I LOVE THE NEW BIRTH!! Let’s shout this from the rooftop!

God’s people need it so badly.

Gary

Knowing God

The philosopher Socrates is famous for his exhortation, “Know thyself!” But if you do not know God, you do not know yourself or anyone else. All right understanding comes from the holy Spirit. Since the Lord Jesus said that God’s Spirit guides us into ALL truth (Jn. 16:13), then there is NO truth that can be had without it. Humans can have earthly knowledge; they can know how many pints are in a gallon and how many feet are in a mile. But knowledge about life, knowledge of what is truly good or truly evil, comes only from knowing God.
Nobody on earth knows God or can know Him unless he is baptized with the holy Spirit (with the evidence of the Spirit’s voice being heard). The day you receive the holy Spirit is your first day in God’s school. Even ministers who have not received the holy Spirit baptism, regardless of their titles and degrees, are completely blind to eternal truth. When I was in the seminary, I heard more truth in one sermon from an old holiness minster with a third grade education than I heard the entire semester from some of my professors. In the kingdom of God, knowledge is not a matter of earthly education; it is a matter of revelation.
We know whatever we know about life only to the extent that we know God. This is why Jesus said that to know God and His Son is eternal life (Jn. 17:3). Without the knowledge of God, there is only confusion and strife, and eventually, death. But with the knowledge of God, there is righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit.

http://www.pastorjohnshouse.com/books/tithesandofferings.html

Hi, Pastor John:

When I saw the book cover and the pictures, it was very exciting. But, when I read, “The Right Relationship Between A Pastor And His Congregation”, the Spirit flowed up and down my arms and face.

I went to the internet to read what may be on there about tithes and offerings. Basically, every web site that I went to had supporting scriptures that you couldn’t debate against; the scriptures used by these sites are very clear about tithing and offerings, but something was missing. Some sites spoke about the blessings of God when one gives, some say it is the right thing to do, one even said they gave because of guilt and fear, some said so they would not rob God, some were saying they give to receive back or to sow a seed and receive more in return. But, something was missing in every site I visited, though just about everything I read from their sites I agree with. EVERY site missed the main point.

The point that was missing in all those sites was the subtitle written above. Not one site listed anything about two hearts that become one with giving your tithes and offerings to the one that God puts over you, to look and watch over you soul. When I saw the pictures of you praying for others on the cover I said, “That’s whats missing (on those sites)!” I would be safe to say that most if not all of especially large xtn denominations people have no relationship with the pastor (whether they give or not),

If a sheep gives from his heart and a Pastor receives it from his heart, there is a bond that God creates that the sheep will trust the shepherd to “lead them to green pastures and lie down” (rest). That is what is missing from those sites I visited. You can judge a pastor by the rest that the sheep have. Amen.

I can’t wait to get the book!

billy m.

http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/spirit-of-a-serpent.html

http://www.goingtojesus.com/site/php/trials-are-opportunities.html

John,

Wow, Brother –– is being blessed with persecution now… I’m a little jealous. 🙂 “Blessed are ye when men shall speak evil of you…”

I have suffered this pain of “cult-rejection”, and now, 18 years later, I realize more what a blessing I really had … I almost wish I could go through it again, and embrace it more, and be more like Jesus. Man it hurt. It hurt BAD. I recall a few times just busting out in tears, and asking God for help.

I think the way to really get the most out of it is to take the hurt and not strike back – “The Serpent and the Dove” tract is great for this, and “Trials are Opportunities”.

One think I’d like to know about this most recent “cult” claim: Just what is this “cult” that we are a part of demanding that anyone DO, other than live right, and obey God, worship Jesus and His Father, and love people? What is it that stirs up such a violent reaction from people?

Still haven’t figured that out yet. I just know it happens. It must be the light of the truth, shining on someone’s secret sin.

Gary

John,

It’s barely 7a.m. here in CA. I awoke in the middle of the night, after only 4 hrs sleep and never could get back to sleep, tossing and turning, with a vexation on my spirit that I could not shake off. Desperately hoping to drift back into sleep, yet too tired to pray, eventually rising at 6:30, with a troubling burden on my heart.

Then I read the headlines in the morning paper on the front porch: “Obama Backs Gay Marriage”, and my stomach turned. I hastened to my “closet” and got down on my knees and prayed. I THANKED God for the HOLY SPIRIT, for i was now GRATEFUL that I had been vexed enough in my spirit to have such a terribly disturbed sleep. Something evil was afoot, and the holy Ghost knew it, and was letting me know!!!

This President, unwittingly, has served a death sentence to many souls.

Perhaps God is cursing our nation with this strange spirit running rampant, and thus, our prayers are ineffectual. I don’t know. But I did pray that God would have mercy on that foolish, arrogant man, for he knows not what he does.

What a dark day! (And the irony is that millions of Xns will proclaim outrage, while serving under that same spirit in the churches.)

Brad
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We just don’t belong here, Brad.

Yes, the explosion of homosexuality/bisexuality is a curse. Paul said that it was a curse for ingratitude from people whom God had previously blessed (Romans 1). And yes, the president has added the weight of his powerful office and influence to the weight already felt by young people everywhere to cave in to the pressure to accept that unspeakable abomination as being normal.

If the president ever did really disapprove of queer marriages, then he has caved in to the spirit of our time, which is unfortunate because this nation needs a leader, not a follower. But I suspect that he has for a long time hidden his real feelings about things like this, and if he is re-elected, he will come out of his closet even more fully.

The best thing we can do in a time like this is to stay out of the world’s partisan conflicts and concentrate on making sure there are no beams in our own eye. Your comment about outraged Christians operating under a similar, if not worse spirit, is real. God help them, and us, to submit from the heart to the will of God.

jdc

I was invited recently to join a Christian discussion group based in Great Brittain. I was invited by the leader of the group because she had read an article I wrote concerning the Father and the Son, and she thought the other members of this invitation-only group would be interested. I gave it a try. What I found there were amateur theologians, throwing around big words that none of them understood and quibbling over issues that didn’t even matter, or in some cases, even make sense. After making a few replies to some comments there, I decided just to post the following few comments and move on. Maybe somebody in the group is sincerely looking for true relief from that pretentious madness.

My post:
There is no such thing in heaven as a Holy Trinity of three (no, one) co-equal, co-eternal person/s who make up the one (no, three) true God. It is Christian mythology not found in the Bible, and for good reason. The Father is a person, with a body, the Son is a person, with his own body, and the Spirit is the holy, eternal life they share. There is nothing more to it than that.

As for the old argument that the Spirit is a person because it is said to do things that only a person can do, please take the time to find out what the Bible says that YOUR spirit can do. Paul even told the Corinthians that his spirit would be with them when they met. Did Paul teach that HIS spirit was a person? And if HE had a son, would he, his son, and his spirit then comprise “a Trinity of co-equal persons” who would then make up the real Paul, in homoousiac, ontological essence? *sigh* Can’t you see the nonsense of it all, my friends?

As for the Son being called “God”, others were also called “god” who were anointed by God, including Moses and Israel’s leaders. Besides, as the author of Hebrews states, the Son was God’s agent for creating “the worlds”, later pointing out that, surely, the one who created things deserves the tile, “God” (especially if Moses and others bore that title).

Be real, now. None of you understands or can explain your own trinitarian terms, such as “the essence of God”, “equal, ontological Trinity” and other such trinitarian language. Let Jesus relieve you of the burden of carrying that excess, empty baggage around, “lest, as the serpent led Eve astray by his craftiness, your thoughts should be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Hey John,

Which version are you using? You wrote and said that the word “devil” is never used in the Gospel of Mark, but I found the word in Mark (KJV) 5:15, 16 and 18, and 7:29-30. Am I missing something? Are you speaking of the Greek? Thanks.

Jim K
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Hi Jim.

Thanks for asking.

Yes, I was speaking of the Greek word for the “devil”, or “slanderer”. This is one of those mistranslations in the KJV which can lead to a misunderstanding. There is only one “devil”, but to speak of someone being possessed by “devils”, as the KJV does, makes it seem otherwise.

None of the words in the verses you mentioned should have been translated “devil” or “devils”; instead, they should be “demon” or “demons”, and they are “demons” in every modern version of the New Testament. The word for “demons” is a completely different word from diabolos, the word of “devil”.

jdc

Pastor John,

In a footnote in Chapter 7 of your Father and Son book, you mentioned the time period between Jesus’ ascension and the day of Pentecost. Exactly how many days were there between those two events?

Thanks,
Lyn
==========

Hi Lyn,

According to research I did many years ago, the closest we can come to determining the exact number of days between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost, using biblical information, is that there were from 7 to 10 days. However, since we know that the law was a pattern for the Son of God, 8 days seems to be it, for in Leviticus 8-9, when the Levitical priesthood was initiated, the high priest had to remain inside the tabernacle (for Jesus, heaven) for 7 days and began his ministry on the eighth day. For Jesus, that would have been the day of Pentecost. That is when Jesus’ heavenly ministry began.

jdc

Dear Bro. John:

Reading the responses this week to “our” story, the Lord reminded me of a wonderful dream he sent me in 2009, and also of a question the Spirit asked me around that same time: “Are you willing to suffer for someone to have what you have?”

From 2009 email to PJ

I had a wonderful dream last night.

In the dream, someone close to me in the Lord was dying. I took this person to the doctor, but when we came into his office, instead of treating him, the doctor came over to me and put his hands on my neck and very gently turned it just a little bit (I heard it “crack” when he adjusted it). He looked so tenderly at me and very kindly asked if I could breathe okay and if I thought I could live with the adjustment that he had just made. He said that if I could not, he would adjust my neck back to where it was (as he was saying this he put it back just so I could feel the difference). Then, he glanced over at the person who I had brought in to see him and said to me, “I can put you back like you were before, but then (nodding toward the other person) I would have to put him down” (meaning that he would die). Without hesitation, I told the doctor that even though my neck was in a different (and noticeably awkward) position, I could adjust and was more than okay with it. I did not want the other person to die.

Brother John, when I awoke, I asked the Lord, “Lord, what was that about?”

He started showing me how much we in the body of Christ are connected to one another. How much we can hurt or can help one another. How much we depend on one another for Life! Whatever correction or adjustment is needed, someone else’s life is connected to ours, and we are dependent on one another to do the right thing in God. We have to be willing to humble ourselves to accept that adjustment for the sake of others. And above all else, for the edifying of the body of Christ and the namesake of Jesus.

In the dream, I would have been more comfortable with the position my neck was in to begin with, but it was not about my comfort. I did not want the other person to die – – I loved them. I had to be willing to accept the adjustment so that they could live. I pray that we all learn how very much we need one another and are connected, that we be willing to humble ourselves to the hand of God so that the body of Christ may live.

“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1Cor. 12: 26-27

Sandy 🙂

Hi Pastor John-
I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting tonight. I felt so much relief. The peace and the love felt so good. I have been feeling a little run down and I just felt the like dust of the world was just wiped off. It still get amazed at how quickly Jesus lifts our burdens. The happiness in my heart is overflowing. And when Gary and Joel was singing “Thankful I got you” wow…………I could feel that deep in my soul. Jesus is so good!

Love!!
Michelle