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  • Matthew 6:23

    Hello John,

    I’ve been in Matthew lately and wanted to share something and get your thoughts on it.  I went back and read through the Sermon on the Mount again tonight.  I felt a strong urge to read it again even though I had just read it last night, and this time I got stuck on Matthew 6:22: “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”

    At first, I got stuck on the word “single” and started looking into why Jesus used that word.  I read the sections before and after again for context. Right before it, He says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and right after it He says, “No man can serve two masters.”  The word single made more sense to me then.

    But the part that really got me was the next verse: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

    I struggled to understand this in the context of what I thought Jesus was teaching about divided allegiance.  But then I started thinking about something much bigger.  What am I actually using as light to guide me through certain events, even small ones?  And how do I make sure that what I believe is light – really is light and isn’t actually darkness, something coming from my own desires, fears, reasoning or something else that is leading me towards darkness?

    I searched for other verses about light and found Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” and then verse 130: “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple”.

    Is that part of what Jesus is teaching here?  That our eye has to be single toward God because anything we allow to guide us apart from Him can actually distort how we see everything else, and that the way we examine what is guiding us is by bringing it back to His Word and seeing whether it is moving us toward obedience to Him with a pure and undivided heart?

    It just seems like this went really well with an overarching theme I’ve been learning lately.  It can be so easy to think we’re seeing something clearly when we’re actually being guided by something other than the Lord.  That makes “how great is that darkness” feel a lot more significant and dangerous to me.

    It makes Jesus’ words about building on the rock instead of the sand land differently with me too.  It’s easy to unknowingly build on sand if we are not careful.  But we just have to let His Word be the light that guides us, and then actually do what He says.  Sounds simple, until it’s not. 

    The more I think about all of this, the more overwhelming it feels to imagine trying to stay on this path all alone.  How impossible that feels. It makes me appreciate and understand the necessity of fellowship so much more.  We need God’s people around us whose light is shining, too, who can help us see when we’re getting off the path and point us back toward the Lord and His Word.  I’m truly thankful for that.

    Hope you all doing well over there.  I’ll be glad when you all are home. 

    Ronnie E.

    ==========

    Thank you, Ronnie, for sending this.  The part about the benefits of fellowship is so good!

    I also thought this part of your email was excellent: “It can be so easy to think we’re seeing something clearly when we’re actually being guided by something other than the Lord.”  That is the pitfall into which so many have fallen, and a pitfall into which we will also fall if God’s Word does not guide us.

    The most important thing to remember is that God’s Word is a person.  It is the Son of God, and he “is alive and sharper than any two edged sword.”  That living Word “was in the beginning with God” and “came and dwelt among us.”  He is the Word that Paul wanted to “dwell richly” within us.  And in Revelation, John saw that mighty Word of God returning to earth on a white horse, followed by all the saints of God.

    The Bible is precious and profitable, as Paul said to Timothy, but the Bible can never replace being led by the Word of God.  Without the Word of God in us, leading us in understanding as we read the Bible, it is impossible to understand what we are reading.

    Thank you again for writing.  Take care until we see you again.

    Pastor John

     

     

  • When believing ends

    Hey John,

    I had some wonderful thoughts and feelings yesterday evening, and I’m not sure how to say what I’m feeling here.  Will you help me?  I feel like something is right in front of me, but I can’t quite get a handle on it.

    It happened while I was listening to your “Kings” videos on Vince’s YouTube channel, “TheSpiritIstheWitness”.*  I don’t remember exactly how you said it, but it was something like, “You don’t have to figure out your place in the body.  You just walk in the Spirit, and you’ll realize one day that you’ve been in your place.”  And, “God doesn’t make mistakes.”

    That also brought to my memory what you’ve said in meetings: “Jesus gave you the feelings you have,” and “You didn’t do this… and you can’t take credit for it,” etc.

    Trying to articulate the feelings, I compared it to a job promotion I received once.  When management met with me to tell me I got the job, I took them at their word.  I left there with a start date, and never doubted that the job was mine, even though I hadn’t started yet.  I was trained in how to do the job, and once I transferred to it, believing it happened wasn’t even a thought.  I was just there.  I simply obeyed and fulfilled the requirements of that role – though, early on, I felt like an imposter, as I felt unqualified.. and technically, I was.

    I like how King Hezekiah acted early on, how he was so young and called those old men “sons.”  He believed, learned his role, and when he saw and understood it, he was all-in.

    That made me think that once God puts you somewhere, it’s done.  There’s a point when you are not supposed to keep believing that He did it anymore; you just live from it and obey.  When God puts me somewhere, it is no mistake. T hat’s the best place now and forever, unless God changes it.  That’s simply where I am at now, and I must live that as truly as my nose has been put on my face.

    And if I or someone thought it was a mistake, it’s because we’re trying to take credit for something God did, for the feelings He established in my heart.  If I doubt myself or anyone, I start rebelling against God’s order in the kingdom, regardless of our position within the body.

    To obey those feelings Jesus put in my heart, the desire to really, really want to love Him and His people, the desire to know the truth about the One who created all things, He put them there, not me.  It’s as if my heart was birthed from those feelings, and I must dwell in that place if I’m to live in perfect love.

    I have had a few very strong desires in my heart that I’ve asked the Lord to fulfill in my life.  And until yesterday, I didn’t realize there was this one in there: to stop believing.  I don’t mean I want to stop believing in Jesus.  I mean I don’t want to keep believing that something is true after He has already done it.  I want to live it, and pursue the things I cannot receive in this life.

    I know I have heard all this before, but I feel like something is coming into focus that I’ve missed.  I wish I could word this better but don’t know how. What am I feeling here??

    Hope you are well,

    -Johnny

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

    Hi Johnny.

    I dont think you need any help expressing what you are feeling and seeing.  That is so good!  What you have written can hardly be improved upon.  Go ahead and live that way.  I wish that all of God’s children everywhere could see that what Jesus (not church religion) has done for them in the holy Ghost is perfect and that they can rest in that holy work.  Seeing what you are seeing and trusting God like that will make you invaluable to the saints around you and will lead you into eternal happiness!  Let’s go there together!

    Pastor John

    * The Kings – part 1/18 – John D. Clark, Sr.

     

  • Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect

    John,

    I want to share some thoughts I had while reading Matthew 5.  I enjoyed each verse, but when I came to verse 48, I paused to consider what Jesus was saying.  “Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.”  I tried to imagine what the disciples may have been thinking after hearing these words: “Be perfect, just as your Father (Jehovah) … is perfect!”  “Wow! How is that possible?” 

    I soon found out that I was wrong trying to use the modern day definition of “perfect” to understand what Jesus was saying.  Some modern definitions of perfect are: something that is flawless, exact, or completely suited for a specific purpose, (e.g. “a perfect score” or “perfect weather for a picnic”).

    I decided to research the ancient Greek meaning of the word “perfect”. Here is what I found: Teleios (perfect) as an adjective means having attained an end or purpose, complete, full grown, whole-hearted.  Some comments I found said, “Something that has reached its intended completion or maturity, rather than merely ‘flawless’”.  And, “something is perfect when it functions exactly as its designer intended.” 

    One example I saw compared a modern day definition to an ancient one using an acorn.  A modern perspective would see that an acorn is shiny, symmetrical, not cracked, and otherwise perfect.  An ancient Greek perspective may have been that the acorn is perfect (teleios) because it will become a fully grown oak tree, mature, and bearing fruit.     

    I still wasn’t quite satisfied with my understanding of Jesus’ words.  So, I decided to go to your Matthew study posted on the YouTube channel, “The Spirit Is the Witness”: Matthew Study (5:31-48) – John D. Clark, Sr. (This is a wonderful video.  I highly recommend it.)   There, you explained that Jesus was not giving commandments in chapter 5.  He was describing a way of life, specifically his and his Father’s way of life.  You went on to say that in the Old Testament, God required His people to be holy because He is holy.  However, in this New Covenant, we are holy as He is holy. Jesus has made a way that we can be like him and His Father.  The verses in chapter 5 describe a way of life that was impossible for those listening to Jesus to live at that time.  However, “What is impossible for men, is possible with God.”  

    Later that evening, Suzi and I continued our reading your book God Had a Son Before Mary Did.*  I still had the thought of Jesus’ words in my mind, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Then we read the following text: “God’s children are happiest when they occupy their appointed place in the order of God and acknowledge the places occupied by others.  When you are in the place that you were created to be, you feel contentment, for your place is not an it.  Your place is a who – you!  The “place” God has for you is your life as the person God intended you to be from the foundation of the world.  Only in that place, only in being yourself in Christ, will you ever experience perfect peace and joy.  That is why envy is compared with cancer (Prov. 14:30); it eats away at a person’s gratitude for the who that God has made him.  Envy is a tacit way of grumbling about God’s order, and it stirs up strife (Rom. 13:13; Phip. 1:15).  To avoid envy and strife, we need only be thankful for who God’s order is and for where we belong in that order, for as we follow the right who into the knowledge of God, we stay content with our portion from God.” (God Had a Son Before Mary Did, pg. 446, 1st. par., hard bound book) 

    John, I believe that what you wrote in the text above describes what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 5, particularly verse 48.  Living the way that God has created for us is perfection by any standard.  It is void of the fear of making mistakes.

    I am thankful for you and your work.  May we be perfect (together) as our heavenly Father is perfect.  

    Tom

    On a side note: I noticed that Jesus said in verse 48 to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.   He did not say be perfect as I am perfect.

    However, he also said in another place, “When you see me, you see the Father.” (John 14:9)  

    *Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did (Pg. 194 digital copy)

  • Do THIS (not that)

    Pastor John,

    I was on the mower tonight, and I was talking to Jesus.  I had the sweetest thought come.  Something I heard through the years in the Catholic Church popped into my mind.  The phrase was, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”  Then the thought came: “They say that because they do not serve the living God.”  I thought about how true that is.  If Jesus is alive, you do not have to do it in remembrance of Him, because He is still alive and well.  I thought about the video I watched this morning and how perfectly this thought went with what I feel in that video.  I love when Jesus talks back when we are out there mowing. 

    Love,

    Beth

    ========

    Hi Beth.

    Thank you for writing.

    When Jesus said, “Do THIS in remembrance of me”, he was speaking about doing what HE was doing.  And we do that all the time with one another when we break bread together.  When Christians celebrate a ritual of eating and drinking, they are not doing what Jesus was doing; they are doing what the disciples were doing.  And the disciples were delivered from rituals, such as eating and drinking in a religious form, after the holy Ghost came and gave them life.

    Thank God, we have life from God, and can now worship the Father together in Spirit and truth!

    Pastor John

  • Montanus reading

    Good morning!

    I’ve been enjoying reading in the Montanus book* lately.  In the chapter, “The Spirit That Speaks by Montanus”, I love the last sentences:

    As a popular saying goes, “Join the church of your choice.”  “Yet, for us,” Paul wrote, “there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him, and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we exist by him” (1Cor. 8:6). Amen. 

    Amen! It was like a breath of fresh air blew through when I read these lines!  Thank you for pouring your heart & time into writing these books for us and others to understand the history of Christianity versus our true history in Jesus!

    Amanda

    ===========

    Amen, Amanda.  If there is one God, we don’t get to choose which one we will serve.  Jesus chooses us; we do not choose him.  He said so!

    John 15:16. You haven’t chosen me, but I have chosen you, and I have ordained you, that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you.

    I thank God that we do not have to choose which God and Jesus to serve!

    Pastor John

    * https://www.goingtojesus.com/gtj_books.html?tname=montanus

     

  • Growing in Truth

    Hey John,

    Tonight I was listening to one of your sermons, and thoughts started coming to me about truth.

    Every time we take in some of the Truth of the Spirit, it is like fertilizer to our hearts.  Each time it happens, we have a little growth spurt.  The Truth is built upon the Truth!  We are the temples of Christ and when we learn a Truth, it’s like laying another layer of bricks in the wall of our Temple that Jesus is building us into. 

    In the KJV translation (King James verson), it says we learn line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little.  But line upon line of what?   Precept upon precept of what?   Here a little there a little of what?  Is it not the Truth that it is talking about?  

    Another thing that came to me tonight is how important it is that we are led and obedient to the Spirit!  We are all one body. The Body of Christ at Pastor John’s House!  Every decision I make, to follow the Spirit or not, affects every single person in that Body!  Either for the better or for the worse!  And every decision each of them makes affects me and the others, either for the better or the worse.  We are all connected.  When a member is spiritually healthy, the Body is healthier.  And when a member is weaker, the Body too is weaker.  I’m talking about the decisions we make, no matter where we are.  And especially the ones that we make when we are alone.  There is no where we can go, and nothing we can do to hide from that responsibility, or sever ourselves from it.  Only Jesus can do that!  And no one in their right mind wants that to happen!

    Billy H.

    ========

    That is true, Billy.  All truth is connected, and if we can take in just one truth from God, we have a foundation upon which more truth can be laid.

    Pastor John

     

  • From the Montanus book

    Pastor John,

    I love this sentence in the Montanus book!* It just jumped off the page at me:

    “The gospel of Christ endures, forever unsullied by anything of earth, and it waits patiently, unmoved, available for discovery by any sincere heart in any age who longs to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.”

    Amanda F.

    Going to Jesus.com – Montanus: Prophet to an Apostate Body of Christ

     

  • Overwhelmed

    Hey Pastor John,

    I’m sad because I’m coming to the end of the Father and Son book.*  (But excited to read it again!)  It’s been wonderful reading it and just letting the love between the Father and Son, and the love they have for us, sink in.

    This is one of those paragraphs that fill my heart with love, gratitude and thankfulness for what Jesus has done:

    “When ‘the love of God is poured out within our heart, by the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 5:5b), it draws us out of our hiding places to live again in childlike sincerity.  The spirit of God re-creates us as children of a Father who will not fail us, as siblings of a big brother who will always be with us and watch over us, and as members of a family whose influence is the opposite of that of the world.  For when we as the family of God walk together in our Father’s love, we encourage one another to live without fear of ridicule, or betrayal.”

    Whew…what a sweet, wonderful life the Father and Son has given to us!

    Love,

    Michelle 

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

     

  • Catholic priest’s experience during Eucharist ceremony

    I

    Pastor John,

    I saw this video last night.  When I first read about what had happened to this priest, I assumed it had to be something demonic, but when I watched the video I had the feeling that this man was really touched by God in a very real way (the interesting part starts at 29:00).

    Now, I am already seeing Catholics on social media saying this is proof that God is truly present in their “holy masses”, which we know is false. 

    Here is the video:

    https://www.youtube.com/live/Nr_YnX3MM8s?is=T0VYNzI9zMPbPaWM

    The next day another priest from the same church tried to explain to the congregation what had happened to the priest the day before.  I think his body language and what he says (and the way he says it) shows that he is not happy about what had happened, but couldn’t deny that it was something real, so he had to try to somehow make it make sense from the church’s perspective.

    (He starts speaking about it at 11:12)

    https://www.youtube.com/live/9XdBEvEdmro?feature=shared

    Zoli

    =========

    Hi Zoli.

    It seems to me that Jesus was interrupting that ceremony with a moment of life, and as you say, the second priest was trying to cover it up with vain words.  This just shows us that God can touch someone who is involved heavily in ceremonial form, even of those He touches do not understand what He is doing.  I hope that first priest escaped the prison.

    jdc

     

  • Who the Truth Is For

    Pastor John,

    Below is an excerpt from Michelle’s email to you, in which she shared her thoughts on your chapter on Constantine and on your recent message about the rank abuse men have suffered in the name of God at the hands of Christianity:
    “After reading this, and what you taught us on Wednesday night regarding the cruelty and the torture by the hands of Christians in the Middle Ages, it made me think, ‘Jesus, if your people only knew where Christianity came from, surely they would run out of it!’  But then, the thought came immediately, ‘Knowing all this is not it.  It is Jesus touching your heart.  Him giving the understanding and feelings to take it in is what gets His people out.’”  

    After reading Michelle’s email, I considered how many people in the world embrace Christianity and must know something about the Christian religious system, if not its origin, then its history of torture, theft, and abuse.  Knowledge of those heinous events, particularly during the Crusades, is widespread.  Many must know that Christianity is now riddled with what the Bible and the hearts of honest men will confess is an abomination to the Lord.

    Yet men still do not flee the Christian institution.  They remain and support its disobedient practices.

    It is not because they are ignorant that they stay, as Michelle pointed out, but because many of them have no love for the truth God has given to men.  Many folks enjoy Christian ceremonies and various forms of worship, and openly reject worship of God in spirit and truth as Jesus commanded.  Beth and I both have family members who fit that description.  Those folks are there simply because they want to be there.

    Christianity is a place where members practice being nice to one another, and it appears clean compared to so many things.  It is, in many ways, a refuge from the filthiness of this world – but its messages and practices are aimed at men who want some relief but want it on THEIR terms; it offers them a dry place out of the rain, so to speak, without having to change or be changed by Christ.  Men can embrace Christianity and be embraced by it without repenting.  The sin remains.  That is not the way of Jesus.

    I am glad I understand this and have learned over the years that it is OK for folks who want it that way.  It is not my business what those folks desire or do.  The Lord’s Gospel and the messages Jesus has given to his ministers are not for the people who love the spirit that is reigning in the religious system of Christianity. The Gospel and the word of God delivered to his ministers are for those who have heard Jesus’s call within themselves, are GLAD they have heard it, and want to respond.  It is for those searching for the real Jesus, so they CAN put it all on the altar and be changed to be like Him.

    It is just as you have said.  Your work is not a work or effort directed against anyone, whether those who embrace Christianity or anyone else, but a work for people who are searching.  It is a work to shine a beacon, a light in this world, for people who want to respond to God’s call on their hearts and who are hearing the same message from Jesus that you are broadcasting.  Those precious people (we have seen) exist all over the world, and many of them have become entangled in the Christian religious system in their effort to heed Jesus’s call.

    Thank you for the recent Constantine chapter and the message on the history of Christianity.  I got so much out of both.

    Jerry

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