Hi all,
Some good news, Chris has his wheelchair! Thank you for your prayers and support. Whew! Such a relief to know if one breaks, he has a backup to allow him to roll around under his own power. It brings great peace of mind to Barb and me because we travel so much and aren’t always able to be at his group home at a moment’s notice to fix a chair. Whew!
What the Lord said about salvation:
Many emails and messages on various social platforms are from people unsure the Lord really and truly accepts them. They love the Lord, but are afraid that once they die, they will be rejected and sent to hell. “Have I committed the unpardonable sin?” they ask. Those questions range from speaking badly of the pastor to doing a ‘big sin’ since knowing the Lord. They were never properly taught from Matthew 12: 24-32 in a discussion of the salvation bringing work of the Holy Spirit, that the unpardonable sin is rejecting Jesus as Lord.
Jesus died for others, so He could not die for Himself. Therefore, there is a sin not covered on the cross. Not every sin was covered – He didn’t die for Himself, so rejecting Him couldn’t be covered by the cross. The 1 sin not covered by the cross was rejecting Jesus as Lord. T
The Holy Spirit is the agent who brings salvation, causes our spirit to be recreated, and the presence we feel inside of us. To reject Jesus is to reject the Holy Spirit’s work of bringing Jesus to a person. To reject Jesus is to commit the unpardonable sin. They were never taught that, so they think maybe because they criticized the pastor, or did some sin last week, or had a time after they knew the Lord they went back into the world before returning to Him, He might ultimately reject them. Most of it is their own guilt and condemnation, helped by bad religious training and teaching, with culture’s ‘decision by emotion’ reasoning – If I don’t feel saved, I must not be saved (lie).
They search scriptures to support their fear rather than search scripture to support their assurance of salvation. Stop it!
It is often a running dialogue. For instance, they wonder if, from Matthew 7: 22-23, the many who will come to the Lord saying they had done miracles and amazing things in His name but are cast away might include them. I will explain that Jesus started in v15 saying to watch out for false believers who are outwardly sheep but inwardly wolves, saying about those wolves in sheep’s clothing: Many will say to me that day, ‘Lord, Lord, haven’t we prophesied in your name, and cast out demons, and done many wonderful things?’ But I will admit to them: I never knew you, depart from me you who live sinful lives of deceit.
I ask them if Jesus always tells the truth, and they will reply, ‘yes’. They never consider the claims of the false believers are lies. Then I will ask if Jesus saying He never knew them means never, or knew once but then didn’t? If He said ‘never’, is He telling the truth? When they realize their fear had caused them to believe the wolves in sheep’s clothing (false believers) instead of Jesus, they see it. Jesus told the truth: He never, ever, never knew them. And they lied about what they said they did in His name, and are in fact sinners living by deceit and deception (iniquity is a lifestyle of sin and deceit).
Having that fear destroyed, they then search for another passage that makes them think they will be rejected by Jesus once they die and stand before Him. The true issue is they trust their feelings instead of the Word of God. This generation of people who live on emotion-based reasoning were never taught or have rejected the teaching that the Word of God has the final authority. If they don’t feel saved, if they don’t feel His presence, then they feel they are not in good standing with Him and/or have lost their salvation. They can’t rest in John 3: 16, that if they believe, they have eternal life. They read Romans 10: 9-10 that if they have believed and confessed Jesus as Lord, they are saved.
Their actual sin in refusing to believe John 3: 16 and Romans 10: 9-10, among others, is idolatry. They elevate what they feel above scripture. But… All these things were going through my mind when I asked the Lord for something definitive to help all those who contact me, afraid for their salvation, causing me to repeatedly cover the same subjects and reasons they are saved over and over again. This is what He told me:
“It isn’t a matter of sin: It’s a matter of citizenship.”
That helped so much, for it directs a person to the fact that when they believe in Jesus, their spirit is born again, and this happens:
“…giving thanks to the Father, who has made us worthy to participate in the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins,” Colossians 1: 12-13
Notice how the remission of sins AND the translation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus are one action. You can’t separate the two. Start focusing on your citizenship. “Our citizenship is in heaven”, Philippians 3: 20, and in 1:6: “He who has begun a good work in you will continue to the day you meet the Lord.” We are born into the kingdom through the new birth. Natural born citizens don’t get kicked out. We aren’t accountable to perfection, but to growth. When we assert out loud, ‘I am a citizen of heaven’, that reality begins to build, faith builds, revelation flows…stay with it. It’s not about sin; it’s about citizenship. Allow Him to complete the work He started, and maturing beyond your fear of salvation is part of that work.
We aren’t saved by feelings; we are saved by believing in Jesus. At that point, our spirit is recreated by the Holy Spirit, and our citizenship instantly changes from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Jesus spoke against temptations in Luke 4: 1-13 – out loud – which remains an important action we must take to stand against fears and temptations. As long as Satan can keep you arguing with his lies in your head, he has the advantage. When you speak out loud the truth as Jesus did, with chapter and verse and stating His decision NOT to give in to the temptation, you have the advantage. Look for chapter and verse that support your salvation, your citizenship.
Prophetic word:
I had been thinking about rising persecution around the world, including the Finnish politician charged with hate crimes quoting the Bible on a church pamphlet and ‘tweet’ in 2019. The 2019 ‘tweet’ charge was dismissed, but the 2004 pamphlet charge of hate speech remained, and she was convicted. I was thinking on the murder of Christians from Nigeria to India to China’s persecution of Christians, and then thinking about the US and Europe. I was also wondering if the downturn in the US morally and economically that He had told me about a few years ago would still happen. You may recall He told me in the context of ‘as it stands now’, in the last 12-18 months of this (Trump’s 2nd) administration, ‘things will happen…’ the US would see an economic and moral downturn, among other things.
Seeing the rising tide of hatred against Christians (and Jews) around the world, and thinking on these things, the Lord said to me: “Satan always wants to make persecution a federal case.” The word ‘always’ was the first thing I reviewed, and He brought up the fact that Adam and Eve were in charge of the whole earth, and causing them to sin and introduce sin and then death into the world was a federal case, and all persecution of righteousness finds its root there. Then we could go into kings of Israel killing the prophets to Babylon persecuting Daniel and others, to Esther and the King who had decreed the Jews to be destroyed, to Nazi Germany, the USSR, and today, including from Finland to China to other cases in the US and Europe and elsewhere. If the devil can make persecution a federal case and win, persecution can become a national policy.
He had me revisit the Acts 18: 12-18 case of Corinthian Judaism vs Paul. Local unbelieving Jews brought a lawsuit against Paul, accusing him of breaking Jewish law. Gallio was a Roman Senator and a federal judge, not a city judge, but a federal judge. His full name was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, proconsul of that region from the years 51-52. His brother was Seneca the Younger, a philosopher, and together, they were highly influential.
Gallio refused to hear the case against Paul, saying it did not rise to the federal level, which meant persecution of Christians was not a federal policy. His ruling gave Christians a large degree of peace and freedom for about 10 years, until Nero rose to power and made persecution of Christians a federal policy.
The Lord did not say more. He did not confirm or change what He had said earlier about the time from mid-2027 through 2028 being a ‘severe downturn’ (my words) in the US; it was just a point to study and observe. Watch, therefore, cases around the world being pushed in the courts to become federal cases. Certainly, in the US, in previous administrations, we have seen exactly that. There were lawsuits against Christian small businesses purposely targeted in the hopes of making law by judges rather than Congress. Things like that are going to be unleashed in the US and other nations in the future – I pray we, the US, may have a reprieve for at least another 4 years through a conservative administration, but it is unclear at this point, and the Lord isn’t saying. Watching, praying….
Tulsa conference October 15-18.
We want to keep our conferences small so we, the Fenn family, can get to know those who invest the time and money to attend. We also want them small so everyone who attends can get to know one another because it is so important to know others on the same spiritual page. We have our meals together, providing informal times to visit. We will have a panel question and answer time, handouts, free time to let everything soak in, teaching, prayer, worship – an all around experience in an informal setting. We don’t want a huge conference, about 100-150 is perfect, and we are right in that ‘sweet spot’ now. IF you plan to come, you need to register now, because we can leave registrations open for only 1 more month. We will have information on house church in the panel discussion and handouts, but mostly teaching on what the Lord gives me, and Q&A time with me as well.
KWOWI Kids: We could support 50 more children and families in Kenya if we had the sponsors. That’s not a lack on your or anyone’s part; it’s just that the need is always greater than what any one ministry can do. Your monthly support is ¼ to 1/3 of the average monthly income of our families. The need is always larger, but your gifts help SO much. We are working to find ways to communicate with sponsors and children, but the poverty is so extreme and travel so difficult that it is very difficult. Thank you for your patience. Your support helps vulnerable children and contributes to the overall well-being of the whole family. Thank you!
There is an old saying: If you give a man a fish, you have fed him a day; if you teach a man to fish, you have fed him his whole life. Our hearts are to teach how to ‘fish’, which is why we have sponsored workshops with follow up teaching people how to start their own businesses. Beyond that, many children desire to get more education, especially in trade schools and universities. For example, our Nigerian house churches have young people wanting to learn things like computers, graphics, welding, farming, and such. It is the same issue in Kenya as we’ve shared in this space.
We won’t turn CWOWI or KWOWI into an educational foundation, but as we have undesignated gifts, we can, from time to time, help KWOWI kids with tuition who grow to trade and university age. At the university level, that can mean at least $1500 per semester in a 3-semester year, and we can sometimes help as we receive undesignated donations. Education is one of those tools used to lift young people out of poverty, teaching them to fish for life.
Barb and I will celebrate our 48th wedding anniversary in September,
We will take a full week off in the middle of the month to get away by ourselves. When we started dating, she was 15, and I was barely 16, and it took me 6 months to walk her through her various questions and arguments about the Lord before she came to know the Lord. We dated 4 years, marrying at ages 19 and 20, in 1978. She has loved the Lord with an intensity and zeal I have admired ever since. In the 54 years we’ve been ‘dating’ we started ministering to our peers from the start. We’ve made mistakes, made good decisions too, and all along the way we’ve seen the Father and Lord be faithful to us in ways that more than make up for not thus far seeing Chris healed.
Barb says she has a long list of questions for the Lord when she gets there, though acknowledging they may not matter once she gets to heaven. I think many people have questions they want answered ‘on the other side’. We cannot, however, live life looking over our shoulder or dwelling on what seems to be God’s broken promises, or confusing things that happened in our life. We focus on His faithfulness in other areas, for He has been better to us than we deserve, and better to us than we’ve been to ourselves.
At some point along our walk with Him, faith moves to include the word ‘trust’. Because He has a record of faithfulness in our lives, we can trust Him for those unanswered prayers, the apparent broken promises, or things yet to be fulfilled. We trust His character, His record in our lives, even if what we believe differs from what we see. Paul wrote of this in his last letter before martyrdom: “I know in whom I believe, and am persuaded He is able to keep that which I’ve entrusted to Him until that day.” II Timothy 1: 12
The Greek word ‘entrusted’ is ‘paratheke’, meaning to make a secure deposit with someone faithful. Be persuaded that which you have given to Him for safe keeping, is safe in Him. Deciding to be persuaded is an act of one’s will. It doesn’t just happen; we must make the decision to give it to Him and walk away in trust. Let Him have the deposit, the questions, the confusion, the fear; deposit it with Him and walk away, go about your business, focusing on what you do know, on His faithfulness in your life.
YouTube podcasts and short teachings
Our YouTube channel, The Church Without Walls International, has hundreds of my short teachings of roughly 10 minutes each, and also of Ank Kleinmeulman, who, along with her husband Wil, oversees our European affiliates, and Steve Queen, who, with his wife Kim, is in Oklahoma City. Additionally, Brian and I have started posting 30 minute podcasts every other week on a variety of subjects in a discussion format. Just search by the channel name or my name to find us.
Your donations are especially helpful at this time. We trust you and Christ in you accordingly.
Thank you, and thank you for being in our lives.
John & Barb, Brian and Amy.
