I am Now a Destination for Christian Tourism

I should start keeping a running list of the things I get done. God’s joy keeps flowing through me, and walls keep coming down.

This weekend I bleached two of the workshop’s exterior walls. I treated some Spanish moss with sodium bicarbonate to kill it. I trimmed some hedges. I finally found out what was making my garden tractor leak, I researched the problem, and I found a new part for it. I treated the yard with weed and feed. I cleaned up a lot of the downstairs. I bought copper sulfate because the sodium bicarbonate didn’t satisfy me. I fixed the rickety ornamental fence my grapes grow on, and I fastened my blackberry briars to trellises.

I can’t recall everything else I did.

Today I listened to Derek Prince, and he taught about joy. He said something I’ve believed for years: Biblical joy is not happiness. It’s not an emotion. It’s a thing of the spirit.

I distinguish between the soul and spirit, and so does the Bible. For example, I believe anger is an emotion, which comes from the soul. I believe confidence and enthusiasm come from the spirit. I believe depression comes from the spirit. There are lots of other examples.

What I feel these days isn’t quite the same thing as happiness, although it seems to lead to it. I feel energetic and enthusiastic. I feel confident and optimistic. That’s joy. It’s strength. That’s why the Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Depression, discouragement, and laziness oppose joy. When you’re depressed, one of the symptoms is laziness. You find it hard to motivate yourself. You feel that whatever you do won’t be rewarding.

I love listening to Prince because, in addition to teaching me new things, he confirms things I already know. Most of what I hear from him is confirmation, not new knowledge. That tells me I’ve been hearing from God. God…tells…everyone…the…same…things. There is no such thing as “healthy” debate.

People in heaven don’t stand around arguing. They already know the truth about everything. God has told them.

Your opinion doesn’t mean squat in heaven. There are no opinions in heaven.

I devoted myself to Trinity Church in Miami, and then I plunged into now-defunct New Dawn Ministries. Both churches were cults. Most of what they taught was correct, but they taught enough garbage to render it ineffective. The pastors made slaves of people. They manipulated, which (according to sound doctrine) means they practiced a form of witchcraft. They squeezed us for money and free work. They got angry and defensive when people spoke the truth and exposed what they were getting wrong.

While I was pulling away at my oar in these galleys, God told me many things, and I got in trouble for repeating them. Now I listen to Derek Prince, and I watch videos made decades ago, in which he says the same things God was saying to me, and for which I was ostracized and disliked by my pastors.

Anyone who prays in tongues every day will hear from God, and God will tell you what he tells me. If I get something wrong, he will tell you I’m mistaken. You really need to hear from God himself.

I had a wonderful experience this weekend. I have a list of people I pray for, and I’m on it. Among other things, I pray that God will give us our own properties and that he will use them for his purposes. I ask him to make them places where the righteous gather for prayer and so on. A couple of days ago, I saw this prayer answered. Some friends who attended Trinity and New Dawn called, and they said they wanted to visit in order to fix their relationships with God.

Look how my life has changed. People want to to come see me so they can get to know God better.

I need names for these people, so I will call them Archie and Edith. Archie was an armorbearer at Trinity, and he also served at New Dawn. He and Edith have two children. One is a grown woman in her twenties. I will call her Gloria. They have a son who must be about 11 now. Let’s call him Mike.

Archie and Edith left Miami, which is a sign God is trying to help them. They moved to the Pompano area. They ended up at a Calvary Chapel church. Calvary Chapel is an organization which focuses on church growth without promoting the works of the Holy Spirit. They don’t ban things like tongues and prophesy, but they don’t promote them, either, which means they discourage them. You can’t be neutral.

Archie called, and we started talking about their walks with God. We got somewhat worked up, and he put me on speaker so Edith could talk. They both complained that they didn’t feel God’s presence at Calvary. Whatever the problems with Trinity and New Dawn were, the Holy Spirit was active. The pastors were off course, but there were people at both churches who did good work when the pastors weren’t around. I will admit that the pastors at New Dawn promoted the works of the Spirit. Their big problem was that they also promoted greed, pride, and manipulation.

Archie started expressing frustration with churches. I saw where he was going, and I told him God had been telling me that the age of the church was over. Organizations were failing him. The most powerful work was going to be done among individuals who were not assembled in churches.

I told them about the strange little ministries I had seen on Youtube. Individuals are going around healing and baptizing people and spreading good teaching. I told them about my trip to Clearwater, to be baptized at a Last Reformation event. I said they needed to have their own meetings at home; just the two of them.

Edith said she was depressed. This is a problem she has had for years. She said she couldn’t get herself going. I knew what the problem was: lack of prayer in tongues.

Long story short, I told them they were welcome to come up. I said I would show them the things I had been shown. We could redo their baptisms in my pool.

They’re planning to come up in June, for at least two days. I sent them Youtube links.

Gloria is an interesting case. Back in 2012, when she was in her late teens, she took the stage at New Dawn and started teaching. She spoke things that came straight from God’s heart, about how people needed to stop being hypocritical and seek God for real. I was amazed. For a long time after that, I thought she was destined for big things. Nothing happened, though. She didn’t continue. I didn’t understand it.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. I see that now. In the Bible, there were times when people who weren’t very close to God prophesied. It had more to do with the presence of God than their status as vessels. Gloria is very worldly. She is very much a part of the godless millennial culture. We just happened to catch her on a night when God took hold of her. I hope she improves. She has been a burden to her parents.

I’m going to pray for God to help Archie and Edith get here, and for him to help us do what he wants. Satan’s tricks are obvious. He will try to prevent them from coming, and he will try to cause problems if they make it, so it’s time to take preventative measures.