Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

-4 Talking Like Experts About Things We Have Not Studied - Don't you just hate know-it-alls? We do not expect a 9-year-old to drive a car; we also do not expect them to teach someone else to drive. Why is it that we feel the need to answer every theological question? Although I find it interesting that many Christians have not really read the Bible, that is not the entire problem. Often times those that have taught us, tend to round the corners of verses to fit a particular point, or topical teaching. I do that here. It is always a good idea to take a look for yourself! The Bible is an amazing book, and no one will know everything about it. Christians seem to find it important to defend God and the Bible. Well, God doesn't need defending. Nor is He threatened by popular culture running off in the ditch. In life, we will often meet folks that are better educated than we are. It happens all the time. But we don't start telling a doctor how to do a medical test or procedure, o...

-3 Not Living Up to the Level of Our Beliefs - Healing, creative miracles, salvation, power over demons and other supernatural abilities are ours - well if we believe. I know it sounds a bit like Peter Pan. Why is it that we know what God can do, yet we do not pursue the type of relationship with Him that produces Kingdom results? The fruit of the kingdom of God is power. I am not talking about the fruit of the spirit outlined so eloquently by Paul in Galatians 5:22. The substance of God's kingdom is power manifest in you and in me. The Gospel message is about becoming a disciple of Jesus, not merely a follower. Those that are disciples do what Jesus did, that includes the miraculous. They are not robots waiting for their ticket to the heavenlies when the rapture comes. The violent take the Kingdom by force. (Matthew 11:12) The Bible says that signs and wonders will follow them that believe. Are they following you? If not, why not? If you are truly born again and full of the...

-2 Winning People to the Church, Not Christ - You may be all about your denomination, you may have a great church, a pastor that is amazing; you participate in small groups, you have Bible verses all over your MySpace, your Facebook and your refrigerator - even a Honk if You Love Jesus bumper-sticker - you are a soul winner to boot. You are, after all, out to get folks saved, isn't that the purpose of the church? Each one of us comes from some sort of Christian upbringing, background or heritage. Our religious experiences and influences tend to shape our view of what church is, as well as who Jesus is. To some, God is a legalistic, rod bearing tyrant, that will have His way, or send you down the chute to Hell. For another, God is so full of grace, He wouldn't want you to be unhappy, so those rules, well, He'll just forgive you if you if you break them. Others think that if they are devout enough, never miss church, try to be good, and help with the poor; they are in good ...

After 30+ years hanging around the church I have noticed some odd behaviors. I wrote them down and then discovered a book that I have not read, nor do I intend to, entitled: The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do . After a quick look at the Table of Contents I noticed that Mr. Atterberry and I matched 7 out of 10! I felt like I was a contestant on Concentration waiting for Hugh to let me solve the puzzle. Having nothing planned, except to avoid Black Friday crowds at the local mall, here is part 1 of 10. -1 Shooting Our Wounded - Isn't it bad enough that church people get caught with their pants down; their failures televised on broadcast news? Look, we all sin. It doesn't matter more to God that someone is a televangelist or mega-church leader when they sin. Sin is sin. What matters is how we act towards those individuals who do sin. Newscasters make money by reporting the news. From the Baker' of PTL fame, to the Clergy Sex Abuse Scandals in Massachusetts and Ireland, chur...

Growing up I virtually lived the English language at home, not merely learning it. How about you? My mother was a grammarian at Yale - that's right, she held a degree in English from the most highly regarded University in the US; if not the world. I received a copy of Strunk and White's, The Elements of Style about ten times before she died - I finally read a couple of chapters. I confess, I hate Scrabble - sorry mom. If I don't get to use the word "ox" on a Triple Point point square, I am D-O-N-E. Wow, that was random. As a person who writes, as opposed to a writer who is educated in the art, some of my previous grammatical immersion penetrated my viscous brain cells. Thank God for Thanksgiving Day - there was a reprieve from correcting English at the table. That is one of the things I secretly added whilst saying grace once each year. Who cares about language anyway? I do! Why? Because understanding language - English in particular - is essential to communicati...

As a Christian, today I am going to exercise my right to judge a few things that affect people in America. 1 Corinthians 2:14-15a (NIV) 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things... Three things have happened recently that I believe God has something to say about. A man was arrested by ICE for overstaying his visa. Two, a US Senator has attacked the Catholic Church, and three, health care will be debated in the Senate. How is that for hot button issues? First, Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, was discreetly asked by the Bishop of Rhode Island to stop taking communion because of his stance on abortion. Patrick decides to make it public - unlike his drunk driving and philandering, which he preferred to keep private - now the church has to respond. They did, they sa...

Most of us have expectations for the holidays - family traditions, church activities, certain foods, TV sports and a variety of other activities. For some, the holidays can be a nightmare - the Bermuda Triangle we used to call them in AA. My holidays growing up were basically decent, and mostly comprised of good memories. My mother had some very enjoyable traditions that made Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years a time of expectation and even joy. I admit it, as I have grown older, holidays have lost their luster. I have an old friend from Junior High who posted a status on Facebook. It was sad because, after 50+ years of celebrating life at the old family homestead, it is no more. I remember my own feelings as my childhood home was sold, and no longer the possession of my parents. There is something barely describable that is lost - the nostalgia, the memories - well, if they were good ones. That was home. I am sure most of you don't care about my darn holidays, you have your o...

Have you noticed? It seems like our freedom of speech and freedom of religion is in bondage to idiots. In America you can say anything you want as long as it's politically correct. Me, I am thinking of running for governor of MA, so I want to make sure everyone knows where I stand. The PC Police (Tolerance Police in some asylums) have got us believing that offending someone is a bad thing. Love maybe kind, but it doesn't mean we have to cut anyone any slack. It should not be our goal to offend others, but sometimes the truth is offensive. For some reason the insanity of not being able to state facts has become common place. We've been trying to be politically correct for so long that we can't call a spade a spade. The fact that the very term uses the word "political" should be a clue. When I was a kid, the garbageman came to to pick up the garbage. A classmate's father was the garbageman in my town, and he was a hardworking guy. Now they are called sanitat...

Social media is great for keeping up with folks that you have no desire to spend any real time with. And you are probably one of them. I know that's hard to take. But really, it's a great replacement for going out to coffee, talking on the phone, inviting guests over to your messy house and attending other activities where you might catch H1N1 or have to take a shower. If you get your kids involved, you can even sell your minivan, blowing off soccer, ballet and swimming! I was looking over the stats for my most popular posts because Tony C. said his was about Michael Jackson . Mine? It was about the Holy Spirit . I am not even going to try and analyze that... to use an annoying phrase, "it is what it is." Another one of my most popular posts was 10 Commandments for Facebook - Do's and Dont's for the Over 40 Crowd . The online community is ever changing since Al Gore passed away. So here are some things I just don't get in today's online world - how abo...

As the monumental plate-glass door swung wide, the doorman greeted us, "Good morning, and welcome to the Ritz Carleton." Everyone was busy, the valets, the bellhops and the concierge desk workers - but not too busy to greet us as we made our way to the elevator; the hustle and bustle of downtown Boston just behind us. Today was the big day for our youngest's proud parents. She was as ready as she could be to walk the runway for the "American Girl Fashion Show," she's been rehearsing for over the past few weeks. We were all a little on edge, the excitement, her shyness that gets the best of her under certain situations, and her age - just 6 a few days ago. It was bound to be emotional, and it was. She did a great job! If you have ever had an 8-year-old daughter, niece or granddaughter, it's unlikely that your unaware of the American Girl Dolls ; now manufactured by Mattel. My older girls were aficionados some ten or twelve years ago. The original dolls we...

For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you know what goes on at the J' home - the censored version anyway. I am married, and I have three daughters that are regularly present at my house. Charlotte is 6, Erin is 18, Zöe is 21, me; I passed the 1/2 century mark and Mary Anne, she's ageless. Some days I agree with Jeff Foxworthy, it is like living in a sea of estrogen. We have lots of feelings being expressed, some real life drama over silly stuff, and well, lots of pinks, pastels, country music, and stuffed animals. And it is unlawful to leave the toilet seat up. A few years ago we had some guests over for dinner. During our discussion I told them Mary Anne was the best wife. The husband of couple who were visiting, not wanting to leave his princess un-complimented, promptly announced that he "had the second best wife." The very one that was sitting there unimpressed by his statement. Mary Anne is the best thing that ever happened to me - but that doesn't mea...

10 years ago today, I got on a VASP 757, an overnight flight, bound for São Paulo, BR for a whirlwind ministry tour. The following are the notes I wrote for my prayer team and supporters at the time. We had a wonderful trip. This is a partial journal of the happenings in Brazil during my nearly three week stay this past November. I hope you'll enjoy hearing about some of the people that you have supported in prayer. It is a blessing to have been. Thank you. Nan (a teammate with her own amazing story of getting to Brazil) and I arrived in Curitiba on November 13. We were met there by Carlos and Pastor Silas and his wife Angela. They pastor a church called Monté Hebron in downtown Curitiba. From the airport, they took us out to a farm style retreat center to have lunch. There we met Paulo and Deborah, a couple from their congregation. After a shower and an hours rest, we went to a small Pentecostal church that meets in a garage. We had a time of prayer before the meeting and the fat...

Today is Veterans day. Most of us have never seen war - I know I haven't. I would venture that most don't know what today is about - the Armistice that ended WW I in the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month. It's been going on since 1919 and the name was changed in 1954 - all probably before you were born - or at least remember. My grandfather on my mother's side, born in Ireland in 1888, came to the USA and served in WW I. He also chased Pancho Villa are around the Mexican border in 1916. This day was to honor his efforts, and later, to honor the efforts of all US military veterans. He received a Purple Heart - I actually can't remember how the story goes - but his injury affected his hearing. My father also served his country in both the European and South Pacific theaters during WW II and the Korean War conflict. He received 2 Purple Hearts for injuries sustained fighting for my freedom and yours. How I wish I had a better understanding of their sacri...

The thought of going to Brazil, doing something for God, and hanging out with friends was evermore exciting. Like many Christians, I was planning for the blessings, but I forgot that there is always opposition to God's plans. 2 Corinthians 12:7 (b) there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. That is a nice way of saying he [Paul] was demonically afflicted. The word buffeted literally means "to be hit with small punches. (fist)" I prefer to think of it as buffet-ed; the French word buffet - "a spread laid on a cart to feed to the hungry; with salad at one end and desert at the other." Behind the scenes the devil working overtime to oppose the will of God in my life; hindsight is always 20/20. Now I can clearly see that there was an equal and opposite reaction to God's advancing Kingdom, by the one roaming around seeking to devour us. The Passport: I went to the Post Office and got an application for my US passport. I dec...

This month marks 10 years since I went on my first mission trip to Brazil. On November 13th I will be posting a few testimonies and pictures from that trip. In this blog I would like to tell you about some of the events leading up to that amazing journey - some a blessing and some very difficult - the war between Heaven and Hell. In April of 1999 I met a Brazilian pastor in Hyannis, MA. He is now my good friend Carlos . You can read some of that story HERE . Through him many doors were opened for me to minister in his community both here and abroad. He was my faithful interpreter and has seen me through the good times and the bad times. The real story of Brazil starts in January 1997. I received this prophecy from a gentleman named Denny Cramer. "I will give you a heart for nations as well, says the Lord. And you will travel from coast to coast. And you will learn what I am doing upon the earth. You’ll pick up this truth and that truth. I see you going to several major conferences...

We've all heard the song "A Letter from Camp." "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining. And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining." What's it going to take to make us all happy campers in church? I think I have a few ideas - so bear with me as I lay a foundation. The song assumes that the "singer," a child, has two parents, one male and one female. But this blog is not about families - no - it's about church. Presently, in most developed countries, the cultural status of the nuclear family is fractured. There is rampant divorce both in and out of the church, resulting in single parent families, and various other aberrations of the biblical family. Regardless of what the world thinks is politically correct, God has a standard. I am assuming that you have noticed there is a difference between the way males and females act? The healthiest families are meant to have a father and a mother. I ...

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. That's right, we will do what Jesus did -- and even greater things! Why is it that in most churches have sustained a Gospel that seems to only perpetuate the central truth of Christianity (salvation by faith), and not much else? I am sure there are some churches that are seeing the fruit of the supernatural hand of God - while others wouldn't recognize God if He showed up with cherubim and seraphim. We must get past making decisions for Christ, and start doing what Jesus did! Even a man who has a ticket to a faraway island gets off the plane once he arrives! Our salvation is not complete. We get saved by the faith changing moment, we are being saved as the new man is released from the grave clothes, and we will be saved when we arrive prostrate on the sea of glass ( Rev 15:2 ) before the throne of the Most High....