Pastor Jim's House

Taken from some of Pastor Jim’s blogs posted online. There are many more that the Sentinel could use to make his point, but this should suffice. The Sentinel's comments are high-lighted.

 

From his April 11, 2008 blog:

 

In the two verses above, Jesus is teaching something that is often overlooked; that is, that we need not withdraw ourselves from society in order to be prepared for the Lord’s appearing. You will notice that Jesus said that two women would be working together, but only one would be taken away, and that two men would be working together, “one shall be taken, and the other left”. This tells us that in order to prepare for the Lord’s return [believers] need not seclude themselves in caves or communes. But this is exactly what Jim has done! Jesus was not a hermit, and neither were any of his disciples. They “mixed it up” with people. But there isn’t a single follower of Jim that has any kind of social relationship with anyone else outside of his following (except some of those who live farthest from Jim). By having their meetings in Jim’s basement, out in the country, where only those who go to the meetings know about the meetings, rather than having a meeting building with a sign welcoming all to join their fellowship, he has withdrawn himself and his followers from society. Here is another perfect example of Jim’s hypocrisy. Ask anyone in the neighborhood surrounding Jim’s home and you will find that most believe that he heads a cult.

 

Jesus also mentioned a home scene where there was “two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other left.” This teaches us that there is no need to completely detach oneself from unbelievers who are close to them, even relatives living in the same house. It is true that Jesus said he considered his family to be only those who did the will of his heavenly Father (Mt. 12:47-50); at the same time, when Jesus was in agony on the cross, he asked his disciple John to take care of his mother for him (Jn. 19:25-27). This tells us that although Mary was not among those who sat at Jesus’ feet listening to him (in fact, she probably was among Jesus’ relatives who thought he has lost his mind, Mk. 3:21), still he retained his “natural affections” for her and, I suppose, for the rest of his natural relatives. Then why did he cut me off (and I was a believer) from my family? He knew what the consequences of his judgment would be.

 

Years ago, the Lord warned me not to try to make myself “a stranger and a pilgrim”, but let him make me different from others because he is the only one who knows how to do that rightly. He told me that those who separate themselves from people are over-religious and are trying to make themselves strangers and pilgrims. Again, this is exactly what Jim has done! And at the same time, he told me that whenever anyone tries to make himself a stranger and a pilgrim, he makes himself strange, but not in a godly way. Again, this is exactly what Jim has done! In fact, he showed me, the harder we try to make ourselves strangers and pilgrims the more over-religious and weird we become. In other words, the harder we try, in our own power and wisdom, to become strangers and pilgrims in this world, the more we fit into it. Wow! This statement provides a lot of insight into exactly where Jim and his followers are. No one is more over-religious than Jim and his followers. By Jim’s own wisdom and power (power over his followers), they have become strangers to all who live close by or visit his website. Most people see them as a cult.

The Lord does not want you to separate yourself from anyone, other than what he leads you to do, and the Scriptures are very plain about who to be separate from. The Lord wants you to trust in him and let him set your standards and be the Separator if there is any separation to be done. I know that God did not separate me from my Brethren. Pastor Jim did it according to his own will, guided by fear, pride, and hatred, because my personality would not allow me to conform to his way.
 

 

From his November 13, 2009 blog:

 

Jesus was revealing something about Satan. He was telling the leaders of Israel that Satan loves order and that he has it in his kingdom of darkness. Satan’s dominion is structured, and orderly, and efficient. He despises anarchy and confusion, and he will not tolerate such things within the ranks of the fallen heavenly creatures who were cast out of heaven with him. Pastor Jim loves order within his ranks. He demands it, as he is a controller. But then again, God loves order too. The difference is that God is not afraid of the truth, as Jim is afraid that his followers may learn the truth about how he did evil against many who are no longer under his control. God does not care about what we think, even when what we think is wrong. He cares about what is in our hearts. Evidence for this is provided by the fact that my best frient got the holy Ghost, even though he harbored secret sin in his heart, and he continued to live in sin for years after getting the holy Ghost and learning the Truth. But Pastor Jim did not kick him out, the way he kicked me out. And all I had was a poor attitude, brought on by my inability to join in with the “monkey see, monkey do” mentality of Jim’s way, which is not God’s way.

There is discipline and high standards of conduct required of all humans with whom Satan loves and uses, such as the men whom Jesus called “sons of the devil”. Those men fasted at least twice a week; they prayed loudly and publicly on a regular bases; they were always present for the religious gatherings of Israel; they gave tithes of everything that came into their possession; and they treated with great contempt other human beings who were less devoted to religion than they were. Jesus called these men “sons of the devil” because (1) that is how the devil is and (2) those men were so much like him. There are very few people in Christianity that these descriptions would fit! However, these descriptions fit Pastor Jim perfectly! In fact, Jim and his followers have gone beyond the behavior of the “sons of the devil.” Look what Jim says about himself: “they treated with great contempt other human beings who were less devoted to religion than they were.” Well now, that explains why I was excommunicated and why some others were forced to leave or left on their own. What a hypocrite Jim is!

I said all of that so that you would understand why I say the following: In some respects, human society is better off with the devil than without him because he influences men to live up to strict standards of morality, cleanliness, and order. Without the devil, men go wild and give themselves to all kinds of perverse, fleshly lusts and lawless activity. When Satan is in control of men, those men are wicked, but they are wicked in an orderly way, and they impose that order on societies, which has some benefits. This is all a dastardly lie - no one is better off with the devil and his influences. This sounds like something Satan would want everyone to believe. How can society be better off with the devil influencing “men to live up to strict standards of morality, cleanliness, and order” when such men would be used by Satan to lead others astray? Society is better off when “men go wild…” because then there is no deception. Jim is a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

Then again, those people who are overcome by lustful desires and are despised by the devil and his ministers have the advantage of being aware of how unclean they are. Being out of control – out of God’s control, Satan’s control, or even self-control), these pour souls are more likely to hear the call of Jesus and surrender to his love than those who are proud of the religious standards that they maintain. We saw these things among people when Jesus was here. Jesus was called “the friend of harlots and drunkards” (Mt. 21:32), while he warned the self-righteous sons of Satan that drunkards and harlots would be welcomed into the kingdom of God before them (Mt. 21:31). And so Pastor Jim kicks me out, destroys my marriage and hopes for the future, because I drank one beer and recognized that not all of what goes on in the meetings is of God?! Open your eyes to what you are writing here, Jim! You hypocrite! By your own teachings, no one can recognize their need for God unless He allows them to recognize it. That goes for the out-of-control people, as well as those under control. So your argument here is worthless.

If you have messed up your life, and if you know it, then you are closer to God’s heart than the greatest religious figures of earth who have not humbled themselves to Jesus and received the baptism of the holy Ghost. It does not matter who you are or what you have done; if you know you are wrong, you are wiser than the Pope, the self-righteous head of the greatest abomination of earth, and you are cleaner in God’s sight than the exalted pastor of the largest congregation in town if he has not been washed from sins by the power of the baptism of the holy Spirit. “Be of good cheer!” my sinner friend! “He calleth for thee.” And if you feel guilty, then you have heard that voice. What if Pastor Jim messes up someone’s life? And has made that person to feel guilty? Who is a more exalted pastor than Jim? Just because you have been washed of your sins does not guarantee you eternal life. And though I don’t feel guilty any longer, I still hear His voice. God still answers my prayers. This is the self-righteousness of Jim rising to the top.

Jesus said he didn’t come for those who think they see but for those who know they are blind. The “great physician” said that he came to heal the sick, not to heal those who claim to be well. Are you sick in spirit? Are you blind concerning the things of God? If you confess that you are, then God has chosen you, has already touched your heart, and you have something to be thankful for. There are millions who are as sick and blind as you are but who will not confess it. They choose rather to hide behind their pastors, priests, steeples, stain-glass windows, and doctrines and titles, and unless they repent, they will die in the shadow of such things instead of in the light of Christ. They may be better off in some ways than the wretches who are wasting their lives with drunkenness, rebellion against authority, and immorality, but they are not better off than the weak and miserable wretches, like me, who have fallen at the feet of Jesus and confessed our need of his mercy. But Pastor Jim is not blind, he sees everything perfectly. If I was sick, or blind, as Jim alluded to when he falsely accused me, then why did he not draw me in closer where the spiritual medicine could heal me? Why did he kick me out? God touched my heart and restored my hope, but Jim continued to beat me down. God still answers my prayers. Jim needs God’s mercy more than ever, as he has hurt many, many of God’s children that trusted in him. God will not let him get away with it. I believe that Jim has failed to live up to the higher standard God has set for him.

 

From his December 2, 2009 blog:

 

The Lord cried out through Amos, “Woe to them who are at ease in Zion!” But who are the ones “at ease” among God’s saints? The first impression I had was those who follow after Pastor Jim. The verses quoted below confirm my suspicion. The answer to that question can be deduced from comments made in several Scriptures. One is from Amos himself. Here is how he described those who were “at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1, 3-6):

"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. . . . who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches This describes Jim and his followers’ lifestyles, wherein they are self-serving, living only for each other, having no relationships with anyone outside of their clan, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall This is what happened to me, an innocent whose repentance was accepted by God, but who was rejected by Jim; who chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David. They spend so much time and money on making music, and so much time listening to it; who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments This refers to Jim’s over-religious way – Jim’s way is to have as many meetings as possible (expecting God to show up at each one, as he once wrote about and criticized Christians for doing the same). The chief ointments represent the Truth, I suppose; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph." I tried and tried to reconcile, but to no avail. Jim does not grieve for me, or others. My ex-wife does not grieve for me, nor do any of my Brothers and Sisters. If they did, they would have contacted me to find out what happened and how they could help me. Not one of them tried.

“Joseph” was a name used in the Old Testament for the children of Israel who had forsaken God’s law. They were the northern tribes of Israel who followed a man-made religion instead of the law of Moses Jim’s way has become a man-made religion, a religion that a king named Jeroboam invented for them, long before Amos was sent to call them back to their God. “Zion” referred to God’s chosen place of worship, Jerusalem. The children of Israel who lived in the southern part of Canaan still worshiped in God’s chosen place and still recognized the authority of the law of Moses. But they were not grieved for their fellow Israelites who had gone astray. They were at ease; they were comfortable and secure in their knowledge that they were doing things the right way and that their northern kinsmen were in the wrong. They were proud of worshiping in Jerusalem and of maintaining the ancient rule that God had once given to all His children at Mt. Sinai. This description fits Pastor Jim and his followers’ way perfectly! Why do they not see that God is warning them, now, about how they actually are (see next paragraph)?

Notice that Amos’ warning was not to the ones who had rejected God’s law and rejected God’s chosen city, Jerusalem. The warning was to those who still observed the law and revered the holy city and went to Solomon’s temple that was in Jerusalem. They were enjoying the benefits that obedience brings, but were not grieved for the children of God who were being led astray and were headed for certain destruction. It amazes me that Jim could write this and not see how it applies to himself. And it was easier for Jim to just cut off certain people than to do what was right. The irony was that we weren’t being led astray, but were seeing the hypocrisy in Jim’s way. He is leading his followers astray in over-religiousness and self-righteousness.

Job warned his “miserable comforters” not to be proud against those who were drifting away from righteousness. He said to them, “He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a despised lamp in the thought of him that is at ease” (Job 12:5). But Jim and others were proud when I had a bad attitude. And their pride allowed Satan to divide the Body of Christ.

All of God’s children are lamps; they have the anointing oil of the holy Spirit within them. Some of them are not shining very brightly because their oil has run low. If I was not burning brightly, why did Jim not try to do something to allow me to restore my level of oil? Instead, he just cut off the wick and put my light out. They are no longer lights to the world because love for the world has dimmed their flame. I had no love of the world when I was falsely accused, and I still have no love of the world. And Jim has put Christ’s light under a basket (in his house in the country where no one but those under the basket can see it – leads those outside to think of them as a cult). But Jesus can restore to them the brightness of his life. And Jesus did for me too, but Jim didn’t recognize it because of his pride and fear that others might see what I had learned and that they too would come to realize that what I say is the truth. He lifts up, and he casts down. Jim set himself up to be like the Most High God, when he cast me down, calling me evil, and prohibiting everyone, even my ex-wife’s own family, from having contact with me. He can make them clean and whole again in his sight, and he will bring low all who despised them when they were fallen. Paul cautioned all of us who are in the family of God not to become proud against those who are struggling spiritually, for God is watching and judging us all (Galatians 6:1-2): Does this warning not cause Jim to worry for his own soul? Someone call me, tell me how I’m wrong. But I know that you can see that I am right.

"Brothers, if a man be overtaken in some transgression, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, you who are spiritual, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ." This is the exact same scripture that I used in my defense! This is exactly what I wrote to my ex-wife and to Jim. Why did he not listen to me then and consider this Godly commandment? When will Jim’s eyes be opened to the truth about how Satan has used him to divide the Body of Christ? What a hypocrite!

The Good Shepherd will leave the “ninety and nine” sheep who are safely in the fold and risk his life to find the one who is lost. Another verse I used in my defense. That is the heart of God and the heart of His Son. And it is the heart of all God’s children who are like their heavenly Father. I wanted to stay, even if it meant humiliation. I did not want to become lost. I tried and tried to remain. God restored my hope at one point, early on, but John beat me down again, and again. He never even tried to help. Instead, my ex-wife would go to his home and hear from him and others about how much happier she and our son would be without me, how she should “use her weapon of silence,” etc. That is not God’s way! That is the way of a cult.

If you have wandered off the right path, you may feel unclean, but you are wanted by your Father. Ever since being cut off, God has answered my prayers. He healed my son one night seconds after I was led by the Spirit to pray for him. That has happened more than once. God has brought work my way several times in response to prayer. I have no doubt that He wants to save me. I also have no doubt that He did not ordain my excommunication or divorce. You are missed by all in Zion who are not at ease, but are grieved for your trouble. That is why there is “great joy” among the inhabitants of heaven whenever a wayward soul repents. And there will be great joy among saints on earth who know you when they see you turn again toward Zion, your home. If I turned, now, toward Pastor Jim and his way, would they rejoice? I doubt they would. Instead of writing blogs such as this, which are biblically truthful, why not practice what he preaches? Did Jim ever receive directly from God a commandment for him to cut Mark off, or to cut off Heidi, or Brian, or Taylor, or anyone else? I doubt it, as he never mentioned it. No, he cut them off because of fear in his heart that he would lose control over his followers. He was wrong about “God cleaning house.” The evidence was so clear for all to see how wrong he was – when Adam, who was praised so much by Pastor Jim for staying with the flock instead of leaving the group to stay with his “headless” wife, ran off with Carol a few months later. When will Jim open his eyes to the truth and repent? Probably never. Instead, he approves of divorce and adulterous remarriage (marriages within his following), which only makes his work look more and more like a cult. He has brought a reproach upon Christ. Can he not see how what he has written here is for him and his followers to see? There are many other blogs that he has written that are exactly like this – full of hypocrisy. Tell me how I’m wrong! Let’s put all the cards on the table. I’m willing to do that. But I have no doubt that Jim fears the truth more than he fears God.

 

From his December 15, 2009 blog:

 

Paul warned the elders in Corinth that they were not maintaining God’s standard of holiness among the saints there. The apostle was disappointed and indignant. “Is it really so,” he wrote, “that there is not a single wise man among you, one who is able to judge among his brothers?” (1Cor. 6:5). In other words, is there no elder there in Corinth who fears God enough to stand in the gap and either encourage righteousness or rebuke sin? Does no one among the elders value his hope of salvation enough to demand that those in his area of control fear God and be holy? Or does no one among the elders there understand that with the honor of being an elder among God’s people comes the fearsome responsibility of keeping things clean among them?

 

Why then did Jim not have the wisdom to judge his brother-in-law as deserving of serious correction? Jim’s wife’s sister went to him several times over a period of several years asking him if she could divorce her husband. The reason she said she wanted the divorce was that there was something spiritually wrong with her husband. How did she know? Because she was wise enough to recognize the spiritual corruption of her husband’s heart. But Jim kept telling her, “Not yet.” I got this information directly from Jim’s sister-in-law. And so, for years they stayed married, while Jim’s brother-in-law would criticize his own family for not believing in the truth he himself believed in, all the while hiding his secret sin of internet pornography addiction. Why didn’t Pastor Jim fear God more and rebuke his brother-in-law? Probably because his brother-in-law had 80 acres of land that the pastor coveted and the B-I-L was one of the pastor’s largest sources of income. Even when it was found out that Jim’s B-I-L had a problem, he was allowed to remain, and even attend the bible translation sessions and prayer meetings. But I, who pointed out that one Sister’s laughter wasn’t necessarily the Spirit moving her (I wasn’t the only one who recognized that truth), was immediately cut off. My inability to act and pretend, in the over-religious way of the pastor and his followers, particularly to the satisfaction of my then-wife, did not even come close to the pastor’s brother-in-law’s secret sin. But I wasn’t the only one who was unjustly cut off. There were others.

God’s promises and commandments were given to Moses alone, in Exodus 23:20-23, and had it all been left to Moses, there would not have been any problem with Israel entering with Moses into Canaan’s land. But there was a stipulation added to those promises of God, just a single, terrifying stipulation revealed in the one plural “you” that was in the midst of God’s words to the man He had chosen, and that stipulation was that the transgressions of those who followed Moses would be considered as Moses’ transgressions. No matter how perfectly Moses might personally conduct himself before the Lord, he would be not be judged merely on that basis. He would be judged on the basis of the conduct of all those over whom God appointed him as leader and guide. Wow, God had no mercy on Moses whatsoever! This line of thinking is basically saying that God expected everyone following Moses to be perfect, and that if that were not so, Moses was doomed. Who in their right mind would want such responsibility? Would God really be so cruel, especially knowing the corruption in the hearts of man?

Moses was refused permission to enter into the land of Promise. Based on Moses’ actions alone, not on those of his followers. Jim doesn’t point this out here, because it contradicts what he just wrote in the previous paragraph. Moses failed to follow God’s directions, because he could not control the anger in his heart.

God appoints men to shepherd His flocks on earth. And it is the condition of the flock, not the shepherd himself, by which the shepherd will be judged in the end. The care of the whole flock is such a serious matter that Jesus said it will be necessary at times to cut off a member of the body in order to save the whole, just as surgeons sometimes amputate portions of a person’s physical body that jeopardizes the well-being of the whole: He is trying to justify his sin here.

Matthew 5

29. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you! For it’s better for you that one of your members perish and not that your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

30. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you! It’s better for you that one of your members perish and not that your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

 

By this line of reasoning, Jesus is the head of the Body and because the Body is so far from being perfect, Jesus should be cast out of the Father’s presence. If our salvation depends upon being perfect, and if an elder’s or a pastor’s salvation depends on the spiritual condition of those they are responsible for, Jesus would not have had to suffer on the cross. Placing conditions of worthiness upon us lessens the sacrifice made by Jesus. This line of reasoning is exactly what I would expect from Satan. I am beginning to believe that Satan’s greatest tool in fooling us mortals is the Bible, and our supposed knowledge of it. And Satan is obviously using Jim’s knowledge of the Bible to accomplish his work in dividing the Body of Christ that he is responsible for.

Paul, too, told the elders in Corinth to expel a member whose ungodly conduct was endangering the purity of the flock in that city: I’ll bet that person would not repent. That is the key. If someone does not repent, then there is nothing left to do but cut them off. But you cannot cut someone and make them bleed, then tell them that they must stop bleeding, and when they put a bandage on the wound, rip it off and tell them again to stop bleeding – that is what John did to me. I repented, and God accepted my repentance, but Jim would not accept it.

1Corinthians 5

4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you and my spirit are gathered together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, Notice this very important point – “with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There was no power of God, or directive from He or His son, for Jim to cut me off. There was no “of one accord” among his followers. They were absolutely shocked! It was the fear and hatred in Jim’s heart that cut me off. And not fear of God. It was fear that others would see that what I had learned is the truth.

5. deliver such a man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. How will delivering someone to Satan destroy his flesh so that his spirit might be saved?

 

Here, Jim is justifying his excommunication of me and a few others. But what he doesn’t tell his followers is the truth about those he excommunicated. St. Paul would never have cut me off because I thought that someone supposedly laughing in the Spirit wasn’t really in the Spirit, but was only acting according to her personality. And Paul would never have cut me off because I didn’t want to listen to meeting and music CDs 24/7. And I seriously doubt that Paul mocked and put down unbelievers (or Christians) all the time, as Jim does (Paul didn’t have pride in his heart as Jim does).

Paul understood the meaning of that plural “you” in God’s word to Moses, that righteousness in the body of Christ is a community affair, that the shepherd is responsible for the flock, and that all of us to some degree are responsible for one another. That is why God commanded the Israelites not to allow sin to remain in a neighbor’s life, when it was seen, but to love one’s neighbor enough to try to rescue him from sin, for everyone’s benefit: When did Pastor Jim ever try to rescue me? He didn’t. He just cut me off. You don’t rescue a drowning person by throwing that person an anchor. John kept make false accusations against me. He was not in the least trying to help me, but rather, was doing everything he could to get rid of me. That is not God’s way, or Jesus’ way, or St. Paul’s way. What a hypocrite Jim is!

Leviticus 19

17. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Well, Jim broke this commandment in dealing with me (he hated me more than anyone he has ever known). He slandered me to no end, telling people that he feared for his and his family’s lives, for example.

It is an expression of hatred, not love, to fail to reprove a brother or sister who is sinning. But not only do we hate the ones that we do not reprove for sin; we hate ourselves as well. You do not have to destroy someone, the way Pastor Jim has done to many innocent people, to prove that you do not hate them. Solomon said, “Whoever is partner with a thief hates his own soul; he hears cursing and he does not expose it” (Prov. 29:24). If we do not “reprove one another”, as Paul praised the saints in Rome for doing, then we are partakers of the sins that we do not reprove. And if we are partakers of the sin, then the guilt – and the judgment – of the transgressor becomes ours. (That is why God is calling His people out of Christianity!) We are required to “reprove the works of darkness” that may show up among us! This, I believe, is the deception. There are many, many God-fearing people in Christianity, people who give their entire life to living as Christ lived. I believe that God is calling His people out of hypocrisy. Jim’s argument so far appears to be that anything he considers unholy, or less than perfect, is to be put out from among his work and his followers’ lives. But Scriptures tell us to let the tares remain among the wheat until the harvest.

Do not fear the reaction of the transgressor. Fear God, and live! I have seen husbands try to cover the sins of their wives, and then go down with their wives when their wives completely turned away from righteousness. I have seen parents try to hide the sins of their children instead of reproving them, and then go down with their children when God turned the children’s hearts to darkness.
Let us love one another enough to strive for the good of the whole community of faith, that we may all, together, be clean and holy before the Lord. “No man is an island”, the poet John Donne once said, and nowhere is that more true than in the kingdom of God. But Jim has secluded himself and his followers from everyone who believes differently than he does, essentially making himself and his home an island. What a hypocrite! We are “our brother’s keeper”. A keeper does all he can to “keep” whatever it is he is keeping. Jim did not do one thing, in the least, to “keep” me. What a hypocrite!

 

From his January 26, 2010 blog:

 

While I was in sin, when I discovered someone was not what I thought he should be, I would turn against him. The truth about him affected my attitude toward him; it affected my feelings, and I could not feel the affection for him that I previously felt. But in Christ, what I was pleasantly surprised to learn is that a brother or sister’s errors did not affect the love I had for them at all. The love remained, even after I saw their fault. I found that, in my heart, they were still on a pedestal because they belonged to God, because He had loved them and sanctified them. Nothing they did caused me to love them less. How can he write this junk? We know how he’s felt in the past about certain people who came to the meetings, but because they were a bit strange (personality trait), he did not love them at all. He asked some to just not come back. You’ve heard Jim say less than loving things about some people. Do you think that Jesus said bad things behind people’s backs?

 

In Revelation 2, Jesus was somewhat displeased with the otherwise wonderful pastor in Ephesus because the doctrine of certain men who claimed to be sent by God had caused that pastor to lose his first love for them. This pastor was wise, patient, devoted to Christ, and hard-working, but the loss of his first love was such a danger to the well-being of the body of Christ in Ephesus that Jesus threatened to take the congregation away from him if he didn’t regain that lost love.

 

We must hold on to our first love when we see faults in one another, and we will retain our first love of the brethren if we stay filled with the Spirit, “for the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts by the holy Spirit that He has give us” (Rom. 5:5). God loves all His children, even the bad ones. That’s right, God still loves me. But I’m not even a bad one! But Jim gave me the boot, anyway. What a hypocrite! And if we, in our hearts, leave no door open for them to repent, we are not like our heavenly Father, and we cannot be useful to Him in restoring lost sheep to the fold. How can he write this? This has to be the most hypocritical thing he’s ever written! Suppose those false apostles in Ephesus were to repent, and were forgiven by Christ, but then, the pastor could not minister to them because he had no more love or respect for them? He would be of no more use to the saints because the love of God could not flow from Christ through him to them. That is why Jesus commanded this good man to repent, and threatened to take the congregation away from him if he didn’t. I have a strong feeling that this message is for Jim. He needs to open his eyes to the truth, before it’s too late! God forgave me for my very poor attitude, but Jim could not. What Jim really means in this blog is that if one humbles down to him, Jim will remember his first love. But even though I did humble down, I failed to glorify Jim in the manner he expected, and he forgot his first love. He placed a millstone around my neck and told me to swim out to deep water. He has innocent blood on his hands.

 

If you've read this far, I have no doubt that you can see the hypocrisy in Pastor Jim's heart. There cannot even be a reasonable argument against what I have shared here.