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OCD and Other Brain Disorders in the Church?

The Lord has placed something on my heart for some time concerning Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other such disorders in the church. Mild cases of it are obviously rampant in the general population.  Quite a number of people who have the disorder suffer with it to a degree where it hinders functionality in daily life. Just a few questions reveals any tendencies toward it, and simple observation can reveal it in those taking great strides to conceal it. Not only is it easily found in the general population, but it is found within the church too.

Understand from the get-go, I have zero professional training in this. Anything I know or think I know is from the Lord and self-education. So, take that for what you think it is worth. The point is, this is something I feel impressed by the Lord to address. However, before doing that, I need to explain what led to my interest in this type of subject in the first place.

Going back to childhood I have had an interest in medical science. My parents had me later in life, and I spent part of my childhood and teen years caring for my father. Then, my mother’s kidneys failed. Learning about the Alzheimer’s my father suffered from and the kidney issues my mother suffered from helped me understand what was going on in their bodies. I had a desire to know how all things worked from my earliest memories, and this includes how our bodies and minds function. Wanting to know how things worked helped me hone observational and analytical skills over the years. Continue reading “OCD and Other Brain Disorders in the Church?”

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The Lame Beggar

Acts 3:11
“And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.”

Peter and John spoke a healing miracle to the lame man. The man was on the ground every day next to a gate of the temple that was called Beautiful. He was crippled from birth and people would carry him to the gate and put him there so he could beg money to survive. Such a contrast of a crippled man on the ground who had to rely on friends or family to carry him to the temple and back home every day so he could beg in front of a gate that was called “Beautiful.”

One source indicates the gate was big and covered in brass plates. The actual Greek word that “Beautiful” comes from in this context is “hōraios.” According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible it means, “belonging to the right hour or season (timely), that is, (by implication) flourishing (beauteous [figuratively]): – beautiful.” With what happened to the beggar, I would say it was both “timely” and “flourishing!”

Out of all the glory of this miracle that Peter plainly gives to Jesus there is one small thing that sticks out to me and that is that the lame man “held Peter and John.” He went from being powerless in one single moment in time to being powerful enough to physically hold two apostles. Also take note that the lame man was” . . .walking, and leaping, and praising God.” God was both due and did receive the glory for the work.

There is no doubt to me that our enemy derived pleasure for every moment the lame man lay on the ground begging. Then there was that moment when the power of God was demonstrated for a purpose. The formerly crippled beggar held onto Peter and John, and then the Holy Ghost held onto everyone there because of the miracle so that the Gospel message would be declared in that timely moment and so it would flourish all the more.

I pray healing into your life so that God receives glory and that the message that Jesus is the Christ and is still offering forgiveness of sins and eternal life to anyone who calls on his name flourishes more!

(I invite you to read the whole text of the healing in Acts chapters 3 and 4.)

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Cody S. Alderson Invites You To Read Expound

I have a Facebook page called Expound. I invite you to read and participate on the page if you have an interest in studying God’s Word the Holy Bible. As you will see in the About page here, I have had a calling on my life for a long time to teach God’s Word.

I do hope that we can all learn together. I learn a little bit more every single day! I have not sent out an Expound  newsletter recently, but I do invite you to sign up for the next one coming out. Thank you for your patience.

I am making a personal request to those who believe in Jesus as their Savior to pray for my voice so that I may be able to speak for long periods of time again. If it be God’s Will, I would like to teach in that way too. I have a problem with my throat that causes bad pain from speaking. Sometimes I can only speak for about five minutes or less before the pain starts.

Thank You,

Cody

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Our Goosey Girl Is Sick

Lucy who is also called Goose, Goosey, Gooster, Scoobs, Pickle Butt, Lunch Lady Goose, and a whole bunch of other good names is really sick. She was a big part of our website that we had from the beginning of Alderson Arts.

I don’t know how much time she has left. I do know that God can heal her. I do not know if He will.

I could write a post that would be the size of an encyclopedia in its length if I were to share with you the wonderful things da Goose has done for us. All I can write now is that it hurts inside really bad to see her so sick.

Lucy Ann Alderson