Not the Usual Sin

By Lula Johnson

A telltale memoir with a dramatic twist in this nonfiction spiritual saga that was uniquely written from a spiritual perspective other than the natural. Unwind as I attempt the impossible task of describing a spiritual pang that exceeds man’s typically natural ability to perceive it. These writings display an account of events that happened in my life as God unveils the truth in reference to the occurrences of those events. These have been recorded by me with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, who has shown me those events from a spiritual perspective.

It unveils the astounding truth as recorded in Ephesian 6:12. It is a book that everyone in the world should read because in it you will see the true God, the creator of the heavens and earth, as you saw him in the Bible. It entails a higher power exceeding beyond man’s natural existence.

I was brought into a marriage like one that had taken place over six thousand years ago in the garden as recorded in the book of Genesis. I saw God as I saw him in the Garden of Eden and in the book of Ester. And I have undergone a painful and indescribable spiritual hurt of which Joseph in the Old Testament could relate.

You will see God do an act in my life that was one that he had done in times of old in the life of King David. It openly establishes truth in relation to the living God who is sovereign over the subtotal of his creation, causing skeptics to reconsider their uncertainty relating to God’s word.

These writings might prove to be out of the ordinary as the content of these writings is a result of the puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes while it was all divinely orchestrated for these times.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685174286

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Year of Visitation

There is nothing new under the sun. Any manner of sin that is being done today has been done before you came to be by people in times of old. Fallen angels (demons) have existed before the creation of man. Our God today is the same God as of yesterday, and he remembers your ancestors who walked in the land before you. So there is nothing new underneath the sun that he has not already seen.

You will need spiritual insight to truly know me as a person, because without the presence of the Holy Spirit, you may only see my life as only having been the result of the usual occurrences—those being the laws of nature that applies to the world and its viewpoints and not by God’s law and how he governs his law. I was not raised by valuable godly principles that pertained to the word of God. But my relationship with the Lord began on October 23, 2015. It started as I was sitting alone in my car, basically staring out at nothing. When suddenly before me, at approximately 45 feet, I witnessed a vision-like transformation. It was transparent in nature, sort of like water in a sense. And it was as though if I wanted to look through it at anything beyond it, I could have. But because what I was seeing was indeed miraculous, unlike any common natural sighting. I did not know how long it would last or if I would ever witness anything such as it again, so I did not attempt to look away, not even in the slightest. But I quickly took in every aspect of the miraculous sighting. I mentally noted even the outer perimeters of it. All the while it sort of put on a performance for me to look at. It lasted for about twenty-five seconds, and I knew as I watched the performance of this transparent-like vision transformation that it was of God. I was not raised in any church or taught godly principles. Besides, I was a firstborn who had been born out of wedlock and raised by my earthly mother who had never been a wife. The day I witnessed the miraculous sighting is the day that my life had changed. I knew on that day that I would never be the same. And almost immediately after I had witnessed the miraculous sighting, I kind of frantically began to seek somewhere I could go to praise and worship. I did not know anything about the different denomination of churches. But I knew at that moment that all I wanted was to know more about God. This happened on a Friday afternoon, and the place I found to attend a worship service was a Catholic church in downtown Tampa. And starting that day I continued to go faithfully each Sunday. And while I was there, I was introduced to taking communion once a week. I noticed that I was experiencing an emotional attachment to God that was unlike anything I had previously known. It was a different kind of experience for me, and all I wanted was to draw nearer to him. So I began to reach out to him through heartfelt prayers. I eventually thought back to a time in 2012, when I once asked an elderly person his opinion about God. I asked him if he believed that God was real. I then asked, Why do we have to die? He said to me, I just don’t think about it. And though he was much older than me and had lived in the world longer than myself, he could not give me an answer to either of my questions because he did not know. But often in my life I have thought about purpose, and I have asked myself, Why was I born? I knew that somehow there had to be more than just existing for a time. And after the day of my witnessing the transparent-like vision transformation, I noticed that my innermost desires had begun to change. My mind and heart have stayed on the Lord, and all I wanted was to experience more of God. I faithfully continued to attend worship services in the Catholic church, and afterward, I would return home. And throughout the entire day, I would praise God from my heart and have at times gotten emotional to the point where I would cry as I would constantly repent of my sins. Approximately four weeks had gone by since that day (October 23, 2015) when out of nowhere I suddenly developed an internal curiosity passion. It was to know where I had come from pertaining to my roots, particularly who my ancestors had been. This curiosity passion caused my mind to concentrate only on it because it stayed with me. It intensified within my spirit until it became a burning passion in me. I remember saying, Why does God want me to know where I had come from? And for days this curiosity passion burned in me until I began to prepare myself to travel to Waycross, Georgia, the city and state where I was born. I called and booked a hotel room in Waycross, and then I started packing some luggage into my car. And early one morning, I headed out taking my cat, Church, with me. I drove I-275, and I remember having a unique feeling because I was experiencing the Lord in such a miraculous way. It was a good feeling that gave me a kind of mysterious excitement because now I was undergoing a burning, curiosity passion to know where I came from pertaining to who my ancestors were. All the while I could not stop thinking about my witnessing of the transparent-like vision transformation. I arrived and settled into my hotel room. I had a feeling of being protected as well as being provided for because I knew that the Lord was very near to me. I was excited about my sudden journey by a burning curiosity passion to know where I had come from, and I became totally engrossed in it. I prayed and meditated on the Lord continuously while I eagerly awaited what I would find. That was how I spent my time there. I noticed I was experiencing some transformation in my mind as opposed to how I once thought, because now I had a desire for things pertaining to God unlike before. And it would be sometime later that I would come to know that I had been led there by the Holy Spirit.

I was ten years old when I had left Waycross in 1977. But now I was moving about the city fueled by a curiosity passion but not personally knowing where I was going or what I would find. Within three days I obtained the names of two of my eldest ancestors that I had never known. That was when I believed that I had accomplished my reason for coming. I felt a sense of satisfaction to where I prepared myself to return to Tampa. And as I quietly drove I-275, my mind was relaxed while at the same time I was sort of mentally assessing all that I had experienced within a short time. I had driven for approximately two hours when I heard a voice say, Write a book. The voice was spoken very clearly, and as I held on to the steering wheel continuing to drive, I immediately said out loud, A book? as if in a question form. I remember turning and looking toward the back seat area, where everything appeared to be normal as I saw my cat, Church, lying in the upper back window area. It seemed to me as though this all began overnight. These experiences had begun suddenly, and I had not expected any of it. When I returned home, I began to search the census records of my deceased ancestors and I found records dating back to 1930 and again in 1940 and 1950. I started to write out the details of my findings, being precise in writing down the dates pertaining to this history. I saw the beautiful handwriting of my great-grandmother Lula Mae Washington. She had signed the registration card for her only son Izell Washington, born February 17, 1927, in Lakeland, Georgia. He was being drafted into the Air Corps during World War II at age eighteen. He had been the brother and only sibling of my maternal grandmother. I carefully listed the areas where he had lived and the locations where he had been stationed. He was previously enlisted for the Hawaii department in 1945; and he had lived in Washington, D. C., and Montgomery, Maryland. I was hopeful that he would be the oldest living relative, but I found that he died on March 20, 2008, at age eighty-one and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, a military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The oldest ancestor from my discovery was Claude Washington. He was my late great-grandfather, born in 1884. He was the father of my maternal grandmother, who was born Mary Lee Washington. Claude Washington was forty years of age when his wife, Lula Mae Washington, born in 1908, would give birth to my grandmother in 1924 at age seventeen. And while she had been Lula Mae Washington, I would become Lula Mae Johnson when I was born into the world. And though she never met me, she was the source from where I had gotten my name, Lula Mae. I acquired the last name of Johnson through my maternal grandmother, Lula’s firstborn. She unknowingly played a part in the providential hand of God when he brought together the marriage between her and my maternal grandpa who had been Leroy Johnson Sr. How so I could become Lula Mae Johnson when their second born would become my mother, Ruby Lee Johnson. Through my research on the life of Claude Washington, I discovered plenty of movement by the family. They had moved about from city to city and to rural areas throughout the state of Georgia. There was also time spent in Jacksonville, Florida. In the beginning, the continuous moving by the family was confusing to me. But I started to write the details of my findings as a happy family that moved around throughout rural areas of Georgia beginning around the 1930s. That was until the Lord gave me information as I spoke with a family member who somewhat assisted me. This was as I moved about in Georgia by the burning curiosity that came from the Lord. He, like me, had never known these late ancestors as he is younger in age than me. But it was around the second day of my return from the search of my roots, when the two of us talked over the phone about the information that was discovered. I can recall talking with excitement because my journey had been successful. And because miraculously within three days, I had traced my ancestors back to the year 1884. All the while I had not forgotten that it was God who was doing this through me. It was God who had taken me on a journey to unknown places. Although it had not yet been concluded as to why the Lord was particularly speaking to me pertaining to where I had come from. The first revelation came that day as we continued to speak over the phone. I told my family member about the other encounter I had while returning from Waycross. I described to him about the voice that spoke to me as I drove saying, Write a book. And after I finished describing in detail exactly what happened, I can recall saying to him, I believe that the Lord had led me to search where I came from so that when I entered into the eternal of heaven, I would already be familiar with my relatives who had passed on. And those being the eldest in my discovery would have been familiar with those before them. So they’ll basically introduce me, and we would all come together in a unity. This was how naive I was to the word of God. And while that theory is what I can recall saying to him, he neither corrected me nor said otherwise. But I was just grateful to be in Jesus Christ even after my own theory. And then suddenly I heard him say, He was a root man. I can recall how I gave a slight pause as I tried to absorb the words I heard, and then I asked, What? And once again, he said, He was a root man, and then he said, It’s a generational curse." That was when the direction of my writings started to change, because now it has taken on a darker side. After I heard those words, I noted them in my tablet so that I might meditate on it later. And I said not a word further about it.

Chapter 2

He Did It by an Intensely Burning Passion Within Me

It was in the month of May (2016), which was approximately five months after the curiosity passion had first begun. I had been actively working on the assignment that the Lord had given me when one morning I was awakened to the thought of Patrick Fitzgerald Johnson, whom I had known as my first boyfriend in my youth at age fifteen. Some time after I turned seventeen years old, he was fatally murdered by a shotgun blast at the age of nineteen. He had been deceased for thirty-three years now. After awakening to the thought of Patrick, the thought stayed with me throughout the entire day and then throughout the following day. And it remained constantly throughout the entire days nonstop for approximately two months until it became like a burning inferno in my spirit. And by that time, it had caused me to develop a desire for him like a wanting, along with me wanting to know why God was speaking to me about Patrick. When the Lord began this passion in me, it began just by me awakening and opening my eyes. It was as if God was saying to me, Remember Patrick? And the passion steadily increased in its intensity to the point where I needed to talk about it.

As a result of the passion speaking pertaining to Patrick, I started to think of those times in my youth when we were together, and of the uniquely dear emotions that I had for him. I was reminded of the smallest things that we had done together and had said to one another, while also being reminded of how no man had ever come close to being who he was to me. And as I drove and reminisced as a result of the internal burning passion that was taking place in me, I thought to go to my brother’s house. And when I arrived at his house, we greeted and we talked in general until I eventually mentioned some things from our youth. I briefly brought up certain events that happened when we were living in the house off Tampa Street. And then I spoke out in front of him, but basically to myself, saying, Why is God speaking to me about Patrick? And then I began to tell him about how I was awakened one morning to the thought of Patrick and how the thought of him had remained with me for the entire day. I stressed to him how during that time one month had gone by since it began and how it had then increased into a burning passion within me. I said to him, This is the exact same thing God has done in me which was to know where I had come from. I explained how I was still currently in a curiosity passion pertaining to God wanting me to know where I had come from, specifically ancestry and how God is now speaking to me about Patrick. In my brief time there, we made small talk until I started preparing myself to leave. But before I got up, I said more to myself, I’m waiting to know why God is speaking to me about Patrick. All the while the degree as to what the Lord was doing in me was so intense until I felt I wanted to be close to Patrick in some way. Before I left my brother’s house, I mentioned to him how I never was sure which cemetery Patrick was buried in, but that I might do a search and then go visit his gravesite with some flowers. At some point, I spoke about the house where Patrick had lived with his mother, and we reminisced on how we used to walk there at times when Patrick and I were together. When I thought about those times, that is when I spoke out, saying to him that I might go over there too. After I got up to leave, I remember my brother walking me to the door, and just outside the entrance, he looked down and he quickly picked up a type of flower planted inside of a small flowerpot. It had one purple flower on the tip of it, and he handed it to me, saying, Here is a flower you can put on Patrick’s grave. And after he said it, I can recall first looking at it in his hand as he held it out to me. And because it was a nice-looking flower plant, I accepted it, thanked him; and then I left. But it would not be until a time when I had come to know the truth, that on that day I was taken there by the Holy Spirit for a divine purpose. Because other than the burning passion pertaining to Patrick that caused me to want to talk to anyone who had known him, there was no warm mutual relationship between the two of us.

I knew that God was speaking to me once again when he awakened me to the thought of Patrick and then gradually began another passion within me. That is because I had just returned from the state of Georgia by a similar passion that also burned within my spirit but about a different topic. It was just as he had done approximately three months prior when he began in me the curiosity passion to know where I came from. And while that curiosity pertaining to ancestry still burned inside me, I found myself standing on the porch of Patrick’s mother’s house not understanding why I was there because during that time Patrick had been deceased for thirty-three years. Yet I stood outside with his mother and we briefly talked about him. As we talked, I searched her face for the resemblance of Patrick. And while I knew that it was spiritually related as to why I had gone there. Besides the internal passion speaking concerning Patrick, I had no explanation as to why I had come. But at some point, after I had left, I thought about how strangely it must have seemed to Patrick’s mother because I had shown up at her house and began having conversation about her son who had then been deceased for thirty-three years. I also thought about how the desire to go there had seemed to have been beyond my power; it was sort of like I was made to go.