Pastor John,

I was sitting at my desk pleading with Jesus to help this country, and while doing so I had to remember that God is not interested in helping us with our own wrong ideas and agendas.

If He shows up, it is to take over. That means knocking down everything that we have built up that is of our own will and not from Him.

How many people sought God for “help” in Jesus’ time, to save Jesus from that awful crucifixion? Probably a lot – and they were working against The will of God!

Jerry D.

Pastor John,

A week ago I was reading the Whatsapp conversation about blackberries…..vs…..blueberries…..vs…… strawberries, and choosing blackberries or not choosing blackberries, and why??  “Are you racist against black berries??”  And of course, “all berries matter.”  I felt an appreciation for the satire that day – I think because I understood there was so much value in it.  Years ago you told us that your father, preacher Clark, would use satire for the sake of helping people get past things that might be troubling them unnecessarily. Helping folk to get free or “unvexed” from something – using humor to show them how silly it was.  I feel like I was seeing that good “medicine” in those messages and it is gold to me to understand what I was seeing.

There is a filthy spirit spreading across America unchecked right now.  It is free to operate because it is masquerading as the representative of the hardship experienced by black folk at the beginning of this country many years ago.  That lying spirit claims to embody the preservation of black life while leaving black lives scattered everywhere in its wake.  That spirit doesn’t care a thing about black lives, white lives, or any life.    It is destroying everything it touches, and the hypocrisy is obvious to so many.  But people fear confessing what they see because of the title that this spirit has taken upon itself.  It is similar to when politicians make disastrous decisions, for whatever reason, and then shield themselves from the backlash by saying “it is for the children.”  No one wants to be the one that goes against those sacred words.  I think religion can be that way too, with ungodly behavior and sin hiding behind the revered name of “Christianity.” 

That is what I enjoyed about your conversation the other day – it was straight-talk without regard for things that aren’t from God.  It is help to those who are bewitched by the lie.

Did you know the website for that movement declares itself on a mission to dismantle the “nuclear family” in America (the family that God created)?  It promotes instead a family and a type of relationship that specifically leaves out the father of the children.  It is the spirit of homosexuality, with some other unpopular agendas thrown in with it.  That filthy spirit can’t stand entirely on its own in this country, not yet, so it attached itself to a condition in America that would get some traction.

If there was a history of controversy regarding left-handed golfers in America, that spirit could have just as easily attached itself to that.  The results would be the same – destruction for everyone for as long as there is strife available for fuel.  The strife is the prize, not the agenda.  Black and white people alike are being used up by this thing.  The putting away of strife and confessing that God is right in all that he chooses for our life is the cure.  It instantly inoculates us against that divisive spirit.  1 Peter 5:7 says we are to cast all our cares upon him who cares for us.  Our “cares” means our worries, our praise, even our blame if things don’t go well, and our questions as to why.  God is the author and finisher of all things and every part of our life.  That truth keeps us from looking at each other in the good times and the bad.

You know, the evil spirit at work in America today is on a mission.  It is working to eradicate fathers from all households as well as police officers from every street. It is working to remove all those with good sense in our government that would resist it.  Those aren’t random pursuits.  It is working every evil in an attempt to remove God’s authority (people that He has placed for our protection) to impose an agenda that hates ALL life.

Jerry 

Lee Ann Burkhart wrote:

I was just talking to Jesus about what we read this morning: Hosea 5-9*. (I say “we” because I followed along using the PDF while I listened to you read). 

I thought as we were reading, “Are we Ephraim?”  I know those were not just nice words on a page we were reading.  That was written for our admonition for this very day.  I am asking Jesus to show me (us) what I (we) have done wrong!  I want to know so I can repent!  

I was encouraged that if we do repent and ask him for forgiveness, He will forgive us. But we have to seek him to find out what that is.  

This reading was for us!  I was glad to have the recording so that I could listen and get clarification on some of the parts where you interjected a few times.

See you in the morning!

Lee Ann 

ps. I’m so glad that the Lord reigns!  That is worth rejoicing about!!  Just reading that verse brings relief!

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

Thanks, Lee Ann.

There is one verse that I misinterpreted this morning.  Hosea 5:11 says, “Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was willing to obey the command.”  If that is translated correctly, it means that because some in Ephraim were willing to obey God, they were abused,” which is exactly the same thing that Isaiah, who lived at the same time, said: “Truth is missing, and he who turns from evil makes himself a prey” (Isa. 59:15a).  This was happening among God’s own people, that if someone turned from evil to do the will of God, he became a target for persecution at the hands of God’s own people!

God help us!  Believers who are more devoted to Christianity than they are to Christ do the same thing to those who turn from the evil of false religion to holy life in the Spirit.

Pastor John

* https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_translation.html?tname=hosea

John,

This July 31 “Remember What the Spirit is Saying” stood out to me.  I thought of all the times I have prayed for courage over the years but usually in the context of speaking to people about Jesus or the truth. 

However, I have come to realize that I need courage from Jesus just to live day-to-day doing the will of God.  

I need courage to walk in the Spirit. I need courage to say “no” to my flesh. I need courage to trust Him in all circumstances.  

We need courage to “Stand Still in Jordan”. 

I am praying that Jesus will give us courage to obey and trust him during these trying times and beyond. 

Tom

Hi Pastor John,

I’ve been listening to the March CD and got to the last song with Anna, Rebekah, and Natalie singing “The Family of God”. So sweet!!!!

When they got to the verse about from the doors of an orphanage to the house of a king, I started thinking about that. I had been a spiritual orphan all my life until God allowed me to repent, get the Holy Ghost, gave me a real pastor, and I became part of this sweet family of God. My whole life I had been part of a group of imposters. Men with the title of Pastor but who don’t even know God themselves, so how can they take care of God’s children? Tears are streaming down my face as I write this. Oh how I wish I could get out how my heart is feeling, but words just can’t do it. The best I know to do is just to say thank you Pastor John and thank you Jesus for putting this little orphan girl into this family of God!

Doris W.

John,

I love this!!!! Where on earth has anyone heard anyone speak these things about the mystery of God! His Son! I am so excited about the gift that the Father and the Son has given to us!! To be able to know the fullness of the mystery of the Son that was hidden from the beginning of time. I hope and pray we all take advantage of that gift to the fullness of our ability that he has given to us!! What you were saying last night was out of this world!!!

Stuart

Hi, Pastor John.

This morning I called Donna C. We talked about loving God’s standard, about how we love that you have always held to His standard, and how it has helped us hold to His standard with our children that choose sin.

Because you love Jesus more than me, I know how to love Jesus more, too. Your loving Jesus has laid a clear path, through what could have been very hard times. That path was brightly lit and easy to follow from my first steps.  You holding to His standard makes me feel very safe and says “Amen” to what Jesus put in my heart for him.  I rejoice inside every time you say you love Jesus more, every time you say repent and get it right with God.  Knowing what this world is being taught about Jesus, I am so thankful you fell in love with him.  I think of you as my pastor, and that makes me see you are my brother, too.

Beth 

Pastor John,

The “Remember this” statements from the Slander book are so good!  This particular one jumped off the page at me:  “False doctrine and lifeless ceremonies are slander against the right way of the Lord.”  After reading some of your chapters on slander, I am seeing that true statement more clearly than ever!

I’ve been thinking about institutionalized slander since we talked this morning.  I can not think of one thing I was taught growing up in Christianity that was the truth. Not one!  I can state with full confidence that Christianity itself is a lie!  

But I had the thought today, “What if I had believed those lies?  What if I had believed that drinking that wine and eating those wafers was my only way of having communion with Jesus?  Or what if I had believed that having some water sprinkled on my head as a baby while my parents repeated some scriptures was the baptism that mattered?  What if I never heard about the New Birth?  What if I had sat in that dead religion for all these years?” I know without a doubt the answer to those questions.  I would be dead.  Even if my physical body was alive, I’d be a dead man walking.

But then I felt tears of thankfulness and relief welling up because Jesus didn’t leave me there to die.  He showed me the right way!  He gave me His life!  Jesus did that for every one of us and He will do it for any sincere heart that cries out to Him!  

I love that this book is full of light; exposing the truth about institutionalized slander!  

Lee Ann

Pastor John,

I was so glad to be able to listen to you all read a portion of the Slander book this morning.

The second to the last paragraph in today’s reading said this:

Our Guiding Principle: the Love of God

Even inconspicuous things like eating and drinking can offend (cause to stumble from the way of righteousness) an innocent child of God if he has been taught that it is wrong to eat certain foods or drink certain drinks. And sometimes when a child of God has been so offended, it is very difficult to win him again to the right path.

I realized as we read, pastor John, the “path” that you described here is not necessarily a set of rules or ordinances or a belief system. God doesn’t send those things to lead others to Christ, he sends people; His people. We are the light of the world, Jesus said, and if we fail to discern other’s hearts and fail their conscience with our so-called liberty, we are the path, the path appointed by God that they may not be able to reconcile with. They may have to make it to Christ IN SPITE of us, instead of with us.

My what a responsibility we have to discern others as we exercise our God-given liberties!

There is no right or wrong, there is just God.

Thank you for today.

Jerry