To Get You Where You’re Going …

My children bought me a new laptop computer for Christmas. Seems like it was just in time because my desktop computer keeps shutting down right in the middle of things. I’ve tried everything to solve the problems with it but it has come to the end of life thanks to the Windows 11 upgrade not being compatible.

Early this morning, I was once again trying to analyze, optimize, defragment, and debug the computer. While waiting for the processing, I remembered that I had a soda in the refrigerator. I thought to myself that I should sneak and have a sip even though soda is not appropriate for mornings. When I asked God if sneaking soda made me an addict, He said something rather profound. “At times you need different things to get you where you’re going.”

Most likely, God was pointing to the loss of my old computer and my mourning it. It’s not that I don’t want the new one, I certainly do. But me and the old computer have history. It has a comfortable keyboard and mouse that are different from the new laptop. This is kinda weird to say but it has a comfortable presence about it. I always know where to find it. I just leave it plugged in and don’t have to worry about charging it for portability (or overcharging the battery). I guess what I’m getting at is that where I’m going with God must require a more portable workstation in the form of the laptop gift. I get it. Soon, me and the laptop will have a successful working relationship (hopefully).

I’m also realizing that my 20-year-old van is still with me for the same reasons. We have a history. But “she” breaks down a lot. I have had to learn to keep my travels within a few miles of home in case there is an issue. Currently the van leaks power steering fluid, oil, and all the radiator contents through freeze plugs that aren’t easily accessible to change. Still “she” is comfortable. Much more comfortable than a car-payment and increased insurance.

Now that I’m in my later years of life, I’m seeing that many of my systems are not currently compatible either. Like my old van, I’m not easily up for the challenges of the long road ahead. The most burdensome thing about making the new teaching videos has been getting comfortable with all the technology changes. Let me name a few things that I have had to manage in this process. First, I needed to have a camera/phone that I can navigate for recording the videos. (My daughter gave me an unused phone of hers, but it has different screen commands than mine). Then, I purchased sound equipment: lapel microphones and receiver, and learned how to manage them. Lighting is next. In addition, I must also manage a YouTube channel, a website, and know how to post the videos on social media sites. Did I mention that I’m 63 years old? I was around when memory typewriters were the newest technology. When I was in my 20s, working at McDonnell Douglas, I helped manage a videoconferencing room. Cell phones were not a thing.

Thankfully, my daughter is conveniently nearby and helps me when I cry out in frustration. I accidently deleted the first video that I recently made and had to upload it again and change all the URL codes after I had already posted everything to the social media sites. Maybe me, my old computer, and my old van should all retire and leave all this to the newer models?

Please know that I’m trying to fulfill my full purpose even if it doesn’t always look pretty. If God wasn’t telling me to do this, I would likely sit this out and allow the more trendy ones to set the pace, but then there would be one less person trying to rid the churches of false doctrine. That’s not acceptable! Please be patient with me and occasionally give me a “like” for encouragement.

A Cheerful Giver?

I made the mistake of asking …

So, I asked God what He wanted as a Christmas gift from me to Him. I expected Him to say that my love and admiration were all the gift He needed. But, instead God said that He wants me to create my first video in this new season describing who He is.

Oh I wanted the first one to be an easy introduction, and maybe even kinda cute, about why knowing true doctrine is important. After much conversation with Him, the first one is going to be very deep theology made simple. I have a headache!

Well since I asked, now I must deliver. So in the next few days, maybe not in time for Christmas, I hope to record the first doctrinal video. I’m praying that God equips me to handle the technology issues. I just received the new mini wireless microphones and haven’t even taken the time to read the instructions or charge them yet. The lighting that I ordered wasn’t quite what I expected. So we’ll see how this first one takes off. Did I mention that I’m having computer issues? Listen, I expected that if God really wanted this gift, He could make it a little easier to deliver. (Don’t tell on me for shaking my head and rolling my eyes.)

My love language is actually gift giving but I’m feeling a little reluctant with this one. Every time that I say that “I can’t do it”, God says that I can. I guess vacation time is OVER! All this and putting together the False and Repulsive Theologies (FART) Awards for the false teachers by the end of the year. Whatever God wants …

Train a Child …

All these years later, I can’t imagine not hearing the Lord’s voice first thing every morning and last thing every night. I would be lost and devastated.

But for the first 40 years of my life, I didn’t hear the Lord speak to me. I grew up in the church. I was trained to read the Bible and serve. I memorized Scriptures. I’m sure that I did everything expected of me to be a good citizen of the church. I prayed like nobody else. I gave God so much advice because that was all that was ever modeled. But I did not hear God or walk with Him (and neither did any of the other churchgoers to my knowledge).

At 40 years old, a friend told me to give God five minutes and listen to Him in prayer. That’s when everything changed.

Oh wow how it changed! The God that I had learned about and had a one-sided relationship with was actually real. I couldn’t get enough of hearing Him. Every chance I got I wanted to hear His voice. Hearing Him changed me into a completely different person and maybe too quickly for those around me who didn’t similarly hear Him.

But I want you to hear this from my heart. I was so completely grieved that for the first 40 years of my life, though spent growing up in the church, nobody ever said the simple words “go give God five minutes and listen to Him”. Why? And yes, I read the Bible so I should have known that God speaks. But I trusted the church leaders to train me in the most important parts of knowing God. But they didn’t. Their unspoken words were a catalyst to assuming wrong theology.

Now, nearly 23 years after hearing God speak that first time, I walk with the Spirit of God every day. So much so, that He talked to me about this subject first thing as I was waking this morning. He reminded me of why it is so important to keep telling others about hearing His voice. I’ve written workbooks, newsletters, magazines and thousands of posts about hearing God. I’ve made teaching videos. I really have spent all these years fighting for the hearts and minds of those God has entrusted me to speak a word to.

During my conversation with God this morning, I asked God (probably with His invisible prompting) what is the right age to start teaching a child to hear God’s voice. His answer was that they should always be aware that God speaks. I questioned God about the maturity needed to recognize God’s voice against the voice of the enemy. God said to trust Him with that. I reasoned that they could hear the devil at any age why not teach them to hear God and discern His voice from the beginning. Our young children belong to God if we belong to God. They are under a protective covering while they are being raised to know God. Once they are mature, they have their own responsibility to know the heart of God and to obey Him.

Though I was raised in the church, there wasn’t much mention of God in my home growing up. I was a Sunday-go-to-church Christian. Most of the time, I went to church on the church bus without my parents or siblings. God was always calling me to Himself even when I didn’t knowingly hear Him. He drew me in. He entrusted the churches to teach me. And though they didn’t do the best job at educating me on walking with the Spirit, they planted seeds and provided community. I want so much more than that for the next generation. I hope you do too.

Dwellers in Unity?

The word “unity” gets tossed about quite a bit in the Christian community. It seems that some think it means a unity of opinions or a unity of picking a pastor or a unity of acceptance. Rarely do I hear unity being referred to as unity of the Spirit. That’s largely because so few actually walk with the Spirit of God.

The ONLY way that the churches can reach unity of the Spirit is to have SOUND DOCTRINE. If all the churches are teaching differently on most every topic there is obviously no unity of the Spirit. It happens because the church orators are teaching their own fleshly interpretation of Scriptures rather than hearing God teach them the truth of His heart. Every person on the planet can give a different interpretation of Biblical texts if they are not INTENTIONALLY taught by the Spirit of God. The devil loves to manipulate interpretations to create whole new denominations (or demonizations). Those are the divisions that destroy unity.

Is it so crazy that God would send His prophets to antagonize (warn, caution, and rebuke) the false teachers into seeking God about true doctrine? It is the false doctrines that destroy unity, not God’s anointed prophets. Or do you believe that God would rather that all the churches teach differently and contradictory to God’s will to yet another generation? Why would you try to build God’s Kingdom on a foundation of untruth and half-hearted pursuit of God’s specific will?

Unity of the Spirit is certainly NOT about getting as many people as possible to follow a false theology and naming it a church. If you love your brothers and sisters in churches that are teaching falsely, then you should do everything possible (as led by the Spirit) to address their false doctrines and teach them truth. It may seem like antagonism but in reality it is love. Love does uncomfortable things when necessary. The Master Gardener does PRUNE the branches so that they bear good fruit.

Unity of the Spirit requires knowing God, seeking Him for all truth, and following Him wherever and whenever He leads. Nobody can do that without hearing His voice. Nobody!

The Missing Piece — The Covenant Oath

One day, about eight years ago, God awakened me in the early morning hours and told me to sit in front of my computer. He was going to give me the most important page of information to share. Mind you, I was already more than a decade into my walk with hearing God. How could there be something new that warranted such “urgent” focus?

Little did I know that it was the missing piece in every aspect of ministry. If I could describe the covenant oath adequately, it affected when/if a person would hear God. It gave understanding to God’s discipline and punishment. How could this have never been taught to me in 50 years of church attendance? God was right, it was the most important page. Understanding the covenant oath made all the other pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly in place.

So, of course, it had to be a topic for discussion with the local pastors. In April, 2021, I included it in the monthly “Mark of Excellence” doctrinal newsletters. The cover letter and four pages of the newsletter are attached here. The page with the throne image is similar to the page that God had me create on that morning in 2017. What do you think? Have the local pastors been more effective in communicating the importance of the covenant relationship?

(The four pages of the newsletter are posted as a slideshow. Toggle right/left to see all pages.)

Invested in Hearing God’s Voice?

Hearing God’s voice is imperative to being obedient. Taking a best-guess or interpreting Scripture at your choosing will likely cause you to walk completely outside of God’s will and path. God judges heart motives. He is aware of all methods used to avoid consulting Him. So just because you have a Bible open, it doesn’t replace your need to submit to God’s authority. You can’t fool God.

Attached are the March (2021) “Mark of Excellence Newsletter” and associated letter to the local pastors. The topic is “Hearing God”. In the last two days, we looked at the January letter with the main topic of 1) One God; and the February letter and topic of 2) False teachers. In reviewing these letters are you seeing God’s heart as He sends a message to the pastors and churches?

Digest this one carefully because the letters ahead get a little heated as we dive in to debate against the false doctrines and those who have chosen to teach falsely.

“Surely, God Didn’t Say…”

“Surely, God Didn’t Say…” Those are the words that the devil used to deceive Adam and Eve in the Garden. Those words led to them disobeying God.

If I had a nickel for every time that I heard the devil use those words through human vessels, I would be a very wealthy woman today. I refute their foolishness every time. Here’s the thing, Adam and Eve could have sought God when the devil used those deceptive words. They could have, right then and there, said “God, what did you say?” and called God into the midst of the confrontation. But they didn’t. Instead they allowed themselves to be walked right outside of fellowship with the Almighty and into a pit of sin.

Some people are more easily deceived. They walk themselves right into alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, gossip, and living as their own “god”. Why would anyone who supposedly loves you not want you to seek God? Why would they want you to disobey Him? If they truly love you, wouldn’t they want you to submit yourself to God’s authority so that you can walk humbly with Him?

In the New Testament Scriptures we can see repeatedly that God used human vessels to send letters to the churches. The apostle Paul wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. He also wrote letters to Timothy, Titus (for the church in Crete), and Philemon. There were other letters, too, written by other apostles and leaders to include Simon Peter, James, John, and Jude. All of those letters were inspired by God and included in the Scriptures. Additionally, John penned the seven letters to the churches (in Asia Minor) in Revelation. So, it’s not unlike God to want to send a message to the churches through human agents especially when the leadership of those churches refuse to seek God. They seem to be comfortable leading others astray with their false teaching.

Several years ago, God had me send letters to 24 churches locally. Please understand, it wasn’t that the other churches were correct in their doctrine. The printing, envelopes, postage and time were all coming from my small fixed income or He probably would have had me send them more far and wide. In the days ahead, we will revisit those letters to the churches to examine if there has been positive changes in the local churches during that time. Each letter contained a “Mark of Excellence” doctrinal newsletter to prompt them to study the doctrines more carefully. Listen, I don’t want them to believe me. I want them to truly have their own relationship with God where they ask Him questions until their garbage theologies are gone. That’s my hope!

I hope you will join me as we take a look at the false doctrines in the churches. Will you seek God and raise your voice against the false teaching or will you sit back and be comfortable in your country-club Christianity?

The Gullible One?

I’m sorry to be so blunt but you CANNOT interpret the Scriptures correctly without hearing the voice of God!

The devil is a liar. His whole scheme is deception. If you’re reading the Bible without God present, you are going to be deceived. When you study the Bible, you must do it while listening to God teach it to you. Ask questions to Him if anything is vague. The reason why there are so many misinterpretations and bogus doctrines is because they have left God out of their study.

Look at all the variations of religions that are out there. Some pray to statues. Some pray to Mary and saints. Some pray to themselves. Listen, Christians pray with God and hear His voice. At least, that’s the expectation. Without it you are lost!

I’ve spent the last 20 years offering to teach Christians to hear God’s voice in prayer. This is the anointing that God has placed on me. I’m not a singer. I’m not a musician. I’m not a historian. I’m a child of God trying to lead others to hear His voice so that they can refute the false doctrines in the churches. It’s not complicated.

We all want Christian community. We are want to be received and loved. But it seems that it becomes all about something else when we can’t agree on doctrine. Why can’t we agree on doctrine? Seriously, God is not going to give us different answers where doctrine is concerned. If we believe different doctrines it can only be because some aren’t submitting to God’s authority and teaching when they study doctrine. It’s frustrating especially when those that teach falsely claim to hear God’s voice. Really, how long does it take to ask a question to God like “Are there three Gods?” “Is the trinity doctrine correct?” “Is there a God sitting next to another God on thrones in Heaven?” It shouldn’t take weeks or months to ask a simple question if you really hear God’s voice. How long does it take to ask “God, do you want me to remove the word ‘trinity’ from the church website?”

I’ve been more than patient, but at some point you have to believe that “they” don’t want to address these issues with God. Their seat of honor is more important than being right with God. He sees it. He’s not naive or gullible. They can fool audiences that don’t know God, but they can’t fool God.