My favorite ultra conservative HWA worshiping site is at it again on Yahoo. This time it's about the "spirit world." Mind you, some of these are the "good" spirits that God uses to scare the crap out of you so you stop being a wretched sinner. There is also one that is obviously demonic to him too. This guy has God intervening in his life by stealing Christmas lights off his light strings, then God throws them into the street to warn him to stop keeping Christmas. Then God smashes his ash tray to make him stop smoking. More magical thinking about a god they need to imagine that does special things just for them since they are the select few in the world.
I wonder how many of you have had experiences from the spirit world! Way back when my wife and I were first married, we had been living with my wife`s widowed grandmother for several months when we decided to buy our own home. We were both working for the same factory where we had met and we heard of this two and one half story house that was being settled by the heirs of the old woman that had died in that house and had been vacant for several months. The purchase price was $10,500 and we paid the $500 for the down payment and borrowed the rest.We would go to our newly purchased house in the evenings for house cleaning since it was in bad shape because of that woman`s age being unable to properly care for it. We would clean till late at night and then would shut off all of the lights. The next night, we found the light on on the floor lamp which I was sure that I had turned off. Then before leaving I made certain sure to shut off all lights. Then the next day, the *cellar* lights were on. This happened several times and then I felt that someone else had a key to that place and so I got a very thin wire to wire the three entrances to see which one was being used for entry. None of those wires were broken, so it had to be coming from within!! The problem finally stopped.Then when we were called into the truth and instructed that we need to get rid of all religious stuff from our walls and I didn`t believe that to be necessary and I left this only one item hanging on the wall. I had it hanging on the wall with a nail with a very large head on it to insure it not to fall! Then the next morning I found it on the carpet in pieces!! That thing was made with hard, thick, ceramic type stuff that could not break and especially when landing on the carpet!! It would likely take a hammer to break it!!Then at Christmas time I had put strings of lights on the shrubbery of the house and then the thieves would come and steal the bulbs. So we worked wiring the bulbs to the sockets. Then the next night, since they couldn`t unscrew the bulbs, they literally ripped the entire strings of bulbs off of the shrubs and strewn across the street. We finally got God`s messages!!!Then when called into the Church, I had a smoking problem and each time the minister and his assistant would come to the house to see how I was doing, I still had not quit and this went on for three years. I had smoked two packs a day for twenty years and was totally addicted. Then this one day, after the minister had left, my wife called me for dinner and as I was asking the blessing, we heard glass breaking from the living room, where I had been sitting, and this very thick astray that I had been using was in pieces!!! Then I was told, "I believe that God is trying to tell you something." I finally broke the habit after our minister, Mr. Bryce Clark told me that If I have to chain myself to the bed, I must quit smoking, and he made me quit before allowing me to attend services. Some thought that he was a bit harsh, but I credit him with not only saving my physical life but my spirit life as well. I could never have quit otherwise. We had been observing all of the Holy days, the weekly Sabbath, as well as tithing all of those three years, then with God`s help, I finally made it though I still craved a cigarette for five years after.Then one year at the feast at Niagara Falls, we were all packed packed up and was leaving and was in the outside lane of traffic this guy came barreling out of the mall and instead of staying in the inside lane, he came crashing on across into our lane and smashing against the side of our car and caused me to go over the curb. I tried chasing him because of the damage to our car but he sped away before I could catch him. I pulled off at the nearest exit to check the damage and to report it to the Niagara Falls police but after stopping and checking our car, there was not even scratch. As hard as he hit the side of our car, I couldn`t believe it!! It had to have been an angel of God who had protected us!!There have been other times that I can recall when we were protected by God, but this is getting quite lengthy!!
24 comments:
Holy Dagon Batman!!! What an inspiring story!!
"Magical Thinking" A concept that needs to be taught to chidren so they can avoid not taking responsibility in life or be taken to the cleaners mentally, emotionally or spiritually in their life experiences, by others.
I think most people can identify with those somewhat inexplicable events in life that can be viewed as supernatural, where they are or not.
In my life:
I missed a plane that was hit by a fighter Jet over Duarte California when a man asked me to stay one more day on the AC campus and try out a job. I was going to Idaho for the summer to work with a minister.
My car quit and rolled back away from an intersection as a semi blasted through the red light.
I started to fall backwards off a campus roof and felt a push back onto my feet and didn't.
I unknowingly was asking a mentally disturbed man to not attend church until he got help while he was fingering a 38 in his pocket
I had a deer rifle with a really big scope put up to my head for talking with a man about baptism when a rather angry wife showed up.
I was returning from YOU basketball with family in the dark of Cumberland Gap when a car veered head on at me. I could see the pattern in the headlights bumper to bumper with me before impact. And then there was nothing. No car, no nothing. It was gone. I now know my final life words in such an event. "Oh shit...."
I barely held on to the missing door of a Cessna 5000 feet over the Mountains in Idaho dropping backpacks to hunters by parachute. The church member guy had me push the packs out and I wanted to see the chute open. Of course he wanted to see it too so banked the plane throwing me nearly out the door save for grabbing the door jam until he could right the plane.
All this I knew was because I was in God's church and on the way to being God's minister. Now I realize it was so I could be a massage therapist and teach it.
Ha, ha! Very funny, Dennis. I wonder why these idiots think that the Armstrong god was so concerned about their Christmas lights, their habit of smoking, etc, but he's not concerned about the stalkers in the one true church, or dirty old men who like to fondle breasts of young girls at services, thieving, lying, incestuous, drunken "laymen" and "ministers", members such as Charlie of Seattle who went into a rage and murdered other church members, or Terry Ratzmann who blew away a half dozen or so church members at church? But, hey, don't put up those fuckin Christmas lights or smoke those god damn cigarettes!!!
And on September 11, 2001, every last UCG member made it out of the Twin Towers before they fell.
The answer: Final Destination V!
"And on September 11, 2001, every last UCG member made it out of the Twin Towers before they fell."
Probably got a call from the Israelis as a way of thanking them for UCG support of the chosen people.
Time to chose someone else
M.T. Towers
I choose not one, but two for my coming bile:
UCG and CoG Worldwide Ass.
There are a lot of miracle stories out there that happen to folks not in anyway associated with armstrongism.
When something special like that happens we want to associate it with some special purpose attritibuted to ourselves. Bit of a mistake that.
I believe that miracles happen, but I'm coming to think it is not because of me but because of someone or something else.
Miracles or coincidences?
The Universe is full of them.
You'd almost conclude that the Universe is ever so slightly biased in our favor.
"You'd almost conclude that the Universe is ever so slightly biased in our favor."
I've noticed that in some marvelously and seemingly miraculous things that have happened in my own life. But, there have been other times when calamity of one sort or another also happened. So far, not fatal or particularly catastrophic. Reality tells me my luck will inevitably run out and I will die someway and somehow, just like everyone else.
Superstition can easily enter in and don't we all like to think we are somehow special and that some "power" is looking out for us? The people who got on the plane that crashed don't have the chance to feel that way. They're dead! In what way or for what reason were they denied special treatment or intervention? Were their "guides" or "angels" on a break? Were they just not as important or special?
I'd really like to believe that something or someone from another dimension is somehow helping me along my journey and there have been times when I really felt that was a fact. I'm not prepared to start declaring it as a certainty, but I do appreciate those times when things worked out really well, no matter how that came to be.
All I'm certain about is that the "god" people usually attribute their good fortune to is a construct of their and other people's imaginations. El Elyon, Yahweh (two of the Elohim) and Jesus are no more real than Zeus or Apollo.
Should there be a spirit realm of some sort, spirit guides, etc., I'll just bide my time to find out when I depart this mortal existence. Nobody is going to scare me into endorsing anything prior to that moment. So, don't threaten me with damnation or anything else dire. We have enough cocksure fools out there saying and writing bombastic and ludicrous thngs. I don't need to add to the mix, and neither does anyone else.
Well, Dennis, I've got my own collection of similar incidents. One or two happened before WCG, a couple during, and a bunch after. Most WCG people would have questions about the ones that happened after I left the org. In their world view, that just wouldn't compute.
I've tried to make some sense of all of them, because the last time I counted the times when I most surely should have died, and was nanoseconds away from exactly that, there were over twenty of them, including being caught in a propane explosion in 1992, after which I didn't have so much as a singed hair! Apparently, I also must have closed my eyes, and ceased breathing precisely when needed to avoid damage to my lungs and eyes.
What I've come up with is this: God sees us as we'll eventually become. He is loving and merciful to us even while we are in a prodigal state, keeping us alive so that He can accomplish His purpose in our lives. My love for God really deepened when I realized how lovingly He cared for me perhaps especially during the time period during which I was alienated from Him.
I marvel, knowing my past journeys, every time I kneel in prayer, or eagerly pick up my Bible to learn more about God and His ways. Anyone who knew me well over the past thirty years would just freak if they were aware of such a profound change.
BB
I can honestly say there have been amazing things which could be accounted as "miracles". I appreciate them deeply. There have been a lot of them, particularly lately.
Nevertheless, there is never 100% consistency. Some nasty things still occur. Again, the Universe seems to be slightly -- ever so very slightly in the scheme of things -- to be biased in favor of us, else we wouldn't exist, what with over 30 precise universe settings, if changed, would mean that life as we know it would not exist at all. Things like gravity constants, wave propagation, interchange of energy and matter, speed of light, Plank's constant, Boyle's Law and even the precise tilt of the earth's axis (Mars and Venus? Not so "lucky") all add up to not just survival, but some extras. Even "natural disasters" often are not as bad as they cold have been and seem to usually have some "damper" on them (just watch the Syfy channel on "disaster movie night). Could be worse, folks.
I can offer no pragmatic reasons and have only suspicions of what is going on -- suspicions in which I have faith, but could never prove.
Still, man made disasters, like 9/11/2001, are oft most terrible, with no mercy whatsoever.
Well, it's always most dramatic when there are occurrences which defy the laws of physics, but such occurrences are highly personal, and are not always convincing when we share them. Unfortunately, we can often contaminate apparent miracles with our own agendas rather than allowing them to simply speak for themselves.
The fact is, there are any number of downward spirals which could destroy us if allowed to continue to conclusion, not just accidents!
Poverty, depression, unemployment,
being caught in criminal acts, natural disasters,addiction, personality defects and mental illness, being the victim of perennial abuse, lack of education (or even basic intelligence or common sense!) are all part of the human experience, and can result in personal destruction. In this general category of destructive spiral, other humans can render assistance, but in other cases, seemingly circumstances suddenly have a way of changing, in a providential manner similar to what Dennis and I were outlining with potentially terminal accidents.
I have no problem with Whom I credit for the solutions in my life, but personal experience is all subjective, and therefore subject to wide disparity in interpretation.
BB
"personal experience is all subjective, and therefore subject to wide disparity in interpretation."
That's the key -- interpretation. What one sees as a miraculous intervention, another will see as a fortunate random happenstance probably involving natural laws not apparent or understood at the time.
Speaking of magical things, imagine the shock when I read some of my postings here on today's blog entry that I had written last June!
Must be the spirit world for sure!
Douglas:
I bumped the blog entry up because it has been getting a lot of hits lately. Must be all those Armstrongites looking for a reason to hate Christmas lights.
You always hear stories about wind pushing someone back from falling off a rooftop- but never someone who has already fallen being levitated back up onto the roof, or cliff-top.
You hear stories about cars rolling over railroad tracks or steering wheels turning at the last minute. But you never hear about cars being levitated to safety.
You hear stories about cancer regressing, but never a single one about a missing finger regrowing.
There are countless stories of humans missing, at the last minute, boarding a doomed plane, but never, ever, a story about a passenger being slowly lowered to safety after falling from an exploded plane.
I could say the same about men in combat, industrial accidents, and on and on. The thread that binds all these tales of miracles is the complete absence of any irrefutable supernatural events. I don't mean to belittle them, but just to point out that highly improbable natural events happen all the time. A man could flip a coin fifty times and have it land on the same side in the same manner and say "Wow! What are the odds!" But say the man was flipping this coin in order to save his life and the he will say, "The hand of God, indeed!"
In regards to overt supernatural miracles versus the ones described here, I am sure that some will say, "much too vulgar a display of power," as said the demon in "The Exorcist." But the fact that God is so remarkably subtle as to appear as nothing more than a natural occurrence should, for crying out loud, cause intelligent humans to pause and think about it.
Paul Ray
"More magical thinking about a god they need to imagine that does special things just for them since they are the select few in the world."
No different from many personal testimonies I have heard from Enlightened Christians concerning their God intervening in their own lives.
"Well, it's always most dramatic when there are occurrences which defy the laws of physics, but such occurrences are highly personal, and are not always convincing when we share them."
I can't properly describe just how and why this statement is incredibly disingenuous and offensive to me. Once again Bob makes a bold assertion but quickly, weasel-like, attaches several conditions to his assertion to explain why his assertion will not be accepted.
Isn't it strange that these incredible supernatural events are always "highly personal" and "not always convincing?" Why should they be? Once again, let's use our heads, people. Think about it.
Paul Ray
I have had a number of near miss/near death saves that are somewhat inexplicable. I used to attribute it to God saving me to be one of his true ministers and enjoy the protection that goes with such things.
However: I have concluded that God was saving me to be a massage therapist.
:)
You know, the interesting thing is that you actually should be able to wish an ACOGger "Happy Holidays", and not have him or her become indignant, offended, or concerned that you are "deceived".
Why? Well, John 10:22-23 establishes a certain setting in the "Festival of Dedication" (Hannukah), and we find Jesus in Solomon's court, either celebrating, or evangelizing the Jews. No mention of it being unsanctioned, or (gasp!) pagan.
This would have been a real good opportunity for Jesus to blast the Pharisees about things added to the law, if that were the case, but He makes no comments along those lines.
My guess would be that HWA didn't want his followers celebrating any holidays at all during the "Christmas" season, especially the type in which you might be giving presents to family and fellow believers rather than "God's True Church."
BB
A few years ago a woman was paddling a canoe down a river in northern Wisconsin. When she passed a tree that had been partially gnawed through by beavers, it fell as if guided by a supernatural hand and smashed her skull. The news story about her death quoted the County Sheriff saying something to the effect that it certainly is hard sometimes to figure out why God chooses to do what He does.
Letters poured in to our local paper from irate believers condemning the officer for attributing a purely accidental fatality to God. Everyone is supposed to know, apparently, that God miraculously intervenes in natural events only to save people from death, not to condemn them to it. He always deserves credit, never blame.
Well Rex, it just goes to show that an 80 year old man has allowed himself to swallow the lies and mythical beliefs of Herbert Armstrong. He also carries a heavy whip to whip anyone into his perceived mindset that legalism is godly. His craziness is not godly at all. I say shame on him for not having the sense to wake up and reject the nonsense.
I'm on the same forum and did not have to lie to get on it nor does anyone else I have been on it for years just to see what my crazy relatives keep believing. What I have learned over the years is that Armstrongism continues to sink deeper and deeper into stupidity!
Those evil rotten Armstrongites who deserve all the bitterness aimed at them, all of them men, women and children. All of them evil and rancid like bear toe jam.
a few years ago I was paddling my canoe up the river by my house and all of a sudden a big bear jumped in and licked my face.
He didn't eat me and that was a miracle.
I did wet my pants though and it was also a miracle I didnt get chaffed.
I did get diaper rash though.
Hi Alice! Remember me from school?
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