sin of Sodom

Pastor John:

Somebody told me recently that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they did not show proper hospitality to the two visitors that came to visit Laban. I thought that he destroyed those cities because of their perverse immorality, not because they didn’t help people who needed a place to sleep that night.

A.S.

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Hi A.S.

I have heard that theory before, but it is silly.

God did not pour out fire and brimstone on those cities (and two others as well, Admah, and Zeboiim) and kill all those men, women, and children because they were lacking in the social graces. The wealth of those cities led to the sins of sloth and excess mentioned in Ezekiel 16:49, which led to the kind of life that was an abomination to God (v. 50). Lack of proper etiquette would never have been described by the prophets an abomination to God.

jdc

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Sanctifying God in Our Hearts

Bro. John:

Last night’s message on sanctifying God in our hearts was so wonderful! Whew! When I think on some of the things said, I can still feel the strength and confidence of the Lord rising up in my soul!

Tonight, I ran across something that you wrote not too long ago titled, “What God Hates Most.” The words paralleled somewhat the message of sanctifying God in our hearts. I wanted to share them because they felt so good to read again, especially added to what we received last night. Here are some excerpts:

“The Israelites failed to destroy God’s enemies out of Canaan’s land because those enemies were a mixture of good and bad, and a mixture of good and bad is not repugnant to men as it is to God. Men typically will not get rid of evil if that evil is mixed with some good things; the flesh is satisfied to settle for something less than purity, but God is not.”

“Weigh the cost before you attempt to walk on the road of holiness. Many have begun the journey without realizing that it is the most dangerous place in the universe for souls who are not fully committed to God. God hates a mixture in His people. He wants no one “on the fence.” He wants us to be like Him and live so that what we are in our hearts is what people see in us every day. With all His heart, He wants us to love Him and be happy, and be saved in the end; but His second choice is that we hate Him and follow the flesh completely, not that we live a life that looks good but disguises the way we really are. That is the thing He hates the most.”

Preacher Clark put a cap on it with one of his “pearls” from a home prayer meeting:

“If you fall in love with the Lord, you won’t have a hard time being true to Him.”

Sandy

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 54:17

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Hopelessness

Hi Pastor John,

It has been a long 2 weeks for me, filled with sadness and some of the most wonderful feelings I have ever felt from God. He has been very close to me while I have been going through the death of my father, and I will never be the same. One thing that I really felt the most is the hopelessness for someone who dies without being born again, filled with God’s spirit. There is no hope outside of the spirit of God for anyone who dies without it. I felt a sadness that no one else in my family could feel because I know that my father died without having that hope in him, and, in turn, that left me feeling all the feelings of hopelessness that he went to the grave with. I never knew how much that would hurt me and how much I hope I never see that happen again to anyone else, but I know it will unless God calls them to him and they yield to his spirit.

My daughter and I were going over to the funeral home to take care of some business there, and I told her how hopeless that my dad left me in this life, knowing where he is now. I told her I would never leave her with the feeling of hopelessness that I felt for my father (and if she does that to me, it would only be because of her not being where she is suppose to be in the Lord, but I did not say this to her. It was not the right time and I did not want to add to the hurt she was already feeling, but I will when the time is right.) I said, “What we are seeing right now is real, this is the end of the matter.”

We don’t want to leave anyone we love with the feelings of hopelessness when we fall asleep in Jesus.

Bro. S. H.

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Brother S. H.,

I have said many times that the greatest form of child abuse is for a parent to die without hope in Christ. That sin of dying in rebellion against God wars against the heart of the child and forces it either to suffer with the truth or to pretend the parent is not lost. But that latter choice only delays the suffering until the Final Judgment; it does not do away with it completely

I think it is wiser to be faithful to Jesus and suffer now, for we are told, “If we suffer with him, we will reign with him.

We hurt with you, S–, because we have fellowship with you in Christ, and you have chosen to suffer with him.

Pastor John

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Man’s Wisdom

Hi John,

I have been thinking about the NT class we had this past weekend all week. One part that really stood out to me was where you were teaching us on John 2:13-22, where Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for the Passover. There, he found men in the temple, selling cattle and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers sitting at their tables, and he made a whip from ropes and drove the animals and them all out, and overturned the moneychangers’ tables. You asked us a question: “What was so wrong with the sellers and moneychangers being there? It was a needed service. The Jews who came from foreign lands needed the moneychangers to change their money to the right tender. They also needed the animals for the sacrifices they were going to make at the temple. So why was this so wrong?”

In man’s wisdom, it made perfect sense for all of them to be there. It was convenient fro everyone, especially for travelers, because they were providing a much-needed service for the people of God to worship Him. But Jesus said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!“

John, I liked the way you explained it to us. I don’t want to even try to paraphrase what you said because I don’t remember everything. But what stood out to me is how, in man’s wisdom, a lot of things can look good and may even make sense and appear to be fine with God, but it can still be man’s wisdom, not God’s. We are not after man’s wisdom; we want the wisdom of God to reign in our lives. All of man’s wisdom is going to fail. It does not matter what that looks right to man; we want God’s wisdom to direct our lives, no matter how it looks to men.

Thanks
Stuart

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And my prayer, Stuart, is that God will save us from doing what seems good in our own eyes by granting us to know His will in all things. Doing what seems good instead of doing the will of God is the most deadly of earthly traps because those who do what seems good can easily become proud of what they have done.

jdc

 

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Ephesians Scriptures

Pastor John,

I woke up this morning with the tract SUBDUED on my mind.  Brother Gary said he had recently re-read it and it was instrumental in helping him seek God.  I felt a strong kinship with him in Spirit, going through similar situations.  I really felt the need to get low before God and ask Him to do for me as he had done for Gary.

In that tract, “Subdued”, your father used some phrases from Ephesians 4, although he doesn’t quote them.  I found them through my concordance and began researching and enjoying Ephesians, which is full of gold nuggets!

In comparing the KJV with the NIV, I noticed a glaring difference in Eph 4:26, 27.  Since you know the exact Greek, could you speak about this difference?  Is it a difference in translation or interpretation, or both?

I got the feeling that the NIV’s Christian bias, typical for Christianity, is one of a “forgiving” nature, i.e., “Don’t go to bed while you are still angry at someone”  or  “Settle your disputes and don’t be angry at bedtime.”  So, I’m curious as to the meaning of the precise Greek translation.  According to the KJV and NIV, Paul was saying two completely different things!  I would like to know if you have discerned God’s true meaning in that section.

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The NIV translation is dead wrong.  Your suspicions are correct.  In that verse, Paul is saying just the opposite of the way the NIV translates it.

Paul is telling his readers never to stop being angry.  The Greek says, “Be angry, and do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down on your fury.  Neither give place to the Slanderer.”  It has been my observation that whenever a child of God loses that holy anger against sin, he becomes confused about who is the enemy.  The phrase, “never let the sun go down on your fury,” means “never let your fury come to an end”, not “Make sure you get over it before you go to bed.”

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Another Q I had was about Eph 5:15, 16, 17.

“Don’t waste time,  because the days are evil.”  (?)  and “. . .don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”  (?)

Many times I cannot get an answer from God what His will is for a particular situation or circumstance.  How do we KNOW what God’s will is everyday, to walk according to it?  I do not want to be considered unwise (or foolish) by God.  That frightens me.  And if I am unwise, won’t God have mercy on me and help me to make better decisions?  He doesn’t want His children to be foolish, right?  Hope you can help.

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God is not always going to make things clear to our understanding.  In fact, many times He does not.  He tries the heart, not the head, so that we, as well as others, will see where we really stand with Him.  Many times, He creates hard situations, impossible to understand, just to show let everyone in the body know who is who in His kingdom (see 1Cor. 11:19).  If you are wise, regardless of what anyone thinks of you, it will be made obvious during those trying times.  You will make the right chocie because your heart, not your head, is close to God and understands in its own way what the will of God is.

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Another great section of Ephesians that I enjoyed was 6 :16, 17.  It clearly states that the “sword of the Spirit. . .is the word of God.”  (!!)  Paul is saying plainly that the holy ghost is the word of God, NOT the Bible!  PRAISE GOD!! That felt so good to me!  Such validation of the truth!

Brad

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Yes, that verse says quite plainly (even more plainly in Greek than in English) that the Spirit is the word of God.  I’m glad you noticed that.

Pastor John

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The Beast 2

I have had some really bad moments watching TV lately in regards to homosexuals.  I was watching a home decorating show the other day and then all of sudden the “couple” who owned the house were two men.   Later I was watching a cooking show and they had to cater a wedding and it was for two men.   YUCK!   I get so mad.  I refuse to watch it even if they never show the homeowners again.   It’s such an evil surprise.   It won’t be long before anything on TV won’t be safe.

t.e.
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Hi Token:

The USA is sick.  And its days are numbered.  God will not continue to bless and protect such a filthy minded nation.  God help us to know what to do to protect our children, and ourselves, from the bold, filthy spirits that are protected and endorsed by this government, schools, and the advertisement and entertainment industries everywhere now.

Pray that God will raise up courageous, clean young men that will speak the truth plainly and will not fear what flesh can do to them!

 Jdc

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

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The Beast

John;

This homosexual thing sweeping the country is bad.  If they gain power, and we are [faithful to Jesus] and do not bow to that spirit, we will have to be in caves to have a place to live.  Christianity will bow to the money when that foul spirit gets in power.  Maybe some of God’s people will get out of that ABOMINATION.

I never considered the beast being that way?  Somehow I saw him in way like Hitler, but wiser.

Wendell

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He WILL be wiser than Hitler, Wendell, and he will hate the Jews more than Hitler did.  And, as the angel told Daniel, he “will not regard the love of women.”

It is coming, Wendell.  God has warned us all.  May God help us learn, in these easy days, to trust God and walk in His shadow.  The saints who are saved in the end will be those who develop their spiritual senses to discern the voice of God in a world filled with mad voices, and who become expert in following the guidance of the Spirit.

Pastor John

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

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Rom 6:3-4 Being Raised With Christ

Pastor John

RE:  Romans 6:3-4:    Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

These well-known verses from Rom 6 take on a new life in the light of the parable about the “manner of the Jews” (from a recent NT class).  We are raised “just as Christ was” so that “we too” might have the new life.  Jesus was raised and got “unwrapped” from the binding burial cloths.  It is intended to be the same for us.  It is interesting that the “might walk” is subjunctive.  It is possible, the potential to do it is available but WHO will do it?

I like how the ESV does it.

3  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

When God says something it changes the view of most anything!  What a weekend!  I really feel less and less a part of this planet.  Who of those who once knew me could know me now?  This is the only way to be a stranger.  There were things said and done that were from out of this world and will take you right out of this world.

What you said about becoming food others can eat!  My, my, my, my, MY!  Words of eternal life!

Funny thing, you get “wrapped up, tied up, tangled up in Jesus” and the truth is you are unwrapped, untied and disentangled from this world!

Damien

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Money Changers in the Temple

Bro. John:

From Jenny’s email:  “When I read this I thought how those with His spirit are His temple, so we must keep it clean, and not let it become a dwelling place of all those things mentioned.”

It reminded me of what the Lord told me right after He cleansed and restored “my temple” in 2006.  I remember the feeling of such peace that came after He touched me.  I asked Him what that feeling was and He told me: “That’s the feeling of a clean temple”. Praise God!

Not many nights had passed after he had touched me, that I awoke with instructions from the Spirit on how to keep my temple clean.  I was amazed at the love that I felt from Jesus that he was still caring that I should know and understand how to stay clean and holy before him.  As you said about the Law, this came as God’s kind of thinking and God’s kind of judgment.  It was not a “suggestion” on how to live from now on.  It was the Father’s thinking and it is the mind of Christ and his Father right now today.

11/28/06 “Seven things to be careful of:”

Proverbs 6

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

1.       A proud look

2.       A lying tongue

3.       Hands that shed innocent blood

4.       An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations

5.       Feet that be swift in running to mischief

6.       A false witness that speaketh lies

7.       He that soweth discord among brethren.

We have a very good God.  We are never without His instruction on how to live if our desire is a clean holy temple, but it always requires obedience to His will.

My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. (I love this!)

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

Bro. John, the Law truly IS holy and prophetic, for it will guide us our entire life in righteousness if we heed it.  But just as in Proverbs 6, it warns us of the consequences if we do not listen.

We serve an amazing God who has given us a life filled with commandment and law and reproofs of instruction!  Riches!  My, my!   I feel right now what the Spirit woke me with this past week:

“Blessed be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Sandy 🙂

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