I looked up "false" as well and was a bit surprised at the definitions given. There is some emphasis on testimony here as well.

The commandment is really telling us that we must have a real, genuine testimony before our family in God and men in general. This seems to me yet another way of saying, "do not be a hypocrite, actor, impostor, ..."

Damien

Hello,

I need to go to sleep. (I thought I'd preface this e-mail by saying that because I hope what I say makes sense. *haha*).

This thought has been crossing my mind in the past few days, about something I've read in Ecclesiastes. I think that's what book it was - my favorite! - or maybe Proverbs, but I can't find it right now.

It's where Solomon says that he has seen a just man die young and wicked men live long on the earth, and that this was an unfair thing that was particular to this life.

It is in Ecclesiastes 8:14.

Lately when I think of it, I wonder, Do the wicked "live longer" because God is still waiting and showing them mercy, waiting for them to change?

Yes, that is the case most of the time. He is "not willing that any perish, but that all should come to repentance." In some other few instances, however, when certain men have especially provoked Him, it is that God is not allowing them to die. He is blessing them with longer life so that they may continue in sin and receive greater damnation in the end. That is Godf's greatest curse among those living on earth. And in that connection, you should hear my recent sermon, or read the booklet that I am writing that came from it, on "What Does The Bible Really Say About Hell". The specific spiritual condition that I just described is called being "tartarized" (my made-up word, but biblically sound Greek), and there is a section just on that.

Just now I thought that maybe the "just" might die young (but not always, of course) because they may be too set in their ways (not being so obviously evil) to think that they need God; or maybe they've already fulfilled what God put them here for.

There is such a thing mentioned, also in Ecclesiastes. Solomon warns his son not to be "religous overmuch", and then asks, "Why will you destroy yourself?"

The ideas on the just aren't as clear in my head, but I guess the one on the wicked being waited on is the one that makes the most sense. What do you think of that? Good night/morning!

Brittanie

Hello Pastor John,

This question is wonderful. It started me thinking about how GOD led me to where I needed to be. Three years ago I would go out at lunch and walk and talk to GOD. Every day I would say" GOD, there has got to be more to life than what I am living". There was such an empty feeling in my heart.

GOD had Sue in the pottery praying for someone to tell HIS testimony to. OOH! How precious HIS love! She told me her life story and I cried, and every time she talked to me I cried. She gave me some tapes of meetings in N.C. I would listen to you praising GOD and hear the saints speaking in tongues and in my heart it felt like home.

Pastor John the first meeting at Bro. Gary's house was soooo sweet. Every song and every testimony I heard was about me and for me! In a meeting one night before I received the holy GHOST, you were singing, and it felt soooo comforting. People were laying on the floor and Sue lay down, then I laid down next to her and Doris laid down next to me. They both started speaking in tongues. My eyes were closed and I kept saying, "This is my language LORD."

The Sunday I received the holy GHOST was my awaking to what is REAL! GOD ALMIGHTY, JESUS CHRIST,the holy GHOST, my PASTOR, MY JESUS FAMILY, LOVE and GOVERNMENT! I have stumbled and repented and gave" monies" and rejoiced and cried. GOD has filled me with a love for HIS people that grows more and more. I want what JESUS wants. And I pray to always obey. Thank you for all your work for GOD! The O.T. studies ARE A BLESSING for us all! PRAISE GOD AND JESUS FOREVER!

I pray we all LIVE!

love,
sister Wanda

February 13, 2007

Hi Pastor John,

I was just having a time a little while ago when I was 'talking in tongues'. I don't think it was the holy Ghost, but it was me making the sounds I wanted to make. I made whatever sounds I felt like making mostly a lot of "la la la la" sounds and a lot of it was really low and deep sounding.

Could it have been the holy Ghost?

Is it only the holy Ghost when the holy Ghost kind of moves the tongue?

... b/c that's how I remember it when I had the experience at your place. I remember I was making the sound but it was the spirit moving my tongue. I really wanted the holy Ghost to take over and I wanted it be the spirit and not me, and I don't want to say it but I do think it was me.

Lana

Hi Lana:

You may be thinking about it too much. Try not to analyze it; just rest in Jesus. When the Spirit wants to help you by praying to God for you (Rom. 8), just rest and let the Spirit do its work. You keep your mind on Jesus, and it will be a natural thing for you to speak with tongues sometimes, or even have stammering lips. That's OK because that is part of the foolishness that God has chosen to confuse the wise (1Cor. 1).

Regarding your making sounds while you are praying and feeling that it is not the Spirit, I have read the Bible a lot over the years, and I have never seen a commandment where God said, "Thou shalt not be making noises while you were praying"; so, I assume that making noises while you pray is not sinful. In fact, Paul labored in prayer to the extent that he called the noises that he made while praying in the Spirit "groanings". So don’t worry about all that kind of stuff.

God is neither nervous nor impatient. He doesn’t mind waiting until we stop making noises, if we feel that we want to make some. In fact, He makes noises Himself, sometimes – and loud ones. So, just trust Jesus and be happy. Noisily or quietly, it’s OK.

Pastor John

PS Don't worry about it being you. If the holy Ghost speaks uses your tongue, your vocal chords, your lungs, your bosy and your breath to speak, it is close enough to being you that it dosen't matter to God if you say it is you. After all, even the Bible we read that "they spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance". So it was the apostles speaking, even if it was the holy Ghost inspiring them to speak.

This little exchange is good for us all to think about. If we all live for others, and stay close enough to God for others to benefit from our overflow, our own lives will be so much fuller and richer.
jdc

Hey! You know what? Sometimes I feel soooo stupid! I just want to kick myselfJ Anyway, after I talked to you today and I had said, “Let me know next time ya’ll go see Angeline, I’d like to go too”, I had the thought when we hung up, “Stupid, you live right around here; go see her yourself!” I am so slow sometimes and I just have to catch up!

Anyway just thought I’d fill you inJ I don’t think Angeline would mind if Keith & I went to visit. She would know me by knowing mama and some good fellowship.

I am sorry I don’t catch on quickly sometimes. I told Bess this past week I feel so dumb sometimes b/c I don’t catch on or see things when they’re coming. I’m glad I have my Jesus to help me along, though! That’s my only hope in everything. Haha!! That’s good!

Don’t mean to ramble, just thought I’d let you know what I thought when we hung upJ I know you probably think sometimes, “what a nut!” I Love you!!

Tracey

Well, I did think about that, but I felt that if you were a little hesitant about visiting Angie the first time by yourself, that was OK.

jdc

==============

That's good for Tracey to catch that. I wish some others would do that too. Especially with going to see Brother Ray and Sister Cora Belle. They would love a visit from anyone. Maybe people will start thinking that way. 8-) Amy

==============

It is amazing what a little bit of attention can do to make some lonely saint's life so much better. Great opportunities are there to increase our reward in heaven. It makes me want to go see somebody who is far away!

jdc

PS Actually, my plans to go out west in late March are already underway!

==============

John:

I am thankful Jesus has put it in my heart a long time ago to love little children and older people.(now I am at the age to be that older person, haha). Anyway, when you go visit an older saint like Ray and Cora Belle, you come away gaining so much more than you gave to them. It is so sweet. I have always loved being around older people. You can learn so much from them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, even when I was very young I used to visit a neighbor across the street I just loved. We called her "Ding". She was a wonderful seamstress and made us little doll clothes, doilies, etc. She would cut out little poems about Jesus and give them to me. She had the most wonderful twinkle in her eyes. To this day, I wonder if she had the holy Ghost. There was just a wonderful feeling about her. I really loved her. Jim's grandma was her best friend. And when we got married Ding hooked a rug for us. I really never had a grandma growing up; but she was the closest thing to it.

Anyway, I am thankful Jesus gave me that love for little children and older people early on. It is precious. Thank you, Jesus.

Love,
Sister Diane

Amen, Diane! It is so good to have that kind of affection for the people who are most vulnerable in this world.

jdc

=================

John,

Taylor, Samuel and Samantha and I went to see Aunt Myrtle this past Sunday. All of these emails about visiting made me want to tell about going to see her.

I was already prepared that she would not know who we were. I think that I even heard that she didn't recognize you once? When we got there she was about to eat her lunch. I went up to her and said hello and she smiled, but her face really lit up when she saw Samuel and especially Samantha. She said, "Oh what a fine boy!" And about Samantha she kept saying, "Well, bless her heart." She held Samantha's little hand and talked mostly the whole time about Samantha's little red dress. I thought that we were getting there at a bad time because she was about to eat, but the nurse said that she has to be fed. So I was able to feed her her lunch. It about makes me cry right now to think about what an honor it was to feed her lunch. I was very glad to be there because I think that she ate better with someone there (besides the nurse) to feed her. I asked her about when she got the holy Ghost (was it in a prayer meeting or at home?) and she said that she could not remember, but at one point she said something like, "it is good either way." We were telling her good bye and I started patting her little leg and saying "amen" and the Spirit fell. When I started speaking in tongues, she seemed surprised; Taylor was praying for her and she was praising God as well. It was just so sweet to me and I felt so good after we went to see her. I know that she probably won't remember any of it after we leave, but hopefully it made her feel good while we were there. And to tell you the truth, I keep thinking about her ever since Sunday.

It has also made me think about growing old. It is amazing how we become like little babies again...needing someone to feed us, bathe us, carry us, etc. But how sweet our lives can be/ will be when we stay full of the holy Ghost. Aunt Myrtle still knows that "it's good" and she is still praising God. I wish that I could have known some of the other saints that have already gone on. The stories are sweet to me about how peaceful they were and praising God even with their last breath. It is really something to think about. It makes me want to stay on the right, narrow road all the way to the very end!

Love,

Carrie

That is good, Carrie. Thanks for stopping by to see Aunt Myrtle. She might not remember that you came as soon as you leave, by it means a lot, to God, to her, and to us, to encourage her to enjoy the Spirit for that brief time we are there.

I also asked her to tell me about receiving the holy Ghost when she was a little girl when I was there, and I was a little surprised that she could no longer remember even that. But she was full of the Spirit anyway, on that day. Her birthday is February 14th, at least as far as we know (she never was quite sure of that), and she will be 86 years old. She received the Spirit when she was nine years old. That means that she has been a child of God for 77 years.

jdc

=========================

Hello Pastor John,

After reading all the emails about visiting, it made me think about Margo and I seeing Bro. Ray and Sis Cora Belle. We have stopped twice during two separate Thanksgivings. Both visits were so good. Ray told us about when he received the Holy Ghost. He said it made him feel so alive. He also demonstrated how he spun around like a top, spinning, and shouting all around the room, speaking in tongues. I felt so honored to hear him tell us his experience with Jesus. I thought, "There was no place I would have rather been than right there hearing my brother tell about the same Jesus that touched me. It was so wonderful. He also told us that Jesus visits him often. I thought, "If Jesus visits him often, then I should have no trouble at all going to see my brother." He must be very sweet to get all those visits from the Lord -- not to mention his sweet wife comes with the visit. Who could resist that?!?! If you haven't visited an older saint lately, you are missing out.

Bro. Tony

February 11, 2007

Good morning,

While reading this I wondered, How does a proud person know they are proud? I thought it might be a silly thing to ask, but really, I wondered what the difference is between being happy to have prayed and being proud of oneself for praying; between feeling happy to have humbled oneself and being proud to have done so (how ironic!). I think in the cases of "doing one's alms before others", it would be more obvious, but how can we tell the difference?

One thing I think is that maybe if a person is still capable of being humbled, then they are not humble enough - you know, like in the parable about the man placing himself in a higher seat and then being told to get down and go to a lower seat because this one wasn't for him.

Brittanie

P.S. Thanks for answering my other e-mails.

That is a wonderful thought, Brittanie, "I think is that maybe if a person is still capable of being humbled, then they are not humble enough". That's a "Godthought"! May I use that one?

As for how a proud man can see that he is proud, the only answer I can see is that he can't. . . without a miracle. It is entirely by the choice and mercy of God that we are allowed to see anything about ourselves. And if that knowledge does not make us humble -- in fact, if it doesn't make us tremble with fear -- there isn't much hope of salvation for us.

Pastor John

PS It is always a pleasure to hear from you and a privilege to respond.

These are the responses to a recent RT from pastor John:

That was not true. The fact was, he was being told what to do every time he stopped at a red light. He was being told what to do every time he paid taxes, whether at the end of each tax year or whenever he bought something at the store. He was even being told what to do every time he put on his clothes because the styles he chose to wear were dictated by the society around him. And when he is old, as he surely is by now, he may become so feeble that he is told everything that he can and cannot do. In fact, many formerly proud people grow so feeble and helpless that others have to do everything for them.

All of us are being told what to do, every day of our lives. Somebody in a place of influence or authority has already decided many things for us before we even get out of bed in the morning. That is the normal course of life on this earth, and there is not a single one of us that is above that control or influence.

The good life is the life that is led by a good spirit. It is the life that is being guided through this world by the Spirit of God. Happiness is being controlled by Jesus; it is being under the authority of a man under his authority, being told what to do by someone who knows God and loves you as He loves you. It is pure joy and peace to have over us someone controlled by God. I was blessed to have such a man in my young life in God, and in such a life, there is great peace; that is, if we have the faith to rest in it.

Men anointed by God can provide for God’s children a resting place in this spiritual desert called earth. God is "a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat" (Isa. 25:4), and so is the man who is like him. Have you given anyone some relief from the burdens of this world lately?

This is exactly what I was feeling yesterday. I went to sleep the night before with a gratefulness for being under authority & woke up so grateful for the wonderful lessons God gives to you for us.

Thank you, God, and thank you, John for having a heart to teach us. I want to keep having a heart that loves authority & the good things from God.

Love,
Bess

I loved the thought on "Being told what to do". Brother Jerry and I were talking last night about rest and where it comes from. I have found that there are things and people over us for our good and safety. The spirit showed me a few years back how good it was for me to have a boss over me at work, and this is why: it frees up more time for me to think about God and keep my mind on God instead of all the things that has to be done at work, for other people and their problems. I have just enough things to think about to help and earn the money that they pay me, and when I stay there I am really happy and I love it.

I thank God for all his order that we have around us. I thank God for you pastor John, for the job you have from the Lord and how much it means to you, and all of us that God has given to you. There is nothing but rest in that if we listen and follow the directions that the Lord gives to us from you. I love order and what is does for us. Thanks, John.

Stuart

Thanks, Stuart:

I am counting on Jesus to help me stay in his order. If I do that, everything else, including you and everyone else in my life, will be where it ought to be, and I will be satisfied with that.

jdc

John, one thing that I have found in observing you over the years is that it is very rare for you TO tell someone exactly what to do (concerning the day-to-day affairs of their lives and such.) Usually, I have noticed, you lead by example, or you try to encourage a person's right thoughts as they have them, or steer them away from wrong ones. It has surprised me at times that you DON'T tell people what to do very often. I was not around men like that early on in my walk with the Lord, who let people live and gain experiences. But when you do tell us what to do, we have prospered when we listened. I have even heard you tell a couple of people to listen to you or die. Thank God you have done that for us.

Of course, now that I think about it, I am glad that you told me the other night not to let a rock have more of a testimony than the one I have! Thank you for telling me what to do in those good things. I appreciate it!

Gary

Psalm 28

1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Wow, that is so good…what more can be said? The first verse about crying unto our rock really stood out to me after Wednesday night. Then the next part talks about going down to the pit (Hades). Verse 3 is a prayer to be saved from hypocrites. In verse 4 David asks for hypocites to reap what they have sown and verse 5 says that the Lord will destroy them for their lack of response! Whew…what a chapter. I will cry until thee, O Lord my rock!

TE

February 10, 2007

Pastor John,

This morning I checked email, and there was the email I wrote last night. I read it again. It really blessed me to read it again. Those words, "Nothing I don't want them to" just did something for me. In one way, it was not an answer to my question but in truth it answers everything. It made me feel so good thinking on that. I was kind of laughing, smiling just enjoying the feelings when I felt like I had to do more. It was like a question was posed to me, and I quickly said yes and starting jumping around praising God. That felt so good. I could hardly stop chuckling right through breakfast time.

After that, I had to drive to Mebane. I stepped outside and the clear, blue sky looked so beautiful and so clear and blue. Along the way to Mebane, you drive through a stretch of farmland. I was feeling really happy. Sometimes when I get like that my foot gets a bit heavier. Now, as some can testify, I am not the fastest driver ,so when I looked down and saw I was doing 56 I said Whoaaa! It was so pretty looking at those fields, and I wanted to slow down so I could enjoy it longer. Then came another thought: "Thtat is why the speed limit is only 45, so you can enjoy it longer". Well that was a new way of seeing things to me. As I looked out at the scene, knowing that God wanted me to look at it, I felt something new to me. I was absorbing something from what I was seeing, like taking a deep breath. Something was coming into me and filling me, and it sure felt good!

This feeling made everything I saw have instruction in it or a testimony to God. The green winter crops struggling in the cold, the dry stubble from a harvest taken, the bare trees waiting for the days to lengthen. Life, overcoming, fruits and death. Lessons about the reality of life in everything I saw. Then up further, one of those neat as a pin roadside graveyards that are so common here. The reality of death and judgment was before me, but then I looked at the tombstones, the thought came that I was looking at rows of doorways to Hell. Then I thought how so many are going there and that before Jesus came and died even the righteous had to spend time in a part of it ,but then Jesus came and took them away from there, and because of him we don't have to go there. We can die out to ourselves while we are still above the Earth and then go to be with him forever. Wow! We are so blessed. Thank you Jesus!!!

This was a wonderful experience of seeing things like they really are. It was as if another dimension or a different pair of eyes were opened to me. It is hard to put in words. God has placed instruction all around us, and His law is so unlike man's law. Man seeks to control, restrict ,and protect himself and his own interests from others through his laws, whereas God's laws are made to show us the way to get the most out of life, to be able to really enjoy life to the max!. In that law are pleasures for ever more because only by living that way can we receive everything God has for us. We have to slow down to get what God has for us!

Woohooo!
Damien

P.S. Sitting discussing this all with Kay, I said that I felt that because I was happy to show my joy and praise God, He gave me more to this experience. Kay reminded me of the words I quoted from Bro Earl, "The power is in the obedience." I had to say Amen to that. As I sat there, I became aware of the chorus of a song playing in my head. The only words I could make out were "time after time". I knew I had heard the song in the past but knew nothing of it. Searching on the Internet, I found the words to the chorus. Here they are.

If you're lost, you can look and you will find me,
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you, I'll be waiting,
Time after time

February 10, 2007

Pastor John,

There are some very good thoughts in tonights emails.

Brittany B wrote "GOD DID GIVE US POWER OVER SIN." That reminded me of what you and Sister Sheila said today about purifying your heart by obeying God rather than merely praying for it. It also reminded me of something I heard Bro Earl say a while back, "the power is in the obedience". All we have to do is to obey what God has taught us and whatever he chooses to continue to teach us.

Brittanie wrote of her experience of being overlooked by someone handing out christian materials. What came to mind as I read her story was that it is the same with God. He does not choose who we would think are the most appropriate or obvious people to choose. It is a very precious thing to receive anything from God that will help save us. As we look on at christianity from (I hope, want and pray) an increasing distance we need compassion for the ones still trapped in there in all their well intentioned but ignorant purposes and we need not to become proud in any way about what God has done for us, rather humbled.

The night you spoke about Tartarus you commented to Amy that you had made 80 copies of the text. Driving home that evening that number really stuck in my mind. Eighty! Just eighty, and that covered the need! I know numbers are irrelevant in themselves but the smallness of that number should emphasize to us the treasure we have been given. It overwhelms me sometimes when I consider what God has done for me to place me among that small number among the billions on the face of the Earth.

Earlier this week as I was driving along I looked up at the clear sky. Maybe you don't notice, being used to it, but there are often a large number of jet trails in the sky over this region. I often look up and count them. Over the years many have wondered what damage those trails are doing to the atmosphere. As I looked up I saw a handful of trails and I said, "What are they doing to the Earth, Lord?" The next thought which I nearly missed was, "Nothing I don't want them to." That is the truth about everything. Nothing is an accident. The eighty are not an accident. Our coming here was not a coincidence. The Lord is in command! It is a precious thing beyond telling to have been given an opportunity to be a part of this work. I want to get more humble, less in my own eyes, so I can really have joy in this fellowship with God and saints in light. This really is wonderful. Why would anyone want their own way rather than this joy and peace?

Damien

February 9, 2007

Dear Pastor John

Man this TFE really makes me want to live as perfectly as possible. It also makes me want to get on my face and repent repent repent. There is no excuse for living wrong and there is no excuse for sinning even to the smallest degree. When you said that God gave us power over sin that made me shiver, GOD DID GIVE US POWER OVER SIN. We're not subject to sin ineveitbly any more. If we sin after we get the Holy Ghost, it is truly our sin and our sin alone. If we choose to do good, it is not by chance; it is our good doing.

God gave me so much more than I have ever realized, and all I want to do is live up to his standards. WOW! God is so good. I am so thankful for the oppourtunities, blessings, people, and the sweet sweet life god has laid out for me. Life is getting better every day, and I praise God for that. and I am so grateful that you are my Pastor because you know the truth and the way. It makes ya feel safe to know you're truly in God's hands and he really does care about you. I love that feeling and I never want to loose it. well I wont babble,

Love ya,

tell everyone i said hey when you get a chance

Brittany B.

Hi John,

I just finished listening to the hell study and the Tartarus cds. WOW! What wonderful food God has given us through you! It is very frightening to hear what awaits ungodly people, Holy Ghost filled people that do not obey God and keep his commandments all the way to the end of this life. It is very sobering and humbling to realize that if we do not obey God, we can end up in the same condition as the demons and the fallen angels - blinded and bound in darkness to be cast into the lake of fire to be burned for ever. That is so real to me! It is not just words; it is real! Serving God is serious, and when he shows us how to live, he expects us to do so and to live in it the way he shows us how to, for our good.

I thank God for what he has done for us, and I pray every day that I can take everything in that he shows us, and take it into my heart and apply it in my life and walk in it. He is my hiding place; with out him we all are lost.

God help us.

Stuart

Hi John,

Yesterday, I was looking for a recent email that you sent to read before I went to work. Suzi prints the emails for us using the back side of older emails to conserve paper. The backside of the email I was looking for was a Thought for the Evening dated 9-04, The Perfect law of Liberty. I had just read that Scripture from the book of James because that is what our little Bible study group will read next. Later, when I told Suzi about finding the TFE, she said that earlier that day she was looking for a piece of scrap paper and happened to pull out another copy of the same TFE.

As I read the TFE from 9-04, I couldn’t help but think about everything that has been going on. You wrote, “Sinners will be judged by a different standard than will God’s saints. They will not be judged by the perfect law of liberty because they have never been set free. “ God’s children will be judged by a higher standard. That is what is happening now, since “…judgment begins at the house of the Lord.”

I particularly like what you said here, “In Christ, we have been given power to live a pure and holy life. That is the standard of the perfect law of liberty. Anything but that kind of life, will be condemned in the judgment.”

Any way, here is a copy if anyone would like to read it.

Tom

Sinners will be judged by a different standard than will God's saints. They will not be judged by the perfect law of liberty because they have never been set free. But God's children have been liberated from the power of darkness (Col. 1:13), and from bondage to the will of the flesh (Rom. 6:14). They have been made free to choose between good and evil, between do righteousness or committing sin.

Only those whom the Son has made free will be judged by the perfect law of liberty. Jesus described that law to his followers during a sermon while they all sat around him on a mountain. He told them that the Law of Moses condemned people who killed but that the law of liberty would condemn people for hating others without a cause. He said that the Law of Moses condemned adulterers but that the law of liberty would condemn those who merely wanted to commit adultery. The law by which the New Testament saints will be judged encompasses the whole of man, not just the deeds that his body does. This new law judges our most inward thought. It records our intentions. The Old Testament Law could not do that.

If the blood of Christ has made you free, you no longer have any excuse for sin. In this New Covenant, we are given power over sin and are no longer subject to it. In Christ, we have been given power to live a pure and holy life. That is the standard of the perfect law of liberty. Anything but that kind of life, it will condemn in the Judgment. Sinners will not have to face that high standard in the Final Judgment, but every one of God's children will.

Have you lived according to the perfect law of liberty from sin under which we who are in Christ live? That is the standard by which we will be judged, and it is both a wonderful thing to be a part of that law and a fearful thing to think of being judged by it.

Dear John,

Simply put, I was just happy to be at the meeting last night; thankful that I am still in the picture. The meeting to me was bitter-sweet, so very sobering. But we must keep on keeping on and rejoicing for what Jesus is doing for us.

As I looked at that rock lying there on the floor last night, I thought, there is another rock. The rock of our salvation. The rock we can stand on. The rock that will never leave us or forsake us. The rock that is constantly working in our lives for our good. I love that rock!!!

I pray that Jesus will continue to show mercy on us and move us all on to greater perfection. That's what I want; to hate more and more the decadent things of this world and love more and more the living things of our Lord. Praise God.

Bro Jim K

These emails are making me really thirsty. I want to be filled and feel what everyone at your house is feeling. How can I get that too?

JH

Hunger and thirst for it. Sounds as if you're doing your part. Now have faith. You are on the way!

Pastor John

I love this email from Bro. Jimmy. I also love the fact that God signs off, as you said not too long ago, on EVERYTHING that comes to us. And it is from God. Whether good or bad, it comes from God. I am so thankful for that. I am so thankful to know God is watching everything, good or bad, and is there to help us through it too. He chooses who is kind to us, who is not so kind to us, etc…. That is a wonderful thing to know. I love Him so much and I hope I show it by my “reactions” to what He hands me. That’s what living in this world is about too, how we LIVE day to day. He sees us all the time. He wants us to make it! I am just thankful for that! I could go on and on………. Tracey February 6, 2007

Bro. John:

I just read Bro. Jimmy's email "every good thing comes from God." Oh, my, how I feel that tonight!

Today, the bank where I work was robbed. Tonight, I am so very thankful to God that no one was hurt during the robbery. Not only did He take care of my co-workers, but God took care of me. My lunch hour is set from 1:00 until 2:00 every day. I left the bank today for lunch at 1:10 pm. The robbery occurred around 1:15 pm. One of my co-workers called me as I was on my way back from lunch to let me know that the bank had been robbed. Some may think this as coincidence - - that I would be at lunch just when the bank was robbed - - but I know my Father took care of me today. And as Bro. Jimmy said in his email: "It was HIS (God's) love for me and His love for me alone who did everything for me to help my life." Or, as I feel tonight, it was "His love for me alone that did everything for me to KEEP my life today."

God has every minute of every day of our lives planned out. We are truly kept by His power. I am so thankful. He continues to amaze me with His love, and I could not say it better than Bro. Jimmy did: "Oh, God, how much I do love Him in my heart."

Sister Sandy

February 2, 2007

Hey.

Damien wrote: "The way into Tartarus is to refuse to repent. If that is your heart's wish, then God will grant it. Getting into Tartarus may be more a process than an instantaneous thing."

Does that mean that people can be in a half-Tartarized state?

te.

No. It's all or nothing. It's hopeless (Tartarus) or there is hope. That said, it is normal that, as with anything else, whether a blessing or a curse, a person would descend slowly over time, by degrees of disobedience and dullness of heart, to the place of provoking God to curse him like that.

jdc

February 2, 2007

John,

I was reading in Joshua about Jericho and how confident all the people were after the walls of Jericho fell and the great victory God had given them. Joshua's spies told him just to send two or three thousand up to Ai, and don't trouble all the army. But when they went forth, the people of Ai beat the children of Israel down and smote of them 36 men. The hearts of God's people melted and became as water. Oh, how discouraging this was for them. Lord, I don't want my heart to ever give in to thinking this is the way it has to be in our walk in Jesus, because it does not.

In the next scene, Joshua falls down on his face and pours out his heart to God and said, "Oh God, hast thou brought this people over Jordan to be destroyed by the Amorites?" Joshua knew the hearts of the Canaanite people had melted from the terror of the stories about God being with Israel. But one of Joshua's big concerns was that the hearts of the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the land would be strengthened against them and cut off the name of the Lord. God told Joshua to get up. Israel had sinned and transgressed his commandments by taking the accursed thing and putting it among their own stuff. Sure enough, the accursed thing was found in Achan's tent and he and all his family and all his goods were destroyed.

God help us to be assured in our hearts it does not have to be this way. This is not the way God wants it to be. Lord, keep us from encouraging the hearts of your enemies by disobeying you and putting any of the accursed thing in our tents or temples.

I am convinced in my soul and heart more than ever before that God has the power to strike terror in the hearts of his enemies. But is He waiting on us to shake out our pockets and cleanse our temples from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit so that we don't become our own adversary?

Brother Jimmy T

Paul said that God is ready to avenge all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled. And peter said that we could hasten the day of God, I assume by being fully committed to Jesus and making the temple of the Lord (the Assembly of saints) clean; that is, by "making straight paths for his feet."

jdc

February 2, 2007

Pastor John:

There are many thoughts that arise from last night. Kay and I had a good time this morning discussing it and reading some verses from the bible.

We read Rom 9:14-23. In particular these verses stood out (22-23) "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,"

"Fitted to destruction" reminded me of 2 Peter's statement, "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed", which is an amazing statement now that we have more understanding of it. These vessels of wrath are not merely endured with longsuffering but with much longsuffering. In doing this, Paul says God is showing His wrath and making His power known; but to whom? Surely to those who are being blessed in the way verse 23 describes. As much as the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah are examples to us, so it is when we see someone in this state. I expect that we will see more of it in the future. God wants us to understand it now.

This was the same passage (Romans) I was considering when the Lord posed two questions to me: (1) "If I told you that it, no matter what you did, you would not be saved; what would you do?" This question came with the feeling that I would retain the knowledge of God I had (or at least I thought that I did or that I was right), and (2) "If I showed you a way to be saved what would you do?"

I now know the first question was describing the state, or close to it, of being "tartarized". Utterly helpless and unable to do anything that counted as right before God. Everything wrong in His eyes!

Kay and I also discussed the fact that for a long time Satan and demons, as angels in heaven, were able to come before God and hear God and even receive instruction in what to do. We wondered about the many ministers of xty who do hear from God. A "tartarized" person may still be allowed into the presence of God and truly hear from God, and yet it is all damning them the more certainly. It seems to me that Christianity (Xty) itself must be connected to this casting into Tartarus in some way. The rejection of light by early believers was rewarded by God with the darkness of Xty, but still God has a time yet reserved for His people to get out of it before it is cast into that inescapable place when God sends the "strong delusion".

The way into Tartarus is to refuse to repent. If that is your heart's wish, then God will grant it. Getting into Tartarus may be more a process than an instantaneous thing. The mercy of God may just make it that way because "when He makes a way to His wrath" there is no escape. This is wonderful, but so fearful.

Damien

February 1, 2007

Hey Bro. John,

I sure enjoyed being at your house last night. I thank God for having the benefits from my job to use so I could be there. That was good for my soul. You talked last night about needing substance in your life. That really stuck with me, so I looked up the definition of substance, and found many good definitions of the word, but I couldn’t get past this one:

Substance - ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations

I didn’t understand that like I wanted to, so I dug a little deeper, and this is what I found:

Underlie- to be the support or basis of; form the foundation of

Manifestation - a perceptible, outward, or visible expression; a public demonstration of power and purpose; an indication of the existence or presence of something

Indication - to point out or point to; to be a sign

John, I want to have enough substance from God in me that the outward manifestation is always an accurate sign of the Spirit that dwells in me, and by that, pointing to Jesus. I want to live my life as a visible demonstration of power and purpose from God for the glory of God. Thank you for that!

I also have loved learning more about Hell, and last night about Tartarus. God help me to be able to take that all in deep! It is more knowledge from God, about God. In the world, knowledge puffs up and makes things more complicated, and sometimes harder to understand. In God’s world, more knowledge makes you humbler. It makes things simpler and easier to understand. If you were to put aside all of the details, debates, and "I don’t knows", it all boils down to what you said last night. Obey God or go to Hell! How much simpler can it get than that.

Thank you,

Darren

February 1, 2007

John,

I love the e-mails I have been reading today; they are wonderful. I woke up Monday morning, and the Spirit was showing me some things all day long about people being stuck in some problem, and how they don't even know why (they say), but the Spirit showed me why. The reason why they don't know is that somewhere in their life, God has corrected them over and over again about a problem, and they just kept going past it and not correcting the problem. Then God finally stops convicting them of it, and they are stuck. Unless God shows us what to correct and we move quickly, like Gary said in his e-mail, to fix it, anybody can get stuck.

God have mercy on us all.

Bro. Stuart

January 31, 2007

Why did Jesus descend to hell after he was crucified?

John

Peter explained that when Jesus descended into Hell, he did so in order to "preach unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing" (1Pet. 3:19-20).

There is some question as to who exactly are "those in prison". We know that they are at least those who lived before the Law was given, for Peter expressly says so. Paul also wrote that "until the Law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom. 5:13), and so "death reigned [over man] from Adam to Moses" (Rom. 5:14). The basic question is, does the phrase "spirits in prison" include those who lived under Moses’ Law or only those who lived before it was given? Paul explicitly said that those who lived during the time of Noah (that is, before the Law) had nothing by which they could be judged, and their sins were not imputed to them because God had given no Law to men at that time. However, Jesus plainly told the Jews that Moses would judge them, and if those who lived and died under the Law had something by which they could be judged, then why would Jesus go preach to them? Were Jews who had been disobedient to the Law of Moses given another chance by Jesus? That seems very unlikely. First, because Abraham told the rich man in Hell that if men would not hear Moses, they would not hear Jesus (Lk. 16:31). Jesus said the same thing in John 5:46-47. Secondly, if God has appointed Moses judge the Jews who lived under the Law, then Moses will judge them by the Law that they transgressed. But if they are given another chance at life by having Jesus come preach to them in Hell, then on what basis will Moses judge them? Would they not then be judged by something greater than the Law, because a greater than the Law had come?

When the beggar Lazarus died, he was taken by the angels into the comfort of Abraham’s bosom (Lk. 16:22). This poses to us another question, for while Lazarus lived and died under the Law, Abraham had lived and died many centuries before God gave the Law; and yet, they were together in the same place in Hell. If Abraham was among Peter’s "the spirits in prison", then how could Lazarus not be a spirit in prison with him, being in the same place with Abraham? Unless there was some sort of spiritual difference made between them, about which we are told nothing else, the answer has to be that they were in the same prison.

So, did Peter consider the Jews who lived and died under the Law to be among "the spirits in prison" in the heart of the earth? I do not know, and there is information that would lead to conflicting answers.

Pastor John

January 31, 2007

Hi:

I loved what you gave us last night about being "tartarized". It put more fear of God in me than ever, but at the same time . . .it gives me more encouragement than ever. It makes me want obey God more than ever. And it feels cleaner than ever. I love that.

During the night, I kept having thoughts about the word "adulterous". I would have different thoughts all through the night. The first was . . . a person can be physically close to their spouse - but if they have physically been with someone else, or if in their heart they are not with their spouse - that is adulterous. Then I remembered how Jesus defined adultery, that even if a man looked and lusted after a woman, he had already commited adultery in his heart. I was also remembering what we read last night in the Tartarus study, how it is better to be one way or the other - but being "mixed" is worse than all. Then I was having thoughts of the great whore in Revelation, Christianity. She is not even married. She is not in covenant with God, but she loves the physical act - Christianity loves the physical act of worshiping God. But that's all that they have - it is just of the flesh. And then how God is calling his children to "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

It all goes back to the heart! That's just what we hear God saying to His people through the prophets. I don't know quite how to put it all together, but it feels like I am learning something.

Donna

Hi Sister Donna:

Yes, it does feel as if you are learning something.

I would not at all say that the children of God who are inside Xty have nothing but the ceremonial forms of Xty with which to worship. But I have to say that their worship is "mixed", which to God has always been the worst state. If the biblical attitude of God holds true in this case, God would rather His children either be nothing but Christians or be completely separated from that abomination ("Come out of her!"). It is God's children trying to force a mixture of His Spriit with the great whore's lovely, wicked spirit that causes most of the confusion and division that exists among the saints.

jdc

January 31, 2007

Hello John.

Thank you for your message last night on Tartarization. I am thankful for some meat John - meat that makes me lay on my bed at night and pray for God to help me, to have mercy on me, to help me love Him more, and to obey Him. Of course, it takes "doing" - and for that we have the power of the holy Ghost. Most of God's children do not have such a priviledge to "eat" what we eat John. I want to stay VERY thankful for being allowed at this table. May God bless other of His children elsewhere to hear things from Him that we do regularly through you. 2Pe 3:9-11 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness..."

Just because God does not immediately strike us dead when we sin (or even when we are weak and sin multiple times), does not mean he is "slack". It does not mean we have gotten by, or that He does not consider it important. It does not mean that Jesus is not coming.

But God's longsuffering is SO great, and His offering of repentence is SO generous... it's hard to take in. But as Peter said, he is not slack either. If correction comes time and time again, and we don't let the Spirit fix it - what will God's options be? Either death for our good, or tartarization, or damnation.

My point is this: Personally, since I have been in this truth, I have NEVER seen a situation where you had not been working to correct a person MANY times before God eventually sent them away somewhere (in their heart first, and then in their body). It is just as God says - he is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. But there comes "a time." It has been different with each person - a different level of patience and a different amount of time the door stayed open.

But then, there was a time when it was over. When that time is, God knows. But it's not something to be played around with or delayed, when correction comes our way. We need to fix it with all our heart, soul, AND BODY! We need to fix it FAST! What manner of people ought we to be in all holiness, godliness, and lifestyle, knowing the time WILL come?

Gary

January 31, 2007

John,

I was reading Joshua and was thinking about what Joshua said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and 1/2 tribe of Manasseh, how that the Lord God had given them rest in their inheritance, and how they were to leave behind their cattle, wives, children, and most of all their rest, to go over armed with their brothers until the Lord had given their brothers rest in their land.

As I was reading this, I had the thought that over the years there have been a few saints that moved over Jordan, armed and ready to help others take their inheritance. They were close enough to God to see how to win the battles. They could hear God saying "walk around Jericho" or "the wind will blow the leaves in the trees and confuse the enemy and they will kill themselves."

I just can't stop thinking about some different situations over the years where brothers or sisters lives were in total shambles, and they didn't even know it. God would send his people over Jordan with them, leaving all their possessions behind, eager to fight for their brother's or sister's inheritance so that they could have their own rest from God. They would set the battle in array, put the poor pitiful brother, or sister right in the middle of them, and push into the battle, beat down the enemy and destroy them, and stake off their land marked for them. Then all of a sudden, "What, what is that I hear....baaaa baaa", and the mighty men of war say, "Here, in your whole inheritance, there is just one little sick, dying heathen sheep that didn't get killed. Here, (and everyone offers their sword) come on now, come on now, take my sword. You can do it. Just one little 'whack' now, and that is all it takes from you. Just one little whack and all that Jesus has for you will be yours. You can have it all right now, just this one little bitty whack from you. And we can all go home and enjoy our inheritance."

"But I . . . I'm confused. I don't . . . I don't know what to do. What can this one little sick feeble, little sheep hurt? I already have all this land I've taken and staked off. I'm confused now . . . I'm just so confused. I just can't hardly believe that with all this land, I have to kill this one little sick sheep. I'm starting to wonder, I'm just not sure . . . can I trust you? I don't want to lose everything I've gained."

And they wind up losing everything Jesus has for them.

Bro Jimmy T

Hi Brother Jimmy.

That is such a good parable! I have seen it happen. And, thank God, I have seen some few of God's people kill that little sick lamb. They understood that the reason the lamb was sick is that it was infected with sin, and if it is not slain and destroyed, it will infect every animal and then every person that comes close to it, and they in turn will infect others until the whole lump is leavened.

When I was reading what you wrote, I thought about this: Jesus has overcome the whole world and conquered every spirit in it, so that we can have our inheritance. And all he asks is that we do one small thing: follow his spirit home. God give us the simple faith we need to do that one small thing.

jdc

January 30, 2007

Hi again!!!!

It's me again! I am sorry about that, but I was just settling down to sleep reading some things and re-read Ex 19 v 5-6 and just wanted to add something and ask something. That verse as you know says: (NIV) "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you will be my treasured posession. Although the whole earth is mine you will be for me a kingdom of preists and a holy nation". (something like that)... WOW!

I love that, and that has long been a favourite verse for me (although I have stacks of those). That is quite a marriage proposal! I never knew that's what is was, but that has always been sweet to me... the kind of verse that makes you smile and think, "Wow, that God would say that to anyone!" The God of the universe said that to them!

I can't help but think that is kind of what He says to us when we come and repent. Again I think of Sister Sandy's email where she says that God said "obey ALL in the covenant or the relationship is null and void". Is God saying that to everyone there through Sister Sandy hearing that? - Perhaps not in the same unique way as then though. Is that a silly idea? Am I off base?

Jenny

You were right the first time. God is making that sweet proposal to everyone whom He convicts for sin and calls to His Son Jesus. It is not what He says to those who already are in covenant with Him.

Colossians 3 v 1-4: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.

jdc

January 28, 2007

Hello Bro. John!

I hope all is well. We had a wonderful bible study this morning, I wanted to share this. Bro. Tom read this scripture to us this morning and was talking about the importance of understanding the covenant that we have entered into -- counting the costs AND the blessings. Here is the scripture:

Luke 18:28-30: "Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. 18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting."

While Tom was reading this, I felt the Spirit of God move on me and I undertood this.----We Relinquish all. Yes, we are required to give it all up -- but we do that in our hearts. We forsake all for Christ when we turn loose of it in our hearts and become willing for Jesus to do whatever with it, and whatever with us!

Jesus may decide to take anything or everything from us, or He may take nothing and add to us, but we gave it up in our hearts first if we have given it up at all. Just like Sis. Kuhlman said (to paraphrase)--- "that is where the sacrafice is made. Abraham sacrificed Isaac in his heart, and that is why God let him keep him." We have been bought, we are not our own, and a great and terrible price was paid for us. We belong to Jesus, to do with as He pleases. That is the covenant that we have entered into.

Our study continued on and we talked about the liberty of walking in the Spirit, that our fellowship is in our being led by the same Father's Voice, but not by necessarily doing the same thing. His commandment for one may not be the same commandment for another. We have fellowship when we all obey, no matter where that leads each one of us. God may send one of us to share our smile with someone that He loves and wants to encourage. While at the same time, He may send 90 more of us to one place to assemble in the Spirit together for a wonderful blessing. But wherever we may be, if we are walking in the Spirit, there is no condemnation! If we are not hid under a bushel, we are lights in the world, the only light. Who knows where our Master will want us to shine today? Maybe Louisville, maybe Burlington, maybe California or Australia. But wherever that is, in the Spirit, we have fellowship one with another, Praise God.

Thank you,
Jerry

Excellent, Jerry! Thank you for that.

One sentence you wrote made me pause a little, however. It was the sentence about one out of ninety not being sent by Jesus to a meeting. Although I know, theoretically, that it has to be true (whatever God does is right), in practice it is almost never the case. If Jesus leads ninety of the saints in one particular body to gather together, and leaves one out, it is almost the case that he is displeased with that one and is protecting the tender parts of the body from a dangerously wicked spirit.

It's wise to acknowledge that there are exceptions to that rule (whatever God does IS right), but it is also wise to be careful not to encourage a proud and rebellious spirit to think that things are not exactly what they seem to be with him.

jdc

January 28, 2007

Hey Pastor John,

I know that you're out of town now but I thought you might find this interesting when you return.

I was listening to a CD today that was titled "Wonderful Testimonies" dated 6/12/05 that was made in Kentucky. Its a two CD set recorded on a Sunday. Around the 11th and 12th tracks of the first CD you told them of a man in the meeting NC that "had a bad meeting" while everyone else was having a great one. And you said that it was the first time that you had ever heard of such a thing. And later you told them how the spirit of laughter had fallen on you and some of the saints recently, and before that you had not known that such a thing as that existed before either.

All that was a year and a half ago. I hadn't realized that people had been having "bad" meetings for so long. And the spirit of laughter part seemed relevant at this time due to the interest generated about the meetings in Canada and the spirit of laughter there. I thought you might be interested in the time line of all that.

I am looking forward to hearing all about your trip and enjoying some fellowship in Christ with you and the saints.

Billy H.

P.S. There are also some some very good testimonies on those CD's.

Hi Billy:

On that CD, I must have been referring to experiences from years past. The first time the spirit of laughter fell in our meeting was in 1991, in Henderson. I had never ever dreamed of such a thing. It happened on several occasions after that, too. After that first time, however, Aunt Leatha, who worked in a doctor's office at the time, spoke with an elderly saint who had come to see the doctor and told her about it. She said that old saint's mouth dropped open and she said, 'Oh! That's how it used to be years ago in our meetings." A few years later, I saw that some other people in God's kingdom were experiencing the same outpouring.

Also, the first time I ever heard of someone having his own [bad] meeting while the rest of us were enjoying the fellowship of Christ was in 1996. So, on the CD you heard, I feel sure I must have been referring to that if I was speaking of the first time I ever experienced such a strange thing.

I am sure there were some good testimonies on that CD. We have been blessed over the years with some very pure and wonderful testimonies. I pray to God, He keeps us alive in spirit so that we are blessed with more of them in the future.

Pastor John

January 28, 2007

Hey Brother Gary,

I wanted to tell you what happened here this morning. Praise God!

Early this morning Pastor John called and sang a beautiful song he had woken up singing: "Let Us All Testify". It was wonderful! As I walked through the house for the next couple of hours, my thoughts were on being thankful, wanting to be clean and to stay clean all through me, and that word "testify".

Finally, I took my Bible and searched through Luke. I didn't want to stop to go find my concordance, so I just thought I'd read the upper headings at the top of each page. I was looking for the story about Jesus cleansing the ten lepers. As I was turning through the pages, I saw "Cleansing of the Temple" on the top of the left page, and "Tribute to Caesar" on the right. It felt so good! Sister Sheila and I were just saying yesterday how we want Jesus to clean out every wrong idea, whatever trash or unholy thing may be in us. . . and WE are his temple! I had been thinking about us being the 'temples' of God, because another song John had woken up with in Florida was about the glory of God filling his temple.

When I saw "Cleansing of the Temple" I wanted to read that story, so I backed up a bit.

Luke 19:32-40 "And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest! And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."

Then Jesus looked over and saw the city, and cried. He goes on to say at the end of verse 44 that God's own people 'Did not know the time of their visitation.' That's when Jesus went into the temple and threw out those that were selling and buying. He said, "It is written, 'My house is the house of prayer (that is us - we are his temple!); but ye have made it a den of thieves.' " Oh God, it made me tremble and ask God again to cleanse my temple, not to have any part of any unclean thing in his house (me).

Praise God forever! Then I looked at the right-hand page of my Bible, and it had the words "Tribute to Caesar" at the top. Luke 20:25 "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." I have heard and read that Scripture many times, but today it came alive! The carnal things of this world (money or whatever) belong to this world. But the second part of what Jesus said - give unto God the things which are His . . . . Our testimony is His! Praise out of our lips is His! Telling the great and wonderful things God has done is His! To give that back to God is a requirement - a commandment!

Then, I went to 1 John, chapter 5! The Spirit was reading those verses to me . . . a new way. It didn't change the verse at all, it was telling what was meant the WHOLE TIME!

1 John 5:1-6 "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ [HAS A TESTIMONY!] ... is born of God; and every one that loves him that begat loves him also that [HAS A TESTIMONY] . . .is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world - BY YOUR TESTIMONY; and this is the victory that overcomes the world - OUR TESTIMONY, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he THAT HAS A TESTIMONY - but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth." Amen!

1 John 5:9-13 "If we receive the TESTIMONY of men, the TESTIMONY OF GOD is greater; for this is the TESTIMONY OF GOD which he has TESTIFIED of his Son. He that believes on the Son of God has the TESTIMONY in himself. He that believes not (the one who does not have the testimony) has made Him a liar; because he believes not THE TESTIMONY that God gave of his Son. And this is GOD'S TESTIMONY, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son -HIS TESTIMONY- has life; and he that hath not the Son of God - HIS TESTIMONY - has not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have THE TESTIMONY - eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

Praise God! We are to give men in authority the carnal things of this world; there is a time for that. But we are also to give God what is His! Praise God! God's testimony is in us!! And we are to give it back to him! Our testimony does not come from our mouth, just something coming out of it. A real testimony comes from Him who made us, from what God has done down in our souls. God has a TESTIMONY! And He gave it to us when we believed!

(I called John (who is away on his trip) right after the Lord had shown me these wonderful things. I was so excited that I began telling him right away what I was learning. When I just started, I was telling him about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the colt and the people all crying out. . . Then John stopped me and started talking about his study he is doing on Hell, and he asked me to read Zechariah 9:9,11. That is where it is prophesied that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. That's where he was just studying, reading about the prophecy of Jesus riding into Jerusalem and afterward taking the righteous out of the Paradise part of Hell.)

I love what God is doing. This is alive and it is wonderful. Praise God forever!

Donna N.

January 25, 2007

Daddy,

I take it that the Devil and his angels sinned before Adam and Eve but were not cast out of heaven until Jesus rose from the dead. I wonder if God even pointed the Devil out in heaven as “a bad guy”, or if He kept all of it in His heart, letting him deceive those he could of the angels until they were all suddenly gone... Is there any evidence one way or another?

Token

Hi Token:

There are still evil spirits in God’s presence in heaven during the Old Testament (e.g. 2Kgs. 22:19-23). God still spoke with them, and they with Him. In that case from 2Kings, God spoke quite openly with an evil spirit ,in what was something like a heavenly counsel, about that spirit being a “lying spirit”. So, all the heavenly host must have known there was evil among them.

The attitude of the faithful angels, cherubim, seraphim, and other heavenly creatures is unknown, but we can surmise from certain Jesus’ teaching that it was one of patience. (After all, who in heaven has authority to do anything that God has not commanded?) I am thinking in particular Jesus’ parable of he tares in the field. In that parable, God’s servants wanted to rid the field of the tares immediately upon discovery that they were there. But God forbade them to do so until His appointed time. The attitude of those servants of God then had to change, and it did, once they heard His voice and learned what His will was.

So, there seems to have been among the faithful creatures in heaven a knowledge that some of them had become wicked. And when they saw God do nothing immediately about it, they resolved to share heaven with unfaithful heavenly creatures in quiet confidence until God’s appointed time (whenever that would be). They must have wanted badly for the wicked to be cast out, though, for when the Son of God returned home and Satan and his followers were finally cast out, the faithful creatures rejoiced (Rev. 12:1-12).

You will remember also that Jesus tolerated Judas in silence for years, even to the point of keeping the other disciples in the dark about him. Indeed, even up to the moment Judas exposed himself as the betrayer by leading the mob to arrest Jesus in Gethsemene, the other disciples (with the possible exception of John), thought Judas was a disciple in good standing.

jdc

January 20, 2007

Hello Bro John,

I just got a chance to read the e-mail from Margo. It is wonderful. I felt fellowship in the Spirit with its writer. I was speaking to someone the other day, and told them this... It does not matter what you are doing, You can watch tv, read a book, play a game, etc. and still be praising God in your Spirit..... You can walk in the Spirit all the time, regardless of what you are doing. And you can do what seems to be Godly, reading good Gospel tracts, reading your bible, praying, etc. and not be walking in the Spirit at all. It's not our actions, but the Spirit that sanctifies us.

It is a hard place to live, living in the flesh and trying to do what seems to be Godly things. It wears a child of God out because it never satisfies the soul. I know; I have been there. But when you find that place of peace and rest, you can stop trying to be holy, and just rest in holiness. It is SO much sweeter.

Fellowship is not knowing and reading scriptures together, or knowing the doctrine together, or gathering together for that matter. It is the Spirit of LIFE freely flowing back and forth amongst the hearts of the saints, cleansing and renewing as it does. It is the Spiritual Bloodflow, and that often happens when no one speaks at all. Fellowship is strong medicine for what ails you. It breaks the chains off of a brother or sister who is feeling less than perfect. I love the bloodflow.

Thank you,
Jerry

Hi Jerry:

If the blood of Christ is not flowing back and forth between two saints, there is no fellowship at all. Your definition of fellowship is wonderful. I would to God that all of His children not only understood that concept of fellowship but could feel it and know for themselves how real it can be. As a matter of fact, I would to God that everyone I know in Christ could not only understand that concept but could feel how real it is. There have been some among us who thought they had fellowship with the other saints because they could argue the doctrine well. What a death-trap of pride and blindness that is!

I bolded your comment "It's not our actions, but the Spirit that sanctifies us." My! What sound wisdom that it! Godly actions spring out of sanctification; they do not make sanctification happen.

Pastor John

January 19, 2007

Hey Guys! Amy wanted me write out my experience for her, so I just emailed it to y'all too!

My experience really all started the day we went to see Rodney Howard-Browne. I won't talk about that a whole lot, but I will say a few things. I was standing in our kitchen, and I heard this suggestion not to go. I just thought it was me, and went. Needless to say, in the end, I was wishing I would have listened to the Spirit. But, I feel like that night is when my experience started. After we left there that night, I felt so hurt and burdened for God's people. I had never felt like that before, and I could feel things changing in me, but I didn't know what was happening.

That night we got a call saying Pastor John & Co was coming, and Bro Gary wanted to stay at our house. I was excited about that, and I knew that Jesus was up to something and right on time.

I have to go back to New Year's weekend real quick. I got a telephone call from my dad New Year's Day on the way back to L'ville. He told me that he was having another minor operation on 1/15. Nothing major, just an outpatient thing. I knew that I was off the day of the surgery, but he never asked me, so I felt inside not to say anything. He had already made his arrangements and was only going to use me for a back-up. I struggled in the flesh a little bit about it being my dad, and I wasn't taking him, etc, etc, but inside I knew it was right. He then called me, I believe on Saturday. He asked was I off on MLK day, and I said yes. He still had all of his arrangements planned and everything worked out. He said, "Well, do you want to take me?" Now to some people in the flesh it would probably look like I was being cruel to my dad, but I felt to say no. I told him I felt like he needed to keep his plans because I didn't know what I would have going on Monday. Ha! Is Jesus good or what? I got to spend ALL DAY Monday with my real family! His surgery was at 3pm, I think, and he didn't leave the hospital until 7pm. Guess what?!?! Our gathering was at 7! I would have missed everything Jesus had available that day and night! Whew! I am thankful that Jesus had me listen to Him! :)

Now, to what Jesus had for me that night!! he-he!

We had the best day on Monday. Bro Gary's light was just a shining, and we got to spend time with everyone all day!

I have been feeling this feeling for a while now that Jesus has something for me. For months now I have been feeling that. Back in October I got prayed for in NC, I heard when I was on the floor, "Give me three months." I believe that was the Spirit. There has been a lot of different things come up between October and January, different people giving up on God, God cleaning people up, etc. I have really been praying for Jesus to make me holy, and let me not ever fall away. Just for me to love Him with my whole heart, and if it wasn't there, that He would put it in me. He also has impressed on me this big feeling lately, that I want to be valuable, and a help to all of God's people, and to also do anything I could to help Amy out, or anyone else.

All day I felt like I just wanted to stay close to Bro Gary. I was feeling inside that I just wanted to hold on to him. He was feeling those deep sweet feelings inside that I knew were from my Daddy, and I was longing to be closer to Him! Anyways, we got down to Bro Junior's basement, and I found where I wanted to sit. I sat down there, and I just felt like it wasn't it. So, I got up and sat next to Tony. Well, then Bro Jerry came in and sat on the back row. I had heard about Jerry's wonderful touch from Jesus, and I didn't want him to sit back there, so I gave him my seat, and moved back to where I was. I know this sounds crazy; believe me, I thought I was crazy when it was happening! I have never switched seats like this before! I was directly across from Bro Gary. He was on that side all by himself. We were just kidding, and he said something about being alone over there. I got the biggest feeling to go and sit next to him. Ha! I found my spot, and that is where I stayed. So, the meeting got going, and it was the sweetest love of Jesus ever. I was just praying for Jesus to let me take it all in deep. Just to see the help Jesus was giving us, and the love. Whew! It was just GOOD! :0)

Pastor John and some of the men knelt down with Sonny on the floor and was praying with him. I was praying in my seat for him and just bent my head down talking to Jesus. I guess that other people started going up for prayer after that. I don't know. All I know is that Jesus came! I started feeling the holy Ghost all over my whole body, and it was making me shake. I was just crying and praying. I remember praying that Jesus would open up every part of my heart and pour in what He wanted to give me. That it would go deep in there, and I would take it in. I felt this hand on my shoulder start praying for me. It was Bro Gary right beside me. Whew! When he started praying for me, it got even stronger. I just wanted more of Jesus and less of me.

I can't remember everything I was praying, just the feelings. Bro Gary starting saying things to me in the Spirit. You would have to ask him actually what he was feeling, but I do remember a few things that he said. I wish I could have remembered them all. One thing he said was something like, "I see your love for Me", or "I see how much you love Me." I also remember, "This is what you always wanted", and He was holding me close. It was the sweetest experience I have ever had. Then, Bro Gary started singing that sweet song. I was still in my chair, and I couldn't make myself get up. I wanted to go get prayed for, but I couldn't move! I tried to move my feet, but I was stuck. I think Pastor John did lay his hand on my head when he prayed for Tony though. Eventually I just lay on the floor. I figured Jesus prayed for me, so I didn't need to go get prayer. He had already fixed me! I don't know what He fixed, but I felt like He was taking stuff out. I have felt different ever since that night. I cannot explain it. I wish I could, but it is so deep. Just more in love with Jesus. I never knew that Jesus felt that way about me. I know that I have always been told about it, but I never really knew it. It just has been so sweet learning how to really live with Jesus. I believe Him, but I just never knew.

I am thankful that Jesus set it all up. Jesus giving me the feeling not to take me dad, not feeling settled in my chair, moving next to Bro Gary......... Just to think, if Jesus hadn't had made me go with those feelings, I would have missed being fixed. And I don't even know what He fixed! :0) HA! I just know He came and fixed it.

I don't know if this is why I heard, "Give Me three months" or not, but I do feel that it has something to do with it. He is so good!!!

I know I did not put this into good enough words, but I sure hope it all makes sense, and I hope I didn't leave any details out.

Love,
Margo

January 19, 2007

Pastor John:

When you were speaking tonight about Tartarus and what the darkness of feeling no conviction for doing evil would be like, I was reminded of something else Peter wrote which helps me see what you were saying about their condition (1Pet 1:12): "Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into."

These faithful angels desire to look into the light which we can have in Jesus. This was something God had planned to be available for the angels. Faithful angels have this desire.

Jude seems to be speaking of the fallen angels Peter spoke of when he wrote, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, [God] hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (v6). In leaving this estate, their original place in God, they were not only cast into "chains of darkness" but God also took away the desire and the opportunity that the faithful angels still have to look into the light we have. What a loss for them! God cares for all his creatures, and He had this wonderful blessing prepared for them, and they lost it completely.

I hope we can live so that we do not disappoint the faithful angels who are watching us, hoping to learn about their God. We can learn the fear of God from many places, including the wretched angels who followed Satan and were cast out of heaven with him.

Damien

January 19, 2007

Greetings in the name of Christ!

I am writing a reference book about Bible translations. May I ask some questions about your translation?

What source are you using for this translation? That is, is it a revision of an existing English translation or from a Greek NT such as Textus Receptus, Nestle Aland, etc? Who are the translators of this work? When was it started?

Thank you and may God continue to bless you all.

Pastor Bradfor