The Christian's 20/20 Vision For 2020

by David J. Stewart | December 2019

Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

       Dear reader, do you realize that we're about to go into the year 2020? Wow, where has the time gone? To be honest, I'm ready to go home to be with the Lord. My neck pain (bone-gnawing, toothache-like, throbbing, relentless, chronic pain; where the bone is located in back of my neck, which radiates into my face, right eye and head) was so bad yesterday. Thankfully, it is not usually that bad. My body and my soul are tired.

Seven Reasons Why I Want To Go To Heaven (MP3, Pastor Danny Castle)

God promises to direct my PATHS as His child in Proverbs 3:5-7; therefore, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15a). In this article I want to share with you some Biblical spiritual goals for 2020. I searched through the New Testament and found a few “IN EVERY THING” statements, that we would all be wise to apply to our lives.

Me and My Grandson, Luigi, at Lieng's Restaurant

Be Thankful To God “In Every Thing”

1st Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I want to go into 2020 with A THANKFUL HEART! I thank the Lord for His abundant blessings on America. We are so spoiled rotten in this country! I thank God for His blessings on my soulwinning website ministry. Thousands of souls have been saved over the past 17 years (18 years in April, Lord willing). I thank God despite my permanent neck injury and constant pain, that keep me humble night and day. Carefully notice that the Bible doesn't say to be thankful “FOR” everything; but rather, “IN” everything! I am not thankful for my neck pain, but I am thankful in my pain, for God's love, provision and goodness.

I thank God for the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, who have consistently turned me away despite my pleas for their love and help over the past 5 years, because God has used that unkindness to save many people alive through my preaching against the Devil's modern Bible revisions, the Devil's heresy of Lordship Salvation, and the Devil's apostate Bible colleges today (who shake the faith of young people in the VERBAL INSPIRATION of God's Word). Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” I thank God for using a NOBODY like me to feed His sheep and get folks saved. Galatians 6:3, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” I am nothing, but Jesus is everything! John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Since Jesus is the Living Word, and the Bible is the Written Word, I'd say that makes the Bible VERY IMPORTANT!

I love the picture to the right (truly a photo is worth 1,000 words). I don't have to say a word for you dear reader to see a BIG PROBLEM with that picture!!!

But in case you need my help with what I just said, for those of you kids from Bob Jones University who don't see a problem, I will tell you—THERE ARE TEN BIBLES TOO MANY IN THAT STACK OF ELEVEN BIBLES!!! The ONLY reliable, preserved, inerrant, infallible, perfect, and INSPIRED Holy Bible is the King James Version sitting on very top of the pile! If you don't have a King James Bible, you don't have God's Word in English! I am so sick of these retarded modern PERversions that remove Acts 8:37, remove the only “begotten” Son from John 3:16, and say that Jesus couldn't grasp equality with God in Philippians 2:6!

I dare you to show me the Christian who has memorized any sizeable portion of these Satanic modern revisions! I don't know of anyone. I have hundreds of Scriptures memorized from the King James Bible. Albeit, friend, it is not how much Bible you memorize that matters; but rather, it is how much of it you live! If you search Google for the person who has memorized the most Bible (allegedly), Evangelist Jack Van Impe's name comes up right away. Yet, that bozo said, and I quote: “The Catholic doctrines are right on!” It seems that Jack Van Impe must have memorized the wrong chapters, overlooking the important one's about salvation through grace by faith alone! I wouldn't give you a dime for a yellow-bellied, sell-out, like Jack Van Impe. Anything for money, right! The apostle Paul gave thanks in the Bible for false prophets—he really did—to help everyone know who's correct, and whose corrupt, in the preaching world. 1st Corinthians 11:19, “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”

So let us be thankful in the upcoming year, for Bible-preaching that will expose heresies. Let's be THANKFUL TO GOD IN EVERY THING!

Luigi and His Mom Darla at Yogurt Land

Be Prayerful “In Every Thing”

Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

To be very honest with you my friend, I often feel like God doesn't answer my prayers; but I pray anyway, because the Bible doesn't command me to pray because I see and receive answers to prayer. 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” I am commanded to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING! 2nd Corinthians 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” We walk BY FAITH, not BY SIGHT! If I only pray when I see that God answers, then I am walking BY SIGHT. Walking BY FAITH means that you keep on praying, even when it seems like God has abandoned you or is sleeping. The psalmist, David, felt the same way at times. Psalm 44:23, “Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.” I often feel that way, just like the psalmist. If you are honest, I'm sure you have felt that same way too! I get mad at God sometimes and say: “What's the use of praying, you're never going to answer my prayers anyway!” Yes, I feel that way sometimes, but I rise above that lack of faith, and I pray anyhow, because I KNOW that FAITH PLEASES GOD. Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” In Mark 11:22b Jesus exclaimed, “Have faith in God.”

Now, a mature believer understands that we are supposed to spend MOST of our time PRAYING FOR OTHERS. There is something called IMPORTUNITY IN PRAYER. That is where you keep asking and begging persistently, until God answers. The Bible remarkably says that God finally turned the captivity of Job, “WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS” (Job 42:10). I try to keep that Bible verse in mind, because if Job praying for OTHERS pleased God, then I know it might work for me too. If you are familiar with the story of Job, then you know that his friends were more like his enemies (Job 16:1-2), much like the people at Harvest are toward me. I have been praying for God to work at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam for years, and to be truthful, I feel like becoming an atheist because of them. I did pray for God to remove their pastors, and perhaps He did, because they are gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish! But what have we now? I have little respect for men who don't respect THE TRUTH! I am sick of shallow Christians being loyal to bad pastors who are indifferent toward truth. That is exactly why our country is going to Hell! It is time for people to stop supporting clowns in the pulpit. This Bible, that Bible, doesn't matter, pick one, pick all, just so long as you still use the King James somewhere in the mix? That kind of thinking was inspired by demons! God only authored ONE BOOK!

The selfish members of Harvest live, party and fellowship in front of me, not caring that I have no church family; either that or they just go elsewhere on holidays and forget about me altogether. Folks, something is VERY wrong with that selfish kind of pseudo-Christianity, where you only care about your paycheck, and your closed circle of friends in what they inaccurately label “a church.” They should really try to love people sometime! It looks more like a Country Club from my view. When I attended HBC in 2014 the teens enjoyed jet-skiing, camping, paintball guns, boat rides, but there is no organized soulwinning at their church. I live in a world of relentless physical and emotional pain, but no one cares. So I say, TO HELL WITH THEIR SELFISH KIND OF COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANITY! I'll sit at home alone on Christmas Eve, while Y'all shoot paintballs at each other on your jet-skies. What the hell is wrong with churches today? Today's neo-evangelical churches wreak with the stench of apostasy! I am just a nobody with a website, but God uses nobodies. Where Did David Get His Mighty Men? (an awesome MP3 sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles).

Even if I did attend church, I'd be fortunate to make it to half the services. My neck pain from osteoarthritis, stenosis and radiculitis is unbearable this week for some reason, radiating upward and drying my sinuses, causing a sharp pain behind my right eye. It's always only the right eye for some reason. I also have sharp radiating pain in my legs, which keeps me awake at night. It all began from a neck injury, when I was hit by a church bus in 1992 in Hammond. My driver's seat was broken off its hinges. That's how hard we were rear-ended by another bus. I have had this medical misery for many years, and am not sure what triggers a worsening of the symptoms, perhaps nerves, but the pain is horrible, and the pain medications do virtually nothing to alleviate the agonizing neck pain. Lord please take me home soon! I am tired of being in pain and lonely, and without a church family, and no one cares! I've never seen such selfishness in professed Christians as I do in the Bob Jones crowd on Guam. A church is supposed to care about people!

“I want people to come to this church and know that we care!” —Pastor Jeff Owens, “Who Cares Anyhow?”

Since I believe that the King James Bible is God's inspired eternal Word, then I have to conclude that God still cares about me. 1st Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Thus, I keep praying to a God, even when it seems like He is not answering, which is FAITH. I thank God that He does take care of me. I am lonely. I have been praying for a wife for several years, but perhaps God knows that would not be best for me; I sincerely don't know. So I languish in often depression, being alone, not allowed to attend the closest independent Baptist church to me, because they are holding a sinful grudge against me. Thankfully, I do feel God's Holy Spirit presence upon my website ministry. Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” I need to move away from Guam, I just don't have the emotional strength to do it alone. So I am stuck in life! God has a purpose for all this. Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

I have learned over the years that pastors get spoiled. I hear pastors often say that God answered their prayer, because so-and-so gave them a check, or so-and-so donated a car to the church, et cetera. I pray all the time! Do you know how many people have done nice things like that for me over the past 20 years? NO ONE! I can't even get the lousy independent Baptist Church down the street to let me sit in services. By God's grace, I don't want to become a stuck-up snob like the Bob Jones crowd I have met on Guam. I am real people! They hold grudges, I don't; I preach THE TRUTH! It's God's website, I'll preach what God wants! Romans 14:10, “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” I humble myself. It is true that anything can be justified! Pray for me dear reader, my neck pain is so horrible today.

“The mistake the church has made, is we have taught people how to quote Scriptures, we haven't taught people how to love people!” —Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. (a beautiful quote from the sermon titled: “Developing A Process of Evangelism To Reach The Lost With The Gospel”

Any pastor who claims to see regular answers to prayer, in reality, is simply the recipient of God working through Spirit-filled believers; but if you are not allowed to be a part of a local independent Baptist church (like I'm not), those fringe benefits don't exist. That tells me most people ASS-U-ME answers to prayer that are NOT really answers to prayer. I am being brutally honest. I only consider something a genuine answer to prayer if it cannot be attributed to anything else. I am not going to give God any credit other than a bonafide miracle, and I think God honors that attitude. I have no doubt that God has answered many of my prayers, but in ways that I didn't expect, behind the scenes.

The important thing is to PRAY ABOUT EVERY THING! PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!!! I am tired of religious people saying that God “answered their prayer,” while they pamper each other in their closed church CLIQUE of Us-four-and-no-more! That is not prayer! To me, I take things to God in prayer that are beyond my control, out of my grasp, and beyond my limits and abilities. Everything else falls under being THANKFUL TO GOD IN EVERY THING! I do believe that God answers prayer, but I am not going to say stupid things like: “I prayed for a puppy, and brother Bozo said he had an extra puppy to give away. Oh gee, isn't God wonderful?” When I hear garbage like that, I want to walk out of a church! That's not an answer to prayer, that is helping each other out! An answer to prayer is when Peter was about to get his head chopped off with a sword by Herod, and the angel of the Lord rescued him!

Humbly, I don't think those aforementioned pastors are actually receiving answers to prayer; but rather, they are benefiting from the ministry (and in many cases parasiting off it). I don't pray for the sun to rise in the east, and then boast that God answered my prayer. That is the type of foolishness by which many believers pray. I take my prayers seriously. I don't try to fool God. I am brutally honest with the Lord. I respectfully plainly tell God when I think He is wrong, but I trust Him anyway, which pleases God (Matthew 21:28-32). I don't care who you are, the time will come in your Christian life, when you will either have to blindly trust God BY FAITH, or else you will place Him on trial in doubt (as does the heathen world, blaming Him instead of thanking and trusting Him). The Jews in the Wilderness complained all the time, instead of HAVING FAITH IN GOD, and they were chastised by God for it, missing out on the Promised Land!!!

I was listening to some news this week about Christians being slaughtered in Africa. Americans tend to get upset with God because He doesn't give us a job, a wife, a home, or something materialistic. Really? Folks, God is not a vending machine! The Lord is far more concerned about our spiritual growth, than He is with fulfilling our life with what we desire. Matthew 4:4, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” That means I need an EVERY WORD Bible, verbally inspired Word-for-Word by God. That is the message that preachers need to PREACH today...

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot
be cured by old-fashioned preaching.” —Pastor Jack Hyles

I have learned to simply PRAY IN EVERY THING, and then claim the PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING. Philippians 4:6-7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Do you know why you can claim that PEACE OF GOD, WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING? It is because the moment you prayed, God was on the job! The moment that you pray about something, the ball is now in God's court! His Word is at stake. God PROMISES to hear the prayer of the righteous. 1st Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” My friend, if you are saved, and you've confessed your known sins in your life to God, and are doing your best with His help to live right (though you will still sin daily), you are RIGHTEOUS! To be “RIGHTEOUS” means that you have God's IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS (Romans 10:3-4); but it also means that you have the FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (Philippians 1:11). God will not answer the prayers of a saint who ain't! (1st Peter 3:7).

I have never seen things as bad as they are today, especially in the United States. Our Lord foretold that “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12b). The churches have become indifferent. I plan to expose them until Hell freezes over, or the Lord takes me home to glory! Truth doesn't matter anymore to them. Along with the dozens of new Bible revisions, there is an indifferent attitude that NOTHING really matters anymore, except one's small clique, collecting their religious paychecks. You can measure a church's spirituality by how much they reach out to fellow brethren in need of love and encouragement. Harvest Baptist Church on Guam receive a BIG ZERO on their report card!!! My earnest goal for 20/20 is to keep preaching THE TRUTH! I don't care if it harelips every backslidden Christian on the planet. God called me to preach, and so that is what I am doing. I preach to myself all the time!

I learned a long time ago that God wants us to get out of the SELF-LIFE and spend most of our time PRAYING FOR OTHERS. I regularly pray for Harvest's pastors and staff to get right with God, but to be honest, I feel like I might as well be praying for the Devil to get right with God, because men's egos are virtually impenetrable. I spend most of my prayer time thinking and praying about OTHERS. God likes that attitude. ...

Matthew 6:7-8, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

I love New Testament churches, but I hate and loathe the phony type of going-through-the-motion dead religious worship that has infected most churches today! SOMEBODY WAKE-UP THE PREACHER!!!

Me and My Grandson, Luigi, at Yogurt Land

Be Enriched “In Every Thing”

2nd Corinthians 9:11, “Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.”

This verse means we should take all that God has given to us (enriched us with) and be generous toward the Lord, which brings thanksgiving to God. When we allow the Lord to be a blessing through us to others, then we cause others to give thanksgiving to God, and we had a part in that. 1st Corinthians 3:9a, “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” God has given to every believer some gift of the Holy Spirit. Find your gift and use it. Mine is writing. I am not quick on my toes to speak, but given time, I can express myself well in writing.

I thank God for Bible-preachers. I love this quote from Pastor Danny Castle...

“And I want to say to you tonight—I'm so sick of this wicked, filthy, fleshly, fornicatin', dope dealin', hippie-hoppin', Bud beer guzzlin', God-hating, Bible denyin', Rock n' rollin', liquor-loving', money-mad, cursin'-swearin', blaspheming truth hating, underhanded, pornographic, prostitutin', queer-lovin', Michael Jackson, Boy George, sports-politicin', humanistic, hypocritical world!—I'd just like to go home to Heaven to be with Jesus!!!” —Pastor Danny Castle, a great quote from the fiery needful sermon, titled: Seven Reasons Why I Want To Go To Heaven! (ME TOO BROTHER!)

I went walking the other night and stopped by the gas station. I gave one of my own Gospel tracts to the attendant. I want to be more soul-conscious for the year ahead in 20/20. The world is hungry for THE TRUTH! The Holy Bible tells us that the apostle Paul was a public soul-winner. This is the believer's 20/20 vision—Acts 20:20, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,” It is not hard to build a church, if a pastor is willing to work, and get out there knocking on doors soulwinning. Most churches are evangelistic, expecting their people to invite others; but the Biblical method is to go out into the highways and hedges, and get the people! Luke 14:23, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” That is a soulwinning church, where you go get the people! Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”

Luigi With His Dad, Eddie

Abound “In Every Thing”

2nd Corinthians 8:7, “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”

I love that Scripture! The word “abound” means to take your Christian faith to the limit! The Bible is telling us to be zealous in our soul-winning efforts, and in our labors for Christ, in Bible study and preaching, in our love for one another! I want to LOVE OTHERS in 2020 as much as ever before. Life is too short to live with a burden of hatred. Pastor Jack Hyles made this helpful statement...

“Most of our unhappiness is caused by the distance between our wants and our haves! ...If we can somehow reconcile our wants with our haves, we can be happy!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, a helpful quote from the sermon: “The Expectation Is From Him” (1983)

The Bible confirms this idea...

1st Timothy 6:5-7, “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

I misunderstood this verse for a long time. I used to think it meant that I could be content with just being a Christian; but that is not what it says—the Bible says godliness with contentment IS GREAT GAIN! We're talking treasures! My friend, there are people with billions of dollars, literally, who are unhappy. Markus Persson, the Swedish video game inventor of Minecraft, who sold his company to Microsoft last year for $2.5 billion (U.S. dollars), took to Twitter last weekend to comment, saying: “the problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying.” Isn't that something?

I am just a tired Christian man, with a broken body and a broken heart, doing the best I know how for Jesus Christ my Savior. Everybody is tired and has burdens, I know. Galatians 6:2, “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” That is perhaps the most unlived verse in the Bible. Who bears one another's burdens these days? From where I sit, churches only care about getting your money, but they don't really care if you come or leave. You know what I am saying is true. We've all visited churches, where you felt like it really didn't matter if you were there or not. If we don't love people on purpose, they will feel unloved by default! ...

If we don't love people on purpose, they will feel unloved by default!

Philippians 4:16-17, “For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” What a wonderful Scripture passage. Paul said he didn't need their money, but their donations would help get people saved, which would be credited to their heavenly account. I have never asked, nor accepted, a dime for my ministry labors, and never will; but I do very much ask for your prayers! To the same extent that you pray for me and my ministry, and souls are saved and lives are changed, you are earning rewards in Heaven. I was convicted the other day when I heard 1st Thessalonians 3:10, “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?” I always feel like I can pray more, because the Bible commands in 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Praying without ceasing.” I want to abound more in prayer in 2020.

Romans 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” I struggle with my bodily pain and emotions from the medications, and I have burdens like anybody else, but I have God's peace in my soul from abiding in the many PROMISES of God in the Scriptures. I guarantee you that prayer, truth and caring about people go hand-in-hand. You show me a spiritually dead church (like Harvest) that doesn't care about hurting people like me, and they make light of THE TRUTH, and I know that they don't walk closely with God. Hebrews 12:28-29, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” What an uplifting Scripture passage! The Bible is saying that our faith in the unshakable Kingdom of God ought to be our motivation to serve God with reverence and fear, knowing that OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE!!! Instead, many pastors and churchgoers serve their own CONSUMING BELLY! Romans 16:18, “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Believers ought to ABOUND in truth! Baptist churches that teach Lordship Salvation (e.g., John MacArthur and Ray Comfort) are Satanic cults, like Seventh-Day Adventism and Roman Catholicism!!! May we abound more in THE TRUTH in 2020.

As a believer who suffers in bodily chronic pain each day (as I do), and suffers from being lonely (as I do), there is always something to look forward to! Philippians 3:21, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” I love that promise!!! The Bible teaches that if we can come to the place in our life, where we are content with just the Lord Jesus Christ and living for Him, then we will have a greater treasure than all the world has to offer. My joy comes from constantly abiding in the PROMISES OF GOD, thinking about them, and having hope in them. Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” May we all abound more to keep “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13). The pretribulation Rapture could happen at any time. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! ...

Another Picture of Me and Luigi, at Lieng's Restaurant

END OF ARTICLE

“Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do!”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a quote from the MP3 sermon titled: “God's Reversal Of Psalm 51”

1st Corinthians 16:24, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

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