Is Spiritual Hunger BIBLICAL? SPIRITUAL? Or Gluttonous?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiritual hunger is NOT biblical!

How is it then that those in the church has gone and made spiritual hunger some sort of virtue?????

EVERYWHERE in the Word of God when I read of hunger and thirst, God ALWAYS fills His People!

He promises to feed them.  To quench every thirst.  To satiate their weary souls.  To give them rest from their labors.  

So where did this 'spiritual hunger' mess come from?????

WHY is it that when a person can just ALWAYS be hungry, and eat, and eat......AND EAT....CONTINUOUSLY, that we call that gluttony? Or an eating disorder?

But when someone can continuously 'eat' spiritually from fallen, errant, rebellious, unbiblical leaders' tables, they are praised for being 'hungry' for the Word?????

GLUTTONY is gluttony is gluttony is gluttony!

Whether it is done in the natural, or in the spirit!!!

In the Word of God, it does say 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst...' in the Beatitudes.  But those in the church world need to stop worshiping the act of 'being hungry for God' in and of itself as some sort of religious or spiritual virtue.  

In the natural, hunger is a physiological function.  Hormones resident in certain portions of the stomach sends signals to the brain telling it it is hungry.  And then we eat.

We do not control the 'hunger impulse,' however, in the Spirit.

The HOLY GHOST (is supposed to) control the 'hunger impulse' in our spirits.  

We do not control the Holy Ghost; He LEADS us.  HE convicts us.  HE sparks hunger in our spirits.  

When we first became born again, HE initiated that whole deal.  NOT US.  

When that (I hate to use the word) impulse, that unction, hit us to seek God, it was THE HOLY GHOST that did that.  That was not generated out of our spirits or natural man.  Or souls.

That whole mindset of US starting this thing with God is the CRUX of the deception that is rampant within (AND without) the church and within the realms of religion!

We think WE control this stuff...when it is TRULY GOD who is IN CONTROL!!!!!

In the New Testament, HUNGER was HUNGER.  In almost every instance, when the word HUNGER was used, it spoke of the human, physiological condition of being hungry.....FOR FOOD!  

NOT for 'a word.'

ONE of the times HUNGER meant something otherwise was in Matthew 5:6 above that spoke on hungering and thirsting after RIGHTEOUSNESS.  

RIGHTEOUSNESS is NOT something you can obtain when someone lays hands on you.  Or when you get 'slain in the Spirit.'  Or when you attend so many church services, conferences, or what not.  

RIGHTEOUSNESS is NOT some sort of tender that you use in exchange for products from the corner market.  It is not some transferable substance that someone can impart unto you.

RIGHTEOUSNESS can ONLY come from GOD!!!!!!  DIRECTLY!!!!!

It can only be received from us by FAITH.  

Isaiah 55 starts out with the declaration that we are to drink, eat from GOD....

Ho, every one that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good...

HOW?

Incline your EAR, and come unto me: HEAR, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

Those with an EAR to HEAR what GOD is saying WILL BE FED....DIRECTLY BY HIM!

And guess what?

THEY SHALL BE FILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Nothing like that stuff that fills you up!  FOR REAL!)

When we over-depend upon flesh to fill us

When we rely on man to feed our spirits

When we keep seeking after that which NEVER fulfills

WE WILL REMAIN HUNGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In both instances of physical and spiritual hunger, when we just eat and eat and eat, with NO discerning, without 'reading the labels,' without inspecting what's on the plate, we are in danger of eating something that simply is not good for us!

That whole thing where folks who go to church just keep 'eating and eating and eating' - running from this prophet to that apostle, church hopping, jumping between conferences and summits and convocations, going to service after service....all out of this religious guise of 'being hungry for the word,' is nothing more than a religious spirit driving them.

Much like an obese person is 'driven' to the fridge at 3:20 a.m. by that false sensation of hunger pangs.

Much like the depressed person goes to the store and buys $100 in snacks...and then eats them all up in 3 days.

Much like that bored person seeks the solace of junk food, snacks, chips, ice cream, candy and the such to fill that void.

There is a VOID in religious people that can NEVER be fulfilled by an abundance of religious activity, or attending many church services, or by filling as many 'titles and positions' as possible within their respective religious institutions.  

They are in a 'Church Rat Race,' much like the people in the world are in that rat race in the corporate arena. 

NO matter how many services they attend, no matter how many positions they gain, no matter who prophesies to them, no matter who preaches or teaches them, or how many times they get prophesied over, no matter how much they give to TBN, no matter what they DO, they are NEVER FILLED!!!!! 

That's the same thing that happens to obese people; they eat and eat and eat, trying to fill a void.  And they never recognize those cues that lets them know 'Hey, I'm FULL.' So they don't stop....eating.

Church people operate the same way....

They go and go and go.  They do and do and do.  They spiritually eat...and eat...and eat....

EVER-eating, and NEVER getting full!

What does the scripture say?

2 Timothy 3:7
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And they never spiritually discern what they're eating, or that they are filled.  OR WHAT THEY ARE FILLED WITH!!!

Both instances - in natural and spiritual hunger - ends up in one being FAT, lazy, unhealthy, unable to read cues from their own bodies (or spirits) that what they're eating is NOT good for them.

And cause more harm than good, in the end.

The key here is to be more DISCERNING, more CAUTIOUS, more KNOWLEDGEABLE about what you're eating....

And WHO makes the food you're eating!

We tell overweight folks to watch what they eat. Read the labels. Know the manufacturers of the foods you buy. Go organic. Prepare more foods at home.

But we tell over-spiritual folks who always go around 'looking for a word' to 'GO ON! GO for what you know! Its good to eat, eat, EAT off everyone's spiritual plate!'

We encourage and enable spiritual 'gluttons' in the organized church, and then wonder why the people are always SICK.

Time to watch your diet!

"After I'm Done With You-You Lesbian-You'll Never Want Another Woman AGAIN!"

The above picture is a brutal scene from the movie 'The Women of Brewster's Place,' which starred heavyweights such as Oprah Winfrey, Lynn Whitfield, Jackee Harry and Phyllis Stickney back in 1988.

The above character, Lorraine (Lonette McKee), is a lesbian in an impoverished community in New York who lives with her live-in lesbian lover, Theresa (played by Paula Kelly).  They are often discriminated against in the tight-knit community and rejected, but they forge on in their relationship.

Then one day, local drug dealer C.C. (played by Glenn Plummer) catches Lorraine alone, threatens her by knifepoint, drags her into a dark alley and beats and rapes her exclaiming:

"After I'm Done With You, You'll Never Want Another Woman AGAIN!"

I have seen this movie at least twice in the past.  But it was when it first came out...way before I had my own experience with same sex attraction later on in my twenties...

This was a very hard scene for me to watch, and it brought tears to my eyes.

(For those of you who don't know my story, you can read about it in my eBook 'Down Low Deliverance: BE SET FREE!')

I could definitely relate to this...in my eBook, I go into detail of the sexual abuse I suffered at the hands of a relative and the abusive relationships that followed afterwards.  

A lot of people really don't understand the dynamics behind homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality and so on.  

There are a LOT of men out there that believe if they can 'turn a woman out,' that she will somehow 'turn straight' by one sexual encounter with them.

And in C.C.'s case, he believed that he could violently, forcibly convert this woman.  Smh.

If you have seen the whole movie, all the rape did was drive Lorraine further into the hands of her lesbian lover.

Many who seek to help the lesbian or homosexual really believe that they can somehow change them by all these outward calisthenics, be it religious, violent or otherwise.

When I decided I would 'come out' and started attending lesbian support groups, I consistently ran into women who shared horrid experiences of sexual abuse as children and young women.  Of horribly abusive relationships with their teen boyfriends, or being cheated on.  

After many a candid and open discussions amongst ourselves in these support groups, it was concluded that most of the women who turned to the lesbian or bisexual lifestyle did so out of CHOICE.  The attraction to women did NOT begin until AFTER the incidences of abuse, or infidelity.  

These women decided they had had enough of the men using and abusing them.  Some as girls were raped by other women.  Some as preteens and teens were introduced to sexual experiences with the same sex - what many call 'sexual experimentation' - and through a SERIES of events, as well as the confusion of trying to figure out if they were gay or lesbian or not, having these desires towards the same sex and not knowing how to RESIST THEM, many grew up eventually believing that they were 'created this way.'

There is something very powerful about sex.  

When you have sex with someone, you become one with that person.  And anything introduced during a sexual encounter can literally become a part of your soul.  Your spirit.  

If the sex is with someone of the same sex, there is a trust that is released with women, in particular, that makes it extremely difficult for her to differentiate between right and wrong.  There is a literal hormone that is released when a woman has an orgasm called 'oxytocin' (it can be released to some degree in men upon ejaculation, too.  Which is why when men have sex with men, that bond can be hard to break as well).

When oxytocin is released, it really does act like a 'love potion,' of sorts.  

When Michelle Obama and others say things like 'you can't help who you love,' in a sense, it is true.

That is, when you involve sex...

And if that sex is NOT within the godly confines of ONE man and ONE woman who are married, when you take that and pervert it in any way, there are bound to be casualties.

When two people of the same sex come together and release oxytocin, that bond can seem intricately IMPOSSIBLE to break.  Because it is with a person who knows what you have, how you tick, how it feels to be a man, a woman, wired the same way....couple that with mind-boggling, explosive sexual experiences, and it can really seem to the two involved that they really CAN'T help who they 'love.'

PLUS, you add to the equation the probable dysfunction that the both of them probably suffered in earlier or childhood years...that draws them together, too.

The enemy uses all of this to bring about what we call the alternative lifestyle.  And dupe millions of people into believing they are actually in love with the same sex.

And when people who simply DO NOT understand those dynamics come in with a wrecking ball and call them names from the pulpit like 'faggots' and 'bull-dykes,' or brutally rape them, or try to 'turn them out,' or bring them to polluted church altars where the very preachers who are laying hands on them are gay, bi or on the down low THEMSELVES...

Its NO WONDER most who are still in this lifestyle mock, laugh at and shun church.  

Some will go, because they enjoy the spotlight and the attention that church gives them.  But most will not...unless, of course, is someone who is gay or lesbian decides to open a 'gay-friendly' or 'lesbian-friendly' church where they would feel comfortable to 'worship God.' (See my article, 'First Gentlemen, First Lady and Other Foolishness In The Church')

In the meantime, while everyone's experimenting with this population of people, going to either extremes on how to deal with gays and lesbians - either being eerily silent on the issue or publicly applauding behavior and attractions that we all know is not normal or healthy.  

(TRUST ME.  I've known more gays and lesbians personally than most people.  I've sat in support groups with them.  Seen them cry as they share their abuse stories.  NOTHING about the homosexual or lesbian lifestyle is NORMAL or EMOTIONALLY, SPIRITUALLY or MENTALLY healthy...NOT TO MENTION PHYSICALLY!)

So while this speculation is being done, millions still suffer in torment to their desires....

Knowing deep down inside...it just AIN'T RIGHT!  But feeling entrapped and imprisoned to them.

Couple that with a hostile religious environment and no real answers to their torment, is it any wonder so many in the lifestyle CHOOSE to STAY in the lifestyle?????

WHERE WILL THEY FIND RELIEF?  HELP?  REAL LOVE?  DELIVERANCE?????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I can say I have found it!!!!!

IN GOD ALONE!!!!

If you are trapped in a whirlwind of desires that you KNOW are wrong, but are somehow driven to fulfill them, GOD IS THERE TO HELP.

I'm NOT talking about going to church...or coughing up some demons...

I'm NOT talking about going to therapists that don't understand your plight...

I'm NOT talking about anything you probably EVER heard about before!

I found help simply by going to God for MYSELF.  He allowed someone who had the same struggles I did to share how HE got free.  And THAT STORY helped me DECIDE...'HEY!  I CAN BE FREE, TOO!'

I share that story in my eBook, "Down Low Deliverance: Be SET FREE!"

Nothing spooky or magical here.  Just an honest story of a church girl who had been abused but who is now SET FREE by the LOVE, TRUTH and POWER of GOD!

The Disability Hustle

When we see someone who is disabled, we usually see someone who is outwardly disabled.  They may be on crutches or in a wheelchair...or walk on a cane.  Or maybe they wear some sort of other outward apparatus that denotes they are physically disabled.

We have broadened our understanding of disability to include all mental or emotional, perhaps physiological disorders, and also recovery from various ailments, diseases or addictions of some kind.

There was a time when the disabled were grossly abused and neglected.  Then the ADA (American Disabilities Act) came on the scene and changed everything.  Enacted in 1990, it is a fairly new law -- only 14 years old -- that protects the rights of the disabled.  It also was set in place to ensure that disabled people would have equal access to transportation, buildings, accommodations for telecommunications, job and educational opportunities, etc.

(Hang in there:  there is a reason why I'm giving the little history lesson!)

What is known as Social Security disability benefits was started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 under the Social Security Act during the Great Depression as a form of 'social insurance.'  It was to serve as supplemental income for elderly individuals only - who were at an obvious disadvantage to care for themselves.  

In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower amended the SSA to include giving social security benefits to the disabled.  It was originally for WORKERS between the ages of 50-65 who were deemed somehow disabled. (I want you to catch that....elderly people between the ages of 50-65 WHO HELD A JOB were the only ones who initially qualified for disability benefits!)

It was later amended over the years to include disabled people of all ages and mental disorders and recovering addicts.

NOW.....

With THAT being said, I want you all to think about the 'disabled' folks that YOU know. The ones who get a disability check every month.  I don't care WHO they are, how much you like or love them.  

We ALL know someone who get a 'check' EVERY month, and even if you have NEVER asked them outright 'HOW ARE YOU GETTING A CHECK?  YOU AREN'T DISABLED?'  You have surely thought it!

BE HONEST!

The disabled folks - the ones who get a check - that I know -for the most part - are not truly disabled.  

They milk the system for a substantial amount of money.  They 'act' crazy, or get the doctor to make up an illness or something wrong with them.  They have learned to milk the system.  

And they are living LARGE off the hard work of the people in this country who DO clock in to work everyday and pay taxes.  Who do have to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet.  

(I still don't get how a drug addict who CHOSE to put the needle in their arms can qualify for a check anyways!)

I have to say:  most disabled (not all) folks are some of the most DECEPTIVE, MANIPULATIVE, SNEAKY, NARCISSISTIC, BITTER, SELF-DESTRUCTIVE, WHINY people I know!

I know what you're saying...

"Wenona!  How can  you say such a thing?  They are disabled!  They didn't ask to be disabled; it just happened to them..."

Let me tell you something...

Most of what the SSA has deemed a disability today are disabilities that - for the most part - disorders and ailments that recipients could have PREVENTED.

And mental disabilities?  Those aren't forever.  Just because you may have a mental disability at one point in your life does not deem you unable to work forever!

I look at kids with Down's Syndrome who got jobs and are some of the hardest workers, the happiest ones on the job...I look at people with one leg run a race in the Special Olympics...and win!....I look at blind people who work in tech support from home....

And I KNOW that a disability is NOT the end of the world!!!!!!

The problem with many in this country is we hear a sob story and we immediately wanna throw money and a check at the issue instead of dealing with THE REAL ISSUES.

If you TELL a disabled person that they cannot do something because they are disabled, sooner or later that message will sink in and they will start to actually believe that they can't!

And some folks on disability are just plain evil.  YES, I SAID IT!

They see a way out, and will opt for the easy route ANYDAY.  

And they will use WHOMEVER will allow them to use them to get what they want.  That includes family, friends, church people, the government...

It's really disgusting!

I know so-called disabled folks who pastor churches -and collect tithes and offerings!  I know some who collect a check who are living large, they've been able to go on vacations with their disability checks, they deal drugs, they pimp...the whole nine!

I call it "THE DISABILITY HUSTLE!"

I'm not at all against someone who is really disabled to go get help.  All I'm saying is it is DEAD wrong to keep using people, to keep playing 'the victim and cray cray' just because you're too lazy or too scared to go and GET A JOB and take care of yourself.

Let me share something about myself...when I was 5 years old, my Kindergarten teacher said I would have to be in special educational classes for the rest of my life.  When I was born, I was so premature that the doctors said I would be disabled.

My dad, a teacher - a special education teacher - did not allow what doctors and teachers said about me to pre-determine how he would treat me.  

He treated me like a normal kid.  I went to normal classes.  Not ONE time did my dad allow them to label me.  He didn't go looking for a reason to go and collect a check for me.

I ended up graduating in the Top Ten percent of my graduation class in High School.  AND I won a FULL TUITION SCHOLARSHIP to college!

I work from home and I am an author.  I have raised kids pretty much on my own and now am a grandma.  

I am a functional, tax paying, employed woman.  YES, I could have went and got a 'crazy check.'  But I didn't!

I have been sick at times.  Hospitalized.  I could have signed up for disability many a day....but I didn't.

Why?

Because I KNEW that I could do it.

I could take care of myself...and my kids, too!

You see, something happens to disability check recipients when they become dependent on the system or on others to take care of them...they actually become 'disabled' from being able to BELIEVE that they TRULY CAN TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES!

It becomes a mind thing.  

And that is why folks on disability can be hustlers and run game on folks and use folks...they feel like they can and that they are entitled.  They are angry that whatever happened to them to disable them happened, and so now the entire world around them has to pay for it.

And the loved ones who keep acqueiscing and enabling the disabled folks around them...all they are doing is DISABLING them from making QUALITY decisions in their lives.  For taking responsibility for their own lives.  For allowing them to become responsible, productive members of society.

I dare you to CUT THE APRON STRINGS to any disabled person you know.  You know deep down inside that they've been using you, manipulating you, conning you, deceiving you for YEARS.  

But because you love them, you keep allowing them to do it.  

It is the ultimate act of love and very empowering if you would just CUT THE APRON STRINGS now.  

Make them have to do it for themselves!  Make them responsible for their own lives.  

Stop enabling them.  Stop lying for them, covering for them, giving them your money.  

IF they are on disability, challenge them.  Challenge them to make opportunities for themselves to take care of themselves!  There is no shame in being on disability.  

The shame is on STAYING on disability...and doing the DISABILITY HUSTLE!

Preach Me, Sing Me Happy, Ni _ _ _!

When I first got saved, I was going to an all white church congregation...and I was the only black person in the church.  This did not bother me, because I was the only black person in a lot of things coming up...in school, in particular.  

I was a nerd, so I didn't study with many black kids...because most black kids from New Orleans didn't want to be 'nerds,' per se, so they didn't let on they were smart.  Instead they tried to push that thug/gangster/I'm hood persona for their classmates...even the GIRLS!

I was always a loner, so being different didn't bother me.  I never got into cliques and clubs and the such.  Just school, church and home.  

Church was all black, by default, since my it was my dad's uncles' church....

But I became culturally sensitive, if you will, in school.

So it didn't bother me when I started going to church and I was the only black person, when David Duke was running for governor of Louisiana in the 1980s and 1990s.  I was admittedly a little scared...but I pressed on anyhow!

Because I just KNEW I was in the will of God!

So because I was wet behind the ears, and was searching for a real encounter with God and the black church had failed me in that area...so I went on my search to the other side ...to .....

THE WHITE CHURCH!

I think if every black believer is honest with themselves, we have all gotten a little tired of the shenanigans that we saw go on in the black church...so we went on our search for 'the perfect church.'

We know that the white church has their 'strong ' points...those of us who went on our search for 'the' church.

White people seemed so genuine with their worship.  It wasn't all for show or a talent show or a competition of who can outpreach or outsing who.  

That got real old in 'our' churches...

So we thought, 'The grass will definitely be greener on the other side...'

NOT!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I used to go to an all white congregation...

And I found that white churches had their 'issues,' too.

True, they don't have the same issues that black churches do...but TRUST...they gots their issues, too!

Its gonna sound racist what I'm about to post, but I have to tell the truth.

White congregants are looking for black folks to entertain them....preach them happy, sing them happy, show me how to shout happy, to relieve them from all the very real pressures they got going on right now...

I used to go to a church where leadership was predominantly white...and they held a conference...it was called the 'Black Evangelism Conference.'  

It sounded innocent enough, right?  

I mean, after all, here was this holier than thou church/denomination who was realizing that there was actually black folks on the outskirts of their perimeters...and was making attempts to reach out to them....

But the only problem I began to see with that is the very fact they had to 'make attempts' to begin with....

You see, the problem with what passes for evangelism is that people who do evangelism have the wrong focus.  

They focus on what THEY believe will appeal to the 'market' they are trying to evangelize, instead of trusting that the Holy Ghost can reach beyond ALL racial and economic barriers and SAVE the Lost.

Not our clever, manipulative efforts at getting folks to 'come to church.'

The worse thing you can do is make folks come to your church!

And what I found is that most (white) congregants seek out black preachers and singers to their churches in efforts to draw more black people to their churches, all in efforts to prove to the world that they are culturally diverse, an example of the church in the Book of Acts....of all different races and ethnicities.

I want to divert your attention back to church history...the fact of the matter is that racism began in the institutional church.  Separatism in the church has always been a reality ... and the whole division that took place after Azusa Street was all racially motivated.

Plainly put...white folks could not (or would not) have church with black folks - we all know about Jim Crow laws...and we all know the story of William Seymour - the alleged 'Father of Pentecostalism' - how he was locked out of the class/bible study when mentor Charles Parham was trying to learn about the coveted 'Baptism of the Holy Ghost.'

(I write about that and a WHOLE lot more in my eBook, The Fruits of Azusa),

The whole problem with this is the problem with the organized church system as a whole:  the very fact that it is INSTITUTIONALIZED.  

ANYTHING that is INSTITUTIONALIZED can be MANIPULATED and CONTROLLED.

And when you got that ol' plantational structure going in the church - white man in charge, black man doing all the work - there are BOUND to be some racial discrimination going on.

It is often said that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week...that is not something of OUR doing.  That was started with Jim Crow laws.  With slavery.  With the institutionalization of religion.

With Charles Parham locking William Seymour out the prayer meeting...

The entire Azusa movement began, was birthed in division...is it any wonder to THIS DAY, the tens of 1000s of churches birthed out of Azusa are seeped in it?

Oh no, my writing about it, bringing attention to it, is NOT racist.  It is factual.  I did my research.  I studied church history.  And my history.  

I'm just bold enough to write on it....you know, the stuff y'all shout and preach over every week in church!

Yes, there is trouble on the horizon in the so-called 'white church' as well.  

And they will hire any black person who is willing to entertain them, to make them feel like they are 'having church.'  

They will allow a black man to preach or a black woman to sing them happy, to sing them out of the misery that  has been handed down to them from their forefathers....

All because they won't repent.

Yes, even though YOU didn't own slaves, YOU didn't kill our men and rape our women, YOU didn't lock folks out your churches, YOU didn't discriminate against blacks in leadership on ANY level, YOU didn't oppress generations of black people for your own economic and political empowerment...

Your forefathers did!

And God is calling for repentance for the sins of the fathers....

And repentance is NOT just holding Black Evangelism conferences, or allowing black folks to come to your churches to entertain you.  

Repentance is not just you electing a black man into office or placating millions of people with substandard social service programs that strangle more than they empower....

NO.

Repentance is being sorry for what was done, AND vowing to change mindsets, behaviors, prejudices, secret thoughts, fears, etc. that you STILL hold on to...

And the reason why I know you do is because of what you ALLOW to happen...

In your churches.  In Washington, D.C.  In your courtrooms.  On the police force.  In City Hall.

The day of the Ni_ _ _ _ singing and dancing you happy are LONG over.  

It's REPENTANCE TIME!

FOR REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!