Greetings this month in the name of Jesus. Spring is trying its best to "spring" here in East Tennessee and after a brutal cold February we welcome it with open arms! Our family has all been bit with the flu bug at some point or another last month and that is why our monthly column is a bit late.

We want to start out this month by saying thank you to all those who visit Spirit Journals. This year marks 9 years of this site where we post messages we feel the Lord has laid on our heart to share. Some of these messages are evangelistic, others addressed to various issues in the Body of Christ, some are just messages of encouragement while others are what I'd call more exhortation and warning.

Our heart has always been that whatever the Lord has us write we bathe it in a spirit of love and compassion no matter how biting and hard the words may seem at time.

Events over the past few weeks have caused us to realize how easy the enemy can take things that are said, twist them, and bring about results that are not that good. Nothing we say on Spirit Journals is ever said to make personal attacks on anyone no matter how much we may disagree with that individual or their theology. As we wrote in our last journal we have differences of opinion on various doctrine within our own family but they don't stop us from being family. I have two brothers who don't see eye to eye with my dad and I on the rapture; my dad and I don't see eye to eye on things pertaining to the Holy Spirit's ministry of tongues even though we both agree on the fundamental issue tongues are real. There are other differences on other smaller issues but NONE of these cause us to cease being family. 

I said comically in one of the journals that when we have our Christmas get togethers our wives put us in a room together, lock the door and tell us not to kill each other. They do come check from time to time to make sure all our limbs are still attached to be sure. This is how the true Body of Christ should conduct itself as well.

If there is ever a time in history that we as the Body of Christ should come together in the UNITY OF THE FAITH, it is NOW. Paul urged and exhorted the church at Corinth that they "all speak the same thing." The 'same thing' Corinth was encouraged to speak was the message of Christ Crucified (I Cor. 1:17) and the glorious call of salvation to all who would but place their faith and trust in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are living in days that the Holy Spirit called "perilous," which means dangerous. False doctrine is flowing from behind many pulpits like water with no end in sight as we see the fulfillment of the Spirit's warning through Paul that in the last days some "would depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils."

Our family ministry does not back down from stating that we believe that Jesus is the answer and the ONLY answer to all of man's ills, including his salvation, victory, healing and deliverance. We don't think man needs faith in Christ AND something else to get him free from his addictions and bondages. The Holy Spirit can do more of us in one second than any man-made philosophy or self-help program can do in ten years of 30 steps. I have a dear friend who is a former drug addict and he told just last week that before he got saved and truly set free from drugs he attended every 12-step program out there. He said that when he got to the final step each time the root cause of the problem - the DESIRE and LUST to do drugs - remained. He laughed when he said, "they never told me what to do after the 12th step and I was still craving cocaine."  Friend, when you come to Christ and put abiding faith in the Cross and allow the Holy Spirit the latitude to bring deliverance the symptoms are not just dealt with - but the very desire to partake of the sin, whatever that sin is - is broken. That does not mean one will never be tempted after deliverance or face times they may through weakness fall again. We will never reach a point of sinless perfection but we can reach a place in Christ where "sin shall not have dominion over us." (Romans 6:14).

 We're not robots nor are we perfected saints YET. The trump of God has not sounded! But there are no formulas for victory and there are certainly no man-made programs that need be added to the FINISHED work of Christ to bring man's salvation and his deliverance from sin. That is a non-debatable issue with our ministry here. We don't mean that to be unkind or mean spirited. People think we are because they think we are "thrashing" "good programs," that many feel "help" those bound by addiction.

Those programs friend do NOTHING to help but only give a sugar pill to the illness instead of CURING the illness, which is what Jesus came to do when He died on the Cross 2,000 years ago.
 

 We also are Spirit-filled and firmly believe that after one gets saved the next great thing that takes place in one's spiritual life is when one asks the Lord to baptize them in the Holy Ghost and fire, which we believe will be initially accompanied by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance (Acts 2:4).

We don't say or state those things to create division even though it most cases it does among those who don't believe in the Pentecostal experience. A man with an experience always wins out 100 percent of the time over a man with an argument. If one wants to argue with us that tongues are not for today and not relevant to the believer all we say is "well then you need to talk to millions in the Body of Christ who have been gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit and tell them their experience is not real." Most don't respond favorably to that but instead start labeling those things of Satan along with making other unwise statements full of unbelief that come more from religious tradition than what the Bible says about it.

Our ministry has many friends who are Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and even Episcopalian. Many of these folks have never spoke in tongues and some may never see eye to eye with us on this issue. We respect them deeply and do not and never will feel that we are somehow better than they are because we speak in tongues and they don't. God forbid.  We do believe the baptism in the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2:4 is available to ALL who wish to receive. When Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 14, "do all speak with tongues," he was referring to the fact that not all, even those who receive tongues at the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit, will be used in CORPORATE utterances which are known as "the gift of tongues," and "interpretation." Those are two different issues completely. In the 10 years since I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit I can remember only one time ever giving such an utterance in a church and it was immediately interpreted by the Pastor.

 Regardless of our differences with our denominational friends on this, there has always been and will always be mutual respect for each other's opinion and we have never deliberately insulted anyone over our personal views. If someone got insulted it was because they were adamantly wanting us to accept their view none of this was real and when we refused then that became a different story. We are not out to hurt feelings or cause strife or start wars.   I grew up Southern Baptist and up until 1987 knew nothing of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. What little I did know was mostly negative and certainly not something that made us want anything to do with those we considered "tongue-talkers." However, one glorious night in February of that year, the Lord filled me with the spirit on the floor of my Aunt's kitchen and I've never looked back since.

I wish I could tell you everything went hunky dory after that but in fact all hell broke loose pretty much for the next 10 years. I know the cost of placing one's faith in an experience and not anchoring it fully in Christ. Since 1999, the Lord has been restoring many things lost during the dark times of our life when failure after failure took its toil on us personally and ministerially. As we write these words today we are still in a waiting pattern on the Lord's full direction for our life.

However, one thing has remained and that is our faith in Christ.  We're saved today not because we speak in tongues but because Jesus Christ shed His blood for our sins 2,000 years ago on a Cross and as a result of our faith in that blood, our sins are forgiven, washed, cleansed and removed as far as the east is from the west; as a result our name is written now in the Lamb's book of Life and if we died while writing this column we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we'd stand in the presence of the Lord the second we'd become absent from the body.

We've come through many dangers toils and snares and have become more grounded in the truth than ever before. The trials and tribulations of our past are under the blood of Christ and if anything those have made us realize that the Spirit of God is more real than ever and that despite this glory being placed in "earthen vessels," the failures were never the Spirit of God's fault, those were ours.

My point in stating these things this month is this. We ALL as born again children of God are in this great fight of faith that has taken its toil on many. Sadly, some have given up the fight because of discouragement, failure, sin, deception and a myriad of other reasons. There are no gray areas in this fight - we either anchor ourselves in Christ and enter into HIS victory over the powers of darkness or we place our faith elsewhere and lose this battle!

We have become more committed than ever to write the things the Lord gives without fear or favor to be sure this coming year. We also however, have also committed ourselves to writing with more love and compassion than we ever have as well. We do not apologize for the truth but if something that has been written on this site has offended you, please know that we don't intentionally write to offend, the Lord as our witness. Yes, we somehow state things pretty bluntly; you can thank the late Margie McDonald for that since as my mom she somewhat spoke her mind over the years to us boys out of love not caring what we thought but knowing she loved us enough to tell us the truth about things that were not good for us. Her spirit lives inside me today and I get it honestly. I am learning the lessons of diplomacy and I am asking the Lord to give me more of my dad's spirit who has been a shepherd for many years now and has a better handle of stating things in a "metropolitan," way as my wife puts it. We're asking the Holy Spirit to help us with that area. We're not perfect and don't intentionally mean to offend folks. The message of the Cross and the Holy Spirit has enough offense attached to it already than for us to try and add any more.

We need each other in these last days before Jesus comes. We really do. Before we have revival in America, there must be reconciliation and revival in the Body of Christ!

I have spent the last few nights browsing websites on the internet to just get a taste of the "flavor," and "temperature," of what is going on and it disturbs me greatly to see the slander, ridicule and anger within our own ranks. We must FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, not fight against our own. If someone is not preaching the truth and promoting false doctrine I say stand up and cry out against it to the top of our lungs.  If there is blatant disregard for the Word of God then I say reject that ministry and find a ministry where they DO preach the Word of God.

But if our issue is over whether someone doesn't have hair short enough for our religious liking or if our comments become personal in nature and we're destroying someone's reputation and character by what we say - neighbor those things ought not to be! I think of the attitude many in the Body have towards those who are divorced as a prime example of what I speak. So many in the Body have been devastated by divorce only to have that noose hung around then 10 times over when they seek to serve in a local church. For many the frustration gets to a point they'd rather not deal with the stigma and just walk away not to ever find their rightful place of ministry. Divorce is a horrible sin and one that needs to be repented of just like any other sin.

However, there are many men with one wife and women with one husband who have never been divorced that lusts and chases everything that moves  and are in far greater spiritual peril than the one who has been divorced and remarried and is now faithful to their spouses and are truly seeking to serve God. Just because you've never been divorced doesn't mean you can't fall mister and we'd be wise to heed those words.

No matter what one feels about the issue, the REAL issue is whether we are operating in LOVE and treating those hurt by this terrible ordeal as we would want to be treated if we were to find ourself in the same boat. The Holy Spirit warned us through Paul, "consider yourself, lest you also be tempted!" Many denominations have shut the door to ministry to men of God who are still useful to the kingdom but again because of the stigma attached to their lives have no place to fulfill their call.

Denominationalism has done more to harm the cause of Christ than anything the atheists or Satan worshippers could dream of doing. Sectarianism is not of God and we as the entire BODY need to repent of such! Satan has done his best work dividing the body at a time the world is being primed for the rise of the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation period and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The rapture of the church is about to take place at any moment. We need to be preaching that to the top of our lungs! We need to be preaching CHRIST and Him Crucified to the top of our lungs! We need to be preaching the mighty baptism in the HOLY GHOST to the top of our lungs. We need to be preaching Jesus heals, delivers and sets free to the top of our lungs. It's getting so terribly late neighbor and we'd be wise to grow up unto Christ and become ONE voice in the earth again as the Church.

A Dream I Had A Few Weeks Back

I do not have prophetic dreams often to be frank; Lisa my wife on the other hands has a ton, some of which we plan to share in coming weeks because of the prophetic nature we feel they had. This dream I had a few weeks back however was so riveting I feel led to share it with you today for I know it will help some.

To understand the dream let me share with you an experience I had while playing baseball as a junior in high school many years back (coughing, ok, ok 1982 - you happy now - you know how old I am:) That year of 1982 followed a year I played junior varsity baseball at Cairo High School and won the most valuable player award for hitting and fielding at first base. The summer of 1981 was supposed to have been a summer where all those on the junior varsity team came out and participated in summer league baseball to secure their spot on the varsity team the following year. Well instead of doing that I chose to stay home, work and play "softball" with my church arrogantly thinking I could make the team in the spring of the next year because of my MVP award and merit in 1981.

On the second day of school in 1982 I was summoned to the head baseball coach's office who asked me why I didn't come and play summer league and prepare myself for this upcoming year's season. I didn't have an answer for him but even then felt I could do it. He looked at me and said "you're going to have a hard time making the team because of your hitting. You have the glove to do it but we're not sure you have the skills to hit like we need for you to play or start."

Well six months later I went out for the team and sure enough struggled all spring during practice hitting the ball. When taking batting practice I struck out often not keeping my eye on the ball and never asking the coach for help but continuing to arrogantly think I could make the team on my own merit of being MVP the year before as a junior varsity player.

When I was cut from the team before the season started it stung hard but was pretty much predicted by the head coach six months before for the very reason he stated - my hitting.

With that in mind, let me share with you a dream I had that I believe will speak to many people reading this.

In this dream, I was at the plate hitting but was 42 instead of a 16 year old snot nose know it all kid in 1982. My old high school baseball coach was behind me and I again was swinging and missing every single ball that was coming into the catcher's mit. In the dream I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, "You never asked for help while you were in high school, and that is why you were cut from the team; if you had just asked for his help he would have done more to see you make the team and play for him."

At those words in the dream, I felt this loving urge to humble myself which I did and then turned to the coach and asked, "can you teach me how to hit the ball; what am I doing wrong and how can I improve?" Those were words I never asked 25 years ago because of pride and arrogance yet when I heard myself asking them in the dream I began to feel my self weeping as I was humbling myself to him and seeking help. He walked up to me and said "you're not keeping your eye on the ball; you're swinging into the air; stay focused on the ball and watch it come into the bat."

After he told me that I stepped back into the batters box, and this time started hitting the ball each time it was thrown. No matter how hard or how tricky the pitcher threw the ball I hit the ball hard and many times hit it over the fence. I felt such relief in the dream that I had found out why I was swinging and missing. If there was a time I'd swing and miss this go around I'd turn to the coach behind me and say "what did I do wrong there?" Each time he'd tell me without hesitation; he never grew impatient and was pleased that I was asking him for help instead of arrogantly thinking I could hit on my own just because I was an MVP of the team a year before.

When I woke up I was weeping profusely on my pillow remembering the failures I had throughout my life both personally and in the ministry realizing that the attitude I had in high school concerning my hitting had followed all these years. Arrogance and pride always come before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

I lay there weeping and weeping and finally asked the Lord, "what did this dream mean Lord?"  He said "you already know," and I said, "yes Lord I do." Through the years I've had a coach so willing to help me not swing and miss the ball of life but because of arrogance and pride so many times I kept on trying in my own strength to hit and gain victory only to go down in defeat. That's all the Lord said to me that morning but I continued to ponder the dream the rest of the day.

Later that afternoon about 4 PM I was driving home when I began to realize what the other elements of the dream meant. The coach was a type of the Holy Spirit; the pitcher was the enemy who tries to keep us from hitting the ball; the ball was victory over sin, and then I asked the question, "Lord what was the bat, I don't know what that meant, all I know was in the dream it was made of wood."

The Lord immediately spoke to my heart and He said, "so was my Cross." I burst into tears in my car when He said that realizing that it all made sense. We keep our focus on  victory by hitting the ball with a wooden bat, which represents the cross. We cannot hit the ball in real life without a bat; in our spiritual walk we cannot realize victory and "hit" the ball outside putting faith in the Cross of Christ and LISTENING to the coach behind us and inside us who will tell us how to do so without swinging and missing and going down in defeat and failure!

I don't care if you think you're the MVP of the Body of Christ and God's gift to the planet when it comes to ministry. You had better listen to the coach inside of you and anchor your faith in the Cross during these last days. Millions are swinging and missing and not knowing how to stop the cycle of failure.  The enemy will always throw his fastballs, his curve balls and maybe even throw a change up from time to time to hide his true colors; he's an expert at disguising himself as an angel of light;

But if we listen to our coach - which is not a human coach - but a supernatural one - GOD THE HOLY GHOST - he will help us find the right grip on the bat - THE CROSS OF CHRIST - and He will guide us and help HIT THE BALL and bring the enemy's game to an end! And if we get tired and weary from hitting the ball so much, there will always be a pinch hitter from time to time the Lord will send for relief- but the pinch hitter will only be for a season - till we can get back in the game and play ball for the Kingdom of God!!!! God doesn't want to cut us from the team and the only thing that will get us cut is PRIDE AND ARROGANCE!

LET THIS SINK IN TODAY FRIEND AND HELP YOU IN YOUR WALK WITH GOD. Each time the Lord brings this dream to mind I weep because it speaks to this writer deeply at how many times he's swung and missed and could have just taken a minute or two to turn to the coach and ask, "what I am doing wrong?" He'd gladly told me and helped me. I guarantee you now that before I tie my shoes in the morning or my feet even hit the floor for that matter I'm asking the Holy Spirit, "what do you want me to do today?" He can do the same for you today if you'll let him!

God resists the proud but gives GRACE, help, anointing, assistance, blessing, instruction, deliverance and HIS game plan, not ours, to the HUMBLE!

The Current Grip Of Apostasy

The church is facing its most dangerous hour since the Reformation in a fight for truth. That is one reason Spirit Journals has evolved over the past few years and more and more of the journals have dealt with issues concerning what the Word of God says about certain doctrines. Paul said in the last days that "perilous times shall come," men shall be lovers of THEMSELVES, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

We were told a few weeks back of a website that is targeting young people where the individual is invited to come to the site, upload a video and in the video deny or "blaspheme," the Holy Spirit. When we heard of such I actually said, "I don't believe that such could happen, I know things are bad, but not that bad I pray."

Well, we went to the site ourself and heard from our own ears that it is true and yes things are that bad. Over 500 responses have been received just since January 2007 alone. Most of those on the site are teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 with a few exceptions here and there. One video we saw was made in a church during an actual worship service. You could hear the worship song in the back ground and the young man in the foreground saying, "I deny God, I deny the Holy Spirit, I'm going to hell, and I'm not afraid."  That is the state of the times we live in as not only America, but the entire world, continues it push toward Godless humanism as it's new god and the church world at large is sadly following right along side.

We need revival in the worse way but not just any revival. I'm afraid what it's going to take to bring America to her knees is going to be tragedy FIRST then maybe, just maybe, we will come to our senses before our nation crumbles into pieces because of sin.

I love America. It's the greatest nation STILL on the face of the earth. I love President Bush and his family and believe he has done a good job while in office since 2000. He's made his mistakes to be sure, most of which have had to do with his naiveté concerning Islam and his handling at times of Israel concerning God's covenant land. America is getting primed for change in 2008 when we will elect a new President and if the current list of candidates is any indication  - this change is not going to be for the better but for the worse. One intercessor who has a prophetic gifting upon his life sent an email out this past week saying that if any of the front runners right now get elected America will be set back 40 years. That is a scary thought but in all honesty it may take such to get the American church to its senses once again.

Whenever Israel was away from God, one of the judgments that would befall her was God's placing of ungodly leaders over her. I wonder if America's fate will be any different in 2008? We need to pray for our nation, our cities, our homes, our churches and our individual lives like we've never prayed before!

The Jesus Tomb and 'Secret' Controversy

I won't take much time to get into the latest fads sweeping the nation right now but I do want to address them briefly. A few weeks back a Hollywood producer claimed he had unearthed a tomb which he claimed had remains in it that confirmed Jesus had an earthly son and was married and as he put it would "shake Christianity and its foundational beliefs to its core."  We can be sure that the true church of Jesus Christ will NEVER be shaken to its core by the gates of hell.

One thing that is happening however is that this controversy is just desensitizing the world even more concerning the deity of Christ. Last year it was the Da Vinci Code and the Judas Gospel that took aim at whether Christ was God. This year it's the Tomb issue.

If men don't believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God then that gives them little reason to believe one must have faith in Christ alone to be saved. This is a ploy by the devil to do just that.

The world is going to clamor after this like it clamors after all things of this nature. the scary part is how many churches are not addressing this and crying out against it.

The same can be said about "The Secret," a brand new DVD-book that was written by two sisters who claim they found the "secret" that will cause all your wishes to come true if you just think hard enough and long enough on it. The "inspiration" for this book came from a couple named Jerry and Esther Hicks who got their inspiration from spirit guides they called "Abraham," in essence mocking the Biblical character who walked in great prosperity and blessing because of His obedience to God.

The craze over this book is just beginning but this writer can guarantee that it will explode just as other self-help, new age humanism books have exploded over the past few years. Again, the world can be expected to clamor after it but the question is will the church follow suit as it has on other books just like this one.

Isaiah 59:14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

When truth is "fallen in the street," then righteousness, which speaks of the righteousness of Christ which is the only righteousness God will accept, "stands afar off." Justice and equity are then turned back and neither can enter.

As the darkness of the ever growing popularity of new age humanism descends upon America friend you can be sure this is exactly what will happen. It's already happening rapidly and we need to be looking up for our redemption draweth nigh!

Our New Book

We are presently working on the manuscript for a brand new book we pray will be completed by fall entitled, "We Preach Christ Crucified." Without boring you with the details of how it came about we will say that we're praying the Lord will use this book as a source of light for those struggling with addictions, bondages and in need of deliverance. There is only ONE source for such and that is the Cross of Christ and the delivering power of the Holy Ghost!

Please be praying for us in this endeavor.

Israel, the Middle East and Iran

As we close this short column this month, let me make a few comments about the current situation in the Middle East. Israel at this present time is facing one of her greatest threats since Hitler at the hands of Iran and Syria. Iran's president has stated over and over the past 18 months his plan is to "wipe Israel off the face of the map," while at the same time Iran is rabidly pursuing nuclear weapons. I've always said that most if not all Muslim nations led by Islamic hatred for Israel and the United States have the WILL to destroy us just not the means. Iran has the hatred and they are trying to find the means. If they do so we could be facing a war in this region of the world in 2007. It would also not shock this writer if Israel will also be faced with a war from two other of her mortal enemies -  the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Hezbollah stood its ground last summer for 34 days against one of the mightiest armies in the Middle East and the world for that matter and was emboldened to do it again.

Many political experts looking into this situation believe war is not only likely but may very well be a seed planter for something bigger perhaps World War III.

World War III will NOT be the end of the world. It WILL however probably set the stage for the rise of the white horse rider of Revelation 6 who we know is the Antichrist, who will bring a false peace, sign a non-aggression pact with Israel for 7 years, then break that pact in the middle of the week before plunging the entire world into Great Tribulation. At the same time, God will release supernatural judgments upon this world in an unprecedented manner to judge the unbelief and rebellion for millennia gone by. If one believes, like we do, that the rapture will take place before all these events and the rise of the Antichrist happens - that should tell us how close we are to the Coming of the Lord for his church!

We need to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem right now. We're planning a series of messages soon on the Middle East and Bible prophecy, Iran's role in prophecy, as well as the revival of Russia's strength and what role we see her playing in end time events. Another country/nation that bears watching right now is TURKEY which has played a role in Bible history AND will play a PIVOTAL role in Bible prophecy.

All these events friend are to sound an alarm that it's getting late and it's harvest time!

As we close this month let us say we love you again and thank you for visiting our site. We have some new study courses in our ministry outreach store and we're still working on getting a weekly radio program going online. The online radio program has some kinks we're working on but we hope to be broadcasting within the next 60 days the Lord willing.

Our missionary family Dove Light supports, John and Shalala Muazzam from Pakistan plan to visit us in the summer and we ask you to pray for their trip here. We need tremendous provision right now - both on their end and our end to make this happen for them and for us to be a blessing to them upon their arrival here in the states. More on that next month as the Lord leads, but if you feel led today to help us financially please do so. If you've been fed by our website then sow into our harvest field - in Jesus name - we ask and thank you ahead of time for your generosity.

Till next month, God bless, and remember - all things are possible to those who believe.