iSin

By John D. Woolridge

“iSin” steps up and hits hard the topic of sin. And who better to teach it, than a Christian author who was imprisoned at 19 years of age. Get ready to learn anew: the origin of sin, how it works, testimonials, and how only God can help us overcome.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Harbor Press
• Release date: Mar 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386327974

John D. Woolridge

Born again since 2004, author, John Woolridge, has seen his share of hardships. After being incarcerated at 19 years of age, Mr. Woolridge tried to change. Little did he know, his sinful nature wouldn’t. However, his testimony proves God can change anyone and still use them in amazing ways.

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iSin

iSin:

Book 1

John Woolridge

iSin: Book 1

New Harbor Press

www.newharborpress.com

Copyright, © 2016 John Woolridge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in reviews, without the written permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

All scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to

my Mother

Though parents they may leave, so they don’t have to see;

Thy fruits of adulterous affair, leaving child so mind can spare.

Adopted from their shame, never cared to know her name;

But what sinners left behind, God saw before the time.

Though thy parents they did leave, she was destined to eternity;

That God would surely crown, a girl that was always found.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Born in Sin

Chapter 2: Who, What, Where, When, and Why?

Chapter 3: Nothing New

Chapter 4: Good Sinner

Chapter 5: Heart-fully Mindful

Chapter 6: Unchanged

Chapter 7: Fear 101 (Being Afraid)

Chapter 8: Only God

Epilogue

Introduction

Life is hard! There is no easy way out. We all have to suffer through it. Sure there are a lot of amazing things in this life and we should always have a positive outlook and try to find the good in every situation, but there are just some things that we can’t avoid. I am talking about those things that hurt us. The things we or other people do that make us wish we never woke up that morning. I am talking about our sinful natures, the side of us that does everything for the wrong reasons. The side of us that gets us in trouble and hurts us and others. That is why I am writing this book.

I want people to understand that we are not perfect and that at no time in history were we ever perfect. This is not to say that your life doesn’t have any significance. The fact that you were divinely created suggests otherwise. But in book one of this two-part series, I am going to start out by showing you why we are the way we are because of sin. We will discuss our sinfulness, starting from the beginning all the way to the One who died for it, Jesus Christ. I will also share with you a little bit of my testimony to emphasize some parts of this book. Maybe you can relate and maybe you can’t, but we all can relate to the main subject of the book: SIN!

I wasn’t the boss of a mafia, nor was I the kingpin of a motorcycle gang. You would have never seen my face on America’s Most Wanted. I am just an average guy who got into a lot of trouble because of my inherent sinful nature that led me down a lot of broken, windy, lonely roads. We all have it and we all end up following it sooner or later. We all do things that we regret, hurting ourselves and others and there is no way to avoid it. But that is what happens when we live in these fleshly bodies. We crave and obsess about things and we don’t stop pursuing those things until we are satisfied by them. And even when we think we are satisfied by them, get ready…because we are going to want those things over and over again, never truly being satisfied.

In this book I will be diving deep into our sinful natures that give us the desires we experience. This book isn’t for people that are looking for a pat on the back and to be told the five steps to becoming a better you. The teachings I share are all about breaking us down so we can fully understand ourselves and how God builds us back up through His perfect plan. And when I say breaking us down, I mean understanding that we are just a walking garbage can without God. Without God, we are a vain, taking space, wasting breath, pointless creatures that become filled with the trash of the world. But the amazing thing about God is He can still use trash for His plans and purposes and recycle it into something new. So the big question we have to ask ourselves is: do we want to be the world’s trash or God’s treasured? And in order to be God’s treasured, there are a couple things we should know about our history, how we inherited our sinful natures, and how our sinful natures affect us. A lot of people know the story, but I highly doubt you have ever heard it broken down the way you are about to read in this book.

I will be touching on a variety of different topics that are both general and personal, the end result being the correction of our sinfulness and our saving grace in God alone. But if there is any one thing that I want you to take away from this book, more than anything else, it is this: you can’t change your sinful nature by yourself!

I don’t want anyone to be deceived. I don’t want anyone to think that they have the power to change themselves from the things that matter. It is one thing to want to shed a couple of pounds to be happier or work a little harder to get a promotion at work. These things may seem important and they can be, but in the big picture they are just not that important of the change we need if we are not right with God. We always think the change we need starts on the outside to make us happy on the inside. This is the furthest thing from the truth. The important change we need starts on the inside, and it starts with changing our sinful nature and getting right with God. Everything beyond this is just a wasted effort if you want to find true happiness. Once we get this figured out, then we can work on the other stuff.

I am not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but I am trying to help people understand how to get free from the things that truly hurt us. I should know because I have been down some pretty dark roads. For example, most of the stories that I have heard from my peers growing up, all I could think was, Wow! You think that was bad … well let me tell you a story. And sure we all have stories and some people have worse stories than others. And I know there are a lot of people with way worse stories than mine. But the only point I am trying to make is, I know what works and what doesn’t, because of my past, to get us out of our pain. And no matter who you talk to, we all have a story of sin; and because of this sin, we all have a story of pain. No one is exempt from this. So as you read this book, my prayer is that you will drop your guard and really try to understand the power of sin that is working in us to get us to do the things that cause us pain.

Through my own experiences I have been humbled by the hand of God to really understand sin, and that is why I am writing this book. I am not better or worse than anyone else. I don’t want to make any claims that I was the biggest sinner of all, so that somehow makes me the best candidate to write this book. That would be nonsense, even if I was the biggest sinner of all. Because the bottom line is we are either in God’s good grace or we are not. And whichever ever side we are on, we are either fools or we are forgiven. And just because I am part of the forgiven doesn’t make me any smarter than anyone else. But I had the desire to write this book and so I have. I know how God has changed me from my foolishness and how the keys in the bible, that He continues to show me, help me to understand His plans to rescue us from our foolish ways. This is what I want to share with you: how to get from foolish to forgiven.

So I hope you enjoy this book. As I mentioned, it is just one part of a two-part series. I hope at the end of it you will walk away with either a newfound knowledge of yourself or a deeper understanding of what you already had a good knowledge of. Either way, reading words that are inspired by God’s word is always profitable. God bless you!

Chapter 1:

Born in Sin

"The Lord does not forgive excuses,

He forgives sin."

—Rick Joyner

For what had seemed hours may have only been minutes as Johnny waited for the public defender to enter the room. You had to give it to Johnny for being as cool as he was, even though he had no idea of his gloomy fate. As he waited in a room, which was overly crowded, with just a table and four chairs, he raced through all the different scenarios that could be coming his way. At the end of every thought was an answer of pride and stupidity: I am only nineteen years of age, what is the worst they will do to me?

But little did Johnny know he went too far this time. He was no longer a juvenile who could give a sob story or some other sort of justification that was nothing more than the art of manipulating. He had become quite an expert at talking his way out of his own demise. But not this time. Johnny was no longer that starry-eyed kid who was looked at as being just mistaken or someone who will grow out of it. He had been pulling the wool over people’s eyes for far too long and it was just a matter of time for him to man up for his actions.

The Bible says,

Evil Company corrupts good habits. (1 Corinthians 15:33)

But what happens when a child was never able to form good habits from the beginning? What happens when a child’s only reasoning is that of I love you child, accompanied by some other good childhood moments, and then the door slowly closes to people drinking, smoking, and seeking pleasures to their hearts’ delights? Or, how about when there is no authority present and a child is able to do as they please and go where they wish to go? How is a child even supposed to have a chance at developing good habits then?

Even so, what happens to the child who had it good? Maybe they didn’t have it all, but they had just enough parental guidance and support to make the right decisions in life. Maybe the child grew up in a nice Christian home where the dad was a pastor and taught his son the five steps to a sin-free life. Is this enough to keep the child out of jail when they get older? Or, what about the child who just plain had everything: love, healthy discipline, emotional support, financial support, etc., but the child turns out to be the biggest sinner of them all?

Is there a perfect formula for us to be perfect? As parents, if we

do everything right, does that give our children a one-way ticket to success and a perfect life? I hope you are not naïve enough to answer yes to that. And if you experienced a perfect life or think your child has, you must be the only one or you are really not from planet Earth. There is no perfect life. Believe me, the sooner you can admit to this the better. Understanding that there is no perfect life will make life that much easier.

But even when it comes to the hardships we go through, are there certain things we can do so that we and our children will have a better chance at staying out of harm’s way? Of course, stay in a bubble! Look, there are no certainties in life and there are no perfect formulas that make everything and everyone perfect. Sure there are things we can do to mitigate or get rid of certain problems in our lives, but trouble will always show up, sooner or later, and keep knocking at our doors.

Also, when it comes to children, we have to stop thinking our kids are so perfect and wonderful that no matter what we teach or give them they will turn out perfect. Sure everyone’s children are gifts from God and even Jesus said that becoming like children you will be the greatest in heaven,"¹ but that doesn’t mean children should hear yes more than no. A big reason our American culture is becoming so immoral and faces the issues it does is because people are not telling their children NO! Then those same children grow up and are never content with being told NO, especially when it comes to bad choices that hurt themselves and others. No wonder Apostle Paul declared that in the last day’s men will be disobedient to parents … unthankful … without self-control… headstrong… etc.² No one says NO enough! As a loving father it hurts me to tell my daughter no, but it’s not for my sake, it’s for hers. I would love to give my daughter everything, but then she will also expect everything. We can’t afford to raise our children this way. I am not speaking financially either, I am speaking morally.

No one is perfect, nor will ever be (obviously, that doesn’t include Jesus Christ)! However, I wish we were all perfect and that we would all make the right decisions, but that’s not going to happen, even if you are Mother Teresa. We are always going to muck up the waters sometimes. There will never be a point in this life where everything is Utopia. Even when we think we have it all figured out and everything is going smooth, then it is time to hit cruise control and enjoy the ride of life. Buckle up and get ready. Someone is heading down your one-way street right now and is going to make you go for a real ride. The reality is, because of our sinful nature and imperfectness, we are always causing ripples in the smooth, glasslike ponds of life and we are causing some sort of unwanted change in both our lives and others.

Obviously, change is going to happen. Whether we change physically, mentally, or spiritually, we are going to change. Some change for the