Hi John,

Today, I was looking for a certain Bible verse that I had typed in my phone notes, and I came across this testimony that I had written down a couple of years ago. I read it to Tina this morning and it blessed me all over again, so I wanted to share it!  I have told part of this testimony in a meeting, but there are parts that I haven’t shared and I felt they were worth sharing.  What a wonderful visitation this was from the Lord!  This is what I wrote:

February 24, 2004

Tonight, I had a wonderful experience with Jesus and I want to write it out so I won’t forget it!

I read a “Random Thought” before bed titled “Without God”.*  In it, Pastor John described what it means to worship God in vain.  He wrote that we can worship God by invitation only and that worshipping any other way is in vain.  God’s mercy calls us and then we respond, and we should be ready when that happens.  Stay available!  By the time I got to the end of the reading, I was feeling that invitation from Jesus, and I couldn’t wait to turn out my light and get still.  I was lying on my back in the dark with my eyes opened and I was looking around my bedroom as if I might see Jesus standing there.  I whispered, “I don’t know why I am looking around this room for you because you are not that far away.  I can feel you right here close to me.”  He felt much closer than my ceiling or the walls.

I was not expecting at all what the Spirit then spoke to me.  He said, “You know when Pastor John was warning you all about having that deep Pentecostal worry?  That was for you.”  When he said that, I put my hand over my mouth and let out a little gasp because  I immediately knew what he was talking about.

Let me explain.  During the previous Sunday meeting and again on the Monday morning by the fire, Pastor John had warned us about not getting under that “heavy, gloomy, old-line Pentecostal worry”, where we worry about Jesus seeing something bad in our heart.  He reminded us instead to be anxious for nothing, and assured us that if there was something God needed to show us, he would do it.  We just needed to be available to hear it.  And in the meantime, be happy!

When he told us those things on Sunday, I thought it was very good advice, but I honestly did not think that kind of worry applied to me.  Generally speaking, I am not a big worrier.  But lying in my bed last night, the spirit immediately brought an example of that kind of worrying to my mind.  It was this:  I worry sometimes about not making it to heaven.  I don’t dwell on it, but now and again when I do think about it, I just have a hard time imagining myself making it in.  Instead, I picture myself standing at the gate and they let me know they found something in my heart that I hadn’t known was there, or they tell me something I’ve done that I forgot to ask forgiveness for.  It feels silly to me as I write this, but it’s true.  And it makes no sense because I am not walking around with a guilty conscience.  Recently, Ben and I read in 1Corinthians were Paul says he knew nothing against himself, but Jesus is the judge.  I stopped and told Ben that’s how I feel.  I don’t know of anything I’ve done, but Jesus is the judge.  When praising God at our last Saturday night meeting, I had the thought as I looked up at my hands when praising God, “Clean hands; clean heart!”  I felt like I was praising God with clean hands and a clean heart and it felt so good!  So, why I have this fear about not making it into heaven, I don’t even know.  It really does not make any sense.  It really is one of those baseless Pentecostal worries.

But lying in my bed last night, the spirit told me that what Pastor John said about the Pentecostal worry was for me, and I knew exactly what he meant.  He said to me, “I want you to stop that!  From now on, I want you to think of heaven as your home.”  He added, “You just keep loving me and you will be fine.”  Wow!!  That was so big to me!!  I covered my face with my hands and just cried and said, “Oh God!”

The God of this universe told me that heaven is my HOME!  I felt such a relief from a burden that I didn’t even realize I had been carrying!  I told him I would never forget this.  And then quickly changed that to, “Please don’t ever let me forget this!”

He also pointed out an example of me with my grandchildren and how much I enjoy them when we are together.  Reminding me much I love to love up on them and watch them playing and having a good time, carefree and uninhibited.  And then he asked me, “How would you feel if your grandchildren were afraid of you, or they were constantly worried you were going to punish them at any moment?”  I thought how sad that would make me feel for them because my intentions towards them are only good and loving.  He was driving home Pastor John’s point about not getting under that worry thing and just be happy!

It was the sweetest time with Jesus.  Finally, as I was lying there in the dark thinking about sitting around the fire at PJ’s earlier that day, I saw myself in my usual seat and I pictured everyone else in their seats and Pastor John sitting on the couch with Barbara where he usually sits.  I was imagining him talking to us, telling us wonderful things and us there listening to and hanging on to his every word (as usually happens).  The Spirit interrupted my thoughts and said so tenderly, “I love your pastor.”  I told him through tears, “I do, too.”

It’s now after 3:00 am and I have to wake up at 6:00 am to go to work.  Not sure if I am going to make it!  :).  But I am having a hard time sleeping after hearing from the King himself telling me to think of heaven as my home!  That’s so big!  I hope I never have another worry about making it in.  Oh Jesus!  I love you so much!!  I read in 1Corinthinans 16:22 tonight, “If anyone feels no affection for the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.”  I thought, “What??  How could anyone not feel affection for you, Jesus?”  Just the idea of that made me feel offended!

He also reminded me tonight to love the people he’s put in my life.  And I asked him, “Even if they don’t love you?”  He said, “Yes.”  I told him, “I feel offended that they don’t love you.”  (Thinking about family members with the holy Ghost who have turned their backs on Jesus). He said, “Be kind to them for your own sake.”  I understood what he meant.  I thought about Galatians 6:10, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good toward all men, but especially toward those of the household of faith.”  That kind of life leaves no room for regrets.  It wasn’t a correction.  I feel Jesus is pleased with the way I have treated them.

I am so thankful for that visit from Jesus and his wonderful instructions to me for living, but it’s not lost on me that the wonderful experience I had was a direct result of your teaching us, John.  I loved that part of my testimony when the Spirit said to me, “I love your pastor.”  It brought tears to my eyes just typing it again.  I read earlier today when Paul wrote, “To me, the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the incomprehensible richness of Christ.” That’s what you’ve been given to do, Pastor John, “Preach the incomprehensible richness of Christ” to us sheep.  And you’ve done such a wonderful job getting that richness to us!  I love it!  If it goes in and becomes us, then it leads to these kinds of wonderful experiences with Jesus.  Whew!  It’s just so rich!!

And finally, I read this in Philippians 3:20-21 and just had to smile:  “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we earnestly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body into the likeness of his glorious body by the operation of the power by which he is able to subdue all things to himself.”  Wow!  

With much love and thankfulness!

Lee Ann

*Going to Jesus.com – Without God

Pastor John,

Yesterday, I told about my mama having an experience at one of Oral Roberts’ tent meetings in the mid-fifties.*  I think it was what they called “getting saved”.  When Lou and I started coming to the meetings in the 80’s, mama really had a hard time with the truth; she had received the holy ghost years earlier but knew nothing about what she had, and neither did I before I came to the meetings and started learning and loving it.  She accused you of taking us away from her and really wanted nothing to do with it. 

Several years later when she was very sick and dying, the Lord let me have her here with me for a week, and I could see and feel a difference in her.  She told me “Y’all were right” – talking about Lou and me and the truth we believed.  It was also the very first time I ever heard my mama speak in tongues.  I took her home on Sunday, and Tuesday morning she died.  How good was God to let me have that last week with her and feel she had made things as right as she knew how to! 

I have to give credit to Betty and Earl for helping my mama in her last days by visiting and encouraging her.  Betty encouraged her to pray in tongues and told me that on one visit her little feet went to dancing.  God bless em!    I think you went and visited her, too.  I know that was a help to her. 

I had that on my mind this morning and wanted to share. 

Sarah H.

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Yes, Sarah, that is a sweet memory to have.  I am thankful Jesus gave you those last days with your mother.

You may know that she is not the only person near their time to leave this world who told their family around them that what we are teaching is the truth.  I just wish they had come to that point of honesty with themselves while they still had strength so that we could have enjoyed the life of Christ together!

Pastor John

Pastor John,

Good morning. I watched the video you sent out with Benny Hinn interviewing Oral Roberts*, and it is so very touching.  I love the feeling of two saints of God showing the utmost respect for one another and their anointing from God.  There were so many good things said that touched me.  One being earlier on in the video when he began, when Oral Roberts was talking about the young boy who did not have a hip socket and he said to the mother, “I don’t have the faith for this.”  And the mother replied, “That’s okay, you do the praying and I’ll have the faith.”  Whew!  Lord, that touched me.  Sometimes we know how to pray and don’t have the faith, or we have the faith and don’t know how to pray, but working together, we have both.

There were so many sweet moments here.  It brought up feelings of love in the Spirit that we share with all of God’s people everywhere, including right here among us, when we talk about our experiences in the Lord.  Testimonies are wonderful and make you love God’s people even more.  You can only think highly of those who have been touched by God.  I don’t know why some doctrinal things were, but the love of God and the feelings of God get you beyond doctrines.  If God’s people will feel their way through, it will get them where they need to be.  Oral Roberts said it himself when people would ask him why some are not healed.  His answer: “Because of unbelief.”  The truth of God is healing.  I know it’s a tragedy what is out there that God’s people are being tangled up in, and it’s not leading them to the point – The precious Son of God.  As you said last night “YOU NEED THE HOLY GHOST” – every single day!  And to love the feelings of it, and what Jesus has done, and what has been given deep down in your soul.

As the video was finishing up, at the end, it touched me so deeply to see as Oral Roberts finished his testimony and Benny Hinn asked him to pray, they teared up together and held hands.  Oral Roberts stretched out his hand to the camera and prayed for healing.  I was crying tears as I could feel that anointing just like he was right in front of me today.  The Spirit fell on me and a sweet prayer came for some healing that is needed.  I felt like we prayed together at this moment.  I cried at the love and respect between Benny Hinn and Oral Roberts, and prayed for us to have that.  It is so needed.  I think there is a lack of respect for the things of God growing over the generations; more of an intellectual philosophical way of thinking which is leading to unbelief among God’s people.  Oral Roberts stressed the respect and order of the anointing a few times in his testimony.  And to see it in action, brought about the feelings of the Spirit.

I just wanted to say thank you for sending the link.  I’ve seen it before, a long time ago, but the feelings were even stronger this time.  I love those feelings.  Those kinds of feelings are what touched me when I was a little girl.  There is a solid foundation, an anchor in your soul, when you believe God.  And if we don’t feel that, our prayer should be “Lord, help my unbelief.”

As much as I love those two saints of God, I love this more.  Thanks, John, for a life full of truth.

Amy B.

* Bing Videos

Pastor John,

Your pics of the grand Parthenon replica in Nashville, TN, go right along with what I am reading in the “God Had a Son Before Mary”* book today.  I love what I am feeling in reading this book!  I try to underline sentences with my pen and my lines are wiggly because the spirit is so stirred up inside me that it’s causing my hand to shake!

This is part of what I read this morning, “Professional religionists have always known, far better than God’s children know, how to make an impressive show…Israel failed because God’s law was so simple they did not want it….It was because God’s way in the Old Testament was an embarrassment to some in Israel that they strove to be like all the nations”. 

It’s still that way today!  The simplicity of Christ is just too plain.  And there’s no place to hide in that simple way of worship.  “Only those who choose life over form are satisfied with the unpretentious “strait and narrow way of Jesus”.  Amen!  I love the simplicity of Christ!!

Preacher Clark said, “Whatever God requires, requires God”. That’s so true!  What is about any of the worship we see in Christian denominations that required Jesus to come and sacrifice his life for us?  What is it in there that requires God?  We needed to become new creatures so we could live and worship in a new and living way!  A way that was impossible for the old man.  A way that requires God!  It’s so simple, but oh so wonderful!! 

Lee Ann

* Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did

Hi Pastor John, 

I hope you’re doing well.  I wanted to share something that has been on my heart over the past several days and ask for your thoughts on it.  Amy’s 1981 sermon audio and transcript really stirred me—especially when you said, “the Promise comes through the Seed.”  That statement stayed with me, and as I continued reading, several scriptures began connecting in a way I had never seen before.

A day or two before listening to the sermon, I had been reading Ephesians 1:13:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”

I’ve read this verse many times, but this time the Lord allowed me to see a deeper connection between the Promise, the holy Ghost, and the Seed.  Whether I am understanding it correctly or not, it caused me to start looking more closely at several other scriptures, and I wanted to share them with you to see if I am on the right track.

Before returning to Ephesians, many scriptures came to mind concerning the Promise itself.  In Luke 24:47–49, Jesus speaks of the Promise of the Father, which was fulfilled in Acts 2 when the holy Ghost was poured out with a sound.  Peter explains this in Acts 2:33, saying that Jesus, exalted at the right hand of God, “received of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost” and poured it out.  Then in Acts 2:38–39, Peter declares that this Promise is not only for the Jews but also “for all that are afar off,” which we know includes the Gentiles.  As I read these passages, it seemed to me that the Promise and the holy Ghost are inseparably connected.

Jesus also describes the Promise in Acts 1:4–5, telling the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Promise of the Father, which He identifies as the baptism of the holy Ghost.  As I looked at these passages together, it began forming what seemed to me to be a clear picture: that the Promise is the Spirit, and that the Spirit is the fulfillment of what God swore to Abraham.  If I am understanding this incorrectly, I would certainly appreciate your correction.

That connection became even clearer when I read Galatians 3.  In verse 8, Paul explains that the blessing promised to Abraham—that all nations would be blessed—was really the gospel preached before the Law was given.  Then in Genesis 22:16–18, God swears that through Abraham’s seed all nations would be blessed.

As I read that passage, I was struck again by God’s words concerning Abraham’s seed: “in multiplying thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.”  It seemed to me that this promise was looking ahead to believing Gentiles as well.  The thought that we might be included in what God was showing Abraham touched my heart.   We are one of those stars!

Paul interprets this directly in Galatians 3:14:

“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

What stood out to me was that Paul seems to connect the blessing of Abraham with receiving the Promise of the Spirit through faith. That connection was something I had never seen quite so clearly before, but as I began to study these passages together it became evident. Just as Abraham obeyed God, the Promise (holy Spirit) comes to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).  And faith comes by hearing the Word, Jesus, the Seed.

Galatians 3:16 brought the final piece together: the Seed through whom the Promise comes is Christ Himself.  You’ve often taught that the heart must be prepared to receive the Seed (Truth when it comes), and that we always get (reap) what we prepare our hearts for.  I remember you saying in the Old Testament course that seeking God is different from preparing our hearts—preparing is how we live.  You’ve said often that our meetings reveal how well we each have prepared our hearts before we assemble together.  When the Seed (the Word, Jesus) enters a prepared heart, it grows, takes root, and brings forth new birth.

Returning to Ephesians 1:13, it seemed that many of these things began fitting together for me in a way they never had before.  The Ephesians heard the Word of truth, believed, and were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise.  And what struck me even more is that these are the same Ephesians in Acts 19.  Those twelve men were believers, but they had not yet received the holy Ghost because they had not heard the full gospel.  Once they heard, believed, and obeyed, they received the Spirit with a sound and were sealed.  It helped me see that no matter how much someone believes, the sound and the sealing must still be evident.  Belief alone is not the seal—God Himself seals His people with the Spirit of Promise.

I know you have taught many times that God seals His New Testament people with the holy Ghost just as He gave His people a seal under the Old Covenant.  As these scriptures came together, I began seeing more clearly the connection between the Promise, the Spirit, and the Seed. 

This also brought to mind Romans 2:29 and Colossians 2:11–12, where circumcision is no longer outward but inward, performed by the Spirit.  It seemed to me that the Seed enters(sowing) the heart (soil), the Spirit circumcises the old nature, and a new man is raised up (reaping).  One detail especially stayed with me: in the Old Covenant, circumcision was performed in the flesh at the very place where the physical seed came through.  In the New Covenant, circumcision is in the heart—where the spiritual Seed, the Word of God, enters.  The location of circumcision remains where the seed comes through—first in the flesh, now in the heart.  That parallel was very interesting to me and seemed to fit perfectly with the pattern I was seeing in the Scriptures.

As I considered these things, Romans 8:9 also stood out to me: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” That verse made me appreciate even more the necessity and preciousness of receiving the Spirit.  The seal of the covenant is not merely a doctrine to understand but a reality and an experience that God gives to His people.

Again, Pastor John, I am sharing this because these scriptures have been on my mind, and I wanted your thoughts on whether I am understanding them rightly.  A lot of this comes from things you’ve taught over the years that are finally connecting for me.  I’m not trying to say I’ve found something new, and if I’m understanding any of it incorrectly, I’m happy to be corrected.  But if there is truth in what I am seeing, then I am grateful to God for helping me appreciate more deeply how the Promise, the Seed, and the Spirit fit together.

Thank you for your teaching over the years and feeding me this really good food!  It helped prepare my heart to finally see how the Promise, the Seed, and the Spirit are connected.  I really do appreciate all of your hard work to get this truth out to us and have the best chance to grow in the Lord right here because Truth is being taught.  I pray that I can take it into my heart and walk worthy of it.

David

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Hi David!

That was very well done!  It is exciting for me to see a child of God learning from Jesus and growing in the knowledge of God.  I loved it!  Keep up the good work.  This has been very good to read, and it will bless whoever else reads it.

Pastor John

Pastor John

You know what your message on Sunday does, PJ? — It knocks the dust of Christianity right off my heart.  So many times my flesh has wanted you to be my hero, to be like those Christian ministers who say what the flesh wants to hear.  But this… this makes my soul shout.  This feeds my soul.  I love this so much I can hardly stand it.  I can’t tell you how many times Jesus has given it to me straight.  He has stopped me in my tracks many times by saying it exactly like it is.  Jesus does not sugarcoat things with me.  This sounds and feels just like Jesus to me.  And I love it.  I need it this straight and this real.

Talk about “straight is the way”!  You said, 

“There is something about the truth Jesus gives that so satisfies the soul that you cannot want 

something else.  You can desire more of that heavenly manna and more of that refreshing 

spiritual water, but no other bread or water can appeal to you.  “I am the bread of life,” Jesus 

said, “and he who comes to me will never hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst” 

(Jn. 6:35).  There have been people who attended our meetings for decades, even born to parents 

who were already here, who never found the way of holiness.  They knew when to clap their 

hands and when to smile, but they never got to know the Spirit.  In time, they were offended, not because I did anything, but because they were thirsty for something else, and God made sure that they found something better to their liking. 

I didn’t take credit for them being here, and I didn’t take credit for them leaving.  That is God’s business.  I am not that powerful.  No man is.  It is not part of my job description to decide who or how many come or go; my job is to be faithful to the one who called me out of darkness and gave me hope of eternal life.   My goal is not to try to persuade anybody to stay here and not go away; that is not by job.   My job is to please my Master and teach you the way of righteousness, to feed you the living word of God, to offer you the bread of life that comes down from heaven, to give you a taste of 

the Son of God, and hopefully, to cause you to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  It is actually none of my business whether or not that heavenly bread tastes good to you.  The result of my feeding the body is entirely up to God.”

Amen! Amen! Amen! 

Love,

Beth

Pastor John,

     Years ago, when we started loving God and obeying the truth, we received some of the same persecution from our families and friends that you talked about in your message on Sunday.  Living in Ridgeway among our family members and former friends, we felt isolated and alone.  We were no longer invited to family dinners or other functions and pretty much ignored.  They tried to persuade us at one point to go to any Pentecostal church, anything but John Clark’s meetings.  We continued loving the truth that you were teaching, and what God was showing us.  The persecution from our families was irrelevant.  We feel privileged to be a part of this work that God has given you and to be a part of this family of God.

     Thank you for this message reminding us again that this is how it has always been and will continue to be. 

Randell

Hey Pastor John, 

     I have had a little something on my mind and Jesus has been very plain and straight with me recently!  During the meeting on Wednesday, I was talking to Jesus and I was asking him to give me opportunities to prove myself.  I don’t want anyone to be wondering about me.  This really goes for everyone, if someone goes out and dances in the Spirit or testifies, I don’t want to be surprised; I want to think “oh there they go again!  Amen!”  Tonight, I was thinking about that again, and I heard Jesus tell me something like this, “Every time you feel me move, you can prove yourself!”  And then I went on to think, every time we don’t go with the spirit, we are losing our chance; someone is going to take our blessing!  The more and more we drift away, the more people start to wonder about us!  I don’t want people to wonder about me, and I want to prove myself and live in the Spirit!! 

     Recently, I feel like many people have been telling us teenagers that we need to go with our feelings and that we aren’t too young!  I feel as though those thoughts of being too young can really deter us sometimes.  But I’m starting to realize we are not too young to feel anything, and we are not too young to prove ourselves.  I am expecting lots and lots of more trials to come but we might as well practice early!  Everything has just been feeling so good lately!  I’m excited 🙂

Grace C.

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I am happy and excited for you, Grace.  Thank you for writing!

Pastor John