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  • The new birth

    Dear Pastor,

    Please advise the best method you know of for me to be baptized in The Holy Ghost. I have desired this gift for as long as I can remember. I am a born again Christian, who has a great calling within me for this communion with The Holy Ghost. Thank you! And may Almighty God richly bless you.

    Carmine
    ================
    Hi Carmine!

    Thank you for writing.

    The only thing that the Bible says we must do to receive the Spirit is to believe the gospel and repent. Fortunately, because of Jesus, we do not have to judge when we or anyone else has repented. God lets us know when we have truly repented by baptizing us with the holy Ghost. If you have not received that baptism yet, God is telling you that your repentance is incomplete; so, keep seeking Him. He had promised that we will find Him the very day that we seek Him with the whole heart.

    I can tell that you have been taught the usual false doctrine that most of God’s people have been taught about the new birth. The baptism of the holy Ghost is the new birth experience. The disciples were born again on the day of Pentecost, when they were baptized with the holy Ghost, and that is when any person is born again. It is impossible for anyone to be born again before God baptizes him with His Spirit, for the baptism of the holy Ghost puts us into the body of Christ (1Cor. 12:13). Don’t let any man hinder you from seeking the Spirit until you receive it by telling you that your sins are forgiven before Jesus baptizes you. Jesus alone forgives and washes away sins, and he does so by the baptism of the Spirit. And the Spirit will speak through you when that happens. “The Spirit is the witness because the Spirit is truth.” Don’t settle for anything less, and then come short of the kingdom of God.

    Please read the following tracts; they will help you understand what I am saying. And please let us know when you receive the Spirit so that we can rejoice with you!

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/the-new-birth.html

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/yemustbebornagain.html

    Your servant in Christ,
    Pastor John

  • This weekend – My experience

    Hey Pastor John,

    I wanted to tell you about what the Lord did for me over the weekend. It was really sweet because it tied into the meetings perfectly. I hope I can get this out right because it was big for me.

    For a while now I had been praying for Jesus to take my relationships with people to the next level. It just always felt that in so many instances, my relationships with people never really took off, and I could not understand why.

    I had prayed this over and over, and at one point, got so frustrated because I would never get anything from Jesus on the matter.

    Well, Saturday night after the meeting, I started thinking about the things that had been said, and my relationship with the *** family came to mind. I love the ***s and I started to think about my memories with them and some of the tougher situations we’ve been in together. I started to remember times when they corrected me. I remembered that it didn’t feel good but I knew they loved me. They loved me enough to tell me how rotten I was in a few situations.

    Then I started to think about this one and that one, and how the common denominator in all of the relationships was that we went through things together, tough and not so nice things together, with lots of correction. But when we came out on the other side, we were closer, and there was more love between us.

    Somewhere along the way, I stopped being willing in my heart to be vulnerable to God’s people and correction. I started to not be willing to get in there and rub shoulders, I think. As a result, my relationships with God’s people suffered. I really thought, prior to this weekend, that I had been willing to be vulnerable to God’s people, but I feel like God showed me that I actually have had walls up.

    The biggest lesson I feel that I got from this experience was that if I am not willing to be vulnerable in my heart. I am stuck – dead in my tracks – with people and with God.

    I feel like this weekend was the answer to my prayer. I feel like this is why things have been the way that they are. Basically, I am the reason things have been the way that they have been. That stinks, but if He shows you something, it’s because He wants to fix you.

    I am thankful that Jesus worked it out the way that he did, though, because this weekend really brought it all together for me in such a sweet way. When Jesus does it, its always better!

    I am thankful He let me see that about myself, and I wanted to let you know. It is a big deal for me.

    Thanks and see you at the end of May.

  • this morning with the boys

    John,

    I wish everyone could have been in there with J**** and J**** this morning to hear the things you were teaching them about getting in trouble and answering adults with a clear “yes” or “no” when they ask questions. I felt that was not just for children – I know it was for adults too. I was blessed and I know those things will be a part of me.

    A few of the things you said I wanted to write down while they were on my mind:

    1) When someone is correcting you, or is telling someone something you’ve done wrong or bad, or when you are getting disciplined… that’s not “getting in trouble.” We are already IN trouble when we do wrong, and these things are what’s getting us OUT of trouble.

    2). Let our “yes” and our “no” be all we need to say. When we have more than that, it’s usually an excuse, or “of the evil one” to cloud the real truth.

    3) That children learn to find that spot of weakness where their parents are blind, or give up, or cannot see to correct them any longer, and how we want to avoid doing that.

    4) If a friend is doing wrong, it’s good to separate from them, and then, when they ask you why, to tell them the truth, such as, “You scare me”, or “I don’t want to be friends with you as long as you are doing evil.” Be honest with them; that’s their help.

    5) When you are afraid to do right because you fear someone, you cannot be who God made you. You will either be a hypocrite, or you will do something that will defile your conscience. A guilty conscience is a huge load.

    I know there was other good stuff too, but I wanted to write these several good ones down while I could remember.

    Gary

  • Satan and Job

    John,

    I love the section on Satan and Job, in the new book about the Father and the Son! When people find out that Satan is not who they have always thought he was, they are going to be very surprised. And they will find out who God really is, too! You are right, Satan was evil, but he was still carrying out God’s orders! That is very clear. I can’t wait for God’s people to read this book and finally see that Christianity has done a number on them – and on us, too, until God showed us the truth. 🙂 This is good!

    Lou

  • web question on salvation

    Hi Beth. You wrote:

    Question/Comments = Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.——–what does this mean? is this saying that we have to overcome all sin or the carnality of humanity in order to “stay” in the book of life and go to heaven? we were discussing this and many different scriptures and opinions were presented . I think that yes we must be Holy , and i think its heart that is looked at by God. I do think as the scripture indicates that we can lose our right to be in the book of the living. that salvation can be lost. most of the group are “once saved always saved’ . i just cannot take on that idea. so please explain this to me. they are saying that we don’t go on merit but grace and as I know that receiving the new birth falls in this category , I do believe that we have a duty to holiness and our love should drive us to holiness. please enlighten us to this . Thank you so much

    Beth
    ==============

    Dear Beth.

    Thank you for writing. This is an important issue and you should ask about it until you are rooted in the truth and are certain of what is right.

    There have always been false teachers who confuse God’s people concerning God’s requirement of holiness. In Jeremiah 3:7-10, the false teachers taught that Jerusalem would never be destroyed because God’s temple was there. But God was telling them they would be safe only if they “amend your ways”. And in Malachi 2:17, the false teachers were ridiculing the notion that there is any judgment for disobedient children of God to fear.

    In this covenant, false teachers are still at work, using the word “grace” and the name “Jesus” to persuaded people that how they live will not determine where they spend eternity. This is a deadly doctrine, as the two gospel tracts below will explain. Please let me know what you think of them and how it goes with your group.

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/works.html

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/whatissalvation.html

    Pastor John

    PS It sounds as if your group might be a mixture of people with the baptism of the Spirit and people without it. There is no hope whatsoever of unity in the light of Christ if that is the case. You all must be filled with the Spirit if you hope to walk together in the light. It would be better to gather with 2 or 3 humble souls who have God’s Spirit within them than with 2 or 3 hundred without it, or half of them filled.

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

    Thank you for your response to me. I wrote because of the ones in our Sunday school class that is of the false Christian up-bringing. I was invited to go to this class as i was walking one day and the girl said she thought the Sunday school teacher had the Holy Ghost like I was witnessing to her. Later on after i began to go , the girl also did receive the Holy Ghost. the other four do not have and they all have that Baptist teaching that saved is filled with “the spirit” and that “baptism of the spirit” is different and is an extra special gift that one doesn’t have to have but is nice ….Its enough to make one sick, yet I persevere to try to help them to see. Should I just abandon them and go to someplace that is all “filled”. I’ve had the Holy Ghost 42 years and i do agree with your tracts. I printed and handed them out but they are so stubborn !! Please pray that God will open the eyes of their heart. I also wanted to show your response to the class. 

    Beth

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

    Hello again, Beth.

    Where did the little girl receive the holy Ghost?  There where she is going?  What is the name of that church?  And how did you come to understand the truth about the new birth?

    Also, I don’t know of any place that “is all filled”.  It is all a confused mess out there.  That is why God is calling for His children to come out of Christianity.  God has been very good to us here, giving us an oasis in the midst of a spiritual wasteland.  Some of the younger people here have never participated in the confusion that is Christianity; all they have ever known is the truth, and they can only imagine how it is for most of God’s people, such as yourself, struggling constantly with the spirit of antichrist.  If you ever find a place where a man is teaching the truth to a congregation who loves it, please let me know.  That would be a place worth traveling to see.

    As to your question, whether to keep being a part of that madness or leave it, the wisest answer I can give you is to echo what your heavenly Father is saying to all His people, “Come out of her!”  I suspect that being around it has already affected your heart more than you realize.  I wish it was not that way, but I do not want to pretend, as so many children of God are doing, that that to partake of the deluding wine of “the great whore” is the our only alternative.  The reality is, death would be better.

    I pray that you will fall so much in love with the truth Jesus has shown you that you will not let any unclean thing touch it.

    Pastor John

    PS  Please read this, concerning the antichrist.

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/antichrist.html

     

     

     

  • Charismatics who divorce

    Pastor John,

    What do think of divorce, and all these charismatic leaders who are going thru it, and they remarry?

    Driss,
    Algeria

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

    Hi Driss

    Thank you for writing.

    God hates divorce, and it should always be the last option when marital problems arise. As for any particular cases of divorce among charismatic leaders, I know nothing except what I hear through the media. In other words, I really know nothing at all. And, if you will allow me to say so, neither do you. Let’s concentrate on the tasks God has given to us, and pray for those who may be going through dark, hurtful times.

    Pastor John

    PS. You can read my book, Marriage and Divorce, on line at :

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/books.php?tname=marriage:2

  • Sober thoughts

     

    Dear Bro. John:

    I was going through some things getting ready for my move and I ran across some notes from your “Fundamentals of the New Testament” class in 2008. They felt so good to me that I thought I would share them. These thoughts help me to remember who I am (who we are) and I love them!

    11/1/2008 Pastor John

    “Every freedom movement on the planet is a lie. It is all a disguised quest for power. The “civil rights” movement was just a cover for carnal people to grasp for power. The “equal rights for women” movement was just a cover for carnal people to grasp for power. This whole world is motivated by talk and rumor. Equality in this world will never exist, least of all for God’s people. Know who your family is. It is the family of God. We are ambassadors from a foreign country, a heavenly one. All hope for anything in this world is vain. We are not liberals or conservatives; we are for Jesus – he is the only one who is truly impartial. Our only hope is Jesus. Our only desire is Jesus. This world is damned, and it is going to be destroyed.”

    All these thoughts remind me of what Grandma Edna used to ask Bro. Coy when he would come visit her with what he considered a problem: “Is it eternal?!”

    Sandy 🙂

  • “Pearl” for April 13, 2013

     

    The point of this “Pearl of Wisdom, below, is that God cannot be manipulated.  One afternoon, about 20 years ago, I warned a sister in the Lord that if she did not stop trying to manipulate God into doing things her way, she was going to drive herself insane.  That same night, long after bedtime, I received a phone call from her distraught daughter.  In the background, I could hear the voice of that sister I had warned.  She was walking about the house, screaming, for a long time.  I couldn’t make out her words, but her daughter said she was screaming obscenities and other things as she walked around, but then she would stop doing that and speak in tongues.  Her husband didn’t know what to do.  This went on for a good while that night, and there was nothing I could do about it. She had driven herself mad trying to pressure God ito doing things her way.
     
    This “Pearl” contains an important bit of wisdom.  It means, in case any among us is unclear about it, that we are not God.  And that means that we had better learn how to humble ourselves to His way, or we will certainly face some unsavory consequences.
     
    Preacher Clark had learned this lesson well.  That’s why, in a Pearl that you read not too long ago, he said something like, “If it doesn’t go the way I like it, then I like it the way it does go.”  In other words, “If God does not do it the way I would like for Him to do it, then I like it the way God does do it.”
    Pastor John
    pearl 041313

  • Principali​ties and Powers

    Hi John,

    The things you have written on “Principalities and powers” made me think, and I wonder if the spirit( ruling this country is the same one as say, back in the 40’s or 50’s, or is the US under a more evil one, especially with what we’re seeing with the government today.

    Billy M
    =================

    Yes, think a new demon is in town, controlling this country. Exactly how that works, I don’t know. But inasmuch as Satan has power over the angels that rule the nations, he can re-assign them at will. He even said so to Jesus during the Temptation.

    jdc

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

    Hey Pastor John,

    Also, I have a question concerning “Principalities and Powers”. At the end of the first lesson, you state that Satan was ruler over the wicked powers in the world, and that’s the position that he offered Jesus. So, obviously Satan wouldn’t have known that they were “evil”, right? If he did, he or other angels would have seen something about it, I would suspect. So would he have been blinded to the fact that they were evil and just taken over by the fact that he was “ruler”?

    Leah
    ===============

    Since the Son was not yet revealed, nobody could have known what God was really seeing as “evil”, so Satan would not have seen those angels as evil. No.

    Pastor John

  • Who was Lucifer?

    Bro. John:

    This is so very good. I love how you dissected Satan and showed how wrong he was about Jesus. Who knows these things?! God is feeding us manna from heaven with the wisdom we are getting in the writing of the Father and Son. I want to cherish every word and love it as He does. It shows us even more how much God loves His Son.

    It brought tears to my eyes to read the last line: “The suffering came first, and the glory, Jesus received after his resurrection. Satan was wrong about everything.”

    And the whole world is wrong without the Spirit guiding. I remember when the Spirit spoke this to me: “When you think, you weaken the Spirit.” While reading “Who is Lucifer” this morning, it dawned on me why this is so true. The Spirit is the Life of God. It requires no thinking – God just IS! And His Son IS who he is. Satan must have done a lot of thinking to think he was going to change who God is or who His Son is. “. . . . O, Lucifer . . . . How you are cut down to the earth, O weakener of the nations!”

    The contrast that you bring out about the “Light-bringer” and the light (holy Spirit) which the Son brought, and also what Satan thought and what his ministers portray was so good. Who knows these things?!

    Well, needless to say, I was blessed reading this. We are so loved and cared for by our Savior. Sometimes I don’t even know how to respond to such sweet riches. I suppose the best way is to love it and live it, and stay thankful to be a child of God in the truth.

    Sandy 🙂

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