I still remember April of 1979. It was my new day. The day when God
heard my cry, saved me and forgived all of my sins. However, God's forgiveness,
and acceptance of me, depended on my believing. It wasn't about what
Christ had done on the cross, but about what I had publicly confessed
before the church congregation. On that early Sunday morning, at a very
small Pentecostal Church, I heard the preacher say: "There is someone
here this morning that God has been dealing with for sometime now. Your
life has been a mess, and you have been seeking for an answer to life's
problems. You know who you are and God knows who you are."
I then noticed that all eyes were on me. Even the pastor was looking
in my direction. The couple that had invited me to the church, who were
sitting behind me, began to poke me on my back saying: "God is
talking to you Eddie". Since the whole church scene was all strange
to me, and I felt as if someone had told the Pastor about me, although
later on it was supposed to have been a revelation that the Holy Spirit
gave to the pastor, I became so emotionally overwhelmed, ridden with
guilt, fear and condemnation that I threw myself between the pews and
cried out of control. All of a sudden, out of 50 people in the congregation,
about ten were pulling me up to my feet while speaking in a language
I didn't understand. Tongues.
They led me to the altar, and while soaked in my own tears and sorrow,
the pastor met me face to face and said: "Eddie, God has been calling
you for some time, but you have not answered His call.' The first thing
that came to my mind was my home telephone being out of order and that's
probably why I never received God's call. Anyway, I spent about an hour
at the altar crying and agreeing with everything the pastor and the
congregation were telling me. It was as if I was having a dream and
hearing voices coming from all sorts of directions saying different
things to me at once. Not only did I felt like a zombie, but I looked
like one after the religious gang initiation that I received.
If any of you ever been to a Pentecostal service, you know that they
don't get through with new converts until they have quoted to them the
bible from Genesis to Revelation, cast out every devil and even drive
you home because you are too weak to speak, think, walk and see. When
I got home all I could think about was going to bed. I felt as if I
had gone through yet another military basic training drill. My wife
and children had accompanied me to church that Sunday, but after being
ganged up by Moses, Joshua, all the disciples, Mary, and all of the
prophets in the church, I had forgotten all about my family. The last
time I had experienced a gang type similar situation was back in New
York City.
My wife's brother in-law was a known "Santeria Priest," and
he had performed a ritual with the sprinkling of chicken blood, and
all sorts of other things to cleansed me out from all evil spirits.
It also reminded me of my street gang initiation. In order to join a
gang, one had to fight off 3 gang members, and they do lay hands all
over you. If you show the guts to fight back, then you are in. Being
that I was brand new to the religious Pentecostal scene, I felt as if
I had yet joined another gang. This time was the Lord's gang. The next
three years or so were to be the most horrific, tormenting, nightmarish
religious years of my life. Not only for me, but for my family and other
people.
The church told me that I had now mounted with wings of an eagle, but
I felt more like a turkey. It wasn't until I began to understand the
Gospel of God's grace, that I realized that God had made us all to be
eagles in Christ, flying high and free above all the laws of religion.
Friends, like many of you, when I first got turned on to religion, I
was often quoted, and I even quoted the passage found in Isaiah about
how we will mount with wings of eagles. Well, in many of our cases,
we may have started out with wings of an eagle, but at some point religion
shot us down with their legalistic gunshot and we landed eating corn
with the rest of the religious turkeys.
Thank God for the Gospel of God's Grace. If it weren't for this wonderful
and only true Gospel, we would still be gobble, gobble with the turkeys,
instead of enjoying the freedom of flying high with the eagles. If only
the religious world knew how God has transformed them from being turkey's
into being eagle's. Self-righteous performance is what keeps us under
a turkey mentality. Religion goes around making the same gobble, gobble
sound all of the time. "We need to do this. We need to give this.
We need to pray this. We need to sacrifice this. We need to tithe for
this. We need to read this. We need to do so that God can do."
Friends, God has done everything that He will ever do in Christ Jesus,
and through Christ Jesus for all.
You are a corn eating turkey if you think that you have to do in order
for God to do for you. Only the true Gospel of the Grace and Peace of
God will make you feel like an eagle. So why eat with the turkeys when
you can fly and feast like an eagle. Haven't you been shot down by religion
long enough? It is time that you fly high and free and aim your bird
manure at the religious turkeys that keep trying to convince you that
it is what you do, plus what Christ did that keeps you right with God.
It is bomb's away with me. Under God's grace I fly like an eagle and
make sure that I don't land like a turkey. :) Flying High and Free.
Grace N Peace
Eddie Narvaez