Noticed smthg interesting in Genesis…

I was listening to your the OT class on a CD about how physics of the earth changed after the flood with the lifespan shortening & Noah getting drunk for the first time & I noticed something interesting. The first time in Genesis that the word “month” is used in the date is when the flood happen. There is not a reference to “month” before the flood. Did the moon have 30 days cycles before the flood? The moon was there as the lesser light in the night but is there any reason to assume there were months beforehand? Their were days and years (cycles of the sun?) but not mention of months. The moon affects the ocean tides so were there tides? We had a god discussion about “months” and what God did with the flood this am. I’ve noticed lately how much I’ve assumed in the Father and Son book that was wrong. We must be careful about always we just “assume” to be true. Good to think on.

te.
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It is not safe for us humans to assume anything about anything. You have obviously caught on to how ignorant we are, as a species. When we reach that point in our spiritual journey, we can really begin to enjoy the journey, and sincerely examine our own thoughts, which is what Paul told the saints to do: “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.”

jdc

JustinTV

Pastor John:

I sure do appreciate JustinTV. I am taking the time today to watch the rerun of Wednesday night’s meeting. Wow. Have had to stop and rewind often, taking notes, just to get the “meat”. Sure enlarges compassion for our brethren out there in Christianity, wherever they are on the planet. Mmmmm… Good feelings.

Brad

Billy M – Dream / Just Now 3:34 am

Pastor John:

I had to write this dream down–I can barely type, because I feel so much of the power of God. Truly, we can do nothing without Jesus; it’s all Jesus (what he does) or it’s all nothing at all, and we know that Jesus never does anything unless his Father works through him to do it.

In my dream, I was in a big auditorium filled with people that I knew but more than I did not know. I saw you sitting across from me in the center of the auditorium as I was sitting in the right wing. Everyone was singing songs that I have not heard before. As we were singing the songs, some of us were writing the songs in a notebook, and every time that we finished the songs, the whole auditorium would speak in tongues and give God praise–the power of God was so strong in the room that it made you speak in tongues; it was an amazing sight–the love of God was just overwhelming. A man was sitting beside me and he spoke to someone next to him and said, “I love how this one speaks in tongues.”, as he was pointing to me. Then, the Spirit filled my soul and I spoke in tongues, with all of my being. It was such a deep feeling and I could feel the cleansing effect it had in my heart.

After I spoke in tongues, I turned to the stage and saw a grinding wheel, and it was spinning at a great speed. I saw a pair of hands holding a person to the wheel as I watched sparks flying all around it. As the person was being grinded, a song was coming from them, but it was out of tune. But, the more the more the person was being grinned, the more the song became in tune and easier to understand. When the grinding stopped the wheel stopped and those hands picked up that person and sat him in a seat in the auditorium. Then, the whole congregation in the auditorium spoke in tongues and started singing again. When I looked again at the grinding wheel, it read, “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD”. After the hands sat the person in their seat, they picked up another mass (person) and started the grinding process over again. When God is finished grinding, each person became a song that was perfectly in tune. I heard another song and started writing that one on the tablet that I had; We all know that song;

Through it all, through it all.
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all, through it all . . .

I said (in my heart), “I know this song and started singing with the congregation with my whole heart. After the song, the whole room yielded to the power of God and started speaking in tongues and praising God as before. At that time, I drew a diamond in front of the song. Then, I awoke and was feeling those same feelings in the dream.

I believe I read in your father’s book about a grinding wheel. I really would like to read that again.

The meeting last night was wonderful. You were saying that all we need to do is yield (to the power of God). We can not do anything! But we can do all things though Christ that strengthens us. It’s about Jesus. In the dream, God is the one who does the grinding and it is God who sits us down in our place–like Gary’s song, “Put us in order”. I started thinking about the older saints–they knew without a doubt that what happened to them was no one but God doing it, and they trusted God with the whole hearts and yielded to the power of God. They knew they are nothing without him and they had confidence in that.

Your servant in love,
billy m.

Salvation

Hi John,

Just a quick note: something I was relieved to discover in my Bible reading…

I am so dog tired of hearing the claims of the “I’m-saved-and-you-can’t-make-me-doubt-it” Xns on Facebook.
So, I dug in and did some reading, with my wonderful assistant—Strong’s Concordance—just to really see what the Bible says about salvation, and was relieved by the many scriptures that support the truth. (Xns make it so confusing trying to have it their way!)

One scripture, in particular, that JUMPED out at me, I don’t recall ever having read before, but it is pretty interesting, among many others that satisfy the fact that salvation is a future hope.

1Thess 5:9 – KJV – “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. . .”

1Thess 5:9 – NASV – “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. . “

1Thess 5:9 – NIV – “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1Thess 5:9 – PJHV – “For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Master, Jesus Christ. . .”

(The NIV is the one that comes the closest to being a bad influence, with the possibility of a misinterpretation based on “receiving” salvation in the present, as Xns proclaim.)

But the word “obtain” is pretty much a slam dunk of something that is to be received in the future; something to work for, to hope for, to live for. PRAISE GOD!!!!

I don’t know how Xns can read their Bibles and still hold onto the notion that they “got saved” (received their guaranteed salvation forevermore) when they “accepted Jesus into their hearts.”

I felt led by the holy Ghost to research that, and it has refreshed me this morning.

Brad
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When I was young, I also did a survey of the various forms of “save” in the New Testament (i.e., after the day of Pentecost. I wanted to see what the apostles said about salvation after they were born again.

As I recall, about 75% of the times that the apostles used one of the forms of “save”, they used it in a future tense, as in the phrase, “shall be saved”. About 23% of the time, they used it with a present meaning, as “being saved”. And about 2% of the time, they used “saved” in the past tense. It was clear to me that Christians had it all wrong. They use “saved” almost exclusively in a past tense form, which is an obvious corruption of the gospel.

Be thankful that you have the sound judgment and the humility to bow to whatever God has said about salvation, Brad. It is no small thing. And pray for the masses who have been swept up in this “get saved” madness. At some point in the future, I feel sure, Jesus will raise up somebody who will help them stop claiming what they must work to obtain: the salvation of the Lord.

I leave you with Jesus’ words from John 5:28-29

28. The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
29. and come out, those who have done good things unto the resurrection of life, but those who have practiced evil unto the resurrection of damnation.

When is the last time anyone has heard any Christian, whether a minister or not, refer to those verses? I have never heard a Christian sermon based on those verses, or on these verses, from Romans 2:

6. [God] will render to every man according to his deeds,
7. to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life:
8. but unto those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give indignation and wrath.
9. There will be tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first,and also of the Gentile,
10. but glory, honor, and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

jdc

Music from Heaven

Dear Gary and Darren, and John . . .

I am basking in that prayer song this morning, “Put Us In Order, Lord.”

I don’t quite know how to express this, but I’ll try. . .

I’ve been thinking about the songs the Lord has given—and continues to give—and it’s almost inexplicable to me. . . they are SO beautiful. . . and I’ve been wondering. . . how they seem to be only for those hearts and souls that are yielding to this truth, as if the songs are already in God’s repertoire and He delivers them to Darren, or to Gray, or Donna, etc., one by one, to each according to their particular talents and styles, in order for His particular message or teaching or healing to be administered to those individuals who love Jesus, and love the truth. For example, brother Troy was significantly touched by “The Father Dwelt in Thick Black Darkness”, which has drawn him closer to the Truth and to the Body. Michelle has fallen more in love with Jesus lately, partly because of the influence of some wonderful songs. Others have their own individual favorites that stir their souls. These songs go deep, in different ones, for different reasons. They speak to the heart, through the holy Spirit, in ways that are so remarkably different than any other music.

Christian music doesn’t even come close. In most cases, Christian songs don’t come from God to the musician. They come from the musician, oftentimes from a heart that still hasn’t been truly cleansed by God. There’s a peculiar quality in Christian music that seems to be trying too hard to praise God; I’ve heard some that sound as if they’re straining to worship God, or trying to deliver a message or a feeling that isn’t there, so they struggle to express it in a forced, worldly way, like a “lament” or a “blues” kind of style. Poor souls: that’s all they know. Christian songs talk ABOUT God, but our songs are FROM GOD, and express His truths, and His ways, and His feelings—in a personal, intimate way!!!! And God’s people who’ve been caught up in the snare of Christianity for so long are usually numb to the feelings that are raining down on us in these songs. I’ve given many gifts of CDs to people, only to find out later that they listened once or twice and that was it. Instead, they prefer the familiar profane music of Christianity (of the world) to this pure music that has true healing ability. Even dear holy-Ghost-filled brothers and sisters cannot hear our music in the same way that we do, because they’ve been polluted and deadened by the styles of other religious music. They might sense a glimmer of radiance in some of our songs, but they fail to pursue it; they don’t hunger for more. Some have even returned the CDs to me, and thanked me, politely, with no explanation. Their condition is all too obvious, and sad.

Well, to each his own, I suppose. But give me Jesus, night and Day; give me Jesus all the way.

Gary, this new song is a perfect blend of your lyrics—your personal testimony; and Darren’s nimble guitar embellishments, and John and Donna’s holy voices…

It will remain in my heart all day long, because I need to stay under the “order” that is expressed in this song. It is truly a prayer that ought to stay on our hearts all the time.

Love,
Brad

GCC stories

Hey John

I just finished reading chapter 5 of the GCC stories. All I could do is cry. The part about little Jimmy Clark was new to me. God crushes the heart to make it able to rejoice in truth; He ruins dreams to awaken us to His righteousness; He takes those we love that we may learn to love Him first.

John, thanks for the GCC book. That is a story of God.

Junior

Anna – reading Genesis

Hi Pastor John,

I’ve been thinking lately about how it would be a good idea while I’m not in school to spend this time to get established in knowledge, specifically the Bible. The other day, I had the day off so I started by going to Starbucks and sitting while I drank my coffee. I decided to choose a reading plan from that Bible app. on my phone that Bekah had talked about in one of the last meetings.

The plan started off in Genesis, so I began to read. Actually, I began to read very quickly. I figured I had read Genesis Chapter 1 several times and it was pretty straight-forward.
A few verses down, I stopped. I decided to start over, read slowly, and pay close attention to the detail, keeping in mind the knowledge about the Father and Son that we have been shown. So, here I sat on the couch, people coming and going, the environment quite bustling…and as I began to read again from the top, it was as if everything around me became quiet and I was sucked into this warp where all I noticed was what I was reading. It was as if I was reading Genesis for the very first time. The God that created the earth, paying close attention to every detail, is the same one attending to all the details to my own insignificant life, and who was at that moment, allowing me to experience a morsel of Creation. As I read about the birth of the earth, I could literally feel the crispness, the newness, the pureness of the new day. When I read about the whales being created, I could hear the mighty “whoosh” of the water spewing from their backs. When have I ever read Genesis before and have tears well up in my eyes? It was so interactive.

I know God did that for me because I have been praying for more knowledge and to enjoy it. He opened that book right up for me.

Anna
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That is beautiful, Anna. Thank you for letting us in on that testimony!

I remember the Lord, some years ago, putting it on my heart to read the first chapter of Genesis. At first, I questioned why. I thought to myself, “I have taught Genesis in the community college system for years. What else could there be for me to learn about it?” But then, I knew that Jesus always has a good reason for putting things in our hearts to do, and besides, I also knew that he is well able to teach us new things from the things we think we already know. So, I sat down and read it.

I made it to verse 9, where the waters were commanded to be gathered into one place. Then Jesus asked me, “If the waters were gathered in one place, then how many places could the land be in?” I understood immediately what he meant. All land on this earth used to be in one place, just like the waters. I was already aware of what geologists call “Pangaea”, the super-continent that broke apart to form the seven continents we have today. I loved that! The Bible tells of Pangaea, too!

That was a good conversation piece for me and Brother Bob, as you might imagine.

Pastor John