BIG BIBLE LUMPS
One day as I was chatting with a woman, she began telling me a secret about herself.
Nobody else knew, not even her husband, about her Big Bible Lump. It appeared on her arm, a lump about the diameter of a quarter, and a half inch tall. She was cautious with it, thought it might contain poisons that could damage her body.
It didn't go away so she went to the doctor who felt the lump and pressed on it and told the woman she had an ancient religious affliction. Lumps such as the one on her arm were called Bible tumors because the old remedy was to hit the lump rather energetically with a Bible. The thing usually disappeared in a matter of days.
Of course a Bible was used because it was ordinarily the heaviest book in any person's house. So, slam it with the Bible and the lump goes away.
Here's a tip. If you find a lump on your body, don't strike it with a heavy book of any kind. Go to the doctor immediately and find out how much trouble you have coming at you.
In the case of my secretive friend, her lump slowly went away and never came back. But a person should never fool around with a lump.
I remembered that story one day recently after reading about people who reported religious experiences - God flying at them in the night, Jesus appearing to them in the curtains of a dimly lighted room, and dogs speaking Bible verses.
I don't believe any of that stuff because it makes God look too petty and small. If God were to utilize anything to speak to humankind, it might be a huge angel, or a created being so utterly impressive that we could not ignore it.
I have never heard a story about a vision that I could believe. For instance, the woman said something swooped at her out of the sky. She had been in travail for days, trying to decide if she should move from one house to another. The swooping thing convinced her to move.
In reality, it was probably a large bird, an owl perhaps, who was nervous about the woman coming too close to a nest.
A friend told me once how he was almost caught by a spirit on the way home from a church meeting. He saw it in the trees, one blue spirit with yellow eyes and broad wings. It jumped from tree to roof top. Its eyes were focused upon only my friend. He was 10 years old and it was a dark night. He got home. The next morning there was no trace of the spirit, even on the shingles of his own home.
We often perceive God as being something earthly, such as a bird or a dog. And in our desperation to find divine power, we might settle for a dog's bark as the voice of the almighty.
But believe me, you will know when God calls. The sound of God will deafen you without making a noise. There will be words spoken that have no meaning and yet they will send your mind spinning into the mist of knowledge. You will long so deeply for God's touch that you might even begin touching others for comfort and strength. You will be launched into another realm.
That's what it means to be a spiritual person - to be genuinely religious and commited. The Bible tumors are for amateurs. You will want to find the real thing.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For 5-22-02