.15 In Mark, for instance, certain Pharisees ‘tempt’ Jesus by asking him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2). There are numerous “legal episodes” of this sort in the gospels.16 And read with sufficient care, most of Jesus’ healing narratives have a legal aspect—they occur on the sabbath day, they render a person ceremonially pure, and so on.17 Nevertheless, the Incident of the Adulteress is one of only two scenes in the gospels in which Jesus is formally requested to render a judgement. The other is in Luke 12 (the topic of chapter 10). Yet the unique scene in John 8 should not be read in isolation. Wherever it may have originated, its original location in the gospel collection is in chapter 8 of John. And this means that Jesus’ non-judgement of a condemned woman can be read in light of a later scene of judgement in John’s gospel. Namely that in John 19, where the prefect of Judea takes a seat with ritual intent on his “judge’s chair”, and then sentences Jesus to be crucified (John 19:13, 16).18 The penultimate scene of Jesus’ natural life, in the fourth gospel, is a legal ordeal in which an innocent man is condemned to death by a guilty judge. In dramatic terms, John 8 is the inverse. Here, a guilty woman is not condemned by a uniquely innocent judge.19 There is no hint in the received text that the woman set before Jesus is falsely accused. The charge brought is that she has been trapped “in the very act” (John 8:4)—or, in one commentator’s gloss, in coitu.20 The text introduces this charge without comment (John 8:3). Further, there is no sign that Jesus doubts her guilt. On the contrary, he says to her, in parting: “Do not sin again” (John 8:11). This implies her guilt. It is striking, further, that there is no sign that Jesus doubts his right to judge. He is seated on a ‘judge’s chair’ when the pericope opens, and he seems to remain seated throughout the ordeal, even when he bends to write—more than once, and with his finger—in the dirt.21 “He Bent Down and Wrote” Before we ask what Jesus wrote in the dirt, we should pause to note a couple of curious parallels which are rarely noted.22 For the fact that Jesus writes is immensely suggestive. (i) Like Socrates, Jesus is not a writer. In both cases, however, there is one exception to the rule. Socrates traces geometric figures in the dirt, in Plato’s dialogue Meno, on behalf of a slave-boy who (per Socrates) has an immortal soul.23 And Jesus writes in the dust, in John, during the ordeal of a woman he refuses to condemn.24 (ii) Like Pilate, Jesus writes during a trial. The only place in the gospels where Jesus writes is in John 8, and the trial of Jesus in John 19 is the only place in the gospels where Pilate writes. “What I have written,” says the guilty judge, “I have written” (John 19:19–22). But what the innocent judge may have written, we are not told. We can nevertheless ask: What did Jesus write in the dirt during the adulteress’ ordeal? “Nothing certain can be stated,” according to Cornelius à Lapide’s baroque Great Commentary.25 This is true. Yet J. D. M. Derrett reminds us that “writing with the finger was symbolic of divine ‘legislation’” in Hebrew culture.26 Patristic commentators had already made this connection. And Derrett reconstructs the dramatic logic of Jesus’ leaning down to write, not once but twice, with his finger, in this way: The effect of his writing, and pausing after writing, was to produce from those in a position to watch him an insistence upon his giving his sentence … What he wrote was not unintelligible, but it did not satisfy them. This need not mean that it was irrelevant … It made them more anxious than ever to hear what he would say.27 “Has No One Condemned You?” And what did Jesus say? Of course, this is the question that marks the centre of the pericope. “The law Moses commanded us to stone such women,” say the hardliners. “Now what do you say?” (John 8:5). After he writes in the dirt—and before he resumes writing in the dirt—Jesus lifts his head to say to them: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). This is Jesus’ sentence—and it is, in George Steiner’s phrase, a “radiant challenge”.28 Is it a judicial sentence that Jesus utters? In a novel sense, yes. For the lawbreaker figures in Jesus’ sentence. Yet the sentence which he pronounces is only obliquely concerned with the one who is to be punished for her crime. The subject of Jesus’ sentence is not the lawbreaker, but rather her would-be punishers. Her executioners, says Jesus, must be wholly innocent before the punishment sanctioned by Moses can be meted out—beginning with the first, who ‘legitimates’ the cascading violence of a stoning. The pitiless enforcers of Mosaic law must be flawless observers of that law—and this, Jesus claims, no one is. (My italic emphasis.)

And here is the key I found in Dusenbury's book that was lacking in both of Dr. Martin's books, et.al. Let's consider the difference between the three books. Dr. Martin's is written as an Evangelical Christian, dealing with the presidency of Donald J. Trump. While Dusenbury's book is purely a scholarly analysis of the Life of Jesus, and, in particular, as He related to those with whom he lived and met during his life.

The authority of Jesus to judge came as His Role in The Holy Trinity. As such, he was concerned ONLY with the souls of those who God had created. That's all of us who were born in His image.

On the other hand, while Christ was living as a human and before He was Baptized, his judgments dealt with how our souls were being treated. To explain further, if I can, when Jesus became angry at those selling and buying within the front of the Temple where He taught, it was anger for their blasphemy. Jesus knew that the Temple was dedicated to God and should not be defiled.

Because of the role of the Evangelical Christians in their willingness to support Trump--if he did what they asked--I am using them as an example at this critical time in our lives. That is not to say, that there have not been others within religious facilities and/or as their members who have not also acted in ways not pleasing to God. Using the parable of the adulterous woman, Jesus did not take a role in open judgment of her... Let me repeat that. God knew the woman's heart and finally spoke to her as to how He wanted her to act in the future. In a way, even then, there was little emphasis on what she must do. Did He know, perhaps, that the woman had only turned to selling herself because she had no husband and had no way to eat, to live? Did He realize that, perhaps, it was the man with whom she was involved, that should have, at a minimum, also been there to be punished? We don't know... do we?

And that's the whole point. Insofar as possible, we, as Christians are asked to love--to give aid--to give food and shelter if needed. It was quite obvious to Jesus that there had been no love involved in what had been discovered. There was no search for the Truth of why she was involved in a forbidden action. There was nothing to be done by those who were willing to stone her, except to...stone her, or, in this story, use her to try to trick Jesus into becoming involved with Moses' Law...

Ok, let's get really serious about what happened during this decade. The conservative republicans either went to the Evangelical Christians, or vice-versa, and made a deal to work toward being able to ban abortion once again. And to rig the courts by placing conservatives totally thus attempting to ensure that conservative issues would be handled as they wished. It would have been the same process that occurred decades ago when the pro-choice; pro-life debate began (and even earlier than that). However, somehow the authority to abort was given... Could it be that this issue was only made into law because of those conservatives who wanted laws to follow which supported their own agendas?

Let's now look at what Jesus did with the woman caught having sex. His concern was mainly with those who judged the woman... And so it was that when the pharisees, even Judas, and others chose to attack Jesus, it was a judgment made for which Jesus felt they had no right to make, was it not? And yet they did because of the human laws that were being used to accuse Him.

I believe that the issue of abortion or any other part of the medical activities surrounding a pregnancy is part of the will that God has given to us. It is a choice that is made by the human whose soul belongs to God. And if that choice is wrong, then any judgment will be by God toward that individual. Bluntly, the federal government should never have been involved with this issue...

And we all know that those who are conservative "anything" want what they want, no matter what damage might evolve out of their own personal opinions and/or beliefs. I don't think I'm wrong. but I'm going to stop now. I feel anger, frustration, and, yes, judgment of the merged Evangelical Christians and the Republican Party...that now are daily causing unknown tragedies as well as beyond those which we do find out about...

In order to clear my mind of emotions, I took yesterday off from writing. First thing this morning, the name Frank Shaeffer came to mind. It was one of his earlier brief videos which talked about his being at the meeting where the Evangelical Christians and Donald Trump met. He finally left, saddened, but after he had already heard the conditions which were then demanded by the leaders of Evangelical Christians. After Trump agreed, Frank indicated that they more or less told Trump that he could do anything he wanted... I think the above two videos speak well about what had occurred pre-2016 presidential election. Indeed, Schaeffer Frank Shaeffer, himself, accepts accountability for his role in spotlighting abortion and other prejudices, for example, against gays and others different from white protestant conservatives. 

I must admit I was relieved when I heard Schaeffer talk about the republican party. Indeed, I remember, once, when a niece talked about anti-abortion. I started crying. The following is a summation of what I said: How can this be logical? How can abortion be so wrong at the same time that incest, child sexual abuse, human trafficking is so rampant? I then said that some homes don't deserve to have a child there. Indeed Schaeffer uses similar documentation to judge what the merge of Evangelical Christians and The Republic Party has resulted in.

As can be seen, it is the women of this world that would be those who rose up against Trump. Not only because of his loose sexual references, which demeaned women... From what we learned from Frank Schaeffer, it was a quest for power, recognition, and prejudice that brought the topic of abortion out once again. Noting that, when emotions are incited globally rather than individual as should be, then humans are making judgments that either contradict the laws of the land--constitution--or by the use of misinformation and/or the scripture to claim that they are doing only what God teaches us...

It is clear, over and over, that Jesus acted totally the opposite. He came to the Samaritan woman to speak of Himself and what He offered. Indeed, that what clearly we are called to do, tell others about Jesus... There is NO law in America that says that Evangelical Christians and The Republic Party have the authority to reign over the rest of us via coercive actions! 

Consider how the former administration began their term... It started with Jeff Sessions referring to this scripture: (Excuse me for "more than" the Sessions announcement. Sometimes a little light message gets the point across...

So let's go back to Dusenbury's review of Jesus judgment versus the judgment of humans... For, indeed, it is quite clear since the merge of Evangelical Christians with The Republican Party, that certainly humans are doing the judging...NOT God!

Kant criticizes Reimarus’ theory of Jesus by distinguishing two ideas of the state. One he calls juridico-civil, the other ethico-civil. A juridico-civil state is one in which humans live together under a system of “juridical laws”, all of which are coercive. To belong to such a state is to belong to an ordered system of coercion. An ethico-civil state, however, is one in which humans are united by laws without being coerced, which is to say, “under laws of virtue alone.”29 In a less rebarbative (objective) terminology, Kant holds that a “political community” is by definition one that “compels its citizens” in a host of ways. An “ethical community”, however, is one that has “freedom from coercion in its very concept”. What Kant means is that what he calls “ethical ends” can only be chosen. Virtue originates in the heart, a place where—Kant stresses—“a human judge cannot penetrate”. Only a divine mind can be the judge of human hearts, because human judgments cannot reach “the depths of other beings”.30 (my emphasis) This is a Kantian idea which is deeply rooted in the gospels. For Kant, the Jesus of history hoped to inaugurate an ethical community, a new form of order in which, theoretically, all humans could be united by laws without coercion. Numerous caveats could be made here, but this new form of order is what Christians call the church, and what Kant calls the “invisible church” (giving the phrase an Enlightenment-style meaning).31 In Reimarus’ telling, the Jesus of history hoped to revolutionize the political community of first-century Judaea, by installing himself at the summit of an apocalyptic system of coercion. Reimarus’ Jesus failed because his political revolution was crushed, and his political faith was traduced by his cadre of disciples. The gospels, for Reimarus, are a testament to the disciples’ final betrayal of Jesus. It is in these writings that they systematically corrupt the memory of Jesus’ life and hope. Kant’s Jesus, no less than Reimarus’, is revolutionary. But his Jesus did not ultimately fail, because an “undeserved yet meritorious death” became the symbol of an ethical revolution,32 and because the ethical faith of Jesus is still with us. Kant writes that Jesus “brought about” through his life and death “an incalculably great moral good in the world, through a revolution in the human race”.33 At the heart of that revolution is the idea of what Kant calls “a kingdom of virtue”.34 And what is a kingdom of virtue? It is one which has “freedom from coercion in its very concept”.35 It is a ‘kingdom’ which must be freely chosen. Before Jesus, the idea of a kingdom of virtue—one which is still contentious—had never been articulated with the force and urgency that we hear in some of the sayings in the four unsigned texts which we call, in keeping with tradition, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This book offers a political life of Jesus in the broad and variegated tradition of Spinoza, Kant and Nietzsche. With them, it resists the modern notion that Jesus’ life, sayings and death are in essence political. Against Reimarus’ idea of a political Christ—one which has been revived countless times in the last 250 years—I will try to show (i) that the modern theory of a political Christ is utterly incongruent with the dramatic structure of our earliest texts on the life of Jesus; and (ii) that something like Kant’s theory of an ethical Jesus, whatever its limitations, is far more philosophically interesting. For the divergent philosophical traditions which Nietzsche, Kant and Spinoza represent, the modern idea that Jesus is nothing but a failed, first-century rebel is doubly problematic. It blurs (or destroys) the structure and meaning of our earliest witnesses to the life of Jesus, and it is philosophically inert.36 I believe that if the figure of Jesus is to be thought-worthy in future, we must break with the modern tendency to reduce him to his milieus. In the city of his youth (Nazareth), in the tetrarchy to which he legally belonged (Galilee), in the Roman province he visited (Judaea) and in the holy city where he died (Jerusalem), Jesus remained—in Nietzsche’s words—a “strange figure” (fremde Gestalt).37 It is this strangeness that shaped his political life, and that led—I will argue—to his death as a political criminal. It is this strangeness, too, that makes Jesus’ life intriguing and his sayings still worthy of reflection.

When reading a scholarly analysis, it is sometimes not easy to pull out the fragments which deserve more than a first-time read. Going back to the parable of the adulterous woman, we find a simple illustration that speaks to the point of Dusenbury's book. Jesus did not judge the adulterous woman. As mentioned earlier, we humans could never know what was behind the decision of the woman to commit adultery. Yet, there was a law that clearly defined that she was to be stoned. Jesus prevented the law to take place to stone the woman. Yet, after it was all over, Jesus then judged the woman as He saw her soul. Yes, she was guilty, but there was to be a difference from applying the law of stoning and what judgment Jesus ultimately gave. Bottom line, Jesus chose to not agree that the archaic law was a satisfactory judgment upon the woman... And then, bid her leave and consider other options, perhaps?

To me, this logical separation presents us with where Jesus wanted us to be. He had no desire to coerce us to follow Him. He had no desire to interfere in our God-given will to make our own decisions. Yet, he did realize that there would be those who chose to act in an evil manner and that political laws would be required to ensure that those who did harm to others could be identified and punished...

Therefore it seems to me that what has traditionally happened, going back to even the Crusades historically. Those leaders felt that all must follow Jesus and would force--coerce--their opinions of their christianity onto others. I recently read a book by an indigenous friend of mine where he spoke of how Christians began to force their religion upon those natives who very obviously had their own beliefs. Why? If we are to show God's love through our actions towards others, then by what political reason should we require others to forcibly act as conservative christians wish... And, as we have seen during the past six years, anybody who is different than white evangelical christians and/or a member of the republican party...must...be...controlled. Thus the republican party has turned into a purely judgmental group that does not act to love and be concerned about their neighbors, but, rather, to control, even through elections, so that, they are not even willing to recognize as our constitution clearly says... That we are all equal... 

During the period between 2016 and today, I have been continuously urged to go about my Savior's bidding. It has caused friction within my own family, as I understand has happened with others. But, even then, you and others have a right to question what I've shared with you... I believe that once, a major portion of Christianity has acted to gain political power through the election of a United States president, that the nation is floundering in the attempt to have coercion controlling our lives beyond the need stated and made into laws of our country.

Indeed, there is every evidence that love for our neighbors is not even a consideration by this merged group. We have seen personal freedoms stripped from us. We have seen attempts to change American history to hide how the white conservatives actually have acted in the past and are still not acting to discriminate against anybody that is different from them. And, to be even more specific, we have seen those who committed an insurrection against the U.S. Capital and the constitution, continue to lie and claim that what happened is NOT what actually happened.

We are confronted with evil leaders who are telling us that they can use force against small children. We are confronted with children who are abused sexually through incest and/or other leaders, such as within the church. We are told that non-christians are to be banned, controlled and have a loss of their freedom of speech, religion, and more...

And we are once again told by an extensive study and research of the Bible that Jesus Does Not Judge... that God is Love... That we shall love one another as ourselves...

Surely you can see that the logic coming out of the merged group--Evangelical Christians and The Republican Party is totally opposite of what is taught by Christ?

 

I've Been To a Revival With Reverend Benjamin L. Corey's Book, Unafraid, And God's Joy Flooded My Soul...When I Needed a Boost!

 

It's been many years since I've actually attended a revival...Yet, I've been at a week-long wonderful experience with Benjamin L. Corey, in which Reverend Corey provides readers with his own testimony about his own revival experience, in which he now shares that he...and I...and You...do not need to be afraid!

Hallelujah!

This is one we always sang "after" part of the reval service so that we could stand up and stretch... It brought us joy and fun just as these people had!

I love singing harmony with this song...I'll sing the high part and you sing melody! OK?

For surely, I have been blessed by the book Unafraid and at the end of the first day of reading, I was grinning, thanking God for sending me this book, for surely it was the one that all others had been building up to...at least until the next one! LOL

For surely, God wants to never stop sharing with us, His children... His Love is so wonderful, so powerful that there is absolutely NO limits to it!

Praise His Name!

This is one that I also chose often to sing solo...

Corey starts his story when he was young and was always doing something to gain approval...like being the best scripture memorizer and winning awards for that and then moves on to talk about his growing up in a conservative home and learning all that he must do to be accepted as one of God's children...

And, of course, along the way, he learned from the hell and damnation preachers who threatened the fires of hell if he didn't...whatever...was on the mind of the preacher that day...

And how he met with problems in his home life, losing his children that he loved... Of course, each one of us may have a similar background, perhaps? But each of us has our own personal story that reflects our own early home environment and church life. I was moving along with the Reverend, thinking about how his life compared with mine--something we all do, don't we? Well, the main thing I was thinking was that I really had no fear of God...

Or did I?

Folks, in over 60 years of reading book after book about God and Jesus--both nonfiction and fiction, I have never had My Personal Questions addressed as I found in this book--I've already ordered another book by this same author. For, you know, folks, I know that I know that I know that God has touched this man and he has a story to tell you that has been given to him by The Holy Spirit. It was a hard story for him to write. For some, it will be a hard story to read. Me, I was so excited that in some way, through what I call a God Incident, I had been led to this book!

Perhaps it was because of the title! For surely, with what is happening in America, so many of us are afraid. And most of that fear, in my opinion, is based upon the political climate that now exists today! 

There is no way I can tell whether this book will touch you like it did me. All that I can tell you is that Corey has brought a revival to my spirit and I feel so Alive! And, of course, I call this a must-read if you are indeed afraid... Because, today, I say, I have no fear except from those individuals living in America. Who do not know that God is The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit! Once again I have no fear for I know that God is Alive...and Watching...and In Control!

And what happens may not be what many Americans will expect...

My first revival was a Billy Graham crusade revival and, though, he personally wasn't there, I was thrilled to meet George Beverly Shea as he sang and I was part of the choir that had been created prior to the crusade. Many years ago...

May His Spirit Touch YOU This Day!

God Bless,

Gabbie