[Faith-talk] the blind jesus
justin williams via Faith-talk
faith-talk at nfbnet.org
Fri May 23 16:33:07 UTC 2014
I have met a lot of blind people who have had many of those feelings. I
have had several of those things happen to me, but I always had the
confidence and will to find another path, or another group of people, even
if it meant leaving a particular church or group. I have been in and out of
many a church for just such reasons; now, I don't even go anymore. I do no
what it is like to be ignored, and not included in the unscheduled group
gatherings, or in some of the scheduled ones. I have asked for rides to
lunch only to be ignored. I have had transportation problems a plenty. I
just left the situation and did something else; my identity is not tied up
in a church.
-----Original Message-----
From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brandon
Olivares via Faith-talk
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 10:37 AM
To: Andrew; Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] the blind jesus
Thanks for sharing that article Andrew.
I'm wondering, how many here have really felt those things discussed in the
article? The author said you are dishonest if you have not. I can honestly
say I have not felt most of those things. Sure in school it was hard to make
friends, but I still had them. By the time I entered college, I was just a
normal person to my friends. I was in a fraternity and everyone accepted me
as I was. I've never had trouble getting someone to drive me to the store if
I needed it and if they were honestly able to do it at that moment- no
excuses or anything. Now the store is in walking distance so I am completely
independent.
I just felt that part of the article was very winy. No it's not always great
to be blind but it's not all terrible either when you have the resources you
need, and the confidence in yourself to know that you are just like anyone
else. People will all the time walk up to me and say hi, so I think this
author just needs to get some new friends.
--
Brandon
www.BlindAdventures.com: Read about my adventures as a blind person
Latest Blog Post: Road Trip
Facebook: Brandon.Olivares
Twitter: @devbanana
On May 23, 2014, at 9:52 AM, Andrew via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
> Hi all just wanted to post an article here from somebody else as it
> explaines exactly how i been feeling. and let me tell you right now
> that you can't except way i feel then that is just to bad it will
> show just how judgemental some people are to me and how supportive
> people actually are. anyway hear is the article.
>
> The Blind Jesus
>
> the Identity Of Christ Is You
>
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>
> Warning.
>
> Author's Note. This testimony contains offensive language. If such
> bothers you as a Christian, don't read passed this point. If you want
> to hear the truth, read on. The particular language is used to
> demonstrate the level of frustration people experience. Therefore, it
> is representative in nature and not actual. The rest is up to you.
>
> End of author's note.
>
>
>
> Recently I was praying with a lady, by the name of Mari, who is
> blind. I'm blind, too, so this normally doesn't have anything to do
> with the prayer sessions. However, blind people, and those with other
> disabilities, forgive me for using the term disability, are
> perpetually faced with blind related issues which refuses to let them
> think of themselves as normal. What do I mean? Well, let's say you
> need to go to the grocery store because you are out of milk, bread,
> and Frosted Mini Wheats. So you get on the horn and call 25 of your
> best friends, if you have that many, and you get a lot of no answers
> and a boat load of excuses and even one friend who says they will do
> it but you'll have to wait until next Thursday before they can go
> because their car is in the shop. Of course, you know they have three
> cars but you let that one go. Then you break down and call your
> family members but they rarely want to help in the first place and
> they always say no anyhow. They did this time, too, but one also
> added that you should be a better planner and keep track of things
> more efficiently. Nothing new here, of course, because your mom
> always says that and usually one of your sisters, too. You let it
> slide. This is all understandable, you've been told by experts,
> normally who aren't blind themselves, so you can't blame your friends,
> and God only knows you can't blame your own family, but, dad gum it,
> you've got to blame somebody and you can't blame yourself, for crying
> out loud, so you have only one thing left; your blindness. After all,
> you are truly blind; right? So it has to be because of your freaking
> blindness. For that matter, if you weren't blind, you could, if you
> had enough gasoline left in the tank, run right down to the old store
> and buy the things you need for breakfast. Even if you are out of
> gas, you could walk, if the store isn't far away, so what's the big
> deal? The big deal is your damn blindness and it has been a big deal
> all your miserable freaking life. You can never forget that you are
> blind because things keep reminding you, including people, that you
> are blind. Bumping your head, tripping over your kid's, or grandkid's
> tricycle they never put up, stepping over, and falling over, the dog
> or cat, receiving a registered letter, or a court summons and not
> having any sighted people around to tell you what the hell it is for,
> taking a dump and wondering if you are bleeding from the rectum
> because your hemorrhoids hurt like somebody is squeezing them with a
> pair of pliers, waking up in the morning and discovering one of your
> false eyes is missing, or you
> have misplaced your false teeth, or discovering you had a nose bleed
> during the night and there is nobody to see if you got blood on the
> snow white waterbed sheets you paid 130 bucks for, going to work with
> two totally different color shoes, brushing your teeth with
> Preparation H, unable to find your tampons box, sticking a toasted
> marsh mellow in your from you just roasted over a cook out fire only
> to discover a honey bee has landed on it and it stings the crap out of
> you, bumping your face on the cardoor window as you climb into your
> friend's vehicle on the way to church so everybody at church wants to
> know what happened to your bruised face, picking up a cold snake the
> dogs dragged into your kitchen, thinking it's dead, only to find it
> isn't, drinking out of someone else's glass at the church pot luck,
> entering the wrong gender public restroom, being targeted at church by
> some concerned parishioner and asked how you got pregnant, being
> denied a room on a second floor of a hotel because blind people can't
> walk up and down stairs, getting off on the wrong floor and entering
> the wrong doctor's office, sitting down on the couch to watch
> television only to suddenly discover one of your kids left his monster
> truck right where you sat down, wearing two different colored socks,
> two different styles of cowboy boots, discovering your dog pooped in
> the middle of the living room right after company has come to visit
> and they pointed it out to you, having someone at church indicate to
> you that you didn't eat a remaining morsel of food on your plate so
> they stick it on your fork and shove it into your mouth for you in
> front of everybody, and I could add at least another 300 things to
> this short list. The bottom line is being reminded of your blindness.
> Now, some blind people say this isn't a problem and they never have
> such thoughts. These are blind people never to be trusted. It could
> also be that they are young but God help you if you are around them
> once they get over 50 years of age. What does all this have to do
> with prayer? Let me explain.
>
> As I said, I was praying recently with a lady who is blind. Her
> blindness, mixed in with all the other things she has faced in her
> life, felt as if it were getting the best of her. Since I, too, am
> blind, I understood the feelings she was facing. I know what it feels
> like never to have anybody from your church call you, let alone come
> and visit you, and I know what it feels like at church, when everybody
> shakes hands with everybody else but you during the greeting song.
> Oh, it has absolutely nothing to do with your blindness, of course,
> but people just are busy and they overlook things. Yeah, that's
> right. That's what it is alright. A chicken has lips, too. I know
> what it feels like to be lonely. Not lonely because you don't have a
> friend to call or go visit but because your blind. I know what it
> feels like to be standing in a group of perhaps a dozen men after
> church, everyone talking to each other, and soon they all drift away
> without a single soul even saying hello to you. I've set in circles
> of men at pot luck dinners on the church grounds and watch every man
> eventually get up and leave without saying one word to me. I was a
> deacon in this same church and had preached in this same church many
> times so don't tell me they didn't know me. I take that back. Maybe
> they did. You see, one time I was sitting in the auditorium where the
> head pastor had about 150 people come to his Sunday school teaching.
> My wife and I got there early. My wife went with someone, probably to
> the bathroom, and soon a man sat down next to me before the class
> began. "Hello, sir," he said. My name is Frank."
>
> I stuck out my hand, shook his, and said," Hi Frank. My name is
> Phil Scovell. Nice to meet you."
>
> We talked for a couple of minutes and one thing and another and
> finally Frank said, "I don't believe I've seen you hear before, Phil.
> Have you been coming here long?"
>
> "Only 13 years," I said with a sigh wondering if I should ask him
> if this was his first Sunday or what? I didn't. Yes, he was
> surprised. I hope he felt stupid, too, but I give him credit; at
> least he said hello. As it turned out, he was assigned to meet the
> new people who came to the class so what he was doing was his class
> participation appointment and far from natural. I had been in this
> particular Sunday school class for a year so I have no idea where this
> guy had been all that time. I mean, it is sort of difficult to miss
> two blind people every Sunday coming in with white canes. Unless you
> are blind yourself, of course, but I digress.
>
> I also know what it is like to lose friends because they discover
> you disagree with them on something in the Scriptures. I've lost five
> close friends, four of them pastors, over this very type of issue. I
> know what it is like not to be accepted by your own family because you
> are blind.
>
> One day I called my oldest sister just a block away. It was a
> Sunday afternoon. I asked what she was doing. At this time, my
> youngest sister was living with our older sister because she was
> between marriages. "Oh, we are just trying to fix a dumb kitchen sink
> but we can't get it," my sister confirmed.
>
> "What's wrong with the sink?" I asked.
>
> "Oh, nothing. You couldn't fix it any way. It's just going to
> be busted till we can afford a plumber to come in here and that is
> going to be a long time because neither of us have any money."
>
> "What is wrong with the sink?" I said a second time.
>
> "Oh, nothing."
>
> "Describe it to me," I insisted.
>
> She did. I said, "I can fix that."
>
> "Oh, no, It is broken for good. It'll take a plumber at 100
> dollars an hour to fix it. Thanks anyway."
>
> I told my sister that I had just fixed the exact same problem all
> by myself with my own kitchen sink and it works fine and there are no
> more leaks."
>
> She almost believed me.
>
> "I'll walk right down there. Do you need any other parts?" I
> asked.
>
> "No, we have everything but don't bother, Phil. I'll get it
> fixed. I'll call one of the men in the church and get them to come
> over."
>
> "I'm leaving the house now so I'll be there in five minutes."
> She was still talking when I put the phone down.
>
> MY oldest sun, he wasn't driving yet, and I walked the block to
> my sisters. When I arrived, we went into the kitchen. It was only
> the goose neck. It looked identical to mine I had just replaced. I
> got under the sink, put everything together, shoot, even a blind man
> could do it, and within five minutes, everything was back to normal.
> My sisters were amazed. I went home thinking that my sisters probably
> went through things like that dozens of times when they could have
> just called their dumb ass blind brother to ask him for help. They
> never did. They still don't.
>
> All of this has been said simply to explain I know what being
> blind is really like. If you meat a dishonest blind person, they will
> deny these things bother them. If that is so, good for them, but I
> for one never wish blindness on anybody. So, back to the prayer
> session. I'm sorry I keep getting sidetracked.
>
> We prayed into some similar issues, but in short, she was just
> tired of being blind. This provides a golden opportunity for demons
> to attempt to gain handholds, then possible footholds, and ultimately,
> strongholds, in our lives. What we are facing is normal emotional
> responses to every day natural experiences of frustrating
> circumstances, but the Enemy never plays fair. So, if a lying spirit
> is around, this makes it easy for him. "Yeah, nobody really likes
> you. Remember school? The kids never liked you and they were even
> blind themselves. You don't have a chance. No one from the church
> ever calls or comes over and even if they do make plans to come and
> see you, they cancel, or worse, they just never show. It's your
> blindness alright. Of course, there are other things, too, and you
> know what I am talking about. Why, if those people at church knew the
> things you had done, they'd never like you. Why don't you just get
> drunk. Oh, I know you haven't had anything to drink for 20 years but
> now sure would be a good time to start up again. Say, I bet some of
> your old contacts have some dope you could score. Yeah, let's do
> that. You know how good you felt stoned. Let's do that. Besides,
> just once won't hurt anything. Those people really did like you
> anyhow. These Christian people have proved they don't because, after
> all, you are blind. Remember?" this scenario could be expanded to
> include hundreds of variables and other possibilities, blind or not,
> and often it works. This time, it didn't because we prayed together
> in agreement and let Jesus into the picture.
>
> Within a few seconds of praying, she was in school. She was
> little and everybody seemed to move away from her and she didn't
> understand why. A lying spirit whispered into her thoughts and told
> her a bunch of lies that sounded logically to her little girl's mind.
> She felt sad.
>
> Suddenly, and this rarely happens to me, I saw Jesus standing
> across the room from the little girl who was all by herself. He was
> wearing sunglasses and carrying a white cane which he was tapping in
> front of him as if he couldn't see where he was going. I nearly
> laughed out loud but didn't. Jesus surely looked comical doing that,
> though. That was one of his Intents. I said nothing during the
> prayer session about what I spiritually saw as we prayed.
>
> Near the end of our short prayer session, lying spirits were
> gathered up and dismissed from their lying assignments against the
> little girl. A tremendously strong feeling came over me, as I prayed,
> to command the lying spirits to go blind since they used the little
> girl's blindness against her to make her feel bad. I didn't because I
> didn't want to suggest anything to the woman and spiritually misdirect
> her healing experience with the Lord. This was Jesus at work and not
> me.
>
> The woman began laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked quietly.
>
> "A hammer came into view and broke something that looks like a
> clay pot. It shattered and all these bug like looking things spilled
> out. Jesus is gathering them all up," More laughter. "They are all
> blind. Phil! They are blind. I am not kidding. They are all blind.
> I can tell. They can't see where they are going and Jesus is sweeping
> them down a long glass tubing that goes down for miles and miles.
> They try and cling to the sides but it is too slippery and they are
> falling." Silence. "They are all gone now." Her voice even sounded
> clear whereas before, it was depressed and filled with sadness and
> frustration.
>
> "Does this really happen?"
>
> No. I'm making the whole thing up. I like fooling people and
> misleading them. So don't ever call me because I'll fool you into
> thinking all types of weird things, too. "Besides, this can't be
> Jesus doing this stuff. He doesn't do this type of healing any more,
> does he?" It sounds like to me that you have your theology screwed on
> backwards just a little bit. Does Jesus identify Himself with you in
> impossible and painful situations you experience as a Christian? No?
> Oh, really? Why not? Can't you see Jesus in your life? Doesn't He
> care about you and what you face? You see, this was the second
> purpose Jesus had in mind which He wanted this lady to experience,
> that is, His true identity, with her and in her, as what she faces as
> one of His children. Remember the first? He wanted to show Himself
> and demonstrate the buffoonery of the enemy and expose his stupidity,
> while at the same time, demonstrating His superiority in our lives as
> Jesus our Lord. Is He the Lord of your life or did you just accept
> Him as your Savior? Do you only have half of Jesus or did you get Him
> all at the moment of your salvation? If the Enemy is still torturing
> you, Jesus isn't Lord. To whom do you turn when you feel bad? If you
> identify with Jesus, He will identify with you. Even if you don't
> identify with Him, He will still identify with you. In such case, you
> may not recognize His presence but He is there because He said He was.
> Remember where you heard i
>
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