It is difficult to push back on opposition unless you know you’re right and they’re wrong, but this is easier said than done. I spent 10 years in college and came away with three pieces of paper they called degrees but I kept wondering if that was the path that I should’ve taken or that I wanted to take. It was always important for the Lord to somehow affirm that I was on the right path in terms of His will. But I still had questions about “Me” who was the “Me” that God was calling and what I should believe.
“Me” carries the Greek and Hebrew to Bible studies and seems to ramble on about things of no interest to most students of the Word. “Me” has a different perspective on some theology, although, not for the sake of arguing but just because it is what “Me” believes. And I am getting to know him better and in some ways he does make sense. But I advised caution when sharing his view because most people don’t care about Biblical grammar like he does.
I think the biblical languages as a study might have been problematic for “Me” because, as he shared with me, he kept asking questions about church doctrines that he could not find in the Bible. Other times he would see something there that seemed far more important than it’s reputation suggested in sermon notes. Somethings should have been doctrinally significant but were not—according to “Me.” This was not an overnight revelation, as if he could claim that God was telling him something. This was a slow unfolding, learning process, that eventually he came to believe was leading him somewhere and what eventually became what—back in the day—he would’ve called his “vision.”
There is much I found out about him in looking back and in noticing where he came from. I agreed that when you finally have a point in the past and a point in the present, you can draw a line and it will point in the direction you are going. But while in the experience, “Me” confessed, one does not necessarily know where it leads.
So “Me” wrote 31 books and he wrote them to himself because he wanted to see what he was all about. I learned talking with him that “Me” was not perfect, but also, not always wrong either. I was able to help “Me” see that he was not alone in much of what he was learning about life, the Church, and his Lord. I was able to help “Me” see his past through a different pair of eyes, a reality that slowly, but inevitably, came to his attention as I, too, got to know him.
When “Me” was invited to speak at the Charismatic Conference at Duquesne University in “79 he told me it was most memorable like it wasn’t even he who was doing the teaching; it was so personally inspiring. But later when he spoke at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship, it felt like it was a mistake. I mention these because these events were very telling to him, though, we are not saying here in what way. The difference in these experiences was not immediately evident to him but as we spoke of them, he seem to give them differing weights of importance in terms of his vision and understanding of Scripture. It was a good conversation!
The good news is that I think we are getting acquainted at last and I think we are going to be friends, me and “Me.” The good news is that I’m beginning to understand “Me” in a way that helps “Me” reconcile with his past failings—and successes. “Me” is Okay now with the fact that he is different. I like “Me” even though he is so different from all my other friends.
I have read some of his books and I was able to converse with him over what we both believe God might be saying to him. Perhaps, because of these talks and the times we prayed together, I think he wants to write one more book to complete the journey. With his permission, I’ll let you know. This book would be the summary of a life’s journey through Biblical truth, and “Me” told me that it will explain everything: why the direction he took, what his vision was or is, and why he is at last at peace about his life.
I do hope he gets a chance to write it! He has become a dear friend.
