Letter to our Friends - July 30, 2021

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST ONLINE MINISTRIES

P.O. BOX 6458

SPRING HILL, FLORIDA 34606

Leonard V. Johnson

Founder/Pastor

Dearest Friends:

Greetings from West Central Florida.

I am certainly looking forward to this year’s Feast of Tabernacles – at which I also will enjoy speaking at. It will truly be most wonderful for the brethren to gather together once again. I have not seen the brethren there in Owensboro since 2019. Although we are in no way involved in politics, we, like God, are observers of what is happening in this present evil age – and will certainly have much to discuss involving this Biden Administration.

We may not be able to have many more Feasts. It is even possible, though I do not believe probable, that this upcoming Feast could be our LAST! As I was discussing with my sister, this world’s conditions are growing worse, it seems, by the week. This is not the United States of America of the 50s or even the 60s! With this grave influx of illegal immigrants into the US, this America is changing its traditional values rapidly. Sadly, even before this year’s Feast, we may find conditions of VIOLENCE and the on-rush of what our Lord Jesus Christ called the ‘great tribulation’! A time of great trouble the likes of which the world has never known – and this government may not allow us to have such a joyous gathering together!?

WHAT, after all, friends, is the one thing that is uppermost in God the Father’s and our Lord Jesus Christ’s mind!? About WHAT are THEY MOST CONCERNED!?

Is God most concerned about – above all else, in getting this world saved!? Especially right now – before the coming of the Day of the LORD!?

NO! First – we know that God has not been trying to get people IN THIS WORLD “saved” (spiritually I mean), even since the time of Adam. Now, in this latest sermon, “A Tradition of Religion,” I spoke a little about the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah – and God at no time offered them any spiritual “salvation” or eternal life. There were only a few that God gave His Holy Spirit to – HIS PROPHETS. And, that was only for the purpose of accomplishing their mission. God has not called but a few through every generation – even now – and these few of us have indeed been predestined to be called. “’ No one can come to Me,’” said our Lord Jesus Christ, “’ unless the Father who sent Me draws him.’” Truly, all the others must first learn by experience that Satan the devil’s way is completely contrary to the Way of God's – the Way of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – to learn that Satan’s way is not good for them.

Understand friends, God does not view this world – in its present condition – as people do! I’ve often imagined that God looks down upon this earth and sees every one of His begotten children giving off a glimmer of light. But He also looks down upon this earth and sees millions of demons along with their master, all of whom are imprisoned upon this planet. We need to keep in mind – “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood [against our fellow human beings], but against principalities [against rulerships], against powers, against the ruler of [this] darkness, against spiritual hosts [armies] of wickedness in the heavenly places” – Ephesians 6:12, NKJV.

The apostle Paul calls this evil “whisperer” the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” In other words, in all those who are not OBEYING GOD’S VERY RELEVANT LAW! And, sadly, that is a great many people!

So, the majority of our people here on Earth do not truly view this world as God certainly does. And, very few people have had the awesome privilege to view the Earth from some 200 miles above the surface of the planet. The majority of our people are not conscious of the real rulers of this world – Satan the devil and his demons. An evil spirit who knows all too well that his time is soon coming to an end! – Revelation 12:12.

We – as Christ’s ambassadors – are looking forward to GOD’S GOVERNMENT being established upon this Earth! His government is His kingdom – the administration of HIS LAW over all those under His kingdom.

Understand friends, God's angels – in figurative language – shouted for joy at the creation of Earth, the mourning stars sang together – Job 38:7. God first placed angels upon this earth to establish the government of God – but then they sinned and rebelled against the government of God – see Genesis 1:2; 2 Peter 2:4.

This grave rebellion against God is mentioned in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19 – their rebellion and attempted coup d'état removed the government of God from this Earth.

And, as we learn, beginning in Genesis 1:3, in six days God renewed the face of the earth for the inhabitation of mankind – see also Psalm 104:30. But, again, the government of God was rejected, and mankind obeyed “the serpent” – the enchanting whisperer – Genesis 3:6.

Now certainly the questions can be asked – why did God create mankind and place mankind upon the Earth!?

Well – we know that God (in Hebrew it’s Elohim – meaning more than one – the God family; be sure to watch our sermon “Elohim – the Family of God”) alone could be relied upon to administer the Kingdom of God. So, God made plans to REPRODUCE THEMSELVES in Their image and in Their likeness – cf. Genesis 1:26.

Many will want to argue and say, “There is only One God!” And they will often quote Isaiah 45:5, “’ I AM the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me.’” But, one must understand the whole context of just what the LORD God is saying here –

“’ I AM the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images’” – Isaiah 42:8.

“’ For I AM the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; … I, even I, AM the LORD, And besides Me there is no savior’” – Isaiah 43:3, 11.

“ … ‘Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one’” – Isaiah 44:8b.

“ … ‘For I AM God, and there is no other; I AM God, and there is none like Me” – Isaiah 46:9b.

So, truly, the LORD God isn’t saying there is no God family (consisting at the present time of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ), but rather what He is saying is that there is no Savior but He – and He alone! There is One God the Father...and One Lord Jesus Christ! – cf. John 10:30; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6; John 17:3; revelation 11:15.

But getting back to the questions at hand, let us go back to old school. Why is it that God placed many angels upon this earth!? We find that angels were created long before the earth’s creation. Why!? Why were they placed here!?

Well, we read in Hebrews 2:5, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, …” – meaning the soon-coming Kingdom of God “in subjection to angels.”

Now I personally do not believe that God ever had any intention of putting the Kingdom of God under the subjection of angels. God truly had – and has – a Master Plan from the very beginning!

Continuing, the apostle Paul adds, “ … ‘What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things [and certainly this includes God's universe] in subjection under his feet’” – Hebrews 2:6-8. And again, staying in context, this is speaking of the world to come – not at this time.

Continuing we read, “For in that He put all in subjection under him.” Truly, this means the entirety of GOD’S UNIVERSE! Notice, however, “But now we do not yet see all things put under him.”

Now, I went and here recently watched the entire 79 episodes of the original Star Trek television series – and the thought that came to my mind was this very passage – “we do not yet see all things [which includes GOD’S UNIVERSE] put under him.”

Yet friends, what do we now see!? “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that HE, by the grace of God [see John 3:16], might taste death [here speaking of the second death] for everyone.”

As in Hebrews 1:3 – “ … upholding all things [including GOD’S UNIVERSE] by the word of His power.” For He is “the firstborn among many brethren” – Romans 8:29. For He is already born of God by a resurrection from the dead – Romans 1:4. Indeed! As we shall be! He is our Captain who has gone on ahead, preparing the way for us! – Hebrews 2:10.

Now I ask – do you know your potential!?

Notice this in the Book of Romans chapter 8 –

“For the earnest expectation of the creation [meaning, ‘all created things’ including the whole universe] eagerly waits for the revealing of the [children] of God.” 

In other words, we shall be revealed in glory, by the resurrection to come – when we are changed from mortal to immortal. 

“For the creation [the physical matter of the universe] was subjected to futility [meaning, vanity], not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption [its bondage to the law of decay] …”

The law of decay is a physical law described in mathematical manners that describes the properties of a nuclear atom in a state of decay. The radioactive decay law states that this decay is constant. For if nothing was done about this law of decay, this corruption will ultimately lead to the complete annihilation of the universe. For I refer to a little physics here, the laws of thermodynamics –

• First Law - Energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system. 
• Second Law - Entropy – or disorder – always increases.
• Third Law - The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches heat, and eventual death.
  
  

So, truly, this law of decay proves that life originated from a Divine Being with intelligence outside of this physical universe.

“ … into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

“For we know that the whole creation [which does include the universe] groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that [meaning, ‘all created things’ including the universe], but we also have the firstfruits of the Spirit [the first ones to be called by God the Father], even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the [birth as children of God], the redemption of our body” – Romans 8:19-23.

“For our citizenship is in heaven [the atmosphere], from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body [SPIRIT-COMPOSED BODY], according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” – Philippians 3:20-21.

Friends, think of this awesome and mind-blowing incredible potential of mankind through Jesus Christ our Master!!

Soon, our Lord Jesus Christ is coming “with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way” as King of kings and Lord of lords to take over the kingdoms of the earth – to establish the GOVERNMENT OF GOD! If you will reject the way of Satan the devil and overcome, He will grant you to sit with Him on His throne, as He also overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne! – see Revelation 3:21.

So, surely you can see, from the Scriptures we’ve just covered, that the ONE THING UPPERMOST ON GOD’S MIND IS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH!?

And that time is soon-coming – in ‘this generation’! And, God wants us to announce this coming kingdom, and announce how one may enter into this kingdom! – cf. Acts 28:31. IT IS SOON COMING!

This is pivotal, and central, in the greatest of Good News –

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven [speaking here of the third heaven, where God now resides] must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” – Acts 3:19-21.

Remember, the prophet Enoch - who was Adam’s great-great-great-great grandson (and Noah’s great grandfather) – prophesied of this coming kingdom long before the Book of Genesis was written – see Jude 1:14-15.

Friends, this world as a whole doesn’t understand this awesome living truth that God is preparing for us. Let us thank Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ that They have blessed us with this great mystery!

Suggested Sabbath Day Service

Here is our suggested Sabbath day service for our scattered brethren and friends around the world:

● 2 hymns. (a free printable “Old Time Gospel” hymn site is “The Old Time Gospel”).

● Opening prayer.

● Announcements (if any – a great video for announcements is Deacon Robbie Lamb’s Watchman brief insights of world news in relation to biblical prophecies!).

● Suggested Sermon: “A Tradition of Religion” by Leonard V. Johnson. Additional sermons available HERE.

● Final hymn.

● Closing prayer.

IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED A ‘LETTER TO OUR FRIENDS’ FOR ANY WEEK, REMEMBER WE HAVE OUR CHURCH LETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE.

World News Items

In Massachusetts, USA transexual protesters gathered together to protest a church that put a passage from the Book of Genesis on a billboard against the LGBTQ+ and their agenda! (see ‘Media Nation - Medford trans community and allies protest church’s anti-LGBTQ message’). As I wrote on our Facebook page – “We are certainly being persecuted for our "free" speech for Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ! Yet, the greater majority of us, brethren, have yet to receive the terrible beatings, the stripes, the incarcerations, the stoning’s, in grave hunger and thirst, cold and naked, as our dear Brother in Christ Paul had to suffer! - cf. 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Let us, brethren, have a deep concern and pray daily for the Church of God! For their spiritual and physical growth, for the love of God to always shine abroad unto them, and for their protection always from evil.” According to God Almighty, whom we trust, there is coming a time when there will be a famine of even hearing the word of God – anywhere. See Amos 8:11-12.

Many health professionals (though I am dubious at calling the CDC professionals) appear to be concerned about the emergence of a new strain of the COVID-19, the “Delta-Variant” (see ‘The Babylon Bee - To Defeat Delta Variant, Experts Recommend Doing All The Things That Didn't Work The First Time’). Is not the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result!? 

There is also – according to these “professionals” – an emergence of Candida Auris. (see ‘Center For Disease Control And Prevention - Candida Auris', retrieved 30 July 2021). Also, notice ‘Zero Hedge - Move Over COVID: A Drug-Resistant Super Bug Fungus Is Now Being Reported In Texas And Washington D.C.’ and ‘” The War Has Changed” - Leaked CDC Report Claims Delta Spreads As Easily As “Chickenpox”’). Let us be reminded – the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, WARNED of a time of great sorrow when there will be ‘pestilences’ (Matthew 24:7-8) So, we should not find it shocking to learn of other coming pestilences.

Concluding Comments

Minister Michael C. Garrett wrote the following:

Matthew chapter 6, He gave another treasure of a little gem. He said, “’ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” You can ask yourself that question. I can say, “OK, Michael C. what do you treasure!?” Because that’s really where my heart is. Or, if you’re evaluating somebody that you meet, what is their treasure!? If it’s like that guy who just can’t wait to get to the bar, you pretty well know what his treasure is. He worships at the altar of his alcohol. Or, his drug addiction. Whatever it is. All the different things you could get into. You can find out where a human heart is – and if you meet a church person, you just wanna know, can I trust this person!? How sincere are they!? Just ask yourself the question: What is their treasure!?

If they spend all of their time talking about their new car, their new house, their new this, their new physical whatever it is, you pretty well have a clue that their heart is not tuned in to the things of God. It just speaks for itself. “’ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” …

And then Jesus had something to say over in Luke 6 – which is a powerful statement! I guess if we would all apply this to our lives, how much better off we would be. Luke chapter 6, verse 36 – “’ Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. 37) Judge not, and you shall not be judged.’” – O’ my! If we as an organization could simply put that into effect and have it at the root of our spiritual DNA, what a much finer and more powerful organization we would be in the service of Jesus Christ! And yet that often is not the way things go. He says, “’ Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.’” – and what’s the counterpart of that!? If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven! If you hold that grudge, that sense of vengeance in your heart, you are far from doing the will of God and it will cripple your heart and it will poison your heart and it will calcify your heart. And for those people who always want to point fingers – you’ve always been around them – they can’t wait to tell you the latest story about some piece of bad news on somebody else. It’s the old saying, that if you find somebody pointing their finger at somebody, three fingers are always pointing back.

(READ MORE "The Treasure of Your Heart")

In deep gratitude and love, in Jesus' name,

Leonard V. Johnson