Dear Jack: Thank you for your e-mail. From its tone I get an impression that you find yourself in the anti-war fold. May I remind you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Consider David, a mighty man of valor who killed many including Goliath and yet was called a man after God’s own heart. When Jesus walked the earth in a human body, He had nothing but praise for even the Roman soldiers He encountered. Man’s dream of no more war can onlly be accomplished by the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ or by surrender to evil and denying Him(not acceptable). By the way in Luke, Jesus told the disciples that henceforth they should carry swords, staves and purses. I regret your disability and pray the stripes of Jesus for your healing. There may be areas of disagreement in our understanding of scripture, but we can agree on maranatha(even so come quickly) Lord Jesus. May all that Messiach bought on the cross be manifested to and through you.
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Jack, Good on yer, Mate, as the Aussies would say. I went to Vietnam a Christian and came back a Buddhist. I really don’t think God cares what church we attend, but rather the quality of the person inside the shell that is in whatever church, mosque, or temple. Every human being must follow the path that God has chosen for them. Keep to the straight and narrow, and may God bless you and yours.
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Thanks for the email Jack and it was such a relief to read your letter. I look forward to sharing with you in greater details a little later. I just checked my mail after sleeping most of the evening. I am a vet who barely made it through Tet 68. I contemplated suicide on numerous occasions but I am thankful to be saved and thus the enemy cannot do anything he wants with me. I too have a story about God’s love for me and anyone else who will accept Jesus as their personal savior. I look forward to sharing with you again soon. Till then, peace and love. Lawrence
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Thank you for your prompt reply and gracious demeanor. There is a distinction between the kingdom of God and mens’kingdoms, and you confuse the deportment of the Messiah who came to die for the sins of all men with the deportment of His followers. If your view is other than texts out of context, why did Jesus counsel the disciples in Luke 22:36 to sell their cloak(most important outer garment) and buy a sword if they had none. Daily in this country thousands of crimes are prevented using handguns(FBI Crime Report). I suspect that if we were truly holy as we are commanded to be, we might have been able to reverse the bombing of Pearl Harbor, raise the dead from the Nazi holocaust, command angels to restruct the twin towers in New York and these would be ideal, but alas, we contain this treasure in earthen vessels that the glory may be of God and not of man. Each of us may be required to lay down our lives literally for the sake of the gospel, but to capriciously surrender your life to the whim of an evildoer becuase you don’t have the inclination to utilize equipment that is available in order to be “spiritual” is foolishness. The evangelist Phillip was translated once after witnessing to an official from Candace’s court, do you propose not to use auto, train, plane or bus, Jesus and Peter walked on water, do you propose not to utilize a boat? My brother this pacifist concept is a diversion from the reality of a lost and dying generation marching triumphantly into hell. I pray that you and your family are not confronted with wrongodoers intent on mayhem until you have altered your viewpoint or are truly walking in dominion over the kingdom of darkness.
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Ya know, we do indeed live in awful times brother. As sad as the passing of Jerry Falwell was, never the less, I am concerned for him. Anyone who accepts a 3 million dollar loan from a man who said that “Jesus failed, and I am the real messiah”, at best, lacks discernment. At worst, I fear to say.
I was involved in politics too. I was involved with the Moral Majority, supporting their every cause. I was a member of the John Birch Society for 6 years. I was caught up in the “good cause” syndrome & save America from the “infidel” communists!
I trusted men who called themselves “pastor”, not realizing the damage they had done to my sons. Now…I would to God I never attended any institutional “Church”. My sons were mentaly, physically, and spiritually abused to such a degree, they want nothing to do with Jesus. How does one ever fix that??? Especially when mom & dad supported them! Yes, we do indeed pray for them, and I still try to talk to them. They now know that mom & dad rejects the institutional church, and that we have become much more graceful towards them, even though they know we may not agree with what they listen too, where they go, or if they drink. They know we care and they know how we stand. But we dont pull out the spiritual baseball bat either.
I hurt brother…bad. I came home from work and went straight to prayer asking The Lord for forgiveness, for help and that my wife and I find fellowship soon.
So many are so caught up in the ways of the world. I read an article tonight on Rapture Ready (who I dont particularly recomend, though they have some good articles…discerment is needed) praising Jerry Falwell as though without these leaders, the christian is left hopeless! What nonsense. Jesus Christ said, “I will never leave thee”…and He never has! Never will!
It amazes me that out of one side of the mouth, christians admit that these are the last times and apostacy. Yet, when a “leader” dies they go to pieces as though, we have no one to turn to now?
Their faith is in pastor and “christian” colleges, universities etc. The more these institutions diasapear, the more amens come out of my mouth.
But brother, my wife and I need fellowship BAD. Here in So Carolina, everyone is “saved”. Thats why I get frustrated witnessing about The Lord. They reply, “Oh i’m saved”…and go right on using Jesus name as foul language! I work with a man who does that, When I rebuked him…man…he was quick to quote, “judge not”. He’s southern baptist, 3000 member “church”. But, as he says, “I’m covered by the blood’uh Jesus”.
I’m sorry brother…I have no one to turn to. I often ask The Lord, “Is it me?” Please keep us in prayer.
God bless you for being here.
Frank
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You’re knocking on the wrong door here. To me, ALL RELIGIONS ARE ACTIVELY EVIL.
Any organization that treasures the organization over the people in it is a religion. Like Islam, Naziism, Lutheranism, Communism, Episcopalianism, Catholicism. Voodooism, KuKluxism. Good grief, where does it stop.
With me it stops with a total rejection of the them all. They have a lousy historical track record. Religion has killed more people, most of them strangers, that any other single cause!
I don’t need to throw out my chest and say my religion can beat your religion. I don’t tell you to believe as I do or I will kill you. Maybe I’ll kill you anyway!
To me, the only real pacifists are atheists. They are the only people I can trust to think and weigh issues for themselves. They do not look to the local “Voice” to find out what they should think. They make mistakes but they are their own mistakes and rarely hurt anyone else!
I try not to hurt another individual unless not hurting them would hurt someone else even more!
Now that I have gored your ox, I want to remind you that you contacted me, not vice versa.
Please don’t come find me and burn my house! —Charles—
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the honest response. Like you, there was a day I was without faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is the “only” way to eternal life. To me all religions, including most of Christendom, were perverse, and I still feel that way today. so we have much in common. For religions are all man-made attempts to please their God through their own proud self-righteous works, and as I said, even most of Christendom has bought into the lie that we are capable of working for our salvation from an eternal death sentence. The true God wants a personal relationship between himself and every person who he deeply loves and wants restored to his Kingdom.
However, I finally realized I was throwing the baby out with the bath water when I became an atheistic New Ager after returning from my year in Vietnam. I started reading the New Testament on my own and asked that if there was a God, who supposedly wrote this book, to reveal himself to me as I was reading it. I discovered from both the Old and New Testaments that the person of Jesus Christ as God coming in the flesh to love and offer forgiveness to all men, is the whole point of the scriptures.
The confusion and seeming contradiction of the scriptures then disappeared in my mind. For I discovered that Jesus Christ did come from Heaven as the only God/Man and shed his blood for my sins, and most of all rose from the dead with the promise of his return to make the world right. That day is near!
The answer to your statements that there is so much death and war on the Earth today is answered in the scriptures. First, Adam and Eve willfully rebelled against the Lord by listening to the lies from Satan, the leader of many fallen angels. We all inherited this sin nature and the fallen angels stir the evil desires in us all in order to destroy and kill. God the Father loves his creation so much he became a man to sacrifice his life, represented by his blood, that you and I can be set free from the power of sin. Jesus is alive and returning bodily to this war-torn planet to imprison the millions of fallen angels that are loose and causing what you see on television every day.
I hope my online book and articles help you in understanding the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Keep in touch, and thanks again for your well-written and courteous reply.
Your new eternal friend. Jack
Dear Jack,
I hope you are right but I don’t have any confidence that you are.
I think you have succumbed to the greatest con job of them all.
I was in WWII, flew 94 missions of straffing and divebombing in Italy, Corsica and Southern France.
Whoever said there were no atheists in foxholes was expressing a personal opinion, not a universal truth. It does affirm that there is great fear in a foxhole and one is prepared to accept any idea that promises protection.
Maybe a fighter cockpit isn’t a foxhole. But I never asked for help from some mystical outside source. My salvation was within myself. I crashed twice and in the second one I took an illogical action that saved my life. Any other option led to death!. If I had taken ten seconds to pray and hope, I would have been killed!
I have no desire to shake your faith. That’s your business and none of mine. abut conversely I will take it as a favor if you don’t give your myths to me.
I believe in man’s remarkable mind and what he can do with it for good and afraid of what it can do if it is evil. And I do not like the elaborate constructions man has made to justify his evil doings.
—Chas—
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Peace be with you, Jack Hook. I am at peace in my beliefs which are much different than yours.
I will not expound upon them, as you through your teachings and experiences, could never understand.
I hope you find what you are looking for. Do not reply to this message, as I am deaf to all that speak of God.
Sincerely
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Jack, I love your type of jurnalism, you tell it like it is. Yes I now have a personal friend that
is of Jewish desent and i would like to know more of your beliefs on the subject ok? Yours Shalom
Bob
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Jack Hook,
I have no fault with what you say or write, but as General Patton once said, I believe in God and trust him, the preachers seem to keep saying and saying it. I was in the Korean War, the U.S. Navy, I volunteered. You state nothing new or really have no agenda other than all the world is evil and we should not participate. You have not changed my thinking, nor my faith. Like so many “Commercial” Christians you are using your opinions as fact and there is just too long of a explanation to prove it. Good luck, but it would take way too much out of my life to read your articles
Neil
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You’re not understanding God”the light” whatsover, the unconditional light, the parent regardless of what you believe that loves and created everyone in his image. You’ll never find God becasue he’s hiding withn us waiting to be awoken. You won’t find him in Heaven becasue the Kingdom of Heaven is within the heart of creation itself. Religion and Politics is a terrible thing to bring upon anyone in conversation, but I’ll help you understand some truth. God doesn’t care that i’m not Christian nor does Jesus, becasue we are all an illusion in the Alchemy of time, the time , the emotions the illusion of this place. Soon we will all go back to the light Leo Alpha Aquarius Omega. All life is valuable to God(if you understand it as God) and we all NOT JUST XIANS are in it together. None is without light or darkness. all have been tested all have fallen short all have payed the price and all will be reunited to our source. THANK YOU.
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Dear Jack:
In WWII I went from Private to Captain, from Omaha Beach to Berlin, and I have written 2 books entitled: The Greatest Blunders of WWII and The Final Word on War & Peace currently available on amazon.com. Since WWII I have been an “Advocate for World Peace.”
My niece just sent me your “Confession” with which I am generally in agreement. However, I take a strong exception to your assertion that wars are never justified.
Would America be the land of freedom and democracy today without the Revolutionary War? Would Adolf Hitler have been denied being the Chancellor of the World without war? How could we have been saved from annihilation by Josef Stalin and his Communist sympathizers without the ability to destroy the Soviet Union by the threat of nuclear destruction?
The challenge today is World Peace or Mass Destruction! And the only way we can avoid the annihilation of freedom and democracy is by the establishment of world law which is effectively enforced by a federation of the nations of the world.
Keep up the good work and God bless you for effectively working for the peace and freedom of America!.
Horace
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Dear Mr. Hook,
I am a Catholic and as Catholics we had to fight wars, Holy Wars to protect Christendom from destruction.
In your e-mail, which I thank you for very much, I’ve found several errors [to which Catholic doctrine – the Devine Deposit of Faith – of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is NO salvation, is clear], and I’d like to point out them to you so that you can ammend and realize these errors.
St. Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor of the Church, teaches whether vengeance is lawful in his Summa Theologica:
I don’t have the exact quote right now but if you go to my website to links, I have a link there to Summa on line and you can read the true Christian [which is only Catholic] doctrine there, but to make the point:
When it comes to personal persecution, says St. Thomas A., we are to bear it with patience [if it be expedient – that means there are also limts to this], but when it comes to wrongs done to God and His Church, we have a duty to avenge these wrongs…..this also uncludes wrongs done to our neighbour because charity [love] towards God and towards our neighbour makes us regard these wrongs as our own…..
St. Thomas Aquinas in fact quotes St. Augustine in this passage..
There are wars we must fight, not for our survival, but for God and His Church.
Such wars are called Holy Wars or Holy Crusades.
The last one fought was the 1936 Spanish Civil War – many people don’t even know this.
When you fight the communists, who fight against God and His Church [Catholic Church], then you are serving God and doing the right thing for Him.
When you are a Protestant, it is your own human “doctrine” you make up yourself, which “guides you” – but it is not of God.
He [Our Lord] created ONE CHurch, not 500 sects, but ONE Church – to teach, govern, sanctify and save all men.
Everybody is urged to come and be part of this ONE CHurch.
But when people say no to this Church [which in its present time is under a great attack from the enemies of Christ – but when you’re faithful to Catholic tradition and do good works for God you’re on the safe ground, but not saved yet because you just believe in God…..it is a battle till your last minute in this life], well, then such people are on their own and God is NOT with them.
I wish you good luck in your ammendment….that is a certainty, because I don’t like to see my fellow man go down – now you know the truth, either you continue and suffer eternally or you ammend.
When Russians come to this land with all their cohorts to pilage etc., whosoever doesn’t lift a finger to fight them is opposing God – Jeremias says:
Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully; cursed by he who witholdest his sword from blood….
Pacifism, when it comes to defending God’s Honor [for His everlasting Glory] is a sin…..and when we commit such a sin we must repent and ammend [as with any other sin – through the Sacrament of Penance].
What you’re saying to me involves such a sin – and so I want to tell you to give it up proposing to others, you will only create more fire for yourself….
I wish you to receive the blessings of Our Lord, through His Most Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to ammend and learn the true ways of Our Lord.
No soul should be lost, but people through their sinful pride and lack of humility will loose their souls if they remain opposed to Our Lord’s Church and His Devine Deposit of Faith, given by Him to the Catholic Church through the mouth of the Apostels….a Deposit that no man can change or dare to ammend….if he does, he’s no longer of God [of His Church] but he or she are anathema [damned]…..
In Christ and Mary Jan
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Jack:
Thanks for sharing your Vietnam experiences. Those of us who served in that war each have our own experiences. I got over mine years ago and moved on and it is sad to see so many Vietnam Vets still trying to live that war with all its pains and hurts.
Concerning your comment about my interest in current events – that is what my website is all about – analyzing current events in view of Bible prophecy.
God bless.
Allen M. Barber
(cont.) I forgot to mention that I am not a pretribulationists – was for 25 years, then I was led by the Holy Spirit to do an in-depth study of the Day of the Lord and came to understand the pretrib rapture is the biggest lie and hoax ever perpetrated upon the Church. My new book to be published soon exposes the errors and misinterpretations of pretribulationism. The root cause of pretribulationism is failing to understand who the “elect” are and who is the true Israel and the true Church. God has never had but one elect people in this earth. However, strict dispensationalism promoted by Scofield and the Dallas Theological Seminary doctors have blurred the Scriptural meaning of the three primary ages – the age of Law, the age of Pentecost, and the age of Tabernacles.
While I am careful with “timelines” especially the ones that seem specific about future dates, I believe I was shown the time line for the last generation, which I began in 1897 and will end in 2017 or sooner. I believe the period from 2010 – 2017 may be the tribulation. Everything is moving toward a 2010 date for the New World Order becoming the visible official government of the world. I do believe the U.S. is Mystery Babylon in its economic and political form.
That said, I have many pretrib friends, who obviously disagree with me and if you want to hold that position, I have no qualms with that. However, I do not have the time to debate the pros and cons of either Pre or Post Tribulationsim. My position is in my book. I simply state my position and let the saints make-up their own mind about what they believe.
Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, et al, have been given the mantle by the Religious elite of the New World Order (The Spirit of the Harlot Church and False Prophet mix religion with politics – Daniel 2:36-45- partly strong and partly fragile – they will mingle with the seed of men, but will not adhere to one another. False religion with mingle with false government, but in the end the false political system headed by Satan’s Antichrist will destroy false religion. Many prophecy buffs mistake the Harlot system as the False Prophet, but they are not the same for the false political system does not destroy the False Prophet, only the false Church. Once the False Prophet leads the world in worshipping the Antichrist [in place of Jesus Christ], they will no longer need the false church, in fact, it would be a hindrance to the Beast system of Satan worship with its many gods. There is another application to Daniel 2:36-45 and I believe it is multi-culturalism we see taking place in the U.S. – many ethnic groups forming within the U.S., but not adhering to one another. This will serve to weaken the United States and bring about its heading up the New World Order. The Beast System is a dictatorship and democracy is nothing but a smoke screen that prepares the nations for the final end-time Czar.
President Bush is cleverly leading the United States into the NWO and he has the Christian Church totally deceived thinking he is a born-again Christian. He may even be the He-Goat of Daniel 8. I believe the United States is going to be broken-up into lesser nations or states – the CFR’s plan is to break the U.S. up into three regional divisions. However, I believe it will be four.
As we move closer to the 70th Week, we will all understand clearer the end-time prophetic program and if we have to adjust our theology, then so be it.
God bless.
Allen M. Barber
Greetings Allen,
Thanks for the response and I do respect and understand your position on the rapture, and accept that you are writing in the spirit of love and mercy of our Lord Jesus. I also don’t want to get into any long debate, but I will in this email try to explain my understanding in a way you might not have thought.
Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians lays out the chronology of end time events. In verse one please note that he refers to the “coming” and the “gathering” together as distinct events, and begs or beseeches them to understand their meaning and timing. In verse seven Paul says the satanic deceptions that will produce the Antichrist have not come to a final fruition yet because of the hindering power of “he” who is the Holy Spirit working through both the true Church and the archangel Michael, to restrain the coming of the Antichrist, who is first revealed by his peace covenant of Daniel 9:27.
Paul is clearly teaching here that there are two revealings of the man of sin, first as the peacemaker and second, three and a half years later, as the man who rises from the dead and declares himself to be the Messiah, Revelation 13. When the rapture of the hated and persecuted remnant (true Church) takes place by the Holy Spirit’s removal of them from the Earth, the first revealing is then allowed by God to begin. The Holy Spirit commands Michael to be silent and no longer restrain the fallen angels who will then prepare and present their Antichrist peacemaker to the nations. This is the “silence in Heaven” of Revelation 8:1 which lasts for “about half” and hour(hour=70th week)or three and one half years.
For further evidence of the pre-70th Week rapture please refer to my article, “The Judgment Chronicles”, where among many other things I attempted to show that the seventh trumpet sounding in Revelation 11 heralds and opens the final seven vial judgments which last 387 days. This is God pouring out the fullness of his wrath, due in part to the antichrist President and false prophet Pope having the two Jewish prophets murdered, and allowing their bodies to lay out in the streets of Jerusalem, when to the utter shock of the world they are resurrected and ascend into the heavens. The seventh trumpet is not the last day of Daniel’s 70th Week as many teach. It has no bearing with the “last trump” Paul alluded to in Corinthians. Only the two prophets arise at that time and then “before” the seventh trumpet even sounds, thereby ending the sixth trumpet! I believe the trumpet Paul referred to is found in Revelation 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
Also for your information, I have read Rev. 20:4-7 many times over the years. Many have said this proves the post-tribulation position. I will try to make my understanding of this portion of scripture clear and simple. Rev. 19:7-8,14 shows me that the “armies that were in heaven” are the glorified resurrected church that were “given” their white garments, Rev. 3:4-5, 4:4, before the great tribulation and the final battle of Rev. 19 (Daniel’s 70th Week), for they “were” in heaven before Jesus descends to Earth to take down the Antichrist and False Prophet, and then imprison the fallen angels.
Furthermore, in Rev. 20:4 John sees in his vision thrones and “they” sat on them to judge. The “they” are the resurrected armies who were in heaven. But John also says…”and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded…” The word “and” is the key to understanding that John saw two groups of saints…those already resurrected and clothed in white “and” the souls of them who are “about to be” resurrected to rule and reign on the Earth with the others in the millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
It is imperative that we understand that these martyred ones entered the 70th Week as unbelievers, both Jew and Gentile, many of whom had a form of godliness, were members of Christendom, but never truly departed from their sin nature through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people have now become the fruits produced by the two Jewish prophets and 144,000 “first fruits” Jewish missionaries. John says later that… blessed is he that hath “part” in the first resurrection. There are two parts or phases to the first resurrection. Also know that those believers who physically survive the 70th Week will be the ones who will replenish or repopulate the Earth for one thousand years.
These are the reasons I believe as I do. There are many other teachings that point me to a any day any hour rapture of the “hated and persecuted” remnant. Thank you for bearing with me my eternal friend. Like I said in my articles, I’m the last one who should tell anyone they are mistaken, so I write these things in the same spirit of love that you did.
Your brother in Jesus, Jack
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Jack
I agree with you, the 200,000,000 (of Revelation 8 and 9) are demon creatures just as you described. And yes the great end times deception will involve aliens/demons. I think that it is probable that the antichrist may claim to be the alien that started life on this planet, i.e. god, and will lead the world in fighting off bad aliens, thus the great deception. One day I believe we will see a ufo on the lawn of the white house.
Thx for your insights.
Bill
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Jack – you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in your understanding of what is taking place in Revelation 9. Likewise, your understanding of the THREE (two past, one yet future) judgment of this “mingling” of the fallen angels with humankind–precisely right on–PREACH IT! The insidious nature of this final destruction is an inevitability and the Prince of Darkness would have us believe that this will not be the case–it will be and it is altogether what the Bible teaches–plain and simple. May the Lord strengthen you and cover you under His presence as you speak forth the truth that is in Christ! Doug
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Dear Jack,
As a Vietnam Vet Brother, I Welcome You Home, as we were shunned by so many long ago. I served 5 years in the Army Nurse Corps, and 2 voluntary tours in Nam. The hardest thing I ever did in my life, yet I thank God daily for having had the privilege to serve others, and for all that my soul learned during those years. I have become way less “religious” and way more “spiritual” It stands me in good stead. The two terms are mutually exclusive, you know.
I am NOT a fundamentalist, as it seems that those are the ones who cause such strife in this world, and have for eons. From the Crusades, to Salem Witch Hunts to IRA and Al Quaida., and many more.
Father God must be crying at all the horrendous murdering in His Name. Do you believe that that is his wish? Jesus was God personified as man, and telling this world God’s message.. Peace is the guiding word, and not disharmony..
If people would just quit foisting their fundamentalist beliefs off on others, and just follow the principle of peace, love and harmony throughout this world, all would be beautifully peaceful.
Who are we mere mortals to tell others what to believe or not? We fight about if God Jehova is greater than Allah. WHAT? Different name. Same Eternal Force. And God sheds tears. He cares not what he is called.
An innocent baby does not come into this world full of sin. I totally disagree with that. Fire and brimstone was NEVER Jesus’ message. His message was love. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Fundamentalists who believe every account written by mere mortals thousands of years ago, and compiled into a SUPER-EDITED book, are very small-minded, as I see it. Consider the Dead Sea Scrolls–or even the Gospel of Magdeline which was hidden for centuries, and which has just come to light.. As in MARY Magdeline.
It is beyond my comprehension why some folks memorize ancient words that often do not apply in this day and age. NO–I am NOT talking of “changing the Ten Commandments to fit your needs”. Those will always stand !
I am talking of thousands of years ago when “visions” included “fire in the sky”. Could that be a rocket to the moon, or the launching of a sattellite into space? How was that visionary to know what it meant 2000 years later? He walked in the dry dessert, or if he was lucky, rode a donkey—if rich, he rode a camel.Certailny not an SUV, a limmosine, nor a jet airplane.
When we were little, the dog jumped on my sister. She was about 8 years old. She said “get down, fool”. My father ( a violent man) screamed at her that “The Bible says to never call your brother a fool”. My 8 year old sister innocently said, “He’s not my brother–he’s a dog”. Get my drift?Guess she could have called him “sh*t, and that would have been OK, since it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible huh? Or could she have been able to call her sister a “Fool”, since I was not her brother?
Do you see how ridiculous that is?
Now that I have shared my viewpoint, I would welcome yours back.
Diana
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I have visited blogs and websites that claim to love Jesus but they often reference the quotes of the protestant reformers instead of Jesus. I hear more about John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther’s interpretation of the Word of God. Is this of God?
Although the family structure is very important to them and often reference Ephesians and Titus 2 to back up their claim, something is wrong. Do they see the roles between man and woman and having a multitude of children the only way to have a relationship with Jesus?
I say they are putting the created over the creator. With all this legalism are they in tuned to the role of the holy spirt? I would love to hear from you about this?
I believe Satan is using religions such as protestant, anabaptist, catholicism, eastern orthodox or other organized religions to subtley pervert christianity. This is why I think tradition stands in the way with a good relationship with Jesus. Please advise.
Thank you Georgia
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Hook, I’m a Deist/Freemason like Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, et al I think Jesus of Nazareth had a great message but I don’t like the religion that John, Paul, Peter, etal started from what he said. And I definitely don’t believe in divinity!
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I am a combat veteran of Vietnam. I voted for John Kerry and I abhore our current “leader” – that draft-avoiding character from Texas. Please remove my name from all of your email lists.
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Dear Mr. Hook;
I read some of your statements this morning and would agree that the ‘great Babylon’ is most representative of America. I appreciate what you have to say about our misplaced trust in military arms rather than in God. What you said regarding our defense being in our one true God rather than in the Pentagon during the days of communism could be with our misplaced trust in the Pentagon during this supposed ‘war on terrorism’.
I am affiliated with the Catholic church and I do not know if ‘harlot Babylon’ is something distinct from the ‘great Babylon’. I had been affiliated with a messianic congregation (and I could relate the pitfalls of such) as well as biblical Christian churches (and I could relate the pitfallls of such also). Yes, there is much within the Catholic church that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, in the end, each of us must personally remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The remnant is a remnant regardless of which denomination one is affiliated and God knows who shall be part of the remnant.
May we remain faithful to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ through Him and in Him and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sincerely, Michael
Hi Michael,
Thanks for visiting my web site and responding. It is refreshing to hear men like you admit that Catholicism has serious doctrinal errors. The church I grew up in, the Reformed Church, is much the same way. Once I was born again, with no help from the Reformed pastors, I had to admit they were preaching another gospel, as Paul said… another Jesus. The Catholic system is the mother of them all, don’t you think? I admire your courage to reach out to them calling them to repentance, but be careful not embrace their doctrinal delusions.
I hope my online book and articles help you even more in understanding the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ, his shed blood for our sins, and his glorious resurrection. There is coming a day when the Lord will return in judgment and then imprison the fallen angels who are temporarily allowed by God to rule the nations because of the Adamic sin nature of all men. Until that day of judgment we are to call all men to repentance, to love and offer forgiveness to the worst of our enemies, even those who wish us dead. Keep in touch.
Your new eternal friend, Jack D. Hook
Dear Jack:
To be honest, I do not know whether the Catholic church is the ‘mother of all apostate churches’. I do know that there are pretenders, luke warm and true believers within most denominations including the Catholic church. I no longer am searching for the perfect doctrinal and practicing church, such a church is not likely to exist. I can only be responsible for my own faith walk. When Jesus said to this disciples that they were to do what the hypocrites of his day preached and not what they do….I liken it to much of what is within the Catholic church, yet I do know there are true Christians within the Catholic church. The Catholic church has something which no other church has….they remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ every day in every country throughout the world. Rembering the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins every day will keep the faithful humble and willing to suffer for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blessings be with you my brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. Shalom
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Dear Mr. Hook,
Thank you for your correspondance and may I wish you the very best on your political and religious endeavors, however, those are both arenas that I do not discuss, argue or feel a need to share with others.
May God bless you for your sacrifices to our great nation.
Respectfully,
Patti
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—– Original Message —– From: Sandy Shapiro To: Jack Hook Subject: Fwd: Don H. Polston Ministries, #31 Ask For Favor
Begin forwarded message: From: “Pastor Don Polston” Subject: Don H. Polston Ministries, #31 Ask For Favor
Don H. Polston Ministries #31 Ask For Favor
How you see yourself, or how you understand yourself is the key to conversing with God for your daily needs. If you think you are worthless, your prayers will ask for little. Jesus said, “Ask (largely) that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). The size of your asking is reflected in the size of your heart. Build your heart, and you will build your asking as Jabez did. Jabez ask for much favor.
Listen to his prayer:
“And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; It’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others. Before you reject this statement, think about it.
Jabez was asking God to remove his stigma, for that is what his name means. The word Jabez means: to grieve; to be sorrowful.
His mother literally named him “a pain. However, he asked God to enlarge his place and to bless him. Have you done the same?
Greetings Don, Sandy, and friends,
Sandy sent me this latest ministry update (above) from Don Polston, which he rarely has ever done. It might be good if you read the update first before going any further into my letter. He failed to tell me what he thought about it, so I take it that he agrees with Don. However, I know from many contending conversations with my brother Sandy over the years, that he would expect me to disagree with Don’s appeal and understanding of the scriptures. If he wanted a response from me, here it is:
Sadly, this letter is no different than the self-motivating messages of the Sunnyside Temple days of the 70’s when we were all together in Iowa. Days and years, by the way, which included some of the best times Carol and I ever have experienced in our lives as born again Christians. That makes this response to Don and Sandy very difficult. Over the last few years I have sent Don countless articles, both my own and those of others, hoping they would abandon their old ways they learned from Robert Schuller and others in the positive confession movement.
This prayer of Jabez has been hijacked like the hope and prayers of John that we should prosper and be in health. What my dear brothers are forgetting is the cry of the Holy Spirit who also said…”even as thy soul prospers”…and with Jabez…”keep me from evil that it may not grieve me”. What is that evil Jabez wanted to be free from that it grieved him and God when he committed? What was John pointing to concerning the prospering of the soul? It is quite simple. These men wanted to be free from the power of the sin nature they knew they inherited from the fall of Adam and Eve. They wanted to remain close to God through his Spirit and desired to understand the elements of that sin nature that plaques all of mankind, so they could flee and depart from them. John, earlier in his first letter, spelled it out clearly as he identified the elements, attitudes, or desires of the sin nature that naturally come out of the heart and mouth of all men, albeit in different degrees and intensities. The world is and always has been at war because of this sin nature, just look at the television news and most of all, read the scriptures.
John said we must not love the world system rooted in the politics and religion of the fallen angels who rule this world’s nations through manipulation of the sin nature. The characteristics of the evil nature Jabez wanted kept from are…the pride of this life, the love of money and self (lust of the eyes and flesh), the deceit of our lying tongues, and the hatred and jealousy of other men, especially our own brothers and sisters who name Jesus as Lord, 2 John 2. It is clear to me that the pride of militant patriotism, the prosperity gospel, and the self love and esteem that drives or motivates us to “desire”, even pray for, the fame, fortune, and finest of this world system, is the very thing Jesus shed his blood to save us from. My former Pastor from Sunnyside Temple, who Carol and I love with all of our hearts, cannot yet see that his appeal for us to seek God in prayer while thinking of ourselves as…brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous, and powerful beyond measure…is nothing more than putting Christian veneer on the sin nature that we should hate with all of our hearts, for it has separated us from the Lord Jesus Christ who loves us.
When we are born again we enter spiritually into the Kingdom of Heaven and become its citizens and ambassadors. As John wrote we can now see the Kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ and his bloody cross, resurrection, and return in judgment to imprison the fallen angels with their leader, Satan, and all men who refuse to depart from or even understand their sin nature We can now see how man’s inherited sin nature plays easily into the political-religious hands of the fallen angels who have created a counterfeit Kingdom of Heaven that is in full bloom in America today. This counterfeit is really Babylon the Great as John looked at it in his vision.
This letter will most likely trouble you, Sandy and Don. I am sorry if that is so, but the mutual love we had for one another at Sunnyside demands that we be honest and out in the open among our old friends. Our Lord Jesus is coming and he wants all of us to judge ourselves to see if we are in “the” faith. Also, we are to speak the truth in the meekness of wisdom when we see our friends and family being seduced away from the wholesome teachings of our Lord Jesus, just as Paul wrote to Timothy, saying that some had erred from “the” faith supposing that worldly gain is Godliness. They had fallen into the same trap being set in Christendom today, thinking the desires to be rich, successful, gorgeous, talented, brilliant, and powerful beyond measure is really from God the Father. Paul said the love of money is the “root” of all evil. But now, thanks to men like Copeland and Hinn, one of the evil attitudes of our sin nature has now been Christianized and taught as doctrine.
Don and Sandy, I am appealing one more time, as I have so many times in the past, that you reconsider what you are teaching. Please know that I say this knowing full well the weakness and evil of my own carnal mind. I have admitted to Sandy, more times than I can count, how many times I have sinned in my flesh and hurt our Lord. Many of those sins were against Sandy when we shamefully fell into angry arguments and mean accusations. We have forgiven each other and sought our Lord’s forgiveness many times, but yet there is this huge wall between us that I know Jesus wants to remove. I have asked Don to intervene many times, but it appears that Sandy and Don still hold to the same teachings of the past that have caused this huge barrier to exist between us.
I have looked in the mirror many times and have seen the vile and ugly planks in my own eyes, so I am not writing this thinking that I have arrived at the pinnacle of spiritual greatness. As a matter of fact, the closer I get to Jesus and his truth, the more ugly my flesh becomes as his light exposes every weakness, to the point of wanting to crawl in a hole and fall on my face before his holy presence in my heart. He has always reached down to pick me up and then explains to me that even though my heart is a new creation in him and free from the power of sin, I still possess a body and brain that wants to deny him and run from him, or redefine his piercing and penetrating truth. Remember, if we are truly born again, it is our Lord Jesus within us who places “his” desires and attitudes in our hearts that we then align ourselves with, and he said of himself…I am meek and lowly of heart, Matthew 11:29.
08.01.2008
August 2008 Comments
Dear Jack: Thank you for your e-mail. From its tone I get an impression that you find yourself in the anti-war fold. May I remind you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Consider David, a mighty man of valor who killed many including Goliath and yet was called a man after God’s own heart. When Jesus walked the earth in a human body, He had nothing but praise for even the Roman soldiers He encountered. Man’s dream of no more war can onlly be accomplished by the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ or by surrender to evil and denying Him(not acceptable). By the way in Luke, Jesus told the disciples that henceforth they should carry swords, staves and purses. I regret your disability and pray the stripes of Jesus for your healing. There may be areas of disagreement in our understanding of scripture, but we can agree on maranatha(even so come quickly) Lord Jesus. May all that Messiach bought on the cross be manifested to and through you.
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Jack, Good on yer, Mate, as the Aussies would say. I went to Vietnam a
Christian and came back a Buddhist. I really don’t think God cares what
church we attend, but rather the quality of the person inside the shell that
is in whatever church, mosque, or temple. Every human being must follow the
path that God has chosen for them. Keep to the straight and narrow, and may
God bless you and yours.
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Thanks for the email Jack and it was such a relief to read your letter. I look forward to sharing with you in greater details a little later. I just checked my mail after sleeping most of the evening. I am a vet who barely made it through Tet 68. I contemplated suicide on numerous occasions but I am thankful to be saved and thus the enemy cannot do anything he wants with me. I too have a story about God’s love for me and anyone else who will accept Jesus as their personal savior. I look forward to sharing with you again soon. Till then, peace and love. Lawrence
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Thank you for your prompt reply and gracious demeanor. There is a distinction between the kingdom of God and mens’kingdoms, and you confuse the deportment of the Messiah who came to die for the sins of all men with the deportment of His followers. If your view is other than texts out of context, why did Jesus counsel the disciples in Luke 22:36 to sell their cloak(most important outer garment) and buy a sword if they had none. Daily in this country thousands of crimes are prevented using handguns(FBI Crime Report). I suspect that if we were truly holy as we are commanded to be, we might have been able to reverse the bombing of Pearl Harbor, raise the dead from the Nazi holocaust, command angels to restruct the twin towers in New York and these would be ideal, but alas, we contain this treasure in earthen vessels that the glory may be of God and not of man. Each of us may be required to lay down our lives literally for the sake of the gospel, but to capriciously surrender your life to the whim of an evildoer becuase you don’t have the inclination to utilize equipment that is available in order to be “spiritual” is foolishness. The evangelist Phillip was translated once after witnessing to an official from Candace’s court, do you propose not to use auto, train, plane or bus, Jesus and Peter walked on water, do you propose not to utilize a boat? My brother this pacifist concept is a diversion from the reality of a lost and dying generation marching triumphantly into hell. I pray that you and your family are not confronted with wrongodoers intent on mayhem until you have altered your viewpoint or are truly walking in dominion over the kingdom of darkness.
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Ya know, we do indeed live in awful times brother. As sad as the passing of
Jerry Falwell was, never the less, I am concerned for him. Anyone who accepts
a 3 million dollar loan from a man who said that “Jesus failed, and I am the
real messiah”, at best, lacks discernment. At worst, I fear to say.
I was involved in politics too. I was involved with the Moral Majority,
supporting their every cause. I was a member of the John Birch Society for 6
years. I was caught up in the “good cause” syndrome & save America from the
“infidel” communists!
I trusted men who called themselves “pastor”, not realizing the damage they
had done to my sons. Now…I would to God I never attended any institutional
“Church”. My sons were mentaly, physically, and spiritually abused to such a
degree, they want nothing to do with Jesus. How does one ever fix that???
Especially when mom & dad supported them! Yes, we do indeed pray for them,
and I still try to talk to them. They now know that mom & dad rejects the
institutional church, and that we have become much more graceful towards
them, even though they know we may not agree with what they listen too,
where they go, or if they drink. They know we care and they know how we
stand. But we dont pull out the spiritual baseball bat either.
I hurt brother…bad. I came home from work and went straight to prayer
asking The Lord for forgiveness, for help and that my wife and I find
fellowship soon.
So many are so caught up in the ways of the world. I read an article tonight
on Rapture Ready (who I dont particularly recomend, though they have some
good articles…discerment is needed) praising Jerry Falwell as though
without these leaders, the christian is left hopeless! What nonsense. Jesus
Christ said, “I will never leave thee”…and He never has! Never will!
It amazes me that out of one side of the mouth, christians admit that these
are the last times and apostacy. Yet, when a “leader” dies they go to pieces
as though, we have no one to turn to now?
Their faith is in pastor and “christian” colleges, universities etc. The
more these institutions diasapear, the more amens come out of my mouth.
But brother, my wife and I need fellowship BAD. Here in So Carolina,
everyone is “saved”. Thats why I get frustrated witnessing about The Lord.
They reply, “Oh i’m saved”…and go right on using Jesus name as foul
language! I work with a man who does that, When I rebuked him…man…he was
quick to quote, “judge not”. He’s southern baptist, 3000 member “church”.
But, as he says, “I’m covered by the blood’uh Jesus”.
I’m sorry brother…I have no one to turn to. I often ask The Lord, “Is it
me?” Please keep us in prayer.
God bless you for being here.
Frank
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You’re knocking on the wrong door here.
To me, ALL RELIGIONS ARE ACTIVELY EVIL.
Any organization that treasures the organization over the people in it is a religion. Like Islam, Naziism, Lutheranism, Communism, Episcopalianism, Catholicism. Voodooism, KuKluxism. Good grief, where does it stop.
With me it stops with a total rejection of the them all. They have a lousy historical track record. Religion has killed more people, most of them strangers, that any other single cause!
I don’t need to throw out my chest and say my religion can beat your religion. I don’t tell you to believe as I do or I will kill you. Maybe I’ll kill you anyway!
To me, the only real pacifists are atheists. They are the only people I can trust to think and weigh issues for themselves. They do not look to the local “Voice” to find out what they should think. They make mistakes but they are their own mistakes and rarely hurt anyone else!
I try not to hurt another individual unless not hurting them would hurt someone else even more!
Now that I have gored your ox, I want to remind you that you contacted me, not vice versa.
Please don’t come find me and burn my house! —Charles—
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the honest response. Like you, there was a day I was without faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is the “only” way to eternal life. To me all religions, including most of Christendom, were perverse, and I still feel that way today. so we have much in common. For religions are all man-made attempts to please their God through their own proud self-righteous works, and as I said, even most of Christendom has bought into the lie that we are capable of working for our salvation from an eternal death sentence. The true God wants a personal relationship between himself and every person who he deeply loves and wants restored to his Kingdom.
However, I finally realized I was throwing the baby out with the bath water when I became an atheistic New Ager after returning from my year in Vietnam. I started reading the New Testament on my own and asked that if there was a God, who supposedly wrote this book, to reveal himself to me as I was reading it. I discovered from both the Old and New Testaments that the person of Jesus Christ as God coming in the flesh to love and offer forgiveness to all men, is the whole point of the scriptures.
The confusion and seeming contradiction of the scriptures then disappeared in my mind. For I discovered that Jesus Christ did come from Heaven as the only God/Man and shed his blood for my sins, and most of all rose from the dead with the promise of his return to make the world right. That day is near!
The answer to your statements that there is so much death and war on the Earth today is answered in the scriptures. First, Adam and Eve willfully rebelled against the Lord by listening to the lies from Satan, the leader of many fallen angels. We all inherited this sin nature and the fallen angels stir the evil desires in us all in order to destroy and kill. God the Father loves his creation so much he became a man to sacrifice his life, represented by his blood, that you and I can be set free from the power of sin. Jesus is alive and returning bodily to this war-torn planet to imprison the millions of fallen angels that are loose and causing what you see on television every day.
I hope my online book and articles help you in understanding the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Keep in touch, and thanks again for your well-written and courteous reply.
Your new eternal friend.
Jack
Dear Jack,
I hope you are right but I don’t have any confidence that you are.
I think you have succumbed to the greatest con job of them all.
I was in WWII, flew 94 missions of straffing and divebombing in Italy, Corsica and Southern France.
Whoever said there were no atheists in foxholes was expressing a personal opinion, not a universal truth. It does affirm that there is great fear in a foxhole and one is prepared to accept any idea that promises protection.
Maybe a fighter cockpit isn’t a foxhole. But I never asked for help from some mystical outside source. My salvation was within myself. I crashed twice and in the second one I took an illogical action that saved my life. Any other option led to death!. If I had taken ten seconds to pray and hope, I would have been killed!
I have no desire to shake your faith. That’s your business and none of mine. abut conversely I will take it as a favor if you don’t give your myths to me.
I believe in man’s remarkable mind and what he can do with it for good and afraid of what it can do if it is evil. And I do not like the elaborate constructions man has made to justify his evil doings.
—Chas—
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Peace be with you, Jack Hook.
I am at peace in my beliefs which are much different than yours.
I will not expound upon them, as you through your teachings
and experiences, could never understand.
I hope you find what you are looking for. Do not reply to this
message, as I am deaf to all that speak of God.
Sincerely
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Jack, I love your type of jurnalism, you tell it like it is. Yes I now have a personal friend that
is of Jewish desent and i would like to know more of your beliefs on the subject ok? Yours Shalom
Bob
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Jack Hook,
I have no fault with what you say or write, but as General Patton once said, I believe in God and trust him, the preachers seem to keep saying and saying it. I was in the Korean War, the U.S. Navy, I volunteered. You state nothing new or really have no agenda other than all the world is evil and we should not participate. You have not changed my thinking, nor my faith. Like so many “Commercial” Christians you are using your opinions as fact and there is just too long of a explanation to prove it. Good luck, but it would take way too much out of my life to read your articles
Neil
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You’re not understanding God”the light” whatsover, the unconditional light, the parent regardless of what you believe that loves and created everyone in his image. You’ll never find God becasue he’s hiding withn us waiting to be awoken. You won’t find him in Heaven becasue the Kingdom of Heaven is within the heart of creation itself. Religion and Politics is a terrible thing to bring upon anyone in conversation, but I’ll help you understand some truth. God doesn’t care that i’m not Christian nor does Jesus, becasue we are all an illusion in the Alchemy of time, the time , the emotions the illusion of this place. Soon we will all go back to the light Leo Alpha Aquarius Omega. All life is valuable to God(if you understand it as God) and we all NOT JUST XIANS are in it together. None is without light or darkness. all have been tested all have fallen short all have payed the price and all will be reunited to our source. THANK YOU.
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Dear Jack:
In WWII I went from Private to Captain, from Omaha Beach to Berlin, and I have written 2 books entitled: The Greatest Blunders of WWII and The Final Word on War & Peace currently available on amazon.com. Since WWII I have been an “Advocate for World Peace.”
My niece just sent me your “Confession” with which I am generally in agreement. However, I take a strong exception to your assertion that wars are never justified.
Would America be the land of freedom and democracy today without the Revolutionary War? Would Adolf Hitler have been denied being the Chancellor of the World without war? How could we have been saved from annihilation by Josef Stalin and his Communist sympathizers without the ability to destroy the Soviet Union
by the threat of nuclear destruction?
The challenge today is World Peace or Mass Destruction! And the only way we can avoid the annihilation of freedom and democracy is by the establishment of world law which is effectively enforced by a federation of the nations of the world.
Keep up the good work and God bless you for effectively working for the peace and freedom of America!.
Horace
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Dear Mr. Hook,
I am a Catholic and as Catholics we had to fight wars, Holy Wars to protect Christendom from destruction.
In your e-mail, which I thank you for very much, I’ve found several errors [to which Catholic doctrine – the Devine Deposit of Faith – of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is NO salvation, is clear], and I’d like to point out them to you so that you can ammend and realize these errors.
St. Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor of the Church, teaches whether vengeance is lawful in his Summa Theologica:
I don’t have the exact quote right now but if you go to my website to links, I have a link there to Summa on line and you can read the true Christian [which is only Catholic] doctrine there, but to make the point:
When it comes to personal persecution, says St. Thomas A., we are to bear it with patience [if it be expedient – that means there are also limts to this], but when it comes to wrongs done to God and His Church, we have a duty to avenge these wrongs…..this also uncludes wrongs done to our neighbour because charity [love] towards God and towards our neighbour makes us regard these wrongs as our own…..
St. Thomas Aquinas in fact quotes St. Augustine in this passage..
There are wars we must fight, not for our survival, but for God and His Church.
Such wars are called Holy Wars or Holy Crusades.
The last one fought was the 1936 Spanish Civil War – many people don’t even know this.
When you fight the communists, who fight against God and His Church [Catholic Church], then you are serving God and doing the right thing for Him.
When you are a Protestant, it is your own human “doctrine” you make up yourself, which “guides you” – but it is not of God.
He [Our Lord] created ONE CHurch, not 500 sects, but ONE Church – to teach, govern, sanctify and save all men.
Everybody is urged to come and be part of this ONE CHurch.
But when people say no to this Church [which in its present time is under a great attack from the enemies of Christ – but when you’re faithful to Catholic tradition and do good works for God you’re on the safe ground, but not saved yet because you just believe in God…..it is a battle till your last minute in this life], well, then such people are on their own and God is NOT with them.
I wish you good luck in your ammendment….that is a certainty, because I don’t like to see my fellow man go down – now you know the truth, either you continue and suffer eternally or you ammend.
When Russians come to this land with all their cohorts to pilage etc., whosoever doesn’t lift a finger to fight them is opposing God – Jeremias says:
Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully;
cursed by he who witholdest his sword from blood….
Pacifism, when it comes to defending God’s Honor [for His everlasting Glory] is a sin…..and when we commit such a sin we must repent and ammend [as with any other sin – through the Sacrament of Penance].
What you’re saying to me involves such a sin – and so I want to tell you to give it up proposing to others, you will only create more fire for yourself….
I wish you to receive the blessings of Our Lord, through His Most Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to ammend and learn the true ways of Our Lord.
No soul should be lost, but people through their sinful pride and lack of humility will loose their souls if they remain opposed to Our Lord’s Church and His Devine Deposit of Faith, given by Him to the Catholic Church through the mouth of the Apostels….a Deposit that no man can change or dare to ammend….if he does, he’s no longer of God [of His Church] but he or she are anathema [damned]…..
In Christ and Mary
Jan
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Jack:
Thanks for sharing your Vietnam experiences. Those of us who served in that war each have our own experiences. I got over mine years ago and moved on and it is sad to see so many Vietnam Vets still trying to live that war with all its pains and hurts.
Concerning your comment about my interest in current events – that is what my website is all about – analyzing current events in view of Bible prophecy.
God bless.
Allen M. Barber
(cont.)
I forgot to mention that I am not a pretribulationists – was for 25 years, then I was led by the Holy Spirit to do an in-depth study of the Day of the Lord and came to understand the pretrib rapture is the biggest lie and hoax ever perpetrated upon the Church. My new book to be published soon exposes the errors and misinterpretations of pretribulationism. The root cause of pretribulationism is failing to understand who the “elect” are and who is the true Israel and the true Church. God has never had but one elect people in this earth. However, strict dispensationalism promoted by Scofield and the Dallas Theological Seminary doctors have blurred the Scriptural meaning of the three primary ages – the age of Law, the age of Pentecost, and the age of Tabernacles.
While I am careful with “timelines” especially the ones that seem specific about future dates, I believe I was shown the time line for the last generation, which I began in 1897 and will end in 2017 or sooner. I believe the period from 2010 – 2017 may be the tribulation. Everything is moving toward a 2010 date for the New World Order becoming the visible official government of the world. I do believe the U.S. is Mystery Babylon in its economic and political form.
That said, I have many pretrib friends, who obviously disagree with me and if you want to hold that position, I have no qualms with that. However, I do not have the time to debate the pros and cons of either Pre or Post Tribulationsim. My position is in my book. I simply state my position and let the saints make-up their own mind about what they believe.
Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, et al, have been given the mantle by the Religious elite of the New World Order (The Spirit of the Harlot Church and False Prophet mix religion with politics – Daniel 2:36-45- partly strong and partly fragile – they will mingle with the seed of men, but will not adhere to one another. False religion with mingle with false government, but in the end the false political system headed by Satan’s Antichrist will destroy false religion. Many prophecy buffs mistake the Harlot system as the False Prophet, but they are not the same for the false political system does not destroy the False Prophet, only the false Church. Once the False Prophet leads the world in worshipping the Antichrist [in place of Jesus Christ], they will no longer need the false church, in fact, it would be a hindrance to the Beast system of Satan worship with its many gods. There is another application to Daniel 2:36-45 and I believe it is multi-culturalism we see taking place in the U.S. – many ethnic groups forming within the U.S., but not adhering to one another. This will serve to weaken the United States and bring about its heading up the New World Order. The Beast System is a dictatorship and democracy is nothing but a smoke screen that prepares the nations for the final end-time Czar.
President Bush is cleverly leading the United States into the NWO and he has the Christian Church totally deceived thinking he is a born-again Christian. He may even be the He-Goat of Daniel 8. I believe the United States is going to be broken-up into lesser nations or states – the CFR’s plan is to break the U.S. up into three regional divisions. However, I believe it will be four.
As we move closer to the 70th Week, we will all understand clearer the end-time prophetic program and if we have to adjust our theology, then so be it.
God bless.
Allen M. Barber
Greetings Allen,
Thanks for the response and I do respect and understand your position on the rapture, and accept that you are writing in the spirit of love and mercy of our Lord Jesus. I also don’t want to get into any long debate, but I will in this email try to explain my understanding in a way you might not have thought.
Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians lays out the chronology of end time events. In verse one please note that he refers to the “coming” and the “gathering” together as distinct events, and begs or beseeches them to understand their meaning and timing. In verse seven Paul says the satanic deceptions that will produce the Antichrist have not come to a final fruition yet because of the hindering power of “he” who is the Holy Spirit working through both the true Church and the archangel Michael, to restrain the coming of the Antichrist, who is first revealed by his peace covenant of Daniel 9:27.
Paul is clearly teaching here that there are two revealings of the man of sin, first as the peacemaker and second, three and a half years later, as the man who rises from the dead and declares himself to be the Messiah, Revelation 13. When the rapture of the hated and persecuted remnant (true Church) takes place by the Holy Spirit’s removal of them from the Earth, the first revealing is then allowed by God to begin. The Holy Spirit commands Michael to be silent and no longer restrain the fallen angels who will then prepare and present their Antichrist peacemaker to the nations. This is the “silence in Heaven” of Revelation 8:1 which lasts for “about half” and hour(hour=70th week)or three and one half years.
For further evidence of the pre-70th Week rapture please refer to my article, “The Judgment Chronicles”, where among many other things I attempted to show that the seventh trumpet sounding in Revelation 11 heralds and opens the final seven vial judgments which last 387 days. This is God pouring out the fullness of his wrath, due in part to the antichrist President and false prophet Pope having the two Jewish prophets murdered, and allowing their bodies to lay out in the streets of Jerusalem, when to the utter shock of the world they are resurrected and ascend into the heavens. The seventh trumpet is not the last day of Daniel’s 70th Week as many teach. It has no bearing with the “last trump” Paul alluded to in Corinthians. Only the two prophets arise at that time and then “before” the seventh trumpet even sounds, thereby ending the sixth trumpet! I believe the trumpet Paul referred to is found in Revelation 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
Also for your information, I have read Rev. 20:4-7 many times over the years. Many have said this proves the post-tribulation position. I will try to make my understanding of this portion of scripture clear and simple. Rev. 19:7-8,14 shows me that the “armies that were in heaven” are the glorified resurrected church that were “given” their white garments, Rev. 3:4-5, 4:4, before the great tribulation and the final battle of Rev. 19 (Daniel’s 70th Week), for they “were” in heaven before Jesus descends to Earth to take down the Antichrist and False Prophet, and then imprison the fallen angels.
Furthermore, in Rev. 20:4 John sees in his vision thrones and “they” sat on them to judge. The “they” are the resurrected armies who were in heaven. But John also says…”and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded…” The word “and” is the key to understanding that John saw two groups of saints…those already resurrected and clothed in white “and” the souls of them who are “about to be” resurrected to rule and reign on the Earth with the others in the millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
It is imperative that we understand that these martyred ones entered the 70th Week as unbelievers, both Jew and Gentile, many of whom had a form of godliness, were members of Christendom, but never truly departed from their sin nature through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people have now become the fruits produced by the two Jewish prophets and 144,000 “first fruits” Jewish missionaries. John says later that… blessed is he that hath “part” in the first resurrection. There are two parts or phases to the first resurrection. Also know that those believers who physically survive the 70th Week will be the ones who will replenish or repopulate the Earth for one thousand years.
These are the reasons I believe as I do. There are many other teachings that point me to a any day any hour rapture of the “hated and persecuted” remnant. Thank you for bearing with me my eternal friend. Like I said in my articles, I’m the last one who should tell anyone they are mistaken, so I write these things in the same spirit of love that you did.
Your brother in Jesus,
Jack
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Jack
I agree with you, the 200,000,000 (of Revelation 8 and 9) are demon creatures just as you described. And yes the great end times deception will involve aliens/demons. I think that it is probable that the antichrist may claim to be the alien that started life on this planet, i.e. god, and will lead the world in fighting off bad aliens, thus the great deception. One day I believe we will see a ufo on the lawn of the white house.
Thx for your insights.
Bill
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Jack – you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in your understanding of what is taking place in Revelation 9. Likewise, your understanding of the THREE (two past, one yet future) judgment of this “mingling” of the fallen angels with humankind–precisely right on–PREACH IT! The insidious nature of this final destruction is an inevitability and the Prince of Darkness would have us believe that this will not be the case–it will be and it is altogether what the Bible teaches–plain and simple. May the Lord strengthen you and cover you under His presence as you speak forth the truth that is in Christ! Doug
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Dear Jack,
As a Vietnam Vet Brother, I Welcome You Home, as we were shunned by so many long ago.
I served 5 years in the Army Nurse Corps, and 2 voluntary tours in Nam.
The hardest thing I ever did in my life, yet I thank God daily for having had the privilege to serve others, and for all that my soul learned during those years. I have become way less “religious” and way more “spiritual”
It stands me in good stead. The two terms are mutually exclusive, you know.
I am NOT a fundamentalist, as it seems that those are the ones who cause such strife in this world, and have for eons. From the Crusades, to Salem Witch Hunts to IRA and Al Quaida., and many more.
Father God must be crying at all the horrendous murdering in His Name. Do you believe that that is his wish? Jesus was God personified as man, and telling this world God’s message.. Peace is the guiding word, and not disharmony..
If people would just quit foisting their fundamentalist beliefs off on others, and just follow the principle of peace, love and harmony throughout this world, all would be beautifully peaceful.
Who are we mere mortals to tell others what to believe or not?
We fight about if God Jehova is greater than Allah. WHAT? Different name. Same Eternal Force. And God sheds tears. He cares not what he is called.
An innocent baby does not come into this world full of sin. I totally disagree with that.
Fire and brimstone was NEVER Jesus’ message. His message was love. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Fundamentalists who believe every account written by mere mortals thousands of years ago, and compiled into a SUPER-EDITED book, are very small-minded, as I see it.
Consider the Dead Sea Scrolls–or even the Gospel of Magdeline which was hidden for centuries, and which has just come to light.. As in MARY Magdeline.
It is beyond my comprehension why some folks memorize ancient words that often do not apply in this day and age. NO–I am NOT talking of “changing the Ten Commandments to fit your needs”. Those will always stand !
I am talking of thousands of years ago when “visions” included “fire in the sky”. Could that be a rocket to the moon, or the launching of a sattellite into space? How was that visionary to know what it meant 2000 years later? He walked in the dry dessert, or if he was lucky, rode a donkey—if rich, he rode a camel.Certailny not an SUV, a limmosine, nor a jet airplane.
When we were little, the dog jumped on my sister. She was about 8 years old. She said “get down, fool”. My father ( a violent man) screamed at her that “The Bible says to never call your brother a fool”. My 8 year old sister innocently said, “He’s not my brother–he’s a dog”. Get my drift?Guess she could have called him “sh*t, and that would have been OK, since it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible huh? Or could she have been able to call her sister a “Fool”, since I was not her brother?
Do you see how ridiculous that is?
Now that I have shared my viewpoint, I would welcome yours back.
Diana
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I have visited blogs and websites that claim to love Jesus but they often reference the quotes of the protestant reformers instead of Jesus. I hear more about John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther’s interpretation of the Word of God. Is this of God?
Although the family structure is very important to them and often reference Ephesians and Titus 2 to back up their claim, something is wrong. Do they see the roles between man and woman and having a multitude of children the only way to have a relationship with Jesus?
I say they are putting the created over the creator. With all this legalism are they in tuned to the role of the holy spirt? I would love to hear from you about this?
I believe Satan is using religions such as protestant, anabaptist, catholicism, eastern orthodox or other organized religions to subtley pervert christianity. This is why I think tradition stands in the way with a good relationship with Jesus. Please advise.
Thank you
Georgia
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Hook,
I’m a Deist/Freemason like Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, et al
I think Jesus of Nazareth had a great message but I don’t like the religion that John, Paul, Peter, etal started from what he said. And I definitely don’t believe in divinity!
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I am a combat veteran of Vietnam. I voted for John Kerry and I abhore our current “leader” – that draft-avoiding character from Texas. Please remove my name from all of your email lists.
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Dear Mr. Hook;
I read some of your statements this morning and would agree that the ‘great Babylon’ is most representative of America. I appreciate what you have to say about our misplaced trust in military arms rather than in God. What you said regarding our defense being in our one true God rather than in the Pentagon during the days of communism could be with our misplaced trust in the Pentagon during this supposed ‘war on terrorism’.
I am affiliated with the Catholic church and I do not know if ‘harlot Babylon’ is something distinct from the ‘great Babylon’. I had been affiliated with a messianic congregation (and I could relate the pitfalls of such) as well as biblical Christian churches (and I could relate the pitfallls of such also). Yes, there is much within the Catholic church that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, in the end, each of us must personally remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The remnant is a remnant regardless of which denomination one is affiliated and God knows who shall be part of the remnant.
May we remain faithful to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ through Him and in Him and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sincerely, Michael
Hi Michael,
Thanks for visiting my web site and responding. It is refreshing to hear men like you admit that Catholicism has serious doctrinal errors. The church I grew up in, the Reformed Church, is much the same way. Once I was born again, with no help from the Reformed pastors, I had to admit they were preaching another gospel, as Paul said… another Jesus. The Catholic system is the mother of them all, don’t you think? I admire your courage to reach out to them calling them to repentance, but be careful not embrace their doctrinal delusions.
I hope my online book and articles help you even more in understanding the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ, his shed blood for our sins, and his glorious resurrection. There is coming a day when the Lord will return in judgment and then imprison the fallen angels who are temporarily allowed by God to rule the nations because of the Adamic sin nature of all men. Until that day of judgment we are to call all men to repentance, to love and offer forgiveness to the worst of our enemies, even those who wish us dead. Keep in touch.
Your new eternal friend,
Jack D. Hook
Dear Jack:
To be honest, I do not know whether the Catholic church is the ‘mother of all apostate churches’. I do know that there are pretenders, luke warm and true believers within most denominations including the Catholic church. I no longer am searching for the perfect doctrinal and practicing church, such a church is not likely to exist. I can only be responsible for my own faith walk. When Jesus said to this disciples that they were to do what the hypocrites of his day preached and not what they do….I liken it to much of what is within the Catholic church, yet I do know there are true Christians within the Catholic church. The Catholic church has something which no other church has….they remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ every day in every country throughout the world. Rembering the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sins every day will keep the faithful humble and willing to suffer for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blessings be with you my brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. Shalom
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Dear Mr. Hook,
Thank you for your correspondance and may I wish you the very best on your political and religious endeavors, however, those are both arenas that I do not discuss, argue or feel a need to share with others.
May God bless you for your sacrifices to our great nation.
Respectfully,
Patti
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—– Original Message —–
From: Sandy Shapiro
To: Jack Hook
Subject: Fwd: Don H. Polston Ministries, #31 Ask For Favor
Begin forwarded message:
From: “Pastor Don Polston”
Subject: Don H. Polston Ministries, #31 Ask For Favor
Don H. Polston Ministries
#31 Ask For Favor
How you see yourself, or how you understand yourself is the key to conversing with God for your daily needs. If you think you are worthless, your prayers will ask for little. Jesus said, “Ask (largely) that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). The size of your asking is reflected in the size of your heart. Build your heart, and you will build your asking as Jabez did. Jabez ask for much favor.
Listen to his prayer:
“And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; It’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others. Before you reject this statement, think about it.
Jabez was asking God to remove his stigma, for that is what his name means. The word Jabez means:
to grieve; to be sorrowful.
His mother literally named him “a pain. However, he asked God to enlarge his place and to bless him. Have you done the same?
Greetings Don, Sandy, and friends,
Sandy sent me this latest ministry update (above) from Don Polston, which he rarely has ever done. It might be good if you read the update first before going any further into my letter. He failed to tell me what he thought about it, so I take it that he agrees with Don. However, I know from many contending conversations with my brother Sandy over the years, that he would expect me to disagree with Don’s appeal and understanding of the scriptures. If he wanted a response from me, here it is:
Sadly, this letter is no different than the self-motivating messages of the Sunnyside Temple days of the 70’s when we were all together in Iowa. Days and years, by the way, which included some of the best times Carol and I ever have experienced in our lives as born again Christians. That makes this response to Don and Sandy very difficult. Over the last few years I have sent Don countless articles, both my own and those of others, hoping they would abandon their old ways they learned from Robert Schuller and others in the positive confession movement.
This prayer of Jabez has been hijacked like the hope and prayers of John that we should prosper and be in health. What my dear brothers are forgetting is the cry of the Holy Spirit who also said…”even as thy soul prospers”…and with Jabez…”keep me from evil that it may not grieve me”. What is that evil Jabez wanted to be free from that it grieved him and God when he committed? What was John pointing to concerning the prospering of the soul? It is quite simple. These men wanted to be free from the power of the sin nature they knew they inherited from the fall of Adam and Eve. They wanted to remain close to God through his Spirit and desired to understand the elements of that sin nature that plaques all of mankind, so they could flee and depart from them. John, earlier in his first letter, spelled it out clearly as he identified the elements, attitudes, or desires of the sin nature that naturally come out of the heart and mouth of all men, albeit in different degrees and intensities. The world is and always has been at war because of this sin nature, just look at the television news and most of all, read the scriptures.
John said we must not love the world system rooted in the politics and religion of the fallen angels who rule this world’s nations through manipulation of the sin nature. The characteristics of the evil nature Jabez wanted kept from are…the pride of this life, the love of money and self (lust of the eyes and flesh), the deceit of our lying tongues, and the hatred and jealousy of other men, especially our own brothers and sisters who name Jesus as Lord, 2 John 2. It is clear to me that the pride of militant patriotism, the prosperity gospel, and the self love and esteem that drives or motivates us to “desire”, even pray for, the fame, fortune, and finest of this world system, is the very thing Jesus shed his blood to save us from. My former Pastor from Sunnyside Temple, who Carol and I love with all of our hearts, cannot yet see that his appeal for us to seek God in prayer while thinking of ourselves as…brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous, and powerful beyond measure…is nothing more than putting Christian veneer on the sin nature that we should hate with all of our hearts, for it has separated us from the Lord Jesus Christ who loves us.
When we are born again we enter spiritually into the Kingdom of Heaven and become its citizens and ambassadors. As John wrote we can now see the Kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ and his bloody cross, resurrection, and return in judgment to imprison the fallen angels with their leader, Satan, and all men who refuse to depart from or even understand their sin nature We can now see how man’s inherited sin nature plays easily into the political-religious hands of the fallen angels who have created a counterfeit Kingdom of Heaven that is in full bloom in America today. This counterfeit is really Babylon the Great as John looked at it in his vision.
This letter will most likely trouble you, Sandy and Don. I am sorry if that is so, but the mutual love we had for one another at Sunnyside demands that we be honest and out in the open among our old friends. Our Lord Jesus is coming and he wants all of us to judge ourselves to see if we are in “the” faith. Also, we are to speak the truth in the meekness of wisdom when we see our friends and family being seduced away from the wholesome teachings of our Lord Jesus, just as Paul wrote to Timothy, saying that some had erred from “the” faith supposing that worldly gain is Godliness. They had fallen into the same trap being set in Christendom today, thinking the desires to be rich, successful, gorgeous, talented, brilliant, and powerful beyond measure is really from God the Father. Paul said the love of money is the “root” of all evil. But now, thanks to men like Copeland and Hinn, one of the evil attitudes of our sin nature has now been Christianized and taught as doctrine.
Don and Sandy, I am appealing one more time, as I have so many times in the past, that you reconsider what you are teaching. Please know that I say this knowing full well the weakness and evil of my own carnal mind. I have admitted to Sandy, more times than I can count, how many times I have sinned in my flesh and hurt our Lord. Many of those sins were against Sandy when we shamefully fell into angry arguments and mean accusations. We have forgiven each other and sought our Lord’s forgiveness many times, but yet there is this huge wall between us that I know Jesus wants to remove. I have asked Don to intervene many times, but it appears that Sandy and Don still hold to the same teachings of the past that have caused this huge barrier to exist between us.
I have looked in the mirror many times and have seen the vile and ugly planks in my own eyes, so I am not writing this thinking that I have arrived at the pinnacle of spiritual greatness. As a matter of fact, the closer I get to Jesus and his truth, the more ugly my flesh becomes as his light exposes every weakness, to the point of wanting to crawl in a hole and fall on my face before his holy presence in my heart. He has always reached down to pick me up and then explains to me that even though my heart is a new creation in him and free from the power of sin, I still possess a body and brain that wants to deny him and run from him, or redefine his piercing and penetrating truth. Remember, if we are truly born again, it is our Lord Jesus within us who places “his” desires and attitudes in our hearts that we then align ourselves with, and he said of himself…I am meek and lowly of heart, Matthew 11:29.
Your eternal brother in Jesus,
Jack