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  • OT Class

    Hi Pastor John-

    I really love the OT class. I’m going slow but really loving it. Embarrassing, but the first test I missed 14, however the second test I missed 7 so I’m thinking if I take it one more time I may know something!
    I really like how you explain about the slanderer, how Eve felt God must have not really loved her, and how that still happens today. I can really see how that thought can really make a bad seed grow. Even more reason to stay close to Jesus.
    Also I loved how you talked about David and Absalom, and how people either stuck with the law or their feelings. Man that was just good!
    Thank you thank you thank you for these Cd’s!

    Michelle
    ================

    Hi Michelle.

    I am very glad you are getting so much out of my OT course. Please do not feel embarrassed about missing 14 on that first test. Jesus gave me that test for my students when I taught the course in the community college to help humble my students so that they would be more willing, and more able, to learn. That test is designed so that the better a Christian you are, or have been, the more questions you will miss. It is surprising how consistently that happened, but then, Jesus is the Master teacher! Another wonderful element of that test is that, even after reading the material, grades do not improve much for the good Christians who take it because so many of them do not really read what is in the Bible. Their eyes go over the words, but what they have in their minds are the traditions they have been taught. One very good Christian even missed MORE questions after reading the biblical material than she missed the first time she took the test. (THAT is Jesus, for you!) Keep it up. If you missed fewer questions the second time around, then you really were paying attention to what you were reading.

    Pastor John

  • The Son of God

    John,

    I have a question, is what happened to Jesus when he received the holy ghost different than what happens to us when we receive the holy ghost? I know that the Son of God left his place and came and took on the flesh of Jesus and lived through him, and I know it says that they saw the spirit descend on Jesus like a dove when the Son took up his abode. But that was not just like receiving the holy ghost right? I mean The Son of God actually lived through Jesus.

    I also know that when we receive the holy ghost, the Son said that he and the Father would come and take up their abode with us. So, I don’t really know if I am asking this right, but the physical Son of God was in the flesh of Jesus right? And not in us right?

    Thanks
    Stuart
    ===============

    That’s right, Stuart.

    It’s a difficult thing for us mortals to comprehend. Perhaps the best way to consider it is to compare it to our natural birth. Every one of us received human life when were were born, but we are all different. We each have our own personality and abilities. It is the same when we receive the holy Spirit. We all receive eternal life when we receive the Spirit, but it is different for each of us. We are born again in Christ with our own spiritual personalities, purpose, and gifts.

    Jesus was born again as the Son of God because the Son of God himself came and took up his abode in Jesus’ temple and Mary’s son and God’s Son became one person. We, too, are born again as “sons of God”, but each of us has a place in our heavenly Father’s kingdom different from that of Jesus. He is “Lord of all”, and we are all under his authority.

    That’s about the best I can do with that question. Such things are far beyond us, and only with the mind of Christ can we begin to comprehend them.

    Pastor John

  • the road Paul walked on. apparently

    Hey, John:

    A Palestinian woman nurse was assigned to me before my surgery in 2001. She told me that there is a place in Damascus, Syria called “Paul’s” wall. When I looked it up I am assuming that the wall she is talking about is the wall the believed where Paul was let down in a basket. She also told me that when Jesus went to Damascus, he was received and there was a place dedicated to him, too. I didn’t find a place where Jesus ever went to Damascus. Is this just a myth?

    billy m
    ==============

    Yes, Billy, it is a myth. And the “Paul’s Wall” she told you about is a myth, too.

    Pastor John

  • meeting

    Pastor John

    The meeting last was wonderful. The words you said was precious to me. I thank God he gave me a love for the truth when I heard it, and to come out from what I was in for so long. Thank you Jesus

    Bro. Troy
    ==============

    Hi, Brother Troy!

    Good to hear from you. It is a great blessing for me to have the support of so many, like yourself, who love the truth enough to actually confess it before men.
    It is encouraging to preach the truth, and have it received. The true gospel of the Son of God is so precious to God that He has a reward
    waiting for those who hear it and love it enough to walk in it.

    Jesus said,

    41. He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
    42. And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to drink to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, I tell you truly, he will by no means lose his reward.

    God is very please when, in this evil world, we encourage one of His servants.

    Pastor John

  • Stuart – tonight

    Pastor John:

    We had good audio and video tonight on Justin Tv. Very sober night, sad stories about our brothers and sisters in the Lord who don’t know and understand what God has done for them. They have fallen before the god of this world and not their Father in heaven and his Son that set them free. God, please help us reach your people that want you and your Son! There is work to do, John. I feel so sad in my spirit for God’s children! God, let this truth get to them and let them love it!!

    Without that, they will not last. God is right, and above all, and the only way to know that is by his Spirit and being led by it and loving it, no matter what, denying our own selves and becoming that new creature he has made us. God, keep us free from things of this world, and don’t let it rob us of you and your blessings.

    Wow, John, tonight made me hate wrong more then ever, and thankful for my home and the food that you are giving us, John. What peace we have, where we can be taught and learn more about our God that has set us free. Thank you, John.

    Stuart

  • Chapter 6 – Two parts

    This [the latest excerpt of the Father and Son book that we received] is wonderful, John! One bows to another because they discern and recognize their authority over them, and so they bow.(The greater receives the lesser). When Jesus did not bow to Satan, he (Jesus) knew his authority(over Satan) and he knew what Satan was. It really pays to know who and who not to bow to, and only Jesus has that kind of wisdom from the Father. If Satan knew who really Jesus was, he would have bowed to Jesus. Thus, Jesus Christ was hidden from the world and especially, Satan. It is a different world before Pentecost; like the difference in this world before and after the flood. Without this Pentecostal experience, it would be like trying to live in this world before the flood, and that is what xty is doing,

    Billy M

    ==========

    Hey Pastor John,

    I am still thinking on this part of chapter 6. There is a statement on page 2 that struck me. “He (Satan) may have had no love for Christ but he loved God, at least the God he thought God was.” Never thought about Satan as loving God. Always seemed he wanted to advance himself. Also seemed Satan had no love for man at all! He loved his job as prosecutor. Thank God for Jesus! Thank God for the Love of God! These things are so good. I know I have loved things thinking it was God. I am thankful God has had mercy on me. I love learning more of God!

    Thank You Pastor John for your work.
    Sue

  • Proverbs

    Hey!

    I was reading in Proverbs this morning. It was something to read Chapter 8 and see the Son start speaking through Solomon in verse 22. The Son said he was daily his Father’s delight and had been rejoicing always before the Father, rejoicing in the habitable part of the Father’s earth – and his delights were with the sons of men!

    The Son (& the Father) really love us!
    🙂

    Amanda

    PS The woman in chapter 7 reminded me of Christianity: She was subtle and said she’d paid her vows. She used “fair speech” and she lies in wait at every corner.
    The way of Xty really is like the way of a harlot.

  • “Bishop”

    Pastor John:

    What is a Bishop, and what are his duties?

    George
    =================

    Hi George.

    Thanks for the question.

    The word “bishop” is a Latinized form of the Greek word for “overseer”. A bishop’s responsibilities in the kingdom of God are implied in the title (to “oversee” the welfare of the flock of God), but they are not specifically enumerated in the New Testament. An associated word, “pastor”, by the way, is also a Latinized form of a Greek word that is usually translated “shepherd”. Though the Bible does not give a specific list of duties for either a bishop of a pastor, the duties of each are easily determined from the context of scripture. There is no biblical hierarchy attached to those two titles. In Christian tradition, however, “bishop” usually refers to one in a a higher rank than “pastor”, as I am sure you know.

    In the King James Version, the word for “shepherd” is translated as “pastor” only once (Eph. 4:11). The other 17 times, it is translated as “shepherd”. The emphasis of that word is on feeding and caring for a flock, but there is also some significant authority attached. For example, when we are told that Jesus will “rule the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2:27), the word is a verb form of the word, “shepherd”. In other words, Jesus will “shepherd” the nations with a rod of iron. The same word is used by Peter to tell elders of the faith to “feed the flock of God” (1Pet. 5:2). That word is the same verb form of “shepherd” that is in Revelation 2:27, which I just mentioned.

    The word for “bishop” (“overseer”) is used in the New Testament only 5 times, and the underlying meaning is simply to “take care of” or “watch over”, which is what a shepherd does.

    It may be that “pastor” (“shepherd”) is just a kind of bishop (“overseer”). I think of an apostle as an overseer of the household of God on earth, with “pastors” of specific congregations under them.

    Hope that helps.
    Pastor John

  • John 2:4

    Hi Pastor John-

    I don’t understand this verse from John 2:4. Would you explain it please?

    Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.”

    Thanks
    Michelle
    ==============

    Hi Michelle,

    This is our translation of that part of John 2:

    3. And when the wine had run out, Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no wine.”
    4. But Jesus said to her, “What’s that to you and me, mother? My hour hasn’t yet come.”
    5. His mother said to the attendants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”

    Jesus actually did use the word, “woman”, but that did not carry with it the sense of rudeness that comes across in English, so we just replaced it with “mother”, which is closer to the sense of what Jesus said.

    Pastor John

  • What about angels?

    Hey John,

    Thinking about the nature of man, I thought of another question this morning. What about angels of the Lord when they appeared before man, e.g. the angel appearing before Manoah. Were these angels divested into men’s bodies and if so, were these men already living on earth as was Jesus?

    Jim K
    ============

    No, Jim, the angels were not in human bodies at all. The bodies of angels are invisible, heavenly bodies. They are not made of flesh, but they are shaped like men’s bodies. Also as with the fleshly bodies of men on earth, there are minor differences in the bodies of angels. Some angels, for example, are taller than others. I know that is true because I saw three angels once, and one of them was a little taller than the other two. Samson’s parents, Manoah and his wife, saw the angel they saw because God allowed them to see him. Usually, angels are invisible to us, but when God wants us to see one, what we see looks just like one of us. That is why the author of Hebrews could say that “some have entertained angels unawares.” All of us have, at one time or another, have probably met and talked with angels without being aware that we were doing so.

    Thanks for the question.

    jdc

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