Wow!  I am sad I am almost to the end of your book that I am reading!  I read this (below) yesterday morning and am still thinking about it.  The highlighted sentence painted a whole picture for me.  I could see myself, young and sitting perfectly still in the Catholic Church, not moving except when prompted to kneel or stand, or to make the sign of the cross, speaking only to recite their chosen words, having “communion” when it was the appointed time. Wow!  Never a word needed to be spoken for me to be programmed to reject the truth, to reject Jesus and the power of God, to reject you.  Every mass I sat in was slandering the real Jesus.  But….. Jesus intervened!

My heart was conditioned by ceremonial form to reject moving when Jesus moves, reject rejoicing, clapping, dancing, and crying.  I was never encouraged to feel Jesus fill a room or praise him when I did, or speak in His language, in His words when He moved in me.  Nothing in my heart, trained by that religion, should ever have wanted Jesus and everything he has given us here.  The slander began before I ever knew you existed.  My heart should have never wanted you; it was trained not to.  But it does!  Jesus did that!

The power of God doesn’t need words either!  Just as Jesus said, it condemns sinners without words!  It condemns Christianity without words.  That is something!  Satan is never going to one-up God! 

From your book:

Slander

The mere existence of the Institution, with age lending weight to its claims, condemns true men of God without words. Those who belong to the Institution do not even have to dirty their hands to protest against true messengers of God. Merely by continuing in the Institution’s forms, without uttering a word against any man of God, they maintain their appearance of righteousness and bolster their claim to be the representatives of Christ. This is what I call “institutionalized slander”, and it is Satan’s most effective weapon against God’s servants. This is how the Lord described it to me some years ago: “When a lie becomes the norm, normal people become liars.” And when normal people become liars, God’s messengers are condemned because they tell the truth.

As one brother recently testified, “If you want to be right with God, you have to want to be right with God more than you want to be right.”

Amen!

Beth D.

Good morning,

This is really good, from your online book!  Especially that last sentence.

God Had a Son before Mary Did*:

Paul’s heart was broken (cp. Phip. 3:18–19). He was frustrated in his purpose, just as Israel’s ancient prophets had been, by ministers of the Institution who won the hearts of God’s people (cp. Gal. 2:4–5). Paul bitterly expressed his wish that those who had led his converts astray would be cut off from God (Gal. 5:12), that is, that they would be damned. Paul’s converts in Galatia and Corinth were among the victims of the deception:

Galatians 3

1a.O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth?

…

3.Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 5

7.You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

8.This persuasion is not from the One who calls you.

2Corinthians 11

13.Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

14.And no wonder, for Satan himself is disguising himself as a messenger of light.

15.Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works

These scriptures show us that even in the days of the first apostles, Satan was working among God’s people to form an institution to which he could invite believers and thereby separate them from those who were the real government of God, such as Paul. In that effort, Satan’s eventual success is evidenced by his establishment of the Institution of Christianity, the church, as the norm for God’s children.

God’s children were seduced by the friendship of Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, into blending with the Roman Empire,^[129] and the Institution that was formed from that unholy alliance claimed for itself the name, “Christianity”. Holy men who were sent from God “not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power” (1Cor. 2:4) were replaced by men ordained by the Institution, whose gospel was a “word only” gospel (1Thess. 1:5) imposed upon civilization by the State. But in replacing true servants of Jesus, Satan and his ministers had replaced the true Jesus, and in replacing the true Jesus, Satan and his ministers had replaced the true God with a god more to their liking. When Satan offered Jesus the world, he turned it down, but when he offered the world to Jesus’ followers, many of them accepted it.

Beth D.

*  Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did

Hey, Pastor John!

Last night, when I sat down before bed to catch up on emails, I read your blog* and all the responses, and they felt wonderful!  It was perfect timing, it seems.  It seems Jesus is saying, “Come on, let’s round it up and reel it in.” 🙂  Swirling everyone up together since people were having similar thoughts and needs lately.  He’s so perfect!  I had just finished reading them, and I checked a fb message real quick, and when I opened fb, there was a post from an acquaintance complaining about the gas prices, and she had put a sticker on the pump that said, “Biden’s America stinks.”  I was so thankful that we don’t have to be there!  Lots of “friends” post things about gas prices lately, or complain, or make fun of some sort of thing going on in the government.  It’s just everywhere.  What are we spending our time thinking about?

I’ve thought about it before.  Kids watch princesses and superheroes, and they reenact it and live that.  People watch horror movies or read suspense novels, and they think about the bad there could be on every corner. People watch the news and videos about everyone else’s opinion, and they start believing it and seeing that “corruption” everywhere.  Of course you will!  That’s what you’re thinking about! 🙂  When you read Solomon’s Wisdom, you see the good in people.  When you read the Pearls sent out, you have a good thought that might correct your thinking for the day.  When you read the Suffering and the Saints book, you look for God in everything that goes on in  your life!  So, when you’re ready for conversation, even quiet time, that’s what your mind is thinking about.  I feel sorry for those who can’t see God in things, and would rather spend their time complaining and seeing only bad.  What a waste of time! 

Steven called me (to tell me about that wreck this morning) after I talked to you about all this, so I took it out on him, too! 😀 I had just started singing again, “Look up, God’s got a blessing on the Way.”  I told Steven that when people have their minds on everything else, and aren’t looking up and waiting for a blessing, that God could possibly have for them, they will miss it.  Look up!  I pray we all do that so that we don’t miss our blessings.  They are so much better than what this life has 🙂  Thank you again for this message reminder!

Leah

*See post March 6, “One Human Condition”, by Pastor John Clark, Sr.)

In your Blog*, you wrote this: “There are no political divisions in the kingdom of God.”  That was such a relief to my spirit when we read the Blog you sent out this morning.  There’s not even 2 of anything to have to chose!  There are NO divisions!  And the opposite of that is Christianity; that’s all it is –divisions and “choices”.  I thank God that He has given us one way into his one body by his one Son Jesus; by one baptism we receive his one spirit, into the one faith, to know the one God and Father over all and to have the one hope of being with him forever and ever.  The gospel is good for all! Thank you for this. 

Donna N

==========

John,

I love this message and all the responses to it.  It seems like the perfect cap to the end of our Matthew Bible study.  Jesus worked tirelessly to help his disciples attain to the knowledge that his kingdom was not of this world,  and he is still striving to get that same message in our hearts today.  

I am so thankful to have been taught that we are ambassadors for God, and that even though we live in this world, we wear it as a loose garment.  What liberty Jesus has created in our hearts through his Spirit as we strive to live in one accord in this body in this day and hour!  It is exciting to me to think of our being in one accord  with Jesus!

My heart is so full of gratefulness to know that our God has time, purpose and judgment set in place for our good, and that all our times are perfectly in His hands no matter how insane this world becomes.  To be hidden in Christ is so full of love and mercy for the body that it seems beyond our understanding at times.  I feel so well taken care of by the One who holds us in his hands. 

Thank you again for sharing this message with us. It really touched me. 

Love,

Bess

==========

John,

I appreciate your blog, One Human Condition. It is easy to get the economic and political events happening around us on our minds. Your message is like a compass keeping us on course, pointing towards the right direction. 

The other day, I was watching the news and saw the massive military Russian force that Putin has amassed against Ukraine.  I thought, he thinks he is in control. He doesn’t know that the outcome has already been decided. 

Mr. Putin is just one of all the world leaders that have been raised up to serve God’s purpose.  There is peace in knowing that. 

What matters now is what you have been saying for months, “What does Jesus want us to do?” 

Thanks again for sending out your message. 

Tom 

*See post March 6, “One Human Condition”, by Pastor John Clark, Sr.)

Hi Pastor John,

Thank you so much for this article.*  I need it. I need to be reminded often, to stay out of politics and this ungodly, earthly mess. It’s hard to watch freedom under attack and be chipped away, but in truth we really are not of this world. And this article gives me the right, godly perspective; the only way to look at it. God is not conservative or liberal, and His kingdom does not operate the way we do! Praise God and Amen!! I’m thankful we have something so much better to look to. We really do!!

I’ll never forget the distress I was in at the last “election”.  I was trembling in fear. The way that I felt was unlike anything I’ve felt. When I went to you about it, you were entirely unmoved by that political mess! I want to be like that. I’m thankful you were the strong tower I needed, and it gave me relief to note how unmoved you were!

And I’m thankful I listened to your advice then; stay out of it. At first it was hard to lay down political things and not get involved or pay it heed. I’ve had to lay down anything political thousands of times. But I continue to do so because I am not of this world. Pastor John, it would feel worse than anything to have not obeyed your advice; and I continually remember that.

Thank you Pastor John, so much! Please pray for me!

Love,

Jenny

*See post March 6, “One Human Condition”, by Pastor John Clark, Sr.)

Good morning,

Your message, “One Human Condition”*, was so good!  I’m hanging on to that last sentence, 

“So, hang in there, fellow sojourner.  How things are in this world is not how things will always be.”

I watched a Billy Graham documentary just last night, and I learned just how political he was.  I thought he just served as a “prayer advisor” for the presidents (from Truman to the second Bush), but that wasn’t it, at all.  He was very involved in politics and preached on the evils of communism and how important it was to vote, etc.  He even made political commercials for Nixon.  During the early 70s, they had a big Billy Graham Day in Charlotte (his birthplace).  Businesses and schools closed so they could have a big parade for him, and Nixon rode with him in the car during the parade.  The whole event was all contrived just for Nixon to get exposure in the south and help him get re- elected. 

They said that Billy Graham had been called “the most famous preacher on the planet” during the height of his preaching.  Last night, I saw more than ever that it was all just a big performance on a stage.  His first big preaching series when he went out on his own was in Los Angeles.  He was a friend to many of the movie stars.  One guy compared Mr. Graham to Frank Sinatra.  He said he had met both of them, and they both had the same charisma (which was probably the truth).  But in Christianity, Billy Graham was, and still is, considered a hero!  He is the face of Christianity.

I remember watching his specially televised sermons with Mama when I was a little girl in the 60s and early 70s.  I thought he must be a man of God.  He was such a powerful speaker, and all of those people would go down for the altar call at the end.  I had no idea that it was all a performance.  Another Hollywood show.  

I really saw it last night.  They showed a few clips of his sermons, and they were so empty.  There was nothing said of substance.  He would tell them if you feel badly for your sins and want to turn your life around, come down here and ask Jesus to come into your life.  That was it.  I imagine all of those thousands of people who went down there, felt a little relief at the hope of getting some relief, but then what?  Unless they received the One Hope, they were back to business as usual within a few hours.  I know that because I’ve answered those altar calls myself.  I cried and felt real conviction, and wanted something to help me change, but within a day or two, I was right back where I started.  Those kind of “sermons” without the Holy Ghost really are “clouds without rain”.  

Anyway, this is timely, that I would wake up to see what should be the rest of that documentary in this writing.  It’s such a mess in all of that political world, and Christianity is a big part of that world.  I felt it last night as I was watching that.  I was so thankful I know the truth and can see Billy Graham and Christianity for what it is!  I’m relieved to know I don’t have a part with any of it.  

Lee Ann

*See post March 6, “One Human Condition”, by Pastor John Clark, Sr.)

I really liked this article.*   

It reminded me that a few weeks ago I was watching the news, and my feelings were along the lines of, “why are President Biden and his advisers so absolutely undiscerning and foolish?”  Then I heard the Spirit’s voice inside of me say: “you’re still a republican.”  I realized, without really knowing it, I had been rooting for the “Republican” political thought process to win in recent events. It was more aligned to my conservative view of things.

But that view could actually be working AGAINST the will of God, because I don’t know exactly what God is doing with recent events.   The thought that followed was that I am an ambassador, a servant of Jesus.  It doesn’t matter how things go. That is in Jesus’ hands.  So it was a very freeing feeling not to worry about those earthly things. 

Those people, whose values are more “aligned” to mine, are NOT me.  They, along with every other political thinking view, would almost always hate the truth when it was spoken clearly.  I just want to be speaking the truth clearly when the opportunity arises, and to please my Lord Jesus.  

Thanks for articulating it so well.  They are thoughts of real peace.  A peace this world can never give us.

Gary

==========

Good morning, Pastor John.

Your message and Brother Gary’s email reminded me of something that happened this week.  I had stop for gas, knowing the prices were going up.  There were long lines at every pump.  As it got to my turn and I was pumping my gas, I was watching the price go up and up.  You could feel anger in the air.  As I finished and replaced the nozzle to the pump, I had the sarcastic thought cross my mind, “Thank you, Joe Biden.”  Before I could let those words cross my lips, these words hit my heart and came out my mouth: “Thank you, Jesus, I can pay for this gas!”  As it came out my mouth, the man at the pump beside me stuck his head around the corner.  He said, “There you go!!,” with a big smile.  It was if those words echoed through the gas station.  I looked around surprised that people heard me.  It changed the atmosphere, even if for a short time!!

People were smiling and nodding yes.

We are ambassadors for the kingdom of which most people aren’t aware.  Looking back, you could feel such an authority over this government just to speak who is really in control of this world, but not in a bad spirit like this world breeds.  An assurance inside that goes beyond their authority.

Thank you for teaching us what has been revealed to you from God.  It is, in turn, changing and shaping us for true life.

Love
Jammie

*See post March 6, “One Human Condition”, by Pastor John Clark, Sr.)

One Human Condition

by: Pastor John Clark, Sr.

There are no political divisions in the kingdom of God, and the life of every believer who walks in the Spirit reflects this truth, for he refrains from engaging in earthly political partisanships.  Being citizens of a heavenly country, believers are “ambassadors for Christ”, operating in this foreign land.  They are “foreigners” and “pilgrims” temporarily living on this dying planet.  This world is not the believer’s home, and those who act as if it is, those who pursue its benefits and pleasures, “pierce themselves through with many sorrows” (1Tim. 6:10).  Jesus commanded his followers to “turn the other cheek”, and he was the perfect example of doing so.  While on trial for his life, he explained to Pontius Pilate, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight” (Jn. 18:).  We are not here to improve earthly conditions for humans; that is for human governments to strive to do.  God’s saints are here, just as Jesus said he was, only to bear witness to the truth.

No purely human condition exists in the kingdom of God.  That is why earthly socio-political partisanships are contrary to the Spirit.  The life of godliness is neither conservative nor liberal, neither free-market nor communistic.  God’s way is simply not of this world, in any respect.  We find God’s men and women serving Him on earth as kings and queens sitting on thrones (David, Esther), and we find them serving Him as fugitives, running from authorities (David, Elijah).  We find them on earth as slaves (Eleazar, Onesimus), and we find them as slave-masters (Abraham, Philemon).  We find them among the richest people in the world, and we find them living in caves, wandering about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, maltreated (Heb. 11:37–38).  We find them on earth as Jew and as Gentile, as male and as female, as young and as old, as educated and as uneducated.  We find them sick, (Elisha died of a sickness) and we find them healthy.

But in God’s kingdom, all human conditions are irrelevant.  Paul touched on this when he wrote to the Galatians that in Christ, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor freeman, nor male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

There is only one purely earthly condition that is promised to all believers, at all times, in all places, only one earthly condition commonly experienced by all who have ever believed and served the true God: persecution.  Paul left his young protégé, Timothy, with no illusions; he warned him plainly that “all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”  This admonition mirrors that of Jesus himself, who warned Paul as a young man when he first was called, of all things he would suffer for the sake of the gospel (Acts 9:16).

Peter exhorted the saints not to be discouraged when they obeyed Christ and suffered for it: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is coming to try you, as though a strange thing is happening to you.  On the contrary, rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also rejoice and be glad at the revelation of his glory.  If you are being reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified” (1Pet. 4:12–14).

We who believe are promised but one thing on this wicked planet, that is, we will be misunderstood and unwanted by all who belong to this world.  Nevertheless, our sure hope of eternal life and peace overrides all the hurt that this world can inflict upon us.  That precious hope has sustained millions of hurting saints through the ages as it did Paul: “I consider the sufferings of this present time to be unworthy of comparison with the glory that shall be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18).  So, hang in there, fellow sojourner.  How things are in this world is not how things will always be.

I know you know all of this because you wrote it, but this is so good!  It’s just so good!  Made me think of that song ‘I want to love Him more”, and I changed it in my heart to want to love Him more than anything.  And to hear how Jesus felt about how they treated him!  Jesus had feelings as they mocked him; it hurt him.

It also made me think of brother Gary singing just from the heart the other night.  I loved that, and Ellie dancing was just pure, just pure and free in what she was feeling with Jesus.  We witness some wonderful things from Jesus, PJ.  I had to write you and share how good what you wrote is!  I can picture the Jews in the end, when their hearts are changed and they can see, reading this and it being so clear for them.  A wealth of knowledge laid out for them.  I would love to see that, and just think, God used you to write it!  That’s pretty wonderful.

from God Had A Son before Mary Did*

“To partake of God’s kind of righteousness was beyond the wildest dreams of man.  The rites and rules of the law were intended to lead Israel to receive that righteousness, but they didn’t know it, and in the end, the law that God Himself gave Israel to lead them to that blessing became their prison.  The law became their idol, and that dead idol would not allow them to receive the Messiah of whom it spoke.  They loved the law more than they loved the Son, and so, their temple and their holy days, their priesthood and sacrifices, their lovely candlestick and golden table became their prison, their curse.  The persecuted Son is the one who asked the Father for that justice:

Psalm 69

19.You know my reproach, and my shame, and my disgrace.  All those who torment me are before you.

20.Reproach has broken my heart, and I am in despair.  I longed for someone to pity me, but there was no one, and for comforters, but I found none.

21.They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst, they made me drink vinegar.

22.Let their table become a snare for them, and their peace offerings, a trap.

The liberty that Paul preached was the liberty from ignorance and spiritual weakness.  It was the gift of the knowledge of God’s will and the strength to do it.  In a powerful sermon in the 1970s, Preacher Clark summarized Paul’s message this way: “God can’t use you as long as you are going by a set of rules.  I don’t care whose rules they are.  God is going to give you His law now, today, and His law will be in your heart.  It will make you free from the law of sin and death, and you will be willing and able to do whatever God wants you to do, without a set of rules to go by.”  The liberty that God’s life brings is an incomparably glorious liberty, as joyous to the souls who enter into it as it is strange and frightening to the souls who will not.  The Son of God came to set us free from our fear of breaking a rule and being damned (Heb. 2:15).  He did this by re-creating us as people to whom rules and rites do not apply, as holy people who live under “a perfect law of liberty”, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”.  To keep this law, all we have to do is to walk in the kind of life we have received, the life that knows no rules and fears nothing but the God who gave it, our heavenly Father who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die in our stead.”

also from above:

“The Son of God came to set us free from our fear of breaking a rule and being damned (Heb. 2:15).”

That fear of being damned is so heavy in Catholicism!  From the very beginning that fear is instilled.  I feel like Jesus is still getting that out of me.  You can really see where it is an extension of the righteousness of man, and is so far from what God did for us.

Beth D.

* Going to Jesus.com – God Had A Son Before Mary Did