New School Year!

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young–let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance–for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:1-7 NIV

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. 4:5-8 NIV

Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. 4:10-16 NIV

Though there are those in the WH administration who do not think an education is important, those of us who know The Lord, know wisdom and knowledge go hand-in-hand and we should never take access to a quality education for granted.

So, on this first day of a new school year–I’m praying for the students who are entering schools all over the place. I know that some schools (not in Michigan) started weeks ago, but this is the first day for many of our public schools and having access to education through public schools is important.

Of course, Betsy DeVos will never understand that and neither will trump supporters since they think getting an education makes a person “an elitist,” and therefore they are happy to stay ignorant and trump is also happy for them to say ignorant; he can continue to dupe them into believing anything he says. I guess they don’t realize he has a Bachelor’s degree, but then again, the way he talks and writes, no one would believe that anyway.

I’m straying from what I need to say: to the students who are crossing that threshold of your school building–have a wonderful first day and a great exploration throughout the school year. Stay respectful and inclined to learning.

This is a particular emotional day for me since my grandson is beginning his last year of high school–at 15 years-old and will soon be driving (in a few days) on his own. Time flies and next year, he’ll begin his first day of college.

I pray that every student, in every school, will clear their minds of old lazy habits and prepare to receive wisdom and instruction from every teacher in every classroom; by the end of the school year, all will be more knowledgeable about every subject taken than when they were on the first day.

For those 17 years-old and older–pay attention in your history and government classes so you will vote wisely and consider country over political party agendas.

Have a safe and wonderful day!

Deliver Us From Ignorance!

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.  I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. Joel 2:28-32 NIV

I don’t know about you, but I’m calling on the name the Lord, daily–to deliver us from the ignorance oozing and spreading from the White House and all those who speak on behalf of the toddler-in-chief.

I guess, I may have to just stop listening to the stupidity that his enablers expect people to believe.

Don’t know who his enablers are? Let me see if I make this brief–everyone speaking on his behalf, trying to explain the most recent stupidity. I guess they all signed loyalty pledges and are afraid to speak truth.  We should all ask them why they risk their own credibility trying to defend the indefensible.

Jeffrey Lord, Paris Dennard, Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee, Darrell Scott, Jason Miller, Jack Kingston, and only God knows who else is lying on behalf of donald.  They need to simply admit he has limited comprehension skills, is a pathological liar, and suffers from a cognitive disability. It’s just that simple!

Of course, his supporters have long since sold their souls to the devil out of hate-driven agenda to elect him and defend him. I’ve never seen such ignorance in my life and it is appalling because they are committed to the idiot-in-chief.

Okay, I’m not perfect, but I’m not an idiot either. I know and own my limitations and don’t try to confuse or conflate facts with nonsense and twitter rants.

Now, that I’ve got that off my chest, everyone needs to take a serious look at where our country is headed and put aside political angst or even bigotry long enough to see what this idiocy is doing our reputation in the world. Can’t speak for everyone, but I care! I’m guessing all who do care are the real Patriots, not those just running their mouths.

Some things just never change and some people are just to set in their ways to wake up and smell the stench that is polluting the air around us. Incompetence in the White House is never a good idea and we see where that leads–more confusion and chaos–seemingly planned or plotted to redirect focus from upcoming testimonies. Those of us who know where the stench originates are not going to be misled. Our focus is on the truth–however it comes to the forefront.

Just remember, we can always change the landscape by voting blue in special elections and in Mid Terms 2018. I’ll wait my turn in 2020. Just saying!

Considering the run so Everyday Americans will be well-represented from the White House! Deliverance from ignorance is on the way!

Shedding Ignorance!

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. Ephesians 4:11-19 NIV

Ignorance by definition is a lack of knowledge or understanding. To some degree, no matter how much knowledge we think we have, we are all ignorant about some matters, but when wisdom reigns, we recognize what we don’t know and if we need to know–obtain the knowledge about the matter so we are no longer ignorant about it.

The ignorant are not so. They have not been introduced to wisdom and therefore wisdom cannot reign in their lives so they cling to ignorance like some children cling to a moldy, filthy, blanket–their insecurities–won’t let them be relieved of the blanket long enough for it to be cleaned and so it stinks and all sorts of bacteria breed within the fibers and spreads disease, causing more stench. But that insecure child–the one that clings to that moldy, malodorous blanket–doesn’t seem to mind the stench, the filth, or the bacteria clinging to them.

That’s how children act–and it’s forgivable because they are children, but when adults and over-aged toddlers cling to ignorance–there’s a problem. Now, like the children–adults cling to their ignorance out of fear–the fear that knowledge will force to see truth and the fault of what they once believed. So they will wear their ignorance with pride–not realizing how foolish they look and they won’t care.

We cannot force people to shed their ignorance–they have to want to shed it and exchange it for knowledge, but they can only do that–when they allow wisdom to reign in their hearts. Therefore, the ignorance we see in those who profess a love for an idiot–is what the ignorant want and there’s nothing we can do about it.

What is amazing to me is how many people appear to idolize a person who is about to create havoc with their healthcare, poison their streams, and pollute the very air they breathe, just so corporations can get rich not having to follow any guidelines for safety reasons. The ignorant believe–because it’s what they’ve been told and will not research any information for themselves–that de-regulations allow corporations to hire more people. They don’t bother to think about the “safety” issues that will persist, their only concern is the money they’ll make, but it they’ll end up spending–not enjoying–on healthcare issues. There is no fair exchange with de-regulations and the only ones who will profit by it are the corporations–not the people who work for them.

The ignorant have no problem with the dissolution of the Department of Education because they don’t have an education–no wisdom to see what the end result will be.

The ignorant have no problem with streams being polluted by toxins dumped into the water because they seldom drink water--at least from what I’ve seen of the interviews conducted in the local pubs.

The ignorant have no problem with air pollution as a result of the chemicals and toxins in the air and they apparently see no problem with everyone eventually having to wear masks like those in China. There’s a reason why products are made so cheaply in China–there are no safety regulations.  People wear the masks to protect them from the toxins in the air, but the death rate in China is up–but since the productivity in China is driven by American companies who are saving a bundle in manufacturing–no one cares about the people who are incapacitated by the air and water pollution and fact that their fish is poisoned and they eat it and sell it others.

But why should Americans living in America worry about the Chinese and their problems? We’ll soon have the same problems and as it is in every society, only the strong will survive and in this case–only the rich who can afford to drink filtered water, hoard goods in sheltered areas, and live in air-filtered environments–will survive, all because the ignorant disdained knowledge and truth and voted for an idiot who only cares about himself.

Even so–those of us with wisdom and knowledge must keep pouring out truth so that on the day we all stand before God in judgment–we can say honestly say–we did not wear ignorance as a skin-tight garment, but shed it in exchange for knowledge so we would know truth.

Think about it! What are you wearing or what’s clinging to you? Is it ignorance or wisdom? I choose to wear wisdom with pride in the knowledge that God would not have me ignorant about those things or people who are not his. I shed that ignorance a long time ago and have no desire to reclaim it. What about you?

Who Will Be Exalted!

The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear. Isaiah 2:11-18 NIV

What is an idol? An image or material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed or any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration or devotion, or a false conception or notion, according to the dictionary.

Given the definition of an idol and rightly interpreting the use in The Word, what idols do we have that we exalt above God?

Notice the last part of the definition–a false conception–that which is not true. The carved images to which some have given “power and authority” are false. The manufactured things given power and authority are false. The people for whom some have blind admiration and devotion to are not real--they are false and should never be exalted above God. But that’s what we do–we exalt celebrities and their opinions above God’s Word.

We exalt sin above righteousness and don’t even recognize that the words we use underscore where our hearts really are when we “idolize” celebrities and other well-known people or ideologies that are opposed to God’s Word.

We celebrate confusion and chaos that reign in the lives of all who believe God doesn’t know what He’s doing or did when they were born–idolizing that confusion and exalting it above God’s Word and intent for mankind.

We idolize foolishness and ignorance as long it supports and promotes emotionalized views of bigotry and hatred against others.

In all of this idolatry and idolizing of things and people–we must understand the spirit behind our behavior. If we are not influenced by the Spirit of Righteousness, we are influenced by the spirit of evil by the arch enemy of God–Satan. It is Satan’s influence that moved upon people to exalt their carved images above the obedience of God. The idols they created were given power and authority they did not have. But because the masses were blinded to truth, they worshiped the idols–out of ignorance.

We are yet doing the same thing today–worshiping idols, worshiping things and people–out of ignorance–giving them exalted status–false power and authority that doesn’t really exist–above understanding God’s Truth and intent for mankind.

But the day is coming–and it will be soon–when all the false gods will be exposed and fear will be embedded in the hearts of all who held the idols in greater esteem than God alone. When they see the consequences of their actions rising to crush them, they will attempt to run and hide, but there is no hiding place from God. He alone has created all that was ever created and He knows every nook and cranny of every mountain, every divide in all the bodies of water and He knows our hearts–whether they are good or evil.

Those who love The Lord and obey His Word know they have no need to fear the calamity that will fall upon all who have ignored God. They know a place has been established for them for all eternity to live in the presence of the Most High God. And in the day the calamity occurs–utter destruction–of all idols–whether people or things–then they will know that The Lord alone will be exalted!

The Wisdom of The Wise!

The lips of the wise broadcast knowledge,

but not so the heart of fools. Proverbs 15: 7

A mocker doesn’t love one who corrects him;

he will not consult the wise. Proverbs 15:12

He who is wise listens,

He who is foolish, scorns and mocks.

He who receives correction earns respect,

He who mocks correction earns disdain.

He who seeks The Lord first is encouraged,

He who ignores The Lord is dismayed.

Those who praise God in the beauty of Holiness,

Are filled with hope and never despair.

Those who know–God–not just about Him,

Are blessed to be His children.

Is it wisdom or fate to speak what God says,

To obey when God speaks, and receive what God has?

The wisdom of the wise keeps flowing freely

While the ignorance of fools keeps them enslaved.

Are you wise or foolish, blessed or cursed?

Dear Mr. President!

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:20, 32 NIV

As I prayed last night, I couldn’t help but feel the urge by Holy Spirit to address our nation’s situation with regard to legalizing sin. Therefore, I write this as an open letter to our president.

President Obama:

You have managed to accomplish much–even with an obstructionist Congress–and everything encompassed with your terms in office will be interred in history books. Some things for the good and some–a very slap in God’s face.

I am not your judge and certainly not your jury, but your actions have demonstrated for many that though you may “know about God” you do not know Him. For to “know Him is to know His Word” and legalizing sin reveals lack of knowledge or “ignorance” as you stated in your address to college graduates on yesterday–about His Word. Of course, that ignorance lies in not knowing what you’re talking about–as you clearly explained and regarding your position on same-sex marriage–you clearly do not know what you’re talking about. I understand you “think” people should be able to love anyone they want to love, but loving is not just about lust and it is the lust of the flesh that has instigated the misguided notion by the LGBT community in their pursuits.

Let me be clear. We are told in God’s Word to love all–unconditionally–but that love–is not a reference to pacifying a sexual need. I could spend an entire day writing about this, but if your heart is not in a position to receive from God, what I say won’t matter. We are also told in The Word that marriage is between a man and a woman–for God’s purposes, not our own. Since the enemy loves to hate what God loves, he has confused the minds of many into believing that God doesn’t have a problem with sin–when He does.

In the interest of being politically correct and gaining the support of the LGBT community, you have allowed the Pandora’s Box of “self-destruction” to spill over into a society that is demoralizing and rotting. The “anything goes” concept to living is wreaking havoc in the minds of children who are further confused by the notion that God makes mistakes--with their biological genders–and they have a right to change and expect the rest of us to simply accept their fickleness and confusion. God doesn’t make mistakes, human beings make mistakes.

Your positions regarding the above-mentioned issues–becomes even more injurious to those who hold fast to their relationship with God when their rights are violated when they won’t obey the laws of the land that are contrary to God’s Word.

Before I ever knew who you were, God had inspired me to write two books pertaining to the end result of what has now occurred. I didn’t understand why He wanted me to write the books, but I wrote them. Now, I understand. I’m sure you won’t take the time to read them, but I’ll provide you with the links anyway and the link for the one that was written after the Supreme Court decision to rebel against God. Those books are myBook.to/Normal, myBook.to/TurningForce and myBook.to/WhatJesusSaid. It’s Not Normal and Turning Force were written a number of years ago, but are prophetic in nature as we can clearly see how events have unfolded. To tell people what Jesus said about “loving others” without understanding why He said anything is promoting lies. And we know that God hates liars, which is why I wrote, What Jesus Said and Why He Said It.

In the beginning, I had a great deal of respect for you and your accomplishment in being the first Black president. Now, I pray that someone will be able to water The Word in your life and eventually, you’ll hear from God and ignore the tricks of the enemy. I cannot imagine how you would feel if one of your daughters was molested in a bathroom by a “pretender” who claimed to be “feeling like a woman” in order to gain access to their prey. Bullying school districts to put kids in danger is not what someone who knows God would do. And your decree about the bathrooms is a bullying tactic when you threaten to withhold federal funding from those districts.

I, like so many others, are wondering if common sense will ever make a comeback in the minds of those who lead others. So far, we have not seen much evidence of that.

Just so you know–I do not hate anyone–not those who choose to be gay or transgender–I love them enough to pray for them, but I also love God and with all I do and write, I try to please Him, more than man. That’s what He has called me to do–please Him. Sometimes, pleasing God means people get angry with me and I can handle that. They don’t have a heaven or hell for me so their opinions don’t matter much. What does matter to me is my obedience–to teach God’s Word whether it’s convenient or not, whether it’s received or not. He won’t hold me accountable for what others do or don’t do, but He will hold me accountable for what I do or don’t do. All I can do is to say what He says.

We–at least some of us–as a nation will continue to pray for our country and all who lead it–that hearts will be receptive to hearing God and they will exercise Godly wisdom in all they do.

Sincerely,

Mary M. Hall-Rayford

Cultural Ignorance! Part I

The diversity of people should be celebrated instead of being used as a benchmark to divide and segregate. What happens when people are ignorant—have no knowledge of anything—is that we create even greater divides—an ever-widening gap—between people when we should be coming together as one race—the human race. And then we wonder why we can’t get along with one another.

If we took the time—and it will take time—to review history and to cultivate our knowledge of each other and the ills of the past in order to keep them from resurfacing, then and only then will we understand the need to stop blaming one group of people for the demise of things and get ourselves together to build instead of tearing down. When we think that the world’s ills are because of one group of people, we deceive ourselves. The problems of our world are not problems caused by White people, Black people, Red people, Brown people or Yellow people. The problems in our world are caused by greedy, needy, and lazy people. And many of the greedy, needy, and lazy use religious banners to justify what they do—in error—or they use what they think is their superiority over others.

Here’s a newsflash—there is no superior race or religion—there are simply people who have chosen to think they are superior by the very nature of their birth or affiliation with others who think they are superior. And while there is no superior group of people, there is also no inferior group of people. We are all in the same boat—living on planet earth—an environment that desperately needs to be overhauled so this planet—the only one in which know has life—can continue to support life for future generations.

Instead of hating one another because of skin color or religious beliefs or nonbelief, why can’t we take the time to get to know one another, share what we know and help one another to grow—increasing awareness of need and perspective based upon how we all view life through the lenses that have been a part of our growth?

For the most part—many Black people do not understand how to amass wealth because we are too busy spending money rather than investing money—in our children and in our futures. We’d rather spend two hundred dollars for a pair of gym shoes than ten dollars for a book. We’d rather look good—spending tons of money beyond our means—than in reading and expanding our knowledge on how the world really works. We’d rather complain about minimum wage jobs than to continue our education in order to obtain the skills we need to live the lives we want. We know nothing about volunteerism because we think we should be paid for every little thing we do. We have our children grow up thinking that someone owes them something, when the reality is no one other than their parents owe them anything, but the parents haven’t figured that out yet and we know this by those who still think, everything they want—should be handed to them.

We complain about White people and how they do things, but we don’t understand that it’s not about how White people do things to accomplish goals, but about people understanding that without goals and purposes and work to accomplish them, nothing ever happens or changes. A quality education makes a huge difference in the perspectives people have in life—knowing that nothing worthwhile is ever simply handed to anyone, but must be earned.

On the other hand—many White people think that Black people are lazy, good-for-nothing, trouble-makers. There are just as many white people who are lazy and good-for-nothing trouble makers as any other group of people. The problem is the perception of any group of people is colored by media coverage—the news, the movies, and the music. If we bothered to take the time to get to know one another, we might discover that underneath the surface lies the same color blood, bone, tissue, marrow, and muscle. Our hearts have the same rhythm (for the most part) and the blood flows in the same direction, carrying oxygen to our brains—allowing us to “think” before we act. We simply choose to have differing opinions and likes and dislikes which should be respected, not abhorred or demeaned. If God had wanted clones—He could have managed that, but He chose to create us uniquely, wonderful, individuals with a purpose designed by Him, not people.

Part II–coming soon!

No Difference!

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28,29 NIV).

When we belong to Christ–have surrendered our all to Him--He makes no difference between us, no matter what our nationality is, our ethnicity is, or our gender–He loves us all and we are all joint-heirs with Him.

Whenever the devil–no matter what form or shape he takes–dogmatic preacher, ill-informed nuisance, or simply those ignorant of God’s grace, mercy and indiscriminate nature–tries to tell us we cannot do something because of our race or gender or anything else–he lies!

God does not discriminate on the basis of anything other than those who are living a life for Him. If our lifestyles are not pleasing to Him, then we may run into a few problems. His command is that we obey Him. For any who will not obey, they cannot realistically expect anything from Him. But for those who obey–we have a right to expect all of His promises fulfilled in our lives. Glory Hallelujah!

So--if we are black, white, American, Russian (or any other nationality), male, female, young or old when we obey–we please Him and He gives us the desires of our hearts! All because He is God and He loves us and He makes no difference between any of us!

Flawless vs Flawed

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (I Corinthians 1:21).

God’s Wisdom = Flawless, What He has established and planned, never changes.

Man’s wisdom = flawed, changes God’s intent to gratify flesh, and is constantly changing.

When man makes decisions apart from God’s wisdom, those decisions are always revised and re-established.

When God makes His wisdom known to man–those thoughts last forever–even if some think God’s Word was written by “ignorant and unlearned men” what they wrote has survived them and will continue to thrive in the hearts of those who have a relationship with God.

God’s Wisdom sees things through to the end of time.

Man’s wisdom is shortsighted at best and momentary at worst. We know this because of the constantly changing laws that do not consider the end of the matter, but only the feelings of the moment--feelings that are fleeting and constantly changing.

Apart from being in relationship with God–man cannot claim to have true wisdom because they do not understand God’s wisdom as it pertains to God’s plans for mankind. If man actually understood God’s plans for us, we would have no need for constantly changing laws that actually oppose God’s plans.

God’s wisdom is poured upon all who are in relationship with Him, liberally when they ask for it.

Man’s wisdom is tied up in the deceptive thoughts of the enemy who desires to destroy mankind and the dictates of their flesh. Man’s knowledge of God is limited to the religious teachings of man, not in a relationship with God.

God’s wisdom inspires love and obedience to Him.

Man’s wisdom creates obstacles and motivates hatred for others who do not agree with them.

Lord Jesus, create in us a heart to serve You, desire  and receive Your wisdom, and the courage to obey Your Word.