Compilation of writing: Looking for church to attend

Poison gas dream: 

Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet

In 1979,  God gave me the following shocking dream ...  In this dream, I went into a room where a meeting was going on.  There was one vacant seat on the aisle and I sat down and began listening to a man who was speaking to the group.  Another man rushed and went to the front of the room and said, "Stop ... wait ... can't you see ... It's too late!  It's already begun."

The first man resumed speaking to the group.  

I looked out the window to see what was happening, and was shocked at what I saw.  

There was a tall, civil defense type pole with a yellow warning speaker on top of the pole.  Out of the speaker was coming a poison gas.  I knew it would kill the people and shockingly the gas was coming from our own speaker which was supposed to warn us.   

I looked at the man who was sitting next to me.  He was sitting upright.  He had a big smile on his face.  He was looking directly at the speaker in an attentive way.  But this man was a corpse.  He was dead though he looked alive.  Then I looked at people around the room and they were already dead also.  And as I sat back in my seat, I felt myself falling asleep, dying as I listened to the speaker.

What God was showing me were the churches today. 

Speakers are set up to warn the people, but the warnings which should come to the church through the speakers has turned into a type of poison which causes people to relax and think they are OK since they attend church and tithe.

And those who continue to sit among them will die, falling asleep.

Here is an example of problem with doctrine in a great many churches today. 

Jesus presented the following doctrine for the church.

Mt. 5:32 ... 32But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Many churches twist this scripture to say if the husband is committing adultery, the wife is free to divorce and remarry.  This is not correct.  Jesus in above scripture is addressing the men.  

A woman could leave her husband but if she did such she must remain unmarried or return to her husband.  I Cor. 7

If a man has an unfaithful wife, that man is free to divorce and remarry.  The woman who is divorced will commit adultery if she remarries after a divorce.  And Jesus is saying in Mt. 5:32 the husband will be the cause of her adultery if he divorces a faithful wife if she remarries.  And the man who marries a divorced woman will commit adultery.

I Cor. 7 ... 10And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

I Cor. 7 ... 39The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord. 40But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

Some churches twist this by saying we, in NT Church, are not bound by the law, therefore the woman can remarry after divorce... But Paul was writing I Cor. 7 to the NT church and nothing has changed since Paul wrote this. 

Romans 7 ... 1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

If a man divorces a "faithful" wife and she remarries, she commits adultery.  

The man who divorces a faithful wife will be the cause of her adultery.  

And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

This is what Jesus teaches the church ... Read this scripture again.

Jesus says:  Mt. 5:32 ... But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

I have never heard this taught in any church that I have attended.  Either this scripture is completely omitted or it is explained away.  Mostly it is just omitted by the church speakers. 

It is so tragic for the speaker should be warning the congregation.  Instead the speakers have turned into pacifiers (in so many churches today), approving many acts which are sin in the sight of God and opposite from the instruction in the Bible.

II Tim. 3 ... the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

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There are many forms of poison gas coming from speakers in churches today.

One of the greatest blasphemies has to do with the doctrine saying that crackers and grape juice are the Lord's supper.

The Lord's supper is the Word of God ... As we eat and drink the Word of God correctly we commune with Jesus Christ, eating HIS body and drinking HIS blood, partaking of JESUS who is the Word of God and judging ourselves and correcting ourselves by the Word.

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A very harmful doctrine is the doctrine of the 100-fold return where some preachers guarantee you a 100-fold return on the amount of money you give at church.  This is example of misusing scripture to extort money from body of Christ.

There is a time when 100-fold return is valid.  But it is when you leave your lands and such to do what God tells you to do.  It does not have to do with giving offerings at church.

Mt. 19 ... 27Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

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We, as members of the body of Christ, should not sit in church groups where scriptures are explained away, twisted, or omitted completely.  To stay there is to approve false teaching.  To stay there is to partake in their evil when you recognize it is wrong.

God gave me the following dream which explains this:  

In this dream, there was a room filled with a row of bassinets.  I was walking down the row, looking at the babies in the bassinets. The babies were horribly deformed. (These babies are people who attended church but never matured in things of God and became twisted through taking in false doctrines at church and were thus "deformed".) When I got to the end of the row of babies, standing there was my favorite aunt.  She was fully grown, mature.  But her face was covered with horrible spots and blemishes. 

My favorite aunt was a Church of Christ member.  Before she died she told me she knew things were wrong at their church.  But she stayed there in spite of the wrong teaching.

If you do this, you will be a part of their evil doing at church. 

II Jn.  ... 8Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.  9Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

I have left many church groups when I have seen them teaching things contrary to the Bible.  I have often gone to pastors and shown them scripture.  No pastor I've gone to has ever repented.  No false doctrine has ever been corrected.  I just left that church group.

You can't stay there without bringing penalty upon yourself.

I Cor. 15 ... Paul says ...  33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

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Acts 17 ... And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

The Bereans were hearing the apostle Paul speak.  But even then they went away and searched the scriptures daily to see if that being taught them was true! Therefore many of them believed ...

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In the 1990's, I was looking for a church to attend.  I visited a small non-denominational church on a Wednesday night service.  The pastor was teaching.  He began speaking of Jn. 8, where the woman taken in adultery was brought to Jesus.  The pastor said, "And when she was brought to Jesus, she was naked from the waist up."

I was very shocked.   

Immediately I took my Bible and turned to John 8, though I have read this many times.  I re-read John  8 concerning this passage.

Jn. 8 ... 1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

The next day, I called this pastor.  I told him I visited his service.  I asked him where it is in Bible saying the woman was naked from waist up.  I couldn't find this, I told him.

First he said he couldn't recall where it was in Bible.

Then I told him it was very important to me and I asked him to please find that scripture and have his secretary call me with that reference.

With this, pastor became very angry and said:  "All right ... it's not in the Bible ... Where do you go to church?"  (Trying to accuse me.)

There were approximately 200 people at that Wednesday service.  When pastor said this, I didn't see anyone take a Bible and check it.  Most of those people just had big smiles on their face. (Looking like those dead church people in the poison gas dream.)

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Where is that in Bible?

In trying to find church group to attend, one Sunday morning I visited a non-denominational group.

Pastor was teaching from Genesis.  As he taught, pastor said, "Sarah and Hagar were 1/2 sisters."

I was very shocked.  Never before had I read that in Bible. I checked Bible and couldn't find that in Bible.  But thinking maybe it was there and I somehow missed it, I called and spoke with that pastor.  I asked him where that is in Bible.

Pastor became very angry when I asked this.  He finally admitted it is not in the Bible.  But he showed no shame in teaching this.

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Another thing that happened that morning at that church ... It was the Sunday school period and everyone gathered in the main auditorium before going to their Sunday school classes.

Pastor said:  "A terrible thing has happened ... the train that was bringing the Sunday school teachings was delayed and the teaching booklets did not arrive.  Therefore you teachers are just going to just have to teach today from the Bible."

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Recently I received a letter from a young man in another country.  He said he is born again.  He asked me to send him books to learn by.

What I would say to him is:  Use the Bible and depend on God to teach you from the Bible.

That is what God showed me to do when I was born again in 1975.  I just read the Bible from Genesis through Revelation and then I start over with Genesis.  I've been doing this for almost 40 years now.

If you are born again and have the Spirit of God in you, the Bible never gets old. (the living word of God)  No matter how many times I have read a verse, sometimes God will show me something I hadn't see from that verse.  I just let God teach me.

I Jn. 2 ... 27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 

Each of us who are born again in the NT church today are given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.

Here is what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do for us.

Jn. 14:26 ...  26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Jn. 16:13 ... 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

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Pastor asking me not to attend his church

I was looking for a church group to attend.  I called and spoke with pastor at a non-denominational church called "Potter's House." (Clovis, NM, USA)  I told the pastor I was considering coming to visit at his church and I was looking for a church to attend.  Pastor said he would come to my house and talk with me about his church.

I can't recall what pastor said when he came to see me.  I just spoke freely by the Holy Spirit.

I was planning to visit his church the next Sunday.  I bought an appropriate dress to wear.  And I was very excited over getting to go to a church group.

On Friday of that week, I received a phone call from the pastor.  He said:  "You know that thing about your coming to our church.  I've decided that I don't want you to come to our church."

I was shocked!  (There was no plan to speak at his church.  I was just going to listen as other people in congregation listen.)

A few days after this, my doorbell rang.  It was a group of people from "Potter's House".  They had literature and had obviously been touring my neighborhood inviting people to come to their church.

They handed me their literature and invited me to come to their church.

I told them their pastor asked me not to come to their church.

They were bewildered.  Without another word, they left my house. 

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When I was on radio, I received a strange letter from a pastor in Colorado.  (One of my radio stations at that time was in Denver.)

In his letter, pastor said:  "Don't ever try to come to our church."

I'd never even heard of him or his church ...

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Another pastor told me he was not going to stand in the church door and keep me out but he didn't want me to come to his church.

Certainly I didn't try to force my way in.  I've never done such a thing.

I was on radio warning the church in the area where he was located.

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Trying to attend Baptist church

In trying to find a church I could attend, I visited a Baptist church on a Sunday morning and again that night.

That morning some things happened which I knew were wrong.  Again that evening things were wrong.  I began feeling worse and worse as I visited that church.

After the Sunday night service, I told pastor I felt I needed to speak with him and asked if I could make appointment.

He said he had time to speak to me that night if I wanted to do so.  I did want to.  So we went into his office.

I told him I had been in the morning service, and of course I was there in the evening service.

In the morning service, they turned the service over to the youth group who had just returned from a Baptist retreat.  A young man (high school age) spoke to the congregation.  He said he had a film to show us of their retreat.  He began the film.  In the film, girls were running about with hair curlers in hair.  They were slapping each other with towels.  Boys were doing boy things.  No scripture was ever quoted.  Nothing of Bible was mentioned.  Nothing of God was mentioned.  The film was just teenagers acting like teenagers.

My dad's 1/2 brother's wife was a member of that church group and was at those services and sat by me.  She said to me as they played that film, "I could do without this."

I told the pastor that when we gather as the church Paul said everything should be done to edification.  (I Cor. 14)

Pastor said:  "Well ... I liked seeing it." 

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Also at that service pastor quoted the following scripture:

Mt. 17 ... this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

But the way pastor presented this scripture was by saying,"This kind goest not out but by prayer."

As I sat there and heard him say this, I quietly said, "and fasting."  (nobody could hear me say this except for Aline who sat next to me.)

The pastor kept speaking ... and amazingly again he quoted this same scripture but he said again, "This kind goest not out but by prayer." (as I quietly added "and fasting" Aline joined me in quietly saying, "and fasting.")

Pastor kept speaking and once again he quoted this scripture as follows:  "This kind goest not out but by prayer."  (Aline and I both together quietly said:  "and fasting".)

I pointed this out to that pastor.  He became very angry and replied:  "I've been doing this 23 years and I know exactly what I am doing." (What it was doing was taking away from the word of God.)

I said:  "I think I've said all to you to that I need to say."  I got up and left, never to return again to that group.

When things are wrong in the church service, we cannot stay there.  If we try to stay in such a place, we will fall asleep.

If it is not truth, we must leave that group.  It is like sitting in a room with poison gas coming toward us.  Eventually it will kill us and we will be as spiritually dead as the other people in the group who have already been killed spiritually by the wrong teaching coming from the pastor.

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Trying to attend Church of Christ group

One Sunday morning, I decided to visit a Church of Christ group.  I was looking for a church to attend.

It was Sunday school class of about 8 or 9 adults and pastor was teaching.

He was in Heb. 11 and quoted the following scripture:

7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

After reading this scripture, pastor asked:  "Did Noah really condemn the world?"

I replied, "Yes ... because Noah obeyed God and because of this obedience the world was condemned because they did not believe God and they did not obey God.

There was dead silence from pastor and the 8 or 9 people in the room.

No one wanted to speak to me after that.

I didn't return to that group.

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Trying to attend an Assembly of God group

At one point in hunting a church group to attend I decided to go to a small Assembly of God group.  But before going I called the pastor and met with him.  I can't recall anything either of us said.

On that Sunday morning after meeting with the pastor, I did attend his group.  Pastor was so terrified of me that I could tell he was afraid to speak.  He just read from a prepared sheet of paper and quoted scripture.  I felt pastor was trying to play it safe.  But in doing such, you leave faith in God and quench the Spirit of God. 

On the wall of the assembly room, there was hanging a picture of a long haired man.  It is that picture that many use and call "Jesus".  It is not a picture of Jesus.  There are no photos of Jesus.  There were no cameras at that time.  It is just a human pretending to be Jesus.

I did call this pastor and told him it would be good to take down this photo for it is a form of "graven image" and it is also false since there were no cameras in Jesus' day.  I don't recall pastor responding.

As I started to write this, I heard "graven image" ... I brought some of these scriptures up on my computer and I began to laugh when I started reading this list.

Deut. 7 ... 5But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.  6For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Deut. 7 ...  25The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. 

Deut. 12 ... 3And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.  4Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. 

II Kings 17 ... 38And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. 39But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. 41So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.  

II Chron. 34 ...  7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. 

Psa. 78 ...  58For they provoked Him (God) to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.

Psa. 97 ...  7Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

Isa. 30 ... 22Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

Isa. 42 ... 8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Jere. 8 ... Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?

Jere. 50 ... 38A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

Jere. 51 ... 52Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Hosea 11 ... 2As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.

Micah 1 ... 7And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

Micah 5 ... 13Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.  14And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.  15And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. 

It is not a good idea to hang graven images on your wall or keep graven images statues on your porch.  (or in your heart)

Jesus said ... Jn. 4 ...  24 God is a Spirit:and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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Trying to attend another Assembly of God church group

 It was a Wednesday night and I decided to visit another Assembly of God church group.  That night there were 150-200 people in congregation and pastor was speaking to the group.

Pastor started speaking about Jimmy Swaggart and the scandal where Swaggart was found with prostitute.

Pastor said:  "We should pray for brother Swaggart."

In a very soft voice, I said:  "He should be put out of the church."

The woman sitting in front of me apparently heard what I said though it was very soft.  She turned and glared at me.

What the apostle Paul said to do when a "brother" is a fornicator ...

I Cor. 5 ...1It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,  4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
 
7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:  8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 
 
9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 

11But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?  13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Paul didn't say to pray for such a "brother" ... nor did Paul say for us to counsel such.

Paul said:  put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

A few weeks after Swaggart cried on TV and said he had sinned and asked for forgiveness, he was caught with another prostitute.  This time when the policeman stopped him with the prostitute in the car, Swaggart said:  "It's flat out none of your business."  (Report from Wikipedia)

I didn't return to that Assembly of God church again.

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Following friends to church

After I was born again, someone came to me and told me I had to attend church.

I replied:  "I do?"

I was about 37 at the time I was born again and everyone in churches was more experienced that I was so I went to the church this friend was attending.

The pastor was doing a series of "lectures" against speaking in tongues and pastor was saying tongues were of the devil.

I really didn't care anything about the subject of speaking in tongues one way or another.  I was bored when I went to these services but I went to them.  I don't remember anything about them except that church leadership was against speaking in tongues.

At one point while attending this church I saw the following scripture:  

James 5 ... 14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

I had gotten sick so I called the church office and told them I was sick and I needed to meet with the elders of the church as per James 5 and have them pray over me and anoint me with oil.  There was dead silence on the other end of the line.  Later the church secretary called me and told me she had passed my request on to the leadership of the church and she said in about 2 weeks the elders were going to have a meeting and they would discuss my case.  I never heard from them again.  A few days after calling them, I got well.  God raised me up.

Then one day I was reading the Bible.  I saw the following concerning what we are to do when we gather as the church.

Paul said:  I Cor. 14 ... 39Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. 40Let all things be done decently and in order.

I really didn't care a hoot about tongues at that time one way or another ... But I very much cared about what the Bible said.

Here I was attending a church which taught tongues were of the devil and Paul was saying in the Bible forbid not to speak with tongues. 

I certainly wasn't going to attend a church where they taught something opposite to the Bible so I left that church immediately and never went back.

One day, I was riding in a car with my best friend who attended that church and told me I had to attend a church.  I said to Donna, "OH by the way ... did you know Paul said "forbid not to speak with tongues" ?

Donna replied:  :"What?"

I had a small Bible of NT which I kept in my purse.  Donna pulled the car to the side of the road and said:  "Let me see that ..."

I showed it to her.  I was using the King James Version of the Bible.

Donna said:  "Let's go to my house and look it up in other translations of the Bible."  (she had several different translations at her house)

It was the same in every translation of the Bible

I said:  "I'm not going to that church anymore."

Donna said she wasn't either.

I think her husband might have been a little upset but she stopped going to that church that taught against tongues.

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After that, I followed another friend to Beverly Hills Baptist church.  (This friend was considered by our prayer group to be very spiritual.)  That church was a "charismatic" Baptist church.  I don't recall anyone speaking in a tongues but they didn't speak against it.  It was a very big church ... over 3000 members ...

At one point, I went to visit with the pastor.  I can't recall exactly what I asked him but I do recall his shocked reply:  He said:  "You'd have to be a spiritual giant to do that. (to call on God and hear from God and follow the Spirit of God)"  (I was doing "that" all the time, about like breathing in an out.  It seemed automatic to me.)

I don't recall anything else about that church.

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After that my friend who seemed spiritual to everyone in the prayer group, switched to a faith movement church called Word of Faith.  Robert Tilton was the pastor. 

Bob was kind of a salesman type person ... very handsome ... wonderful "fun" personality ... pretty country type ...(not the type of person I was used to) ...

During the services Bob often spoke a doctrine concerning prosperity and how we could gain prosperity.  I felt it didn't pertain to me but he was speaking some scripture during his sermons so I decided I could copy down the scripture and study those when I got home.  

I never missed a service.  I went Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evenings, and to all special services.  They had many "special" services with visiting speakers.  I don't remember anything any of these special speakers said.  But I did continue to copy scriptures they quoted and study those scriptures.

During that time, God gave me a dream ... it was about poison gas ...   

In this dream, I went into a room where a meeting was going on.  There was one vacant seat on the aisle and I sat down and began listening to a man who was speaking to the group.  Another man rushed and went to the front of the room and said, "Stop ... wait ... can't you see ... It's too late!  It's already begun."The first man resumed speaking to the group.  I looked out the window and was shocked at what I saw.  There was a tall, civil defense type pole with a yellow warning speaker on top of the pole.  Out of the speaker was coming a poison gas.  I knew it would kill the people and shockingly the gas was coming from our own speaker which was supposed to warn us.   I looked at the man who was sitting next to me.  He was sitting upright.  He had a big smile on his face.  He was looking directly at the speaker in an attentive way.  But this man was a corpse.  He was dead though he looked alive.  Then I looked at people around the room and they were already dead also.  And as I sat back in my seat, I felt myself falling asleep, dying as I listened to the speaker.

God showed me that in this dream HE was showing me what is going on in the churches.

I still didn't see anything wrong at Word of Faith.

Then one Wednesday night, Bob was speaking as usual and I looked at the man sitting next to me and he looked like a corpse.  I looked about the room and the other people looked dead to me. (They looked exactly like the dead people in that poison gas dream.)

I got up and went to rest room and began talking to God.  I said to God:  "I think you are telling me to leave this church group.  I'm going to drive away.  But if You want me to return, I'll come back."

After I left God began showing me some of the doctrine professed by that faith movement.  First HE showed me the following.  They taught that all good is from God and all bad is from the devil.  Sounds right.  But then God took me to the following scripture:  Jesus was hanging on a cross.  Jesus gave up the ghost.  After that there was an earthquake:  Mt 27 ... 54Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Earthquakes destroy property.  Earthquakes are "bad" ... right?  But doesn't God send earthquakes ... and hail ... and wind ... and tornadoes ... Then how can they be "bad" when God is the author?

Didn't the centurion and they that were watching Jesus turn to God after they saw the earthquake.  That is what it seems to say in Mt. 27.

So how can the earthquake be bad?

With that, God began unraveling the faith movement doctrine and I came to see the teaching was basically that all good is from God and all bad is from devil and we as believers have authority over the devil.   First there is the assumption that we as human can tell what is good and what is bad.

Next, concerning having authority over such things as storms, (which was being taught at the Faith Movement church that I attended) I began to wonder how it was that a storm could hit when all these big faith movement people had authority over such.  And if their faith is so great, why didn't they stop it?

Unknown to me at the time, my "spiritual" friend that I had followed to that faith movement church had left.  And our Sunday school teacher at that church, Don Gelino, had left.  At one point I spoke with Don.  I said: "I didn't know I was different from them... I always thought I was like them."  (Except I didn't care for that prosperity message and it never seemed to pertain to me.)  

Don replied:  "Joan ... you were never like them."

I said:  "I wasn't?" 

My "spiritual friend" said she was worse off when she left that church than she was when she came to it.

During the time I was attending that faith movement church I had another bit of insight.

We had a very bad ice storm in Dallas.  I couldn't get to church.  So I walked to Highland Park Methodist Church which was a little over a block from my apartment.  As I walked there, I noticed the cars that obviously belonged to the people that attended Highland Park Methodist Church.  There were numerous expensive cars... Mercedes, BMW, Cadillacs ... I thought, "How can this be?"  Those people don't know anything about God, yet they were obviously so rich.  While  many of the faith movement people seemed to be so poor.  The prosperity message likely appealed to poorer people since there was a prospect of becoming rich in material goods. (fulfilling covetousness)  This all seemed very strange to me.

In the meantime, in my own life, I found more and more money coming to me and more things around me than I've ever had ... but I'm not trying to get more money or things and I wasn't applying the faith movement message on prosperity, yet I kept prospering.

But what I was doing ever since being born were the following scriptures ...

Psalm 1 ... 1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 

Joshua 1:8 ...  8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Along the way, Don had noticed this.  He said they talked about faith but the one he thought who really had faith and lived it was me.  All I was doing was believing the Bible, keeping the Word of God before me day and night, doing what the scripture brought to my mind said to do ... and continuing to do this.  

Several months before I had left Word of Faith, God had made it clear to me that I was called and set in the body of Christ as apostle/prophet.  (Eph. 4) ... And in the night, what I believed to be an angel of God spoke three words to me:  "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... and I ended up doing exhortations on a radio broadcast (KWJS) 5 days a week/30 min. per day.  And I had a great many people seeking me out as a result of those teachings on radio.

God had given me a gift of exhortation for the church and had taught me not to plan out anything but rather just to turn on the recorder and speak what I heard from HIM and broadcast that.  And that is what I did and that is what I still do when I write (or speak).  I just write those things brought to my mind believing it is Holy Spirit reminding me since that is one of things Holy Spirit does.  (Jn. 14:26)   I never plan anything ahead of time.  I do read Bible and try to meditate on that spoken to me by the Holy Spirit.  Then whatever God draws out of me I speak and write.  It is very easy and very simple.

(And a few days after I was born again I was transported into heaven twice as I slept in the night and both times the same thing happened.  I knew I was with God, with Christ, and with the Holy Spirit.  I was "merged " into the body of Jesus ... made one with the Word of God ... as God and the Holy Spirit witnessed.  It was wonderful! and this was probably a part of preparing me for the work of the ministry to which I was called by God.)

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So I followed friends to church and to a prayer group but God never told me to go to any church or prayer group.  And after God brought me out of Word of Faith I expected God to put me into another group and He did not.  Yet the church was my life.  I was always there after I was born again until I was taken out by God.  Today I understand that we are the church.

Jesus says ...

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

(We might just "gather" by telephone with another believer and Jesus would be there with us.  I've had many things of God revealed by God as I have been speaking by phone with another member of the body of Christ.)