Golden Quill Ministries

Golden Quill Ministries, alternately named "GoQuill", is operated by Earlana Crystal (Lanny) Townsend. Golden Quill Ministries' name is derived from Psalm 68:11-13, which says, "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace, and she that waited at home divided the spoil. Though you have lain among the pots, yet shall you be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." The true meaning of the Hebrew word for "those" who published the Word is "women preachers". Doesn't that make sense considering what the rest of the verse says?

Through my writing, I am rising up to obey the Great Commission to proclaim God's greatness, His love, and His mercy. God's Word addresses every situation that faces Mankind, even in these modern times.

I have been more open on my website than what many people would consider wise, but I feel it is necessary to share these personal details in order to help successful people with hidden hurts to have a better life, but especially to help downtrodden people have a chance of a decent life.

I am not looking for sympathy for any of the tough stuff that I have been through. I think it will be obvious that a lot of my suffering was due to having brought it on myself through some bad decisions. As for the wrongs done to me that I didn't deserve - oh well. God used it to teach me some things. He has been with me all the way through the dark valleys and brought me to mountain tops that I never expected I could reach. I feel my life is rich because of His involvement in it and how He has made good things come out of bad situations.

My views about tithing and egalitarian marriage are controversial issues to Christians, but Yehoshua came to set us free. There are a lot of people who have been held back from becoming Christians because of error that has been taught in the Church, and they have assumed that the Bible actually teaches those errors, so therefore they have been angry at God. There are plenty of Christians who need to learn to correctly interpret the Word of Truth, including people who have been in the ministry for a long time, but have not adequately questioned traditional teachings in the Church.

A lot of Christians stumble around in the murk of traditional teachings, some of which are very good because they are in line with the first apostles' teaching, but many cherished traditions have sprung from evil roots and lead away from God. Christians often don't bother to search out facts, or give them serious consideration, if the facts seem to be contradicted by the Bible. Thus they earn the contempt of unbelievers when they skirt around difficult questions that need to be addressed.

There is no need to be afraid of what Science can discover, for true Science will always agree with the Word of God. It is only when modern Science conceals facts, or doesn't have all the needed facts, that the Bible appears to be contradictory.

Imagination, furnished with historical knowledge and observation of human nature, helps me tune in to what saints of old were probably feeling and thinking when they went through their experiences. It is only wicked imaginations that the Bible tells us we must cast down, not God-directed imaginations. Imagination, if it is used rightly, is a gift from God that He has given us to help bring forth His Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.

I try to be careful to not suggest anything that contradicts the Scriptures, and what I come up with is plausible, if people have enough knowledge to see the sense of it. Some people are very knowledgeable, but out of fear of being deceived, or out of the fear of disapproval, they have limited themselves to conventional knowledge. Thus, they have neglected various areas of knowledge that are valid, though not accepted by the general population. I have found that, by considering neglected information, the world now makes a lot more sense.

Most people know that the world is not a safe place, but what they don't know is that it is even more dangerous than what they figure it is. Good news, though. God is in control and He will never lose that control! Hallelujah! God's people can have peace in midst of peril. The Bible says in Psalms 33:10, "The LORD brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing: he makes the devices of the people of no effect." No matter what satan brings against God's people, it ain't gonna work.

But that doesn't mean that it's okay to be apathetic and willingly ignorant about satan's tricks. When we deliberately close our eyes and assume that God will bring us through, even if we ignore His warnings about the traps, it is putting Him to the test. In other words, we are taking God for granted; He won't put up with that indefinitely.

Perhaps you have heard of NyQuil®, a medicine that is supposed to help people sleep? Well, the purpose of GoQuill is to wake people up.

The Bible says that we are supposed to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. I have observed, though, that a lot of Christians are as stupid as geese. Satan has set up a lot of traps, but they don't want to know about it because they enjoy the bait. Being as wise as a serpent means to know what is really going on and to avoid the traps, wherever possible. And as the Bible says, we need to forgive others at every opportunity.

Satan and his bunch are jealous of humans. We have the opportunity to be redeemed, whereas they are headed for the Lake of Fire and there is no help for them. Satan and his gang wanted to rule all the angels, but now they are cast down to the dirt, and it is humans, redeemed humans, who are going to rule over all the angels.

The fallen angels are envious and they hate us. We humans need to stick together against them. We need to pity those who have been caught in the snares of sin, even when their sinning harms us. We need to forgive them and do our best to love them out of satan's camp. They are precious souls who will suffer everlasting torments if they are not turned from the paths of destruction. It is a horrifying tragedy when that happens because the Lake of Fire was prepared for the devil and his angels; no humans ever had to go there. We were given the Way of escape. His Name is Yehoshua.

In my writing, I frequently refer to Jesus as Yehoshua, as I heard some teaching that stated that the name Jesus is a conglomeration of names of various pagan gods, with Zeus forming the ending. Finding it distasteful to call my Saviour by the names of pagan gods, I switched over to the ancient Hebrew form, though the Lord was probably called Yeshua by His family and friends. I reasoned that there is something significant in the extra vowel sound, such as there was when God changed Abraham's name from Abram, and that Yeshua was akin to a nickname.

Eventually, I came across an excellent article by Dr. Daniel Botkin, who stated, "Even in the pre-Christian Septuagint, we see the Greek form IHSOUS (Yesous) in the title of the Book of Joshua. (This is also proof that Yesous has no connection to the pagan god Zeus.) There is no "sh" sound in Greek, which accounts for the middle "s" sound in Yesous. The "s" at the end of the Greek name is a grammatical necessity, to make the word declinable."

I switched to calling the Saviour Yehoshua for the right reason, but I am very happy to learn that it is not true that the name Jesus is a conglomeration of names of pagan gods. Anything that legitimately reduces my differentness from other Christians is truly welcome, and it's a lot easier to sing along with the songs in church when I don't feel compelled to insert the Lord's Hebrew name for Jesus. I do enjoy calling the Lord by His Hebrew Name, though. It helps me visualize the scenes in the Bible more vividly to think of Jesus's sisters and brothers calling Him Yeshua, rather than speaking to Him in Greek, and I have developed a fondness for calling Him Yehoshua, as the first part of the name is the Name of God, and the second part means "Help!", which happens to be a prayer that I have used a lot.

Come to the Banqueting House, for His banner over us is Love. Feast on the Word of God. There is choice meat in the Bible, far more than most people realize. It is interesting, it is exciting, it is character-building, and it is life-changing!