God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

  Image created by the author using ChatGPT A Monday church Bible study on Matthew 26, led by our church deacon Tom Craig, inspired this post. Two issues in particular caught my attention. We discussed a meal in which a woman anointed Jesus’ feet with a costly perfume called nard, used for burials. Some claim that it was Mary of Bethany, others that it was Mary Magdalene. I wondered why the woman’s identity is still in doubt, so I launched my own investigation. Another central theme was the Passover meal and the institution of an important sacrament. The average church attender doesn’t know the significance of “new covenant.” It has an important Old Testament connection. Although four versions of the former meal leave us with questions about the woman, combining the accounts of all four gospel writers gives us a clearer picture of the Passover meal, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples. That night, Jesus showed his followers and all of us how much that communal fello...

Image captured from facebook.com/ppnea  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1435059125318178&set=pcb.1435059541984803 Early this morning, June 10, 2026, before I woke up, I had a series of chaotic dreams full of scraps that don’t mean anything. Inserted into the weirdness was a scene that felt strangely compelling. I was standing on a city sidewalk with two men, one of whom I supposedly knew. Since in reality, I was sleeping in a light robe with snaps, that was what I was wearing in the dream. But I wasn’t embarrassed about what I wore because concern about attire wasn’t in the script. The two men were talking about something in the news. I don’t recall what, but one man said to me, Janet, do you have any questions for this man? I said, Nope. Are you sure? I replied no again. The questioner was someone familiar in the dream. It kind of felt like my husband, although I’m not sure, but he was clearly hinting that the other man was someone famous, and I should be impressed that w...

  Image by Vecteezy First Problem In the spring of 1992, several young male students at an Assembly of God Bible college in Sacramento, California, were confused about all those women passages. If you were raised in a conservative Evangelical church, you know the ones―women should be silent in the church; women were created second and were the glory of man rather than the glory of God; first God, then Jesus, then the man, then the woman; women must submit to their husbands; women should not teach; women should pray and prophesy with their head covered as a sign of submission; women would be saved in childbirth; women should have long hair; women must not wear certain clothing, etc., etc. For two thousand years, those passages have supported male bias against women in academia, science, art, theology, and even sainthood. That constant disrespect is religion. It’s not love. The issue was never discussed in our Bible college because one of the professors was a woman, and most of...

  Image by author using ChatGTP Because of my Pentecostal background, I often write about contemporary political prophets. Ordinarily, I would hesitate to raise my pen against an anointed soul who is frequently lifted high “in the Spirit.” If God honors them, so should I. But I’ve had many of my own prophetic experiences regarding personal and national topics, and I’ve been a charismatic since 1965, so although I’m not necessarily the brightest bulb on the shelf, I’ve had the experience to earn a seat at the table for discussions on this significant and controversial phenomenon. In 1971, I had a prophetic dream that predicted that Nixon would be swept out of office. I was only half-plugged into the news at that time. I wasn’t sure what to make of it because I’m no prophet, leader, minister, or psychic, and I sure had no reason to suspect that Nixon would not finish his second term, but in 1974, Nixon was pressured by his own party to resign. In 2017, I had a  dream ...

  Image by author using ChatGTP I strongly recommend that the reader visit Part 1 of this two-part series, but both posts can stand alone if need be. On the writing platform Medium in particular, there is a lot of “deconstructing”―people rethinking long-held beliefs and tenets, especially about fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity. I’ve been through that process myself, and I’m all for it―to a degree. I’m certainly not the theological fundamentalist that I used to be, but neither have I spun off into New Age or some vague new paradigm. Nor am I awash in doubts or new questions about the nature of God. The way I stay grounded in my faith is to see Jesus Christ as the Shepherd and the Gate to the sheepfold, just as he claimed to be. The sheepfold is the Kingdom. It’s within us, it’s where we want to be, it’s the place of safety and blessing, it’s the place where we have the guidance of the Kingdom to make the most of our lives and to get in tune with the music of heaven here ...