Christian Power For An Illinois Adulterer

Minister Clark, Servant Sent From Jesus

While preaching a week-long revival for a Cahokia, Illinois church, I learned one of the greatest lessons of my ministry life – Jesus’ love and Christian power for an adulterer — even when the adulterer or adulteress is a member or preacher in the church. Jesus loves you!

He knows the tricks and pressures of Satan that landed you in the situation that you are in. He knows that if He doesn’t help you, you will not  stop and you will perish. He knows the cunning supernatural power of the Devil that is now holding your mind in the thought that “I am not doing anything wrong” or “I haven’t done anything wrong”.  I learned the POWER JESUS MANIFESTS through those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit with the miracle initial evidence of speaking in other tongues — languages moved by the Holy Spirit — for the purpose to love their backsliding brother or sister into the arms of Jesus.

As I preached on the platform, I heard the Lord say “close your eyes” … and I obeyed.

“Walk down this platform” … the platform was only a couple steps.

“Keep walking” … I kept my eyes closed and kept walking many, many feet.

“STOP” … I stopped.

“Now say this” … “Yes, son. It is wrong. You have been saying “I don’t believe it’s wrong. I don’t believe I’m doing anything wrong. But, yes, son it IS wrong.”

“Now open your eyes” … I opened my eyes and was standing directly eye to eye in the face of a man who was looking at me with bucked eyes — the deer in headlights look.

Jesus then said, “Now go back to the platform and finish preaching.” … I obeyed.

When the message and the meeting ended that night, the pastor and I were driving home and she kept looking over and  staring at me. I wondered “what is wrong with her? Why is she looking at me?”

Finally, she opened her mouth and said, “Do you know that man you were speaking to?”

“No”, I replied.

“Has anyone in our church spoken to you about that man?”

“No”, I replied. “I don’t let people talk to me when I visit a church. I keep to myself so that God can work and no one can say ‘someone told her that’.

She explained, “Well, that man is an elder in our church. He has left his wife and moved in with a young woman. We called him to a meeting and told him that if he did not repent and return to his wife, we were removing him from being an elder in this church. He told us he didn’t think it was wrong and he doesn’t feel that he is doing anything wrong.”

LESSONS FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT’S POWER

Behold the love of God and the power of God!

Jesus still referred to the sinning elder as a “son” of the living God who had erred. Jesus was still trying to reach the brother’s heart to confess his sin by marking him out, although still privately not telling what he was doing wrong. Marking is one of God’s last attempts before He must resort to judging you (turning you over to what Satan has been requesting to do to you).

Behold the loving compassion of the Lord, to preserve the man’s dignity in front of the congregation, although the man was in great sin. Behold how the Lord was “going out of His way” (so to speak) to delay and avoid that day when He wuld have to expose the brother, publicly. Behold the Lord’s tender love for our brother who had been hurt, hit and deceived by Satan through some pressures in life that we don’t know about  which persuaded him to slowly become an adulterer, openly, as an elder — a preacher — in the church! Jesus KNOWS  the pressures Satan uses to convince a holy, loving disciple and preacher to stop caring about the reputation of Jesus and pursue comforting his own flesh with a woman. Jesus knows all the ways Satan layers pressure on our emotions, our minds, and our heart to choose an action or path that is NOT Jesus’ way:

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Proverbs 14:12 KJV

Pressure (temptation) is what lands you in sin and deceived away from the word of God concerning yourself. Pressure is what Satan used on Eve. Pressure is what Satan used on Cain. Pressure is what Satan used on Pharoah. Pressure is what Satan used on King Saul. Pressure is what Satan was using on Mary Magdalene. Pressure is what Satan used on Judas. In all of these examples and in all of our lives we make our own choice — fromthe heart — to give in and follow evil desires or refuse to.

Pressure is what Satan, constantly, used against Jesus — but Jesus’ love for God — the Father, God Almighty — kept his heart from giving in to Satan as God’s Spirit strengthened Him. That is what we must do — give in to Jesus Spirit strengthening us away from Satan’s pressures. Pressure is what Satan is using against you right now in someway. Behold how much the Lord Jesus loves you, like He loved this adulterer, to send you His word through various means. His word … when you accept and obey it — will make you FREE!  It doesn’t matter what GREAT power Satan appears toward you … JESUS IS THE GREATER POWER at all times. Believe it, obey Jesus, and be free!