Mailbag

Send us comments on Twitter!
https://youtu.be/gVZOxqojW-g?si=jTPkeTDV8hDt_XxU
Watch What We Do!

Search

Looking for something specific? Try a search below!

  • Finding Fellowship

     

    Please tell me if there is a group of people somewhere in my area that could be fellowship for me.  I live in Gulfport MS on the Gulf Coast.  My spirit tells me that every word I am reading is true.  I have the baptism in the Holy Ghost since 1980 and once attended a oneness church like UPC.  I have always felt most churches just had to be getting some things wrong.  Now, I know why.  Thanks for any help you can let me know about.  I really do miss fellowship but I just can’t attend the mainstream churches anymore.

    E—–

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

    Hi Sister E—-.

    Thank you for writing!

    You have no idea how many emails I have gotten just like yours over the years.  I wish I knew of a place in every town in every country where God’s children are fed the unadulterated truth.  But we rejoice just to hear a voice like yours who can even recognizes the truth when they hear it!  As a result, we have people who drive/fly here from places across the country to be in our meetings and to visit, just to be fed a meal that is not tainted, to experience the glorious fellowship that is in a body as a whole that is walking in the light, and just to be refreshed.  One man even moved his family here from Australia to help us get this message out.  He is the web master of the web site www.goingtoJesus.com.

    I have known some ministers who were taught the truth, but they were either afraid to teach it for fear of losing their job, or they refused to believe it.  But as for a group of believers anywhere who are walking together in the light, other than here and in Louisville, KY, I haven’t found one yet.  We will send you some CD’s from our meetings if you would like to hear them, and of course, if you are ever in this area, you are more than welcome to come visit us!

    Pastor John

    “When a lie becomes the norm, normal people become liars.”

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

    Pastor John

    You are not saying that Louisville, KY is the only place that the truth is being taught are you???

    Bishop Elect George E. Moore, Sr.

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

    Not at all, sir.  Not at all.  Truth can be heard from almost every pulpit on the planet, regardless of the denomination.  What I was talking about was the unadulterated truth.  This includes, but is not limited to:

    1)   Every person in a congregation understanding that the baptism of the holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in tongues is the new birth — and rejoicing in that knowledge.

    2)   No ceremonies are ever practiced, but God is worshiped only in spirit and in truth, as the Lord said.  This includes such ceremonies as water baptism (“There is one baptism”), ceremonial meals (our communion is in the holy Ghost).

    3)   No holy days observed, for Christ put the holiness within us, no on a calendar.

    4)   No specialized religious garments to set apart one man, or a group of men or women, from others, including choir robes.

    5)   An anointed leader guides the congregation, and no titles granted by a religious organization.

    6)   Every member renders his tithes to God and his offerings without being begged for it.

    7)   No ministers are hired or fired.  The Christian system of hiring and firing ministers is of the world, not God.

    Hope this gives you an idea of what I am talking about when I say it is difficult to find a place where the UNADULTERATED truth is taught and enforced.

    Do you have such a place where you are?

    Pastor John

    “When a lie becomes the norm, normal people become liars.”

  • President and New Law

     

    Bro. Clark,

    Share your thoughts or what you feel is going on with our current president and the new law that was just passed?

    Bro. Jeff

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

    Hi Jeff:

    I refuse to have any thoughts about it.  It is not the business of the saints as to what sinners of this world do with their countries.  God will destroy both it and them, in His time.  It’s best for God’s children to stay out of political controversies, and we should never take sides with one party against another.  Jesus called king Herod a “fox” one time, and so, we do not have to play dumb.  In Christ, we can judge the character of all men.

    President Obama and his underlings have designs on this country that would take it toward a European model of government, but as to what model of government this nation’s rulers choose, that is in God’s hands, and we should stay out of it.  Stay away from the political partisanships of earth.  Those who take up the sword will die by it.

    Pastor John

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

    All that is necessary for evil to [prevail] is [for] good men to do nothing.
    Jeff

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

    I didn’t say do nothing, Jeff.  I said stay out of politics.

    Pastor John

  • Seven Spirits

    Pastor John,

    What are the seven spirits of God?

    God Bless,
    Michelle

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

    The “seven spirits of God ” are seven creatures who dwell in the very presence of God and are sometimes sent to accomplish the will of God on earth.  Very, very little is ever said about them.  That’s why you cannot trust anyone who claims to have a lot of insight into who they are.  They may be those seven living flames that are before God’s throne, but even that is not certain.

    jdc

  • Significant Point in US History?

    Thanks, Damien.

    I don’t understand the theories involved, but I feel sure that something must happen.  What it will be is up to God.  Could it be the Balances being held in the hand of the one riding the Black Horse of Revelation 6?

    jdc

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

    Pastor John

    Following is a graph that is not difficult to follow. It shows the change in US GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for each extra dollar of Federal debt incurred since 1966.  I’m no economist but I have learned that each dollar “created” by the Federal Reserve enters the economy as debt against the Federal government.  What the graph shows is that during the last 6 months of 2009 the US economy reached the point where increasing the debt was associated with a shrinkage of the economic output of the country.

    In the recent past the US government has worked on the premise that incurring debt and running budget deficits was OK because it grew the economy and thus (in theory possibly) the ability to repay.  I have heard congressman in the last year say “deficits don’t matter”.  Well if this graph holds true and something remarkable does not occur soon then the deficits or “stimulus” spending of “created” money, which is actually more debt incurring interest, will result in continuing and devastating implosion of the US economy.  This years projected deficit of around 1.5 trillion could result in a GDP reduction of 675 billion (~5%) based on the last quarter 2009 figure of -0.45c per $ of debt. Such changes will act to rapidly increase the ratio of debt to GDP towards the levels that small countries in the news of late such as Iceland, Ireland and Greece are facing. If this continues for long at all and the Government continues to increase the debt something will surely have to give.  If the US credit rating drops from AAA interest rate rises could destroy the economy even more rapidly.

    Somehow I don’t anticipate this happening just yet. Maybe it will but I really rather wonder that we are going to see something really startling coming up in the next period of history.  In any case this strikes me as a pivotal moment in US history.  The US economy in current form can no longer presently utilize debt effectively at all. More debt is dragging it down as the repayments become too much to bear. At the same time the government is spending big and receiving diminished tax income. You and I can’t budget that way!

    Graph from http://economicedge.blogspot.com/

    Damien

  • Testimony

    Dear John… so nice to be “at” the meeting, vicariously at least.  . .wow. .. 

    Okay. .. my mind is racing with memories. . . so many things you said tonight, pastor John, reminded me of testimonies. . .ohhh  how true is the voice of God; the WORD of the Lord!!!! . . .I have heard the exact same thing about watching too much TV. . . whether it’s news or filthy sitcoms or cop dramas filled with lewd innuendo, the Lord has demonstrated to me how easily one can be affected (infected) by those diseases.. . you get tainted… if you become too curious. .. and you spend too much time, inadvertently, in front of the TV.

    I have thought,
    “Oh, I ‘ll just watch this to see if it has any redeeming value”  and it rarely does. . then suddenly you find you’ve spent an hour of your life . . . on rubbish. . . and you have to go take a bath—-in the Holy Ghost!!!   

    I have a great testimony of what God did for me one time, when I got too curious:

    ******

    It was 1999.  I hadn’t received the Spirit yet, but it was influencing me, often.

    The movie, American Beauty, had just won the Oscar for best picture.  It was being hailed by the critics, praised by the artsy movie-lovers, and I thought I’d go see what all the commotion was about.  Was it really a “work of art?”  I was familiar with the subject matter, and therefore had my doubts, but there was that nagging thought:  “Well, I suppose I’d better see it so I can talk about it intelligently with other people.”

    Well,. . . . it was a very perverse story line, full of anxiety, and depressing, pathetic, pitiful, sinful characters, typical of this modern world. . . with no redeeming value (even though the public seemed to think the theme was about redemption!  Ha!) . . . and halfway through it I whispered to my friend that I was leaving; I didn’t care to watch anymore.  I actually made the move to get up out of my seat, and the HOLY GHOST spoke to me and said, 
    “NO.  You’re going to stay here and watch ALL of this; then you’ll never have to do it again.”  and. . .  “You’ll never have to feel compelled to see a popular movie merely for the sake of discussing it with worldly people.”

    (Unbeknownst to me, God was preparing my heart for becoming a called-out , sanctified child of God.)

    So I stayed.  I obeyed.   .. . And for a very long time, I had no interest in movies anymore.  I had nothing but contempt and pity for the director who portrayed such a cynical view of America and suburban life, and got artistic accolades for it.  I was sick of Hollywood’s foolishness: rewarding immorality as an artistic achievement.

    Then I received the holy ghost in 2002, and my tastes continued to be tempered by the purity of the Spirit.  I’m thankful that God touched me so strongly even before I was born-again.  It was a memorable conviction.

    Topic # 2—-

    Re:  The beast that you spoke about tonight. . .

    Rev 17….”when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
    Did you mean that it is two different beasts, one from the past and a different one to come?  Or the same creature who has taken a temporary vacation?

    best regards,

    brother Brad

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

    Hi Brad:

    Thanks for that good testimony.

    You will hear much more about the Beast in a couple of weeks.  But briefly, I meant the latter — but now, how much of a “vacation” it is for him in the Bottomless Pit is hard to say.

    Thanks for writing.  God bless until next time.  Heard you were making plans to come see us in the summer.  Really think you can handle the summertime humidity here?  🙂

    jdc

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

    Brad’s testimony reminded me of a testimony of my own concerning worldly music.  A few years ago I was very much into secular music.  I remember driving home from work listening to some radio station and just felt sick to my stomach suddenly.  At that moment the Spirit spoke to me and said, “This is poison to your soul.”  Basically the Spirit was showing me that when I listened to this music so frequently and had love for it in my heart, it was compromising me spiritually.  I couldn’t be healthy and free in the spirit with those chains keeping me prisoner. You can’t love the world and Jesus.  Just thought I’d share..

    Brittany

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

    Pastor John

    These testimonies bring to mind an experience I had recently.

    In my teens and onward I developed a love for classical music.  I attended concerts, studied music and so on.  There was a lot I liked but if I had to nominate a favorite it was Beethoven.  Perhaps it had to do with the teenage mind I had.  For the last 20 years or so I have only infrequently listened to any of it.

    Recently, I was on Youtube and listened to some classical music videos.  They led me to search and I found a video of a Beethoven symphony.  I wanted Sarah to see what an orchestra looked like.  Anyway I listened to a part of this symphony that contained what is considered some of the most emotional and stirring music the man ever wrote.  It was not a great performance of it, but I was very surprised at my feelings.  It was childish, like a temper tantrum, and it stirred nothing in me except feelings of how pathetic it was.  It was so absolutely nothing to me!  It may not be the poison that some modern music is, but I discerned how immature that man was, how miserable and in need of God he was, and the world still has him on a pedestal.

    When we first heard the “Worthy” song, I had some other feelings regarding the song.  Various men have written music to some of those words and they tend to have a certain grandeur and majesty written into the music to evoke feelings.  But that song was straight from heaven where things are, simply and meekly, just what they are.  There was no need for show.  The simplicity was beautiful and glorious.  The feelings were real and needed no staging.  I felt a simple humility in singing the truth about the wonderful Lamb.  God is more than we know but He is humble.  It is unearthly.  In the music we are being given it is always like that.  Just simple truth and sincerity.

    Damien

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

    This was fantastic Damien.  AMEN!   I agree, and my testimony of music loving is very similar.

    As for our new song . . .”We worship the lamb. . . so thankful we can. . . ,”  that pretty much says it all.

    “The lamb is worthy.” 

    Simple.  ’nuff said.

    How could Tchaikovsky or Beethoven add anything of substance to that?!

    Brad :^)

  • 2008 Email

    John, this morning I was going through some documents, and I found this one, from an email from you in 2008.

    It felt so good to my soul, I wanted to type it out and send it back!  Something about it felt like I felt last night, when God’s presence was so sweet to my soul John.  Oh, to live in that place, with those feelings.  I still feel gratefulness this morning.

    God’s Spirit is our refreshing.

    Gary

    ===============
    “It is good to be back home after an absence of eleven days.  Late tonight, in prayer in my office, my earnest prayer to God contained more than just my words.  Sometimes God would finish my prayer for me, and at times, I knew God was giving me the prayer to pray at that moment.  I want to share some portions that I can remember of my communion with God tonight, and I ask you to help me to pray these things.  I want to see a move of God’s holy Spirit among His people!
     
    Here are some of the thoughts, and some of the words the Lord and I said to one another tonight:
     
    The happiest people on earth are those who have done the work they were given to do  They are the people who were prepared at the moment Jesus gave them a task to perform. The happiest people on earth are those who have not missed their opportunities.  
     
    The saddest people on earth are those who were unprepared when their moment came.
     
    “Lord, deliver me from worldliness.  Deliver me from the things that rob You of my time.  Deliver me from the things that rob me of Your money.  Deliver this body [of saints who meet in my home] from the things that rob You of their praise and that rob them of Your glory.  Let me serve those who are truly seeking you.  Let me know them and love them, and let them love and know these precious sheep here with me.”
     
    At one point, I began to pray this prayer:  “Lord, there are things we cannot change…”  Then, the Lord finished the prayer for me, and He said:  “… but things WILL CHANGE with sufficient prayer.”
     
    Is there something in your life that you wish you could change?  Then answer this question:  Have you prayed enough about it?
     
    Finally, the Spirit helped me pray this prayer:  “Lord, to serve You and Your people is the most precious thing in this world!  The most valuable thing in life is to be of value to Your people!  Lord, give us value!  Dwell among us!”

    jdc”

  • 1Corinthians Complete

    http://goingtojesus.com/site/php/translations.php?tname=cora:1:1

    Thanks for the hard work on the NT translation!  It is a good feeling to have something to read and know there aren’t any intentional misleading statements.  It kind of funny.  I remember standing on the street corner in Henderson years ago in front of the meeting building and I asked you about translating the Bible.  You answer if my memory is correct was “It would take a lot of faith.”

    It’s amazing  I can still picture us standing on the street talking.
    Wendell

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

    It seems as if I can recall that conversation, Wendell.  At the time, I could not see it being done, and without the help I have been given, it could not be done.  God is our strength!!  But please keep praying….there is much that remains to be done.

    jdc

  • Confused

    HI PASTOR JOHN   I HAVE A QUESTION.I AM ALITTLE CONFUSED, I HAVE HEARD SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT PREACHERS IN CHRISTIANITY ARE THE DEVILS CHILDREN. BUT THEN SAY THEY ALSO ARE GODS CHILDREN. I KNOW WE NEED TO LOVE THEM AND PRAY FOR THEM,BUT IF THEY ARE THE DEVILS CHILDREN ARENT WE TO NOT HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH THEM.HELP ME TO UNDERSTAND BECUASE IM CONFUSED.   THANK YOU GOD BLESS YOU ALL   THOMAS C——-

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

    Yes, Tom, you certainly are confused.  Let me try to help clear these things up for you.

    The Greek word often translated “minister” in the Bible means “server”, or “table waiter”, just like the waiters who work in restaurants everywhere.  When you go to a restaurant, and the waiter serves you food from the restaurant’s kitchen, he is “ministering” the food to you, or “serving” you.  This is, in a spiritual sense, what “minister” means in the Bible. A “minister of Christ” is someone who brings you food that has been cooked in God’s kitchen (so to speak) by Jesus.  We “minister” Christ to people when we serve spiritual food to them that truly is from Christ.  You may recall that in the Bible, God often speaks of His servants (ministers) “feeding” His people.

    But, Tom, when we feed people spiritual food that does not come from God’s kitchen, we are not ministering Christ to them.  Instead, we are serving them spiritual food that someone else has cooked, either a man or an unclean spirit.  The scriptures speak of both “doctrines of men” and “doctrines of demons”.  God considers it a very grave offense for a man to serve His children spiritual food prepared by anyone other than Him.  If we are teaching God’s children things that come from the devil’s kitchen, we are become ministers of Satan instead of ministers of Christ.

    To answer another point you brought up, there can be an enormous difference between being a “minister of Satan” and a “child of the devil”.  If anyone has ever said that all Christian ministers are “children of the devil”, he was wrong to say so.  I know some Christian ministers, and they seem to me to be wonderful children of God.  A minister of Satan is someone who is serving spiritual food that the devil has cooked.  But he may be doing it ignorantly, Tom.  This is the case with many Christian ministers.  In time, because those ministers truly love the Lord, they will discover their error and will start feeding people healthy spiritual food instead of feeding them the traditions and doctrines of Christianity.

    Along the way, as I have grown in Christ, there have been times when I discovered that some of the spiritual food I was serving God’s people was of the devil, not of Christ.  And as soon as I learned of it, I repented and stopped serving that poison to God’s people.  I didn’t want to be a minister of Satan, and it hurt to realize I had been such a minister — to the extent that I was serving Satan’s food to the people I loved.  I confessed my error to them so that they could be healed, and I never fed them that food again.  Until a man possesses the knowledge of God, Tom, he may qualify as “a minister of Satan” simply because he believes something is right when it is not.  But God is patient with us, and very merciful.  And when that man learns the truth, he can repent, and from that time, be a minister of Christ instead.  Our goal is to be nothing but a minister of Christ.

    On the other hand, to be what Jesus called a “child of the devil”, a person must actually be like Satan in his heart.  Jesus said that the devil “did not stay in the truth”, and there are some of God’s people who, like Satan, have not stayed in the truth that Jesus gave them.  So you see, Tom, for a person to qualify to be a child of the devil, a person must first be given the truth and then do what the devil did; that is, depart from it.  In other words, as strange as it may at first sound, to qualify to be a child of the devil, a person must first be a child of God.  This is true because it is impossible to forsake the right way, as the devil did, if we have never been in it.

    I should warn you about making hasty judgments.  Please do not think of all of God’s wayward children as “children of the devil”.  That title only applies to those who have been in the truth and have turned so far from it that they have become like the devil in their hearts.  And who among us can judge such things but God?  In the main, it is best for us to simply to pray for all who have gone astray, and leave the final judgment to God.

    Thank you for your questions.

    Pastor John

  • I Have Spoken In Tongues…

    http://www.goingtojesus.com/tongues-at-spirit-baptism.html

     

    Pastor John:

    I have talked in tongues one time i was at a conference with my church.  i haved tried multiple times after that in my personal prayers at home.  why can i not pray in tongues like i did tht one time?  Have i done something wrong?

    Ben

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

    Hi Brother Ben!

    You would probably be surprised at how many people over the years have expressed the same kind of questions you have about this. Jesus wants you to be free in the Spirit.  And he will lead you to his liberty.

    The problem is a difficult one to deal with because the thing that causes the problem — church religion — is the very thing that God’s people trust the most.  If you could find a body of believers who are full of the Spirit and that have rejected the religious system known as Christianity (there are many such saints, I have found), your spirit might be liberated from the shackles that are holding your spirit down.  It is most often the weight of religious form and tradition that prevents God’s children from experiencing life in the Spirit as they want to — the way it should be experienced.

    Other than that, I can only exhort you to keep your conscience clear so that you know the problem is not one of a guilty conscience. Keeping God’s moral commandments is very important!

    We will be pulling for you as you pursue the knowledge of your heavenly Father.  The materials on our other web site, www.GoingtoJesus.com, will help you.  And if you want edifying music, whenever you are on a computer, go to www.SongsofRest.com.

    God bless, and stay in touch.

    Pastor John

  •  

    Name: Sean K

    comments: Hi Pastor John:

    I had read some of your teachings on your website about the Holy Spirit and about Jesus, and had a few questions:

    1) If I understand your teachings correctly, you do not believe that the Holy Spirit has a personality as the Father and Jesus do, but that it is a force or power.  How do you view Matthew 28:19, 2Corinthians 13:14 and Rev. 1:4-5, where the Spirit is placed prominently alongside the Father and Jesus (in fact, in Rev. 1:4-5, the Spirit, described as the “seven spirits” or the “sevenfold spirit,” is place BETWEEN the Father and Jesus)? It seems the Spirit is treated as equal with the Father and Son in these verses.

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

    In my study, “The Influence of Trinitarian Doctrine on Translations of the Bible”, I point out that “power” could be taught as a fourth Person of the Godhead, using the same logic that is used to teach that the Spirit is a third person of the Godhead.  If God has a spirit, we would expect it to be referred to as having personality — God’s!  The same can be said about His power.  Below is an excerpt from that study:

     The Power of God:  A Secret Fourth Person?

    Trinitarians see as evidence of personhood the Scriptures in which God’s Spirit is said to have spoken, or to have felt something, or to have done a deed.  But Trinitarians see this in the Scriptures not simply because of what those verses state but because they have been taught to see it there.  Consider the power of God, by way of illustration.  There have been no voices raised to promote a doctrine which states that the power of God is a person; yet, “spirit and power” are frequently used in identical ways.  Jesus is said to be sitting beside power in heaven (or should it be “Power”? Mk. 14:62), and we are told that power (Power) will come back with him when he returns (Lk. 21:27).  It was God’s power, along with God’s Spirit, that overshadowed the virgin Mary (Lk. 1:35).  That being true, is Jesus then the Son of God’s Power or the Son of God’s Spirit?  According to Peter, Jesus was anointed by God with both “holy spirit and power” (Acts 10:38).  It was power that raised up Jesus from the dead (Rom. 1:4), and power will also raise us from the grave (1Cor. 6:14).  In short, the power of God is said to have done many of the same things the Spirit of God is said to have done.  Does that mean that God’s power is a person?  Of course not.  Still, were we to capitalize Power and (since power is a feminine Greek word) refer to it as She, and then teach naive souls that She is a fourth Person of a quadripartite God, some people would no doubt point to the verses in which activity associated with personality is attributed to God’s Power and “see” the evidence of personhood for themselves.  Doubtless, some would become indignant and angrily condemn as heretical (dunamamachianism?) all who would not believe that God’s Power is a fourth Person of the Godhead, equal in all respects to and “consubstantial with” the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  And would there then be another group of persecuted martyrs, burned at the stake for denying the Holy Quadrinity by denying the personhood of the Power of God?  The blood of many saints who refused to submit to the Trinitarian faith over the centuries bears witness that this question is not as far-fetched as would first appear.

    There is no “seven-fold Spirit” mentioned in the Scriptures.  The seven spirits of God mentioned in Revelation are seven heavenly beings, perhaps angels, that stand before the Father’s throne.

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

    2) You also teach that the Father created Jesus as an equal God, since the Father has the power to do this. What about Isaiah 43:10: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me” (RV). Thank you once again for taking time to answer my questions.

    In Jesus,

    Sean K

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

    I think you must have misunderstood something I have written.  If you would show me what I wrote that led you to believe that I teach the Son is equal to the Father, I might need to change that!  The Son himself said that the Father is greater than he, and I believe what he said.  So, if I wrote anything that led you to think differently, I will change it.

    If you have done the amount of Bible study I think you have done, you know that the word “god” has many applications.  The rulers of Israel were called “gods” by God Himself at Mt Sinai and other places; demons were sometimes called “gods”; and Jesus quoted the verse in Psalms where God referred to people to whom He sent His word “gods”.  Surely, then, if the Son was God’s agent in creation, the title “God” applies to him (Heb. 3:4)!  

    The word “God” in Isaiah 43:10, the verse you quoted, was being used by God to try to persuade His people Israel to stop trusting in and worshiping foreign deities.  He was not denying that the Son existed as God, or that there were no “gods” among the people Israel, to whom God’s word had come.

    If that does not answer your question, feel free to write again.  God bless you and those with you.

    Pastor John

Recent Posts