November 10, 2007

Hi Pastor John:

I was reading in John's Gospel and in 1:3 it states,''all things were made by him'' (that is, the Word, or the Son of God). Then I was reading the Hell study, and on page 43, last paragraph, I read that God's Tophet was created, ''for the Devil and his angels'', as you quoted from Mathew 25:41.

This raised a thought, and some questions. Was this Tophet created by Jesus as described in John, or by his Father? Was it created after the Devil and his angels fell when Jesus presented his body as a Sacrifice, or at the beginning when the Son of God created all things?

If Tophet was created at the beginning, then Jesus knew all along that Satan was going there since the beginning, just as He knew Judas would betray him to the Pharisees, because Tophet was created for the Devil & his angels. If He created Tophet after His sacrifice, then was Tophet created before or after Pentecost?

I don't know what the answers are, given the limited knowledge we have to read from, but it sure put a fear of God in me for the fact that God allowed Satan to be around his throne & Son knowing that Satan is going to be cast in Tophet for no telling how much time between Creation & and when that event happened, if indeed Tophet was created in the beginning.

Even if Tophet was not created in the beginning, God knew his heart, because God told Satan, that he was ''perfect in beauty and full of wisdom'', before iniquity was found in him (Satan); that was before he fell ''like lightning''.

Just a thought/question, Billy M.

Billy:

Isaiah said that "Tophet has been prepared of old." There is nothing that suggests that Tophet was created after Jesus ascended into heaven to offer himself to the father. So, I believe your answer must be that Tophet was created in the beginning.

Pastor John

October 31, 2007

Hey Pastor John,

I just wanted to write and tell you what happened yesterday afternoon.

I was taking Joel to the barn where he helps with horses once a week, when I happened to see a car for sale by the side of the road. Once I dropped Joel off, I drove back to where I saw the car and pulled up just close enough to see the information written on the window. I called Rob and gave him the information, then I noticed a car pulling up right behind me. It was the lady who owned the car - and she just happened - at that exact moment - to be coming home from work. :)

I rolled down my car window and talked to her about the car. She really wanted to show it to me, so I got out and we went over to the car and I wrote down all the information. As we walked back to our cars, we kept talking and at one point she mentioned how she prayed for the blood of Jesus to help her car everyday. Later she was telling me that she was starting to get a cold, and I reached my arm around her and said, "You need that same blood of Jesus on you, just like you pray for your car!"

As we talked, she finally looked at me and asked, "What church do you go to?" I was so thankful for her to ask me that. I had the opportunity to tell her that I don't go to any church . . . and then told her my testimony. I told her how Jesus showed me that I did NOT already have the holy Ghost, and how he showed me that's what I had to have! I told her about being on my face in the backyard when I was first prayed for and learning to obey God. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to tell her - and just BE - just who Jesus has made me!

We talked further and I asked her at one point, "Do you have the holy Ghost, with speaking in tongues and stammering lips? You know, "the rest" Isaiah talked about?" She said, "I did have it at one time, but I don't have it now." John, I had one of God's children, a sister, right in front of me. The love I felt for her, and still feel, is that I wanted to give "me" to her. That must be how God feels toward us. Wow. I never really thought about it like that before. God loves us so much that he gives out of himself to us. That is a precious thought. He is a wonderful Father.

When this sister said that she didn't have the holy Ghost anymore, I reached over and patted her arm and said, "If you ever got the holy Ghost, it is still with you. It's there. Stir it up. It is your life. Let it live!" I had something good to give my sister!! Good food and words to encourage her. And I knew that she knew I was telling her the truth.

When I think back to talking to her, standing out in her yard, it feels as if ALL of us were there. That is us. God gave us that opportunity to encourage one of his children. She later told me that now she is a Baptist, and if she ever feels something ...she would quench it. She hesitated before she said the "quench" word. But she knew that's what it was. I just kept encouraging her to let it live!

God has precious children, and I am so thankful to have encouraged one today.

Donna

Dear Sister Donna:

When you relieve a child of God like that from the burden of false doctrine, you "loose the bands of wickedness" from them, and you are truly fasting (Isa. 58) and storing up to yourself a sure reward in heaven. God takes it personally when you treat one of His children so well.

Pastor John

October 31, 2007

Hello John,

Yesterday I was reading the story of Noah and saw something that caught my attention. I was thinking about what it must have been like living on the ark for over a year, not knowing what to expect nor knowing how long they would be there. I thought of the conversations Noah must have had with his wife and sons during that time, wondering what the earth would be like and what was to happen to them.

One thing for sure, Noah trusted God. He understood that his life and the lives of his family were in God’s hands.

In Genesis 8:13 it says, that in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day, the wasters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the earth was dry. I am not exactly sure what the “covering” was but Noah saw that the earth was dry. He and his family could have stepped off the ark. Perhaps those with him tried to persuade him to leave. Why not? The water had receded; the multitudes of animals could have sensed it was time to leave; their food supply was getting low and by many other appearances it was time to get on with their lives.

But, Noah waited to hear from God. According to verses 14 & 15, it was almost two months later before God sent Noah forth from the ark. That is amazing to me. Even though all the circumstances appeared to be in order, Noah waited for instructions from God. In I Peter 3:20 it says, ...when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water.

Just as God waited patiently for Noah to build the ark, Noah waited patiently to hear from God.

Tom

Hi Brother Tom:

Waiting on God to tell us to move, even when the right time seems to have already come, is the hallmark of the good guys in the Bible.

David refused to slay King Saul when the insane king, without knowing it, came into a cave and was right before David who was hiding in the shadows with his men. One of David's "mighty men" told David, "Look! What the Lord said is coming true, and you will be king in Israel. Kill him! The Lord has brought your enemy into your hands!" David knew that assassinating King Saul was not God's way for him to replace Saul as king, and he waited for God to move Saul out of the way.

In the wilderness temptation, Jesus was offered rulership over the world, but he rejected it because he chose to wait on God.

Waiting on God is always the right thing to do, but we do have to use common sense. If a brick is falling off the side of a tall building and is coming right at your head, don't kneel and seek God to tell you whether or not to move out of the way. But for the significant events of your life, I pray that God will help us learn to wait on Him. If we do, He will renew our strength.

Pastor John

August 6, 2007

Hey Bro John,

I have been thinking about what you taught us the other day, concerning the five wise and five foolish. If I may, I would like to talk about what you said. It is good and it is a measuring stick that the family of God can apply today. The wise and the foolish were all God's children, yet the outcomes were terribly different.

Being a wise virgin means that we know Jesus is Lord of all. And in the knowing, we prepare ourselves as much as able, for Him to reign over all that we are. You told us, there is no room for disappointment when we don't get our way. We have one way, that is the one way of walking in the knowledge that Jesus is Lord of all. Our life is not our own. Ours is to make the right decision and choice when God gives us one to make. This life is His design; my today is his creation; what can I be disappointed about? How can I be discouraged about Jesus doing what He wants with what's His? When I went into covenant with Jesus, Jesus said " I will take your wasted miserable life and give you peace and joy and hope, but you belong to me now, to love and care for, to do with as I see fit." We have been purchased at a terrible price by our Lord and savior.

Understanding that Jesus is Lord means that we understand that ANYTHING can happen to or for us -- and Jesus is still right! You asked and answered a question aloud when explaining the attitude of the wise and foolish: "Why didn't the wise give of their oil to the foolish? It seemed that the bridegroom was close at hand, and the wise may very well have had enough oil to go meet Him when the call was made. Why didn't they try and help them out? ------ Because the wise knew that Jesus was Lord, and that means that even though it SEEMED that they could have made it to Him on less oil, JESUS was in control and at anytime could have turned around, and gone away from them, and required them to tarry longer."

Would that have made Jesus wrong for doing that to them? No! Jesus is Lord, and that is the point. He can do as He pleases, and the wise will be happy for it.

Knowing that Jesus is Lord means that we rely on nothing but His care for us. There is no security in what we see around us. When we walk this earth day to day, when we put one foot down in front of the other, it does not land on solid ground because the earth is made of so many cubic feet of dense dirt; rather, it is because Jesus is Lord and he commands that there be ground below our next step. It is because he has ordained a foothold for our next step . . . no other reason. If he ever chooses otherwise, scientific reasoning will not save us.

We have no plan, no agenda. We don't build a life, God does. We live in His creation and obey daily. God commanded the Israelites to gather manna for the day, making no provision for tomorrow. God required them to live in faith. They exercised faith by gathering only what they needed and trusting God for tomorrow's provisions. There is no security blanket. Jesus' love and care and faithfulness is our security blanket, our "Ace in the hole".

The wise know that Jesus is right and has never let anyone down because everything and everybody is His, to do with as He pleases.

I love this lesson. It frees me from the burden of ever thinking that Jesus has made a mistake.

The foolish virgins did not stock pile all the available oil to them. They tarried with less than their potential, because somewhere in their hearts they had forgotten that Jesus was Lord. They had built boundaries within their hearts and minds for Jesus to work in ---- saying "Jesus won't do THIS", or "Jesus won't want THIS much." When we set limitations, we are denying His Lordship over all. Today is His; tomorrow is His. He gives us choices while exercising authority over all --- HE IS LORD! And I am foolish if every fiber of my being doesn't prepare for Him to reign over All.

Jerry

Bro. John,

I was just thinking of how utterly helpless I was. I was thinking of what it meant that "no good thing dwells in me." I am altogether vanity. My very best effort in this flesh exalts itself against God's holiness. I am altogether trouble. I am nothing. Why do I talk so much? What good thing will I say? My doing good is not holiness. I am proud. I cannot please God in the flesh. The only thing acceptable to God is what He has given to me. When I leave that, I cannot please Him, and it is arrogant to try. I cannot get it right. There is nothing of me that is of Him. I completely and utterly rely on the Spirit to live in me to behave righteously in me, or I am altogether sinning. It is incredible how nothing I am. And I realize that I do not know it. God draws near and shows me that I am nothing; He shows me that my goodness is proud against Him. It is His goodness that is good and His alone. He is only acceptable. I am altogether nothing.

Jerry

Dear Brother Jerry,

In the future, please don't talk about me like that in public. :)

. . . On second thought, go ahead. By our nature, everything you said is true about us all. Only by walking in the Spirit of God do we think, feel, know, or do anything truly good. I remember David's sobering comment on the "greatness" of the human race. He said, "Every man in his best state is altogether vanity."

Your e-mail makes it clear that you would agree with David's observation on the nature of mankind.

jdc

Hey Bro John,

This morning I was thinking, the flesh (my flesh) has a tendency to judge that whatever is not like "it" is wrong.

That kind of thinking is built into our flesh, Jerry. It is there in all of us, and it controls us if we do not "walk in the Spirit."

That is the mentality that feeds racism and the like --- "You're wrong because you're not like me." There is nothing special about anyone; we are all dirt. When God, through His Spirit, takes up His abode in our earthly bodies, then we are made special by His presence inside of us. It scares me to think that I might judge God, working in or through someone, with that same carnal judgment.

That is the real battleground for us all. Misjudging others is always the result of misjudging God first.

I have felt, at times, a reluctance inside of me to embrace a stranger's experience or testimony from the Lord because it did not fit inside of the "box" that I call God. That box is a box invented by me, and its walls are made of the limited experiences that I have had with the Lord. The only things that I know about God is what God has shown me of Himself, and every time God shows me something new, He redesigns the "box".

And that is the grace of God that saves.

I want to be full enough of the Spirit of God to judge "righteous" judgement. I want the Spirit of God in me to do the judging. The Spirit will judge what is of God and what is not. And through that experience, if I listen, I will hear it when it judges me too.

Jerry Amen! We will certainly reap what we have sown toward others. May God help us "be slow to speak and quick to hear." Otherwise, we will judge too quickly, and we have been warned by Solomon that "he who hastens with his feet sins." A hurried judgment is an ungodly judgment . . . always. One of the unsung elements of righteous judgment is its patience.

Jdc

Good morning Pastor John!

RE: Jerry's conversation with you. Jerry wrote:

I have felt, at times, a reluctance inside of me to embrace a stranger's experience or testimony from the Lord because it did not fit inside of the "box" that I call God. That box is a box invented by me, and its walls are made of the limited experiences that I have had with the Lord. The only things that I know about God is what God has shown me of Himself, and every time God shows me something new, He redesigns the "box".

To this I would say, "Yes, BUT-----". . . .

Even though God teaches us something new about His heart every day, when we are walking in the Spirit, we still ought to be able to exercise discernment when we hear another's claim that God has spoken to them, if their testimony is foreign to with what we have collectively experienced or learned in the scriptuires. For example, I have heard "testimonies" from sinners about how God has done this and that, or taught them this or that, and it seems that their notions are just that----THEIR notions; vain imaginations, to suit their lifestyles and their world views and their own "spiritual" ideas.

I have been, as Jerry said, reluctant to judge their testimonies for fear of seeming limited, narrow-minded, or keeping God in a box, based solely on my experiences. But how are we to remain open and accept another's story as being valid if their experience is so far removed from what we have learned by consistent examples in the holy ghost, and by our understanding of the scriptures? There are some goofy ideas out there, on the fringe, so to speak, and aren't we obligated to speak the truth in love, if we are led by the Spirit? A weird idea should be challenged and corrected, (shouldn't it?) if we discern that in the Spirit. Otherwise, we must accept everybody's experiences and "opinions" as equally valid. And that is deadly, is it not?

Cases in point: The claims of S----, and G-- M--, and others recently, including that weird lady I met, D----, who claimed to hear from God often, but led a miserable, disorderly life.

Brad

Yes, Brad, you are right. That is clear. But Jerry was talking about the fear of even giving the testimony of someone else a chance. God has blessed all His children, and we must be open to their true testimonies of what He has done, no matter that doctrine or spacey ideas they have taken into their heart. It takes a little effort to pick through their words, to "eat the meat and throw the bones away", but what ever is really God is really God, and whatever is really God is really good.

Pastor John

Hello Bro. John,

This is something that I have learned from a very recent experience. Many sinners confess a god. It is not the God of the righteous who, by revelation of Himself, blessed people are allowed to know and follow. Instead, it is a god of the imagination, invented in the hearts of men who choose to follow sin rather than righteousness, and then confess that god in order to justify their wicked deeds. It is not because of ignorance of the scriptures that they confess this god and his doctrine of, "God is so good that he forgives everything, all the time, without repentance". I have learned that when confronted with the true God, they choose willingly to cling to the other, and continue in the sin that their "god" endorses.

Doing that takes the burden away of trying to "convince" someone of the will of God. People under that spirit don't want to know.

Jerry

Hi Jerry:

The ungodly attitude and behavior that you are describing is found throughout the Bible, both the OT and NT. It is nothing new, and it is a reality for multiplied millions of people. I might even say billions, for it is the way of the whole world. The saddest thing, however, is when we see that darkness cover the hearts of God's own people, as they follow the counsel of men who proclaim a gospel of just that kind of god, and for those reasons that you stated.

Pastor John

Good morning John.

Today I was organizing and mailing out various tract and CD orders from the Isaiah 58 site that came in over the past couple of days.

When a person orders a CD from the site, Earl had given me extra old CD's from the meeting room that went un-purchased, and I usually add one or two of those to the order since it does not really add anything to the postage, and so that people can hear live meetings.

This morning as I reached into the box of perhaps 50 to 100 CD's, the sweetest feeling came over me. I could have picked any of the CD's in that box! We have things of "value". Things that go unclaimed among us just might be golden nuggets of life to someone who is hungry for reality in the Spirit. They've never heard what is on a CD that we have hundreds of extras of. Tears came to my eyes - to have such things of value. Where would we be without them, without each other, without this truth? It's hard to even wonder. I am thankful, after your wonderful message last night from 1 Cor., for you, for the saints before you who paid a price, and for every child of God whom Jesus has put in my life right now.

And beyond that, I am thankful for soberness, for sanity, and for the readiness of mind and heart to want to get this truth to God's wandering sheep.

Gary

Amen, Gary!

Hello Pastor John,

After going to a Bible study about a month ago, one that was given by a Christian youth group of about 15 University of Louisville students, some friends of Anna's and acquaintances of mine, I realized how much I did not know about the sacrifice of Christ. The students chose to read Acts for their summer Bible study sessions and this particular night was the first. I had read Acts in my Dad's Bible study at our house once before, seeing it as one book that gave sort of the story of the transition from one gospel [OT] to another [NT]. So, before the UofL student who volunteered to present the first chapter began to read, I thought I was well prepared so that if a question/comment was presented, I might know how to give a comment that would be helpful for others, one that revealed the truth. My hope was to be able to talk to someone there about what we were studying - the holy Ghost - for I had visited their Bible study once before and began to notice some very sincere hearts in that living room.

At one point in the Bible study, I asked a question pretending to be dumb to the Scriptures, but realized that I did not know enough about the sacrifice or Christ, particularly the order of events, to form the next question inside of me that wanted to ask those sincere hearts in the room, for the truth about Jesus' "promise" that he told the disciples to wait for. The whole purpose of his sitting down at the Father's right hand and then Pentecost, was bypassed. I looked across the room at Anna in anticipation, when including such things in the discussion at hand were appropriate, but not one word of the holy Ghost being available to God's children after Jesus' fulfilled the sacrifice was mentioned by any of the students. I felt the need of the truth to be spoken. But I sat there feeling so useless, because I did not know the order of events, the timeline that gives account for Jesus' completion of the sacrifice and the 7-10 days before the "promise" or holy Ghost was given - the entire point that I wanted to make.

After the first chapter was read, we got into small groups and I did get to tell several people about how the "Spirit is still present today as it was in the disciples time," a question proposed on a handout given to each of us. I told the 4 or 5 students about how God can speak to me with a feeling of wanting to read the Bible or wanting to pray, to follow through with that, and afterwards, feel the Spirit fuller inside of me. I was able to tell them how I had witness "infallible proofs" as mentioned in chapter 1 (or at least I think I interpreted it correctly) such as Bekah being healed of muscular dystrophy at a very young age. But I felt a coward to go further. I felt tension from two of the girls in the small group, one of them given the nickname "Mom" because of her tendency to give "advice" to everybody else in the Bible study group younger than she.

When I got home, I immediately asked Daddy about the order of events. "Where can I read about this?" I asked him. He told me that your Spiritual Light book had the answer. So I read a little every night and drew a timeline of the events of the sacrifice of Christ, accounting for the 3 days in the heart of the earth, 40 days with the disciples, ascension, the disciples waiting 7 days, and finally Pentecost.

Last night the sacrifice of Christ was ever clearer to me. I had listened to the Old Testament CD's in preparation, but hearing it live was even more meaningful. The questions asked by those in the room, the drawing on the board of the tabernacle, reading the Scriptures at hand, added to my understanding as well. I feel an eagerness inside to see some of my Christian friends back at school to share with them the truth of the sacrifice of Christ, as you did in your New Testament Exposition course at the seminary when you told your classmates they needed the holy Ghost. I hope I am as brave - not afraid of other's reactions - to share the same truth when the chance is given to me.

Thank you!

Sarah T.

God will be with you, Sarah. Just be yourself in Christ.

Pastor John

Hey John,

Last night was so good! What a wonderful thing to have the Word of God come to you and ask you the question, "Where was Jesus when He was sacrificed?" I was thinking tonight that if you had believed that the Bible was the Word of God that you would not have had any reason to get down on your face at the top of every hour and ask God about those things you were reading in Exodus concerning the Tabernacle; the same questions that led to the question from God which led you to the wonderful truth you taught us last night. If you believed that the Bible was the Word of God, how could you believe that Jesus could teach you anything beyond what was written on those pages? The Bible is full of many wonderful and exciting stories, but those stories are just the tip of the iceburg. The Word of God is alive and will show us so much more if we have a heart to seek him and find out. It really touched me just to see those young hearts sitting around that table last night wanting to learn the Bible. But better than that, is for them to learn that the living God will teach them (one on one), beyond what they are learning in their Bibles, if they have a heart to want to know.

This really is a new and living way! It's exciting!

Love,

Lee Ann

Hi LeeAnn:

The message of the Bible is not that it is the Word of God but that the word of God came to others and will come to us. Only experience really teaches that to us, and I pray that we all have many of them!

jdc

Pastor John,

Thank you for teaching the OT class last night. Before the class, during the day I had brought the gospel tract with me to read called "Holiness". And in the tract it talked about the OT priesthood and the sacrifice of innocent animals to atone for sin. When I read that, the word "innocent" came out at me. The animals were innocent. They had not done anything wrong but had to die for the OT people of God so they could live. That made me think of how I don't ever want to hurt something that was guiltless. Especially for something I did wrong. I was feeling that God did know how to really make a point by choosing the ceremonies he did. If a person had a right heart, he would never want to displease God, but it happened, and even then God made a way where even more tender feelings would drive home the message. The whole experience of atonement seemed deeper to me.

Then, being able to attend the class, I was so excited because I felt like I was going to learn more than what I was feeling reading the tract. I don't think I had ever seen it the way I saw last night how Christ bore our sins upon himself. He knew about us and what we needed. He was an innocent person and God's only Son, and yet the love of God was in how he had to be sacrificed for us so we could live.

It made me so thankful to hear you say that it is all about the holy Ghost. If we don't have it and don't want it when the Gospel comes we really have missed everything. You reminded us of what Moses said: "The soul that will not hear will be cut off." And I am thankful that I have been able to "hear" in my heart in spite of others saying I didn't need the holy Ghost in Christianity. It was the grace of God that I knew I did, and do, every day. I thank Jesus for explaining so much to us last night through you. I loved it and felt right at home - where I belong. This is life to me.

Adam

I just wanted to tell you that last night's teaching on the tabernacle was the best food I have ever had. I understand better now why you say that Hebrews 8, 9, and 10 is the heart of the Bible. It was just wonderful.

Donna

Hey Pastor John,

I just wanted to say thank you for going over the Sacrifice of Christ tonight. I am absolutely amazed!!! God is soooo good!!! When I listened to the CD's yesterday, I felt very overwhelmed by the information. I am not very architecturally inclined, so trying to envision a tabernacle was nearly impossible. Seeing it on the white board really helped.

I want to take in everything I can. I have been doing the Old Testament now for over a year. Just as I began the study of the Law last year, some things happened that kept me from continuing with it. Many times over the last 6 months God has impressed on me to buckle down and get through the Old Testament. I love everything I have learned up to this point! The things I have learned so far have helped me through many situations in my life and they are teaching me who I am (and I have only finished Exodus)!

Well, that's all I really wanted. Just to say thanks!!

I love you,

Amy M.

Hi Amy:

Over a space of about twenty years, teaching the OT in the Community College system, I noticed a remarkable thing happen among my OT students. Even though of very racial, theological, and social backgrounds, there grew during the course, a love of God in the class for one another that was undeniable. It was not flashy; it fact, in went all but unnoticed until near the end of the school year. But suddenly it was there, and everyone felt it. Then I realized what it was for; it was for preparing us as a class to study the NT books! The OT still prepares people for the NT! When I realized this, I began to make it a requirement for students wanting to sign up for my NT course to have successfully completed my OT course.

There is something about learning the OT well that is unexpectedly life-changing. After a few years of observing this phenomenon of a bond of love developing in the OT course, I concluded that if God's children everywhere just knew the OT ( = if they are taught it rightly), 90% of all the divisions that exist among God's people on earth would be done away with.

I am glad you are learning it.

And I love you, too! (the OT is already working!!)

Pastor John

Hey Pastor John,

I was just reading in Romans this morning and I came to Romans 10:9 and had a new thought. After listening to what you were saying last night about, if you don't have the Spirit of God then you are calling God a liar, this verse stuck out to me. This verse is saying that if you "believe" in the Lord and what God did with him, then you will be saved...and that is true because if you truly believe that God is right and understand that everything he did was for our good and it was right, then you will get the holy Ghost. And then you have to continue to believe that God is right and what He says is true, and you will be saved in the end. I'm not sure if this is making any sense, but when I read this verse, I put together with it what you said last night about someone not having the hG is calling God a liar.

So anyway, that was my thought for this morning, and I don't ever want to call God liar! Thank you for teaching us again about the Sacrifice of Christ, I had forgotten a few things and it was good to see it again. Now, I think Steven can see why it is such my favorite part of the OT! I love it! Have a great day!

Leah

Hey Pastor John,

On this past Friday I had a wonderful experience with God. All that day I was feeling good, so I just started thanking Jesus for my life, and for how happy He makes me. So the time came for me to go to lunch. God started giving me thoughts. He showed me why I was so happy. He said that He was the first and only one who really required me to live right. He reminded me that no matter how much my momma, employer, or friends tried to take credit, that when nobody cared about what came out of my mouth, He cared. And when they didn't care about the choices I was making that where ruining my life back then, He did. He also reminded me about the time my mom told all my earthly uncles she would never put me out of her home. My uncles were telling her to put me out, they told her "he is a bum", he does not help you pay any bills, he doesn't even pay his own bills, but she would not listen to them and put me out. She was only helping me make it easy to do the wrong thing.

Then came the time after getting the holy Ghost. God told my momma to put me out of her home, and she did. On the day that happened, God was going to require me to start making good decisions. He took all my excuses away. So, the rest is a story of God. Look at what God has done with my life! All I could do at that moment when He showed me all of this was say, "I love you God for teaching me how to live right!" Amen! Praise God! Thank you Jesus for giving the Comforter to help me talk right, think right, and make good Holy choices.

Hope this makes sense. It sure felt good!

Love you too Pastor John, for telling me I needed the holy Ghost!

Tony

Hey!

Joel and I were coming back from a 4-H meeting Thursday late afternoon. As we turned and started driving down highway 87, we saw there was some road construction ahead. The workers had our lane completely closed, and were alternating letting traffic through the area from both directions. We stopped in our lane, and we were the first car in our line. As Joel and I sat there for a few seconds, I had the thought to have Joel hand a gospel tract to the man who was holding the STOP sign. Joel rolled down the window and with a tract in his hand (7 Pillars), asked him if he would like a gospel tract. The man took the tract then put it in his pocket. He told Joel how he had been working all day, would go home from work and be very tired, but before he went to sleep - he was hopefully going to read that whole tract - just because Joel had given it to him. The man really wanted Joel to know that he had done a good thing by handing him that tract. The man then had to go and pay attention to the road work because they were bringing a big dump truck in to unload some dirt. (This made us have to wait longer in line. :) ) The man came back to Joel's side of the car, and this is basically what he said.

"You don't know me. You don't know my life, or what kind of person I have been. But you gave me this tract. I used to deal drugs, carry a gun, and had a very bad life. I have tried to clean my life up and change, because I didn't want to be that kind of person anymore. I just have to wonder sometimes if my life is acceptable to God - if my prayers are acceptable to God."

Wow! Only God can give a person that thought. When he said that, I reached down and took hold of another tract right beside me, "How I Received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost." As I looked at the man, I asked him, "Do you have the holy Ghost?"

He answered, "No."

I said, "That's what you need. You HAVE to have it." I saw our time was almost over, and I handed him the second tract, and he put it in his shirt pocket with the other one. "You have the answer in your pocket. You need the holy Ghost. You HAVE to have it," I repeated.

That was it. Our time was over. But oh! What a wonderful feeling Joel and I had in that car! We felt as if we had just gone through a "God time zone" or something. We knew God had put us in the right place at the right time. That man had been wondering if his life was acceptable to God - and God sent him his answer! That reminded us both of Gary's testimony about falling on his knees and asking God to send him His truth, and two weeks later he received an envelope with our tracts in it. God hears, and God answers! It was a precious thing for us to be able to have those wonderful tracts to give that man. What good food to give to a person who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I love it. I don't know if we will ever hear from the man, but I pray he gets the holy Ghost and lives full of it all his days!

Thank you, God!

Donna

Dear Pastor John,

Last night was so wonderful to me being in your office. Before coming over, I was just wanting to listen to the music God has given us, and He gave me the desires of my heart. Whatever apprehension I may have had, or whatever cares, melted away. When you said "This is too good for us," that is what I was feeling too.

These blessings are for all those who are wanting relief from the world. And only in Jesus is there true rest. That is what last night was for me. Thank you for letting us come over and enjoy what God has given.

Adam

Hi Adam:

I woke up this morning with this same deep feeling of gratitude burning in my chest that I had last night, gratitude for the people of God whom I know, gratitude for the wonderful music God is giving us, gratitude for His mercy and guidance for our lives, etc. It was such a deep gratitude that it almost seems like a burden. I noticed last night as I was falling asleep that the only relief I could get from this burden was to praise God and thank Him. Thanking God was what this feeling inside demanded, really, so I gave it to Him, and then fell asleep.

Now, Brother Adam, you probably already know this but . . .you are thanking the wrong person for "letting you all come over." I didn't even know you were coming! All I did was turn around from working on the computer, and - surprise! - the office had filled up with people while I was not looking. I guess we all should just thank God that He let us all be here, and just keep thanking Him until we all fall asleep in Jesus! The music we were listening to last night was mostly new music that is not officially produced yet. God help us to get it out for His people! I think it is some of the best music ever; at any rate, it certainly blesses you and me.

Pastor John

Thank you for reminding me of this John. This was one of the first truths I learned from you in 1993, and I appreciate it. I was deceived in this regard in Christianity. Many zealous young men are encouraged by Christian leaders to "do something for God" - and since we can't, it always gets us in a mess. But Jesus can get us out!

I'm am glad however, that God has given us his people to do something for. It may get just a little frustrating to not be able to do something to express our gratitude for all that He has done for US! I have always liked these verses in Nehemiah (13:30): "Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business, and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good."

Cleansing God's people from the unequal yoking of Christianity, and helping to get this truth so that the "priesthood" can be put in order, as God would have his children, is a great work. I'm glad we have been joined together for doing whatever the Spirit directs in this regard. I am looking forward to tract night again, and even getting the first Spanish tract out soon!

Gary

Good Morning Pastor John,

I think there are some people at the EPA with the holy Ghost. I have run into a couple so far. I'm going to put tracts in all of the break rooms next week. I also have been talking to this Jewish guy who wants to believe in Jesus but who has a hard time with the trinity. It felt good to understand where he was coming from and to have something for him.

Well, see ya!

Maleah

Dear Maleah,

That sounds good about the Jewish guy. Keep up the good work. It is a great feeling to meet someone like him who has a desire to find God but who senses that Xty is not telling the truth; such people just need to meet someone (such as, say . . . YOU!) who can help them -- and God has given you that wonderful opportunity! Praise Him!

Pastor John

Hey,

Last night I listened to Brother Damon's sermon too. It was really something to hear him say some of the things he was saying and really being on the "edge" of something. It really touched me at the end when he began to pray and call out and say things, especially the part about "We are confused, God. We are hurting", because it went along with what I saw and heard at "TheCall" in Nashville.

But, I had this thought too as I was listening to him, some of the things he said were like some things Rodney Howard-Browne has said about Xty, without saying the word; and the thought came, they like to talk about it as long as they are in it, so what happens next when the truth comes? So, when I got home this morning and read your paragraph below, it was the same lesson and it really hit me.

" It is strange but true that Christians will honor the man who, like Brother Damon, disparages Xty, as long as he remains within it. They will marvel at and hire the minister who declares that the Church is a corrupt institution, as long as he stays in the Church. To be "courageous" against the institution of Xty is not to talk bad about it, as so many Christian ministers do, and as Damon does; to be courageous is to obey God and come out of it, and I cannot know that Damon has the love of God and the zeal for His holiness to do it until Damon is confronted by the truth."

I really prayed for him. It touched me to hear him and it touched me for his zeal. I hope that he hears the truth Rebekah sent to him and can take it in as a relief to his spirit. I hope he will come out from that very thing he is talking about and see what he is really talking about! I have prayed for him off and on since Rebekah told us about it Wednesday night and after hearing him, even more so. He is going to need it. God help him!

Amy

We have heard many men say many strong things. I had a friend named Edmond who could preach as "strong" as it gets. But when the truth came, he said it was "too hard".

When men come in contact with the TRUTH, as you said last night John, that will reveal what they are REALLY after. The truth is the only thing that can do it. I hope bro. Damon has sincerely been seeking God - if he has, he will love it. I also hope we have the opportunity to get it to him.

Gary

Hi Gary:

I remember Edmund and your extremely high regard for him.

I have heard men "preach" so strong and look so good that I was ashamed of myself, and I thought they would take the truth and run with it like lightning. But that proved to be just me, judging things by the appearance, by what I heard with my fleshly ears and saw with my fleshly eyes. Jesus told us not to do that (Jn. 7:24)! Then, when the light came to those highly esteemed men, I saw what God was seeing in them. They were transformed before my eyes into cowards and liars, fearing their superiors, fearing their wives, fearing the loss of their position and reputation, and condemning the truth as being a lie in order to justify themselves. I trust God's truth to show me everything, and it has proved itself to me many, many times.

We do not EVER know where someone's heart is until the light shines on them. As Paul said, "whatever makes manifest is light", and I know that nothing can make the hearts of men manifest except the light of God. False doctrine can never expose what is really in the hearts of men, and that is why Xty is described by the angel as "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every fouls spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Demons and the foul spirits of men hide behind the pretty ceremonies and traditions of Xty, and the powerful sermons they deliver. In the light, there is no place to hide, and if we will be the light of the world, we will see where everyone around us really is, by how they react to us.

It is strange but true that Christians will honor the man who, like Brother Damon, disparages Xty, as long as he remains within it. They will marvel at and hire the minister who declares that the Church is a corrupt institution, as long as he stays in the Church. To be "courageous" against the institution of Xty is not to talk bad about it, as so many Christian ministers do, and as Damon does; to be courageous is to obey God and come out of it, and I cannot know that Damon has the love of God and the zeal for His holiness to do it until Damon is confronted by the truth.

God help him and other young people like him to not only have the appearance of holy zeal but the substance of it.

jdc

The primary thing I took from The Call in Nashville happened on Friday night (7-06-07). [The young minister] Damon was speaking and saying some really good things. I fully expected the whole thing to be like that. I had no idea that was out of the ordinary, so I didn't really have an idea of how wonderful it was until after Saturday. Looking back on it, I realize I was holding back until I saw and heard the others speaking in tongues and raising their hands, but when they did, I was all for it. I raised my hands and the last thing I heard him say was something to the effect of "you take the ceremonies and give us the children!"

I fell back and was shaking on the ground for a good while. When I stopped shaking, there was the heaviest feeling in my heart. I was on my back crying as hard as I could. Eventually I tried to get up, but I knelt back down and cried more. Everyone was still jumping and screaming around me, so I had assumed that the Spirit was still falling, even though I felt nothing but hurt. But, when Rebekah, Ashley and Elijah told me that Damon had left the Spirit behind so he could talk about abortion, I understood why I felt such a heavy feeling.

I had assumed and was really hoping some of the interested people there would want to talk to me after they saw the Spirit hit me so hard. I'm guessing that they haven't seen touches like that very often, but nobody said a word to me. Not only do they not understand that as being special and from God, but they don't even understand tongues being as important as it is. On top of that, they didn't even feel the difference between the Spirit falling and not falling. At least, most didn't. I have to assume that those with the Holy Ghost felt something, and maybe they are just used to it coming and going and are trained to continue their "worship". I are hoping that those who are, at times, in touch with the Spirit are feeling a difference because that includes Damon.

I wish I could have gotten more out of Saturday than I did. Hopefully I'll have a chance to go to another one. There were two things I hope I'll never forget. A small group of younger people our age were on stage and gave testimonies of what I assume would be receiving the Holy Ghost. One was a young girl on the stage that was so sincere. While everyone was jumping and flinging their arms to the music, those few girls and a guy or two on stage weren't doing that. They were sitting of standing still and looked as if they were really trying to soak it in. This was just before communion was passed out.

We left shortly after that, but came back when it was almost over. At the end, there were some weird people on stage. One older man was telling the people to have visions and prophecy etc. And he said if you have one an experience (as he'd claimed to have many from God) then you need to tell people, and if they [question it and] ask you who said that to you, then you should put your hand on your hip and shake you head and say "Says God!" After he demonstrated that disgusting attitude, he wanted all the young people [in the stadium] to practice it. I just stood there and shook my head. It was hard to take in how bad it really was. I said, under my breath and mostly for myself, "That's not the right attitude." I guess the girl behind me heard me or saw me because, barely audible, she said to me, with her hand on her hip and her head shaking, "You, too!"

Hopefully as I reflect on the events, I'll get more and more out of it. Wednesday night, it sunk in a little deeper how awful it was. When you were praying and saying something about the wolves feeding on them, I had a mental picture of what was happening. I saw that young group on stage, with that girl sitting there with her hands on her lap looking up. She was a lamb, and her spirit, her attitude, her zeal, her sincerity, her love of God and all the wonderful things about her were feeding the wolves there. The wolves have no other food; God's people are sustaining them. Their religion and power will crumble, and they know it, [without such lambs]. That's the kind of fight we're in, but at the same time, we're trying to rescue little lambs that have wounds down to bones from the wolves feeding on them.

Wow, I think the more I reflect on it now, the more I get out of it. I just want to have the right spirit for it. The first half of Saturday, I wasn't all the way there, but after we went to Stuart's and then went back for the last bit, I was a servant. I hope God does find this generation worthy of being used to do something good. It doesn't have to happen. Sometimes it feels like God is stirring the pot in preparation for something, but just as prophecy for the exodus from Egypt was set back by Moses' error, this generation can be turned away. God help them cry out hard enough, and help us be where we need to be. Help us all cry out hard enough.

John David

Pastor John I listened to all of Damon Thompson's sermon that Rebekah mentioned. He said some strong things about what he really wants. I cannot help but feel that God has heard him and has sent him the beginning of his answer through what Rebekah wrote to him. He, like the Israelites in Egypt you mentioned, has little idea about the answer he wants from God. One thing he will learn is that people are not even having communion once a week by doing that ceremony. If he believes it, I hope he has the courage to confess it. It will certainly cause him to "decrease" just as he said must happen. I hope his desire to hear the word of God, no matter where, or from whom it comes, is genuine. God is speaking to people. He has got closer to God than many but then many have come so far but no further. I hope God blesses him with a heart to believe the truth about what he is feeling.

It has been extraordinary to me, reading and hearing the testimonies from the young ones about their experiences last weekend. I loved hearing it. It is exciting. I know I've said it before but God is giving them such an education and they seem willing to receive it. Truly, it is easy to esteem them better than myself. I love them.

Damien

Hi Damien:

"One thing he will learn is that people are not even having communion once a week by doing that ceremony." If he learns that one thing, his whole universe will change, and I hope it will.

jdc

John,

God's people are in such great need. I wondered at first whether this person was kidding....I don't think so.

Gary

This person wrote:

Is it true that the jews believed that when the priest came to the one to be anointed the cork would pop and the oil would buble over? If so where can I research this information?

From time to time, these are the kinds of questions I get on the internet. It is sad to know that God's people have no clue at all as to what they should be learning. As you said last night, "God's people don't know anything".

God help us. We need to know His voice.

Gary
www.Isaiah58.com

Oh my. God help us. What did you answer her?

jdc

I told her that there was nothing in the Bible concerning this issue, that it was probably a Christian tradition of some kind. And it would be far better for her to seek the answers to REAL questions such as "when is a person born again" or "when were the disciples born again".

Gary

That's good.

jdc

Pastor John:

This afternoon I was out in the garden spraying for Japanese beetles when Jonathan rode up on his bike. He said that his mom told him that he could spend some time with me. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him about why I was spraying. Then he asked me what I did on my job. I asked him would he like to find out by going to work with me tomorrow? I have a tank abandonment scheduled. He sounded excited about going. Then I asked him if he wanted to burn some trash with me. He asked if we were going to use the tractor, and I said yes and off we went.

Two days ago, I had trimmed some branches along the gravel road and left them there to pick up with the tractor to be burned. Now was a good time to do this. We got off the tractor to start loading the branches when Jonathan said "there is a black widow spider over here." I was somewhat surprised at this because we had not turned over any rocks where black widow spiders usually live. I played along not really believing he actually saw one but probably something that may have looked like a spider of some kind. He pointed to some cut branches lying on the ground that I was getting ready to pick up. I leaned over to look and said, "Is this what you saw?", pointing to a brown spot on a maple leaf. He said "No, its that big black spider with the red dot on it." Again I was somewhat surprised that he could even describe a black widow spider. Then after looking again, I saw one of the biggest black widow spiders I have ever seen making a web within the branches I was getting ready to pick up, with no gloves on, mind you. Yes, I was very surprised. Well, I then killed the spider.

Now here's the good part. I have never in my life seen a black widow spider making a web in tree branches. They usually live under rocks or in corners or dark places. If Jonathan had not been there to see it, I may have been bitten by the spider as I was not looking for one and was not using any protective clothing, as I sensed no danger in the task of picking up the branches. Jonathan was there with me because we had a mutual desire to spend time together. We valued the opportunity to build upon our relationship by spending time together. I believe God used the spider incident to show me how important relationships really are. I valued Jonathan's desire to spend time with me by expressing my desire to spend time with him. God used a venomous black widow spider to give me and Jonathan a sweet experience together. You just got to love the way God does things.

Bob

That is a very interesting story, Bob. Relationships are mutually beneficial when they are in the will of God. Little Jonathan benefited you because you were willing to give him some time out of your life. That is such a good thing.

In the kingdom of God, any member of the body of Christ can benefit any other member, regardless of the age or position of either. We just have to be willing first to give something of ourselves to each other.

Pastor John

Hi John,

I have ready Taylor's e-mail to you over and over again about the tract mailing, and his thoughts and his study on the kingdom of God. It has stirred up my heart to pray and ask God to lead us and guide us more then ever. Since I have read the e-mail, I have been searching the Scriptures on the kingdom of God as well. I have had some thoughts as well on what I have been reading.

Jesus was preaching on something that was not here yet. It was to come after he fulfilled his part here on this earth and was accepted of the Father; and, as a result of what Jesus did, we do know what the kingdom of God is now (Rom 14:17), and we do know how a person gets into it, and I do believe that that is the starting point for anyone seeking God, for that is why Jesus came and did what he did while he was here. Now I know that this is not for everyone as Taylor said.

Also as I was reading, I came across a passage from where Jesus was talking about the greatest commandments where we read this weekend:

Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

John, when I read what the scribe said to Jesus, how that those commandments were "more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices", I started thinking how that Jesus told him he was not far from the kingdom of God. I saw how the scribe was feeling that it was more than just ceremonies that made someone right with God, and in turn, Jesus told him he was not far from the kingdom of God. And I was thinking about all of God's children that are out there in Xty and surrounded by ceremonies -- if only they could feel like the scribe did, that it is more than ceremonies that they need from God! Maybe some do, and if so, they would not be far from the kingdom of God either -- just as Jesus told the scribe. And when the truth comes, they might hear it.

I hope they do.

Stuart

John,

I woke up very early Monday morning & couldn't go back to sleep. So after I checked the emails, I got on the couch with my Bible. I was thinking about the feelings of the ones who had gone to TheCall in Tn., and thinking about how Xty is swirling with confusion. I was thinking about fasting and prayer and how God's people tried to prepare themselves to hear from God, but the leaders turned the people's focus away from the Spirit of God.

I didn't know where to read in the Bible, but I heard "Acts" in my heart. So that's where I went. I read chapter 1, and as I was getting to the end of chapter 2, I saw God's people being prepared to enter into the REST. Peter was led by the holy Ghost to preach about the prophecies of Jesus spoken of by Joel and David. With a godly boldness, Peter told them that they (the Jews to whom he was speaking) were the ones who had crucified the son of God. The holy Ghost then led them to repentance! And they gladly received it. It must have brought them great relief when they learned who Jesus really was, and when they repented of their sin.

Afterwards, "they continued in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." They were in one accord and were likeminded and they praised God. This is who/what they became after God recreated them by the holy Ghost. Oh, that is so good to me. A clean, holy life was prepared for them in the Spirit.

That is what God's people today are looking for. That is what they are earnestly seeking. It is what I wanted when I needed relief from the spirit of XTY. Living in the Spirit and under godly authority is the rest God has promised them...rest by being led by the Spirit and not by the doctrines or ideas of man. God's people want to feel safe, protected. That's what I wanted. They want to know that God hears their prayers and will give them relief. He did that for me when I began to realize what His voice sounded like...and His voice wasn't the voice I had been trained to listen to in XTY. I pray I never forget the feeling of relief I felt from you and Jesus when I came to my first prayer meeting. I was desperate to know Jesus was going to take care of my heart. He used you to let me know he was watching over my soul.

God's people are afraid they will deny Jesus if they listen to something other than what the Xn teachers are telling them. It's a very hard place to be, but if they can just be willing to open up their hearts and be willing to think that maybe they (the Xn teachers) could be wrong, they will find out Jesus is right there waiting for them with relief and rest.

Thank you, Jesus, for letting me read in the book of Acts, to be reminded of where you brought me from, and to let me love your people. I am grateful to be here, continuing in God's doctrine and in one accord with you and the saints.

Love,

Bess

Pastor John,

I was listening to the CD on "Richly all things to enjoy" (2001). The phrases below reminded me of the feelings of pressure to worship as the people were pressured to worship that were around us at TheCall this past weekend.

From the CD: "Should preponderance of worship of men all over the world cause the righteous to cease to worship God or to be afraid that their worship will be misunderstood?"
"We don't cease doing what is right b/c of the multitudes that claim to be doing right."
"We don't cease to enjoy blessings of God b/c of the many who abuse those blessings."

At The Call, when they asked for people from any denomination, or any non-denominational church, or any church to stand, it was awkward for us from here to be the only ones (that I noticed) that were not standing. When everyone around us took the Christian communion, it was also awkward to be the only ones, again, that were not doing as others were. There was a definite pressure there. (When I first tried to type denomination, I typed "demonation".)

When the majority of the people around us were repeating a prayer, I thought, "Those are some good words for people to pray", and I prayed with them for God to accept the praises of the sincere people there and have these feelings last beyond that one day (especially after I found out this is the fourth time for something similar to The Call). After the praying, Mr. Engle told everyone who prayed that prayer that they had been saved ... I felt "cheated". I had been praying some really sweet things to Jesus during that time, and only when the prayer was over did I realized what was going on... Oh well, I knew Jesus knew my heart .....

You also told the story on the CD about the man that plucked his eyes out in jail (thinking he could overcome lust of a woman) and the woman that tried to cut her arm off (b/c it had "offended" her). When you told what those verses really mean, to cut the member of the body of Christ off to keep a spiritual disease from spreading, it really struck something in me. It hurts to have people we have loved not be here among us, but we value the things from God MORE than we value any individual. We do not want any spiritual disease to spread and the whole body of Christ among us here to be lost.

Amanda

Hi John,

I wanted to say that Anna and I feel so thankful and blessed to have had so many of Gods people gathered at our home this weekend. What an honor! I do not take it lightly and always want to live in the place where God has called us to. We have seen so much take place over the years and people we love take Gods ways lightly and not value what he has done for them and us.

I am so glad that some of our young people took advantage of this weekend for TheCall in Nashville to see how some of God's children are treated by Xty and what little food, if any, there is for any holy-ghost filled person out there. Sometimes, we live in a box and don't know how valuable what God has done for us really is until we see it first hand. I hope somehow someway we can get our young people to see how valuable what God has done for us really is and that they can trust us and believe us when we tell them things about God. This world will rob them of things they cannot get back once they have lost it. It will always be there to trouble them if they don't value now what God has done for them. I encourage all young people, please pray that God will let you see how valuable his ways are, and live like he says to live. If you do you will not regret it.

Stuart

Dear Stuart:

I was deeply impressed by your conversation this past weekend about how hardly young people who have had everything handed to them can comprehend what it takes to earn the money to provide the things given so freely to them. Then you compared that to those of us who have had the truth of God handed to us from the beginning, and how hardly we can comprehend the price that the ones before us paid to keep it alive for us. Only time, and being hated for righteousness' sake, can reveal to us what the truth costs those who love it.

Pastor John

Pastor John

I heard a man say yesterday that Satan had an " I" disease. It was all about him, never others, and look where it got him. Satan at one time was right there with Jesus. He was created perfect until iniquity was found in him. Can the word iniquity mean without the law or commandments? I was thinking about what you said this weekend about right relationships and the commandments being part of that, like when Satan was found to have iniquity, he no longer had a right relationship with God. I feel so blessed, yet like walking softly.

Thanks for all you taught us this weekend.

Jammie

Yes, Jammie, the Greek word "lawlessness" can be understood as "iniquity".

Pastor John

Hi John,

I love this RT, I had the privilege of hearing you talk about right relationships this past week end and the more I heard it the better it got, it did not get old, it became more clearer each time you went over it with each group of people that would come in the door at my house. What I liked about it the most was that it put in you a desire to have a right relationship with everyone around you starting with God first and then out to everyone in your life from there, by the leading of the spirit, I love this it feels so good.

Thanks

Stuart

Hi Pastor John,

I've been reading all the emails about TheCall. I love what I've been reading too... about people feeling the need and desire for God's people caught in Xty to come out.

I've been writing out my own testimony about being in Xty and coming out, and it makes me so sad knowing what it's like being in there, starving and dying, and needing something when what you wanted all the time is not in there at all. I know I am just a baby and barely know the refreshing myself but I can't help but feel the need and urgency myself, especially going over my testimony.

I want to pray much about this and seek God's will for me in this.

Jenny

Hi John,

This weekend I felt like we were camped outside of Xty's walls, about 30 miles away from the stadium, and we had some spies on the inside looking for a way we can help save some of God children from the destruction that is going to come upon Xty.

We sat there waiting to hear reports from our spies on how bad God's children where being treated by Xty, and they did not even know how bad they where being treated because they don't even know their Father's voice and what He was saying. It is sad.

But as each report was coming in, I felt a stronger pull and hunger to help get out everything we can to God's people so that maybe some of them can be saved from Xty's grip and feel the love that their Father has for them. I felt, "It is time to go to work! I was burning deep in my soul after each phone call." We need workers that can get past themselves and live for others. I am ready to get past all this nonsense of a double life that some among us have been living and that we have had to deal with lately. Shame on us, after all that God has done for us, that we can't even live right.

I am ready to go to work!

Stuart

Hi John. I have heard some of the reports coming in from those who went to theCall meeting in Nashville, from Amy, Ellen, Elijah, etc. It sure seems to have had a very good effect on all who attended.

Sometimes we don't know how rich we are until we meet people who are poor (in spiritual understanding). It sounds like it was made clear to those who were there just how rich we really are. Our Ellen told us what a relief it was, after being there amongst the confusion of the rituals and all else there, just to go to Stuart's house and listen to you talk about the commandments of God and feel peace and gratitude for it. It made her want to get closer to God. Amen - there's no place like home.

Because we have been blessed with truth from God, I feel that WE need God more. Our labor to get close to God should be exceeding the thousands of people in that stadium, because our knowledge is greater and our work to get the truth to God's children is a greater responsibility. He must guide us to use us. It is HIS work, and we are HIS vessels... so we need to hear HIS voice. I know of no other way than to wait on Him to speak - and to have our attention on Him.

May God make us a clean people, free of sin and hypocrisy, so that our testimony is of value and so that those who DO pray and hear the voice of the Spirit will have a light to follow. Will they will see a people really "loving" Jesus in unity when they find us? I hope they do not see us divided, or see some trying to destroy this work from within. Some amongst us are weak, and others sick -- some, very sick. Some have fallen away. Some are confused and have lost their minds. Some are blaspheming holy things. Some are indifferent to spiritual things. Some do not labor at all. We need Him, oh how we need Him. We cannot point the finger at the people at the prayer gathering and say they need God; they don't know anything - WE need Him too - and even more!

Praise God for the work He is doing in our young people's hearts lately. That thrills me. What can He do - what WILL He to with a young people (and old too!) that seek him? Wow. That's a question I hope to see answered. I've enjoyed the emails on the Nashville gathering from the various ones. It's exciting to see God at work.

Gary

Here is the poem that came out of what the Lord spoke to me as I was watching the Nashville TheCall event. ~ Sandy

John:

I had a dream yesterday morning that I'd like to share.

There was a man who kept leaving his kid in a parked car in front of your house. The kid was in the car crying. Jim Kirk was there and, visibly frustrated, wanted to call the police. The man showed up and Jim pointed out a contraption in the man's back seat (the contraption was used to make children cry (not with torture, but the "device" could somehow get into a child's heart and make them cry). The man said, "We want it to be perfect." Jim said, "You want what to be perfect?" The man said, "We've found that children do better when they are crying, or hurting."

If you have any thoughts you can share about this, I'd like to hear them.

Thanks.

Taylor

Hi Taylor:

There is actually a verse from Ecclesiastes that supports what the man told Jim in your dream. It is this: "Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." Children need to be loved and cared for, but perhaps more importantly, they need very much to feel loved and cared for. They cannot grow up well adjusted without love.

If with the feelings of being loved and cared for they can experience some of life's sorrows, I think it is a very healthy thing, spiritually and mentally. One of the drawbacks about having such wonderful things as nursing homes is that the elderly are removed from children's sight. The aging and dying process is often unknown to children, and so, some of the basic facts of life in this world are kept from them. One consequence of that is that their sense of life's fragility and sense of a need to fear God is diminished. The fear of God, in that case, just becomes theoretical, and God condemned the generation whose fear of God was only something taught by men and not experienced (Isa. 29:13).

The infliction of pain on children is an unfortunate necessity in this world, but the infliction of pain on children without those children feeling loved and cared for is cruel and abusive, and that should never be done. This means that the parent must always be in control of himself and his temper when having to discipline a child, and it means there must always be a godly goal that is accomplished by the punishment. God chastisement is effective in most cases (with adults as well as with children). Even small children are relieved of the burden of guilt when they are dealt with justly -- even if the justice is painful -- because justice is an integral part of the love of God. God Himself "scourges" His children (Heb. 12), and we are told that "God is love." And we are told that if we do not receive chastisement, we are "bastards and not sons", and we will not be saved in the end. The failure of Israel to receive God's chastisement as coming from His hand is one of the main reasons He turned to us Gentiles. Look up the phrase "they received no chastisement" in Jeremiah and you will see how that was a bad thing for the OT people of God.

Many times, God makes us choose between pain (of one sort or another) and sin. We mortals do, as your dream suggests, behave ourselves more perfectly when we have known pain. Let's pray to be the kind of people who love God so much that we are willing to hurt and be made perfect, as Jesus did (Heb. 2:10), rather than "get by" (for a while, at least) and miss out on "becoming partakers of His holiness."

Pastor John

Pastor John,

After hearing different ones' testimonies that were there at TheCall meeting in Nashville, I just had this image in my mind; for the most part the people in the stadium where inside the box looking in. They were not even in the box looking out, but in, looking in. We are on the outside looking in, and we feel their despair. If only we can get them at least to look out (change direction) where we are, and let them see our joy and peace.

This is what they are looking for, but Xty keeps them focused, looking it's way (inside, looking in). It is going to take God to turn their heads and hearts to look to Him, and that is outside of Xty, where He is, and where we have come trusting in only the Spirit that He has given to us. It would be nice to at least get one response from the tracts that were passed out. . . . Someone like Bro. Gary.

Billy M.

Hi Billy,

Finding someone else like Brother Gary will be hard, but then, when Elisha asked for a double portion of God's Spirit, Elijah told him that his request was a hard thing to ask, too . . . but Elisha got it! So, keep that faith, brother.

When I think of those precious children of God at The Call meeting in Nashville, tens of thousands of them, crying out to God for long, hot hours, even days for some of them, and being so disappointed, and on top of it all, abused by their leaders gathering with false doctrine, encouragement to hate and to get involved in the politics of this life, and required to quench the Spirit to hold carnal ceremonies, etc. etc., it reignites that deep, burning burden of the Lord that God's truth brings into the hearts when we receive it. Oh, God, help us to do our part for His children while we can, and before we leave this earth!

It made me want to get to work more than ever. In fact, I plan to have another night to fill envelopes this coming Saturday night, and many others after that. What else do I have to live for but to serve the saints of God here on earth, with what means that we have? I have white hair. My time of labor is nearing its end!

You are right; God's children aren't even being told to look in the right direction. They are within the whitewashed walls, being told that the answer lies somewhere inside that box, and that everyone on the outside is hopeless. They do not even know that they can look outside the box (coffin?) and yet still be sinless.

How God must hurt for His people. Let's get to work, Billy!

Pastor John

Responses to the Pastor John's message on "Every Thought, Feeling, and Deed":

Hey Pastor John,

Amen. It has grieved me at times thinking of people that I have known, family and friends, wanting desperately to help them, but feeling no directive from God to do so. As you said, we would be wasting our breath, as Jesus would have, if God is not in the lead. It doesn't matter how much we want to help, which is a lot; it only matters when God says go. Only He knows when someones heart is right to take in what He has given us to share.

Jay

and . . .

Oh, I love when I am feeling right thoughts in the spirit. I gave a lady around the corner some cds and tracts on Wed. When I gave them to her, I felt the spirit say, "You did your part. Now be happy and be a light. The rest is up to me." I left her feeling so happy to know the truth and have feelings for God, but she has to get her own -- and they come from him, not me. I was just the messenger.

Jammie

and . . .

This is just right ! Thank God for right thoughts from Him! What a blessed relief in my heart to stop putting myself in God's business. I cannot be anyone's hero. I can be a servant with love and truth from my Father through His Son Jesus! OOH, how I love and need more of Him!

This life is me!! I pray to shine for Jesus forever, to be a help to His children. The thought on "Every Thought, Feeling, and Deed" went right to my heart. I pray to always keep God in the lead, and to die daily to the flesh.

I sure do love and appreciate your work for God. Praise God forever!

love,

sis wanda

Hey Pastor John,

I have had the most wonderful feelings since spending Wednesday 'in the neighborhood'! We -- Tracy, Joannie and I -- really enjoyed our lunch with you, Barbara, Earl and Betty. Afterwards, we visited with Gary a while, and when we were there, Rebekah, Ashley, and Katie, Carly and Joseph came for fun in the pool. It was a happy time, and I was just thinking how much God has blessed us. Then we went on around the curve to see Kay and Sarah. It was a joy to be with them, having little Sarah read her new books to us and learning a little more about their lives.

When we left there, we went by Earl and Betty's, and, oh my, what a visit! You never go to their home without getting a blessing. Betty was showing some pictures of some receiving the Holy Ghost, and when it came to Tracy's, it brought back such good feelings of Jesus, she began to speak in tongues, and it was wonderful. Then we saw the '20th major event', Billy H. when he received the Holy Ghost, and again, we felt the spirit so strong! Betty made some good cds for us to take home, which we listened to on the way home!

Then we had just a little more time, before the storm started to brew, and we just loved being at your home. Thank you for your good nuggets, too. We were so thankful for our time spent with everyone. Hope we can do it more often, since Tracy is out of school for the summer. We want to make the rest of the rounds next time. I know there are good nuggets in each home in the neighborhood!!

Love,

Sister Mama

Dear Sister Mama:

I hope you all make a habit of visiting like that. It was a blessing for all of us.

Pastor John

Hi Pastor John,

I had a thought yesturday. The Spirit spoke to my heart and said, ''Quit trying to save your family (earthly); that is a Christian thing to do.'' Then it said, '' Salvation belongs to me.'' I pondered over this and saw over the past years how for my love for them (earthly family), I was trying (failing) to do God's business. What a relief I felt; all I need to do is let my light shine and live in the Spirit.

Billy M.

Hey Pastor John!

I just wanted to type out some things that I heard that were so good from that meeting CD I was telling you about the other day. These are some things that I wrote down while listening to it that stood out to me...

~ You said something that really got to me, and it made me so thankful for you! You said, "The most important thing to me in and out of this room is you"

and later, "I want more time to spend with you, that's why I let you in on so much, because you're that important...I don't want you to be fooled by spirits."

That is what you were talking about last weekend as well, about telling us what is going on, and that helps us see standards and the government in the body, as well as people's conditions so we can pray for them or do what we can to help them. I loved that, there was a lot of love in that for us!

~ The other part of the CD was talking about how people spend their time. You said, "What do you spend your time on?" ... I loved this... "When you walk in the Spirit, you'll spend enough time (named things like doing yardwork, reading the Bible, visiting with people, cleaning your house, etc.)...and that's where real peace is. It's all balanced."

~ "Have the attitude to receive whatever God gives us, whether it be discipline or chastisement."

~ "Purer doctrine is discipline; more light is discipline. It makes us march more perfectly to His command."

~ Then you said that God wants to train us, but He has to get us to behave first . . . then the training comes.

Those were my highlights of the CD, but the whole thing was wonderful! There were some good things in there for me! Well, hope you are having a go(o)d day and I'll see you later!

Leah

Dear Pastor John

I wrote a big long letter to you but it all came down to this.

"I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jer. 3:15).

Pastor John that describes you to me. Thank you Jesus.

Also I remember all the times you came to help and teach us here in Louisville. There were times your wife and children were without you for days, sometimes weeks because you loved God's people. But look at it now, all your children are eager workers because they too love God's people. Also your son-in-law and your new little daughter-in-law. It's so sweet!

Love Sue

I think your love for God, and the love of God in the other folks there in Louisville, and your need of a little help, pulled me away from the people I love here. "Thank you Jesus" is right! He has done it all, and "it is not our fault."

Sue, I am seeing more clearly than ever how holy a work this is which God has established in the earth. It may look small to men, but I do not think it is so small in heaven. I already felt that it was the most important work on earth, but it is much more than I understood, and events of the past eight months have re-confirmed my belief that He is not going to allow just anybody to have a part in it. He will remove any one of us. It is His work, not mine. A few months ago, one brother in Christ, greatly puffed up with pride, announced that the reason God created him was to destroy my work. Foolish man! I have no work except what God gives me, and not even I can destroy that!

It is an honor to have a part in this holy work, to understand the truth and have the means to pass it on to others whom God loves. May God help us all to be found worthy to labor in His vineyard and then pass on this good, rich, healing food to God's precious people!

Pastor John

Hey Pastor John!

Tonight was really good. I like what Token said about having a clear concience before she was to sing that song in the dream. I went thru something just like that with my new song. It began with me getting my song. After that I started not respecting my parents like I should.....and that led from one thing to another. I just wasn't listening like I should have listened. One day (after Elijah and I had recorded

the song), he was bringing me the copy and I was waiting for him outside. Mama told me that I needed to tell him what i was going thru before he left so he would know. I told him and after talking to him Mama, Elijah, and we came to a conclusion..... I WOULD NOT SING MY SONG UNTIL THE PROBLEM WAS FIXED.... (and until and only until my concience was clear). I worked ALL week long while Mr. Paul Fogleman was fixing our pond. I worked on listening that whole time. It felt good to have a clear concience this weekend=)

That was just so good to me......

~jeremiah

Thanks for this, Jeremiah. Be happy and keep making that good music!

Pastor John

Hi Pastor John,

I thought this was wonderful: Knowing that the law of Moses was the "law for the land" and not a law just for certain people within the land, is a blessing today. Just as it was then, nothing less than obedience to the law will be accepted in the land given to God's children today. Now, my land is not too huge, a house and a front and back yard. But within its gates, the Law of God is the standard. It is a refuge to all who love God's law, Amen! This blessed understanding has taken away the burden of how to deal with people who don't love God's law, when they spend time in our "land". God decided long ago that ALL would obey when they were in His children's land, whether they chose to love God or not. How many times has God saved us from anguish of spirit with that wonderful truth! When one of us has been faced with a child who wants to live an ungodly life and pursue sin, and justifies their position with "I don't believe like that" or "that's your life, not mine" . . . God chose long ago how they would conduct themselves in our home, and that we would not have to suffer that disobedience within our gates. God has already made the choice for everyone, and saved us from great pain by doing so.

Jerry

Yes, and if we do not submit to God's Law ourselves and enforce His peace in the area of our control, we become transgressors ourselves. Should we pride ourselves on obeying God and then allow another person close to us freedom to speak or do evil? I think it is disgraceful for parents to tolerate certain conduct in a home. And I know it is disgraceful for a pastor to tolerate sin to remain unchallenged in a body of believers. To do so makes us partakers of the sinner's sin! We must please God, and the way to do it is to enforce peace in the area of our control, and that is in our homes.

Pastor John

John,

I wanted to write this down in case some haven't heard what a wonderful thing God did for our family a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago when that big front moved through, I came down with a cold/flu bug. One day while I was home sick, Token came to the door with Naomi. She saw how sick I was and she went home burdened about it. That night, God gave her a dream. In the dream, we were all in the meeting room and I was sick. She felt faith rise up and she said with authority, 'In the name of Jesus, be healed!' and she pointed to me. That night, I slept like a baby (the night before was among the worst nights of sleep I had ever gotten). I took a few cold pills before I went to sleep, fully expecting to wake up in 4 hours feeling miserable again. My eyes popped open the next morning around 7 o'clock and I had slept through the whole night, completely undisturbed. I had an absolutely wonderful night of rest. Some of the sickness was lingering (I still felt a little wobbly early that morning), but by and large, I felt much better. Token called me later that morning asking how I was feeling, and she told me about her dream. It meant something to me to know that Token was praying for me.

Carrie brought the kids home from Lexington that evening and Samuel was coming down with it too. Samuel couldn't sleep during his nap because he was having a hard time breathing, he was so congested. At one point, Carrie found him hiding in the bathroom crying because he felt so bad. He was miserable and crying all the way home from Lexington. When they had gotten home, I felt close to being 100% healthy again and Samuel was getting worse by the minute. I told Carrie, 'Man, I wish Token had that dream for Samuel instead of me.'

I called Token and told her to pray for Samuel, he was getting sick now. She told me she would pray and also mentioned that you and Barbara were over for dinner.

I sat down in the kitchen. As I was sitting there, I felt like a door opened from God, and all I had to do was walk through it. I told Carrie to get the kids, we were going to have you pray for Samuel.

We got to the Embry's house and you all came right out to pray for Samuel. Soon after that, he was running and playing in the yard with you and Samantha. I kept an eye on him, and noticed that he was blowing his nose less and less. When we went home that night, I asked Samuel a half-dozen times or more, 'How do you feel, Samuel?' His reply, 'Pretty good.' I know what it's like when either of us starts heading downhill with our sinus problems, and a quick turnaround like that is not normal. That night, Samuel slept without a peep for 11 hours. When he woke up in the morning, his nose was a little pink, but all-in-all he felt good and had a normal day.

That touched my heart so much. For days, all I could do was thank God for healing Samuel (I tried to pray about other things and I couldn't). I thank God for His compassion on us and thank him for the saints around us who are praying. We are rich.

Taylor

'Ello,

I was just reading something and I thought it was fascinating:

"there is no faulty design in the human body. the human body is designed to live forever, but when you introduce numerous pathogens, it's a miracle we live as long as we do. from a Biblical perspective, the imperfections we see in the world are a result of 2 things: the fall of man, and the flood of Genesis. ...the Bible accounts for the imperfections we see in the human body due to the fact that the ground is cursed and doesn't give us the nutrients to sustain our bodies forever. and the world was destroyed during the flood. the environment is a completely different place now [from what] it used to be."

This is from someone's explanation of why evolution makes no sense and is wrong. That part struck me because vegetarians (especially the stricter ones) say that we can get all we need from fruits and vegetables.

That ideology almost killed me. Moving on . . . .

"but a computer can't evolve just by sitting there for millions of years. a computer can't do a single thing unless someone tells it too. if fact a computer won't even exists unless someone designs it with a purpose. what if I told you that the computer you're typing on wasn't created. over a period of millions of years a bunch of metal slowly formed a CPU, a motherboard, etc. that'd be pretty ridiculous right? and yet our DNA can do far more than any computer, but you're telling me that that happened just by itself, that it was not designed with purpose."

I was glad to read this from a college student. At my school it's weird because there are so many "intelligent people" who champion all kinds of immoral things because that's what the "enlightened" do. After all, that is why we are in college! So basically, you get yelled at as an unlearned bigot if you don't feel the same way.

Anyway, thought that was great. Ciao!

-bj

Hi Brittanie:

I enjoyed that. It is so true. I wish all young people everywhere could understand how great our Creator is. The only true goal of education is to come to know that, and to glorify Him for His greatness by living a godly life. But knowledge, as Paul said, puffs men up instead of humbling them before the Creator of all things. What a pity that pride dwells within us! But what a glorious thing that Jesus loves us anyway, and died to make us free!

Pastor John

John,

I feel like I'm on a journey with Jesus. He has given me some of the sweetest feelings I think I have ever felt before. I talk to him about how to take care of things around the house, the boys, etc. I ask him for understanding of situations he knows I need help with, and he gives me experiences that teach me the right way. He gives me comfort when my heart hurts. He lifts my head when I stumble. Over & over, I keep praying to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind & strength, and to love my neighbor as myself.

The times we get together with the saints feels so precious to me, whether it is at your house or at someone else's house or in the kitchen because our hearts are on God. And many times as we talk, we find out we're having similar thoughts or have read the same verses of scriptures or the same tracts or heard the same tape or cd! We're not really apart at all, but really living!

Tim, the boys & I listened to a wonderful cd on the way to Oxford yesterday. It was called Christian or Non- Christian...Wait on His Voice, from 7-12-06. It was so very good.

God is saying the same things today that He has been saying to us for a while. On the cd you were very sober, telling us we cannot rely on someone else's testimony or manna to live; we have to have our own connection with God...our own oil, our own vessel, our own lamp.

You said God is forcing some to develop their own connection with God. You said you had asked the young men the questions, "What if I called off all the meetings? What would it mean to you? More game-playing time?" You asked what people would do with their lives. You asked where the fear of God was.

You said we need 2 things:

1) discernment to hear & recognize God's voice

2) courage to stay where that voice is, no matter what kind of opposition is going on around us.

You told us that there is a price to pay to be here, & that we could be here for years & years, but if it's not in our heart, we won't stick around.

We have to confess sin and forsake sin because it's crunch time ( you said you could feel the deep anger of God inside...not a loud anger but a deep, quiet displeasure). You said we can know someone has not repented because it (fellowship) isn't here (heart to heart). We can't go by what we see & hear, but by the Voice that talks to us daily. There's so much more.

It seems like every cd and tape I have listened to lately has been talking about recognizing God's Voice, about having our own connection with God, being real, occupying the place He's put us in, & living by His standard; in other words, living a holy life.

I feel grateful to have Jesus want me. I want to be faithful & true to him.

Love,

Bess

Hi Bess:

So many people have been listening to the CDs from past prayer meetings, telling me things like, "You were telling us all along that these things were coming!" Rebekah was listening to a 2002 OT class yesterday and found a place where I was talking about the possibility of having no more scheduled meetings. We plan to send everyone that audio excerpt today or tomorrow so you can hear it for yourself. It is surprising how clear the warnings were. I do remember feeling during the past year few years that some among us did not understand how real were the things I was warning us of, or how serious these warnings from God were. I felt that I was not getting it across. Obviously, I did not do a good job of impressing on some people how serious Jesus was about the things that now have come to pass. Some thought they were getting by with less than what God demanded of them. And now look what has happened.

God is so very merciful and patient! And He is always doing His part. If we just believe Him and co-operate with the holy Ghost, we will overcome all things and rise above it all with joy and peace.

Pastor John

Dear Pastor John,

I was in Richmond, Va., for a week long sales meeting, right before God healed me in 2001. At the end of the week we had to compete in a sales presentation; we were graded on our presentation. I remember setting my presentation up the night before and practising in a mirror. I could hear everyone else in the hotel lounge partying. The Spirit then spoke to my heart and said, ''It's in the name.'' The Spirit was talking about God's name, and I began thinking on what God's name meant.

I went to bed and cannot tell if I was dreaming or awake, but Psalm 119 shined brightly on the ceiling as I lay there in my bed. I have never read this Psalm before, unless it was just browsing through, but never studying it.

The next day, I applied, ''It's in the name'' to my presentation and let the name of the product sell itself. Well, I end up winning the competition, but thought about what had happened the night before.

I arrived home and immediately read Psalm 119. I fully didn't understand it all, but I remember seeing how many times testimonies, commandments, judgments, and other such words were used. It wasn't untill after God healed me that you taught Psalm 119; we filled out papers and counted the words like "testimony", "commandments" and others; you explained that all of the words were related and meant pretty much the same thing. It was all about keeping and delighting in God's laws.

When we get to the place where we want to keep God's laws because we really love keeping them, instead of because of the ''you have to" syndrome, then we really can delight in living in the law, not just keeping the law. Our children obey us parents because they love us, not just because they have to. There is a joy there between the child and parent that starts forming when the child loves to please the parent. In time, that joy becomes a standard between the two.

I love with all my heart living in the laws of God. God revealed them to us because the law revealed is God's love to us. Now he has put those laws (love of God for us) in our hearts. I wonder what the Psalmist would have written if the laws had been written by the holy Ghost in his heart? It may have been the longest book in the world, not just the longest chapter in the Bible. I feel I'd like to read it again, and take the time and slow down to read it again. It brings so many good memories back to mind. It is my joy to keep God's commandments. His giving us commandments is His love for us. When he tells us something, God is revealing Himself to us (if we can see it). When we put those commandments into action, then it becomes God's love in action for others as well as for ourselves.

Thank-you,

Billy M.

From Token:

In an earlier email, Billy Mellick wrote: "I wonder what the Psalmist would have written if the laws had been written by the holy Ghost in his heart?"

I had that same thought last week but only because Jesus so carefully guided me to it! It is a good little story of God. I was reading one letter a day from Psalm 119 and really trying to absorb it. It took me about a month to finish the whole Psalm and I was so impressed with how much David LOVED the Law. Before I even finished it, I thought I am going to study the Law and learn it very well. It was giving me a love for it too. The morning that I finished my last letter in Psalm 119 there was an email in my inbox from Jenny to me asking for the next set of OT CDs and she added to the email that she had just heard you preaching on Psalm 119 replacing all the words for Law with Spirit. It was the perfect reminder! And it let me know that Jesus knew exactly where I was reading and what my next thought needed to be: How much David would have LOVED the spirit, if he had it available! And how that I do have it available and I want to love it more than anything else. I want to live every minute of every day in the Spirit. I really enjoyed Bess' email.

te.

Hi John, I loved the thought on Psalm 119:97-104 (below). It is wonderful. I am so thankful that God has allowed me to hear what you have been saying and to love it in my heart. It is so true what you said, my mind has not been clouded with dead works from Christianity, not even a thought. It used to be, but not any more; they are dead to me and don't mean a thing to me any more. All I ever wanted was to know the truth and know how to live in it, and you have done that, and have shown me how to live there and stay full of the holy Ghost. If I don't, I will end up just like some dear brothers in the Lord that we love and who are not walking with us any more. This life is real and full of the glory of God if we want it. Stuart

Comments from two viewers are as follows . . .

OH, I LOVE THIS. WOW! !!! THAT FELT GOOD READING. PRAISE GOD!!!!!

I feel so BLESSED hearing and feeling all the things around me right now, reading these wonderful e-mails, having the sweetest talks with Paul. THANK YOU JESUS!!! I can't even write all the good things God is doing right now in my little house. I read a few things in a book today that stood out to me. One was, "God's not looking for the right answer, but a right heart." AMEN!! The other was, "The holy Ghost can only fill the life emptied of other things."

OH this is SWEET. Well, just had to let some out.

Love

Jammie

and . . .

Pastor John

Reading the RT on Ps 119 seemed to connect to what I have been reading recently and conversations I have had with some saints. I have been reading some from the Book of Kings especially looking at the kings of Judah.

So often, when a king came to the throne who had any kind of a heart for God, the first thing to be done was to get rid of high places, groves, etc ... all that stuff, and they had to clean the junk out of God's temple or repair it. God's people have always seemed to allow other things to enter in. We are blessed because it is true that we "are not burdened with dead works, useless ceremonies, or vain religious works that would occupy your mind and consume your life." God has done so much to clear away the useless wrong junk that this world lays on us. Those people of old, as has happened in this generation, had to clean up the temple before they could use the temple to just do the simple things that God had commanded them to do. Cleaning up was a good thing to do, but it was only required because of prior sin. It was not the obedience that God had asked for in the Covenant, as such. It merely put them in a state where they could obey God.

After the cleanup comes the time when you just have to do right and stay that way and use the temple as it was meant to be used. That would have been the simple way. It was so much hard work to clean up all the rubbish, but it was a far lighter thing to maintain the righteous way. Sadly, Judah seemed always to stumble at this point. There must always have been people hiding in the cracks and shadows just waiting to revive the idolatrous ways. I wonder who lived in Hezekiah's time and helped corrupt Manasseh, or Jehoiakim, who just a few months after Josiah, "did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God."

Then there are situations like, "after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols ..." We need to be beware of Babylonian ambassadors, ministers that come from christianity, people that want to look and spy out, even say nice things, but who do not want to partake in the truth. The treasures of God are for his faithful people. It is interesting to note how often the Book of Kings notes the treasures that were removed from the temple when God allowed an invader to come, following disobedience.

On the other hand, I wonder who [in ancient Israel] was still seeking God, desperate for His ways to be restored when Josiah came to the throne. Surely, there were some people who loved God there to influence him. Talking about Josiah and his death Monday evening, one thought was offered about his untimely death, and it was that maybe there was not enough thankfulness for what God had done and God took him away. We don't know the answer but it is a good thought. I have to ask myself how thankful I am for this life God has given me. I have been given so much that I did not labor for. I have benefited from others faith and perseverance in the right things of God.

If we will let God cleanse us, as he is doing, we will become fit to offer the true worship of God. Hezekiah said, "Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel."

He went on to say that, "Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, be not now negligent, for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense." God chose us, not we ourselves, to have a part in this cleansing so His people might one day come out of christianity and be taught clean ways of worship. I hope that it is in our hearts to hold jealously to the condition God puts us in, and just keep doing right, and not let false worship back in, however it knocks on the door. Then we will remain "free to come to know God's "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" and be "made free from the law of sin and death."

Damien