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My definition of “enraptured”:
The blessing of being enwrapped up, entied up, & entangled up with Jesus, until the day we are “enraptured”.
Billy M.
ps: I’m sure there are other definitions of that word :).
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Yeah, but those other definitions are just made up. Yours is the real one.
Stay entouch,
jdc
Hey
I wrote this sister last night and received these replies. It is amazing how folk can read our things and still see “saved” where it is not. Still I have answered her questions. She didn’t join a church. That is something.
damien
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Name: Donna
Web Comment: Praise the Lord! Do you know of any small groups such as yourselves who meet in eastern PA? Also, can you send me any links of yourselves in worship to the Lord via Youtube.com? Thank you, Donna
[My answer: “No.” I sent her links to web sites.]
Thank you for your reply, Damien. I am not surprised; we are in a dry area here but I am ever thankful for the Lord & His Presence & all He’s shown me & done for me! I will check out the other links you shared w me in this email. In Christ, Donna
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Later….
Hi Damien,
I’ve taken a little time to peruse a couple of the links you shared w me & I am enjoying them. I’m an older woman who has been baptized in the Spirit & dealt w re giving up sin & being fully committed to the Lord & I have not been a member of any denomination since I came to the Lord many yrs. ago.
I want to ask you a couple of questions. If you do believe that we are not truly saved unless we are baptized in the Holy Spirit w the evidence of speaking in tongues, please show me the verses in the bible, bc I haven’t seen them so far
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No one is born again until he is “in Christ”. The only question is, “How do we get into him?” The answer is given in the Scriptures that we both love: Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; ICor. 12:13.
As for the word “saved”, I think you mean “converted”, which is not a synonymn for “saved”, even though for the past century, Christians everywhere have used it that way. For example, the famous (and grossly abused) verses of Romans 10:9-10 are not referring to conversion; the people to whom Paul was speaking were already converted (see Rom. 10:1). Paul was referring to receiving salvation at the end (see also Rom. 13:11). Nor was Jesus referring to conversion when he said, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
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& also what is Paul talking about when he questions in 1 Cor. 12:28-31 are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, …do all speak w tongues? The obvious answer is NO. Is he talking about some people who have not yet experienced this baptism or is he talking about the reality that we are all different in our gifts & abilities?
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That chapter deals with operations of gifts within the body of Christ. It doers not deal with the experience of new birth, the baptism of the Spirit. Those people were far beyond that. I wish the whole body of Christ now was close enough to God to have their problems.
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I love the truth but not to an imbalance & I love the scriptures, word of the Lord & the letters that the apostles wrote & don’t make excuse for that.
Recently I happened upon Derek Prince on youtube & heard a clear teaching re the baptism of the Holy Spirit but nowhere did he express that it is the evidence of being saved & I do respect his clear teaching from the bible. Thank you, Donna
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Our Brother Prince teaches what most of God’s dear children in our time have already been taught, that they were born again before they received the baptism of the Spirit from Jesus, but that is beyond my control. I can only do the work that Jesus has given to me.
May our merciful God continue to bless you, and keep feeding you his word of eternal life. Please feel free to stay in touch.
Pastor John
**Note that this man came to us through the advertisement that Token put out there on the web.
jdc
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Comments: This is a very helpful, wonderful website. It’s a blessing to bump into this site, it has help me understand the word of God, in a better, fun, interesting way. I grab my bible, when i dont understand a word, i go here and God answer me. God bless this website and all the people in it. Your brother in Christ – Jorge G.
John,
The other night during my sleep, I heard this “The standard, that is what they love. . . ” and then a few seconds later, “. . . and hate.”
I love what we have been talking about lately, and especially the authority and love that was in your message to us last Sunday. There is a standard required by us from God, and if there is within someone’s heart a struggle with that standard, there is a battle between the spirit of God that loves the standard and the flesh that hates it.
I looked up “standard” in the Oxford American dictionary and read the definition: “a thing or quality or specification by which something may be tested or measured; the required level of quality; a specified level of proficiency.” I then looked up the word proficiency and the definition of that was this: “doing something correctly and competently through training or practice; skilled.”
That is what we have: a “required level of quality”. We are being tested everyday in how we are conducting our lives and measuring up to the standard that has been given to us. And, “Where much is given, much is required.” And if we are a part of that, we have a responsibility.
I have thought on the words spoken to me the other night often: “The standard, that is what they love. . . ” and then a few seconds later, “. . . and hate.” How much does God see? What does He see in us? Are we proficient in His standard? I couldn’t help but think about how much hate Jesus has felt coming from his own people. It must wear Jesus out after many years of love/hate relationships. It really makes you pray for more of the love of God in all things and to be diligent in those things so as to love him and not be one that hurts him, and to encourage others that living right is not impossible or hard (as so many seem to think) and that his ways are just and right. I wish that everyone could hear “The Law” as you have taught it to us, and hear it through the ears of the learned.
It’s a blessing to be in a place where the standard of God is enforced. You can then rest and trust that you are safe and taken care of, and you grow and learn the standards of God — and they become you. And whenever the standard becomes hated more than it is loved, “the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him”, and that also is our rest and safety.
Amy
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Hey John,
I have enjoyed the messages and emails on having a standard, and thinking about how much it really matters, how much it saves us all from.
I remembered this morning a time you came to Louisville and talked to us about God’s standard, and how it made me feel: safe, relieved, loved. I loved the feelings. I had an experience from that night that I want to tell.
It was when you and Barbara stayed with Jammie and me for one of the first times. I began to feel the spirit showing me about the standard and how it applied. It was as if I saw for the first time how many times in my career as an electrician that I have read the word “standard”, but I never really understood the word. On most of the sets of electrical drawings, they refer to the word “standard” as “light pole standards”. I knew what the function was for that standard, but that day, I saw how important the standards function for a light pole was…. It was more than just a hefty concrete footer with reinforcing steel in it, and that it should be installed level and on sound, good soil. It had to hold this pole up with very heavy loads on it, high in the air. It had to withstand all the elements, and all the time stay level and true. It was mind-blowing to me to see the similarities in that and God’s standard. I began to realize that God’s standard isn’t something we hold up, but the complete opposite. It holds us up! It’s something we walk upon. It keeps us, when we love it with all our hearts….
I would feel pressure in times past, before 2001, to “Hold Up The Standard!” After hearing you talk, everything changed, and it was so easy! I realized I loved it. There was no pressure for me to make the right choices, do the right things, put God first. All that began to come natural, and I loved it! I don’t remember all of what I learned from that, but I remember telling you about it, the next day. There is No Pressure when you love the ways of God. I have seen so many of God’s people misuse the term “Standard” so that all they feel is “pressure”. They would feel that pressure when they fell short, because they were made to feel that they lacked love for God.
It has brought back good feelings writing this. Wow. All we have learned!
He’s still talking!
Bro. Paul
I was making a copy of an old meeting reel tonight, and heard this great quote from your father:
“I like what Hilliard said to me yesterday… he said he wasn’t worried about being saved. He was worried about ME being saved. If we get that kind of mind, we’re getting somewhere.”
Gary
Hey Pastor John 🙂
I have been typing up the passages you marked from the book, A Chronicle of the Last Pagans. Certain paragraphs I had just finished typing with tears rolling down my face at the cruelty of Christians, when the spirit spoke: “Christianity is Satan worshiping!”
Wow….and I can well believe it! Forget the pentagrams etc.
Kay
Good Morning,
I came across a quote by Charles Haddon Spurgeon and I really liked it.
“Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite.”
I thought it was a really good thought. I posted it on my FB page and Ashley asked me who’s quote it was, so that got my wheels turning. I have a question about his alleged beliefs.
I was reading in Wikipedia about him, and it said that he opposed baptismal regeneration. I am not quite sure that I correctly understand the meaning of baptismal regeneration. I think it means that you can only be ‘saved’ if you are physically baptized in water.
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“Baptismal generation” is a Christian phrase referring to the truth concerning the new birth. We are “generated” or born of God when we are baptized — with the holy ghost. Where most Christians go wrong is to attach the wrong baptism to those verses in the New Testament that speak of this (e.g., Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). They teach that water baptism makes a person born again. If Spurgeon had enough of the Spirit to recognize that error, I am glad to hear it.
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It also stated that he taught across denominational lines. What exactly does this mean? Did he teach his views to others no matter what their religious preference was?
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It probably means that he was open to visit and preach in any Christian church.
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And lastly, is there any documentation that indicates he had the holy ghost? What I have read has not indicated whether he actually did or not.
Brittany Mellick
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I assume that he did. But with biographies of men and women like Spurgeon, from centuries past, you cannot trust what you read, concerning the holy ghost baptism. If at all possible, no mention of that will be made, or it will be downplayed greatly. For example, in one biography of the blind song writer of the 19th century, Fanny Crosby, it was obvious, from the biographer’s description of her experience, that she received the holy ghost baptism at a young age and that the experience was a watershed experience in her life. At the same time, it was equally obvious that the biographer was uncomfortable with that experience and that he was trying hard NOT to tell about it.
You cannot trust Christian historians and biographers if they are committed to their sect’s beliefs and traditions. Such people equate serving God with serving their sect’s interest, and in such cases, “truth” becomes whatever serves their purpose.
Pastor John
Hi Pastor John,
Could you please explain this verse to me in I Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, and I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
I’ve been going through some things that I don’t understand. I’ve been trying to ask the Lord about it. That verse came to my mind. I read the chapter, and it’s talking about charity. I was just wondering if that meant that without charity, you experience feelings and emotions that you shouldn’t, and when you become grown in the Lord you will have perfect charity, which will do away with the feelings that shouldn’t be there. And if so, how do you get to that point?
I have heard some of the broadcasts with you and your dad and wow! …. I wish I could have known him. The way he talks!! It’s simple yet strong, and he seems so humble, but having such authority. When you listen to him, the way of truth seems so simple and easy.
Ok I guess that’s all for now. Thank you Pastor John.
Michelle
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Thank you, Michelle for asking that question, and then answering it for me! I could not have given a better explanation. Let’s all “follow on to know the Lord” together, and pray that he will allow us to attain to the “high calling in Christ Jesus”.
Yes, I know how you feel about the quiet authority in “Preacher Clark”. Everybody who hears him in those old meetings or radio interviews says the same thing. That’s the authority that people must have felt when Jesus spoke. It is not the skilled rhetoric that is gained through seminary training; it is the quiet assurance that comes only when God has actually spoken to a man and that man has obeyed the Voice.
Pastor John
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoingtoJesus?feature=mhum#p/c/0/ZPwgcphRhXw
Hey John,
I sure have enjoyed listening to the Pioneer Broadcast on “Spiritual Power” on Youtube. We seem to think the power of God is something we can see, like dancing, shouting, speaking in tongues, healing and etc. And it is, but it goes deeper than that. You said in that sermon that we are going to be under one power or another. Even if we want to do good and can’t, it’s because some spirit has come in and taken over the heart. It’s the lack of the power of God in our lives. We can do nothing without the power of the holy Ghost.
This made me think of the time the power of God touched me and I could do nothing, not even move. It was the night the Spirit was falling on the children on the porch. The power of God knocked me to the ground, and I could do nothing. It started to rain, and two saints helped me get up, and all I could say through tears streaming down my face was, “It’s in the power, it’s in the power.” As they helped me into the house I could hardly walk, and then the Spirit spoke to me and said, “You are as useless as those toys on the shelf without me.” Meaning I could do not one thing without the power of God to move me. I couldn’t walk, talk or move even if I wanted to.
I don’t even think I really knew what the Spirit was saying at the time like I do now. “It’s in the power.” We really can’t do anything without the power of God to lead us, no matter how much we want to. And as you said, we are going to be controlled by one spirit or another. Please Lord, let it be the holy Ghost!! That’s the Power of God!!!!!
Lou
What manner of love is this, that has been bestowed on us, that we should be called the Sons of God?”
When I woke up this morning, I heard this in my head as my eyes were opening. Before I went to bed last night, I asked Jesus to tell me something, whatever he wanted me to know. 🙂 I’m thankful for hearing that.
Cris
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Amen, Cris! What is there that should be so important that it moves our hearts from the thrill of that truth? What a precious, humbling privilege it is to be a child of God, with the promise of eternal life and peace?
jdc
