(09/11/2017) Gratitude Appears By Grace

Today, reply is made on why people are thanking GOD following “divinely caused” disastrous weather events.  The fighter at “Yahoo! Answers” who uses the ID “SupaStar” (Level 5 with 8,173 points, a member since August 07, 2014) posted the following:


Religiously Speaking, having just come through Hurricane Irma here in Tampa Bay, why are people "thanking god" for saving their lives...?

...but not blaming that bastard for sending the killer storm in the first place?

How is this different from thanking someone when they stop hitting you on the head with a hammer?


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.  (2nd Corinthians 1:  3-5, King James Version, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Storms to Punish America? (09/08/2017); Testing and Divine Process (06/12/2017); Endurance, Humility and Obedience? (06/04/2017); Divine Delay and Prayer? (03/22/2017); What Does Divinity Want? (03/13/2017); Accepting the Divine Will? (12/06/2016); Unless You Repent (03/05/2013); The Childhood of Jesus? (03/06/2013); Faith for Facing Tragedy? (06/04/2013); Words Spoken By GOD? (06/05/2013)


“SupaStar”, the basis for correct relationship with GOD is receiving and containing divine spirit.  Mature Christian believers understand that gratitude, thankfulness, and works that acknowledge the grace of GOD appear in created beings and living creatures as provisions from divinity like life essence, “the spark of life,” breath, word, and “sacred utterance” through the Holy Spirit.  A very different framework for understanding must be used that is not carnal, material, secular, and social—that includes no bastards—and that center on spirit substance without relying on time or space.  The power of emotion (e.g., anger, fear, sorrow) must be suspended along with that of appetite (e.g., hunger, thirst, sexual craving) and sensation (e.g., hearing, seeing, tasting, touching).  Gratitude will only appear as part of what and who your are in Christ, a new creation that is established in part through rebirth, gradual development, growing pains, and suffering.  In the same way, some continually display a character and makeup that is bitter, destructive, or suicidal, and have no control or willpower to permanently change themselves, sinners who yield their lives and personalities become vessels of sacred substance (we say, offspring, sons and daughters of GOD) through operations of the Holy Spirit, not of their own self-will.  Consider again the following that I’m sure you have seen before:

(1.)  Hebrews 12:  7-9, King James Version (KJV):  7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence:  shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

(2.)  1st Corinthians 12:  3, KJV:  3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed:  and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

(3.)  John 1:  11-13, KJV:  11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

There is far more to be said, correctly examined, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, (4.)  Romans 8:  5-9, KJV:  5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:  for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

(09/08/2017) Storms to Punish America?

THE WRATH OF THE SEAS, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1886

Today, points are shared on storms and weather events as expressions of divine wrath against sin.  Because the Creator is entered into personal relationships we describe as covenants and a new testament in blood, what appear as natural events to correct those who are “born again,” and who now exist as the new creation often are thought to be punishments against sinners and the wicked.  A writer at “Yahoo! Answers” using the ID “Blelo” (Level 2 with 395 points, a member since December 24, 2015) posted the following:


Is god PUNISHING Americans with hurricanes?


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.  In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away:  and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.  Remember Lot’s wife.  Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.  I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.  Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  (Luke 17:  26-36, King James Version, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Existence, Mortality and GOD? (08/31/2017); Mercy to the Merciless? (07/30/2017); Righteousness Exalts A Nation (07/04/2017); On Law and Sin (06/07/2017); Installing The New President (01/20/2017); About Revelation not Punishment? (11/25/2016); Natural and Spiritual Law? (06/30/2016); Punishment To Show Love? (11/29/2015)


“Blelo”, increasingly, mature Christians will agree that, in the same way human events appear as the result of ongoing operations of influences and forces that long have been in effect, yet, have remained unseen, spiritual events appear as the result of ongoing sacred operations and the active presence who is divinity.  It is not necessarily that GOD suddenly becomes angry, interested, or involved; rather, it is that a cosmic and spirit process has been going forward all along.

The GOD we call “our Father” is a god of judgment.  Even so, permanent change for all Creation occurred through acts carried out by operations of human will. 
The first pair (Adam) established brevity, instability, mortality, and suffering as inescapable conditions for human existence.  Thus, it is written, that mankind lives under a “death sentence.”  Where direct fellowship with GOD was to supply guidance, instruction, revelation and all necessary sacred knowledge to mankind, the pair sought divinity and wisdom through rebellion and self-promotion.

A single sacred event may address multiple eternal purposes (e.g., admonition, authentication of prophecy, fulfillment of promise).  The events we call “judgments” and “plagues sent by GOD” appear in accordance with sacred laws, proclamations, and prophecies that reveal the character, makeup, and substance of divinity.  In addition to wrath against sin inseparable aspects of Deity can appear including balance, faithfulness, forbearance, holiness, impartiality, lovingkindness, person, righteousness, and sovereign will.  The same event that displays condemnation and harshness against some, also will display others and a remnant covered and shielded from all harm.  Consider again the following:

(1.)  Exodus 8:  20-23, King James Version (KJV):  20 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.  21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses:  and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.  22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.  23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people:  to morrow shall this sign be.

(2.)  Exodus 34:  4-8, KJV:  4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.  5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.  6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,  7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.  8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

(3.)  Zechariah 13:  8-9, KJV:  8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.  9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:  they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:  I will say, It is my people:  and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

There is far more to be said, correctly examined, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, (4.)  Hebrews 12:  3-8, KJV:  3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.  4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.  5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

(02/15/2014) A Valentine, 2014

Feeling that some of you may have felt a bit let down on yesterday, today, I share a poem (below) that more directly bares my thoughts and feelings as a man caught up in the romance of life.  As my readers now know, my first choice was not to share a traditional “love poem” on Valentine’s Day.  Instead, I shared my annual Black History Month poem for 2014.  Love poems are some of the most difficult to write, because they easily become dull expressions of immaturity, lust, and someone else’s private affairs (fit only for voyeurs).  Often love poems lack meaningful and memorable images; and tend to rely heavily upon childish and singsong rhymes, or over-familiar language that is dry, offensive, trite, and unbalanced.

What I prefer to speak of, then, is love that is an aspect of divinity, appearing first as a lifetime commitment and continuing as everlasting life.  (The truth being told, many of us can only confess to having been caught up in the storm of emotions we too quickly labeled “love”, and we only ever embraced ashes and smoke—the residue from fantasies of love.)  Even so, recent weather events, here, have made me more aware of my love for the sphere of our living.  We have now seen blizzard and earthquake in the Nation’s Capital.  In addition, not long ago, I saw a rare sight where one layer of clouds was being blown by the wind, all rushing to the South, while a layer of clouds rushing just above it were all being blown to the North.  I asked myself, how can that be—having never seen clouds layered that way—and knowing the answer, that nothing is impossible with GOD.  (Almost immediately a stranger came to me who said, “…it’s the Polar Vortex.”)  I thought to myself, I have completed many studies of the Arctic and Antarctic as well as meteorology, and I never came across any mention of a polar vortex.  Surely, this is another one of those pseudo-scientific explanations that do not come from GOD, and are not intended to build upon, encourage, or reinforce faith—or a genuine love of the earth as our home, and our inheritance.

 

A Blazing Heart:  Valentine’s Day, 2014 

 

I saw the hawk in flight before the snow
That elephant fat and ivory white
Invaded neighborhoods and water holes
The cold of winter savannah grass a graveyard
And had I fled the beauty that we suffer
Would have melted away in an instant

My tears instead were for a love I lost
The missing her the smothering of frost
The breath I needed to make my wings lift high
When warm air streams made impotent and dry
The land locked jumbo jets again too slow
Made me see again that none are free to fly

Should doubt or fear be master lion fierce
The tenderness of kisses do not pierce
Or penetrate the wall’s defense
And wisdom gone there is no penitence
That shovels away the cuts when we are gored
That comes by seeing others in their joy

Not envious and yet not warmed as when
We easy join and soar our hips in rhythm
Our hearts ablaze by the fire of our need
For one another fed at first with kindling
then with logs of truth not sad for him
I know that he has flown to where his love is

 

 

©Michael Andrew Williams, 2014.  All rights reserved worldwide.

As for every poem I write, readers must now engage the piece, and come to know it.  The poem must rise or fall, speak for itself, and stand in its own merit.  As author, my final words must be (at the risk of sounding like Pontius Pilate), What is written is what is written.  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.


A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  (John 13:  34-35, KJV)


THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC