Posted in Q&A on August 30, 2018|
Hi Pastor John,
I’m wondering if Revelation 11:15 is speaking of Jesus: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
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Yes, that is correct.
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In that case, it seems like the woman mentioned in the previous verses would be the Jews. Would that also be right?
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Yes, the woman is Israel.
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Thank you,
Jenny
Posted in Q&A on August 29, 2018|
Hi Pastor John,
Thank you for that answer. (See post dated 8/28/2018: Who Were the “Devils”)
I heard before the pastor said “the devils that Jesus cast out in earth were creatures like man living in the formless and dark as genesis 1:2 said” before God created the new world. They just complicate it.
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That is strange teaching. Not from God.
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They also said that Satan is an angel and a worshiper.
They said that they are big than humans and they have wings too. Humans are made to worship. After Satan and his angels had been cast out, no worshiper in heaven so God need a worshiper and he calling all humans to worship him. Satan did not want believers to worship God because its a noise to him and he tremble. The weapons against them is worship (Ephesians 6:12) (very strange interpretation)
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All that is an invention of man. You can just forget about all that.
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“It was very different from your understanding, Angels have no wings and they are like humans (Hebrews 13:2) Satan is not an angel but a cherub (Ezekiel 28).
When a man living in God’s kind of life is what really Satan hates because all they can do is sin and they cannot have God’s kind of life. So he deceives in earth as a roaring lion knowing that he has little time. (clearer) If pastors can know this they can say ‘Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.’ (2 Corinthians 2:11)” (Pastor John)
Is it possible that Satan became “the god of this world” when Adam disobeyed God? (When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12)
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The Bible does not say, but that is probably when it happened, yes.
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“And the great Dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Accuser, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven saying, ‘For this, rejoice, O heavens and those who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea! For the Accuser has come down among you, having great anger, knowing that he has little time”’ (Rev. 12:9, 10a, 12).
In that verse, is it correct that Satan will not come back to heaven?
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That is correct.
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And from the time Satan and his angels had been cast out in heaven, is it possible that the remaining angels will not sin? ( For this, rejoice, O heavens and those who dwell in them!) Satan deceives now in earth but not in heaven.
Leika
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Yes, the remaining angels are faithful. And Satan has no remaining influence in heaven. Nor does he have any influence on the holy Ghost that is in you!
Pastor John
Posted in Q&A on August 28, 2018|
Pastor John,
When a person baptized in the Holy Spirit is not living in godly way, the holy spirit is grieved. Is it possible that the holy spirit will depart from such a person?
Leika
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Hi Leika.
Good question. The short answer is yes. The Spirit may leave a backslider, under certain conditions, while he is still living in this world. Paul refers to those who have been thus cursed as “reprobates” (2Cor. 13:5–7). If a backslider never repents in this life and dies in his sin, the Spirit will no doubt be taken from him after death; however, the Bible is silent about that specific point.
Thankfully, God is very patient, “not willing that any should perish”, and He will wait for many years, for a wayward child to repent. We may all be thankful for that.
Pastor John
Posted in NetMail on August 28, 2018|
Pastor John,
I make a poem yesterday:
Babylon the Great
The great and mighty city
The mother of harlots, full of mystery
She drunk the blood of the martyrs
And she was full of blasphemy
The habitation of the devils
The place of every foul spirit
A cage of every unclean
A congregation of the dead
Her hand full of abominations
And filthiness of her fornication
Her wine and delicacies, drunk and ate by all nation
Her sins and iniquities, reached and seen unto heaven
Babylon the great is fallen!
She will be thrown down
And shall not be found
For the judgement will come
God is calling her people in Babylon
Come out of her, my people!
For their ceremonies, full of vanity
Come out! For her plague will be exceedingly great!
Leika
Posted in Q&A on August 28, 2018|
Pastor John,
If Satan and his angels were cast out in heaven when Jesus ascended to heaven, then who were the devils that Jesus cast out in earth?
Leika
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Hi Leika.
Thank you for the question.
Satan and his angels were heavenly beings, of course, and could speak face-to-face with God. The Bible tells of times when that happened. God often sent them to earth, as He did other angels, to accomplish one purpose or another. In fact, Satan was in charge of this world; so, he was here often. You will remember that Paul called him “the god of this world”. In the Temptation, when Satan offered Jesus authority over the nations of earth, he had the power to do that because, as Satan mentioned to Jesus during the Temptation, God had given all the kingdoms of the world into his hand.
Satan’s angels are the demons that Jesus cast out of people when he was on earth. They had left their own heavenly bodies behind in order to live in human bodies, but they still had access to heaven when they were not in the human bodies they had possessed. In Genesis 6, we are told that these “sons of God” possessed human bodies in those early days because they lusted after women. Read 1Kings 22, and you will see an example of a demon talking face-to-face with God in heaven, and then coming down to earth to possess humans – false prophets, in that case.
What is meant by Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven is that they had their privilege to be in God’s presence taken away. Instead, they were condemned to wander among men on earth until the end, when Satan and all his angels will be damned forever. God has cursed them with the greatest curse, the curse of not being able to repent. They cannot feel regret for wrongdoing. Therefore, all they can do is sin. Peter describes their spiritual condition this way: “God spared not angels who sinned, but tartarized them and consigned them to chains of blackness, to be held until the Judgment” (2Pet. 2:4).
So, Satan and his angels, as well as other heavenly beings, were once blessed to be in heaven, but they often came to earth. Now, they can be nowhere but on earth. By the way, I love the sympathy for us that came from one of God’s faithful heavenly beings when he saw Satan and his angels cast down to earth to live here all the time with man: “And the great Dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Accuser, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven saying, “For this, rejoice, O heavens and those who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea! For the Accuser has come down among you, having great anger, knowing that he has little time” (Rev. 12:9, 10a, 12).
Hope that helps answer your question.
Pastor John
Good morning pastor John.
This excerpt is so good to me! It touched me as soon as I read it. Jesus did not want this world. Jesus wanted his Father and the glory his Father wanted him to have. It made me think of sister Sheila and her testimony of being homesick. Oh, to have our hearts and eyes so fixed on Jesus that when they offer us the world, we can’t even see what they offer.
This world will never know our hearts, for we have been forever changed.
Touched by the Son.
Makes me homesick too.
Beth
Posted in NetMail on August 21, 2018|
Hey there,
We had such a sweet science lesson yesterday. I looked in my teacher’s notes and saw this. Ha! It made me smile. I was suppose to ask the kids this question and give them the answer, “God”. They didn’t get that simple answer. They got the whole testimony, again, on Jesus asking me pretty much the same question, “Who created science?” It was so sweet to start our first science class of the year with that testimony. It’s the reason they were ever born. 
Cris
Posted in Q&A on August 18, 2018|
Hi Pastor John,
A few months ago, I learned about the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I have been desiring it since but have not experience it yet. Do you know anyone or any church near where I live that I can have fellowship with people that have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Thank you for your time,
David A.
Washington State
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Hi David!
God bless you, and thanks for writing.
It used to be that I could suggest that someone in your situation go to a local Pentecostal Church (Church of God, Pentecostal Holiness, etc.), but no longer. They are becoming as big and as dead as the denominations they once came out of. If you do find a Pentecostal Church in your area, the people might still have some joy and power – which would be good – but in the main, Pentecostalism has lost its way and has dried up, the way the once-dynamic Charismatic movement of the late 20th century has dried up.
The way things are now in congregations that used to be free in the Spirit, it is best for you just to seek God alone. Better to be alone and free than to try to serve God in the midst of confusion.
You are blessed! Just stay thankful that God has given you a thirst for His righteousness, and go with it. That thirst is His invitation to come drink of His fountain (cp. 1Cor. 12:13), and God does not make such invitations frivolously. Expect to receive the holy Ghost!
There are a number of online testimonies from people about receiving the holy Ghost. They would encourage you in the Lord, I think. Also, you might enjoy reading my father’s testimony here:
http://goingtojesus.com/gtj_tracts.html?tname=tract-001-howireceived
We will be waiting to hear YOUR testimony soon! Please stay in touch. It is exciting to us when we hear that Jesus has touched another soul! He is good!
Your servant in Christ,
John
Posted in Q&A on August 13, 2018|
Pastor John,
What does this mean, from 1John 5?
Who is it who overcomes the world except he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Beth D.
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Hi Beth.
As I recall, those verses were tampered with in about the 10th century by Christians in order to make them appear to teach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Look at the King James Version, and you will see what I am talking about. Those translators used the corrupted Greek text for their translation of 1John.
Our translation, which you quoted, is based on the Byzantine Greek Text, which predates the 10th century corruption; still, the verses are difficult to understand.*
I could come up with a reasonable and understandable interpretation of those verses, as we translated them, but I would rather not. The best thing for us to do, I think, is just to be familiar with them, and trust Jesus to give us perfect understanding of them in his time.
Thanks for the question.
Pastor John
*To view our translation of these verses, please follow the link below.
Posted in Q&A on August 12, 2018|
Pastor Clark,
I found your business card (“Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism”) on the restroom sink of the public library in South San Francisco, California, (in case you’re curious). I am new to your website, I am 59 years old (in the flesh), 35 years in Christ, male, and I live in San Francisco. I have questioned Matthew 6:14-15 (and other similar verses) maybe almost as long as I’ve been a Christian: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”; (ASV). I’m sure we agree that God is perfect and righteous, and that God does not (typically, if ever) forgive a person without that person being repentant and having saving faith. So the question arises, “Does God expect me to forgive one who is unrepentant and in bad faith?” In other words, does God expect of me what He does not expect of Himself, which would seem peculiar?
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In short, no. God expects us to be like Him, who has never forgiven anyone who refuses to repent.
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Of course there is no justification for my hating or having an ill heart toward anyone — I should bear my cross, and die to self, care for all people in conjunction with “the grace of God which [is] with me,” and hopefully win others over by my new godly heart and conduct.
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I disagree, a little. God hates some people and things, and we do, as well, if we are like him (e.g., Ps. 5:5; 139:22; Rev. 2:6). Still, as you say, ill-will is ungodly.
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We sometimes hear it said conversationally that we should (or do) “forgive and forget”: Am I really forgiving if I do not forget? So, maybe forgiving does not include forgetting?
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Nobody really “forgives and forgets”, unless he has a good heart and a bad memory. God forgives, but He never forgets.
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Two verses come to my mind: “If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men,” Romans 12:18 (ASV), which suggests to me that we might not “be at peace” with some, and therefore might not be on friendly terms with some. And if I’m not “at peace” with some, can I truly be forgiving of them?
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A right relationship with some people is to have no relationship with them at all. After all, God did cast Satan out of heaven. Right? And Paul exhorted the saints to keep no company with stubbornly sinful brothers and sisters.
Romans 12:13 means only that we should do our part to be at peace with others. People who do not repent are not doing their part, and we cannot do their part for them.
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And 1 Corinthians 15:33 (ASV) tells us, “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals,” which suggests that we should not allow our “good morals” to be corrupted by keeping “evil companionships.” If I believe someone to be “evil company” and a corrupting influence on me, and if I believe it necessary to distance myself from someone for these reasons, it seems that my “forgiveness” of that person is dependent on the person’s faith and repentance (which seems similar to God forgiving us in response to our faith and repentance).
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Amen.
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Because of my knowledge of and history with a person, I might find it difficult if not impossible to trust that person; am I truly forgiving a person if I feel that I cannot trust that person?
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You are confusing forgiving a person with willingness to forgive. God is willing to forgive almost anyone, all the time, but He only forgives those who come to Him for forgiveness in the name of His Son Jesus. It would be absurd for you to trust an evil person. The way I say it is that forgiveness is the creation of God, blending a willingness to forgive in one person with repentance on the part of the another. If there is only repentance without a corresponding willingness to forgive (a la Judas or Esau, who repented but found no forgiveness), or if there is only a willingness to forgive without repentance, no real forgiveness can exist, even if people say that they have done it. If God is not in it – and he is not, if there has been no repentance – then it is just another phony claim by religious men.
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When we’re told that love (agape) believes all things (1Co 13:7), does this mean that one who I believe to be untrustworthy should be treated as — and thought of as — trustworthy?
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Love believes all things that are true, not all things that anyone says, whether or not he is telling the truth. Only the simple-minded do that, as wise Solomon once said: “The simple believe every word.” The love of God makes us wise because it “rejoices in the truth”, never a lie.
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Or should we, on a case-by-case basis, lean on the Lord and ask for His direct guidance in answering these questions? Pastor Clark, I expect nothing from you in the way of response to my questions, but if you don’t mind sharing relevant convictions, I Thank you very much!
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I am very impressed with your questions, and very glad that you asked them. Good questions are as much from the Lord as are good answers. In over 40 years of ministry, I have never met a soul who had not been taken in by the Christian myth of “unconditional love”, and by the nonsensical Christian doctrine of “we have to forgive everybody”. If we forgive the man who does not repent for robbing our house, we are inviting him to do it again. Such Christian teaching does not make us godly; it makes us suckers.
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I am in the process of reading your article, “Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism.” I’m sure you’ve probably received many correspondences related to your article over the years. My first impression is of disagreement with your stance, but I’ve only read it once, and am starting my second time through. In a couple of months or so, I want to get back to you with some thoughts related to it. I am confident of my salvation, and I have never spoken in tongues; however, I believe in the legitimacy of tongues as a gift.
Love your Brother in Christ,
Bill
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That would be great. Please do. But I might have a better idea. My wife and I, and another couple, will be in your area in early September, visiting friends. Maybe we could meet and discuss these things face to face. What do you think?
Thank you so much for writing. God bless! The Lord is with you.
Your servant in Christ,
John
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