Hey John,

I had a couple things that I wanted to share. First, when I saw this Excerpt below from the Solomon’s Wisdom book, it got my attention because sometime during the last few weeks the words “self-indulgence” came to me, just out of the blue. I didn’t know if it was the Lord was saying this to me, but I do know I didn’t think up the words myself. And I’ve been praying for the Lord to help me do my part for fellowship or show me if there’s something I can do. So, I have been paying attention to my own “self-indulgence” and being more careful about that in everyday things such as eating. When I saw this excerpt, which associates self-indulgence with a lazy person and it killing him, it made me get up and get to work doing some extra cleaning (instead of lounging around). That felt good. And there’s a Thought for Today on the Carnal Mind (April 14), that I read recently where you talk about over-indulgence in carnal things and the carnal mind dividing us. So all those thoughts seem connected to me.

Then this morning, I decided to read a section of your Apostate Fathers book on Polycarp. When I was reading that, the Lord blessed me with a better understanding of the verse in 1John 4:3. Somehow I’ve always just read that verse as a verse, and not realizing the context of what John had been talking to the saints about. I don’t know why (and feel a little embarrassed about it), but that particular verse has always been a little fuzzy to me. But this morning when I was reading what you wrote on Polycarp’s misunderstanding of that verse, something started clicking for me, and I read in the Bible what John said, starting a couple of verses before that, at the end of chapter 3. Here is what stood out to me…(paraphrased): “Hereby we know he abideth in us – by his Spirit…but don’t believe every spirit because there are false prophets (men that lie)…hereby know the ye spirit…every spirit that confesses.” And then I read in the Polycarp section where you said that John knew better than to think that anyone is of God who said Jesus lived in a fleshly, human body…I thought, of course! It’s simple! The murderous men of John and Jesus’ time all would have said Jesus lived in a fleshly human body. And then you explained that John was warning the saints not to think the Spirit comes any other way than the way it first came. That was even better and more perfectly explained and confirmed what I was understanding in those verses. That really blessed me.

Thanks John, Love you!

Lyn

Hi John,

This morning’s gathering on Skype, with the testimonies, and songs, and your teaching and preaching, was WONDERFUL! And very much needed. I loved your message on fellowship. And I feel like Jesus opened a deeper understanding in me of why fellowship, and honesty with ourselves, and openness with the body is so important.

Recently, I heard about a sister in the Lord who would sometimes hear a voice, in her mind, telling her about certain situations with other brothers or sisters, and she would believe this voice, thinking that it was God speaking to her. She would then make judgments of that particular brother or sister in her heart based on what she believed God was saying – judgments that, it turns out, were not right because the voice she was listening to was not God, but some other spirit.

When I heard about this, the Scripture that immediately came to mind was 1John 4:1, where John says “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God”. I thought about this, but I really didn’t have a clear understanding as to what, exactly, it means to “test the spirits”. Test them, how?

Well, after watching the recording of our Livestream gathering again this afternoon, and talking about it with Amy, I found myself telling Amy (because Jesus was showing me) what that Scripture means, at least in part: There is at least one way we can try the spirits, when we feel like we’ve heard from God but are unsure if it is really God speaking. It is by testifying! If God has truly spoken to any one of us, and we are open with our experiences from God, and tell about it, we are going to know, based on our fellowship with the body, and with our pastor, if we are listening to the right voices!

That was so good to me! You really can’t have fellowship with the Father and the Son all by yourself! God has set it up so that the only way you can have fellowship with He and Jesus is with each other!

Vince

p.s. Ironically, now that I think of it, I am “testing the spirits” by sharing with you what I feel like Jesus showed me this afternoon. Ha!

==========

Amen, Vince. Cathy B. and I were talking about this same subject this evening. It is very important to test the spirits by telling somebody else in the body, and preferably more than one person, about what you think and feel. There is safety in openness! That is why Paul cautioned Timothy not to receive any accusation against an elder without witnesses. He knew that faithful witnesses would protect Timothy from the evil influence of unjust accusations against an elder. And he also knew that the Slanderer always works in the dark.

Thanks for writing,

Pastor John

Pastor John,

The Excerpt below is a warning against being lazy. The last sentence reads: “Idleness produces hunger.”

When I read that, I realized it was God’s judgment against slothfulness. It is meant to teach us when we are young, or even punish us when we are old.

The world gets in the way of God’s lesson. Whether it is a government that supports the able-bodied when they will not work or a parent that habitually supports their grown children when they fall in and out of employment, it teaches folk that there are no consequences for their actions.

It is a simple lesson: If you don’t work you don’t eat, but it is God’s wisdom. It teaches us early that we reap what we sow – if someone doesn’t get in the way of that precious lesson.

It is a lot easier to believe that God will judge us for our sins in the end if there are consequences felt now for our foolish choices.

Jerry

John,

I loved this excerpt from your book Solomon’s Wisdom. You have to work in this life if you want to be happy and have what God gives you for you and your family. If you are lazy, you become a burden to yourself and everyone else around you.

I found out over time how much I like to work and how much it makes me happy. Not only does that matter in our fleshly lives but also in our spiritual life. We can’t be lazy in any part of our life, nor do I want to be. It takes work to be happy in the flesh, and it takes work to be happy in the spirit.

I have to put out effort to gain anything worth having. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with such wonderful teaching and spiritual guidance in this life. It makes you want to work and not be a burden for your family or anyone around you. That makes you happy and everyone around you happy as well.

Your labor will not go unrewarded because God made it that way for our good.

Stuart

Wow! Wow!! The blog on “The Many Gods of Christianity” is so good and so simple! I mentioned yesterday that while working on the “Mother Earth/Mary” section of the IK notes that I was almost in disbelief of what I was reading. Mary is reverenced so high that she is said to be the one that makes intercession for our souls, not Christ. Jesus is thought to ask “his mother” to speak to the Father on our behalf. Unbelievable!

As I read through the notes, I just had to stop and walk away from my computer. It brought tears to my eyes. It makes me so sad to know that there are so many that have been deceived by these lies!! I just had to start thanking Jesus for rescuing me from that.

When I was a little girl, attending a Catholic Church, I could never bring myself to pray to the “Patron Saints”, or Mary. I would ask within myself, “Why do I have to pray to these people? Why can’t I just pray to God?” Later in my life, when I attended the Free Methodist Church, I was asked to pray the Sinners Prayer and “accept Jesus”. I could not bring myself to pray that prayer. Jesus had given me a desire for HIM! I could not see how saying that prayer would satisfy my soul. Jesus put that desire there, and only he could satisfy it with the sweet holy Ghost.

Amy F

Hi John,

I listened to a message by you this morning, entitled, “Prepare to Die, to Live”, dated 4/98.

In it, you quoted Psalm 90:10-12:
    10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason or strength   they be fourscore years, yet is their strength, labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
    11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
   12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Yesterday, Dee and I were at the grocery store. Probably, about a third of the people there, including the workers, were wearing masks. People were not paying attention to the one-way arrows on the floor, and the checkers were not wiping down the counters each time after checking people out.

Now, the country is on the edge of revolt, carrying signs and threatening politicians that they won’t be reelected if they don’t “open up” the country. What foolishness, what profound lack of wisdom! God’s wrath on this countries’s foolishness could create a second wave or possibly a third. It’s already happened in other countries. This protesting is so selfish, not thinking about the safety and well-being of our healthcare and frontline workers.

John, thank you for teaching us against the things that are foolishness and encouraging us in the things that are wise. Let us not be like the Corinthians that seemed such a burden on Paul because of their lack of wisdom. We need help every day. May the Lord help us in our decision making.

God bless,

Jim K.

Good morning Pastor John,

I thought about Jesus fixing relationships, and teaching us what he wants in this body. I thought about all His people in Christianity at home right now and how if they only knew what Jesus really wanted and had for them. We are being corrected… they have nothing. I wanted to tell them I have a Pastor who not only knows my first and last name, but also knows my spiritual condition. My pastor knows where I am doing well and where I need help. My anointed pastor knows how and what to teach me from Jesus. My pastor really cares about where I am going to spend eternity. My pastor will seek Jesus for me, to get me home. We have a real relationship.

I wish I could tell some ppl I know that I have a husband who really does things to get me home to Jesus. I have a husband that encourages me, teaches me, guides me and corrects me, and prays for me because he really wants me to make it home to be with Jesus.

I may not always have that blessing; Jesus could take him tomorrow, and if he does, I have a family that loves me and loves Jesus and encourages me when I do well with Jesus, teaches me how to do better if I fail, prays for me because they really want me to make it home to Jesus.

This world will tell you to know who your real friends are; this is what they should have with Jesus, not shallow hellos to strangers for an hour every Sunday. God is a REAL God!

I want them to know. I wish they could know. Thinking of them this morning stirs me and makes me even more thankful for the care I receive here.

Beth

Good morning,

I got up this morning and listened to the Malachi clip Lee Ann posted yesterday. I have been sitting here with Jesus. I keep thinking about my childhood. Every year at Christmas my dad would spend thousands of dollars on gifts for all eight of us. Tvs, bikes, pool tables, etc, filled the house full of expensive gifts, going into debt every year. Throughout the year we did not shop or buy clothes or things, so this was not usual to receive gifts. Within a few months of receiving these gifts, they would be damaged, left outside, or just thrown into the squalor we lived in. There was no foundation set to appreciate these gifts and it repeated every year until dad died.

I sat with Jesus this morning after listening to this Malachi clip and thought, “This is my greatest fear, Lord, that I will take for granted what you have done for me, that when you grow quiet, I will build a golden calf or puff myself up in what I think pleases you.” I know what I am without Jesus. That is what I am without him.

I feel like if nothing is between me and Jesus, then nothing will be between the body and me. There will be fellowship between us all. I cried to Jesus this morning that nothing be between him and me. I don’t want to have any of that old girl keeping me from Jesus. I realize more and more how much I am nothing. I keep hearing sister Willie’ words ringing in my heart: “a mouth full of thankfulness”.

That is no small thing. That is a lifeline. Thankful for the day Jesus came into the gutter to carry me out. I just wanted to write you this morning. It always eases my heart, always has. I have enjoyed the deep cleaning time with Jesus. Just talking about these things with him has felt cleaner and better. I fell in love with how real God was when I found Him; all the broken parts were ok to be brought to Jesus. I fell in love with the sincerity of Jesus. I fell in the love with the openness of being able to write you and the openness of sharing my heart here.

I want to live in that place you talk about: just to be the person that Jesus created me to be, so that there is nothing between him and me, or between me and anyone else in the body.

Beth

Bess’s Dream 4/16/2020

The dream took place in a house that our family lived in but it looked a little different from our actual house now. It had a screened in back porch that led into our kitchen area.

It was morning time and I was in our house alone in my bedroom when I heard a woman’s voice call out from the screened in porch. The woman and her daughter came on into the kitchen without waiting for me to invite them in. I was working hard to get to them before they came into the main part of the house, but I was struggling to move very fast because of my knee. I saw that it was two relatives of mine, a mother and daughter, whom I had not seen in a long time. As they walked in and looked around our house, the older woman made a sarcastic comment about how our house was plain and how it was dirty looking. I thought to myself that I didn’t remember our house being dirty or strewn about with things the night before when I had gone to bed, but now as I looked around, I saw several piles of laundry that needed to be washed and folded and dishes that needed to be washed. She had a condescending attitude towards me as I tried explaining to her that I had had knee surgery and I kept up with cleaning the best that I could, and that both Tim and Jonathan worked. I kept trying to explain myself to them and yet I felt so ashamed that things were out of order.

The older woman nor her daughter ever stopped to say why they had come to see me, and they never asked how I was doing, but they walked past me looking around as they walked towards the back of the house where our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms were. It felt like I was not in control but that I was following them and trying to figure out what was going on. I felt intimidated by them because they were pointing out all my shortcomings. When they went into the bedroom, the younger girl flopped down in a chair and the older woman picked up some papers and thumbed through them. I sat on the edge of the bed. They both were making cruel remarks about me and telling me I hadn’t amounted to much of anything in my life and that I didn’t have much to show for the life I had lived thus far. I kept trying to explain myself to them and respond to their accusations but they wouldn’t acknowledge me. With tears in my eyes I told them that they should leave. The older woman got right in my face and said it was too late because she was infected by the Corona virus, and she laughed a mocking kind of laugh. I felt an anger from Jesus rise up inside me and I knew I did not have to allow them to dominate me. I stood at the bedroom door and told them to get out of our house now. They started walking towards the back door to leave.

As they stepped out of the back porch door, I stepped out of the door, too. As I turned to step back inside, I saw Brother Earl, Jimmy and Sue standing right there at the back porch doorway. Brother Earl said he loved our family and it felt good being around us. He was very happy and was bouncing like he does in the prayer meetings. He was smiling and patting me on my shoulder. I could feel the good clean feeling and encouragement of the holy Ghost. Then Sue and Jimmy said the same thing, that they loved the feeling of being around us. We all could feel the Spirit moving on us. It was the complete opposite of the feeling I had felt from those two women. I felt encouraged and safe. Then I woke up.

I asked Jesus what the dream was all about. What I saw was that those wrong spirits are cruel, and they come to take over. They accuse and try to make you feel the things they’re accusing you of. They try to make you feel guilty, and they will tell you who you are if you don’t resist them by knowing who Jesus has made you in the holy Ghost and by keeping your conscience clear. In the dream I knew the house was tidy when I went to bed the night before the women came the following morning, but when they were telling me our house was dirty looking, I started seeing things the way they wanted me to see them, such as dirty dishes and dirty laundry, etc. Those spirits are unreasonable and they try to intimidate, and in the dream I found myself trying to reason with them. But when I stood up and had the right kind of anger in the holy Ghost, and told them to leave, they started heading out of the house. We need encouragement and fellowship to help us have right feelings and right thoughts about who we really are. Those feelings with Brother Earl, Jimmy and Sue were clean. We have to let the holy Ghost tell us who we are and not let a wrong spirit define us.