Revival is Coming

Picture, if you will, October 21, 2007. I had just recently joined the PC-USA. I was sitting in my cousin's church in the evening. Suddenly, I felt the Holy Spirit of God impress upon me to write four very simple words. "Speak, I am listening." That was it, nothing more. Just "Speak, I am listening."  I don't remember anything else. I don't remember the words I wrote after that, I remember hearing my cousin preach; but even now the sound of his voice was that of the teacher from Charlie Brown. 


After writing those four simple words, I went on to write two pages about the state of the church. Three very short years later, the PC-USA would affirm full inclusion. It is now 2019; and I had tucked the paper back in my Book of Worship for safe-keeping a few years ago; last week I found the paper and the writing on it. I want to share that paper with you today. It won't change your mind--I don't want it too. You may think I am crazy because I can hear the voice of God speak; that is fine. However, I feel like, while yes, it was for a time such as my time in the PC-USA; it was brought back into my life again for my time in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

Speak, I am listening: 

The church is in need of revival, but before I can revive it, my people must themselves be restore, refreshed, built up and encouraged. That can't be give in a church where I am not completely wanted. 

My Original Copy Page 1

Many say "Father, come, we want revival and a great ministry-the are interested in numbers and not truth. May say "Bless our church" yet they do not bless others. Many pray for revival, just not within their congregations. They don't want to change for me. They want me to change and conform to their standards. Malachi 3:6a "For I am the Lord, I do not change."  Hebrews 13: 8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."
My church needs to learn this before they teach revival. The church isn't a building, it's the people, as long as my people are corrupt, my church will be corrupt. 

The flesh is corruption, as long as my people do things themselves, I can not work. Galatian 5:19 "The sins of the flesh, the practices include sexual immorality, anger, jealousy, envy, drunkenness and the like." Now, I, know my people experience these things, but it's the sins that comes from the action of these desires--the fulfillment. 

My people don't want my instruction, they want only to call on me when they need me. What of when I am not needed? Does not the blind man feel his way around his home as not to knock over things?
I say to many, I am willing to refresh and restore you, are you willing to change for me? 
Think, ask yourself, are you willing to allow me to come into your life and change you? Are you willing for me to revive you, to refresh you?

Original Copy Page 2

Pray, continue to ask for my refreshing to overflowing; my cup overflows. 

Imagine the wanders that could happen if my church would conform to me and my teaching. A generation can be change, a generation ca lead a revival and will lead it, but the generation must be reached and encouraged to lead. 

My Children, you are the generation who will change, but you must believe, conform and build up. You need each other, neglect not your brothers and sisters, they too need you to survive. 

Many will read these words and they will scoff, they will mock me. To them I say "please do, in that way I have never been more like Christ and I am as you do this." John 15:18-19 states "“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." 

To my brothers and sisters, I remind you all of John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." 

Rent Free

It is often said "Holding a grudge is letting someone live in your head rent-free." When we put it that way, holding a grudge sounds horrible. Yet daily we hear people say "I will never forget this or that." People are letting someone have control over a part of their life and don't see that it's not hurting the one they are holding resentment against, matter of fact, it's hurting us. Tonight I found out that someone is still holding on to resentment over something I did. When I found out about it, I actually laughed at the fact because it was so silly.

Almost ten years ago, I had a friend purchase a bottle of wine and give it to me as a gift. When I moved out of my parents house, I took the wine with me. A couple of years later, I had a dinner guest and we drank the wine. I gave the friend the remaining wine and after she was finished I got my bottle back because it was a nice bottle. When the person who thought they should get the bottle of wine found out they got angry. Well tonight it was brought up again, and it's been nearly 5 years since I drank the bottle of wine.

Normally I don't post the teachings of non-Christians, but I really think Buddha was on to something, he supposedly said "That anger (resentment) is like holding on to a hot coal to throw at someone; yet you are the one who gets burned!"

Even the Bible states in Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from your along with all malice. Leviticus 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You see we can't hold a grudge over anything; in fact by holding a grudge or holding onto resentment we are not allowing God to freely work in our lives. Instead we are allowing only anger and hatred to be a part of our lives. I feel sorry for the person who holding on to their resentment over a bottle of wine; it's really sad. Yet they aren't hurting me, they are hurting themselves and that is the saddest thing of all.

Tonight my prayer is that God will allow me to continue to be a person who forgives and forgets; that just as He no longer remembers my sins and they are as far removed as the east is from the west that I can be that kind of person.

Yoga: Untold Spiritual Truths

More and more people, including Christians are embracing yoga. Many embrace it because they feel that it is nothing more than a fancy form of stretching. Very few will ever take a chance to actually research and study for themselves what yoga actually is. Normally I wouldn't care if someone wanted to practice yoga, unfortunately, I have had a lot on my mind these past few weeks when I start seeing friends and their families embracing yoga I would cringe.

So I decided to speak with some of my friends who are Hindu to inquire as to what Yoga is. Needless to say I was a bit surprised when I found out that real yoga isn't what they teach at the YMCA or your local gym, these are ansana--poses that are used to invite the "divine" into your life--by the way the divine that you are inviting in could be one or more of 330 million gods. 

Now I already know what many people are thinking "Rai, whatever you write doesn't matter because I am going to continue going to my Saturday yoga class." That is fine, but my heart wouldn't be allowed rest if I didn't at least let you know what yoga is in all actuality. 

First off, let's start with the word Yoga. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root word “yug,” which literally means to yoke or unite. This union is not referring to your fingers touching your toes or your nose reaching your knees. It's also not referring to the union of mind and body, although, this is commonly repeated within the yoga community. The union that the word yoga is referring to is that of uniting individual consciousness (our individual experience of reality) with Divine consciousness (the essence of truth as perceived when we quiet our five senses and reconnect with the Supreme Self within). When practitioners of yoga greet one another they literally use a greeting (Namaste) that says "the divine in me, bows to the divine in you." If you think that you can use yoga only for physical training and not be affected by its spiritual side, you are wrong. You are wrong if you believe the many websites and teachers in the West who declare that yoga is just a harmless physical exercise. The Bible warns of such spiritual seduction: ““Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”” (1 TIMOTHY 4:1).

Let’s look at this from a purely logical point of view. First of all, anyone who truly understands yoga (such as a Hindu) will tell you that yoga positions were neverdesigned to be exercises. They were designed to do one of two things – worship one of more than three million Hindu gods and/or facilitate the flow of prana (life force energy) through the body. As Fr. Pacwa states in his book, Catholics and the New Age, ” . . . (H)indus did not devise these exercises for athletic limbering or muscle building. All were meant to lead the practitioner to enlightenment and awareness of his or her inner divinity.” (pg. 33).

Many yoga postures are named after things found in nature. Animal-named poses range from cobra, eagle to cat, including animals of several different families. In his pastoral instruction on the New Age,  A Call to Vigilance: Pastoral Instruction on New Age, Bishop Carerra writes: “However much proponents insist that these techniques are valuable as methods, and imply no teaching contrary to Christianity, the techniques in themselves . . . in their own context, the postures and exercises, are designed for their specific religious purpose. Even when they are carried out within a Christian atmosphere, the intrinsic meaning of these gestures remains intact.”

So even if you think you’re stretching your back, if you’re using the Sun Stretch to do so, whether you intend to or not, you’re still posing in a position of worship to the Sun god because that’s what this pose was designed to do. It was never designed as a back stretch.

Let us look at some Yoga positions spiritually: 

1. Sun salutation

The Sun Salutation is often one of the first series of poses done directly after seated breathing exercises during morning yoga sessions. The Salutation is meant to greet the sun and is used as a way to worship the Hindu sun god, Surya, who us the symbol of health and immortal life.

The 12 distinct poses of the Sun Salutation each have their own mantra and the series is meant to celebrate the sun and the sun-god.

2. Downward Facing Dog Pose

This sound funny at first but after you’ve watched a dog wake up and go into a deep stretch, the name of the pose takes on a new meaning. The spiritual implication behind the pose lies in the act of a combined stretch with a moment in which the yogi turns inward simultaneously connecting to your center while stretching your body into a long line has a unifying effect positioning your spirit within while you stay connected to the outside world.

3. Tree Pose

The essence of Tree Pose is to find balance. However, balance is not found in this pose in a rigid manner such as one might associate with a balanced ballet position. In Tree Pose, your body may sway like a tree does in the wind but your foot stays rooted into the ground. This gives the body freedom to move and find its balance while you envision being rooted in the ground developing your spiritual acceptance of your body’s position in space as claimed.

4. The lotus position

Lotus position is an exercise used in opening yourself up for the spirit to come in.

It is usually depicting a sexual act especially the way you sit crossing your legs with all your fingers touching the thumb. There comes something in the spiritual realm that is known as the diamond which is like a penis and it comes and enters you. The lotus position forms a spiritual penis and it enters you and performs sexual acts with you. You cannot refuse it so it just comes and enters you.

5. Headstand Poses

Headstand poses are among the most difficult for yogis to achieve but they are also some of the most spiritually impacting poses. Kundalini uses head stand poses to awake and uncoiled the serpent (Satan or snake) energy in the base of the spine bringing it to the crown of the head. In a head stand pose, they claim, one can achieve an even mind, partial enlightenment and even fearlessness.

6. Animal Poses

There are a variety of animal poses in yoga named after the animals that they resemble.

For instance, a cat pose is done with an arched back while the cobra pose looks like a snake rearing its head. The spiritual purpose of each animal pose is to allow you take or posses the attributes of that animal. For instance, the eagle pose is claimed to bring you a clear mind’s eye and a lion’s pose can help you feel brave and in control.

7. Strength Poses

Certain poses are claimed to put you in a power stance and help you develop a greater appreciation for the natural world while helping you feel like a stronger individual. The popular warriors pose is said to help you feel spiritually powerful while the tree pose is meant to make you feel calm, balanced and in control. Seated poses, like the lotus poses, are meant to help you turn inward during guided and self meditation for a deeper state of enlightenment.

Yoga is spiritual and worship of other gods

1. Yoga is spiritual and worship of other gods; it is idolatry.
2. The doctrine of yoga is called pantheism which is the view that everything is God and man is God.
3. Yoga teaches us to focus on ourselves instead of focusing on the one true God.
4. It encourages us to seek the answers to life difficult questions within our own conscience instead of in the Bible.
5. It also leaves one open to deception from Satan who searches for victims who he can turn away from God.

Yoga is more of a spiritual discipline than a physical discipline and these are the Yoga untold spiritual truths.

It was just an apple, right?

*It has come to my attention that Jane Graner is a progressive teacher/pastor. However, that doesn't change this post. Or the fact that we all have temptations that really should bar us all from God's service, but through His mercy and grace, they do not.*


Since my days at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS), I have prided myself on being open and honest with my theology and my stance on ordination of homosexuals.

Today, when UMNEWS published a story that Jane Graner, a woman who is openly gay was ordained I immediately thought "Great! Another conference bites the dust!" However, in order to appreciate Jane Graner's story one must read what the Book of Discipline states in

304.3 Qualifications for Ordination

While persons set apart by the Church for ordained ministry are subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society, they are required to maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world. The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals¹ are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church. 1. "Self-avowed practicing homosexual" is understood to mean that a person openly acknowledges to a bishop, district superintendent, district committee of ordained ministry, board of ordained ministry, or clergy session that the person is a practicing homosexual.

Notice that our discipline states "Self-avowed practicing homosexual." Jane Graner is a self-avowed, celibate homosexual. When I was at LBTS, the question came up in my homiletics class "If a man (because remember I as a female student in a southern baptist theology school) is homosexual, but celibate can he be ordained?" Most of the answers were rather ignorant of the human nature and included "If he's celibate, he's not homosexual!" If you know me, you know my response was "I am a heterosexual female who is celibate, so I guess that means since I am not practicing my sexuality, I am not heterosexual!" As you can imagine, with that answer the gloves were off! It was truly worse than the description of The Mississippi Squirrel Revival that Ray Stevens gave us. 

Like always, I said what I had to say then I defended my stance to the end! The celibate homosexual ordination during that class was my hill to die on...not because of my own sexuality, rather because I had dated a young man that eventually broke my heart when he came out as homosexual. For years we didn't really address it, until one day I asked "Niko, I need to know, are you in a relationship?" And his answer has stuck with me, "Rai, my relationship with Jesus is far more important to me than giving in to my temptation." So today when I posted the story about Jane Graner I had folks texting me privately stating "I would never sit under her teaching." Now I may be wrong in this, but I have a feeling that Jane's relationship with Christ is more important than giving in to her temptation. 

Let me ask you this, what temptation do you struggle with? For Eve it was the struggle of knowing everything and being like God. I mean, it was just an apple, right?

It may not be something big like homosexuality or the desire to become like God; my temptation isn't. My temptation is a simple one--every time I see my former friend, and she makes eye contact at me before sticking her nose in the air, I want to flip her off. Maybe that isn't a big sin or a big temptation, however, it is for me, because of how our friendship ended and how I still feel about my former friend. Maybe your sin is gluttony, or wrath, or jealousy. Maybe when you need to be spending time in prayer, you spend more time on the internet or doing something else because you don't want to take time to pray. 

While your temptation isn't huge like Jane's is, and it probably wouldn't bar you from ordination, you are still tempted by it. The difference is "Do you act upon it?" I'll be honest and say "Yes, I have acted upon my temptation." I bet many of you have acted upon yours too. Now is the time that we should do as Jane and Niko have, we need to realize that our relationship with Christ is more important than our temptation and treat it as such. Matter of fact, our own founder, John Wesley said in his 1741 sermon, Christian Perfection: "Nor can we expect…to be wholly free from temptation. Such perfection belongeth not to this life." Yes, there is the chance that people will fall back into their temptation, I am not saying that Jane may never have another relationship--sin and the temptation it brings is a struggle--it's why God's mercies are NEW every morning.

For now, I am going to celebrate with Jane for her ordination, pray for my own struggles with temptation and and encourage others to do the same.