Pastor John Collins: Corruption of church

Montana: John Collins, Pastor and Evangelist of Love That Cross Ministries: Preaching isn't about person gain.

 "As one goes into a church today or watches the messages of those on television, the messages of the Holy Bible are often twisted to suit the individual preaching-whether for personal gain or personal glory...."

 

Pastor John Collins, Evangelist with Love That Cross Ministries and Revival, brings revival across the United States.  Evangelist and Pastor, John Collins is committed to bring back God one person and one church at a time. From the beginning of Love That Cross Ministries and Love That Cross Revival in Wyoming, Pastor John Collins continues to preach that all people need to examine where they are in the eyes of God, and where they stand in their faith in Jesus Christ.  Our very salvation depends upon it.

Christians today are faced with the same problems that the Christians of the very beginning had. Jesus Christ preached Truth.  The apostles went out through the world of that day and spread the News of the Gospel.  As quickly as it was spread, man put in extra beliefs and rituals, or meanings, words, and expectations that were never intended by Jesus.  As one goes into a church today or watches the messages of those on television, the messages of the Holy Bible are often twisted to suit the individual preaching-whether for personal gain or personal glory, it does not communicate clearly what God and Jesus Christ intended when it was written.  Some have taken it so far as to corrupt Christianity, making being a Christian despicable instead of the wonderful personal relationship that you can have with God and with Jesus Christ.  Even seasoned Christians watch and listen to these preachers and the watered down messages are absorbed without the discernment and understanding that should be bursting from our hearts as Christians.

Pastor John Collins says:

“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”  1 Timothy 1:12-13 (NKJV).

Paul was thankful for the grace that was bestowed upon him by God in allowing him to see Jesus and know the truth. Paul suffered for the truth and it is our great benefit that he did. Paul set forth to run his race of faith and to gather as many souls to Christ as possible in his lifetime with the opportunities that God permitted him. And people believed, and followed.

Unfortunately the church that sprang up from the efforts of the Apostles of Christ was soon corrupted and truth to tell was corrupted while they were still alive as John attests to. Men have been given free will and so many of those men will seek to lift themselves up by whatever means necessary in order to obtain the life, admiration of others and monetary rewards that they feel are their due. In all the years since our Lord has died on the Cross nothing has changed and it has led to a falling away from the church and a falling away from faith.

People are educated now and want scientific answers to their questions. Some use this as an excuse to forgo their faith and reject the gospel of Jesus. People don’t have the superstitions that they once did and can see clearly that those of previous generations were duped by clever people wanting to take advantage of them. People can look at the televangelists and see slimy salesmen just doing all that they can to get you to open your wallet and give your hard earned money to them. The church is corrupt. The majority of pastors are thieves and liars and don’t even believe what they are selling as is evident in the lives that they are leading. Faith is failing and Satan is winning too many, just too many souls are perishing because of this decline in belief.

Just because the majority is choosing to live life now and seek happiness and to enjoy everything that this world has to offer while forgoing faith, church and the hope of salvation does not mean that you should. Heaven is real and so is hell which means that you will end up in one of those places. That is the truth. Just because the churches have become corrupt and are run by so many corrupt preachers does not mean that the truth of heaven has gone away or the truth of hell.

So, what is the answer? The good book is the answer for today. The Holy Bible KJV or the NKJV is the answer. Your home is your sanctuary and since you can’t trust those T.V. evangelists or the preachers of the megachurches or maybe even the pastors of the local churches then trust yourself and be willing to pick up the Bible and read it. Get to know what God wants from you, what Jesus wants from you and get to know what sin is and what sin isn’t. Don’t make excuses and give up on your faith because you see the greed in the church. That is man’s will to use God for his gain and believe me they will be judged for doing so and will pay the price. But don’t allow the corruption of another to drag you along with them into the pits of hell. Take control of your own life and give that life to God. Do what is right and come to know the Lord. You don’t need to go to a church to do so. Read your Bible and trust in the power of prayer. Learn to ask God for a pure heart, a forgiving heart and a heart full of the truth of the Lord. When the truth of God is in your heart you will know if a pastor is righteous or not and will easily be able to find a church that is grounded in faith and will easily be able to discern if a pastor is off in his message and is geared toward greed or is skewing the gospel and will be quick to leave that church or you can just keep your relationship with God simple and worship in your home with your family. It is up to you to choose how you wish to pursue running the race and fighting the good fight.

Don’t take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted. Trust in His work and in the mercy of God.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV).”

We have to be diligent in our journey and race for our lives in eternity.  There is eternity.  Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross gives us a chance to live that eternity with our Father, our Creator, in heaven, instead of with Satan, the father of sin.  What we do here, now, and how we do it is the recipe for how that journey and race will end.  ALL of us need find the Truth of Christ and take in into our very hearts. 

 “LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN”

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: FIRMLY IN GOD'S HANDS

Today, let's talk about.......

Difficult issues of today’s society are often avoided from the church pulpit. Why?  Pastors and ministers do not want to hurt feelings and tread on toes in fear of losing congregation membership.  It can't be about hurting feelings.  We need to hear the truth in order to make ourselves better.  Is it better to be told a sugary lie by a pastor who is supposed to  be an example of Christian behavior?  Or is it better for us to be told the truth so that we can fix the mistakes that we are making? Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Ministries does not hold back on any “hot topic” that is an offense to God.  In general, most church sermons and pastors’ preaching have become a cool zone.  Pastor John Collins will tell you he is not politically correct, Jesus Christ was not politically correct and not preaching and teaching the TRUTH from the pulpit is NOT pleasing God. Cushioning the truth behind what society deems acceptable is leading a congregation to complacency and acceptance of sin.   

 “Men have interjected their will upon the people and Christianity has suffered. Religion will get you nowhere if you are complying with the traditions of men while ignoring the commandments of God.”-  Pastor John Collins.

Abortion, drugs, addictions, hate and racism are all part of society today.  Lies, gossip, slander, pride and ego are all part of everyday life. It's sin and a pat on the head with a patronizing "every thing will be all right" is not helping at all.  These are the hard topics that pastors MUST talk about to their congregations in order to teach TRUTH.  Pastor John Collins does exactly that.

God sent Jesus to teach and preach God’s Law.  Jesus went about the countryside, living and talking among the sinners, not the ones who were self-righteous in what was taught and conceived as law by man.  Men took God’s Law from the time it was written on the tablets by Moses and twisted it to their uses and purposes.  These were the priests and holy men of the time, people who were looked to as examples of faith and religious conviction to the Jews.  Jesus came and taught what was right: kindness, love, looking after those who had need, the poor-everything wrapped up into the commandment of love your neighbor as yourself.  In other words, treat others the way you want to be treated if you were in their place. 

Jesus taught that what was of this world is sin.  Two thousand plus years later, Pastor John Collins began his ministry of revival in Wheatland, Wyoming with Love That Cross.  The very same lessons from Jesus are the lessons that Pastor John preaches in his revivals. Abortion is murder. Drugs and alcohol and addictions are gluttony, among other issues associated with them.  Hate and racism has no place in God’s creation-there is only ONE race-the HUMAN RACE.  Pastor John Collins teaches that these sins are no different than lying, cheating, or stealing. A sin is a sin, one is no worse than another in the eyes of God.  Pastor John teaches that as Christians, we do need to be tolerant, but we also need to be aware of our faith and where our hearts are in relation to the sin that is being witnessed. It is not up to us to bombard others with our faith and beliefs, but we also have to be cautious to not conform to their beliefs.  Pastor John says that we must know as Christians what our beliefs are so that we do not compromise what is in our minds and in our hearts.

Pastors, ministers, reverends, preachers are held to a higher accountability according to the Bible.  Pastor John takes that accountability seriously; God comes first in his life. Jesus taught to be aware of “false prophets”, those that look like a Christian pastor, but inside are truly a predator, a wolf in sheep’s’ clothing. Jesus taught that there was only one way to get to Heaven and that was through Him.  Pastor John preaches that pastors on the pulpit who do not know how to get to Heaven and preach otherwise, or who are there for profitable gain and not to save souls should not be on a pulpit.  The Bible very clearly shows that “there is only one way to get to the Father, God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe. That is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior who died on the Cross for us and became the pure sacrifice on our behalf so that He could pay the price for our sin and conquer death and Satan once and for all; that by our belief in Him and our seeking forgiveness through Him, we are permitted access to the Father and the kingdom of heaven.” These words of Pastor John’s call it like it is.

Pastor John challenges pastors to preach without crib notes for a change. Instead of meticulously writing out a lengthy sermon or a tick list, set to fill a specific allotted time during a church service, preach from the heart.  Let go of the restriction of the mind and preach FILLED from the HEART by GOD’s WORD.  God wants us to know Him, to FEEL the Spirit within.  Pastors who are truly serving God CAN preach, just like the apostles of Jesus’ time, speaking from the HEART, where the Spirit lives.  It can be done without preparation and the fanfare of technology.  One simply must TRUST God and Jesus to put the words in their heart and then speak it on their behalf.  Pastor John challenges those same pastors to search their hearts and minds and take a stand, once and for all, on the difficult issues.   

What are the difficult issues?                                   Sin.   

The pulpit has become a soapbox to profess the love of God and Jesus, and sugar coats the reality of the Resurrection.  Sin is what keeps us from that beautiful awful sacrifice of Jesus’ life for us to be able to have eternal life with God, not eternal life in Hell with Satan. 

Sin has become a topic of distaste.  If pastors don’t preach from the heart, don’t talk about the difficult issues of gossip, being a busybody, lies, resentment, adultery of the heart, abortion, gluttony, greed, addictions and how it all keeps us from sharing in the grace of God through His Son Jesus, then there is no Hope.  Pastor John knows that there is Hope, and in order to bring revival, there has to be change and the difficult issues have to be faced head on.  That time is NOW.

Pastor John’s revivals confront us to take our faith seriously, to not take the Bible lightly, and to not take our belief in Jesus for granted.  The society we live in is chaotic and confusing.  So many people do not know God, do not know Jesus, and do not know the Bible.  Even those who say they know the Bible and who “know” Jesus are not as educated in the Bible as they think they are.  The lack of knowledge allows Satan to mislead many people who say they are Christians away from God and away from Jesus. 

Pastor John teaches that God wants us back, He wants us back Home with Him.  The only way to do this is to get back into the Bible by reading it and by coming to know Jesus and what He teaches that is written in that Bible as a blueprint for how to live. Pastor John teaches that obedience to God and to Jesus is the only way we are going to get back Home to God.  We have to stand firm in the truth, facing the hard issues with the armor of faith in God, trusting that we are held FIRMLY in His hands.

“God is never secondary in my life, He is always Primary”- Pastor John Collins.

RENEWING FAITH AND HOPE

On any given Christian based television or radio program you will hear preachers exclaiming that “THE END TIMES” are here in the world and that Jesus Christ is going to come back and take Christians to Heaven any day now.  It stirs a sense of fear in people who do not know that there is a God, who do not believe in God, who want to know why they feel something is missing in their lives but don’t know what it is. This is the same message that has been repeated over and over for decades by doomsday sayers.  They are NOT God.  They do NOT know.  That is NOT FAIR.

Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Ministries will agree that today’s world is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah of the Old Testament, but Pastor John feels that God wants the people of the world to ALL have a last chance at the Hope of salvation through Jesus Christ and His resurrection.  Pastor John Collins began his ministry with the faith and knowledge that God wants people to come back to Him.  Person by person, church by church, the world has turned from God.  Pastor John Collins’ mission has been to reach out to people and churches across the United States, one person at a time, one church at a time to bring renewal of faith and hope in God and Jesus Christ. Pastor John Collins knows that it is not yet the time of Revelation as written in the Holy Bible. 

It IS a time of REVIVAL and RENEWAL.

 
Love That Cross Ministries began in Wyoming, focusing on the message of REVIVAL.  In his first revival through Love That Cross Ministries in Wyoming communities came together to worship and celebrate the presence of God through music and witnessing. From a small town in the west, over 600 people attended the free concert and heard a message of hope and salvation by well-known entertainers from around the country.  Pastor John’s message is compelling-there is STILL Hope for everyone through the salvation by Jesus Christ and His resurrection.  It is selfish for Christians to pray for Jesus Christ to return with so many people in the United States and the world not even knowing who God is and who Jesus Christ is.  In order to please God, we need to revive FAITH. God wants us back, and that means as many as possible, not an elect few.

A REVIVAL of FAITH does not come overnight.  

The deterioration of faith did not happen overnight.   

Pastor John Collins will tell you to take a look at the history of the United States.  This is a paraphrased excerpt from Pastor John Collins’ radio programming:  A country that was founded on the premise of freedom no longer values those freedoms!! God blessed the men and women who settled the United States and established a nation that was based on faith in God!!  But now, for more than 50 years, the United States has increasingly kicked GOD out of everyday life!! In the 1960’s prayer and devotions were taken out of the public school system because it offended a child!! Today Christian youth have to seek special permission to worship God publically during school hours!  The freedom of religion and freedom of speech within schools is NO FREEDOM at all.The United States court houses have been mandated across the country to take the Ten Commandments down from the buildings.  The Ten Commandments are the foundation of justice, sent from GOD who is JUST and FAIR. God has been banned from courts whose JUSTICE is not based on faith in GOD but on what is POLITICALLY CORRECT. Faith within families has been cast aside for more alluring attractions like television programing, computer games, social media, and technology that are EMPTY of the Word of God and the values that were taught by Jesus Christ. Churches have kicked God out, putting emphasis on profit, congregation size, and performances of the people on the pulpit rather than building FAITH and FEEDING THE SOUL to prepare for eternal life, not the life that we live HERE.  Pastor John’s message in that radio programming is sadly on target.  We as a country have kicked God out of every part of our everyday lives.  God does not force Himself into our lives; He waits with Jesus to be invited in. 

Our society is the way it is because we turned our back on God.  We are getting exactly what we are asking for from God.

Pastor John Collins has devoted Love That Cross Ministries to reviving the Word of God and the Hope of Jesus Christ across the United States.  He believes that God wants this country to have a chance through revival, one person at a time, one church at a time. Televangelists do preach that there is REVIVAL and RENEWAL crossing the United States.  The REVIVAL that is needed, according to Pastor John, is one of individual faith.  Without healing ourselves first, we cannot heal a church or a community. We need to turn ourselves back toward God in order for God to turn our country around.  We need to come humbly before God and seek His forgiveness so that we can REVIVE our country.  It isn’t about politics and doing what won’t offend people, it isn’t about being POLITICALLY CORRECT.  Pastor John Collins and many other preachers will tell you:

JESUS CHRIST was not POLITICALLY CORRECT!!! Being POLITICALLY CORRECT is not going to save your soul and it’s not going to save the United States.  

Pastor John Collins passionately preaches that in order for us to have REVIVAL in our country, we need to get down on our KNEES in PRAYER.  PRAYER is the way to REVIVAL.  REVIVAL is needed for our salvation. The only way we are going to turn this country around, one person at a time, is to seek the SALVATION that faith in GOD and JESUS CHRIST offers.  Pastor John will bluntly tell you it isn’t about sending money to a televangelist to pray for us.  He will tell you it isn’t about simply going to church and sitting in a pew on any given Sunday.  It IS about REVIVAL of your faith and doing what God wants and Jesus taught by getting your knees dirty, by caring about others, by helping the poor, by walking, living and acting your faith EVERY DAY, not just on Sunday. We have to come back to the Cross, and LOVE the Cross for what was given there for us by a God who is THERE and is WAITING for us to turn back to Him in REVIVAL and FAITH.

 In the words of Pastor John: “BELIEVE THAT!!”