

Broken Door

The Hidden Truth about Church

Introduction: The purpose of this book is an attempt to open the eyes of not only members in our churches but pastors also. There are hidden truths laying on the surface in plain sight, (Actually the best place to hide something, is in plain sight); these hidden truths, sad to say has been in the churches ever since I was a child, I'm sure even longer. I pray that you read this book with an open heart and a meditative mindset (Selah).

_I would like to dedicate this book to my Daughter also: my grandchildren_.

### Table of Contents

Chapter One: Deception

Chapter Two: Tradition

Chapter Three: Church Attendance A Must?

Chapter Four: Membership

Chapter Five: Discipleship

Chapter Six: Complete Loyalty to the Pastor

Chapter Seven: Sinking Fast and Stubborn

Chapter Eight: What will it take?

Chapter Nine: Relationship, the Solution

Chapter 1

Deception

What do you suppose would happen if you approach a person you know that's caught up in deception and you say to him, _"Sir, you're terribly deceived."_ What type of reaction do you think you would receive from this person? Do you think maybe he'll say, "Praise be to God! I've seen the error of my ways." Actually, we both know the outcome; his reaction would be, him turning away after an extensive long-winded argument. Because, the truth of the matter is; it does absolutely no good to tell a deceived person they are living in deception. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are around 1 in 259 million, these odds are better than us changing a deceived person's mind, they have to see it for themselves. Sadly through leaders in our churches today is missing the mark in their pastor-ship, teaching and evangelism.

Personally, I don't believe that they are purposely standing behind the podiums preaching deception because they know it's wrong, a person deceived can be totally sincere and passionate about what they're teaching.

Leaders of the church, especially organized churches are teaching, preaching and evangelizing what they believe in their hearts to be the truth. The Bible gives us some insight on how deception works, take the story of Adam & Eve, remember when the serpent came to Eve telling her that she could eat the fruit, and surely she _would not die?_

Genesis Chapter 3 (KJV).

_1Now the serpent was more subtil than any best of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,_ _God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, lest ye die. 4.and the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5.for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Verse: 4 The Serpent said to the woman, "Ye shall not surely die". The serpent also assured the woman, God knows that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil._

Did you catch it? The serpent didn't lie completely he told her what I refer to as a half-truth, half-truths are much more dangerous than a complete lie; complete lies are easy for us to see though, with half-truths there's just enough truth mixed into the lie for it to become believable. This same thing has been happening in our churches for centuries the half-truths have been passed down through the ages, our leaders hold fast to these teachings, the enemy has gotten into the camp (the church), the best way to destroy something good is to become a part of it. My theory, (note: my opinion), I believe centuries ago the enemy got into the camp, (The churches), and had corrupted it by adding sprinkles of false information, just enough to destroy what God had intended to be holy and helpful to the growth of his people, this has led to what churches have become in this day; concerning the separation of churches, because of our beliefs.

For instance, television ministers, the "pastors" try to lead us to believe that money is the only reason God is alive. If we're not driving a fine up-to-date car or living in a luxurious home, according to their teachings we're bringing shame to God's people. Try to tell these "pastors" how deceived, they're, how far do you think we'll get with them? Reader, you might be asking," Well, isn't it obvious? They have to know what they're doing isn't right," the truth, no. They believe in their hearts they're right, there is just enough truth in the message that it has convinced them it's real.

I've watched these "pastors" for a year's matter of fact, I almost fell into this prosperity teaching myself, and the men that preach this message are persuaded that their message is true. When someone believes something so strongly it's really not that hard to convince others, why? Because of sincerity, when someone is sincere it comes across as honesty.

When I sold vacuum cleaners I had to believe in what I was selling if not the costumer could see that I didn't believe in the product, it came across as dishonesty on my part, in turn I would lose a sale, one of the first lessons I learned was too convinced myself the cleaner I was selling was the best; it worked well. The first month I sold twenty five cleaners, all exempt three, cleared with good credit. So, you could say I made myself a believer, and that helped me to convert others to my way of thinking, same as the prosperity teaching message. You might think that this "seed-of-faith" teaching is something new that has happened in the last twenty

years or so, but there was something very similar to this that exists within the church today. 500 years ago, an evil that promoted Martin Luther to nail his ninety five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany on October 31st 1517. An evil that led to a reformation, from which grew the protestant church.

There were serious abuses within the church.

The large administrative structure of the church required a great deal of money to finance it. To obtain this money, the church used many devices that hurt its spiritual nature. During this same time of great need within the church some clergy lived like secular princes, building lavish palaces and indulging in corrupt financial practices. In order to do just that Pope Leo X sent out indulgence peddlers who had been granted by the papal power to grant remission of sins according to the amount of money given. While Luther had other concerns about papal abuse it was the selling of indulgences that prompted him to hold a public debate on the matter. In those days on holidays, such as All Saints Day, it was customary to hold public debates.

The subjects of the debates were announced by nailing them to the church door. So on October 31st, 1517 Luther nailed his ninety five Theses to the church door little knowing that the can of worms he opened would split the church down the middle and usher in the reformation and with it Protestantism. The indulgences of old promised that God would pardon people's sins in exchange for a gift to the church. The indulgences have sold today's promise a return by God of up to one hundred fold with every gift. At the heart of the matter of the selling of indulgences is the question as to whether God's favor can be bought or sold. Luther held to the belief that God's benefits were not for sale. Luther said, "Every true Christian, be he still alive or already dead, partaketh in all benefits of Christ and of the church given him by God, even without letters of indulgence." God's love, favor and blessings to us is based solely on God's attributes of kindness and grace towards us and not on the works we perform.

God's blessings cannot be bought or sold. Those who pretend to do so are involved in a great heresy. They, like Pope Leo X, do so to maintain their "Luxurious life of worldliness, and pay for the remodeling of the great Cathedral." Today our churches build glorious buildings which only stand for the admiration of men not the glory of God. These pastors with their Seed-Faith, giving message live in luxurious homes, drive fine cars and even fly planes that they purchase and store in their own back yard airport, all this at the expense of the people. The Seed-Faith teaching is nothing more than heresy.

In Luther's second Theses, he asked, "Again, why does not the Pope build st. Peter's Minster with his own money since his riches are now more ample than those of Crassus, rather than with the money of poor Christians?" Ministries have been selling God's favor for a long time. Using catchy phrases and twisted scriptures, most of the perversions fall under the terms of "seed faith" or "hundred fold return." Teachings.

The seed faith, doctrine was made popular by Oral Roberts; today, it's carried on by his son Richard and his wife Lindsay. Oral uses the phrase: Have a need? Plant a seed! According to what Oral said, _"God Himself has established the law of sowing and reaping, of giving and receiving."_ _New Covenant, you can make every act of giving a seed planted which brings you into the Seed-Faith lifestyle of sowing and reaping._ With such a promise, who would want to turn that down? What is seed-faith, giving and why is it a renewed selling of indulgences? Oral teaches: _"The seed of giving is the seed of faith! And the seed has to be planted before we can speak to our mountain of need to be removed!"_ Oral Roberts did not hesitate to endorse those who have endorsed him, see if you know any of these "pastors", Try approaching one of the "pastor's" you see in the pictures above, tell that "pastor" they're walking in deception. If you by chance will even be able to get that close to them to ask; that "pastor" will have you kicked out of the church, they happened to be in at the time.

None of them want to answer for what they're being told is deception. Mike Murdock says, "Now I need to say this, God always delivers with a seed." Mike Murdock is just one of Oral's disciples and attributes his knowledge of seed faith to him. He is a Founding Trustee on the board of International Charismatic Bible Ministries with Dr. Oral Roberts, Murdock asks Oral, (who was a mentor in Murdock's life), "What's the greatest secret you ever discovered in your lifetime?" Oral answered without hesitation, _"Sowing for a desired result, taking something I have given to something I have been promised. Taking something in my hand and putting back in His hand, knowing it will multiply. Letting go of something I can see to create something I can't see. Letting go of something in my hand, expecting He will let go of something that's in His hand."_ Truly God's people need to be a giving person. But let us return to giving from a pure heart and mindset, not from a motivation of greed. The heresy that has been accepted in the church needs to be repented of and not tolerated. Just as Luther nailed the ninety five Theses to the door nearly five hundred years ago we too must take a stand for righteousness.

You might be saying, "Well, I've seen it work." Have you considered this? The Bible says that Satan is the god of this world, I'm sure you remember that Satan offered Jesus all the riches of the kingdoms if Jesus would just bow down and worship him.

Mark 1:8-11 (KJV)

8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The devil could not offer anything he didn't have to offer, right? My point here is, the devil can give money to people. Do you think that Satan would mind letting go of a few hundred, maybe thousands or millions of dollars to make a believer out of someone? Remember what the Bible said in,

John 10:10 (KJV)

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

There's another element that adds strength to the deceptions present. The sad thing; it's something held onto like a precious diamond. It's so tightly sewed in the fabric of the church that it's worn with a sense of pride. No one will allow it to change by one jot or tittle. What is it you might ask? It's a simple thing, you might even find it funny, mainly because of how I built up to it, and it's called tradition.

Chapter 2

Tradition

Traditions, they can be good they could be bad, in the churches they are often times bad. Take for instances the tradition of marriage, when the groom and the bride are forbidden to see one other before the wedding.

As a minister I've performed quite a few weddings, I've seen firsthand brides hollering at their groom, _"Get out of here!"_ Often times the bride will post, a friend or two outside the door to keep their groom out. If the groom gets in somehow, the bride will yell, _"Get out of here!!"_ And she'll ask him, _"Do you want to curse our life and doom our marriage to fail?"_ She's not playing; although the man will laugh. That's how strong traditions are and, will affect our way of thinking. Let me share +the history with you on how this marriage tradition came about.

A lot of today's reception customs and wedding ceremonies trace back to early Egyptian and European traditions. Most of these traditions are rooted in folklore, superstition, as well as religion and many more. During the ancient times, it was even believed that evil spirits could bring misfortune to the newlywed's crops, such as disease and death. One of these wedding customs is the superstition that a bad luck will befall the couple if the groom sees the bride before the wedding.

Wow! See how strong traditions can be, also how long they can last? Here's the definition of tradition; the Greek word is "paradosis" which means giving over or handing down, it refers to teaching that's handed down either by word of mouth or in writing. As I said, there are biblical traditions that must be held and there are

Un-biblical traditions; which must be forsaken. Traditions are passed down through generations and generations of churches, rules and regulations.

Traditions, play a big role in our churches today, the way the church was ran centuries ago between Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church, are still in practice today. Pastors lead congregations to believe that services are being held the same as in the day of the disciples of Jesus, as in, the New Testament Church, which came about after the resurrection of Jesus. Here's a brief history of where our churches came from. The Roman Empire recognized Pauline Christianity as a valid religion in 313 AD. Later in that century, it became the official religion of the Empire, and during the following 1000 years, Catholics were the only people. In 1054 AD, a formal split occurred between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

This division remains in effect today. The 1054 split, also known as the Great East-West Schism marks an important date in the history of all Christian denominations because it designates the very first major division in Christianity and the beginning of "denominations." Pastors held onto the way that Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches ran services, a tradition held onto to keep people in their place, under the heading "Order" there must be order in the church. Somewhere in the mix of things pastors started teaching that it's a must to attend church in order to stay right with God. But I ask this question, is church attendance a must?

CHAPTER 3

Church Attendance A Must?

Pastors are pointing fingers at congregations, saying, _"You're the reason the growth of our church has diminished,_ _you need to go knock on more doors"_ The pews are slimming down; there's a lack of people wanting to attend. Our leaders place blame on them, saying, _"People are too lazy and, this is the reason why nobody comes to services."_ So, who's to blame, for this lack of participating in attendances? Maybe, if we were a better witness? Or maybe if we knocked on more doors, asking people to attend? The thing is, we have hard-headed Leaders, who think because they stand behind a podium and, hold a title, they don't have to do anything outside of sending the congregation out, to bring people in; In order to grace the church and fill empty pews. For what though? I mean, why go to a place that only wants two main things from us.

1. Time 2. Money

Our leaders say, _"If you don't attend church, you'll end up sinning and, could wind up in Hell."_ As far as their concerned, people are only saved if they attend church. This means that if we're not in church every time the door swings open, then we're not going to succeed as Christians in this world and, maybe miss Heaven.

For years, I've asked people, _"Are you saved?"_ Their answer would always be, _"I go to church."_ Or _"I don't go to church."_ As if going or not going is what it took to be right with God. I've heard for the best part of my life, _"If you don't attend church you're not right with God at all."_ It's put more like this, _"If you're really saved then you'll want to attend church, If not, you're within question."_ Our leaders stand before us, teaching us these traditions not in words only. Reader, you might ask, _"How then are they teaching these principles, if they're not saying it out loud?"_ The Lord taught me years ago, _"The loudest message ever preached is the one not spoken."_ How do you preach a message if you don't speak it? "Actions"

These numbers represent the percentages of varying communication, 55% of communication is body language, 38% are tone of voice, and 7% are the actual words spoken.

Remember the old saying, " _Actions speak louder than words."_ Have you ever missed church for a while, maybe missing four or five services? How did your brothers and sisters act towards you when you did show up? This is my experience. I'm greeted with a big hug and asked, _"Where have you been brother? We've missed you!"_ Follow by, _"You've sure missed a lot here."_ Then the big question, _"Why have you missed so many days?"_ I stood there searching for a lie to tell them that would not make me look so bad. I knew in my heart of hearts that if I told them the truth, then I'll get that look of disapproval followed by them shaking their heads saying, _"Oh brother that's not a good reason to miss church!"_ Followed by, _"You really need to try better."_ Can you hear the undertone meaning in the above statements? Saying, _"You should never miss church for any reason,"_ Why do you suppose I felt a need to lie, to begin with? How did I know I would be put on the spot, before it even happened? What made me feel like a rank sinner, just because I have not come to church for a while? Because our leaders get up behind the podium, with their hidden messages, goes like this, _"There was this sister no one we know, she stopped coming to church like she use to. Now her life (The poor dear), is just not blessed much anymore, it's so full of troubles now. We need to pray for people like this." That's saying it, without really saying it. This has been said so much, it's been accepted as fact._

I don't believe our leaders do these things because their shady or underhanded, they believe in their hearts that this is truth. They stand by the old-time religion, the traditions that have been passed down for ages. The feeling and thought process is, "If our ancestors did it this way, then why should we forsake it, it works!" Just because it works doesn't make it right. The argument on their part is, "It works in order to keep people in their place." This lie has been passed down for ages, saying it's from God's Spirit for us to follow, rules for us to abide by. Even if we could (And we can), point out to them that their theories are full of holes, man-made and artificial. They would still stand there and boldly confess, "I'll give my life up for these principles!" They'll sing that old song, "I shall not be I'll shall

not be moved." But they're singing it while standing in a muddy ditch. It's sad, why? Because it's holding down God's desired for His people.

I'm not saying don't go to church. I'm saying we can make it without the church; we don't need a man to answer to. God doesn't live in the church waiting for us to show up on schedule to see us again. Jesus lives in our hearts, every day we carry Him with us.

Another practice in our churches today is if you don't have a church home, you must find one, when you do, you'll need to become a member... This leads me into chapter 4, "Membership"

CHAPTER 4

MEMBERSHIP

Don't misunderstand me here, there is nothing wrong with membership if you're joining a country club; I believe membership needs to stay out of the churches, I'll tell you why.

I have seen a lot of damage done to people whom became members of a church. Reader, you might be saying, _"Wow, this guy is harsh!"_ Before I go any deeper into this subject, I would like to cover the most misquoted and taken out of context verse from the Bible ever. Look with me in,

Matthew 7:1-5 (KJV 1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

We are taught by our Bible teachers that Judging is wrong, we are suppose to leave things along not call someone out on things that are not right. I've been told,

" _Hey man you're being critical, doesn't the Bible say to us not to judge anyone? You know, judge not, so you will not be judged, you don't want God to judge you, do you?"_ When I was a young believer, I fell into this way of thinking, but later in my walk, I decided I needed to do a study on this verse and see what it really met, I was surprised by what I found. The word for _"judge"_ there in Greek is _(krino, Strong's concordance, 2919),_ which is defined in Strong's concordance as: _to decide, consider, as preferring one thing over another or determining the correctness of a matter._ That is slightly, but importantly, distinguishable from _(krisis, Strong's concordance, 2920), which is defined by Strong's as: Judgment (human or divine), justice, the concept of determining the correctness of the matter; negatively, punishment,_ condemnation. The latter type is a judgment that has an authority behind it. The type of judgment here isn't so much of a condemnation as it is just plainly a determination.

Someone steals something, for instance: me telling them that it was wrong is a judgment, but it is different from me outright condemning them, in its context, it isn't saying not to _"judge"_ things, but it is saying not to do it hypocritically. There are many examples in the Bible where we are even called to judge things. Jesus even tells us how we are to judge things in,

John 7:24 (KJV) "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Judging is something we are called to do, to what extent? Let's look at two verses.

1 Corinthians 2:15 (KJV)

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1 Corinthians 6:3 (KJV)

3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?

Wow, well, that's intense! So, when we understand the whole concept here and put it into practice, the whole process of passing judgment becomes a two-fold blessing. It forces us to examine ourselves and repent of anything that we are doing outside of God's will, bringing restoration, which then allows us to clearly see how to be effective ministers as Jesus leads. Now let's go back into "Membership" Chapter 3

In order to become a member of any church, the first step is, for us to be taught our obligations towards our new family. Our first obligated is not to attend any other church outside the denomination or nondenominational branch of the church we've chosen to join. We are instructed to stay friendly toward other denominations or non-denominations, but outside of that, we are to stay faithful to our new church family.

What's the harm in this? Without our knowledge we're being taught; the only people that really matter are the members of our church family. The people outside the membership family are like our uncles and aunts, three times removed, distance but still family. Our true blood family (we learn), are members of our home church.

Let's say we have two people, one came to visit from their church the other just wanders in. The two people are referred to as guests. Both of them have given their life's to Jesus, just like us; the blood of Jesus was shed for them both, as well as ourselves.

When we should be seeing them as a brother or sister, we are referring to them as guests. The person from the other church will have no worries, because churches will not try to steal guests from other churches, they'll only show how great and hospitable they are in their church. Their main goal is to convert the person who has no church home into the fold, in the case of the person off the street. Church members are taught to make a person with no church home to feel welcome; there will be pats on the back, a lot of attention being paid to this person in the beginning of their visits. As time ticks on, and the person is not showing signs of becoming a member, the members back up and leave the person alone. This person can continue to attend the church; they will not enjoy the benefits of full membership.

I've been in this spot; I've seen people in this position. It's not a fun place to be in church, choosing to not be a member. When you sit down for fellowship meals, you'll find yourself sitting alone; unless you have a wife and kids. When the services are going on you'll see a long empty pew; unless you go with a friend or family.

Members will not know anything about you, maybe your name or the kind of car you drive, it's as though you had rejected them because you didn't want to become a member of their church. You'll get that look saying, "You know what you did." Maybe this story of what happened to me in church will help you understand the damage membership can cause.

I volunteered my services for two years at a church, I became a puppeteer for children's church, I was loyal towards my commitment. The leader of the children's church had been a friend of mine for years; she and I had a falling out over something I have seen her do that I disagreed with. When I first started the church, people there were very nice towards me, pats on the back, so forth, after about two weeks of going there the merging process began, they had a couple of their best man come speak with me individually, letting me know the offer was on the table; all I had to do was take it. _"Membership,"_ that's what they were offering.

I explained to both men how I felt about membership, each man seemed like it was understood fully, I was assured by both men that it was acceptable. But, the next Sunday proved otherwise. I came into church as usual: but the atmosphere had changed. No more smiling or pats on my back, matter of fact, no one seemed to concern with my presence. This became the norm now, only two people would say _"hi"_ to me, though the children they had no problems with me, the rest, lost interest in me just like that, it was as though they were looking right through me _"poof,"_ I became invisible. When I attended a service, I'd sit in the pew, and find as the service began, I was sitting by myself, It left me feeling lonely and unwanted, very unwelcome, in the beginning it wasn't like that. You might be saying, _"Well, that happened in one church, it doesn't mean it'll happen in all of them."_ I've talked to a lot of people and I've heard this story many times. Although the circumstances are not the same, the basic has happened to me more than one time.

Back to the disagreement with my ex friend; this woman pulled most of the church in-between this matter, the pastor was trying to stay out of it, the assistant minister was happy to jump right in. I'll call him, _(AP)_ (Assistant Pastor); just to use a name and, her _(EX)._ EX decided to inform me I was no longer needed in the children's church so, I called the pastor, _(He knew what was going on between her and I)._ I asked him what he thought I should do. He said, _"Well, I would never ask you to leave the church, but you know that there will be problems in between you and EX if you stay."_ I said, _"Yes, I do know, but you seen what she did." (Sorry I can't tell you what she did, it wasn't good though)._ The pastor said, " _I know what she did, EX and I have talked about all of it."_ The pastor went on to say _, "I could never ask "you" to leave the church."_

He repeated this to me three times slowly, I picked up that he was throwing hints at me, hoping I would volunteer to leave. He said, _"If you do leave you could just show up every now and then; for maybe a special."_ Later on AP became pastor; he took the bull by the horns and banned me from the church. AP, and I had passed a few E-Mails after he asked me to leave, in AP's E-Mails he wrote, _"You have never showed an interest in becoming a member."_

He continued, " _I'm going to defend, my faithful attending member."_ He also said, "Because you were not a member, the one year that you did as a volunteer, met nothing, you didn't do it for the church it was done only to help your friend." He added, "I broke the rules of the church by allowing you to help EX, because only church members have the privilege of doing such things." I replied, "Could you have a talk with EX, to help solve our issue?" His answered, "You should just go find another church to attend and stop trying to tell me how to run this one." (Thing was, I never tried to tell him how to run the church don't know where that came from). I replied saying, _"AP, I'm your brother by the shed blood of Jesus."_ His reply, _"As far as I'm concerned, you were only a guest in our church."_ It was a far better benefit of the church to get rid of me in order to please this member, because EX, had paid out lots of money for the children's church activities. Before EX took over the activities of children's church, the children were given a coloring book and were told to hush and color during church services.

"Membership" UGH! I'm sure if I were to dig hard enough, I could find worst stories, then this from others, I think that we need to do away with memberships. Put our focus on being a family with a bound to share Jesus to this lost blind world. If I were to sit down with these members today, and ask, _"What do you know about me?"_ Their answer would be, _"We know you drive a van, your name is Michael, also you were once Ex's friend. Oh, and also a guest in our church for a time."_ Membership is not even biblical, matter of fact the Bible doesn't mention anything about it, and we'll not find any teaching in scriptures telling us to practice it. Why do people accept it so easily? Membership excludes other people, Jesus said,

Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

_29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Jesus never said, come to me, only if you're a member. He said, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest._ All means all, not just the ones that have banned together in their private clubs.

After membership comes discipleship, where you learn the do's and do not's.

CHAPTER 5

Discipleship

Now, after membership comes discipleship, where you learn the do's and do not's.

I have seen this happened way too often, someone will say sincerely the prayer of salvation, with willingness to turn away from their old life. They become a member of a church; with joy they're looking forward to start this new journey with the Lord. Then, our leaders with the backing of the congregation start their teaching with conviction the do's and Don'ts of discipleship, the can and can not's. Our leaders tell us, "My brothers, my sisters, you cannot drink, smoke, no (R) rated movies, no going out to dance, No No No!" As if by not doing these things it'll be something that will please God, that somehow we keeping these rules sat down before us, by the church, will earn us the gift of salvation and a place in Heaven; things God give us all freely.

I don't think smoking is good for us, but I don't believe it will send us to hell. Drinking; as in being an alcoholic.

That's different. The Bible says in, _1 Corinthians 6:10, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God._

To drink a beer or some wine every so often, doesn't make us an alcoholic, i.e. a Drunkard. You have to admit that a lot of things the church claims are sins really aren't. I'll leave these matters to your own convictions.

Anyway, by the time our leaders get done with their list of obligations, the new convert's feel the pressure, it's so great on these new brothers and sisters; they feel they just can't live up to it. Although, they are being assured by leaders and congregation alike, _"It takes the Spirit of God, through faith, in order for you to continue." It's too much for them to handle. There're two ways here for them to go,_

1. Keep coming; act like they have it down to a science or, 2. Run! Never turn back.

The ones that run feel in their hearts they've walked away from Jesus and, lost their salvation. Really though, they just ran away from religion. It's a very clever and crafty trick that Satan has placed in churches many years ago. The sad thing is; church leaders refuse to see it, for what it really is. Leaders present their arguments, _"Faith without works is dead."_ Let's take a look at this argument. Let's start in,

James 2:14-24 (KJV).

14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also

believe, and tremble.

20 but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and

not by faith only.

The Bible does say faith without works is dead, pay attention to, _James 2, 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?_

Also, _James 2, 22-23 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works_ _was_ _faith made perfect? Also,_

23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Did you catch it? God told Abraham to offer Isaac his son upon the altar, by Abraham doing (doing is working), obeying (also works), by this obedience, Abraham fulfilled scripture that said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

All God wants from us is simple obedience. Matter of fact the Bible says in,

1 Samuel 15:23 {KJV)

22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

What he tells us to do in this life that's all he wants. He never said we could work our way into salvation. He never said that we had to do this or don't do that to earn His free gift, because his gift is free. Yes, there are things that we need to do like, not kill or bear false witness against our brothers or sisters. (I'm covering this in a later chapter), Jesus wants us to love one another and, to forgive one another. Believe me when I say this, you can stop doing all the do-nots and do all the do's and still be headed to Hell, churches have this discipleship thing so out of order, with what God really wants.

Jesus is the only one who can teach us how to be His disciple. Disciple means follower of Jesus Himself. Not being a good member of a church, not giving the right amount of money, not being at the door of the church when it opens or gracing a pew. I pray that all of us would allow our eyes and ears to open, so that we can become the kind of disciples Jesus wants us to be.

In this chapter, I've covered the edges of discipleship, in Chapter six; I'm taking us into the center part of this issue. An issue that most members seem to overlook, it exists, most of us are not aware of it.

CHAPTER 6

Complete Loyalty to the Pastor

What does this mean exactly, complete loyalty? It means exactly what its saying. As a member of a church you will become a disciple for the Pastor. Are duties will include witnessing to people outside of our church about the great love and fellowship that our church offers, mostly we will be asking people to come fill up more space in the church on the pews. As a disciple we're not questioning the authority of our Pastor who is the under shepherd for Jesus and for the church body (family). The church claims that the Pastor's duty is to make sure his congregation is in right standing with God, also in right standing with him (The Pastor). Pastor or not, it's just not the job of any man to make sure that we're in right standing with God. It says in,

Romans 3: 10 (KJV)

10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Only Jesus can bring a person into right standing with Him, no man is righteous by his own power. The Pastor has complete total authority over his congregation without question. This means whatever he preaches is not questioned; you may, however, make commits or ask for more details. To question him as being wrong about what he's saying; that is frowned down upon, we'll be branded as trouble makers a rebel against the authority of said Pastor. If it's the pastor's opinion or he misquotes scripture taking it out of context, this is not corrected by a disciple. Yet the pastor always has the right to correct his congregation. I'm aware there are some churches where the congregation has more control than the pastor, that's a whole other can of worms. In most cases the pastor has all authority along with his top board members, whom can out rank him at times. Myself, I don't believe either should have this type of power.

To ask our leaders to explain this, we'll hear, _"Without this type of order there would be nothing but chaos in the churches, we must have order."_ You can search scriptures all day long; you'll never find an instance where one man received appointment as the leader of a congregation. I know we have Abraham, Moses, up to Jesus, even Paul. There never was a vote to make them leaders. They became leaders because of who they were; people recognized their callings, it was by the Holy Spirit their calling was made known. May I point out that all these men never once pointed a finger towards themselves, they always pointed people towards God as the one who did everything concerning their ministry, and they knew being a minister is a gift only God can give, the Bible says in,

Romans 12:6-8 (KJV)

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness Reader, you might be saying by now; "Well, brother the office of a Pastor is in the Bible, Right!" Absolutely correct, let's explore this issue together. The word pastor only appears one time in scripture, Ephesians 4:11 (KJV). Paul is describing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Looking at

verses 8-12,

Therefore He said: "When he acceded on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to man" He gave some to be apostles, some profits, some evangelist, and some Pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

People are always going to the Greek to find what words in the New Testament mean. There's good reason for this, because the New Testament was translated from the Greek. The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew. (You might have already known that, Just in case you didn't. Moving on), I'm going to the Greek to translate the word pastor. The word in Greek is _(Poimen); strong's Greek, 4166_ the translation means Shepherd or shepherds. It actually means someone who tends sheep, the gift of _(poimen)_ is the gift of shepherding people. It's the task of teaching, leading and caring for people. It's also a function that can be done by many people in a congregation, just like there were many shepherds tending flocks of sheep. This gift is given to more than one person in a congregation, both male and female. In today's Church being a Pastor refers to a connotation of an important church office. Being a shepherd, having this office is one who has a job of feeding and caring for sheep, the young in Jesus. Again in,

Ephesians 4:11

_1 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Chris_ t: Paul was talking about a gift to shepherd people (A Pastor), he was not talking about a church office. The gift of being a shepherd genially is given to a number of people in a congregation not just one man.

The office of a Pastor didn't come from a denomination; it came from, what early Christians saw happening in Rome. After the first century, Christians began to pattern their form of organizations after what they were taught what they were familiar with in the pagan Roman Empire. They were doing what worked for the world empire of that era. I did some research online and I found this.

The New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia presents some history about how the office of church Pastor developed. It's titled "Ministry" the editors write: "It may be said generally that about the close of the first century every Christian community was ruled by a body of men who are sometimes called Presbyterians (elders) sometimes, but more rarely bishops (overseers),and whom modern church historians are inclined to call Presbyter-Bishops. Associated with them, but whether members of the same court for forming a court of their own, it is impossible to say, were a number of assistant rulers (Haeresis), xxx 18); that the Jewish Christians (Judaizing) organized their communities where like the Jewish synagogues of the Disposition and unlike the Christian Churches, all the evidence makes it impossible to believe that the earliest Christian organizations were simply taken over from the Jewish.

End of Article:

This article is saying that the Jewish people ran the church with each other; we've been taught in church that we are running our services the same way our other Christian leaders did in the New Testament days, as God led. The Lord never met for one man to be in charge of the church, but many, he wants prophets not a king.

You might be wondering (That is if you don't already know); Why am I pointing this out? I believe it's essential that we Christians understand that the Lord tells us in the Bible to closely guard our walk with Jesus as believers. To judge rightly divided every word in truth. It says,

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

This means what we hear as well as what we read; we have scriptures that are the written word of God. We also have the word that is spoken by God in our hearts or by someone else. I'll show you what I mean. Let's read on;

Luke 8:5-15 (KJV)

5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way

side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 9 And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be? 10 And he said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Most of the time we hear this reading, it'll be a point the reader will use in reference to giving money. In reality, this Scripture is not talking about money at all, it's referring to us hearing God and letting his words take good root in our hearts. I'll break it down, so you'll get what I'm saying. It took me a while to get this myself, years ago. The Lord pointed it out and wow! Okay, here we go.

Luke 8:5-15 (KJV)

5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

This was Jesus talking to the people, the part I want you to see is this, Jesus explains what all this meant.

9 And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Jesus said, _"The seed is the word of God."_ Not written but spoken. Jesus said, _12 "Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved"._

We'll hear what the spirit said to us, but the devil will come and take it out of our hearts, to keep us from believing and being saved, not just from this world of sin, but also out of things we get ourselves into or others. Then Jesus said, _13 "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."_

Now they on the rock will hear, receive the word ( _voice of God);_ with joy but not let it take root, they will believe for a while but in time they will let temptation cause them to fall away. Note that this is not just talking about being saved from sin in our life; it's also talking about us seeking God for an answer for something we need. God will talk to us tell us what to do and we'll let temptation carry us away from what we heard, you know like, trying to handle it by our self.

Jesus went on to say, _14,"And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection"._

Them on the thorns, we which, when we have heard, Let the cares, riches and pleasures of this life choke out the life of what we heard from God's voice in our hearts. What God said will not take root to allow the fruit to come to perfection. Now Jesus tells us, _15 "but that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."_

The seed is God's voice in our hearts. Good ground is the honest and good heart; you know the one that seeks God's will. Having heard what God said, keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience.

The Bible tells us that we hear God's voice and no other voice will we follow. Today we are not being taught that we can hear God for ourselves.

We have the Scriptures, that is the written word of God, but we also have the voice of God in our hearts to lead us. Wow! If God is for us, who can be against us? Can I get an Amen!

We have a lot of things to weed out when we're getting closer to Jesus. It's like starting any kind of relationship; we get to know one another. But the problems we face today are that leaders teach a lot of their options, a lot of traditions. We have to be able to weed out the things that are not really God. It takes God's spirit to do this for us; we need to allow the Lord to be our only shepherd, the one who feeds us, guides us to what his will is for our life in this world of darkness and pain. I don't believe that one man should be pastor only; I believe that many should be pastors. My hope is; one day our leaders will put this office to rest and let God have his way. Allow God's control; like it should be. It was never met for us to have a king, Jesus is the king of kings, but He's not a carnal king, He is holy, He's righteous, honest and good. He always knows the will of His Father and is quite eager to allow His people to know it as well.

Chapter 7

Sinking Fast and Stubborn

Let's face it, very few people are attending services, the churches that are growing mostly are the ones that are telling people what they want to hear; you know the itching ear problem. Look at,

2 Timothy 4:1-4 (KJV)

4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be

turned unto fables.

We can count on our fingers the people across the pews; it's a fact, there's a lack in attendance. Our leaders want to blame the congregation, they say, "They're just not doing their job." The congregation will not say anything back to the pastor in fear of being branded as rebellious. It's a cycle that keeps repeating itself. The churches today are in a rut which means some Christians are in a rut, right were Satan loves for us to be.

Let's face it, when we go to church we already know what to expect, I'm including denominational as well as nondenominational churches. We walk in, do the meet and greet, sit down, sing some songs, a few fast a little slow. The plate will be passed after a prayer. The pastor then takes his stand, preaches his hour or half hour massage. After this we hug one another, talk about football, fishing or hunting. Then we go home or to a restaurant to eat. This is a typical Sunday or Sunday night service for almost all churches. Wednesday night service will change a little, maybe a dinner or play, maybe they will allow us to get up share our testimony or either we're doing VBS. (Vacation Bible School), the point is, it's a merry-go-round, around and around, same old thing we've seen again and again. It's the blind leading the blind, I don't know about you, but I don't want to fall into a ditch.

Matthew 15:10-14, (KJV)

10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, hear, and understand: 11 not that which goeth into the mouth defileth an man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, knowest thou that the pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? 13 but he answerd and said, every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Why did Jesus say, _"The blind leaders are leaders of the blind."_ Because followers are allowed themselves to be deceived by following teachers without question and teachers are teaching the same fallacies they learned from their teachers, it goes full circle. That's why I pray that this book will reach at least one or two leaders, to change their way of thinking. I pray they will fall on their faces and hear God, they will pray for pride to leave them, and be replaced with a humble heart before God. Only they can allow God to open their blind eyes. Reader, please be in the prayer of agreement and request to God that this will happen. I know if one or two are touched, God can use them to spread this message to others. Amen!

Year after year leaders are perching condemnation into the receiving hearts of hungry congregations; leading them to believe that if they don't attend church faithfully God will be displeased with them. They are using scripture's, as in,

Hebrews, 10:25-26 (KJV}

24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as

the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We do need to assemble ourselves together. Nowhere in this passage does it say that we have to meet in a church.

We could meet at home; work, at a store as far as that goes, we could gather around a trash can. Paul was telling us to not forsake one another in order to provoke one another unto love and, point one another towards good works exhorting one another, to help hold one another up. I do a lot of assembling over the phone with my sisters and brothers in the Lord; this passage is not telling us by any means that we're in sin if we don't attend church services.

In, _Acts 17, (KJV) Paul said,_

_"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and_ _earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands._

If we were to ask our leaders about this verse most of them would say, "God dwells in the hearts of men." Like I said early on; I feel it's worth mentioning again. "The loudest message ever preached is the one never spoken." I'll add this, It can be spoken in a way that indications a meaning. Let me explain what I'm saying, it goes like this. The pastor or even a member will say, _"I see them people talking about how they love Jesus, talking about how they are going to Heaven. Standing there sucking on a cigarette the whole time they're talking."_ Did you get it? He didn't say they weren't saved, yet he indications a meaning that brings us to a conclusion, "Something is just not right with them because they smoke while talking about Jesus." In turn, someone will walk away repeat what they thought they heard, _"Someone who smokes is just not right with the Lord."_ The same thing is true when it comes to the issue of not going to church. The Pastor says, _"Sister Sally only comes to church on Easter Sunday. It makes you wonder why she had such a bad year and why she's not as blessed as the person who makes it every Sunday."_

Are you getting it? He didn't say she wasn't blessed because she didn't come to church; once again his indication was that she is in trouble by not coming, but once a year, see how someone could hear that and think, "Wow, someone is not as blessed as they would be if they came to church all the time." Ask yourself, where did this thought originate? We've been led to believe that God will bless us, keep us safe and secure us a place in Heaven if we are faithful towards church attendance. I ask you, are these original thoughts? Have we been led to believe our salvation hinges on church attendance? I say, _"Yes."_ It's been said, _"If you're a true Christian you would want to go to church."_ If you are one of them people who think that somehow or another you're pleasing God by going to church, this my friend is a sad mistake. Going to church will never earn us a special place in God's heart. I'm not against gathering together to share testimony, singing, worship and praising our most high savior Jesus, even sharing testimony. You might be asking yourself by now, _"Why does this guy hate so much on churches?"_ I don't, it might seem so, but I don't, it's not church I hate; it's the way's of the church I am coming against. I'm trying to get across to everyone, if we are putting our faith in anything besides Jesus Himself for salvation; we are on a very wide road headed towards destruction. When we make it to heaven do you think that God will ask us, _"My son, my daughter, who was your Pastor?" Or, "What Church did you attend, and_

did you go faithfully?"

Do you think He'll say _"Enter into the church you want, they're_

_here."_ What church do you think will be in Heaven? We're told in scripture that we are on our own, as far as guarding our minds and hearts against the wrong teachings. Yes, we have the spirit of the Lord to help us understand, remember it's our job to make sure what we hear and what we do and what we believe is right. Look at,

Philippians 2:12

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

See, it doesn't say, _"Let our leaders in the church work out our salvation."_ It says, _"Work it out your own salvation, with fear and trembling."_ We can't arrive in Heaven and say, _"My pastor told me it went like this, I was just doing what he said."_

We can't point towards anyone but ourselves for what we allowed ourselves to believe and follow.

One day we Christians could find ourselves locked up for believing in Jesus. One day we might lose our freedom; as other countries have and are experiencing these things at this very moment. Do you think if this happens, they will hand us a Bible to read in these camps? Do you think that they will allow leaders to come lift our spirits with song and praise? It's not going to be a nice place, I'm sure. We'll not be allowed to stand around talking freely to one another about Jesus and the Bible. If our dependence lies on the pastor and church fellowship to keep us Christians, then BOOM! It's taken away, what then? We could find our self placed in a cell, alone in darkness, what then? No Bible, no fellowship, no church. What then? We need to learn to work out our own salvation, keep our self in the Lord, without but one crutch, Jesus. Jesus, and Jesus alone takes us through this world, speaking us through the pain and its hardships, keeping us on the right track, saving us from our own misunderstandings, helping us to judge what we take into our hearts also what we need to throw out of our life's.

CHAPTER 8

What will it take?

There's no doubt in my mind a change must take place. I have a few suggestions that might help, I have to admit I don't have all the answers, I believe with these few I am helping bring a change. I believe pastors should realize that they're not the only pastor called into a church; I'm not talking about associate pastors being appointed. I'm referring to pastors in our churches getting together with the congregation, praying and using discernment that will allow them to be in agreement with the person that has the calling to pastor in their life, and not make them sit under them for years before they can use the gift God gave them. Our pastors need to have that kind of relationship with the Lord, which they will hear and know God's voice. Our churches need to teach the congregation that they can hear God for themselves concerning this calling.

I'm sure you've had a church home or have one now, in some churches, (not all but some), we will find that people in the congregation would be to us like a mom, dad, grandpa, sister or brother. Have you experienced that? These are the other pastors of the church; they are walking in that calling, by feeding the young in Christ. These people should be able to get up, preach a message; they could if only our leaders today would allow them. They would give a message that would hit home, and have us walking out of that church, carrying with us a life changing message. Sadly, these people are made to sit down on pews and go along with the program.

Something I've noticed though my years of church attendance. People sitting in the pews every Sunday, every Wednesday and the pastor will inform the board to send a message to an evangelist somewhere far away or at another church nearby to come hold a revival in the church, why do that? They have a congregation of people who have the call of an evangelist. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have guest speakers or teachers or pastors, even special music, why overlook the congregation? Maybe because of some old rule that says, "You must have a paper showing you have studied, with the approval of a Bible College Degree." God is the great teacher, God is the one who anoints men. (I often wonder, which college did Jesus attend, His degree was from where?). Back to what I was saying, did you know the word anoint means preparation? It's God who prepares men and women for ministry. I believe that it would help a great deal if our leaders would stop thinking that their congregations are a bunch of sheep without direction from them. It would help our leaders to lose the classroom setting in church, you know; with the pastor standing up on the stage above the congregation, dominating the service, with microphone in hand? I remember hearing a pastor telling a story about a man who spoke up in the middle of this pastor's sermon. The pastor boasted, "I had this man removed from my service." He went on to say, "I'll never allow the Devil to stop **what God is** doing." The intent of the man who spoke up, was only to correct the pastor for taking a scripture out of context, calming that this scripture proves that we're bringing shame towards God if we're calling ourselves Christians and are living poor, how sad. I agree that the man should have waited until after services ended, but still why kick him out? I think the outcome would have been the same either way.

I believe it would be great if our leaders would step off the stage lay down the microphone and sit down within the mists of us, allowing us to have the freedom to openly discuss their messages; I'm saying talk with us, Jesus always takes the time to talk with us, not just at us. In this type of setting we would be more involved, we would participate, become a part in the sharing of the message, in turn we would learn. I know it might sound more like Sunday school, but I'm talking about the pastor coming down off the stage and being apart of the congregation. Allowing other pastors or teachers to add to what he's saying, this truly would be us all coming together as one body before Jesus.

I hate it when pastors feel a need to get up and start screaming at the congregation, I think maybe they're showing their passion or authority one or both. I once overheard a pastor say to his associate pastor, _"I really preached tonight!"_ said the pastor, _"The Spirit was really moving because I can hardly speak now."_ Holding his throat, he said, _"I'm horse, you hear that."_ Wow! I don't know about you, but when they holler like that it makes me feel like a child being chewed out by their parent in an abusive tone, for doing something wrong.

I think it would be helpful when it comes time for prayer, our leaders would lose that what I call, "Holy tone." You know the one right? It goes something like this, _"OH LORD, WE COME BEFORE YOU NOW, IN THY HOLY NAME!"_ That one, to me, it's as if God is far far away, neon's from us, it's like He's not real. I've never talked to anyone in that tone ever. If someone talked to me like that, I would be terribly offended, and would think they were a few feet away from being crazy. I often think, _"How does this settle with God?"_ He probably just laughs it off, after all He is God. I don't think we should stay in one church for the rest of our life. I believe (personal belief), there comes a time we should leave, as God leads us of course. Let me explain why, Jesus didn't keep the same ministry going for on forever, He came and died on the cross enabling all mankind to be together with God, without any other sacrifices needing to be made.

Through the obedience of Jesus, we now have forgiveness of all our sins. Jesus never stayed in one place for long; His ministry on earth only lasted for three years. After his death He raised from the grave now, Jesus sits on the right hand of His father saving whoever accepts what he did on earth for humankind. One day Jesus will become the judge of sinners and saints alike, Jesus moved on in ministry, He never stayed in the same place forever. God moved Him forward, not just in His calling, but also in his location. Paul didn't stay in the same place for long he moved about from town to town, city to city.

Paul's message was about the same but he didn't stay in just one place. Peter, John, Mark, all of them moved about didn't stay in the same temple. The church's statement of what I just said would be, _"Don't be a church hopper!"_ they would say, _"Become a member of one church."_ Is this really in the Bible? I'll let you look it up, check it out for yourself.

I believe it would help the churches to drop the membership thing, goodness; the church is not a club, we're all Christians, membership stops us from really, truly accepting our family members they were brought by the same price as we, Jesus died for us all not just a few members of a church. Membership blocks us from doing very much ministry with other churches because of the conflict in our beliefs. I have been to churches where the pastors will look down their noses at some of the people attending, it's sad but true. Let me share this story with you,

I was a guest at this church, when the service ended, I headed towards the door about to leave, when I was approached by the guest speaker, an evangelist also a pastor who was only a guest for that night, I said, _"Hello."_ He studied me for about a minute or so while shaking hands with other people at the door as they left. When he was free from most of the crowd, he turned towards me and got right up into my face, almost nose to nose, He pointed his finger at me, shaking it in my face while holding his other hand up to my left ear, _(I wear an earring)_ ; he belted out in a strong voice, _"You need to get right with God!!"_ For a little bit there I didn't know what was happening here, he repeated the same thing to me a few times. Then he added, _"You are being disobedient towards God."_ I asked why? He said _, "Because of your lifestyle, God is not pleased with that earring you're wearing, and it's in your ear tells me that you're a rebel against God's ways."_ He judged me just like that by what he thought he saw. I just smiled at him and walked out the door, I'm sure I gave him something to pray about that night. I wear an earring as a symbol of my Christian faith; it says that I'm a servant of my own will to Jesus because He's a good and faithful Master. You'll find this in the Old Testament. That'll give you something to look up, check it out. I've had, pastor's look down on me because of my hair, the way I dress, the way I think etc. you get my point I'm sure.

I hate cliques you'll find cliques in every church, cliques in the church, need to be laid to rest, nailed to the alter. I mean, we're not in middle school anymore; cliques are man made to hurt people's feelings. Here's the definition of cliques, _it's when people will not allow a cretin person in their group, because he or she does not fit the standers of the group, i.e. Their group is made up of only good looking people, and we, to their "standers" are not good looking or cool enough to be in their clique._ It happens in the church all the time, but it's based on us not fitting into the church's way of joking or dressing, attending, giving, helping keep the church clean or being there to help with events and such. I've been looked down on because I didn't give much money or I didn't show up for church faithfully. I've been shunned because I didn't fit the dress code, ware nice jeans and shirt, good shoes, things like that. In the church there are cliques for not fitting into most everything that you can find in the secular world cliques. Cliques in the church, they don't belong in the church.

I viewed a video from the internet of a pastor who was starting his new job in a church, he was replacing the pastor who was retiring. Only the leaders had met the new pastor so far, nobody outside of them knew how he looked. He came for his first night to be introduced to his new congregation. He dressed up in some ragged pants and an old coat; He looked like a bum off the street. When he arrived that night, no one paid him much attention; hardly anyone came up to welcome him into the church. The old pastor of the church stepped up on the stage and said, "Tonight we are welcoming a man who is truly called of God, he will be your new pastor this coming Sunday." Everybody clapped and then the pastor walked up on stage, this old dirty looking man greeted his new family, the looks on their faces "Priceless" the new Pastor laid into them for looking down on him because he appeared to be poor, not being as well-kept as they. Good lesson.

CHAPTER 9

Relationship, the Solution

Having a relationship with Jesus seems to be the hardest thing for a believer to understand. I believe it's because we've heard so many things about what it takes to have a relationship with Jesus that our heads are spinning. We just give up and do our best to cope. I've learned in my fifty-seven years of living that the simplest things in life, are the hardest to understand; seems like the easier the solution the harder it is for us to grasp.

Having a relationship with the Lord shouldn't be a struggle; it's the information we've been fed over years, that has caused the struggle, why? We've been taught unsound doctrines. Some leaders are taking things out of context, focusing on issues like I covered above as principles for becoming closer to Jesus, like faithful church attendants, giving money, being a good disciple, membership, giving up your time, keeping the pews warm, in reality they are holding attendees captive on the pews.

None of these things mention above will bring us a closer relationship with Jesus, there's no way in life or death that we'll be able to buy our salvation, we can't earn it with our good deeds or money, because salvation is a free gift, it's given only by God to his people through Jesus freely, salvation is for all man and woman kind, It's a gift that only comes to us by accepting and receiving it through faith (Faith is trusting God), knowing there are no pay backs for this gift, knowing that it only comes to us through God's only be- gotten Son (Jesus) because of the blood that was shed on the cross, God's only son (Jesus) rose from the dead and all we have to do is believe this truth and receive in our lives. This is the truth for all humankind, in a sinful dying world. Oh wow! Are you saying, if I do all that you just said, then all will be well, so I can live any way I want and still make it to Heaven? Remember, there are things that we've been asked to do, and been told by God to stay away from. It's not the church or believers, pastors or teachers not even the deacons or elders that have been called to keep us from our sins that we were into, before we gave our lives to Jesus.

You see, Jesus never wanted us to stop doing wrong to make our lives dull; all of these things He (Jesus) ask of us, and to keep us alive, healthy, at peace and strong. What if your addiction is crack, maybe you're hooked on pills, even worse, you're using a needle to run speed, up your arm. Maybe you can't stop drinking, you just can't get by without your next drink? The good news here, not only will the Lord Jesus save our bodies from dying, He'll (Jesus) lead us to what it takes for us to be free from it all, for the rest of our life's on this earth. I've not meta junky or drunker yet that was happy being in such a state. When we give our lives to Jesus, we become new, it's says in,

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is only done through the power of Jesus and it's done freely; you can't earn it by being good. I've learned that we can do all the right things that we believe or think that's right. As in, not smoking, not drinking; dress right, cut that long hair if you're a guy; keep it long if you're a woman, no cursing; attend church on a regular basis, stay away from any type of parties that are not centered on God; be everything the churches call an upstanding member their idea of a good Christian, clean on all levels, and still go to Hell.

What, how could that be? Because salvation is not based on what you do, it's who you know in your heart, Jesus. I'm sure when you wake up in the morning you don't look into the mirror and ask, _"Am I dead?"_ No, because you know that you got up, you're walking around, right? Well, that's how you should think about salvation. You know that you know it's true, that's what believing is. It says in,

John 3:16,

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believth in him shall not parish but have everlasting life.

We as believers should grab a hold of this truth, that there is nothing we can do for God. That everything that we do in this life as a believer is not for God, it's either for us or others, there is nothing we can do to please God but to have faith. The Bible says,

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Here's something I've never heard in church, the Lord taught me this. Everything we do for others _(As the Lord leads),_ or anything that's done for us, _(As the Lord gives),_ helps others or ourselves?

Follow me here, we witness to someone, they give their life to Jesus, which was to help them, not God, right? Because God really doesn't need us, however He so wants us to be one with Him. It's not for His benefit, it's for ours. You give a word to someone or you get a word from someone, God is giving not taking anything.

What I'm trying to say here is that everything that happens in a believer's life is for the believer or other believers God is using us to help. Not for God; God gets nothing out of it. No matter how hard we try, whatever we do, we'll never be able to do anything that benefits God.

We really can't do anything for the Lord. God set it up this way, it keeps us humble, making us aware that we can't earn any gifts from Him or blessings. I use to say, _"I'm working for the Lord."_ Now I see that by me saying that, I was indicating that somehow I was earning blessings and gifts because I was employed by God. I was a good worker, doing it all freely, I'll say, "I did this for the Lord, I did that for the Lord."

Even church teaches that, if we do this or that, God will greatly bless us. That's how the world works; we have to give to get in this world. God does not work like that, we can't benefit Him. We can however give God our lives, but that benefits us, we can obey God, give to others, it benefits others. We can't do anything for God because all has been done by God for us, also; it's from the Lord through us that anything is done, no pay backs. It couldn't be done if it was not with Him (Jesus), leading us telling us how, all we have to do is obey Jesus by faith. That and only that are pleasing to Jesus.

Another thing not being taught in churches today, that we can hear God for ourselves; all believers can hear God's voice. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price of the last sacrifice, His blood was the last blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of all sins. The temple door was rent _(torn)_ in two as a sign to all man and woman kind, not only priests could be able to go to God and hear His voice, but because of the death and restriction of God's only son Jesus, we can go to the Father through Jesus and hear God for ourselves. The Bible says,

John 10:27-28 (KJV)

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

This is the most important part of being a believer; it's beyond me why leaders will not preach or teach this. Hearing God is much-needed, how would we know what to do as believers? Well reader, you might be saying we've got the Bible, Right? Did you know that we can't find salvation in scripture? _(Give me a change before you call me crazy)._ We can learn about who Jesus was and is, we can see what others did and what trouble they got into by not obeying the Lord also we can learn that Jesus was a healer and, learn about His love, even get some directions towards becoming a believer, history. But, we can't find salvation in the Bible; it only comes from having a relationship with Jesus, the Bible only points us towards what it takes to receive salvation.

In order to have a relationship with Jesus, we have to hear His voice; it all begins with conviction, and conviction comes by Jesus talking to our closed up hearts and shut down minds. All through our walk and up into our deaths Jesus will guide us and led us by his voice. I know you might be disagreeing with me right about now, because we have learned from the churches that the Bible is all in all and all we need, I love the Bible, it's the divine true holy words given by God, to holy men that scripted it, as a witness about Him

Look at what our Bible says in,

John 5:39-40

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.40And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Only coming to Jesus, can we have salvation. I see the church refer to the scriptures as the word, really though, it's scrip, written by the hands of men being obedient towards God. Jesus said in,

John 1 (KJV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

This is the word, the word is Jesus. If you are just having a relationship with the scriptures, you my friend are on the wrong track.

Get to know Jesus. My goodness, if a man gets married, he's not going to sit down and just read a woman's diary to get to know her. He'll only get to know how she was, the things she did in her past. He'll have to spend time with her to really get to know her. How will he do that? He'll talk to her; he'll listen to her and learn. See we can't learn about Jesus just by reading about Him, we need to spend time with him and learn to hear Him and know it's his voice we're hearing, only God can teach us this.

Remember Jesus Himself said, _"My sheep," (That's us)._ _"Will,"_ _(Not maybe). "Will,"_ _(Not just some of us)."_ Hear His voice. I find it sad that this is missing from church; I would never make it without hearing the voice of the Lord.

When I eight years old, there was this pastor, his name was Rev. White, he would bring my brother, sister and I, to live football games. I never did like football, I sure loved going with Rev. White to see those games. One night we were at this game and, I was asking the Rev questions; (like a typical eight year old boy does). I asked the Rev. _"Do you hear God talk to you?"_ He replied, _"Yep,"_ I asked, _"How do you hear him?"_ He put his hand over my heart, he said, _"Right here son, you'll hear his voice right in your heart, all you have to do is listen."_ From that day on I heard God talking to me; I knew it was God because He would say things that I just didn't want to hear, He'd ask, _"When are you going to give your life to me Michael?"_ I'd answered, _"I'm just not ready to give up the things I'm doing,"_ He replied, _"I love you; I want you to ask me in."_ God became my true Father, not like the father I had, my Dad would beat me, for the best part of my life, dad taught my brother, sister and I, to hate one another just so he could feel he was the only one that we kids loved. It was hard to love a man who would kick us around and punch us in our face, just about every day of our life.

Dad would give me this speech while beating me, he'd say, _"You're no good for nothing and, you'll never be loved,"_ He'd add, _"I mean, look at you, you're dumb, and will never amount to anything, you'll be a bum on the street for the rest of your life."_ He would always end with, _"You're ugly, no one will ever love you, and I wish you_ _were never_ _born."_ I'm so glad I had Jesus in my life, He became the dad and mom I didn't have and so wanted.

At fifteen, I went to a place called Gatesville, for burning down a school, it was a two million dollar fire, I served almost two years, was released about five months before I turned seventeen. I ran away from home and probation, for about four years I lived out in the streets I became a bum, _(As my Dad predicted),_ hopped trains, thumbed rides, would take any kind of pill that was handed me without question, took LSD, shot up speed, _(was hooked on speed for a while),_ smoked weed and drank. I had a death wish and was living on the edge. I would use people, to get want I needed. Yet, Jesus always talked to me and helped me,

I believe I would be dead today if not for our Lord Jesus. _(Thank you, Jesus)._ I remember this one time I was thumbing a ride it was cold, wet, messy and dark. I remember how tired I was that night. I had been in this mess for hours, I remember being so cold, at my wits end, I decided to pray. I asked _, "Jesus, please send me a ride."_ Jesus said, _"Okay, the fifth car that comes by will stop and pick you up,"_ I put my thumb out and started counting as cars passed by, _"One, two, three, four, five,"_ I heard brakes, I saw them two red brake lights up ahead of me, " _A car stopped, I yelled in my head," (isn't it funny how we get excited, even when we know it's going happen),_ I ran up to the car and got in, I remember that I had a peace about jumping into that car. _(I always felt safe because of Jesus, even when I didn't care if I was safe or not)._ This guy looked at me and said, _"Hi,"_ _where you headed man?"_ I told him, and got settled in, so, we get to moving down the road, and this guy said, _"Praise the Lord!!"_ He said it at random and really loud, I jumped a bit, he looked at me, and asked, _"Do you know Jesus?"_ I said, _"Well, I talk to Him a lot."_ After that I heard the best perching ever. He said, _"Man, its great being a believer, glory to His name! I use to get high on pot and pills and such, but now my brother, now, I am high on Jesus every day of my life."_ This guy took me pass the next three towns then at the forth, we stopped, he said, _"I'm going to have to leave you off here, but before I let you go, we're going to get a bit to eat, now here is a few bucks for you to get something along the way, may I pray for you." I_ said, _"Yes."_ This man prayed like no one I've ever heard, he talked to Jesus like he was sitting in that car with us. This kind of thing happened to me more than once.

Don't let anyone tell you that lost sheep can't hear God's voice. Jesus is there for us all lost or saved. I lived on the streets until I hit the age of nineteen. From nineteen to twenty one, I would go see my Dad for a while, and then head back out to the streets again. At twenty one I heard about the Job Corps, I signed up, got in, and met a woman, got her pregnant, because I wanted to do the right thing I married her, I was off the streets now , but the streets were not out of me. I have had Jesus with me all my life, but, I wasn't with Him, I still didn't want to let him into my heart. My wife at the time talked me into coming down south to live; I've been here ever since. I once was the biggest con you'll ever meet, I lived off of other people's hard earned money and kindness, with a wife and a child at that. I was good at making people feel bad for me in order to get them to help.

To give an example, I once went into a church to get help with food, the pastor said, "I just can't help right now." I said back, " _I dare you to put the name Christian on the door of your church and not help a brother in need."_ He pulled money from his wallet and gave it to me, I think it was a twenty. The sad truth was I had money, I was just trying to get more, and so, I coned this pastor out of his hard earned money. I was able years later, to tell this pastor what I did, He said, _"Keep the money, and know God forgives."_ There are some good pastor's out there.

Anyway, I could hear the Lord saying, "I love you, come on let me in your life, I'll make it so much better." I kept holding to that dead thing, living on the edge. My family and I found our self without a place to live, I met a guy while I was working at a bowling alley as a porter. He had talked to me about the Lord, I did bow my head and give my life to Jesus, _(It took me time to chance through)._ This guy and his wife opened their house to me and my family, my family and I were there a year, living off of this man's hard work, his wife and he were supporting us. This guy finally told me. _"You've got to leave."_ I _said "What about my baby and wife."_ His answer, _"They can stay, you'll have to go."_ I left, my family went with me, and I found a job in a few days. That was the best thing that had ever happened to me, _(I didn't think that at the time)._ This guy was obeying the Lord; I thank him till this day for doing that. See, I had asked the Lord into my heart, but, I was to some point still being my old self, taking advantage of this man and his wife.

The reason for me sharing these stories, is to help you understand a little bit of my past, how bad I was, and how Jesus never gave up on me, Jesus never closed me off to his voice because I wasn't living right. It's not hard to hear Jesus, let Him _(Jesus)_ know that you want to hear Him, Let Him _(Jesus)_ know you need Him to guide you through this life.

We can't depend on the church or pastors, even people to build our relationship with Jesus for us. This is something we have to do for ourselves, its well worth it. It's not a hard rocky road, like some teachings lead us to believe. I've known people who come into the church, with that sad look, they'll say, _"It's so hard to be a Christian with all this temptation, it's so hard to say no to it all."_ They're so busy fighting Satan, they haven't the time to spend with the Lord, they hold tight to the Bible verse that says,

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)

12 for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

They feel they are in a battle day and night, no time to rest. If they had that relationship with Jesus, they would save their selves a lot of hardship. Let's read on down,

Ephesians 6:13 (KJV)

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: All this armor comes from God freely, you have truth, righteousness, peace, faith and the helmet of salvation, get this, the helmet of salvation, is the word of God.. His voice, to sum it up, God is telling us that to hide in Him and do what he says, and Satan will be defeated. Wow!!

I understand these people's battles, like I said, most of the time it's because they don't have that close relationship with the Lord. They will make it to church, give their money, sing the songs, greet with hugs so on so forth, they will pray with the congregation also with the pastor, but they will not talk to the Lord or try to hear Him for their selves, Why? All they're doing is robbing them self, Jesus would tell them how to deal with this hard life, he'll _(Jesus)_ give them peace. _(Did you know that peace in the Bible means oneness with God?)_ I fully understand why it's a struggle for most believers, being a believer without a relationship with Jesus, is like trying to run a computer without a hard drive it'll never work. It's not hard being a believer if you know Jesus on a personal level. Jesus will help us in every part of our life.

I remember when I use to smoke; I smoked two packs a day. I really didn't like the way Christians would make me feel about this so at first I was trying to stop for that reason. In my past, I tried to stop, I had been smoking since the age of eight well, I puffed on them, but before I hit the age of nine, I was smoking like a grown man. My dad found out I was stealing his cigarettes, you would have thought that he would beat me for that, instead he started buying them for me, heck, on Christmas he brought me a carton of cigarettes, a coke bottle lighter and an ashtray.

Anyway, I was going to try to give them up because I had just got my license for ministry, the Lord told me not to stop for that reason, He said, _"Do it because I love you, I want you in good health."_ Then Jesus said, _"I will let you know when the time is right."_ I said, _"Okay."_ Well months went by after this talk we had. One night I was standing outside a bar telling people about Jesus. The Lord said, "It's time." I walked away from the bar, down the street and I sat outside this old church on a bench, I said, _"okay Lord, I'm ready, what should I do?"_ The Lord said, _"Stop for three days, after that I will free you for the rest of your life."_ I said _"cool."_ I was about to toss the cigarettes I had left, the Lord stopped me and said, _"Keep your cigarettes, tuck them in your sock."_ Man that was the hardest three days I ever

lived. I've been hooked on crystal math, bumping it up my arm with a needle; it was easier to get free of that than cigarettes. For the next three days I chewed a lot of gum, I would start to fuss at the Lord, He'd say, _"Michael, go ahead smoke one, you know where they are at."_ I stuck with it through didn't give in. On the third day, I woke up and didn't want a smoke, but for some reason I didn't really believe I was free, I lit one, out of the pack from my sock, I smoked a little of it and I turned green _(I got sick),_ ran to the bathroom and throw up. I said, _"Lord, please let me remember this the next time I try to smoke, how I'm feeling now."_ I've been free to this day. All that happened in 1985 now it's 2014. Not one time have I wanted to smoke, even when someone smokes around me, Jesus set me free, I only quit for three days. When Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed.

John 8:36 (KJV)

_36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed_.

To develop a strong relationship with Jesus, Is just to submit, this means giving in, give up and let go, the Bible says in,

James 4:8-10 (KJV)

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The Bible says draw near to God, He will draw near to you. If we'll humble ourselves in His sight the Lord will lift us up. There is a part of that scripture that

says, Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

This is telling us to just give up to Jesus. If we do, Jesus will purify our hearts. It tells us not to be double minded. You know a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 1:8 (KJV)

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

That's someone who says, "I'm a believer." The next day he'll say, "I have no need for God." Like peter when he denied Jesus, at that point Peter was being double minded. Peter told Jesus, he would never deny him, but out of fear he did. Look at,

MATTHEW 26: 31-35

31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. 33 Peter answered and said unto him Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended 34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny the Likewise also said all the disciples.

MATTHEW 26: 68-75

69 Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. 70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. 71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. 72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. 73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. 74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cockcrew. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

See, Jesus spoke to Peter and told him, just like He'll tell

us, It's up to us to do what we hear from Him. I feel, I need to add this even though it's something you might already knows. Jesus will not tell you to do something bad to hurt someone or lie to or on someone, just so you'll know. You'll always be able to line up what you hear with what the Bible says in most cases.

Let me explain, for instance, if we needed a job, we'll not find in the scriptures _(the Bible),_ where God is telling us to go to that place down the street and He'll get that job for us. The Lord will give us that type of guidance through, but we are not able to find it in the Bible. It does say, however, that if a man does not work he will not eat. So, now we know that God does want us to have a job, it's not an evil thing to work, it's His will to help us get a job. It's said in scripture, my sheep know my voice, so we will know if it's God or not.

Like I said before, it's not hard being a believer, the Lord will meet us right where we're at, and He'll teach us what we need to do, what need to know. Don't be so concern of what your calling is, I assure you that you have one and, in due time you'll be aware of it. Like the Lord told me way back in my beginnings, that if he told me everything, I would try to make it all happen on my own. God's timing is perfect we will be where he wants us to be, and who he needs us to be, In His time. It says,

Psalm 37:23-28 (KJV)

23The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

24Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

28For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

Wow, what good news. The footsteps of a good man, now, tell me, what makes a good man good? I know in God's eyes it's not by the worlds standards, I also know it's not by the church's standards. It's the simple fact that we gave our life's to Jesus, It's through Him (Jesus) Him only that we are good. What makes a person evil? If it's not the things we do then what makes us evil? If a person's heart is not sold out to Jesus, then they are evil. They have cut themselves off away from the only thing that can save them from this world of sin, themselves and Hell; sin is rejecting what Jesus did for humanity.

We can live a good life help the poor feed the hungry, we can give, give; give, until we have no more, and still be evil. Look at,

1 Corinthians 13:33 (KJV)

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

The thing that makes a person good is simply that they gave their lives over to the Lord Jesus, and allow the Lord to guide their footsteps.

Can you agree with me that it's hard to guide someone who will not hear what you're saying? The same is true with the Lord, if we don't take the time as believers to stop, listen to the Lord when he speaks to us, we'll never have any guidance to where He (Jesus) would have us to go or do for our self. I'm so glad I hear the Lord, If not I believe I would be dead today.

I remember when I had the ministry opened, " _Life House"_ One day I heard a knock at the door, I looked out the window; a young man was looking back at me. He started talking to me through the door and said _, "I'm hungry, and I need a ride across town will you help me please."_ I said, _"Sure hold on."_ I asked the Lord _"Is it okay for me to help this guy?"_ The Lord said, " _Yes but, he has a gun." "What?"_ I said. So I asked the Lord again, _"Do you want me to let this guy in, with him having a gun?"_ The Lord said, _"Yes, I'll protect you."_ So, I let him in, I said, _"Have a seat."_ I went into the kitchen made him something to eat, and put him together some food for later along his way. I could see the guy from the kitchen where I had him seated; I notice he kept his hat off, resting it on his lap, the Lord said, _"The gun is under his hat, he's thinking about using it on you."_ Well, the idea of that was freaky for sure, but I trusted the Lord; the Lord knew what He was doing. I asked the guy, _"Where do you need to go."_ He said, _"Up by the bridge."_ The young man ate his food, and then I offered him the ride, he continued holding his hat down I could tell he had something under it. When we got out to the van, I reached over and opened the door for him, while he was climbing into the van I reached out and said, _"Let me take that for you."_ I took his hat and the gun. I didn't grab it, I just reached out and it was like he handed his hat and gun over to me. I said, _"Wow man, you've got a gun here, it's loaded, what you were planning to do with this?"_ He said, _"I'm going to be honest with you, I was planning to shoot you, go through your house and take whatever I could."_ He said, _"Man, I'm married and have a baby, I can't seem to find any work, no one will help me."_ Now, you might think this crazy, but, I handed him back his gun. He said, _"Are you about to call the cops on me man!"_ Then he started to cry. I said, _"No."_ I asked him, _"Can I pray for you?"_ He said, _"Yes, I really was going to shoot you man, but, I just couldn't do it, I almost raised the gun a few times, but it was like a hand would push my hand down and not let me do what I wanted!"_ Wow, like I said, it's very important for believers ask the Lord about everything we do in life, it has saved me more than once.

I can't say this enough. It's very important for us as believers to have a relationship with the Lord to communicate on a two-way level with the Lord in order to survive as believers, we need to hear as well as letting our request be known. How would you feel if I were to call you on the phone, and when you answered, I talked the entire time not giving you a chance to answer or make any comments? Would you say that I was a very rude person, and that I need to learn some people skills? We **do this to the Lord all the** time. We're telling Him (Jesus), what we want from Him, asking our needs, so forth so on, and we never give him a chance to tell us how to handle things, why? Because we're too busy talking at Him (Jesus), not with Him, if we could learn just to be still, and hear Him.

If only our leaders would stop saying the right things, and start doing them. What I mean here is, it's sad that pastors will tell us that we can have a personal relationship with Jesus, but continue to be the ones in charge, doing all the leading and guiding. They really need to get it out of their heads that they're the ones in charge and give the Lord back His people, letting God be the head of his church, which are his people, the church wouldn't be in the mess that it's in today. In order for a leader to lead properly, he first must learn to be a servant.

Do you remember reading The Gospel according to St. John? In the 13th chapter, Jesus is about to wash His disciples' feet. We read on,

St. John 13, 1-17 (KJV

Now before the feast of the passover,when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscar'i-ot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am If I then, your Lord and

Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Peter asked Jesus, _"You're washing my feet?"_ I get that because I think I would have felt the same way, Jesus told Peter, _"You will have no part of me if I don't wash your feet."_ Peter said _, "Wash me all over than."_ Jesus was teaching a few things here. 1. He wanted to let His followers know that one person among them was not clean; we know that was Judas

2. He wanted them to know that being a leader you must first possess the ability of servant hood, I understand the thought of our leaders being humble and serving us is a hard one to grasp, I mean in this world we see humble as weak, we lead or follow; doing both seems contrary to the other, one cancels out the other. Remember God's ways are not our ways and God's thought's are not our thoughts. We read on,

Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV)

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher

than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Like the old song we sing, yes, Jesus loves me, there's a part in this old song that rings true. For we are weak and he is strong. Anyway, as we read on we see that Jesus told his followers that he is setting an example by washing their feet. Jesus told them, "Do as I have and wash each other's feet." Then he ended his teaching with this. He said, _"verily verily I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord; neither he that is sent greater then he that has sent him_." _Jesus ended it with, "if you know that happy are you."_

Wow, if only our leaders would just get a hold of this, the servant is not greater than his Lord, Jesus said, _"Neither He that is sent is greater."_ in this case who was sent? Jesus was sent, Jesus said, _"He was not greater than the one (God) that sent him,"_ what a humble statement.

Our leaders in the church today act as though they are greater than, they should be as Jesus, humble, with the attitude of, _"Lord, what do you want us to do today or tonight in this meeting?"_ or _"Lord, teach us how to be a servant towards you and your people, rather they are believers or not."_ This is something our leaders need to get a hold of; its part of having a relationship with Jesus.

Our church leaders tell us, if we do this and that, all will be well for us, we'll go on to heaven and live happily ever after. I pray that after reading this book, we've learned we cannot work our way into heaven. I'm not going to give you a ten-step way to please God sermon, because God is already pleased with his creation.

I understand that we are under grace, but some people take grace too far out of context. It's like, they feel as though God doesn't want us to do anything as far as obedience goes. There are things that we should do, that are not impossible for us to obey.

I'm referring to the Ten Commandants; I know this might seem a little lame. But, give me a chance to explain before you discard it. Let's look at them one by one and break them down, you'll see that there are some important things in them we should abide by; it all starts in,

EXODUS 20:1-17

And God spake all these words, saying,

FIRST COMMANDMENT

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

SECOND COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or

that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. THIRD COMMANDMENT: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD

blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

FIFTH COMMANDMENT

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

SIXTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not kill.

SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not steal.

NINTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

TENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,

nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Number 1

God didn't bring us out of Egypt, but we know that the Lord God did carry us out of bondage, also we know that we should not put any other gods before God.

Notice that it reads, _"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."_

It's _(gods)_ not God, it's using the small cap word for god, there's a reason for this. Satan is a god, not _(God)_ but he's a god; Let me explain. In,

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (KJV)

3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them

You see how this was written, in whom the _(god)_ of this world, not _(God)._ Satan, is a small god, describing him in scripture with lower case lettering. _"God"_ is always described with uppercase lettering.

God was telling us in the First Commandment _"Not to put any other gods before Him."_

There are a number of things which can be gods in our life. Money, sex, liquor, drugs, so on, so forth. Some people will even put themselves before God. We've been asked not to do this, by God Himself. This is where a relationship with the Lord comes in.

If you're confused about what _(gods)_ you might be placing before God. Ask the Lord, He'll clear this up for you.

Number 2

We're told by God, _"not to make any graven image."_ Graven Image this could be a picture or a statue we've been told not to bow down to them nor serve them, God said he is a jealous God. Also God said that iniquity will come upon the generation of them that hate him, If we do make any graven image and bow down to it, you know replace it with the one and only true God, then iniquity will come upon our third and fourth generation children that hate God.

Also, I read it as saying that we hate God if we do such a thing, but we have been told by God that he will show mercy unto thousands of them, I take that as being the children of our generations and be-on, that love Him _(God),_ and keep His commandments.

Number 3

God is telling us, "Not to take His name in vain." What does this mean? Most think it means saying the _(G.D.)_ word; we've been thinking that for years, I don't like the word myself. That's not what the Third Commandment is referring to here. What God is telling us, is that He does not want us to pin his name to something that's not of Him.

For example, our leaders are teaching that God is our banker, they've turned the gospel into a get rich quick scheme, they say, "If you give, you'll get, let go of your seed." They give us ten steps to get what we need from God, This is using God's name in vain.

People will place God's name on some silly thing that they're doing, claiming they have the power even as God Himself, they'll claim, all they have to do is command things to happen, and they think they can beat Satan down make him run, hide, they'll make statements like, "Satan is freaked out when he sees me coming!" They'll also make claims that they can cast out all manner of diseases, here's what the Bible says about these types of people. Look at,

Matthew 7:21-23

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

It says the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

Wow, so how will we know if we are doing this or not? Listen to God; in order to do right, we must first have this kind of relationship with Him, a relationship where He is leading us audibly through this life. Some people think that's only for our leaders, I assure you, it's essential for anyone who has Jesus in their heart. Know this, the only way for us to make it as believers in this wicked world, is to humble ourselves before God through Jesus. We need to turn towards Him, allowing Him to teach us what He wants for us, listen to His voice, study scriptures; this will bring us closer to Jesus, this is the only hope for us as believers. Put this scripture in your heart, learn it by memory, and do it every day of your life on this earth.

James 4:8 (KJV)

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Number 4

God tells us in the Fourth Commandment to _"Remember the Sabbath day, also to keep it holy."_

I know the teaching on this has been the Sabbath day is on Sunday, some believe it's on a Saturday; I took a look into it. I found the names for the days of our

week have been changed. In biblical times days were numbered like, day one, day two, now we have names for these days.

The days of the week are now named after Norse gods and giant objects in the sky. These names come to us originally from the Greeks and Romans, who named the days of the week after their gods. The Anglo-Saxons, who invaded Britain hundreds of years ago, adopted this idea, but substituted their own gods. The English language has inherited and changed those names a bit, but the ones we use today resemble those names.

Here's how: Sunday: Sun's Day. The Sun gave people light and warmth every day. They decided to name the first (or last) day of the week after the Sun. Monday: Moon's Day. The Moon was thought to be very important in the lives of people and their crops. Tuesday: Tiw's Day. Tiw, or Tyr, was a Norse god known for his sense of justice. Wednesday: Woden's Day. Woden, or Odin, was a Norse god who was one of the most powerful of them all. Thursday: Thor's Day. Thor was a Norse god who wielded a giant hammer. Friday: Frigg's Day. Frigg was a Norse god equal in power to Odin. Saturday: Seater's Day or Saturn's Day.

Saturn was a Roman god.

Like I was saying, we have a lot of debates about what day is truly the Sabbath day, some say Saturday, some say Sunday. Let's look at the Bible and see if we can get some insight on this matter. In,

Romans 14:50-6 (KJV)

5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Colossians 2:16-17 (KJV)

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a

shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Drawing from these verses, I view this question of the Sabbath similar to the tithe. As believers, we are no longer under legalism or obligation, for the requirements of the law were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Everything we have, and every day we live, belongs to the Lord. At the very least, and as much as we are able, we happily give God what we desired from our hearts out of our income, because we know that everything we have belongs to him. And not out of any forced obligation, but joyfully, willingly, we set aside one day each week to honor God, because every day truly belongs to him! Finally, _as Romans 14_ instructs, we should be " _Fully convinced" that whichever day we choose is the right day for us to set aside as a day of worship._ And as _Colossians 2_ warns, _we should not judge or allow anyone to judge us regarding our choice._

Number 5

God tells us in the Fifth Commandment, " _Honor our fathers and our mothers, so that our days on this earth may be long."_

With the way children are today, this is a hard one for them. I found it hard myself because I had a Dad that beat me, verbally abused me every day. I did make peace with him, I showed him honor a few years before his death. What does it mean to show honor to our parents? What is honor? Some might try to convince us that honor means doing whatever our parents tell us to do. Not so, I mean we should keep the rules of the house while we're children, make the bed and help clean. Believe it or not, some parents might make their children go steal from them or even lie. That's not God's will or His way, I'm sure you agree with this. If we have good parents, even if they're strict on us we should always find a place in our lives for them no matter how old we are. God is telling us here to have a respect for them, even if they don't deserve it, we need to give them a place of honor in our life. If you haven't done this and your parents are passed, don't feel any condemnation over it, just make sure you have forgiven them in your heart then move on with your life.

Number 6

The Sixth Commandment, speaks for itself. _"Thou shalt not kill."_

That means we shall not kill.

As a new believer, I had a set back with this commandment. In the Old Testament it tells us that God took lives. I thought, " _Now wait, God told us not to kill, but He killed babies, men and women."_ I'll say, that did a number on me. It left me confused with the issue even to the point that I was about to not be a believer. I had to get into a place by myself and have a long talk with Jesus about this thing.

I remember it as though it was yesterday, I asked the Lord, "Why is it that you took lives, but yet you tell us it's a sin if we do the same?" Please, don't misunderstand me, I had no wish or want to take someone's life then and now. It just sounded hypocritically for God telling us to not do something He did Himself, this was shaking my faith.

That's why it is so important for us to have that kind of relationship with Jesus, the one where we know He hears us and we hear him. He didn't give me an answer instead Jesus asked me a question, " _Michael, if you were to make a clay vase, then after you made it, you picked it up and tossed it to the ground, breaking it. Would that be alright?"_ I said, _"Yes, Lord it would."_ Jesus asked, _"If a friend of yours were to make a clay vase, then you picked it up tossed it to the ground, breaking it. Would that be alright?"_ I said, _"No way!"_ Jesus asked me, _"Why?"_ I answered, _"well, because the vase I made was something made by me, the vase my friend made belonged to him."_ Jesus said, _"As it is with me, I made every creature that lives on my earth, I have the right to take a life because I gave it. You Michael do not have that right. Remember, I said, thou shalt not kill, because it would be murder if you take a life. I made life, it's mine to do what I see fit, it's my creation."_ Wow, I was so glad that I took the time to talk to the Lord about that, after words I was fine and back on the right path. It pays to take the time to use the gift of hearing the Lord, which God has given all his children, that is what keeps us from being deceived.

Number 7

God tells us in the Seventh Commandment

" _Thou shalt not commit adultery."_

This means two things. Look at,

Jeremiah 3:6-10 (KJV)

6The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.8.And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9.And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

As you can see, adultery can mean walking away from God turning to other god's, like Israel and Judah did. Remember, God said He is a Jealous God, for us not to put any other God before him. Adultery also means any sexual relationship outside your marriage, adultery only refers to married people in this respect. It only makes sense that we stay commented and faithful to our mates.

Mark 10:1

And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committed adultery

Number 8

God is telling us in the, Eighth Commandment _"Thou shalt not steal."_ Well I guess you get this one. I remember the first time I took something that didn't belong to me, I know, somehow, I just know, it was wrong for me to do. I said that, to say this. Sin is not something we are taught, it's inside of us all when we are born. No one had to explain to me that telling lies was wrong, as far as that goes stealing or cheating or anything that's bad was wrong, I just knew. I'll never forget the feeling when I first did something wrong. We are born into a world of sin and it's our nature to sin. Oddly enough, it seems that we have a sense about us that tells us, "That was wrong, don't do that!!" I believe that's God giving us a chance to do the right thing. As we grow older, it's like we lose that sense and do things wrong, like it's a second nature to us, just saying. We need not allow are conscience to be seared, I like this chapter of Timothy.

1 Timothy 4: 1-16 (KJV)

1.Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. 11 These things command and teach. 12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Number 9

God is telling us in the Ninth Commandment,

" _Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."_

Look beside you, that person sitting next to you is your neighbor. The word witness means repeat, it's saying here for us not to take another person's word for what happened, for us not to repeat what we heard not knowing the full story. This is bearing a false witness against our neighbor. It very well can destroy someone's life, we should never assume what that person told us is the truth if we didn't see it for ourselves or have more than one witness. We are being told in nine, not to repeat another person's account of what they say happened until we know for a fact, we need to check it out if we can, If we can't its best not to give into hearsay.

You might be saying, " _Well then, I didn't see Jesus die on the cross or rise from the dead. Am I bearing a false witness?"_ No, because when you gave your life to Jesus, after you heard Him or seen it in the Bible, it became real to you, right? The Spirit of our Lord Jesus made it real to you. The Bible says that in the mouth of two or three witnesses let everything be established. Let's look at,

1 Corinthians 13: (KJV)

13 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

We have more than one account of what Jesus did. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. The twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. I didn't want to cause a struggle; I felt I needed to point this out. We have many true witnesses to what Jesus did for us. It's not just hearsa

Number 10

God is telling us in the, Tenth Commandment,

" _Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."_

This goes a lot further than keeping up with the Jones, to covet something is to want it so bad that you would do anything to get it, even kill. I would say that God wants us content with what we have in life. We need to ask him for our own and if we don't get it, then it wasn't meant for us to have it, simple enough.

The bottom line here is that God does have rules to follow, but he only asks us to do these things to help us to become better people. Do you know what sin is? It's not what I thought it was for years. I thought doing this, not doing that, I was partly right. Sin is not following a set of man-made rules, like, attending church or we're hell bound; or don't give ten present of our money we are disobeying God and robbing Him. IF you don't IF you do, that's not what sin is. Reader, you might be asking, _"if that is not what sin is, what it is?"_ It's disobeying God, when God asks us to obey something, rather we see it in the Bible or we hear it in our hearts and disobey what He asks, that's sin. God hates sin, our Lord forgives sin, but he said He hates it. That's why, all through this chapter about relationship with Him _(Jesus),_ I've talked about us as believers hearing the voice of our Lord. Without that we will find ourselves on a broad path headed toward destruction.

We need a guide that will lead us on the narrow path, the way that leads to life. Only Jesus can do that for us.

Look at,

Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV)

_13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find_ it.

You see, there are things that we must obey. The only way to apply them is by God's spirit, we can't do any of these things in the flesh. When I say flesh, this is in reference to our own abilities. It can't be done without Jesus in our hearts guiding us. Jesus can't guide us without us giving heed; we can't give heed if we don't hear what He's saying for us to do. It's like trying to take a drivers test to get a license, without studying beforehand, we would just be guessing our way through.

How will we know if we or someone else, who confesses to walk with Jesus truly does? By the fruit of God's spirit in their life, It says in,

Galatians 5:16-23 (KJV)

16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust fulfil

the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of

the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

People always want to fight change, it's hard for us to just give someone else the wheel and let them drive. This is what it takes in order to walk in the spirit. Look at,

Galatians, 17:

" _The flash lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flash because they are contrary to one another."_

It is very import to allow God to be in charge of our life, our flesh ( _Own Abilities)._ It's sad to say, but true, our flesh will fight against the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord will back up when this happens, God will never force us to do the right things in our life. God's only motive is that we become a happier person. He made us to freely receive his gifts, only when we can let go, and humble ourselves towards Him, He will place us in the sweet gifts of his Holy Spirit are the fruit of _, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith._ Or we can choose to walk by our own abilities _(The flash),_ then we'll have the fruit of men.

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The enemy to having a relationship with Jesus is our flesh. Saying in our hearts we can do it alone, we don't need anyone in the driver's seat of our lives, telling us what to do. I know by now you've got the point without hearing God, we will never make it as believers.

I've said this; I feel it's worth repeating. Look at,

Philippians 2:12 (KJV)

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We are the only ones that can work out our salvation. Our salvation only comes to us from Jesus, that's why He suffered as a man, died on the cross and rose from the grave. That's why he lives, that through Him and only Him can we obtain this free gift of salvation. It's up to us to make sure that we are truly walking with and hearing Jesus for ourselves. It's the personal relationship that will carry us through this wicked world and bring us to His great city that we call Heaven. We only have one chance at this, we are only promised so many years on this earth to make up our minds which way we're going to choose. The church will not save us, money will not save us, giving all our goods to the poor will not help us at all. One thing, one thing only, is that closeness with Jesus, keeping our ears open to Him, in order to keep us from being led wrong.

I urge you if you have not accepted this gift that is being offered freely, please do. You don't have to be in church you can accept it wherever you are right now.

The Bible says,

Hebrews 9:27

27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

One chance is all we get. I hope this book helps leaders to change their minds about the way they're doing things. I also hope and pray that this book has helped you understand that salvation is something between you and Jesus, no amount of hard work will gain us a place with Jesus, free is free, it means just that.

Please say this prayer with me,

Dear Lord Jesus, I have only known you through Religion, I've never met you in a personal way. Please Lord, I'm allowing you to come into my life, talk to me Jesus and lead me into what is best for me. Teach me to judge what I hear about you Jesus, help me not to accept just anything said about how you are and what you want for my life. My heart is yours now Jesus, I put all my trust in you to give me guidance to work out this salvation you have given me. In Jesus name I pray, thank you Lord, Amen

(Thank You all for downloading this book, please pass it on. Michael Dunhil ©

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Thank You

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