Last October an article was written, shared online at the Isaiahic Commission Blog. It was originally written and completed on October 23rd, 2014, as evidenced by the screenshot here presented. As you will see by a detailed examination of the screenshot, I do not deceive but speak the truth. There are pronouncements made therein that, by the ensuing events (known to those who have perpetrated them) have proven to be prophetic in nature. From the point of the original presentation to the precipitous culmination of the aforementioned events the span of time stands in approximation to one human gestation period (from conception to birth, in other words).The events here mentioned have been, in their particularity, neither known, expected, conceived of, nor executed by me, but have been executed upon me, as though punishing me for an offense supposedly committed against others by me. Yet what have I truly done, except answer a call from God, reporting on the same in these pages? Not one thing. In relation to this controversy I have committed no sin, nor have I contemplated doing so. Yet, by the actions of those who would call themselves my dearest and most trustworthy friends, I stand falsely accused of same.
God does not do things according to accepted human norms, because accepted human norms far too often stand in direct opposition to and violation of God. He, therefore, pays no attention to them, but listens, instead, to His own counsel. The details of such arguments have been previously presented in these very pages, so I will not go into them yet again, here. If you would see them read the blog.
Shortly after the presentation of the article in question, I was told that, in spring I would be moving on. There are many ways for such a thing to be fulfilled, well beyond a simple change of address. In the midst of spring several things happened that could be applied to that premonition—indeed to that prophetic word. In the fourth month, on the sixth day of the month in the fourteenth year of my solo sojourn, rather than rail against the withholding of a particular gift, I wrote in expectant thanksgiving for it. In the sixth month, on the twenty-sixth day of the month words written to me were Spiritually echoed to me in reference to the gift spoken of in the aforementioned article, but those words would not adhere to accepted human norms, and so, the echo of them was completely and totally discounted by those who refused to consider their true source, those words not, as one might think or expect, referring to an object, but to a person.
That offhand rejection notwithstanding, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the fourteenth year of my solo sojourn an email was sent to me—without any prior knowledge or expectation on my part—with a recording attached to it, that recording being a performance of the fourth month writing by the very person referred to by the sixth month echo so wantonly rejected by those who refuse to hear.
I have examined my correspondences, and that examination yielded nothing of me having described that writing to the performer of the recording, that same recording having been publicly released online that same day (in spite of my affixed copyright, and without my permission, because the performer has known me as a friend) and accompanying the recording, the following words attended in description of the writing, thus: “it resonates with me.”
So, the Lord speaks to me of a gift; that gift turns out to be not a thing, but a person; in anticipation that a gift is going to be given, I write in thanksgiving for that gift; having no knowledge, from me, regarding that gift (much less the nature of it) the subject of that divine communique records and publicly releases a performance of that writing, saying, “it resonates with me.” Ponder that. Ponder that.
I stand in expectation and obedience to the command given in the words of that echo and here grant an encore presentation of the aforementioned article as testimony against those who, by their own actions, have falsely accused me.
On the Matter of Gifts
Gifts can be a problem—a real problem in your life.Whether through the giving, or the receiving of them, they can be a real problem.
You might wander what I’m talking about, here. Well, I can assure you that I am speaking about a very real problem, here.
Most of the time, a gift is easily dealt with: you kindly and graciously accept it, and you move on in life. Take, as an example, the Weeping Macaw pictured at right. What you see here is a trace, for presentation purposes.
The original is a painting on marble. I didn’t ask for it, but someone thought enough of me, and my service to the homeless and the veterans down in Springfield, Missouri, that it was presented to me as a gift. It has not been an easy thing to carry about, but it was presented to me as a gift by someone who appreciated me, and it is not an impossible, or inappropriate, burden.
Many years, in fact decades, ago, when I was yet a youth, I sought to present a gift to someone that I very greatly appreciated, and I was deeply wounded and heartbroken when it was rejected. When my gift was rejected I felt as if I was also being rejected, and it took a great deal of time and care and effort to show me that that was not the case at all, but that the gift was not allowable.
In such a case, when a gift is not something that you want, or is something that you feel you cannot receive and still be proper, you have a problem. You have to decide which of several concepts is the more important to you.
This perplexity has been presented to me, and I now present it to you, confident that the One who has presented the problem to me has done so in order that I would present it and reason it out with you.
You see the capitalization in the foregoing sentence, so I feel that I don’t really need to loudly announce who it is that has presented this problem to me, but let me say this: that I have been going about, filled with concern and doubt and trepidation for my soul and the life of one who has become very important to me; that they not be led astray—particularly not by one as wanton as I have been known to be—and that I not be led astray, for I have known what I can be.
The presentation of the problem was so shockingly and stunningly simple and direct, and yet in such an unexpected way as to send me reeling along this journey of self-examination and the increasing of the self-doubt already so extant: “Will you accept or reject my gift?”
Even as I write this, some peace has yet returned, for my answer, crude, and ungainly, and fallenness-filled, and trepidatious, yet fervent, and sincere, and disbelievingly hopeful, and, still, in its usual format for such prayers, has gone up.
It is exceedingly difficult to “word out” such a prayer, and I did not even want to give over the space to do so here, but have been ever so gently rebuked in the spirit, so let me simply share the general outline, here: “If this be not of You, then take it away; but if it is of You, then I accept it with all the joy in my heart.” In the past His reaction has always been the same, but has never been preceded by that question, above.
There are, truly, so many relationships, and hearts, and friendships, and expectations, and facets here involved, that the importance of this cannot be overstated, and must needs not be understated.
Certainly there are some who will take this on a more personal level than most would take it, and the importance of that level is not lost on me, but if this question was uttered to me by God, then it is God to whom I must answer, and that is the importance to which I appeal, and to which I must appeal, for there is no one more important to me than God.
Most assuredly, there are innumerable people who lay claim to what I utter here only to make excuses for their own sin, and it is also not lost on me that such is precisely what I have, in the past, been repeatedly accused of by those who, truly, are only making excuses for the sins of women against God and men, executed for the sake of their own wanton lusts and hateful indifference to the fates of the souls of men who suffer, unaided, through the periphery of the lives of those who see life as their own personal beauty pageant.
My heart has been on display for this entire issue, and if you cannot read that then you cannot read. I cannot afford concern for those accusations from such enemies of God; I must concern myself with God.
Whenever anyone is presented with a gift that sends them into such flights of caution and self-examination, are they not considering the source of that presented gift? Is that not the very first thing, in fact, to do? Is that not, indeed, part and parcel of the determination of that presentation as a gift and not a trap? Surely Satan has his pinions in, but God, the scissors that will trim!
When a fellow, fallen sinner is the source or avenue of such a presentation, then it is simpler than when the presentation or exchange is only on the spiritual level, for there you have something concrete to rest your reason on.
Surely in the physical exchange you can still be tricked, and you should stay on guard against such an event, but when the practiced, physical senses are not involved Satan has more leeway and more tools at his disposal and less of our practiced, experiential certainty with which to contend.
You must first discern the source—and take care in doing so, for where the Spiritual Realm is concerned, souls are concerned, and for those souls to which you do harm, God will require the blood of them from your hand. It is that serious—so take it that way.
Only once you have discerned the source can you move on to the weightier matters, for then you must face where your heart truly lays, and that might be no pleasant proposition, for each of us hides skeletons in the dark, for none of us is yet in heaven. Yes, even the most foul, wretched, disgusting filths among us are still ashamed at something—and hide it.
This process will free those skeletons and expose your sin to you, but who do you love more: your sin, or your God? You cannot live with both, you know. You cannot live with both. In the end, and for all eternity, you will have either one or the other. You will not hold both. Scripture tells us that you will have the desires of your heart. But are those desires for God, or for unrighteousness? In the end, you will not hold both.
Now we move to something more serious, something far more grave: Whom do you desire to offend?
Let that sit and bristle for a while, for when you face a presentation such as this, if it be from God there will be offense, for there will be those who think themselves right and true who will not be prepared for where they will find themselves regarding you.
For your own part, let it not be that you actually desire to offend anyone. But whom are you least willing to offend? Years ago I released a recording titled, “Marriage Matters More”, so I ask you: to you, truly, who matters more, God or men?
Do not think that you will not face that choice because God will not share you with the enemy, but will have you to Himself, and any who oppose His will are, in fact, His enemy. Be not His enemy!
Recall, in the fifth paragraph of this article, how I felt when my gift was rejected. Is this not how God feels when His gift is rejected? And He truly knows the heart!!! As I wrote above, “be not His enemy”; do not reject the gift of God.
For my own part, I have done the safest thing I know how. I have exposed my heart to Him; my desires are known. I have not grasped at it with a clenched fist, but have, with open hand, lain it back in His, saying, “Thy will be done!”, hoping against hope that He will lay it back in mine, but acquiescing to His will, and not insisting upon mine, because trusting Him in some things means trusting Him in all.
He is a most loving and gracious God, and He is most serious on the matter of gifts.
