The Message

[Friends just call me Ross]

The Message

 

The MESSAGE.  JEHOVAH sent it in a STORM.

And LIGHTNING flashed it across the sky!

 

Mighty THUNDER read it

And clapped it savagely in reply!

 

The WIND roared it through the trees

And the TREES whispered it back to the rain.

 

The RAIN splattered it to the ground

And pounded it against my window pane.

 

Then...calm

As the MESSAGE went unanswered.

 

I wrote this back when I was in my early teens and did not know the Creator's name.  In my early twenties, I learned the Truth and I was elated to be able to put Jehovah, in place of just God.

 

 Ross

[CHecker]

How nice!!

[Raindrop]

Creation tells the glory of God

Well put into words sister Ross!

[j_b]

Oh! How beautifully express!

[MizPeg]

youtube.com has that dvd of "privileged species." The one I watched featured Michael Denton. Show that to an evolutionist, and let them explain creation.

The one thought that really intrigued me is that carbon is the only molecule that can be built on.

[Sallyforth]

Excellent! I love the cadence of this poem. I read your note at the end too. It made your poem even better that you found the Truth.

[SUNRAY]

Hi Ross! Isn't it wonderful how Jehovah takes notice of our thoughts and expressions? I used to pray at my window from age 6 to know what God's purpose was..used to lie on our porch roof outside of my bedroom window and look up at the clouds and at night sometimes sleep out there and look at the stars thinking about God..when 18 a young 17yr. old pioneer sister called at my parent's house! I am the only one in the truth some 50 years later.. hope to see my parents in the resurrection..I'm sure Jehovah knows these thoughts too and will fulfill my desire! How did you learn the truth?

[Friends just call me Ross]

Hi Ross! Isn't it wonderful how Jehovah takes notice of our thoughts and expressions? I used to pray at my window from age 6 to know what God's purpose was..used to lie on our porch roof outside of my bedroom window and look up at the clouds and at night sometimes sleep out there and look at the stars thinking about God..when 18 a young 17yr. old pioneer sister called at my parent's house! I am the only one in the truth some 50 years later.. hope to see my parents in the resurrection..I'm sure Jehovah knows these thoughts too and will fulfill my desire! How did you learn the truth?

Hi SUNRAY, 

It truly is wonderful!  I love that scene in the PBS "Anne of Green Gables" series where Anne tells Marilla how she would pray.  She says she would go find a clearing in the woods and look up at the sky and just 'feel' a prayer.

I used to spend a lot of time contemplating the creation and the Creator, while gazing out my open upstairs window, too.  I am so glad Jehovah brought the Truth to the both of us!!!

I posted how I came into the Truth on the How did you come into the Truth thread.  But, to save you having to search for it:

 

“How I Came Into the Truth”

 

HAPPILY,  I have always been conscious of my spiritual need—right from birth.  ; )

I have always had the presence of mind to realize that ‘creation’ requires a CREATOR and ‘intelligent design’ requires an INTELLIGENT DESIGNER. 

I admired the early Christians, who sacrificed everything for their faith.  I can remember wishing that I would someday find a cause so noble that it would be worth dying for.  

Was born and raised a Catholic and attended parochial school for eight years.  It didn't take. lol  Far too much hypocrisy and absolutely NOTHING it offered was worth dying for.  

First memory of the Truth: I can remember my Mother hiding behind the curtains in our living room and telling us kids to tell the Witnesses that she wasn't home.  Like anybody would believe a parent would ever leave very young children home alone. LOL  I wondered why my Mom behaved like that. Hmmm...

Second memory: I was in our small town's American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps, and on the way to practice, we would have to walk past this small blue house that was labeled as a "Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses."   It was well kept and I can remember wondering what went on in a Kingdom Hall.  Hmmm...

As soon as I was not FORCED, by my folks, to attend mass (shudder, shudder) I stopped going to church.  My parents made me go to the first 'Catechism' class for graduates of the parochial grade school.  It didn’t take. lol I walked in, looked the priest right in the eye and asked: "If unbaptized babies end up in purgatory and can be 'bought' or 'prayed' out of there, wouldn't it be better for me to have died as an unbaptized infant, and never have to worry about burning in hell for eternity?"  The priest had no comment.  Then I asked, "If my Father steals a horse, is it right for the authorities to hang me for HIS crime?"  (Referring to inherited sin and death.)  Once again, the priest could not provide a satisfactory reply, so I never went back.

Went to college and a bunch of my friends and I would visit different places of worship each weekend, in search of something that we could believe in soooooo STRONGLY, that we would be willing to die for our belief.  None took.

Got home from college, went to work.

Third memory:  Living on my own and a couple of sisters come to my door and give me a book.  (Can't remember what book was being offered in the Fall of 1971.)  I accepted the book but never read it.  I had a friend from High School who was in the process of going from a girl to a guy and I can remember telling them that I didn't see why that made my friend unacceptable in the sight of God.

 Got married to an ex-Lutheran, (now atheist) dairy farmer.

I would try to have a Bible study with some friends in our neighborhood.  We would take turns reading the Bible, but we could never make it past the 'so and so begot so and so and then he died' parts.  So it didn’t take. lol 

I loved the musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar” because it portrayed Jesus, not as GOD, but as the lyrics said, “He’s a man.  He’s just a man.”  I could relate to Jesus as a man.  God can’t die, so it was no big deal if the Jews off’ed God, because God can’t be off’ed.  But, they could kill a MAN.  A man could sacrifice his life for mine.  Yuppers!  Made waaaaay more sense if Jesus was a MAN and NOT God.

Fourth memory: One ridiculously HOT summer day, a carload of Jehovah's Witnesses came to our farm.  I can remember thinking, 'It's gotta be 95 degrees in the shade and these people got all dressed up in their suits and dresses and drove all the way out here, just to see me.   Whatever they have to share must be pretty dang important.  They could be sittin’ under a tree somewhere, sipping ice tea, instead of in a hot car, a hot crowded car, in my dusty driveway.  Hmmm... I took the magazines, but never read them. lol

Fifth memory:  That Winter, my hubby and I were fighting.  I remembered that one of the magazines had been about Marriage, so I dug it out of the drawer it had been tossed into and finally read it.  It said that I needed to be submissive.  I used to go to the Horse-pulling Contests at the local fairs, so I knew the information was RIGHT ON THE MONEY, but the sound Scriptural advice didn't take. lol 

Sixth memory: A year or two later, I sent a Christmas card to some horseback riding friends.  They stopped by one snowy day to see if I wanted to go to the Co-op Store with them.  On the way, I asked them if they had gotten my card and mentioned that talk in the neighborhood was that Monte had become some sort of a minister.  His wife, Rhonda, said, "Everyone who becomes one of Jehovah's Witnesses is a minister, because, to 'minister' means to ‘serve’."   That blew me away! 

Then, Monte says, “People keep sending us Christmas cards, even though they know we’re Witnesses now.” 

I  couldn’t imagine why he would say such a thing, so I asked him to explain and, the entire time we were shopping, they shared the GLORIOUS Good News of God’s Kingdom with me. 

I told them that I thought Jesus wasn’t God.  They said that the Bible shows that Jesus is God’s Son and NOT God, the Son. 

I told them I didn’t believe a loving God would torture people in eternal hellfire for a crime they didn’t commit.  They told me what the Bible says about the condition of the dead. 

I was so fascinated by what I was hearing, they offered to take me back to their place and show me some more pearls of Truth from the Bible.  I agreed and the first thing they showed me was Psalm 83: 18.   BLEW ME AWAY, once more!!!  So, the Creator, the Intelligent Designer had a NAME.  Hmmm….  I immediately knew I had found the ‘something worth dying for’ I had been searching for, for soooo long!!! 

I asked them when their next church service was.  They told me it was the next morning and offered to give me a ride.  I took them up  on the offer and asked them what I should wear.  They told me to wear whatever I wanted to wear.  I respected what I was learning soooo much that I put a dress on for the first time since my wedding.   (Although, the hemline was way north of the level of my knees.  lol ) 

And the next morning, there I was, sitting practically in the front row of the Munising,  Michigan Congregation’s Kingdom Hall, listening to a Bible-based talk and a Bible-based explanation of “The King’s Marriage Feast”, which is in the December, 1974 Watchtower…if I remember correctly.  

It was all perfectly LOGICAL and the Brothers and Sisters were so warm and welcoming…I just KNEW I had found the TRUTH. : D  

After the meeting, Monte and Rhonda took me over to Brother Johnson’s house and he explained why the whole ‘so and so begot so and so and then he died’ parts had been included in God’s letter to mankind. 

He has this board with all the Biblical time-lines on it and it is waaaaay cool! 

Then, because I was curious to hear a LOGICAL explanation for the whole inherited sin and death thing, I looked Brother Johnson right in the eye and I asked him, “If my father steals a horse, is it right for the authorities to hang me for his crime?” 

He looked me right in the eyes and smiled and said, “If you were baking bread and the bread pan had a big dent in it, every loaf would come out of the oven with that same dent in it.  It wasn’t anything you did.  You were just born imperfect.   You inherited sin and death.”

Yup!  I could live with that answer, all right…LITERALLY. LOL

Two wonderful sisters volunteered to give me my very own personal Bible Study, in The Truth That Leads To Everlasting/Eternal? Life book.  Wore this big, silly grin the entire time. lol

I had to keep pinching myself and checking to see if all the wonderful TRUTHS I was learning could really BE truths.  (Because coming to know such a loving, INCREDIBLE Creator, on a first-name basis, and finally satisfying my insatiable ‘spiritual need’ was, well, pretty UNbelievable. lol ) So I double-checked every Scripture in my hubby’s Lutheran King James  Bible, that he had gotten for his Confirmation.  I stuck so many book marks in that poor Bible that it ruined the binding. lol  

I am overjoyed to say that—IT ALL TOOK!!!

And, at an Assembly in Menominee, Michigan, on May 3^rd, 1975, I was baptized into the belief that is waaaaaaay worth dying for!!! 

Well…Actually, I was baptized in a hotel swimming pool across the border, in Marinette, Wisconsin. ; )

I am eternally grateful that Jehovah found *‘a reason to bring the Truth to me and call me from the darkness to the light’, and that *‘he could see, within my heart, the yearning I then had, to search for him and practice what is right’. 

*See Song 60 “He Will Make You Strong”  (I would like to say that THAT is my fave, but my favorite Kingdom Song is…whichever one I happen to be singing, or listening to, at the moment. lol )

Your Sister-in-Christ,

Rosanne Iho                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

[Friends just call me Ross]

Excellent! I love the cadence of this poem. I read your note at the end too. It made your poem even better that you found the Truth.

Hi, Helen!   

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the poem.  

And, it sure did make it better!  In fact, being able to know the Creator on a first name basis is THE BEST!!!  )'> 

Ross