All posts by L.L. Shelton

About L.L. Shelton

Bonnie is a Jesus Lover, and in light of the fact, loves His wonderful church. She is interested in many things and enjoys sharing her view of some of them on this blog. She is a poet and a singer of songs. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee, where she is a dedicated wife and the mother of seven children- five of whom she educates at home, as the eldest two have graduated homeschool and are pursuing their own interests. In her spare moments she may be found in her home office with a client, as she is a practicing Biblical Counselor and a Life Coach. She welcomes you to print and share her articles and poetry, and to quote freely from them with the understanding that she is to be acknowledged as the author. Mrs. Shelton does NOT OWN the copyright to the majority of the photos and other types of illustration used on this site!

New Year’s Day

Bible Belt Idiocracy
Lost in our mediocrity
Destroyed in our complacency
Relaxed in our ignorance,

Preachers raping their own kin
Missing fathers-never been
Lonely mothers-craving sin,
Astute: Ignorance is bliss!

Children hoping for tomorrow
Choking suddenly on sorrow
Little lungs fill with the water
Mother’s chosen for the alter,
Of their demise, ignorant

Tiny humans-cozy beds
Fairies dancing in their heads
Quickly jerked limb from limb
End of story, God! Amen!
Now: Yanked out of ignorance!

Copyright 1/1/2014 L.L. Shelton

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Yard Sale Treasure

The book was just a dollar
And the packing tape was free,
Yet between its tattered covers
An encoded homily,

A message to transfigure
Souls longing for the key,
Releasing tortured spirits
Hoping to believe.

I read it to the children.
We discussed its terms in depth.
Thank you, Miss O’Conner
I intend not to forget.

I feel somehow I know you
And I wish that it were true.
I feel from having read you
Our hearts beat the same tune.

Copyright 2013, L.L. Shelton

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Love Like Light

Warming
Swelling
Alarming
Compelling
Defining
Revealing
Clarifying
Concealing
Agitating
Saturating
Satisfying
Maturating
Dappling
Resistant
Present
Consistent
Baffling
Fleeting
Leading
Meeting
Instructing
Illuminating
Marinating
Consummating
Fascinating
Persistent
Elaborating
Infinite

Copyright 2014, L.L. Shelton

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A Pretty Paradox

In the garden
On the wall
Christ, The Ruler
Overall

In the meadow
By the sea
By His Name
He strengthens me.

Over field
In forest, vale
He loves me
Keeping me from Hell.

Through city streets
On country lane
He visits me
And bears my pain.

He seeks me
Where my feet do stand
He plants me upright
In the land.

He grows me
By his precious Truth
Sets me free
Observes the proof:

A soul in chains
By choice enslaved
To rule with Him
Beyond the grave.

Copyright 2014 L.L. Shelton

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Postmodern and Organized

imagePostmodern and Organized

Surely, you must know that in today’s society, particularly today’s western society, it must not be assumed that Christianity is the organized church and that the church is organized Christianity. Today’s christian church may be organized around any number of ridiculous ideas about God, many of which are devoid of Truth or are pulled from The Body of God’s Work and twisted until they are nearly unrecognizable to the man of Faith.

Today’s organized church has gone the way of today’s organized marriage or has it been the other way around? Today’s church may be representative of absolutely nothing even remotely resembling Truth; or it may illustrate a bit of truth here and there, often just enough to be tantalizingly near to accurate.

Therefore, one must never assume that because he has entered the church building he is standing on Holy Ground. The one who has entered the building of a church has entered a building labeled a church for the purpose of communicating myriad messages about who knows what. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, The Letter of Jude)

However, some of today’s organized churches are a vehicle to allow both the True Church of Christ and the unsaved to meet together with the purpose of the unsaved being taught The Gospel in the case that they are elect and would like to receive Christ. While the true and yet imperfect believers are gathered in the church building they profess Jesus Christ as The Only Begotten Son of The One True and Living God and express their collective faith and thanksgiving by the avenues of worship of God The Father through prayer, song, and the whole study of His Living Word.

Even so, do not enter the building of any organized church with the expectation that everyone that you meet there is a Christian or even that everyone in a position of leadership there is a Christian; and do not expect that you yourself have become a Christian because you have taken up the habit of meeting there with this particular group of people, even should you mimic their ways. (Matthew 7:15-23, John 5:21-23, John 6:65, John 8:42-43, 1 John 4:5)

You may be attending a church simply because you enjoy the atmosphere which is for the most part kinder and gentler than the environment outside of it, or because you are in need of social connection and you find the group pleasant or helpful. Maybe you are attending because your mother and father attended as did their parents before them and it is simply all that you know. There may be as many reasons for an unbeliever attending church as there are for a Believer attending the circus!

Then again, maybe you are attending because unbeknownst to you, you are elect and are searching for your true father. If you are searching for your true father, you must search in those places where He is to be found. Look not for the building labeled church or even christian, but rather for the one or ones who are reading and studying the whole of His Holy Word, and search for evidence of The Faith in the lives of those gathered around His Word which is The Holy Bible; not for sinlessness in them but for an obvious desire to be perfect as defined by God, to be perfect in Love. These people may be found in any type of building anywhere, conversely unbelievers may be found in church buildings and christian universities, colleges, and seminaries all over the western world. (Matthew 5:43-48, John 14:15-21, 1 John 3:16-24, 4:17-18)

This makes the search for your father a bit more complicated than you may have imagined, but if He is your father you have nothing to fear, only believe that in the form of Jesus Christ your Father’s heart did beat for you and it is guaranteed that you will not remain lost or separated from Him forever. He has planned to bring you home and He never fails to do as He has promised.

Copyright 2014 L.L. Shelton