Ideas about the Kingdom of the Heavens around us and the unity of believers in Christ within it
I have been in Christ since 1991, and have been writing about the general subject area of this site since 1996. My less relevant qualifications are: B.S. (Chemistry) and B.A. (Linguistics), 1976, Wichita State University. M.S. (Biochemistry), 1982 (course work finished in 1980), Iowa State University; J.D., 1982, University of Iowa; M.A. (History), 1984, University of Iowa; plus one year of a History Ph.D. program, 1984-1985, University of Kansas. I was employed from 1991 to 2016 as a research paralegal in a firm that handled mostly complex civil litigation, including toxic tort litigation (in which I was always involved). That firm merged with a larger litigation firm in 2016, where I have been employed ever
This guest post from One Pursuit blog is another writer’s good account of God speaking directly to us. He also makes the very good point that we too often think of “answered prayer” only as “seeing action” in the world, not as hearing his voice.
How a dream about the word “dirge” led me to recognize two of the major problems of modern Western churches: our insistence on hiding problems to preserve our “witness” rather than dealing with them in the Spirit (hypocrisy) and our one-way, “fact”-intensive teaching style.
Discipline or Correction, Emotions, End of the Churched Society, God Speaks to Us, Heresy, Historical Background, Human Rationality, Illness as a Consequence, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, The place of visions, Through others, Through the church, To live in unity
Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Hebrews 12:1-3. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves…
Read more
The restoration of my callings, after the break to pursue my own pride, was started, ironically, by the Board’s expert psychologist at a Board of Law Examiners’ hearing in December 2006–near the beginning of the four year break. He testified that my condition had been under medical control for over 20 years, and there was no reason I shouldn’t be…
Read more
He wants to talk us through doing his will, instructing us every step of the way, as we learn to trust him. He is the one with the whole picture. Learning to hear his voice and trust him is the whole point of our friendship (the word “relationship” is entirely too sterile) with him on the present earth. This is what restores his image in us. Accomplishing his work is only a by-product.
God said “yes” to my request in the year 2000 to exercise that gift. The prophecies I was given were intended to, and did, awe me into recognizing the seriousness of prophecy–and even more so as they seemingly have been fulfilled in the 20 years since.
My personal journey from a liberal church that had little belief in spiritual gifts, through local churches of various other flavors, to the point of praying for prophecy, as 1 Corinthians 14:1, 12 and 39 seemed to say was appropriate.
Eternity is not defined by time. Time is defined by eternity, and the Eternal One who created it and has an existence outside of it. God brought time, as a creative process, into his Creation out of eternity. God’s eternity, watching over all time, renders time itself a creative process, a process his children can trust to work ultimately for our good. The time that has gone before us, our own time on Earth, and the time after us to Jesus’ coming, all of history, are all a part of the same creative process that started when God created the heavens and the earth. History in its completion is an aspect of Creation and a manifestation of God.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise. To all life Thou givest, to both great and small; In all life Thou livest, the true life of all; We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, And wither and perish,…
Read more
Confusion, and the need to find what I believed around people who did not believe precisely the same things I believed, has characterized a good deal of my faith journey in Christ. I have frequently associated with churches, not because of their formal doctrinal stance, but because of the people who were there–because I felt God had called me to…
Read more