It is Written

aww ~ 11/18/13
non-subject: familiar feeling

*****

November, 2013. This morning I read the story of Adam and Eve and Jehovah Elohim and the serpent. I read it aloud, though only my ears were listening. I read as if I were reading a Cherokee tale about creation, or a Greek god tale.

My mind still tries to find ways to interpret and make the Genesis tale "accurate" and "true." As my mind ventures in that direction, I pull myself outside the story and peer into the story as if I had never been an indoctrinated true believer. When I enter that never-a-Bible-believer-fly-on-the-wall position, I am free to fly from one side to another; observing, listening, being. I don't have to make the story "fit." The story is what it is, a tale being told by an ancient human trying to make sense of the suffering and the blessing.

There was a time, before my Bible believing days, when I didn't believe the Bible to be any more special than any other religious book. At that time I didn't have to become the fly on the wall; I was the fly on the wall. At that time I didn't have to step outside myself from a recent-past decades-indoctrination of a boxed-in inerrant interpretation of scripture. At that time, in order to believe, I had to squelch my worldly senses; I had to reign in my doubt if I was going to be one with God.

November, 1977. I drove down the one way street in Hickory in route to The Way's Foundational Class, Power for Abundant Living, PFAL. I wanted to believe. I wanted to know God's will for my life. The "green card," which every PFAL student signed when the student committed to and paid for "The Class," promised I'd be able to discern truth from error. Then I would know God's will for my life.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me."

As I drove alone in my five-speed silver-gray Mercury Capri I recited those words aloud over and over and over crucifying my doubt. Those were Jesus' words. The feeling of uncertainty in my gut was just the adversary trying to trick me out of the Word.

"If ye continue in my Word, then are ye my disciples in deed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

There was only one way to know God, and that was through Jesus Christ.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you."

When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he responded with "It is written." I had to train my mind to think the Word, the Word, the Word, and nothing but the Word.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." "It is written."

Hadn't God led me to these people, Bill and Dan, who had moved to Hickory in August setting up a Way Home to move the Word? And the WOWs, Word Over the World Ambassadors, had also arrived in Hickory in August. "The Class" was being run at the WOW's apartment on 2nd Avenue.

What about the love of God I felt at that first Twig fellowship? I was uneasy at first when Bill called on people to speak in tongues and interpret, but it was decent and in order like Corinthians said speaking in tongues should be. I had experienced the harried Charismatic and Pentecostal meetings; Twig fellowship with The Way was calm. It was like God was speaking directly to Bill when Bill would run the meeting and teach.

What about how I had met Bill and Dan at the health food store when they were witnessing there to my friend Gretta? Wasn't that an answer to prayer? Gretta and I had been truth seekers together. And here we were in the PFAL class. And Janet too. One night at the bar Fast Company, I told Janet I had found the truth. She listened intently and then flushed her dope down a toilet and went to Bill and Dan's house telling them, "Carol told me about ya'll." And now we were sitting through PFAL together.

Yes; The Class, The Way, Twig Fellowships, the Way Home, WOW Ambassadors. It all had to be answers to prayer. This had to be the way back to the garden. This had to be the truth. I would not let my doubts or feelings get in the way. After all God honors believing, not feelings.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." "It is written."