Just Call The Man

[debrand]

Note: I changed the title of the thread

Apparently, Woody Robertson co founded college plus

kindredgrace.com/love-stories/robertson/

Warning: His courtship story is long and sort of boring.

Summary: Around 25, he became aware of an increased desire to marry. He and his parents were pretty certain he wouldn't marry until age 27 so they told him to concentrate on god. He first became enamored of Gina while talking to her dad. He hadn't met the young woman yet.

In 2003, he worked with Gina on a project and had his parents check her out. They approved and told him to pursue her. However, he waited until 2006 because god hadn't yet led him to court the young lady. So, he began to pray

God had already given me several very clear rhemas that I was to begin courting Gina.

I had to look rhema up. It is indeed a word that means:

A rhema is a verse or portion of Scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention with application to a current situation or need for direction.

(ati.iblp.org/ati/family/articles/concepts/rhema/)

He called her dad and dad gave the okay.

Mr. Novotny gave his full blessing and support to begin this relationship. He mentioned that there had been one guy whom Gina had expressed strong interest in over the years and this guy’s name kept coming up every 2-6 months, her having to die to it. As he shared this information, my heart sank thinking that Gina was really interested in someone else. Feelings like “who’s the guy; I’ll kill him†came to mind. After a very leading start, Mr. Novotny then said, “Woody, you’re the guy, the one and only guy Gina hsd expressed interest in.†My jaw hit the floor in total astonishment. It was at that moment that I truly began “falling in love†with Gina. He then said that he and he and his wife had actually been praying intently for the past month that I would call to start this relationship. God you are So good! You talk about answered prayer on all fronts. Wow!

and

As Gina was currently at the Dallas Training Center speaking for a week to the Excel girls on singleness, Mr. Novotny and I both agreed that this would not be the best time or place to start this relationship. We arranged a time when we could both be there with her in person to surprise her with this news. Mr. and Mrs. Novotny gave the excuse that they needed to fly down to the Dallas area to visit their property located an hour North of Dallas and that while they were in town they would take Gina out to a nice dinner. Mr. Novotny being the true romantic winner of hearts thought that dinner atop the magnificent Reunion Tower overlooking the city at sunset would make for the ideal meeting place. He was right. The Reunion Tower had always held special significance for Gina.

Apparently, her parents were with him to announce his courtship intentions

In 2004, Gina writes she was 22 but she says her interest in Woody started while she was in high school. It sounds like she was strongly drawn to Woody but had to sit and wait. To me, this would have seen easier if she had been the one doing the pursuing. Her parents sat around and prayed too.

It sounds as if she loves him but all the sitting and waiting seems so unnecessary. Would they really love each other less if she had called him up and said, "Hey, let's go for coffee?"

[debrand]

homeschoolvendors.org/speaker_pages/speaker.asp?sid=64

This is Woody's page.

[formergothardite]

God never gave me any rhemas when I was in ATI. I tried too. And then I realized most of the people were just making stuff up because it was expected of you.

She was 22 and speaking about singleness? At least we had someone way older than that giving us the lecture when I was at EXCEL.

[ThatSnark]

Rhemas make my eyes roll so hard it hurts.

[debrand]

Can those of you who used to be in ATI explain how rhemas work? I knew that homeschoolers used college plus but I didn't know the creators were members of ATI

[formergothardite]

Rhema's are basically finding a verse and figuring out a way to twist it to say what you want it to say. So let's say he wanted to start courting, he would find some verses that he could in some way stretch to mean that, then he goes and says, "God gave me a Rhema.", present the verses, presents the way God spoke to him through the verses, and that is that.

Let's say I wanted to be a missionary, but I can't just say that, I have to "prove" God is telling me that, so I go look for a Rhema.

Galatians 5:13 - "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

My Rhema would be: Over the last several days I have been studying in Galatians and God has been drawing my heart and eyes back to this verse. All through the day the verse keeps coming to my mind. God convicted me that I have been using my freedom in Christ to serve my fleshly wants. I live here in my nice house surrounded by all these worldly possessions and it is a waste of the freedom God has given me. God wants me to get outside my comfort zone, to go out into the world and show God's love by serving others in the mission field.

While saying this I would probably cry. And that was a Rhema. God has used a verse to speak to me individually. Or, you know, I just made it all up.

[Black Aliss]

Rhema's are basically finding a verse and figuring out a way to twist it to say what you want it to say.

Oh, like the pious lady in my church who didn't approve up my updo (she didn't approve of my hair hanging straight down, either, because of my bangs), and who took me aside to show me where the bible says "top [k]not come down!"

In case you don't remember Jesus ever talking about women's hair, it's from Matthew 24:17. "Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house."

[MamaJunebug]

Oh, like the pious lady in my church who didn't approve up my updo (she didn't approve of my hair hanging straight down, either, because of my bangs), and who took me aside to show me where the bible says "top [k]not come down!"

In case you don't remember Jesus ever talking about women's hair, it's from Matthew 24:17. "Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house."

I have a temporary condition that makes it hurt when I laugh and you! Are! Killin' me!!!!

Now I have to find an IBLP/ATI church to visit (after my condition's gone, of course). Or do they only homechurch? :shhh:

[salsa]

Though I've never heard the term before, when I still believed (or was trying desperately to believe and in all the trying, it seemed like belief), rhemas came to me, and often it was just because I had a decent familiarity with scriptural catch-phrases. For example, when faced with a difficult or awkward task, the phrase, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me," would come to mind. When addressing a difficult business situation that turned personal (and the other suggesting I read the Bible), in flipping through my Bible for another purpose, I lighted on the part where Paul spoke against believers suing each other.

The rhema phenomenon is real, when you're in it. Outside of it, it's obvious that since you have something on your mind, you'll see things that address it. Heck, it even happened when I was 16 and sick from complications from mono - there was concern about my blood and my spleen - and from then, it seemed we frequently heard about other folks with enlarged spleens and not just any anemia, but hemolytic anemia. It was even a story line in the soap opera I watched while I was convalescing!

Rhema, IMO, is the phenomenon of having a raised awareness and seeing it in other places that you would ordinarily overlook, but because your mind is on it, you are able to focus on the thing you'd otherwise be overlooking. Add the spiritual component and voila - God's sending you a message. :cray-cray:

[manekineko]

Rhema, IMO, is the phenomenon of having a raised awareness and seeing it in other places that you would ordinarily overlook, but because your mind is on it, you are able to focus on the thing you'd otherwise be overlooking. Add the spiritual component and voila - God's sending you a message. :cray-cray:

I would call a rhema confirmation bias, but of course I'm an evil heathen :wink-kitty:

[browngrl]

there is a term for this sort of thing: baader-meinhof phenomena

here's a definition of this phenomena copy/pasted from the internet: Baader-Meinhof is the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information-- often an unfamiliar word or name-- and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. Anytime the phrase "That's so weird, I just heard about that the other day" would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof.

:)

[debrand]

Oh, like the pious lady in my church who didn't approve up my updo (she didn't approve of my hair hanging straight down, either, because of my bangs), and who took me aside to show me where the bible says "top [k]not come down!"

In case you don't remember Jesus ever talking about women's hair, it's from Matthew 24:17. "Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house."

Former Gothardite, thank you. That explanation makes sense. So, instead of doing what they want, the Gothardite has to come up with heavenly approval for their actions. Are there any cases where people had conflicting Rhemas and got into arguments about who was right?

Molly Trolly, that story is funny now but I bet it was frustrating at the time.

[MamaJunebug]

there is a term for this sort of thing: baader-meinhof phenomena

here's a definition of this phenomena copy/pasted from the internet: Baader-Meinhof is the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information-- often an unfamiliar word or name-- and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. Anytime the phrase "That's so weird, I just heard about that the other day" would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof.

:)

NO intention of derailing this thread, but if I learn something new, see it randomly after a few days, and just say, "Right, I just saw that the other day" (no "that's weird/significant") - is that still Baader Meinhof? ...guess I *could* just look it up myself. Heh.

Rhema sounds a version of putting out the fleece - asking God for a sign but leaving yourself plenty if outs to get the sign you want. So e prophet or other out out a fleece in a Bible story to attempt to "find God's will" to benefit his desires. IOW, this has been going on for millennia. Goathard can't come up with a new scam to save his life.

[debrand]

Rhema sounds like a lot of damned work. Of course, it also takes the responsibility for bad decisions off person. In the above post, Woody-or the young lady-didn't have to face the fear of rejection. They can sit and wait for a message from god instead of facing that they are frightened the answer will be no.

Becoming an adult and taking responsibility for your own actions is difficult. It means sometimes people won't have the same feelings that you do and you will make mistakes. It sounds like Rhema removes the pain of growth. Maybe that is why some fundies seem so immature to us

[louisa05]

The Charismatics I worked among had an easier way than having to find a rhema. They just prayed over their Bibles, closed their eyes and randomly opened them and pointed their finger. The verse they landed on was God's message. It often took a lot of twisting to make it work for the circumstance. And sometimes "satan" or "demons" interfered in the process and they would have to open and point two or three times to find the answer.

[blisterine]

my greatgrandmother practiced bibliomancy- you ask a question, open the Bible or other important book and point to a verse that she would interpret for you. I guess I should call it Bibliomancy! You can twist anything to make it read what you want it to. This came in handy when I worked for Madame Cleo's Psychic Line!

[julie paradox]

"opened the bible at random and put my finger on a verse. It said "and the dogs licked up the blood." Went to bed. I don't really understand God sometimes"

[lizziesmom]

"opened the bible at random and put my finger on a verse. It said "and the dogs licked up the blood." Went to bed. I don't really understand God sometimes"

Seems pretty clear to me. You need to clear your house. :lol:

[SamuraiKatz]

my greatgrandmother practiced bibliomancy- you ask a question, open the Bible or other important book and point to a verse that she would interpret for you. I guess I should call it Bibliomancy! You can twist anything to make it read what you want it to. This came in handy when I worked for Madame Cleo's Psychic Line!

You worked for Madame Cleo? Wow! That's cool!

[Cheetah]

"opened the bible at random and put my finger on a verse. It said "and the dogs licked up the blood." Went to bed. I don't really understand God sometimes"

My dad had an old joke about this... the joke is that a preacher didn't plan his sermon ahead and decided to just open up the Bible and make up somehting about the verse his finger landed on. So he tried it and the verse was "And Judas went out and hung himself." The preacher thought that wasn't very churchy or inspiring so he tried it a second time. This time his verse read: "Go out now and do likewise."

[nolongerIFBx]

My dad had an old joke about this... the joke is that a preacher didn't plan his sermon ahead and decided to just open up the Bible and make up somehting about the verse his finger landed on. So he tried it and the verse was "And Judas went out and hung himself." The preacher thought that wasn't very churchy or inspiring so he tried it a second time. This time his verse read: "Go out now and do likewise."

That's exactly the joke I was thinking of! I've sometimes heard it followed up with John 13:27- "That thou doest, do quickly".

In all seriousness, when we lived in Alabama, there was a preacher who decided to start a church in Dothan after reading the verse in Genesis 37:17- "'Let us go to Dothan".

[debrand]

That's exactly the joke I was thinking of! I've sometimes heard it followed up with John 13:27- "That thou doest, do quickly".

In all seriousness, when we lived in Alabama, there was a preacher who decided to start a church in Dothan after reading the verse in Genesis 37:17- "'Let us go to Dothan".

My husband spent his adolescence in Dothan, Alabama and went to high school in Enterprise

[nolongerIFBx]

My husband spent his adolescence in Dothan, Alabama and went to high school in Enterprise

Home of the boll weevil. (-; We were stationed at Ft. Rucker three times when my dad was in the army.

[debrand]

When my husband was a kid, he said the boll weevil was stolen several times. His dad also worked at Ft. Rucker

[Just_Jane]

I know someone who does bibliomancy only she uses Harry Potter books.