{"id":7766,"date":"2018-04-05T13:19:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T17:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/?p=7766"},"modified":"2018-04-05T13:29:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T17:29:29","slug":"when-jesus-pays-a-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/?p=7766","title":{"rendered":"When Jesus pays a visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Megapastor Stovall Weems claims Jesus came to visit him<\/a> a few days ago.<\/p>\n

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Stovall Weems, senior pastor of the 12,000-member Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, told his congregation Sunday that he met Jesus Christ in his home on Good Friday and was surprised by His personality.<\/p>\n

[ … ]<\/p>\n

“The first thing that I was taken aback with is like Jesus’ personality. This is how Jesus was when He was on the earth. I heard His voice … the cadence of His voice. I can sense His mood. I can sense His presence like He has a personality. He was fully God but many times we forget the man Christ Jesus. He came as a man so He has His own unique personality so what’s overwhelming is that He was new in that way but at the same time I felt like I’ve known Him forever. I can’t describe the closeness that I felt with Jesus. He didn’t look at me, I never saw the front of his face. He was wearing a white garment. He had brown hair,” Weems said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice: This is a notch above the idiomatic evangelical “Jesus spoke to me,” which may mean no more than a convenient parking spot unexpectedly opened-up at the maill.<\/p>\n

The Calvinists at Pulpit and Pen aren’t buying it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Why would someone make up such a tale? There are several possible reasons. The first is that the individual may be trying to become a part of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a dangerous charismatic movement that asserts that Apostles still exist today (and seeing the resurrected Christ was a prerequisite for Apostleship, and so NAR leaders all have their personal testimony of having seen Jesus face-to-face). Or, this phenomenon often happens when there is strife or inner-turmoil in the church and the spiritual leader is trying to demonstrate their special status as a messenger of God. Or, a book-deal could be in the works, which is often the case. One thing is for sure, however, Pastor Weems did not see Christ face-to-face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, Pastor Weems explicitly said that he didn’t see Jesus face-to-face, so I’m a little bit puzzled by Pulpit and Pen’s hostility. Presumably, the Creator of the Whole Big Universe can discuss whatever he likes, with whomever he likes, whenever he likes, so I think that if a gen-u-ine Holy Man such as Weems claims that Jesus came by for a little talk, then the boys at Pulpit and Pen ought to believe him.<\/p>\n

Assuming they actually believe all the stuff they peddle, I mean.<\/p>\n

There is, y’all should know, precedent for a meeting with the Big Guy without seeing His face. From Exodus 33:<\/i><\/p>\n

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17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.<\/p>\n

18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.<\/p>\n

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.<\/p>\n

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live<\/span>.<\/p>\n

21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:<\/p>\n

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:<\/p>\n

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I admit that it perplexes me that Our Invisible Friend, who is eternal and unchanging, has decided to adopt the habit of wearing clothes, which was a human innovation following humanity’s fall into sin. But as even the Pulpit and Pen crowd would doubtless agree, His Ways are Mysterious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Megapastor Stovall Weems claims Jesus came to visit him a few days ago. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7766"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7771,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions\/7771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}