Using possibilities to Prophesy?

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I had been bamboozled into believing that my own human intuition was somehow prophetic, or could produce a "word of knowledge" from god. But I realized over time that intuition is simply that. A person anticipates the need using logic and intuition, and then thinks God is telling them something.

So, a "prophetic word" from a prominent minister, David Wilkerson, is put to the test. He recently made a statement that people in the Christian community might consider prophetic:

A respected pastor, best-selling author and founder of a major ministry to teens predicts an imminent "an earth-shattering calamity" centered in New York City that will spread to major urban areas across the country and around the world – part of what he sees as a judgment from God.

David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book about his ministry to troubled New York street kids that was later made into a movie starring Pat Boone, tells readers of his blog this weekend that he is "compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message" about his prediction.

"An earth-shattering calamity is about to happen," he writes. "It is going to be so frightening, we are all going to tremble – even the godliest among us."

Wilkerson's vision is of fires raging through New York City.

"It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires – such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago," he explains. "There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting – including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" ...

"God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations," claims Wilkerson. "He is destroying the secular foundations." Wilkerson urges everyone to stockpile a 30-day supply of food and other necessities to deal with the catastrophe he foresees.

"I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off," Wilkerson concluded in his message. "I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose."

So let's take a look at this. First, Wilkerson states that the Holy Spirit "compelled" him to make these statements. And that the current recession is part of a judgment of God. This is a common tactic of well-known ministers, by the way - to claim that God is judging the world, or the United States, or an individual. For everything from greediness, to abortion, to homosexuality. Wilkerson isn't really clear this time on WHAT we're being judged for, but maybe it's because we voted a democrat into office. We may never know - I'm sure it's whatever it is that Wilkerson thinks is wrong about the country this time.

Then he makes several prophecies - that there will be fires, and looting in major cities.

Historically, when people are unemployed and/or desperate, these things begin to happen. So is this prophecy or just Mr. Wilkerson's assumption, based on his intuition - when a recession or depression hits, people become disaffected. Riots and looting in major urban areas can increase. It's simply history. The more desperate people become, the more violence increases. And, the more disaffected the Fundamentalist, the more frightening and judgmental their "prophetic utterances" become.

Like the scary warnings back in 1999, the age of the Y2K scares, this one again warns people to stock up on supplies. After all, the local grocery might not be available if all hell breaks loose. Oh, but wait - this isn't all hell breaking loose - according to Wilkerson, it is all HEAVEN breaking loose. It is GOD'S judgment.

It's fascinating to me that these people will explain away their vicious old testament God by saying that Jesus came, and now we're in the "age of grace," so that God of the old days, who let the ground swallow up 10,000 people just because one of their family members stole a valuable cup, doesn't do that kind of stuff anymore. He's a God of "love."

But then, here comes the judgment of God again. What is this guy, loving or mean? Pick one. But be careful, you might just get the one that turns into a giant flyswatter and squashes you like a bug for voting for Obama. Or supporting a homosexual's right to marry, or whatever the particular signature sin is in the particular year.

So, is Wilkerson "prophecying," or is he simply making an assumption about the rough times we ALL know are ahead, and attributing them somehow to some collective sin? And why does his god seem so schizophrenic?

Backlash against Atheist placards in public places

I guess "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is one of those commandments you can break:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/05/atheists.christmas/?iref=mpstoryview

Prop 8 musical - good fun

Proposition 8, The Musical

Speaking in Tongues

Yes, I spoke in tongues.

When I was a teen, I got involved with a group called Teens for Christ in my town, and it happened that most of the leadership and the kids were from a local Assemblies of God church - this is when I went from being a Baptist kid to a Pentecostal kid, much to the chagrin of my mother, who thought pentecostals (pew jumpers, she called them) were about a thread away from non-Christians. She allowed them to be in the fold in her mind, but they stayed on the peripherals. To her, Pentecostals and Charismatics were not focused on Jesus, but on emotions.

I always questioned that - did God give us our emotions? Then why in the world were we supposed to suppress them? Getting "emotional" in my neck of the Central Midwest was apparently too showy. We were tough - we didn't show our emotions outside the family, and rarely within it. I was a fish out of water, being the emotional creature I was.

Because of this - and in spite of my mother's warnings, I began to study about these "emotional" things. So many of these leaders I loved and respected believed in the "gifts of the Spirit," such as tongues, prophesy, words of knowledge, etc., I sought after them. I remember crying and struggling at special meetings, asking God to take control of my tongue so I could speak in this spiritual language (I remember thinking other people did sound silly when they did it, or like they were babbling, but it still seemed like a real experience for many).

I saw people who spoke in tongues, and had tears pouring down their faces, as if they were having a real experience with God. This bothered me, as scripture seemed to say that if you didn't have an interpretation of the tongues, you should be doing it in the privacy of your own home and not in public where others might just be confused by the whole thing. (My paraphrase)

I also thought it was strange, as my scripture seemed to say that the tongues that the disciples got were actual languages, which they used to preach to people of other languages and dialects, though they themselves did not know what they were saying. So I was taught that there were "two types" of tongues - that kind (the other languages, which nobody I ever met had ever done) and this other kind (the spiritual tongue, between you and God - the "tongues of men AND angels", as 1 Corinthians 13 mentions briefly).

While the interpretations still niggled at me and were bothersome to my intelligence, I was properly brainwashed, and desperately sought from God that I would be able to speak in that "heavenly language." An evangelist I loved used the word "glossolalia" - which means speaking in tongues - and being fascinated with words, I was hooked.

So, I prayed and struggled, and cried. And finally one night, I was just told "let go - stop struggling" - so I did, and I opened my mouth and began to speak syllables that I had not heard before. I was so elated that I began to cry (which people took for me being touched by the Spirit). I repeated the same "phrase" many times, but figured more of it would come in time - though deep down, I doubted and kicked myself for doubting. Of course I began to have "more words." Anyone who practices something will show growth. Over the years, it niggled at me a lot, that doubt that I was saying anything at all real, but I continued to pray "in tongues" especially when I was totally out of words to pray in English. God didn't seem to be listening to me much in English, so I figured maybe the Spirit would get better results.

I remember listening to myself at times, and thinking, "This is just babble," but I chalked that up to the enemy trying to instill doubt in me and kept on going. I remember feeling guilty that prayer in tongues often led to me feeling sleepy, or that another part of my mind would be putting together the grocery list or worrying at some other problem at the same time.

I was also interested in othe gifts that were mentioned, such as prophecy and words of knowledge. I myself was known, when in ministry, to give words of knowledge to people. Most of the time, it was just very insightful advice - it SEEMED like it was from God, because it DID fit the person's situation. But examining it myself, I realized that it would have fit nearly any situation of a person in the same type of need. All it took was reading the cues.

For example, there was one woman in our church who came to church every Sunday, but her husband did not. He also had heart problems, and she would request prayer for for him often. He was a nice guy, and she loved him very much, but she worried about his heart and his weak relationship with God. One day she was up at the altar praying. I just knew what she was praying for - I thought it was God, when I went to her and said, "Honey, no matter how much you pray for God to take that from him and give it to you, because you're stronger, He won't do that. You're not Jesus. You can't be his Savior."

That is just what she wanted (and maybe needed) to hear, and it actually helped her not to be struggling so much about it. But it was all purely psychological intuition on my part. So I'm good at reading people. That's why I'm in the mental health field. It's intuition.

So, I went this way for a long time, but right about the time I talked to that woman, I was starting to NOT believe what I was teaching anymore. I was listening to the "tongues" and it sounded like a lot of babble. I heard "shandala" a lot - must be a good babble word. I heard it from a LOT of people. Could we ALL be speaking the same stuff? Did that prove that it was God, or that we were just all learning to babble better?

Oddly, since my de-conversion, and now identifying as a naturalist (I don't care for atheist as it still defines me in religious terms, but I suppose it's the best word), I could still walk into any charismatic church and let loose with a string of 'tongues' that everyone would believe was God. I could probably give you a good interpretation, too, though it would be even more fun to allow someone else to give it. Why? Because anyone can "babble" out what sounds like a language. Check out the hot girl on the movie The Fifth Element. She babbles quite nicely, and it sounds like SOMETHING.

When I was a teenage, my stepfather once mocked speaking in tongues (while mocking me) and said he should go in and speak in his other language (he was raised Amish, so spoke Pennsylvania Dutch, a german dialect) and pretend it was tongues. I remember being SO offended by that.

I could give a "word of knowledge" with very little to go on - why? Intution - paying attention to words, body language, emotion.

Any of it - from tongues, to prophecy, to words of knowlege, all of that ephemeral stuff that flits in and flits out - can be faked - and done by a non-believer. Yes, folks, this non-believer can still speak in tongues. Easily, and sounding just like I did back then. I could still give "words of knowledge" to people if I wanted as well.

Guess those things must be "of the devil" now?

More Christianity and Constitutional Law

In discussions with various people on the recent passing of Proposition 8 in California, I've seen numerous opinions, most very strong. Proposition 8, as a reminder, overturned a Judicial move to allow gay marriage in California. Prop 8 was a popular vote issue, bent on taking the judicial decision back down. And it did.

I've heard some people say, "Well, it's the majority, and the majority wins." These are usually the religious folks who are okay with the fact that the Mormon church funded most of the scare ads that fueled voter turnout to support Proposition 8.

I've heard other people say, "We need to do anything with love. Be nice. Spoon feed the ignorant. Learn their bible and talk to them about it.

But honestly, has that done much up until now?

The issue here is that, when people are stuck in a certain mindset, as is the case with the people who oppose the civil rights of the gay community, we don't have time to "feed them with a spoon and a fork" any more than being nicey nice to the slaveowners made them want to give up slavery. They justified it by the Bible. Jesus Himself said that slaves were to obey their masters.

In the same way, while we can point out people's errors in interpreting their own scriptures, and while it does actually help to KNOW said scriptures, the focus needs to be on the LAW. Abolitionists didn't help end slavery by saying, "Oh dear Mr. Slaveowner, please, in all human kindness, let those people go." No, they did it by being activists. By shouting down the dissenters and by appealing to constitutional law.

The law is not always upheld by Popular Vote. Hence the reason we HAVE a judicial branch of government. That is why what was done in California is so reprehensible. It allowed popular vote to overturn the very consitution that is supposed to protect the rights of individual citizens.

Civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King, believed in peaceful protest. But they believed in PROTEST. And violence sometimes came of those protests. They did not say, "Please white majority, won't you out of the kindness of your hearts, allow us equal rights?" No, they sat at lunch counters they weren't allowed to sit at, and rode busses they weren't supposed to ride in the front of, and marched in protest.

There comes a time when we need to "speak softly and carry a big stick." I rarely see a point anymore in trying to appeal to extreme fundamentalists through scripture reading. They're just going to have to be mad when we appeal to the LAW, which states in effect that they are not allowed to enforce their religious beliefs on people through government. If they don't like it, well tough freakin cookies. Sometimes we need to stop pandering and just tell it like it is. sometimes we need to STOP speaking softly and start shouting. Growing enough numbers to finally be able to shout down the bigots can actually work better than kind discourse.

The Logic of Christianity

When I was growing up in the church, especially as an adult, I began to ask a lot of questions. I would ask one, and probably get an answer, which wouldn't really answer my question fully, but would lead to another question. The person I was answering would be increasingly frustrated until they would finally just get annoyed and tell me how rebellious I was, or they would hint that I was just purposely being difficult.

I wondered if it was my presentation until I heard another person talking about it on a great forum I've been to, De-conversion.com.

He said he asked a lot of questions, too, until

"...they essentially threw up their hands and assumed I must just be acting willfully difficult."

Another person, in responding, said that you have to understand something. In the Christian mindset:

Christianity has all the answers to the questions that are important. If we do not have the answer, it must not be important. If it is not important, then making it important is divisive. Divisiveness is wrong. Therefore asking questions we do not have the answers to is wrong.

I thik that sums it up.

Tiger Saves

A friend sent me this picture, and I found it amusing :)