September 24, 2008

My Spiritual Odyssey

In the month Adrian Rogers died I heard the Lord. At the end of the month I had a divine visitation from God. December 22 I was seized by the Lord to begin witnessing unto Christ before a Jehovah Witness coworker. I had not been seeking the Lord for this He sought me and singled me out for that task. From very early in the mornings the Lord was taking a personal interest in my witness to my coworker. I was filled with zeal as I had never know previously. This zeal spread to every person I came into contact with. I announced to my managers that I fully intended to witness to every person at work. They could make a decision as to firing me for it. "I can find another job but I can't find another Jesus!" They nodded their approval and God gave me favor in their sight.

I sought God for boldness and that prayer led me to my pastor. On the evening of the 29th I met with him and he opened his Bible to John 15 and talked about it. As I left his comment was "you sure have passion!" I knew that I came to him with too much zeal that lacked in knowledge.


Four in the morning the next day I was reading John 15. After two or three verses I sense the Spirit of God and tears are flowing as I read. As I read I sensed the presence of a small boy wearing jeans and a tee-shirt trying to elbow his way between the disciples gathered around Jesus eager to hear him. Christ's words were calm, loving and deeply instructional. Every word was alive but especially verses 13-16 and the last two 26 and 27.


When I went to work the day was not like any I had ever known. It was like I was living my whole life in one day. Friendships were meaningful and I wondered why had I missed so much of "living" in my 59 years!


At four the next morning, new year's eve, I again read John 15 taking notes as I read. And again the young boy is standing barefoot in jeans and tee-shirt in front of a nice farm house. He is a slave and his family lives with other families in a slave house. In the slave house they complain about working conditions and the treatment they receive from the master. The boy is crying; he wants to be on the inside with the master. He is on the outside looking in..


I suddenly realize the boy is me and I began to weep uncontrollably, pulling my tee-shirt up over my head. I could not hardly control the weeping. On the drive to work I realized that the boy elbowing his way between the disciples and the boy in front of the farm house was me. I saw my self as a ten year old at Chattanooga youth camp singing "Oh how I love Jesus" with tears streaming down my young face. Verses 26 and 27 explode in my mind. I was screaming loudly in the car "I was with the Lord from the beginning" I was on the inside looking out!


to be continued...

4 comments:

Straight Path said...

Hello Charles:

From now on, I am just going to put any comments or questions on your most current blog so you will see them.

Where did everyone get this notion that Paul Williams was instructed by a Bellevue staff member to keep quiet about his molestation?

If this alleged minister that instructed him initials were E.B., then it could be that he is accusing Mr. Elmer Bailey. Mr. Bailey died in 2004. Is Paul Williams the lone voice alleging this?

http://www.nacba.net/Article/bailey.htm

BTW, I asked you this question the other day but I guess you missed it. Do you know the name and age of Paul Williams' other son?

WatchingHISstory said...

SP

Seems to me that came out in the Church investigation, apparently PW would have had to reveal this.

NASS wrote the initials EB on cakes blog. This is a sad revelation if he is the person. He has a high credibility as he worked with Pollard. My thought is that if he advised him not to go to AR he knew that AR could not handle that truth. He knew what it would do for Bellevue as it was in an expansion stage.

By my reading Bailey would have been retired from Bellevue when PW went to him. Perhaps he was working at GBC then.

I have a hunch that there were not good rapport between Pollard, Lee and others with Rogers. There was a distant respect but not closeness. I suspect there was a wide theological gap there.

Perhaps with Bailey as well. SP, perhaps there are real reasons, and not just concealing of a pedophile, that these men could/would not approach AR.

As to the other children of Paul Williams I am trying to find out.
Someone is supposed to call me back.

sorry about the slow response.

Funny that they think I am you. Ha Ha

Straight Path said...

Yeah, funny and quite IGNORANT. Why don't these folks just ask GOD if we are the same individual? He would say "No" and that would end it.

If Paul Williams is the only "voice" that claims he visited Elmer Bailey, confessed his sin, and Mr. Bailey exclaimed, "Well...let's just keep this our dirty LITTLE secret," then I challenge it. Personally, I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe the words of a Southern Baptist homosexual child rapist.

WatchingHISstory said...

Seems the Investigation committee believed the story enough to publish it! The implications of this, if it is true, says a lot. How could a SBC preacher keep this a secret. Why wouldn't he confide it to AR? Didn't he realize that this was criminal rape?
Same can be said about Jamie Fish.
This is a strange debacle!

This is a case of homosexuality, of the grossest sort, yet absent is the hand of God giving anyone guidance (else they resisted His guidance) God gave PW up to his vile passion and everyone around him were given up to "aproving", in a sick way, PW's practices.

All the while the SBC convention was making a strong stand against homosexuality!