Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am amazed at what we call “Christian” today. Paul would turn over in his grave if he saw what was called “Christian”. The persecutions he went through, the sufferings, the depravations and the sacrifices he made in his life would seem all for nothing.
He spent his converted life teaching people how to live the Christian life. If he wrote what is taught in our churches today, you would have only half a page and all it would say is, “You are saved by grace and the Ten Commandments are all abolished and you can eat anything you want. We are under no laws and you are free to live as you please because Jesus’ blood saves you.” But none of that is correct. It is all a lie. Paul wrote long and extensive letters explaining how to live the Ten Commandments. He wrote letters explaining how to live as Jesus lived: the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life.
However, the churches today surgically remove texts from their context and make them say whatever will bring the people, along with their money, into their fold. Paul “speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:16. Paul worked and sacrificed and consumed his own fortune until he had nothing left; to promote living the Ten Commandments. Just the opposite of churches today.
Let us listen to Paul as he explains how a Christian is to live.
1 Timothy 2:1 to 1 Timothy 3:16
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, . . .
“For all people”. Not just your family or friends or close relatives or the church but “for all people”. That is hard. Our emotions are so wounded and out of control that we are not able to wrap our minds around the “all people” part. Pray for those we hate? Pray for those who have hurt us? Pray for the government we can’t stand? Pray for those paganistic leaders that are trying to destroy Christianity? YES!
. . . for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
So what are we to be praying for when we pray for those in government? “That we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
Sure, but we want to get out and riot, protest and cancel those we don’t like. Oh, we, the Christians, are to lead a peaceful, quiet life, godly and dignified in EVERY WAY. Not much of that going on today in our churches. Actually, I think our churches would rather “get out the vote” instead of praying for our leaders.
For some reason, we Christians forget that God is still in control. We think that we must “help Him” to bring about what we think should be. However, the same God who set up kingdoms and removed them in the Old Testament, has not gone to sleep. He is still setting up and bring down governments as He sees best for our character development as Christians.
This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, …
You see, Paul didn’t say pray so you could know all the truth or a certain set of doctrine. He didn’t say pray that you would become wealthy or get a promotion, etc.. Most prayers in our churches are selfish and against the character of Jesus. But when we pray for others, our lives are changed into the character of Jesus.
. . . who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
By praying for those you can’t stand or who hurt you or are driving the nation to the brink of destruction, you open up the door for the change you want God to correct. Jesus wants all your enemies to be saved. He wants all those who hurt you to be saved. He wants all people to be saved. That went against the Jewish church of his day. They thought you could only be saved through their church. That is why they hated Jesus who told the people to come to Him for salvation. Same today in our churches.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, . . .
Not your church. Not your pastor. Not your denomination. Not anyone. Only Jesus! Go to Jesus and let Him be your Savior.
. . . who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Not just for your church, denomination or religion. He “gave Himself as a ransom for all”. Paul wanted to make very sure that Timothy understood that the church was not the only people Jesus died for. He died for the pagans also. He died that they might have eternal life. The Jews were to take that message to them, but became bigoted and self-righteous and closed salvation to the pagans.
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Yes He was. The “Messiah” was for everyone. Paul was appointed a preacher and an apostle by Jesus Christ Himself. That is how we know there is no separate or different gospel preached to the Gentiles. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). He and His gospel has not changed since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; . . .
The church members then were doing what church members are doing today. Quarreling about who had the truth, who was of God, who had the proper rituals and rites and traditions. Paul was telling them that they “should pray, lifting holy hands”. And what were they to be praying and lifting holy hands about? Praise and thanksgiving that everyone could be saved! Wouldn’t that just be awesome?
. . likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, . . .
The devil is turning womanhood into a joke. Now a man can claim to be a woman. Drag shows are definitely anything but modest, respectable or under self-control. And look at the hair, gold and pearls with their costly attire! If we deny Jesus in this world, He will deny us. Stand up against sin.
. . . but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
“What is proper for women”? The devil, starting with the “Women’s Rights” movement, has been destroying women and the family unit in our modern society. Society has been drastically declining since that movement. God set up the system necessary to produce humility and self-sacrifice in our lives in order to prepare us for Heaven. That system also produces the greatest good in humanity on earth.
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.
Starting with the woman, Eve, then migrating to her son, Cain, the attitude of rebellion against God became ingrained and passed down from generation to generation. A woman is more easily deceived than the man. Therefore, she needs to be in submission to her husband to learn self-control and humility.
I have found this concept in this prison ministry. At this point, 26 years in the ministry, only a very few women inmates take the book, “Change Your Life Biblically” seriously. I think two actually accomplished to the point of a certificate.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
Following the command of God, Paul simply continues the admonition God gave to Eve with regards to her husband. The woman is more controlled by her feelings than a man. A man is more in control of his feelings. This also has to do with “authority”. There were women prophets in the Bible, but they did not have “authority” over a man. Our modern day prophet also was without authority over man. They simply spoke for God, yet, men could do what they wanted with that truth.
For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Truth is always hard to accept. We are selfish people, born into sin. God knows what is best. But even Christians are not living in obedience to Jesus. Money and power are far more important to churches and denominations. Unless we live in obedience to God, and not to social norms, we will die eternally.
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Paul now switches from discussing the role a woman is to act in her life and discusses the man. What is his role as husband?
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
Substitute “overseer” for “man” or “husband”. The rules apply to all men. From the earliest days of a child he is to be taught these rules through example and instruction.
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
There are a lot of husbands with a failing grade. We men need to pick up the banner that has fallen, trampled upon and torn, and lift it high in our lives for all to see.
He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
There a prisons full of men who can testify to the truth that their fathers did not manage “his own household well”. How sad. The sins of the fathers travel down to the third and fourth generation. And, of course, there goes the church. Since the parents are not submissive to Jesus, children are not taught to be submissive to the parents or society. All society is falling apart as we see today.
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
It is really easy for a church to uplift a recent convert and tout them to show what their church can do. But after all the noise and show, the recent convert returns to his filth. Why? He was not taught to submit to Jesus.
Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
Christianity isn’t just to be flouted in church. It is to be lived in the midst of everyone you meet, work with and live with. But most Christians put on their “Christian” façade for church and then remove it when they get home.
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.
Again, just replace “Deacons” with “men” and you get the point. I wonder how dignified men act at home? Are they “double-tongued”? How about that alcohol, drugs, sports and other selfish hobbies? Is work more important than family?
They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
That “mystery of the faith” is obedience. (Romans 1:5). Not much of that going around in our families and among men.
And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.
Few of us like “tests”. We don’t like being tested by others. An airplane pilot must be tested before receiving his license to fly passengers. They must “prove themselves blameless” in their flying. After all, you don’t want a pilot flying you and your family who is not perfect. So in our Christian lives. God expects us to be perfect in our lives so we don’t ruin the lives of others.
A young man used to have to prove his worth before a father would give his daughter in marriage to him. The young man had to prove that he could hold down a job and support the wife and family to be. That is why few families were divorced or separated in the “old” days. Now, a lot of marriages are “forced” because of an “oops”.
Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.
Back to wives. My mother was dignified. She fit all these points. Unfortunately, my father failed in all of them. Because of his example, so did I. Just to be fair, the attributes mentioned above for men is also applicable for women. It is about character building. In order to get to heaven we must have those attributes in our lives.
Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.
Back to men. Not much of that “one wife” thing going around. Remember, the moment you have intercourse you become “married” to that woman. We have a way to go in our lives, don’t we?
For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
That they do. Do you want a “good standing” in Jesus? Now you know how to do it.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
Of course the “church of the living God” back then is not in our churches today. We need to get back to “the household of God”, gathering in homes and helping each other to become men and women in the truths Jesus taught. You see, to be the “church of the living God”, you have to be living in the pillar and buttress of the truth Jesus taught: perfect, sinless and keeping the Ten Commandments for your eternal life.
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
What a mystery! Jesus, the God who created the universe and everything in it, “was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” Will you let Him manifest Himself in you?
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Inmate Letters
Dear Brother Ron,
I was happy to hear from you. Sorry it took me so long to write back. I have been trying to reach out to other “Christians”, most of them have good intentions and all, but, just about every one of them are Sunday worshipers, as well as the “saved by grace”. I am really working hard to share and teach truth. But, you are absolutely correct in saying that it is not easy. The devil hates truth so I am praying for God’s assistance. I have no doubt this can not be done without Him. I received the book of Romans. I am sharing it with others here.
Ricardo, TX
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Dear JCPM,
The testimony was profound. Thank you for sharing. I’m hoping I can find the truth. I’ve been confused for far too long. I’ve studied with different people and it still left me “confused” and somewhat hopeless. In addition to that, I’m struggling with “sinning” more and more.
Johnny, UT
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Dear Ronald,
What a beautiful surprise! Thank you so much for your testimony. You are doing exactly what God wants us to do as “True Believers” of the Way. I too am a Sabbath keeper. I most definitely can identify with a lot of your experiences that you wrote about when you were in prison. Please add me to your mailing list.
Wessley, MD
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Dear Ministry,
Thank you and God bless you. I hope I passed the study and looking forward to your book. I have read the small book you sent me. I would love some Bible study material.
Shaw, GA
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JCPM,
I would like to devote as much as I can to learning and consuming as much as I can about my faith and about the Lord as my Saviour. I have in the last 2 years asked God to save my soul and turned my life over to Him. I would be grateful for anything you can send me to help further my knowledge in my faith. Thank you and God bless.
Fred, GA
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Hello Ron,
Today I received something in the mail from your ministry, and I must say . . . It was mind blowing! I have been praying for months asking Jesus what my purpose is and what I can do to serve Him. After reading your booklet with your life’s journey, I felt as if God was speaking to me and finally answered my prayers. I don’t know how you found me exactly or how I got this information, but surely it was no mistake. I’m looking forward to reading all 3 volumes of your book and walking closer with our Lord. However you found me, thank you for the blessing that you’ve put in my hands.
Chase, MI
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Dear Ron,
I don’t know how many letters from wives of inmates you receive, but I wanted to thank you for your ministry. My husband, Sean, has been writing to you from a prison in Idaho. A year and a half ago my world was turned upside down. I was angry at God because, instead of taking my husband’s life, He spared him to endure prison. Freedom is everything to my husband and it tore my heart out to think of my husband suffering in any way. My faith was shaken when he was sentenced to 18 years. How could God have forsaken us; I thought. We were professing Christians, but obviously we weren’t living Christian lives.
Sean discovered your ministry while he was still in county jail. I purchased an old copy from a used book store, because I thought only prisoners could receive them. The copy I have has all three volumes, but some of the pages are upside down and out of order. It has been hard to read. I was very grateful to receive a new book.
As I said, I was angry at God and my faith was shaken. I am happy to say, that did not last long. Instead, Sean and I chose to focus on how the hand of God is turning our circumstances for good in furthering His kingdom. We have a strange sense of peace and honor to be instruments to bringing glory to God.
As your book teaches, we must do more than profess our faith in Jesus. Just because everyone is performing the same sin, doesn’t get us into heaven. We must live like Christ. I can testify the change my husband has experienced in studying your book alongside the Bible. I miss my husband painfully, but he is touching so many lost souls. Here is some help from Sean and I to cover some of your costs.
Sandy, ID (Non-inmate)
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Hello,
My name is Chris and I am an inmate. I look forward to reading your book, “Change Your Life Biblically”. I am so tired of living the old life and I’m ready to live for Jesus. Thank you,
Chris, AR
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Mr. Ronald John,
I hope this letter finds you with a smile on your face. I wanted to write you and tell you I really enjoyed your pamphlet and the little Bible study. You couldn’t have sent it at any better time in my life. I have been in prison close to 11 years now. I have lost my mama and my 21 year old son. I feel like I’ve lost everyone and everything I love. I even have been mad at God for taking my son and mother. I been really struggling with this and I know my life will never be the same. I thought losing my mama was bad, but when my son Luke died, well, I’ve all but gave up to be honest. Please send me, “Change Your Life Biblically”.
Matthew, NC
Testimony For God’s Children
My Dear Family in Christ,
Faith isn’t as easy as some may suggest. A “belief” has nothing to do with faith. Even the devils “believe” but they won’t be saved. Faith is developed and must be strengthened, or it will die. This concept is working out in my life. Joe is getting frail. I am “afraid” of his dying. He provides almost one third of our donations. I begin to panic. We have a debt to pay off. Without Joe it would take a very long time to pay off. So, my faith is growing. I must have faith that God will keep Joe alive, or, provide more donors. Humanly, that would be almost impossible. We have had no new donors for years. It would take five dedicated and substantial new donors to make up for Joe. Therefore, I am putting my faith in Jesus that He will keep Joe alive until the debt is paid off. That is truly a faith builder. I thank all of our donors for their continued sacrifice to support this little ministry.
Willing Obedience
Abraham was an old man when he received the startling command from God to offer up his son Isaac for a burnt offering. Abraham was considered an old man even in his generation. The ardor of his youth had faded away. It was no longer easy for him to endure hardships and brave dangers. In the vigor of youth man may breast the storm with a proud consciousness of strength and rise above discouragements that would cause his heart to fail later in life, when his steps are faltering toward the grave.
But in His providence God reserved His last most trying test for Abraham until the burden of years was heavy upon him and he longed for rest from anxiety and toil. The Lord spoke unto him, saying: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,” “and offer him … for a burnt offering.” The heart of the old man stood still with horror. The loss of such a son by disease would have been most heart-rending to the fond father, it would have bowed his whitened head with sorrow; but now he is commanded to shed the precious blood of that son with his own hand. It seemed to him a fearful impossibility.
Yet God had spoken, and His word must be obeyed. Abraham was stricken in years, but this did not excuse him from duty. He grasped the staff of faith and in dumb agony took by the hand his child, beautiful in the rosy health of youth, and went out to obey the word of God. The grand old patriarch was human; his passions and attachments were like ours, and he loved his boy, who was the solace of his old age, and to whom the promise of the Lord had been given.
But Abraham did not stop to question how God’s promises could be fulfilled if Isaac were slain. He did not stay to reason with his aching heart, but carried out the divine command to the very letter, till, just as the knife was about to be plunged into the quivering flesh of the child, the word came: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad;” “for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.”
This great act of faith is penciled on the pages of sacred history to shine forth upon the world as an illustrious example to the end of time. Abraham did not plead that his old age should excuse him from obeying God. He did not say: “My hairs are gray, the vigor of my manhood is gone; who will comfort my waning life when Isaac is no more? How can an aged father spill the blood of an only son?” No; God had spoken, and man must obey without questioning, murmuring, or fainting by the way.
We need the faith of Abraham in our churches today, to lighten the darkness that gathers around them, shutting out the sweet sunlight of God’s love and dwarfing spiritual growth. Age will never excuse us from obeying God. Our faith should be prolific of good works, for faith without works is dead. Every duty performed, every sacrifice made in the name of Jesus, brings an exceeding great reward. In the very act of duty, God speaks and gives His blessing. But He requires of us an entire surrender of the faculties. The mind and heart, the whole being, must be given to Him, or we fall short of becoming true Christians.
God has withheld nothing from man that can secure to him eternal riches. He has clothed the earth with beauty and furnished it for his use and comfort during his temporal life. He has given His Son to die for the redemption of a world that had fallen through sin and folly. Such matchless love, such infinite sacrifice, claims our strictest obedience, our holiest love, our unbounded faith. Yet all these virtues, exercised to their fullest extent, can never be commensurate with the great sacrifice that has been offered for us.
God requires prompt and unquestioning obedience of His law; but men are asleep or paralyzed by the deceptions of Satan, who suggests excuses and subterfuges, and conquers their scruples, saying as he said to Eve in the garden: “Ye shall not surely die.” Disobedience not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one, but it tends to corrupt the faith of others. That which looked very wrong to them at first, gradually loses this appearance by being constantly before them, till finally they question whether it is really sin and unconsciously fall into the same error.
Through Samuel, God commanded Saul to go and smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy all their possessions. But Saul only partially obeyed the command; he destroyed the inferior cattle, but reserved the best and spared the wicked king. The next day he met the prophet Samuel with flattering self-congratulations. Said he: “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But the prophet immediately answered: “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
Saul was confused and sought to shirk responsibility by answering: “They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Samuel then reproved the king, reminding him of the explicit command of God directing him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out his transgression and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong; he again excused his sin by pleading that he had reserved the best cattle to sacrifice unto the Lord.
Samuel was grieved to the heart by the persistency with which the king refused to see and confess his sin. He sorrowfully asked: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
We should not look in the face of duty and delay meeting its demands. Such delay gives time for doubts; unbelief creeps in, the judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened. At length the reproofs of God’s Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded person, who has become so blinded as to think that they cannot possibly be intended for him or apply to his case.
The precious time of probation is passing, and few realize that it is given them for the purpose of preparing for eternity. The golden hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin. God’s law is slighted and forgotten, yet every statute is nonetheless binding. Every transgression will bring its punishment. Love of worldly gain leads to desecration of the Sabbath, yet the claims of that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God’s command is clear and unquestionable on this point; He has peremptorily forbidden us to labor upon the seventh day. He has set it apart as a day sanctified to Himself.
Many are the hindrances that lie in the path of those who would walk in obedience to the commandments of God. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world, but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove every obstacle from before the feet of His faithful ones or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech His help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God at any cost to self, even if life itself is sacrificed. Light from heaven will illuminate the darkness of those, who, in trial and perplexity, go forward, looking unto Jesus as the Author and Finisher of their faith.
In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will and the course that He would have them pursue. But will they profit by His teachings? will they receive His reproofs and heed His warnings? God will accept of no partial obedience; He will sanction no compromise with self. 4T 144-147.